Sunday, May 25, 1997
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.
|
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.
|
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.
|
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.
|
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.
|
Sources: Associated Press,
Chase's Calendar of Events 1997, J.P. Morgan
|