Summary of the Day ✨ 11 August (11/08)
On this day, Russia’s Luna 25 mission launched toward the moon while disaster struck with deadly train collisions in Egypt, devastating earthquakes in Iran, and a major oil spill in the Philippines. Simultaneously, NATO made history by taking command of peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan, marking its first major deployment outside Europe in 54 years.
Historical Events 📜
- 2023: Luna 25 launches from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
- 2017: At least 41 people are killed and another 179 injured after two passenger trains collide in Alexandria, Egypt.
- 2012: At least 306 people are killed and 3,000 others injured in a pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran.
- 2006: The oil tanker MT Solar 1 sinks off the coast of Guimaras and Negros Islands in the Philippines, causing the country’s worst oil spill.
- 2003: NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
- 2003: Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
- 2000: An air rage incident occurs on board Southwest Airlines Flight 1763 when 19-year-old Jonathan Burton attempts to storm the cockpit, but he is subdued by other passengers and dies from his injuries.
- 1995: The Russell Hill subway accident in Toronto kills 3 and injures 30, due to a combination of human error and a safety system design flaw.
- 1992: The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota opens. At the time the largest shopping mall in the United States.
- 1991: Nickelodeon’s first line of “Nicktoons” (Doug, Rugrats & Ren & Stimpy) premiere on the channel.
- 1988: A meeting between Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, and leaders of Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan culminates in the formation of Al-Qaeda.
- 1984: “We begin bombing in five minutes”: United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio.
- 1982: A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii, killing one passenger and injuring 15 others.
- 1979: Two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s collide over the Ukrainian city of Dniprodzerzhynsk and crash, killing all 178 aboard both airliners.
- 1975: East Timor: Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
Famous Births 👶
- 2002: Marvin Harrison Jr., American football player
- 2001: Moyuka Uchijima, Japanese tennis player
- 1999: Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, Indonesian badminton player
- 1999: Changbin, South Korean rapper
- 1997: Sarah Clelland, Scottish footballer
- 1995: Brad Binder, South African motorcycle racer
- 1994: Storm Sanders, Australian tennis player
- 1994: Anton Cooper, New Zealand cross-country cyclist
- 1994: Joseph Barbato, French footballer
- 1994: Song I-han, South Korean singer
- 1993: Alyson Stoner, American actor, singer, and dancer
- 1992: Tomi Lahren, American conservative political commentator
- 1991: Cristian Tello, Spanish footballer
- 1990: Lenka Juríková, Slovak tennis player
- 1989: Junior Heffernan, Irish cyclist and triathlete (died 2013)
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2025: Miguel Uribe Turbay, Colombian precandidate to presidency (born 1986)
- 2025: Danielle Spencer, American actress (born 1965)
- 2024: Ángel Salazar, Cuban-American comedian and actor (born 1956)
- 2024: Noël Treanor, Irish Roman Catholic prelate (born 1950)
- 2023: Mike Ahern, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of Queensland (born 1942)
- 2022: Anne Heche, American actress (born 1969)
- 2022: Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer (born 1926)
- 2020: Trini Lopez, American singer and guitarist (born 1937)
- 2020: Sumner Redstone, American billionaire businessman (born 1923)
- 2019: Sergio Obeso Rivera, Mexican Roman Catholic cardinal (born 1931)
- 2018: V S Naipaul, British writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1932)
- 2018: Terry A. Davis, American computer programmer, creator of TempleOS (born 1969)
- 2017: Yisrael Kristal, Polish-Israeli supercentenarian; oldest living Holocaust survivor and one of the ten oldest men ever (born 1903)
- 2017: Segun Bucknor, Nigerian musician and journalist (born 1946)
- 2015: Serge Collot, French viola player and educator (born 1923)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Christian Feast Day:
Athracht - Christian Feast Day:
Clare of Assisi - Christian Feast Day:
Gaugericus - Christian Feast Day:
John Henry Newman (Church of England) - Christian Feast Day:
Philomena - Christian Feast Day:
Susanna - Christian Feast Day:
Taurinus of Évreux - Christian Feast Day:
Tiburtius and Chromatius - Christian Feast Day:
August 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - Flag Day (Pakistan)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Chad from France in 1960.
- Mountain Day (Japan)