On This Day in History

African-American college students staged the first of the Nashville sit-ins (sign at protest pictured) at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee, as part of a nonviolent direct-action campaign to end racial segregation in the U.S.

Geode prospectors near Olancha, California, discovered what they claimed to be a 500,000-year-old rock with a 1920s-era spark plug encased within (pictured).

Explosions caused by the ignition of hexane vapors destroyed more than 13 miles (21 km) of sewer lines in Louisville, Kentucky, United States.

Federal agents began to issue indictments against county-level supervisors in Mississippi after Operation Pretense exposed massive corruption in the state's local governments.

Gulf War: The United States Air Force dropped two laser-guided "smart bombs" on an air-raid shelter in Baghdad, Iraq, which was believed to be a military command site, killing at least 408 civilians.

A terrorist bombing at a bakery popular among foreigners in Pune, India, killed 17 people and injured 60 others.

The first Vega rocket was launched by the European Space Agency from the Guiana Space Centre.

Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was assassinated using VX nerve agent in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.