The Republic of Montenegro holds a referendum proposing independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. The Montenegrin people choose independence with a majority of 55%.

The fastest roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka opens at Six Flags Great Adventure.

An earthquake hits northern Algeria killing more than 2,000 people.

French Taubira law officially recognizes the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.

In Miami, Florida, five abortion clinics are hit by a butyric acid attacker.

The {{MV|Bukoba}} sinks in Tanzanian waters on Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1,000.

The Trappist Martyrs of Atlas are executed.

The Democratic Republic of Yemen unsuccessful attempts to secede from Republic of Yemen; a war breaks out.

Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end.

Former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras.

Democratic Republic of Yemen and North Yemen agree to merge into the Republic of Yemen.

Falklands War: British amphibious assault during Operation Sutton lead to the Battle of San Carlos.

Irish Republican hunger strikers Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O’Hara die on hunger strike in Maze prison.

White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.

Michelangelo's ''Pietà'' in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal, the mentally disturbed Hungarian geologist Laszlo Toth.

Civil unrest in Rosario, Argentina, known as ''Rosariazo'', following the death of a 15-year-old student.

The Ulster Volunteer Force declares war on the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland.

American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.

United Kingdom Postmaster General Ernest Marples announces that from December, subscriber trunk dialling will be introduced in the Bristol area.

The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition

Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The Canadian National War Memorial is unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa.

A Soviet station becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean.

Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover's severed genitals in her hand. Her story soon becomes one of Japan's most notorious scandals.

Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens.

Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and she thereby becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a "thrill killing".

The Great Atlanta fire of 1917.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is established through Royal Charter to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military forces.

Mexican President Porfirio Díaz and the revolutionary Francisco Madero sign the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez to put an end to the fighting between the forces of both men, and thus concluding the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution.

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is founded in Paris.

The Manchester Ship Canal in England is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams.

The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton.

War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique (then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique.

Opening of the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi-Bahnen on Mount Rigi.

French troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting. By the close of "Bloody Week" some 20,000 communards have been killed and 38,000 arrested.

Russia declares an end to the Russian-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated the Circassian Day of Mourning.

American Civil War: Siege of Port Hudson

Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.

Slavery is abolished in Colombia, South America.

The first day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling between the Austrian army led by Archduke Charles and the French army led by Napoleon I of France sees the French attack across the Danube held.

Mary Campbell is abducted from her home in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War.

The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is instituted in Russia by Empress Catherine I. It would later be discontinued and then reinstated by the Soviet government in 1942 as the Order of Alexander Nevsky.

The nobility elect John Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.

A royal Charter is granted to Derby School in Derby, England.

The island of Saint Helena is discovered by the Portuguese explorer João da Nova.

Sixteen-year-old Otto III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.

Pope John VIII gives blessings to duke Branimir and to Croatian people, considered to be international recognition of the Croatian state.

Syracuse, Italy is captured by the Muslim sultan of Sicily.