Manila hostage crisis, which occurred at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, where a dismissed police officer took hostage a tour bus full of Chinese nationals.

Natascha Kampusch, who is abducted at the age of 10, managed to escape from her captor Wolfgang Priklopil, after 8 years of captivity.

Gulf Air Flight 072 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143.

Osama bin Laden issues message entitled 'A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places.'

Eugene Bullard, The only black pilot in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

West Germany and East Germany announce that they will unite on October 3.

Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War.

1,645 Australian domestic airline pilots resign after the airlines threaten to fire them and sue them over a dispute.

Singing Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands (Baltic Way).

Hungary: the last communist government opens the Iron curtain and causes the exodus of thousands of Eastern Germans to West Germany via Hungary (September 11).

Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany.

Bachir Gemayel is elected Lebanese President amidst the raging civil war.

Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States.

The Gossamer Condor wins the Kremer prize for human powered flight.

Successful Communist coup in Laos.

Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.

Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.

First flight of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.

World Council of Churches is formed.

Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government constitutes the German ''Land'' (state) of Schleswig-Holstein.

Freckleton Air Disaster

World War II King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of General Antonescu, who is arrested. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies.

World War II: Marseille liberated.

World War II: Kharkov liberated.

World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.

World War II: Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, the Baltic states, Finland, Romania, and Poland are divided between the two nations.

English cricketer Len Hutton sets a world record for the highest individual Test innings of 364, during a Test match against Australia.

Hebron Massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attack on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, continuing until the next day, resulted in the death of 65-68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city.

Sacco and Vanzetti are executed.

Capt. Lowell Smith and Lt. John P. Richter performed the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours.

British airship R-38 experiences structural failure over Hull in England and crashes in the Humber estuary. Of her 49 British and American training crew, only 4 survive.

World War I: the Battle of Mons; the British Army begins withdrawal.

World War I: Japan declares war on Germany and bombs Qingdao, China.

The automobile tire chain is patented.

First Cry of the Philippine Revolution is made in Pugad Lawin (Quezon City), in the province of Manila.

Albert Bridge in Chelsea, London opened.

Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague.

The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico.

The Round Oak rail accident occurs in Brierley Hill in the Black Country, England. It is 'Arguably the worst disaster ever to occur on British railways'.

The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for war with Qing China. The ensuing 3-year conflict will later be known as the First Opium War.

At the Battle of Grossbeeren, the Prussians under Von Bülow repulse the French army.

Napoleon leaves Egypt for France en route to seize power.

French Revolution: a levée en masse is decreed by the National Convention.

Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it wasn’t accepted into the United States, and only lasted for four years.

King George III declares that the American colonies exist in a state of open and avowed rebellion.

Meidingnu Pamheiba is crowned King of Manipur.

Michael the Brave confronts the Ottoman army in the Battle of Calugareni.

Mob violence against Huguenots in Paris – St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.

Calvinists are granted rights in the Netherlands.

French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada.

Battle of Chaldiran ended with a decisive victory for the Sultan Selim I, Ottoman Empire, over the Shah Ismail I, Safavids founder.

Battle of Cassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers.

William Wallace, Scottish patriot, is executed for high treason by Edward I of England.

Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.