Syria ends its military occupation of Lebanon after 29 years. Syria buckled to domestic and international pressure following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14 of the same year.

Germany makes Holocaust denial illegal. The far-right party NPD had sought legitimation by Germany's Federal Constitutional Court for expressing the view that the Nazis' genocide of six million Jews never occurred. The court ruled against them.

The deadliest tornado in history kills about 1300 people. The Daulatpur–Saturia Tornado devastated everything in its 50-mile long path across central Bangladesh.

The worst nuclear disaster in history occurs in Chernobyl. Large parts of Europe were contaminated when reactor 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. Although the number of deaths attributable to the disaster is difficult to determine, experts anticipate tens of thousands of deaths across Europe in the coming decades due to cancer caused by the radioactive fallout.

Franz Kafka publishes his landmark novel The Trial. The text, which was initially published as Der Process, is a nightmarish account of a man being arrested and prosecuted by a faceless authority for an unknown crime.