- 1990 – The U.S. State Department ordered the expulsion of 36 Iraqi diplomats.
- 1991 – The Soviet republic of Moldavia declared its independence.
- 1996 – California Governor Pete Wilson signed an order that would halt state benefits to illegal immigrants.
- 1998 – James Brolin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- 1998 – “Titanic” became the first movie in North America to earn more than $600 million.
- 1999 – The final crew of the Russian space station Mir departed the station to return to Earth. Russia was forced to abandon Mir for financial reasons.
- 2001 – The U.S. military announced that an Air Force RQ-1B “Predator” aircraft was lost over Iraq. It was reported that the unmanned aircraft “may have crashed or been shot down.”
- 2001 – Work began on the future site of a World War II memorial on the U.S. capital’s historic national Mall. The site is between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
- 2003 – Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.
- 2003 – The first six-party talks, involving South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, convene to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.
- 2006 – Comair Flight 5191 crashes on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky bound for Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta. Of the passengers and crew, 49 of 50 are confirmed dead in the hours following the crash.
- 2009 – Internal conflict in Myanmar: The Burmese military junta and ethnic armies begin three days of violent clashes in the Kokang Special Region.
- 2011 – Hurricane Irene strikes the United States east coast, killing 47 and causing an estimated $15.6 billion in damage.
Celebrating BIrthday Today
- 1981 – Maxwell Cabelino Andrade, Brazilian footballer
- 1981 – Alessandro Gamberini, Italian footballer
- 1983 – Joanna McGilchrist, English rugby player and physiotherapist
- 1984 – David Bentley, English footballer[
- 1984 – Sulley Muntari, Ghanaian footballer
- 1985 – Kevan Hurst, English footballer[
- 1985 – Nikica Jelavić, Croatian footballer
- 1985 – Alexandra Nechita, Romanian-American painter and sculptor
- 1986 – Sebastian Kurz, Austrian politician, 25th Chancellor of Austria
- 1987 – Joel Grant, English-Jamaican footballer
- 1987 – Darren McFadden, American football player
- 1989 – Romain Amalfitano, French footballer[
- 1989 – Juliana Cannarozzo, American figure skater and actress
- 1990 – Tori Bowie, American athlete[
- 1990 – Luuk de Jong, Dutch footballer
- 1991 – Lee Sung-yeol, South Korean actor and singer
- 1992 – Blake Jenner, American actor and singer
- 1992 – Stephen Morris, American football player
- 1992 – Kim Petras, German singer-songwriter
- 1992 – Ayame Gouriki, Japanese actress and singer
- 1993 – Sarah Hecken, German figure skater
- 1993 – Olivier Le Gac, French cyclist
- 1995 – Sergey Sirotkin, Russian race car driver
- 1998 – Kevin Huerter, American basketball player[