Summary of the Day ✨ 25 November (25/11)
Tragedy struck multiple regions as freak floods in Jeddah killed 122 pilgrims during Hajj while Cyclone Nisha devastated Sri Lanka and an earthquake shook Azerbaijan, claiming dozens of lives. In international news, a young Cuban boy was rescued off Florida’s coast while Czechoslovakia officially voted to peacefully split into two nations.
Historical Events 📜
- 2009: Jeddah floods: Freak rains swamp the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during an ongoing Hajj pilgrimage. Three thousand cars are swept away and 122 people perish in the torrents, with 350 others missing.
- 2008: Cyclone Nisha strikes northern Sri Lanka, killing 15 people and displacing 90,000 others while dealing the region the highest rainfall in nine decades.
- 2000: The 2000 Baku earthquake, with a Richter magnitude of 7.0 kills 26 people dead in Baku, Azerbaijan, being the strongest earthquake in the region in 158 years.
- 1999: A five-year-old Cuban boy, Elián González, is rescued by fishermen while floating in an inner tube off the Florida coast.
- 1992: The Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with effect from January 1, 1993.
- 1987: Typhoon Nina pummels the Philippines with category 5 winds of 265 km/h (165 mph) and a surge that destroys entire villages. At least 1,036 deaths are attributed to the storm.
- 1986: Iran–Contra affair: U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
- 1986: The King Fahd Causeway is officially opened in the Persian Gulf.
- 1985: A Soviet Air Force Antonov An-12 is shot down near Menongue in Angola’s Cuando Cubango Province, killing 21.
- 1984: Thirty-six top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
- 1981: Pope John Paul II appoints Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
- 1980: Sangoulé Lamizana, president of Upper Volta, is ousted from power in a coup d’état led by Colonel Saye Zerbo.
- 1977: Former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., is found guilty by the Philippine Military Commission No. 2 and is sentenced to death by firing squad. He is later assassinated in 1983.
- 1975: Coup of 25 November 1975, a failed military coup d’état by Portuguese far-left activists seeking to hijack the Portuguese transition to democracy to establish a communist regime.
- 1975: Suriname gains independence from the Netherlands.
Famous Births 👶
- 2002: Pedri, Spanish footballer
- 2000: Talen Horton-Tucker, American basketball player
- 2000: Kaja Juvan, Slovenian tennis player
- 1997: Dennis Smith Jr., American basketball player
- 1993: Danny Kent, English motorcycle racer
- 1992: Ana Bogdan, Romanian tennis player
- 1991: Philipp Grubauer, German ice hockey player
- 1990: Stephanie Hsu, American actress
- 1988: Nodar Kumaritashvili, Georgian luger (died 2010)
- 1988: Jay Spearing, English footballer
- 1987: Trevor Booker, American basketball player
- 1986: Katie Cassidy, American actress
- 1985: Remona Fransen, Dutch pentathlete
- 1984: Peter Siddle, Australian cricketer
- 1984: Gaspard Ulliel, French actor (died 2022)
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2025: Bernardo Álvarez Afonso, Spanish Roman Catholic bishop (born 1949)
- 2024: Earl Holliman, American actor (born 1928)
- 2024: Hal Lindsey, American evangelist and Christian writer (born 1929)
- 2023: Terry Venables, English football player and manager (born1943)
- 2020: Diego Maradona, Argentinian football player (born 1960)
- 2016: Fidel Castro, Communist leader of Cuba, and revolutionary (born 1926)
- 2016: Ron Glass, American actor (born 1945)
- 2015: O’Neil Bell, Jamaican boxer (born 1974)
- 2015: Jeremy Black, English admiral (born 1932)
- 2015: Svein Christiansen, Norwegian drummer and composer (born 1941)
- 2015: Lennart Hellsing, Swedish author and translator (born 1919)
- 2015: Elmo Williams, American director, producer, and editor (born 1913)
- 2014: Irvin J. Borowsky, American publisher and philanthropist (born 1924)
- 2014: Sitara Devi, Indian dancer, and choreographer (born 1920)
- 2014: Petr Hapka, Czech composer and conductor (born 1944)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Christian feast day:
Catherine of Alexandria and its related observances - Christian feast day:
Elizabeth of Reute - Christian feast day:
Isaac Watts (Lutheran Church and Church of England) - Christian feast day:
James Otis Sargent Huntington (Episcopal Church) - Christian feast day:
November 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
- Roses Revolution Day, against obstetric violence