Summary of the Day ✨ 26 November (26/11)
Tragedy struck multiple regions as a deadly fire in Hong Kong claimed 168 lives, while a NATO attack in Pakistan killed 24 soldiers in a friendly fire incident. Scientific progress continued with the WHO identifying the COVID-19 Omicron variant and NASA’s Insight probe successfully landing on Mars, though a devastating earthquake in Albania left over 1,000 injured.
Historical Events 📜
- 2025: The Wang Fuk Court fire, a catastrophic fire in Tai Po, Hong Kong, leaves at least 168 dead and 79 injured.
- 2021: COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization identifies the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.
- 2019: A magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes western Albania leaving at least 52 people dead and over 1,000 injured. This was the world’s deadliest earthquake of 2019, and the deadliest to strike the country in 99 years.
- 2018: The robotic probe Insight lands on Elysium Planitia, Mars.
- 2011: NATO attack in Pakistan: NATO forces in Afghanistan attack a Pakistani check post in a friendly fire incident, killing 24 soldiers and wounding 13 others.
- 2011: The Mars Science Laboratory launches to Mars with the Curiosity Rover.
- 2008: Mumbai attacks, a series of terrorist attacks killing approximately 175 citizens by 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan based extremist Islamist terrorist organisation.
- 2008: The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2, now out of service, docks in Dubai.
- 2004: Ruzhou School massacre: A man stabs and kills eight people and seriously wounds another four in a school dormitory in Ruzhou, China.
- 2004: The last Poʻouli (Black-faced honeycreeper) dies of avian malaria in the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Olinda, Hawaii, before it could breed, making the species in all probability extinct.
- 2003: The Concorde makes its final flight, over Bristol, England.
- 2000: George W. Bush is certified the winner of Florida’s electoral votes by Katherine Harris, going on to win the United States presidential election, despite losing in the national popular vote.
- 1999: The 7.5 Mw Ambrym earthquake shakes Vanuatu and a destructive tsunami follows. Ten people were killed and forty were injured.
- 1998: Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland.
- 1998: The Khanna rail disaster takes 212 lives in Khanna, Ludhiana, India.
Famous Births 👶
- 2001: Pau Víctor, Spanish footballer
- 2000: Lamecha Girma, Ethiopian athlete
- 1999: Jaycee Horn, American football player
- 1999: Olivia O’Brien, American singer-songwriter
- 1999: Jacob Shaffelburg, Canadian soccer player
- 1998: Shivam Mavi, Indian cricketer
- 1997: Aubrey Joseph, American actor
- 1997: Jennie Wåhlin, Swedish curler
- 1997: Aaron Wan-Bissaka, English-Congolese footballer
- 1996: Malik Beasley, American basketball player
- 1996: Brandon Carlo, American ice hockey player
- 1996: Louane, French singer and actress
- 1996: Marc Roca, Spanish footballer
- 1995: James Guy, English swimmer
- 1992: Anuel AA, Puerto Rican rapper and singer
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2024: Jim Abrahams, American film director and writer (born 1944)
- 2022: Vikram Gokhale, Indian actor and director (born 1945)
- 2021: Stephen Sondheim, American composer and lyricist (born 1930)
- 2018: Stephen Hillenburg, American animator, voice actor, and marine science educator (born 1961)
- 2016: Fritz Weaver, American actor (born 1926)
- 2015: Amir Aczel, Israeli-American mathematician, historian, and academic (born 1950)
- 2015: Guy Lewis, American basketball player and coach (born 1922)
- 2014: Mary Hinkson, American dancer and choreographer (born 1925)
- 2014: Gilles Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster (born 1938)
- 2014: Peter Underwood, English parapsychologist and author (born 1932)
- 2013: Arik Einstein, Israeli singer-songwriter (born 1939)
- 2013: Jane Kean, American actress and singer (born 1923)
- 2013: Saul Leiter, American photographer and painter (born 1923)
- 2013: Tony Musante, American actor and screenwriter (born 1936)
- 2012: Celso Advento Castillo, Filipino actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1943)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Christian feast days:
Alypius the Stylite - Christian feast days:
Basolus (Basle) - Christian feast days:
Bellinus of Padua - Christian feast days:
Conrad of Constance - Christian feast days:
Ethelwine of Athelney - Christian feast days:
Blessed Gaetana Sterni - Christian feast days:
John Berchmans - Christian feast days:
Pope Siricius - Christian feast days:
Sylvester Gozzolini - Christian feast days:
Isaac Watts (Episcopal Church (USA)) - Christian feast days:
November 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - Constitution Day (Abkhazia, Georgia)
- Constitution Day (India)
- Republic Day (Mongolia)