- 1990 – Poland held its first popular presidential election.
- 1992 – The Czech parliament voted to split the country into separate Czech and Slovak republics beginning January 1, 1993.
- 1993 – Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Sedki escaped an attempt on his life when a bomb was detonated by Islamic militants near his motorcade.
- 1995 – Serbs protested in the streets of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo The protest was against a peace plan.
- 1998 – Britain’s highest court ruled that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, whose extradition was being sought by Spain, could not claim immunity from prosecution for the crimes he committed during his rule.
- 1998 – President Jiang Zemin arrived in Tokyo for the first visit to Japan by a Chinese head of state since World War II.
- 1998 – The IMF (International Monetary Fund) approved a $5.5 billion bailout for Pakistan.
- 1999 – A 5-year-old Cuban boy, Elian Gonzalez, is rescued by fishermen while floating in an inner tube off the Florida coast.
- 2000 – The 2000 Baku earthquake, with a Richter magnitude of 7.0, leaves 26 people dead in Baku, Azerbaijan, and becomes the strongest earthquake in the region in 158 years.
- 2008 – Cyclone Nisha strikes northern Sri Lanka, killing 15 people and displacing 90,000 others while dealing the region the highest rainfall in nine decades.
- 2009 – Jeddah floods: Freak rains swamp the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during an ongoing Hajj pilgrimage. Three thousand cars are swept away and 122 people perish in the torrents, with 350 others missing.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Xabi Alonso, Spanish footballer
- 1981 – Lee Bum-ho, South Korean baseball player
- 1981 – Barbara Pierce Bush, American activist
- 1981 – Jenna Bush Hager, American journalist
- 1981 – Jared Jeffries, American basketball player
- 1981 – Chevon Troutman, American basketball player
- 1982 – Mitchell Claydon, Australian-English cricketer
- 1983 – Jhulan Goswami, Indian cricketer
- 1984 – Peter Siddle, Australian cricketer
- 1985 – Remona Fransen, Dutch pentathlete
- 1986 – Katie Cassidy, American actress
- 1986 – Craig Gardner, English footballer
- 1988 – Nodar Kumaritashvili, Georgian luger (d. 2010)
- 1988 – Jay Spearing, English footballer
- 1989 – Tom Dice, Belgian singer-songwriter
- 1990 – Rye Rye, American rapper, dancer, and actress
- 1990 – Everton Heleno dos Santos, Brazilian footballer
- 1991 – Kyler Fackrell, American football player
- 1991 – Jamie Grace, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
- 1991 – Philipp Grubauer, German ice hockey player
- 1991 – Luca Tremolada, Italian footballer
- 1991 – Kevin Woo, American-South Korean singer and dancer
- 1992 – Ana Bogdan, Romanian tennis player
- 1993 – Danny Kent, English motorcycle racer