On This Day in History

US vice president Richard Nixon's motorcade was attacked by a mob in Caracas, Venezuela.

The Australian adventurer Ben Carlin (pictured) became the only person to circumnavigate the world in an amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 80,000 kilometres (50,000 miles) by land and sea.

Zakir Husain took office as the first elected Muslim President of India.

Sino-Malay race riots began in Kuala Lumpur, leaving at least 190 people dead, with the government declaring a state of emergency and suspending the Parliament of Malaysia until 1971.

The Troubles: A car bomb planted by Ulster loyalists exploded outside a crowded pub in Belfast, Northern Ireland, beginning two days of gun battles between the British Army, the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and the Ulster Volunteer Force.

Eleven people, including five children, were killed after the Philadelphia Police Department dropped bombs from a helicopter during a raid on a house occupied by the Black liberation group MOVE.

Li Hongzhi introduced the Falun Gong movement at a public lecture in Changchun, China.

Alison Hargreaves became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest without the aid of Sherpas or bottled oxygen.

An explosion at a fireworks factory in Enschede, Netherlands, resulted in 23 deaths and approximately €450 million in damage.

Uzbek Interior Ministry and State Security Service troops fired at protesters in Andijan, killing between 187 and 1,500 people.

Nine bombs placed by the Indian Mujahideen, then an unknown terrorist group, exploded in a 15-minute period in Jaipur, India, killing 80 people and injuring more than 200 others.

Two bomb explosions in Charsadda District, Pakistan, killed 98 people and wounded 140 others.

Mexican authorities discovered 49 dismembered bodies in Cadereyta Jiménez.

The worst mining disaster in Turkish history took place when an explosion caused an underground mine fire at a coal mine in Soma, Manisa, leaving 301 people dead.

Eurovision Song Contest: Portugal won the contest for the first time, with the song "Amar pelos dois," performed by Salvador Sobral (pictured).