Summary of the Day ✨ 26 May (26/05)
Violence marred celebrations worldwide as a car attack injured 65 at Liverpool’s trophy parade while a San Jose rail yard shooting claimed ten lives. Simultaneously, global protests against racial injustice erupted following George Floyd’s murder, Narendra Modi became India’s Prime Minister, and severe flooding in China began killing 148 people and displacing 1.3 million.
Historical Events 📜
- 2025: 65 people are injured when a car rams into a crowd on Water Street, near Liverpool F.C.’s Premier League trophy parade.
- 2021: Ten people are killed in a shooting at a VTA rail yard in San Jose, California, United States.
- 2020: Protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd erupt in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, later becoming widespread across the United States and around the world.
- 2014: Narendra Modi takes oath as the 15th Prime Minister of India.
- 2008: Severe flooding begins in eastern and southern China that will ultimately cause 148 deaths and force the evacuation of 1.3 million.
- 2003: Ukrainian-Mediterranean Airlines Flight 4230 crashes in the Turkish town of Maçka, killing 75.
- 2002: The tugboat Robert Y. Love collides with a support pier of Interstate 40 on the Arkansas River near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, resulting in 14 deaths and 11 others injured.
- 1998: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in New Jersey v. New York that Ellis Island, the historic gateway for millions of immigrants, is mainly in the state of New Jersey, not New York.
- 1998: The first “National Sorry Day” is held in Australia. Reconciliation events are held nationally, and attended by over a million people.
- 1998: A MIAT Mongolian Airlines Harbin Y-12 crashes near Erdenet, Orkhon Province, Mongolia, resulting in 28 deaths.
- 1991: Zviad Gamsakhurdia becomes the first elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era.
- 1991: Lauda Air Flight 004 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes in the Phu Toei National Park in the Suphan Buri province of Thailand, killing all 223 people on board.
- 1986: The European Community adopts the European flag.
- 1983: The 7.8 Mw Sea of Japan earthquake shakes northern Honshu with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami is generated that leaves about 100 people dead.
- 1981: Italian Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani and his coalition cabinet resign following a scandal over membership of the pseudo-masonic lodge P2 (Propaganda Due).
Famous Births 👶
- 2000: Yeji, South Korean singer
- 1999: Micah Parsons, American football player
- 1999: Georgia Wareham, Australian cricketer
- 1997: Mathew Barzal, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1996: Lara Goodall, South African cricketer
- 1994: Gong Myung, South Korean actor
- 1993: Jason Adesanya, Belgian footballer
- 1991: Ah Young, South Korean singer and actress
- 1989: Paula Findlay, Canadian triathlete
- 1989: Park Ye-eun, South Korean singer
- 1988: Andrea Catellani, Italian footballer
- 1988: Dani Samuels, Australian discus thrower
- 1987: Olcay Şahan, Turkish footballer
- 1986: Michel Tornéus, Swedish long jumper
- 1985: Monika Christodoulou, Greek singer-songwriter and guitarist
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2022: Andy Fletcher, English musician (born 1961)
- 2022: Ray Liotta, American actor (born 1954)
- 2022: Alan White, English drummer (born 1949)
- 2019: Prem Tinsulanonda, Former Prime Minister of Thailand (born 1920)
- 2017: Zbigniew Brzezinski, Polish-born American politician (born 1928)
- 2016: Hedy Epstein, German-born American human rights activist and Holocaust survivor (born 1924)
- 2015: Vicente Aranda, Spanish director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1926)
- 2015: Les Johnson, Australian politician and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand (born 1924)
- 2015: Robert Kraft, American astronomer and academic (born 1927)
- 2015: João Lucas, Portuguese footballer (born 1979)
- 2014: Baselios Thoma Didymos I, Indian metropolitan (born 1921)
- 2014: Miodrag Radulovacki, Serbian-American academic and neuropharmacologist (born 1933)
- 2014: William R. Roy, American physician, journalist, and politician (born 1926)
- 2014: Hooshang Seyhoun, Iranian-Canadian architect, sculptor, and painter (born 1920)
- 2013: Ray Barnhart, American businessman and politician (born 1928)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Christian feast day:
Augustine of Canterbury (Anglican Communion and Eastern Orthodox) - Christian feast day:
Lambert of Vence - Christian feast day:
Martyrs of the Paris Commune - Christian feast day:
Peter Sanz (one of Martyr Saints of China) - Christian feast day:
Philip Neri - Christian feast day:
Pope Eleutherius - Christian feast day:
Quadratus of Athens - Christian feast day:
Zachary, Bishop of Vienne - Christian feast day:
May 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - Independence Day, commemorates the declaration of independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1918 (Georgia)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Guyana from the United Kingdom in 1966.
- Mother’s Day (Poland)
- National Paper Airplane Day (United States)
- National Sorry Day (Australia)