The Baiji, or Chinese River Dolphin, is announced as extinct.

Former Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet is put under house arrest, after being sued under accusations over 9 kidnapping actions and manslaughter. The house arrest is lifted the same day on appeal.

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit (see Operation Red Dawn).

Enlargement of the European Union: The European Union announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004.

the Indian Parliament Sansad is attacked by terrorists. 15 people are killed, including all the terrorists.

The "Texas 7" escape from the John Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas and go on a robbery spree, during which police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot and killed.

The last issue of ''Gnistan'' (The Spark), the organ of the Solidaritetspartiet, is published in Sweden.

Attack on Derryard checkpoint: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launch an attack on a British Army permanent vehicle checkpoint near Rosslea, Northern Ireland. Two British soldiers are killed and one badly wounded.

Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat gives a speech at the UN general assembly in the Austrian city of Geneva after the US authorities refused to give him a visa to enter New York.

General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland to prevent dismantling of the communist system by ''Solidarity''.

The Canadian Government of Prime Minister Joe Clark is defeated in the House of Commons, prompting the 1980 Canadian election.

A DC-3 aircraft chartered from the Indianapolis-based National Jet crashes near Evansville Regional Airport, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team, support staff and boosters of the team.

Malta becomes a republic.

Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "Moonwalk" of Apollo 17. This is the last manned mission to the moon of the 20th century.

Brazilian president Artur da Costa e Silva decrees the AI-5 (or the fifth Institutional Act), which lasts until 1978 and marks the beginning of the hard times of Brazilian military dictatorship.

Constantine II of Greece attempts an unsuccessful counter-coup against the Regime of the Colonels

NASA "Relay 1" launch, first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.

While Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard seizes the capital and proclaim him deposed and his son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, Emperor.

Archbishop Makarios becomes the first President of Cyprus.

The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem.

World War II: The Massacre of Kalavryta by German occupying forces in Greece.

World War II: Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.

World War II: Battle of the River Plate

The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany.

Nanjing Massacre. Japanese troops begin carrying out several weeks of raping and killing of civilians and suspected Chinese resistance after the fall of Nanjing.

Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanjing

Fenian bomb explodes in Clerkenwell, London, killing six.

American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats the Union Major General Ambrose E. Burnside.

Dr. Ephraim McDowell performed the first ovariotomy, removing a twenty-two pound tumor.

Dartmouth College is founded by the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, with a Royal Charter from King George III, on land donated by Royal Governor John Wentworth.

English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.

Abel Janszoon Tasman reaches New Zealand.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard.

Sir Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.

Council of Trent begins.

Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months; Celestine hoped to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.