- 1990 – Chancellor Hekmut Kohl’s coalition won the first free all-German elections since 1932.
- 1990 – The Midwest section of the U.S. prepared for a massive earthquake predicted by Iben Browning. The earthquakes did not occur.
- 1992 – Germany’s lower house of parliament voted in favor of the Maastricht Treaty on European unity.
- 1993 – The space shuttle Endeavor blasted off on a mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope.
- 1994 – The U.S. government agreed not to seek a recall of allegedly fire-prone General Motors pickup trucks. A deal was made with GM under which the company would spend more than $51 million on safety and research.
- 1995 – NASA launched a U.S.-European observatory on a $1 billion dollar mission intended to study the sun.
- 1997 – U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno declined to seek an independent counsel investigation of telephone fund-raising by President Clinton and Vice President Gore. She had concluded that they had not violated election laws.
- 1998 – Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates donated $100 million to help immunize children in developing countries.
- 1999 – The British government transferred political power over the province of Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.
- 2001 – Enron Corp. filed for Chapter 11 reorganization. The filing came five days after Dynegy walked away from a $8.4 billion buyout. It was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
- 2010 – NASA announced the discovery of a new arsenic-based life form.
- 2015 – San Bernardino attack: Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik kill 14 people and wound 22 at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California.
- 2016 – Thirty-six people die in a fire at a converted Oakland, California, warehouse serving as an artist collective.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Maria Ferekidi, Greek canoe racer
- 1981 – Eric Jungmann, American actor
- 1981 – Danijel Pranjić, Croatian footballer
- 1981 – Britney Spears, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
- 1982 – Christos Karipidis, Greek footballer
- 1982 – Matt Ware, American football player
- 1983 – Chris Burke, Scottish footballer
- 1983 – Daniela Ruah, Portuguese-American actress
- 1983 – Bibiana Candelas, Mexican volleyball player
- 1983 – Jaime Durán, Mexican footballer
- 1983 – Jana Kramer, American actress and singer
- 1983 – Aaron Rodgers, American football player
- 1984 – Péter Máté, Hungarian footballer
- 1985 – Amaury Leveaux, French swimmer
- 1985 – Dorell Wright, American basketball player
- 1986 – Edson Décimo Alves Araújo, Brazilian footballer (d. 2014)
- 1986 – Veronika Kapshay, Ukrainian tennis player
- 1986 – Claudiu Keșerü, Romanian footballer
- 1986 – Adam le Fondre, English footballer
- 1986 – Song Ha-yoon, South Korean actress
- 1986 – Tal Wilkenfeld, Australian bass player and composer
- 1988 – Alfred Enoch, English actor
- 1988 – Fuse ODG, English recording artist
- 1988 – Stephen McGinn, Scottish footballer
- 1989 – Etta Bond, English singer-songwriter
- 1989 – Cassie Steele, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
- 1989 – Matteo Darmian, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Ghanaian footballer
- 1990 – Jamille Matt, Jamaican footballer
- 1990 – Gastón Ramírez, Uruguayan footballer
- 1990 – Fausto Rossi, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Hikaru Yaotome, Japanese idol, singer, model and actor
- 1991 – Chloé Dufour-Lapointe, Canadian skier
- 1991 – Charlie Puth, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1992 – Gary Sánchez, Dominican baseball player
- 1993 – Haruka Ishida, Japanese singer and actress
- 1993 – Kostas Stafylidis, Greek footballer
- 1994 – Fumika Shimizu, Japanese actress and model
- 1994 – Cauley Woodrow, English footballer
- 1994 – Tomokaze Yūta, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1995 – Uladzislau Hancharou, Belarusian trampolinist
- 1995 – Joe Stimson, Australian rugby league player
- 1995 – Inori Minase, Japanese actress, voice actress and singer
- 1998 – Juice Wrld, American rapper (d. 2019)