The South Kivu tank truck explosion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo kills at least 230 people.

Ingrid Betancourt, and 14 other hostages held by FARC guerrillas, are rescued by the Colombian armed forces.

ASEAN Regional Forum accepts Pakistan as its 24th member.¨

Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy, insults German MP Martin Schulz by calling him a "kapo" during a session of the European Parliament.

Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.

The AbioCor self contained artificial heart is first implanted.

Vicente Fox Quesada is elected the first President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional, after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional.

37 participants in an Alevi cultural and literary festival were killed when a mob of demonstrators set fire to their hotel in Sivas during a violent protest.

Fall of the Republic of Vietnam; Communist North Vietnam declares their union to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The French military explodes a nuclear test bomb codenamed Aldébaran in Mururoa, their first nuclear test in the Pacific.

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places.

The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.

The Golden Pavilion at Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto, Japan burns down.

Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose is arrested and detained in Calcutta.

Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.

The Night of the Long Knives ends with the death of Ernst Röhm.

The East St. Louis Riots end.

The first Zeppelin flight takes place on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.

Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi obtains a patent for radio in London.

The U.S. Congress passes the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James Garfield, who eventually dies from an infection on September 19.

Victor Emmanuel II of Italy enters Rome after having conquered it from the Papal States.

The Russian Army crossed the Pruth river into the Danubian Principalities, Moldavia and Wallachia--providing the spark that set off the Crimean War.

Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinqué take over the slave ship ''Amistad''.

Bahia Independence Day: the end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia.

Vermont becomes the first American territory to abolish slavery.

The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with Great Britain although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence is not approved until July 4.

Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine.

Europeans first visit Minnesota and see headwaters of Mississippi in an expedition led by Daniel Greysolon de Du Luth.

English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor.

The first English expedition from Massachusetts against Acadia led by Samuel Argall takes place.

Battle of Yamazaki: Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeats Akechi Mitsuhide.

Menas, Emperor of Ethiopia, defeats a revolt in Emfraz.

The Ottoman Admiral Turgut Reis sacks the Italian city of Paola.

The Treaty of Tordesillas is ratified by Spain.

The Battle of Göllheim is fought between Albert I of Habsburg and Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg.

The imperial army proclaims Nicephorus Phocas Emperor of the Romans on the plains outside Cappadocian Caesarea.

In China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang inters the bodies of relatives in the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang outside Chang'an.

Li Shimin, the future Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor of China, ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Incident at Xuanwu Gate.