2013: A 73-car oil train derails in the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec and explodes into flames, killing at least 47 people and destroying more than 30 buildings in the town's central area.
2013: At least 42 people are killed in a shooting at a school in Yobe State, Nigeria.
2006: The Nathu La pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years.
2003: The 70-metre Yevpatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message (Cosmic Call 2) to five stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri (HD 75732), HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris (HD 95128). The messages will arrive to these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044, and 2049, respectively.
1997: The Troubles: In response to the Drumcree dispute, five days of mass protests, riots and gun battles begin in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland.
1989: The Tel Aviv-Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack: Sixteen bus passengers are killed when a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad took control of the bus and drove it over a cliff.
1988: The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires. One hundred sixty-seven oil workers are killed, making it the world's worst offshore oil disaster in terms of direct loss of life.
1944: Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a bus, leading to a court-martial.
1942: Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the "Secret Annexe" above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
1941: Nazi Germany launches its offensive to encircle several Soviet armies near Smolensk.
1940: Story Bridge, a major landmark in Brisbane, as well as Australia's longest cantilever bridge is formally opened.
1939: Holocaust: The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed.
1937: Spanish Civil War: Battle of Brunete: The battle begins with Spanish Republican troops going on the offensive against the Nationalists to relieve pressure on Madrid.
1892: Three thousand eight hundred striking steelworkers engage in a day-long battle with Pinkerton agents during the Homestead Strike, leaving ten dead and dozens wounded.
1892: Dadabhai Naoroji is elected as the first Indian Member of Parliament in Britain.
1630: Thirty Years' War: Four thousand Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus land in Pomerania, Germany.
1614: Żejtun and the surrounding villages suffer a raid from Ottoman forces. This was the last unsuccessful attempt by the Ottomans to conquer the island of Malta.
1557: King Philip II of Spain, consort of Queen Mary I of England, sets out from Dover to war with France, which eventually resulted in the loss of the City of Calais, the last English possession on the continent, and Mary I never seeing her husband again.
1438: A temporary compromise between the rebellious Transylvanian peasants and the noblemen is signed in Kolozsmonostor Abbey.
1415: Jan Hus is condemned as a heretic and then burned at the stake.
1411: Ming China's Admiral Zheng He returns to Nanjing after the third treasure voyage and presents the Sinhalese king, captured during the Ming-Kotte War, to the Yongle Emperor.