Today is the 232nd day of 2025. There are 133 days left in the year.

TODAYS HIGHLIGHT

2009: Usain Bolt of Jamaica smashes his 2008 Beijing 19.30-second 200m World Record in 19.19 seconds at the World Championshps in Berlin; this record still stands today.

OTHER EVENTS

1619: Slavery begins in mainland North America when the first known African captives (approximately 20) land at Point Comfort, Virginia, before being sold or traded into servitude.

1908: Belgium’s King Leopold II hands over the Congo — until then his personal possession — to the Belgian Government.

1910: A series of forest fires sweeps through parts of Idaho, Montana and Washington, killing at least 85 people and burning some three million acres.

1940: Exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is attacked with an ice pick near Mexico City by a Spanish Communist; he dies the next day.

1953: The Soviet Union publicly acknowledges it tested a hydrogen bomb.

1964: US President Lyndon B Johnson signs a US$1-billion anti-poverty measure.

1971: Leaders of Libya, Egypt and Syria sign a constitution binding their countries in the Federation of Arab Republics.

1976: South Africa announces a new concession giving urban blacks full title to the land on which they live.

1980: The United Nations Security Council approves a resolution urging all nations not to recognise Israel’s recent declaration that all Jerusalem is its undivided and eternal capital; the United States abstains in the vote.

1989: Entertainment executive Jose Menendez and his wife Kitty are shot to death in their Beverly Hills mansion by their sons Lyle and Erik.

1990: Convicts from a Siberian labour camp overpower guards aboard an Aeroflot passenger flight, hijack the plane to Pakistan, and seek political asylum.

1992: Dozens of people are killed and more than 7,000 buildings are wrecked by a strong earthquake in Kyrgyzstan.

1993: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe threatens to expel white landowners who object to Government efforts to expropriate their property.

2000: Tiger Woods wins the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Championship in a play-off over Bob May, becoming the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in one year.

2002: Members of the Abu Sayyaf guerrilla group in the Philippines kidnap six Jehovah’s Witnesses amd two Muslims from the town of Patikul on the island of Jolo; two days later it is found that they have beheaded two of their captives.

2003: One protester is shot dead and five others are injured in violent clashes with the police in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; the protesters were demonstrating against endemic power outages around the country.

2006: Nepal’s Government reverses its decision to raise gasolene, diesel and cooking fuel prices after thousands of protesters clash with police, block traffic, and vandalise government vehicles.

2007: Michael Vick, quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, agrees to plead guilty to felony charges related to dogfighting; on August 24 he is suspended indefinitely by the National Football League.

2008: In Beijing, China, Usain Bolt of Jamaica breaks the world record by winning the 200 metres in 19.30 seconds.

2009: Jamaica’s Melanie Walker wins the women’s 400m hurdles in a championship record of 52.42 seconds, at the World Championships in Berlin. A law is enacted in Mexico that decriminalises possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroine, methamphetamine, and LSD.

2011: Socialite and model Kim Kardashian weds basketball player Kris Humphries at a private estate in Montecito, California, USA.

2012: The man known primarily for gatecrashing the White House, Tareq Salahi divorces socialite Michaele Salahi due to claims of adultery, desertion and construction desertion.

2013: Qatar-based al-Jazeera Media Network launches its US cable news outlet, Al-Jazeera America.

2014: Indian teacher B K S Iyengar, who helped popularise Yoga (a system of Indian philosophy) in the West, dies at the age of 95.

2016: A suicide bombing in the Turkish city of Gaziantep during a wedding party kills at least 51.

2018: Measles cases reach a record high in Europe with 41,000 infected in the first six months of 2018 and 37 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

2023: During the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final in Sydney, Australia, Spanish Captain Olga Carmona scores the only goal of the game as La Furia Roja score a 1-0 win over England.

2024: Humberto Maschio, Argentine-Italian soccer forward (13 caps Argentina, 2 Italy) and manager (Argentina 1969, Costa Rica 1972), dies at 91.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Joens Jacob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (1779-1848); Isaac Hayes, US singer (1942-2008); Rajiv Gandhi, Indian prime minister (1944-1991); Mariacarla Boscono, Italian fashion model (1980- )

– AP/Jamaica Observer