- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat falls seriously ill at his home in Ramallah and is hospitalized in Paris, France.
- The Boston Red Sox win the World Series major league baseball championship for the first time since 1918, ending the "Curse of the Bambino".
- The Cassini spacecraft images Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, in unprecedented detail, revealing an unexpectedly smooth surface.
- A report published in the journal Nature announces the discovery of Homo floresiensis, an extinct species closely related to human beings, on the Indonesian island of Flores.
- A vote by the European Parliament over the approval of the new European Commission is delayed after incoming president José Durão Barroso asks for more time to reshuffle his team.