A mudslide occurs in La Conchita, California, killing 10 people, injuring many more and closing the Highway 101, the main coastal corridor between San Francisco and Los Angeles, for 10 days.

Illinois Governor George Ryan commutes the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois' death row based on the Jon Burge scandal.

A large piece of the chalk cliff at Beachy Head collapses into the sea.

Time Warner is formed from the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc.

The United States and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations after 117 years.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returns to the newly independent Bangladesh as president after spending over nine months in prison in Pakistan.

Apollo Project: NASA announces plans to build the C-5 rocket booster. It became better known as the Saturn V moon rocket, which launched every Apollo moon mission.

The first General Assembly of the United Nations opens in London. Fifty-one nations are represented.

Lend-Lease is introduced in the U.S. Congress.

World War II: The Greek army captures Kleisoura.

The Ring-tailed Lemur is officially listed at the type species for the genus ''Lemur'' by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) when it published Opinion 122, even though the genus originally described lorises.

Lithuania seizes and annexes Memel.

Arthur Griffith is elected President of the Irish Free State.

The League of Nations holds its first meeting, and ratifies the Treaty of Versailles, therefore ending World War I.

Erzerum Offensive during World War I, Russian victory over Ottoman Empire

The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.

John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.

The London Underground, the world's oldest underground railway, opens between London Paddington station and Farringdon station.

American Civil War: Florida secedes from the Union.

The marriage of Napoleon and Josephine is annulled.

Dutch settlers in Cape Town surrender to the British.

Thomas Paine publishes ''Common Sense''.

Archbishop William Laud is beheaded at the Tower of London.

Stephen III of Moldavia defeats the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vaslui.

Robert Guiscard conquers Palermo.

Lucius Calpurnius Piso Licinianus is appointed by Galba to deputy Roman Emperor.