1900 - The Commonwealth of Australia is established.
1932 - American inventor and razor manufacturer King Camp Gillette passes away.
1993 - British scientists identify the remains of Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his family, executed by the Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg in 1918, through genetic fingerprints.
1997 - American Mike Tyson is banned from boxing for one year and fined 3 million dollars for biting off a portion of his opponent Evander Holyfield's ear during a world title fight.
2002 - The African Union is launched by about 40 of the continent's leaders and its 53 member states.
2005 - Danny Way becomes the first person to skate across the Great Wall of China.
2005 - Former rebel leader John Garang assumes leadership in Sudan and is sworn in as First Vice President, only to be killed in a helicopter crash six months later.
2006 - A Russian passenger plane crashes on landing and catches fire in Siberia, resulting in the deaths of up to 128 people.
2006 - Italy defeats France to win the FIFA World Cup in Berlin.
2011 - South Sudan officially declares its independence from the north.
2015 - The U.S. military announces a reduction of troops to 40,000.
