Today in History

German Bundestag passes controversial bill mandating storage of citizens’ telecommunications traffic date for six months without probable cause.

Largest civil settlement in US history: 37 brokerage houses are ordered to pay $1.3 billion to NASDAQ investors to compensate for price fixing.

The chemical element Darmstadtium, a radioactive synthetic element, discovered by scientists in Darmstadt, Germany.

Stari Most, a 427-year-old bridge in the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is destroyed, believed to be caused by artillery fire from Bosnian Croat forces.

The Berlin Wall is opened after dividing the city for 28 years.

Alfred Heineken, beer brewer from Amsterdam, is kidnapped and held for a ransom of more than $10 million.

Bones discovered by the Leakeys push human origins back 1 million years.

NASA launches Apollo 4 into orbit with the first successful test of a Saturn V rocket.

Nine Northeastern states and parts of Canada go dark in the worst power failure in history, when a switch at a station near Niagara Falls fails.

Tom Fogerty, musician; guitarist with Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Nazis kill 35 Jews, arrest thousands and destroy Jewish synagogues, homes and stores throughout Germany. The event becomes known as Kristallnacht, the night of the shattered glass.

Mary Travers, singer, songwriter; member of Vocal Group folk group Peter, Paul and Mary (“Puff the Magic Dragon,” “If I Had a Hammer”).

Japanese troops invade Shanghai, China.

Carl Sagan, American astronomer and writer.