On June 19

Facing allegations of sexual assault in Sweden, Julian Assange (pictured), the founder of WikiLeaks, requested asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

The royal wedding of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, and Daniel Westling took place in Stockholm Cathedral.

War in Afghanistan: British forces began Operation Panther's Claw, in which more than 350 troops made an aerial assault on Taliban positions in southern Afghanistan.

Mass rioting broke out in Shishou, China, over the dubious circumstances surrounding the death of a local chef.

Only six race cars competed in the United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana, after all the Michelin-shod entrants were withdrawn due to safety concerns.

The Basque separatist group ETA detonated a car bomb at a Hipercor shopping centre in Barcelona, killing 21 people and injuring 45 others.

The international Patent Cooperation Treaty was signed, providing a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states.

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, the commander of the South Vietnam Air Force, was appointed prime minister at the head of a military regime.

Americans Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (pictured) were executed as spies for passing nuclear weapons secrets to the Soviet Union.

American baseball player Lou Gehrig (pictured) was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, now commonly known in the United States as "Lou Gehrig's disease".

Second French intervention in Mexico: Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico was executed by firing squad in Querétaro City.

The first officially recorded baseball game in U.S. history using modern rules was played in Hoboken, New Jersey, with the "New York Nine" defeating the New York Knickerbockers 23–1.

The Maryland province of the Jesuits contracted to sell 272 slaves to buyers in Louisiana in one of the largest slave sales in American history.

The proprietors of King's Chapel, Boston, voted to adopt James Freeman's Book of Common Prayer, thus establishing the first Unitarian church in the Americas.

An earthquake on the Tibetan Plateau led to the deaths of more than 73,000 people.