1919 - American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, born in Scotland, passed away at the age of 83.
1952 - King Hussein ascended the throne in Jordan after his father, King Talal, was declared "unfit" to rule due to mental illness.
1956 - American painter and abstract expressionist leader Jackson Pollock was killed in a car accident.
1966 - A treaty was signed in Jakarta to end three years of hostilities between Malaysia and Indonesia.
1994 - The Russian Supreme Court acquitted General Valentin Varennikov of treason for joining those attempting to overthrow Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the August 1991 coup attempt.
1998 - British Petroleum surprised the markets by announcing its agreement to merge with American company Amoco in a deal valued at $110 billion.
2000 - The Bank of Japan raised interest rates for the first time in 10 years, rejecting an unprecedented request from the government for a delay.
2002 - The separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan voted for a new leader, defying the international community and ignoring angry protests from Baku, as Arkady Ghoukasian won a new five-year term.
2003 - In Afghanistan, NATO assumed command of the peacekeeping force in Kabul, marking its first operation outside Europe.
2005 - The European rocket "Ariane-5" was launched, carrying the world's largest communications satellite, placing 6.5 tons of "iPSTAR" into orbit for the Thai satellite "Shin."
