1961 - Dag Hammarskjöld, the Swedish statesman and Secretary-General of the United Nations, was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia.
1964 - Sean O'Casey, the Irish playwright, died at the age of 80. His works include "Juno and the Paycock" (1924).
1970 - Jimi Hendrix, the American rock singer and guitarist, died of a drug overdose at the age of 27.
1981 - The French Parliament voted in favor of abolishing the death penalty and the guillotine.
1982 - Lebanese Christian militias ended a massacre in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, in which at least 800 people were killed.
2000 - The military governor of Ivory Coast, General Robert Guéï, survived an assassination attempt at his residence. Two of his bodyguards were killed.
2001 - Iranians held a protest in mourning for the victims of the September 11 attacks in the United States.
2004 - Iraqi Airways resumed its international flights after a 14-year suspension.
2005 - Angry crowds in Basra, Iraq attacked a British tank with incendiary bombs and stones.
2005 - Voters in Afghanistan defied Taliban threats and cast their votes in their first parliamentary elections in decades.
2014 - Scotland voted against leaving the United Kingdom in a referendum on independence.
