Same-sex marriages were legalized in California by the California Legislature, the first legislative body in the United States to so.

Japanese film director, Akira Kurosawa, died at the age of 88. He was Japan's best known filmmaker and universally accepted as one of the great directors of the 20th century.

The Soviet Union recognized the independence of the Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

In the city of Istanbul two Arab terrorists kill 22 people and wound six more inside the synagogue of Neve Shalom, during Shabbat services.

Jimmy Hendrix plays his last ever performance, at the Love and Peace Festival, on the island of Fehmarn, Germany.

Four passenger jets heading from Europe to the United States were simultaneously hijacked by Palestinian terrorist members of the PFLP group. Two of the planes were taken to Dawson's Field in Jordan while another landed in Cairo. Most of the hostages were released, with the exception of 56 persons and the airplanes were detonated and destroyed while in the airfield. Almost a month later and a massive hunt down by the Jordanian army into Palestinian controlled areas, an agreement was reached in which the hostages were released in exchange of the release of several PFLP prisoners.

The kingdom of Swaziland becomes independent. Swaziland is a small country in Africa, which sports the unsavoury record of having the lowest life expectancy (33 years) than any other country in the world, mostly due to the high rate of HIV infections

South African Prime Minister, Hendrik Verwoerd, was stabbed to death during a parliamentary meeting. He was the main architect of Apartheid. The assassin, David Pratt, was declared insane and incarcerated in a mental institution, only to commit suicide a few months later.

In the Turkish city of Istanbul, the Greek minority population was subjected to a government sponsored pogrom. In what has been known as the 'Events of September', Istanbul's Greek community was assaulted by an overwhelming Turkish mob, the most significant portion of which was trucked into the city for the event by the Turkish government.

In Nazi Germany, all Jews over the age of 6 were required to wear the Star of David with the word Jew inscribed on it.

The last surviving Thylacine (Tazmanian Tiger) died in her cage at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. In 1999 the Australian Museum in Sydney began a project with the purpose of cloning a Tazmanian Tiger using genetic material from specimens taken and preserved in the early 20th century. In 2005 the project was discontinued after tests showed that the preserved DNA had degraded by the ethanol in which it was preserved.

King Peter II of Yugoslavia was born. He was the last king of Yugoslavia. He died on the 3rd of November 1970, in Denver, Colorado, after a failed liver transplant and is the only European monarch buried on American soil.

The very first prototype of a tank was tested by the British Army.

US President William McKinley was fatally shot while attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. The assassin was the anarchist, Leon Czolgosz, whose motives were based on his anarchistic ideologies.

American politician, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. was born Boston, Massachusetts. He was a prominent businessman and political figure as well as the father of President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy.

A hurricane devastated the island of Guadeloupe, killing over 6000 people.

French soldier and statesman, Marquis de Lafayette, was born in the Auvergne region of France. La Fayette is considered a national hero of both France and the United States for his participation in the French and American revolutions.