The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II) is reconsecrated after a thirteen-year rebuilding project.

British Digital terrestrial television (DTT) Service Freeview begins transmitting in parts of the United Kingdom.

The last Multics machine is shut down.

Quebec sovereignists narrowly lose a referendum for a mandate to negotiate independence from Canada (vote is 50.6% to 49.4%).

Greysteel massacre: The Ulster Freedom Fighters, a loyalist terrorist group, open fire on a crowded bar in Greysteel, Northern Ireland. Eight civilians are killed and thirteen wounded.

The Madrid Conference for Middle East peace talks opens.

In Japan, NEC releases the first 16-bit home entertainment system, the TurboGrafx-16, known as PC Engine.

Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for mission STS-61-A, its final successful mission.

The first democratic elections in Argentina after seven years of military rule are held.

El Salvador and Honduras sign a peace treaty to put the border dispute fought over in 1969's Football War before the International Court of Justice.

Prince Juan Carlos becomes Spain's acting head of state, taking over for the country's ailing dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco.

The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire.

The Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus for the first time.

A collision between two commuter trains in Chicago, Illinois kills 45 and injures 332.

In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes large floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.

Vietnam War: Just miles from Da Nang, United States Marines repel an intense attack by wave after wave of Viet Cong forces, killing 56 guerrillas. Among the dead, a sketch of Marine positions is found on the body of a 13-year-old Vietnamese boy who sold drinks to the Marines the day before.

Because of "violations of Lenin's precepts", it is decreed that Joseph Stalin's body be removed from its place of honour inside Lenin's tomb and buried near the Kremlin wall with a plain granite marker instead.

Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at 58 megatons of yield, it is still the largest explosive device ever detonated, nuclear or otherwise.

Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves the top secret document National Security Council Paper No. 162/2, which states that the United States' arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the communist threat.

Pope Pius XII witnesses "The Miracle of the Sun" while at the Vatican.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which is the foundation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), is founded.

Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball color barrier.

Anne Frank and sister Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

1,500 Jews from Pidhaytsi (in western Ukraine) are sent by Nazis to Belzec extermination camp.

World War II: Franklin Delano Roosevelt approves U.S. $1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Allied nations.

Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells's ''The War of the Worlds'', causing anxiety in some of the audience in the United States.

The Stuttgart Cable Car is constructed in Stuttgart, Germany.

John Logie Baird creates Britain's first television transmitter.

Benito Mussolini is made Prime Minister of Italy.

The Communist Party of Australia is founded in Sydney.

The Ottoman Empire signs an armistice with the Allies, ending the First World War in the Middle East.

Czar Nicholas II of Russia grants Russia's first constitution, creating a legislative assembly.

Domenico Melegatti obtains a patent for a procedure to be applied in producing pandoro industrially.

Second war of Schleswig ends. Denmark renounces all claim to Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg, which come under Prussian and Austrian administration.

Helena, Montana is founded after four prospectors discover gold at "Last Chance Gulch".

Danish Prince Wilhelm arrives in Athens to assume his throne as George I, King of the Hellenes.

In Southampton County, Virginia, escaped slave Nat Turner is captured and arrested for leading the bloodiest slave rebellion in United States history.

Banquet of Chestnuts|Ballet of Chestnuts

King Henry VII of England is crowned.

Henry VI of England returns to the English throne after Earl of Warwick defeats the Yorkists in battle.

Battle of Rio Salado.

The Eighth Crusade and siege of Tunis end by an agreement between Charles I of Sicily (brother to King Louis IX of France, who had died months earlier) and the sultan of Tunis.

Tran Thu Do, head of the Tran clan of Vietnam, forces Ly Hue Tong, the last emperor of the Ly dynasty, to commit suicide.

Battle of Rignano between Ranulf of Apulia and Roger II of Sicily.

Guangzhou is sacked by Arab and Persian pirates.