29 May 554

An oil spill in Norilsk released 17,500 tons of diesel oil into nearby rivers.

Residents of Portland, Oregon, held a rally called Hands Across Hawthorne in response to an attack against a gay couple holding hands while crossing the Hawthorne Bridge.

Charlotte Perrelli, representing Sweden, won the Eurovision Song Contest, the first edition not to feature an orchestra or live accompaniment.

President Olusegun Obasanjo took office as Nigeria's first elected and civilian head of state after 16 years of military dictatorship.

Diane Leather became the first woman to run a mile in less than five minutes.

The mountaineers Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Bing Crosby recorded his version of the song "White Christmas", which went on to become the best-selling single worldwide, with more than 50 million copies sold.

World War I: Armenian forces defeated Ottoman troops at the Battle of Sardarabad, halting the Turkish advance and preventing further destruction of the Armenian nation.

During the premiere of the ballet Le Sacre du printemps by Igor Stravinsky at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the avant-garde nature of the music and choreography caused a near-riot in the audience (report pictured).

English dramatist W. S. Gilbert of the songwriting duo Gilbert and Sullivan died while saving a young woman from drowning in his lake.

N'Djamena, now the capital of Chad, was founded as Fort-Lamy by French commander Émile Gentil.

Sojourner Truth (pictured) delivered her "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at the Woman's Rights Convention in Akron.

The Great Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was disbanded following the Russian invasion of Poland.

With the fall of Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottomans.

A squadron of the Venetian navy captured many Ottoman ships at the Battle of Gallipoli, confirming Venetian naval superiority in the Aegean Sea for the next few decades.

Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols entered and began looting Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty of China, after a 13-month siege.

Wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines: Troops of the Lombard League defeated forces of the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Legnano in present-day Italy.

Tara Air Flight 197 crashes in Nepal's Mustang District, killing 22.

A Cessna Citation I/SP crashes into Percy Priest Lake in Tennessee, killing all six people on board, including actor Joe Lara and his wife Gwen Shamblin Lara.

An oil spill in Norilsk releases 17,500 tons of diesel oil into nearby rivers.

One World Observatory at One World Trade Center opens.

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake hits northern Italy near Bologna, killing at least 24 people.

A doublet earthquake, of combined magnitude 6.1, strikes Iceland near the town of Selfoss, injuring 30 people.

France rejects the Constitution of the European Union in a national referendum.