India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon making India the world's sixth nuclear power joining the existing the 5 existing Nuclear Powers of United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, China, and France. The Nuclear Bomb was a fission bomb similar in explosive power to the U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

The highest court in the US state of Maryland has ruled that same-sex divorce is legal in the state even though same-sex marriage is not yet legal. Gay marriage was made legal in the state in March but would not come into effect until January of the next year.