July 25th Major News Events

1952 Puerto Rico Self Governing Commonwealth of US

1952 : After a number of years during which there were revolts including the Jayuya Uprising against the United States. Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth of the United States. The head of state is still George Bush and the Federal Legislative Branch is the United States Congress. The country is currently run by the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico who hold control of the Puerto Rican House of Representatives and Senate who are campaigning for the right of Statehood for Puerto Rico.

1956 U.S.A. Ocean Liners Collide

1956 : The Italian ocean liner Andrea Doria and the Swedish ocean liner Stockholm collide in a heavy Atlantic fog off the island of Nantucket on the New England coast. Fifty-one passengers and crew were killed in the collision, which ripped a great hole in the broad side of the Italian vessel Andrea Doria all 1,660 survivors were rescued from the ship before it sunk late the next morning.

1969 Senator Edward Kennedy Chappaquiddick

1969 : Senator Edward Kennedy pleads guilty to leaving the scene of a crime (car accident on the island of Chappaquiddick where Mary Jo Kopechne drowned) and has been sentenced to a two-month suspended jail sentence.

1973 Soviet Union Mars 5 Probe

1973 : The Soviet Union launched Mars 5, its second unmanned Mars probe on a six-month journey to the red planet.

1978 Great Britain First Test Tube Baby

1978 : Lesley Brown gave birth to the world's first test tube baby (in-vitro fertilization) delivered by cesarean section in Oldham, England. Dr. Patrick Steptoe and Dr. Robert Edwards developed the process to conceive a child in a laboratory and then plant in a uterus to develop normally.

1978 Britain Motability Scheme Launched

1978 : A new scheme in Britain (Motability scheme) to provide cars for disabled people is launched in Earl's Court, London. The scheme allows disabled people to use part of their mobility allowance to lease new, modified cars for the disabled.

1986 India Hindu Murder

1986 : Masked Sikhs stopped an inter city bus in Punjab State and ordered all Hindus off the bus , they then shot and murdered the Hindus in a hail of automatic gunfire.

1992 Spain Barcelona Olympics

1992 : After 20 years of Boycotts of the Olympic games the Barcelona Olympic Games becomes the first games with no major boycotts and a record number of 169 nations taking part in the opening parade.

1999 France Lance Armstrong

1999 : Just three years after being diagnosed with testicular cancer, American Lance Armstrong won the first of seven consecutive Tour de France victories.

2000 U.S.A. Dick Cheney

2000 : George Bush chooses Dick Cheney to be his running mate on the Republican presidential ticket.

2006 Russia / Georgia Tensions

2006 : On this day the country of Georgia deployed troops to the Kodori gorge, a strategic military location in the Abkhazia region. Both Russian and the Abkhaz government protested the move by Georgia citing it as a violation of the 1994 Moscow ceasefire. Georgia responded by demanding that Russia remove its troops from Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

2007 Canada Oil Pipe Breaks

2007 : An oil pipe in Vancouver, Canada burst when a construction crew accidentally dug into the pipeline on this day, creating a geyser of crude oil. Some fifty homes in the suburb were evacuated and the oil spilled for over twenty minutes before the flow to the pipe was turned off.

2007 Democratic Republic of Congo Mountain Gorillas Killed

2007 : Four more mountain gorillas have been found shot in the Virunga National Park, home to 380 mountain gorillas over half the worlds population of this endangered species. Unlike many of the murders of these endangered animals this is not the work of poachers, but something even more sinister ( the latest speculation is that this is the work of rebels who think killing the endangered species is a way of hurting the Congolese authorities ). This brings the total killed this year to seven gorillas including 2 silverbacks earlier this year.

2009 England Last World War I Vet Dies

2009 : Britain’s last living World War I veteran died on this day. Harry Patch, a 111-year-old former plumber refused to talk about his war experiences until he reached the age of 100. For eleven years before his death he traveled around and received honors while speaking on his life experiences in the first world war.

2011 Syria Will Allow Political Parties

2011 : The Syrian government announced that it has adopted a draft law which would allow the formation of political parties other than the Baath party in the country. The Baath party has acted as the ruling party in Syria for almost fifty years. The announcement was made in hopes of appeasing anti-government protesters who demanded government reforms including a multi-party system.

2012 Greek Athlete Expelled From Olympics

2012 : Voula Papachristou was expelled from competing in the 2012 London Olympics on the Greek team because of comments that she posted on Twitter. The triple jump competitor had supported Greece's far-right party and had also mocked African immigrants on Twitter and the Hellenic Olympic Committee deemed her remarks to go against the Olympic spirit and expelled her from the games only a few days before the games were to start. Papachristou apologized for her comments.

2013 Spain Train Crash Kills and Injures Many

2013 : A train derailed and crashed in northwestern Spain. At least seventy-seven passengers were killed and over one-hundred were injure of the 218 on board. All eight of the trains carriages came off the track and it is possible that the train was traveling twice as fast as the speed limit when it went around a curve.