May 25th Major News Events

25 May, 1920 American Merchant Shipping

1920 : A study into American merchant shipping confirms that 79% of new ships just built or in design and build stages have moved from coal burners to oil burners as fuel.

1935 U.S.A. Jesse Owens

1935 : Jesse Owens broke three world records at the Big Ten meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan including broad jump, the 220-yard dash and the low hurdles.

More about Jesse Owens

1935 U.S.A. Babe Ruth

1935 : Babe Ruth hit the 714th and final home run of his career at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh while playing for the Boston Braves against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Shortly afterwards he announced his retirement.

1943 World War II Dusseldorf Bombing

1943 : 500 RAF Bombers bombed Dusseldorf and laid waste to parts of the city that have been left standing, also the RAF were in action in Burma with a raids into western Burma.

1958 France General Charles de Gaulle

1958 : General Charles de Gaulle becomes Prime Minister of France.

1961 U.S.A. Money To Put A Man On The Moon

1961 : President Kennedy has asked Congress for $531 million to help the US put a man on the moon before the end of the decade . On July 21st 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the Moon.

1963 Ethiopia Organisation of African Unity

1963 : African states unite to create the Organisation of African Unity / OAU to "decolonize" the remaining bastions of white rule in South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Mozambique and Angola with any and all means possible including providing African "freedom fighters" with finance, arms, volunteers and training bases.

1965 Muhammad Ali VS Sonny Liston Rematch

1965 : Following the Cassius Clay defeat of Sonny Liston on February 25, 1964, for the world heavyweight boxing championship and changing his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, Liston and Ali meet for a second time in Lewiston, Maine, for the Heavyweight Championship, during the first round Liston goes down ( Often called by a phantom punch ) and the Referee Jersey Joe Walcott stops the fight awarding Ali a first-round knockout.

1967 Portugal Celtic win the European Cup

1967 : Glasgow Celtic becomes the first British team to win the prestigious European Cup, beating favorites Internazionale Milan 2-1 at the Portuguese National Stadium in Lisbon.

1974 UK Flixborough Disaster

1974 : An explosion at a chemical plant at Flixborough leaves more than 25 dead.

1978 U.S.A. First Atlantic City Casino

1978 : The nations first legal casino outside of Nevada opens in the resort town of Atlantic City NJ for dice rollers and card players.

1979 Chicago Airport Plane Crash

1979 : A flight from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois American Airlines Flight 191 crashed and exploded in a field near the airport. The crash killed 273 people, including two on the ground.

1982 Falkland Islands Atlantic Conveyor and HMS Coventry

1982 : Two Argentinean Super Etendards fire French-built Exocets and destroy the Atlantic Conveyor. In A separate attack Argentinean Skyhawks hit HMS Coventry four times with 1,000 bombs causing explosions and the ship to capsize.

1986 U.S.A. Hands Across America

1986 : Approximately Seven million Americans joined hands hoping to raise more than $50 million to fight hunger and homelessness in "Hands Across America."

1988 Median House Price

1988 : A report by the National Association of Realtors has said the median price for a home is now $87,700.

1994 UK Lottery Winner Announced

1994 : The Camelot consortium pledging to give up to 30% of its takings to to five "good causes". has won the contract to run Britain's first national lottery which starts in November.

1998 U.S.A. Google

1998 : Concerns are being raised by many librarians and academics that the Internet is more likely to provide bad information than good as there are no checks and balances in place, this is well shown if someone is searching the Internet for medical advice as much of the content on the Internet is completely wrong and in some cases could be considered a danger. This was the same year the two founders of Google were developing a new kind of search engine that became the dominant player in Search Engines and they used a different way to measure the contents of a page using a form of voting from links on other sites which would be more likely to give the best results. Since then many SEO's have found ways to fix the voting by buying links or spamming links.

2005 Azerbaijan Longest Oil Pipeline Opens

2005 : The longest oil pipeline in the world opened. The pipeline was one thousand miles long and began in Azerbaijan, travelling through Georgia, and ending at a Mediterranean sea port in Turkey. The pipeline took over ten years to build and cost over three billion dollars. It reaches from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

2006 U.S.A. Enron Corp

2006 : Former Enron Corp. Executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling are convicted in Houston of conspiracy and fraud for the company's downfall. Kenneth Lay dies before sentencing and Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in prison.

2008 Iran Chemical Explosion Kills Many

2008 : A chemical explosion at a factory near Arak, Iran created a fire that killed thirty people and injured almost forty others. The factory that produced cosmetics and detergents was nearly completely destroyed by the blast, but the fire was quickly brought under control.

2009 North Korea Nuclear Test

2009 : North Korea announces that it has conducted a n underground detonation of a nuclear device in the province of North Hamgyong as part of it's nuclear weapons program. North Korea now believes it should be considered a full nuclear power, this raises a number of questions and problems for The United Nations Security Council over concerns that North Korea could sell this technology to other countries or terrorist organizations making nuclear proliferation likely.

2010 China Another iPhone Factory Worker Dies

2010 : Another Foxconn worker was found dead after falling off of a building at the factory. The nineteen year old worker became the tenth person to die in this manner at the factory since the beginning of 2010. The large company produces mobile phones and other electronics for various computer companies, including the Apple iPhone. The company admitted to thwarting numerous similar suicide attempts earlier that year and denied accusations that the employees were under too much pressure and pushed too hard.

2011 Arizona Shooter Ruled Unfit for Trial

2011 : Jared Loughner, the man accused of shooting and killing six people, and injuring US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in a January incident, was found incompetent to stand trial. Loughner pleaded not guilty and was declared unfit for trial after being evaluated by mental competency experts.

2013 First Gay Pride Parade Held in Ukraine

2013 : Ukraine's first gay pride parade took place with about one-hundred attendees in the country's capital city of Kiev. Police were present and had to arrest thirteen people who were trying to break up the gathering.