In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.

Suspects are arrested in Birmingham in the UK, accused of plotting the kidnap, holding and eventual beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq.

The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.

In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

Alaska Airlines flight 261 MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 persons aboard.

An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.

President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.

The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow.

The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begin in Detroit, Michigan.

Apollo program: Apollo 14|Apollo 14 Mission

Nauru gains independence from Australia.

Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.

The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.

Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2

James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.

Explorer program: ''Explorer 1'' – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit.

Eight people on the ground in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.

A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands.

President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.

Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).

US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.

World War II: During Anzio campaign 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.

World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.

German Field Marshall Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed 2 days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of World War II's fiercest battles.

World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to the island of Singapore.

3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.

The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.

The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland.

A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.

World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.

World War I: Germany uses poison gas against Russia

Datu Muhammad Salleh is assassinated in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion

The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.

The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations.

Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Karam leaves Lebanon on board a French ship for Algeria

American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, abolishing slavery, submitting it to the states for ratification.

Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch telescope now located at Northwestern University.

Corn Laws are abolished in the United Kingdom (following legislation in 1846).

John C. Fremont is court-martialed on grounds of mutiny and disobeying orders.

After the Milwaukee Bridge War, Juneautown and Kilbourntown unified as the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.

The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.

Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England.

France cedes Naples to Aragon.

Silvester I begins his reign as Pope of the Catholic Church, succeeding Pope Miltiades.