1983 - Ethnic riots flared in the Sri Lankan capital, killing at least three people, with the government threatening that troops could “shoot without warning” violators of a 15-hour curfew. Angry mobs burned and looted shops and houses, most belonging to minority Tamils, and army troops were called out to maintain order. Mobs roamed the streets of Colombo stopping cars and siphoning fuel. Schools, shops and offices were closed and people rushed from their homes as the violence spread. President Junius Jayewardene was in close touch with his ministers, police and military leaders as his government moved to contain the violence.
Other major events happened on July 25
1909 - French aviator Louis Bleriot becomes the first person to fly across the English Channel.
1920 - French forces occupy Damascus, Syria.
1943 - Benito Mussolini is forced to resign as prime minister of Italy during the Second World War.
1957 - Tunisia becomes independent from France.
1963 - United States, Soviet Union and Britain conclude treaty prohibiting nuclear testing in atmosphere, space or underwater.
1968 - Pope Paul VI bans all artificial birth control methods for Roman Catholics.
1971 - Dr Christiaan Barnard transplants two lungs and a heart into a man in Cape Town, South Africa.
1978 - The world’s first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, is born in Britain.
1984 - Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to walk in space.
1994 - Jordan and Israel seal the end of a 46-year state of war.
2017 - Ram Nath Kovind sworn is as India’s 14th president.
