A bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven.

The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection.

NASA launches STS-92, the 100th Space Shuttle mission, using Space Shuttle Discovery.

Pala accident: a wood lorry and school bus collide in Jõgeva county, Estonia, killing eight children.

Start of Operation Pawan by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka that killed few thousand ethnic Tamil civilians, several hundred Tamil Tigers and few hundred Indian Army soldiers.

Cold War: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe.

Aboard the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'', astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.

The ''Mary Rose'', a Tudor carrack which sank on July 19 1545, is salvaged from the sea bed of the Solent, off Portsmouth.

George Washington's appointment, posthumously, to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States by congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479 is approved by President Gerald R. Ford.

The NBC sketch comedy/variety show ''Saturday Night Live'' debuts with George Carlin as the host and Andy Kaufman, Janis Ian and Billy Preston as guests.

A race riot occurs on the United States Navy aircraft carrier ''Kitty Hawk'' off the coast of Vietnam during Operation Linebacker.

Apollo program: NASA launches ''Apollo 7,'' the first successful manned Apollo mission, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard.

Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years.

Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up).

Space Race: M.I.T. scientists calculate Sputnik I's booster rocket's orbit.

First Indochina War: The Viet Minh take control of North Vietnam.

Television: CBS's mechanical color system is the first to be licensed for broadcast by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

Tuvinian People's Republic or formerly Tannu Tuva is annexed by the U.S.S.R

World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance

Beginning of the National Liberation War of Macedonia.

JC Penney opens store #1252 in Milford, Delaware, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 U.S. states.

Former President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane. He flew for four minutes with Arch Hoxsey in a plane built by the Wright Brothers at Kinloch Field (Lambert-St. Louis International Airport), St. Louis, Missouri.

San Francisco public school board sparks United States diplomatic crisis with Japan by ordering Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools.

The Western League is renamed the American League.

Second Boer War begins: In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupts.

In Washington, DC, the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.

Paul Bogle led hundreds of black men and women in a march in Jamaica, starting the Morant Bay rebellion.

Campina Grande, Brazil is established as a city.

American Civil War: In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and his men loot Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during a raid into the north.

The University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university, is inaugurated in Sydney.

A big demonstration at the gates of the legislature of Buenos Aires forces the ousting of governor Juan Ramón Balcarce and his replacement with Juan José Viamonte.

Inventor John Stevens' boat, the ''Juliana'', begins operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service between New York, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey).

Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand.

American Revolution: Battle of Valcour Island

George II and Caroline of Ansbach are crowned King and Queen of Great Britain.

Sack of Wexford: After a ten-day siege, English New Model Army troops (under Oliver Cromwell) stormed the town of Wexford, killing over 2,000 Irish Confederate troops and 1,500 civilians.

The Burchardi flood — "the second Grote Mandrenke" killed around 15,000 men in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany.

Adriaen Block and 12 Amsterdam merchants petition the States General for exclusive trading rights in the New Netherland colony.

Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

Huldrych Zwingli is killed in battle with the Roman Catholic cantons of Switzerland.

A massive earthquake struck Aleppo, Syria.