1950 - In the Korean War, UN troops landed at Inchon, a decisive step in driving North Korean troops from the South.

1959 - Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev arrived in the United States at the start of a 12-day visit.

1972 - Spain and the Soviet Union signed a trade agreement, the first pact between the two since the Spanish Civil War.

1972 - Two former White House aides, Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy, were added to the five men already charged with the break-in at the Watergate building.

1973 - King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden died aged 90 and was succeeded by his grandson Carl XVI Gustav.

1978 - Wilhelm Messerschmitt, German aircraft designer and manufacturer, died. In 1944 his ME-262 became the first jet plane to be flown in combat.

1982 - Pope John Paul II had a private audience with Yasser Arafat in the Vatican, prompting protests from the Israeli government.

1983 - Israeli prime minister Menachim Begin, founder of the right-wing Likud Party resigned. He was replaced by Yitzhak Shamir.

1987 - Computer hackers in Germany known as the Chaos Computer Club said they had tapped into NASA's computer system and planted a program called "Trojan Horse".

1997 - Egypt sentenced four people to death and eight to life in jail in its largest-ever military trial of suspected members of the Gama'a al-Islamiya Muslim militant group.

1997 - Britain and Ireland launched Northern Ireland peace talks; pro-British Unionists stayed away in a row over the peace credentials of the Sinn Fein Republican Party.

1998 - Barrett Deems, a drummer for Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman and other jazz greats, died at 83.

1999 - A gunman shouting anti-religious curses pumped bullets into teenage worshippers in a Texas Baptist Church, killing seven people, before shooting himself dead.

2000 - Spain's most wanted fugitive, Ignacio Gracia Arregui, alleged leader of the Basque guerrilla group ETA, was arrested in the French Basque town of Bidart.

2000 - The Sydney Olympic games officially opened with the lighting of the Olympic flame by aboriginal athlete Cathy Freeman, the world 400m champions.