On this day — December 12

beating seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton to become the first Formula One World Champion to come from the Netherlands.

Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2.

Gore.

killing six people, injuring 40, and causing power outages that affected the capital Manila.

a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board, including 236 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division.

killing 300–600, and generating a large tsunami.

a bomb explodes at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (the National Agricultural Bank) in Piazza Fontana in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88. The same afternoon, three more bombs are detonated in Rome and Milan, and another is found unexploded.