On September 26

The Ecnomiohyla rabborum became extinct when the last known surviving member died in captivity.

Forty-three students of the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College in Iguala, Mexico, were kidnapped and probably later killed.

Scottish aid worker Linda Norgrove and three Afghan colleagues were kidnapped by members of the Taliban in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.

Swiss pilot and inventor Yves Rossy (pictured) flew a wingpack powered by jet engines across the English Channel.

The racing yacht Australia II, captained by John Bertrand, won the America's Cup and ended the New York Yacht Club's 132-year defence of the trophy.

Cold War: Soviet lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov averted a potential nuclear war by identifying as a false alarm signals that appeared to indicate an impending U.S. missile attack.

The Beatles completed the recording of John Lennon's song "Happiness Is a Warm Gun", regarded by all the band members as their favourite on the album The Beatles.

Japan was struck by Typhoon Vera, the strongest and deadliest typhoon on record to make landfall on the country, causing damage in excess of US$261 million and more than 5,000 deaths.

The Cambodian–Vietnamese War formally ended with the withdrawal of Vietnamese forces from the People's Republic of Kampuchea, a client state it had implemented to overthrow Democratic Kampuchea and the Khmer Rouge.

World War II: The Soviet Red Army completed the Tallinn offensive, driving German forces out of Estonia.

As gangster Machine Gun Kelly surrendered to the FBI, he supposedly shouted "Don't shoot, G-Men!", which became a nickname for FBI agents.

The Republic of China adopted Gwoyeu Romatzyh (designer pictured) as the official system for romanization of Mandarin Chinese.

The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine defeated the White Russian Volunteer Army at the Battle of Peregonovka.

World War I: The Battle of Polygon Wood, part of the Battle of Passchendaele, began near Ypres, Belgium.

The British colony of New Zealand officially became a dominion to reflect its political independence since the 1850s.

English explorer Francis Drake's galleon the Golden Hind (replica pictured) sailed into Plymouth, completing his circumnavigation of the globe.

Pope Alexander VI issued the papal bull Dudum siquidem, one of the Bulls of Donation, marking the beginning of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Stephen of Blois's army approached Oxford, beginning the siege of Oxford.

William II, son of William the Conqueror, was crowned king of England.