Central Chile is hit with an 8.8 magnitude earthquake.

The Chinese Correction: the Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest drop in 10 years.

A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack kills 116.

Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire at London Stansted Airport. Subsequent investigations criticize Ryanair's handling of the evacuation.

Olusegun Obasanjo becomes Nigeria's first elected president since mid-1983.

Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated".

Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo riots.

The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.

The formerly Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

People magazine is published for the first time.

The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start to perform ''aborti provocati''.

Dominica gains independence from the United Kingdom.

The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.

The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo.

The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated.

Soviet Union regional elections, 1955.

The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.

The Rosenstrasse protest starts in Berlin

The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men.

World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an allied strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies

Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14

United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes violate property owners' rights and are therefore illegal.

Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire.

A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in ''Leser v. Garnett''.

The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna.

The British Labour Party is founded.

Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje at the Battle of Paardeberg.

The current flag of Japan is first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships.

American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.

Russian troops fire on a crowd in Warsaw protesting against Russian rule over Poland, killing five protesters.

Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that is largely responsible for his election to the Presidency.

The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.

Manuel Belgrano raises the Flag of Argentina in the city of Rosario for the first time.

Pursuant to the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C. is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.

The Bank of England issues the first one-pound and two-pound notes.

The island of New Britain is discovered.

Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after he led the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci.

Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea.

Henry IV is crowned King of France.

The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland.