- 1918 - Vladimir Lenin, leader of Soviet Russia, was shot by Fanya Kaplan after delivering a speech at a factory in Moscow.
- 1973 - Kenya banned elephant hunting and the ivory trade.
- 1991 - American Mike Powell set the world record in the long jump.
- 1999 - East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence from Indonesia in a referendum with a voter turnout of 99 percent.
- 2001 - Rebels in Papua New Guinea and Bougainville signed a peace agreement to end the longest ongoing conflict in the South Pacific.
- 2003 - American coal miner turned actor Charles Bronson, who appeared in over 60 films including the famous "Death Wish" series, passed away at the age of 81.
- 2008 - Libya and Italy signed an agreement in which Italy would pay $5 billion in compensation for its colonial misdeeds during its decades-long rule over the North African country.
- 2010 - Mount Sinabung in Sakanalo Village, Indonesia, erupted for the first time in centuries.
- 2014 - Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane accused his country's army of staging a coup and fled to South Africa.
