- 1955 - The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) became a sovereign state after the meeting of the Allied High Commissioners to abolish the controlling authority established after the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. West Germany also joined NATO on this day.
- 1999 - Indonesia and Portugal signed an agreement that led to the independence of East Timor.
- 1999 - The world's first hydrogen liquid and gas refueling station.
- 2002 - Jacques Chirac won 82 percent of the votes in the second round of the French presidential election, defeating far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen by the largest margin in France's 44-year electoral history.
- 2003 - Walter Sisulu, a veteran fighter against white minority rule in South Africa and a longtime friend and mentor of Nelson Mandela, passed away at the age of 90.
- 2004 - Picasso's painting "Boy with a Pipe" set a new world record for the most expensive painting sold at Sotheby's auction in New York for $104,168,000.
- 2006 - Nushad Ali, one of the most beloved composers in Bollywood and the first to incorporate classical Indian music into Indian films, died at the age of 87.
- 2008 - An attempt to achieve the world record for the largest plate of hummus in Jerusalem.
- 2010 - Mass protests against austerity measures in Greece.
- 2011 - The Canadian Armed Forces assisted residents of Quebec during a record flood of the Richelieu River.
