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Sunday, May 25, 1997

  • Today's Events
  • On Horizon
  • On This Day
  • Newslink
  • Holidays & more
  • Almanac archive
  • "There are a lot of basic things that are nice about planet Earth that I'm looking forward to just re-experiencing."

    -- U.S. astronaut Jerry Linenger





    Today's events


  • France holds the first round of parliamentary elections; second round will be held June 1.

  • In Moscow, ratification is expected of the Russia-Belarus union agreement.

  • Hungarian President Arpad Goncz visits Romania.

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    On the horizon


  • On Monday, May 26, a preliminary hearing begins at the U.N. Tribunal for former Yugoslavia of the appeal by Drazen Erdemovic against a 10-year jail sentence for crimes against humanity.

  • On Tuesday, May 27, the 9th annual National Geography Bee is scheduled to begin in Washington.

  • On Wednesday, May 28, NATO foreign ministers meet in Lisbon.

  • On Thursday, May 29, Indonesia holds general elections.

  • On Friday, May 30, presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Liberia.

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    On this day


  • In 1787, a convention under George Washington met for the first time to draw up the new U.S. constitution.

  • In 1803, Ralph Waldo Emerson, U.S. poet, essayist and leading exponent of New England Transcendentalism, was born.

  • In 1810, a revolution began in Rio de la Plata (later Argentina), when an autonomous government was set up in Buenos Aires.

  • In 1895, writer Oscar Wilde was sentenced to two years hard labor in Britain for being a sodomite.

  • In 1911, President Porfirio Diaz resigned after revolutionist forces defeated government troops in the Mexican Civil War.

  • In 1915, in Europe, the second Battle of Ypres ended with casualties around 105,000. The Germans used poison gas for the first time.

  • In 1923, Britain recognized the country of Transjordan with Abdullah as its leader.

  • In 1935, American athlete Jesse Owens set six world records in 45 minutes.

  • In 1951, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, British foreign office officials, disappeared from London. It was later discovered they had spied for Russia.

  • In 1963, a summit conference of African states ended in Addis Ababa with an agreement to set up the Organization of African Unity.

  • In 1969, the Sudanese government was overthrown in a military coup led by Col. Jaafar Nimeiri.

  • In 1979, America's worst-ever air disaster occurred when a DC-10 crashed at Chicago's O'Hare airport, killing 273.

  • In 1983, a fire on board three vessels on a trip on the Upper Nile in Egypt killed over 300 people.

  • In 1986, 30 million people worldwide joined in Bob Geldof's "race against time" crusade to raise money for the starving in Africa with "Live Aid," a massive benefit concert.

  • In 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected to the new post of Executive President in the Soviet Union.

  • In 1990, Winnie Mandela's chief bodyguard, Jerry Richardson, was found guilty of the murder of 14-year-old Stompie Seipei.

  • In 1991, 15,000 Falashas - Ethiopia Jews - were airlifted from Addis Ababa to Israel as rebel forces approached the Ethiopian capital.

  • In 1992, Veteran Italian politician Oscar Luigi Scalfaro was elected president.

  • In 1993, Guatemalan President Jorge Serrano dissolved congress and suspended the constitution amid fears of a coup.

  • In 1994, Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, ending a 20-year exile in the West, left his home in Cavendish, Vermont, to begin his long journey back to Russia.

  • In 1995, a major flare-up in the Bosnian war began when NATO launched air strikes against ammunition bunkers near Pale.

  • In 1996, Bulgaria's King Simeon II came home after 50 years of exile to a rapturous welcome from royalist crowds and a cold-shoulder from the socialist government.

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    Newslink


    On this day in 1787, members of a convention led by George Washington obtained a seven-state quorum to create the U.S. Constitution. Take a look back at history with the National Archives and Records Administration's Constitution of the United States page.


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    Holidays and more


  • Today is a National Holiday in Argentina.

  • It's Liberation of Africa day in Chad.

  • It's Lag B'Omer in Israel.

  • Jordan celebrates Independence Day.

  • It is Africa Freedom Day in Zambia.

  • Mali, Mauritania, Namibia and Zimbabwe celebrate Africa Day.

  • Actor Claude Akins is 79.

  • Actress Dixie Carter is 58.

  • Singer Jessi Colter is 50.

  • Actor Sir Ian McKellan is 58.

  • Actress Connie Selleca is 42.

  • Opera singer Beverly Sills is 68.

  • Singer Leslie Uggams is 54.

  • Actress Karen Valentine is 50.

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    Sources: Associated Press,
    Chase's Calendar of Events 1997, J.P. Morgan



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