Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.

Taiwan opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou resigns as the chairman of the Kuomintang party after being indicted by the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office on charges of embezzlement during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei; Ma also announces his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election.

The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star ''BPM 37093''. Astronomers named this star "Lucy" after The Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".

An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter Scale hits El Salvador, killing at least 400.

The last original "Peanuts" comic strip appears in newspapers one day after Charles M. Schulz dies.

Gulf War: Two laser-guided "smart bombs" destroy the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad. Allied forces said the bunker was being used as a military communications outpost, but over 400 Iraqi civilians inside were killed.

German reunification: An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.

Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Río Negro massacre in Guatemala.

A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.

An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1/2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.

Hilton bombing: a bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman.

A fire breaks out in the World Trade Center in New York City, New York.

Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.

''Black Sabbath'', arguably the very first heavy metal album, is released.

American researchers discover the Madrid Codices by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Library of Spain.

Black college students stage the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.

Nuclear weapons testing: France tests its first atomic bomb.

Israel obtains 4 of the 7 Dead Sea scrolls.

Frank Selvy becomes the only NCAA Division I basketball player ever to score 100 points in a single game

Korean War: Battle of Chipyong-ni, which represented the "high-water mark" of the Chinese incursion into South Korea, commences.

World War II: Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.

World War II: The siege of Budapest concludes with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army.

A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.

The Soviet steamship ''Cheliuskin'' sinks in the Arctic Ocean.

The Negro National League is formed.

Copyright: In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.

Auguste and Louis Lumière patent the ''Cinematographe'', a combination movie camera and projector.

The feminist newspaper ''La Citoyenne'' is first published in Paris by the activist Hubertine Auclert.

Thomas Edison observes the Edison effect.

Work begins on the covering of the Zenne, burying Brussels's primary river and creating the modern central boulevards.

The Cambridge Union Society is founded.

Massacre of Glencoe: About 78 Macdonalds at Glen Coe, Scotland are killed early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange.

William and Mary are proclaimed co-rulers of England.

Spain recognizes Portugal as an independent nation.

Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.

Henry III of France is crowned at Rheims, marrying Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont on the same day.

Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.

Disfida di Barletta