1942    World War II: The Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur.

1969    Race riots, later known as the May 13 Incident, take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

1972    Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

1974    Kuala Lumpur is declared a Federal Territory.

1975    The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages include the U.S. consul and the Swedish chargé d’affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and fly with them to Libya.

1993    Forty-eight people are killed when a block of the Highland Towers collapses near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

1998    Opening ceremony for the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysia is the first Asian country to host the games.

2003    The pinnacle is fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 50 meters (165 feet) and become the World's tallest highrise.