Today is the 246th day of 2025. There are 119 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1988: In parliamentary elections, Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), under the leadership of 64-year-old Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, wins control of all but one of the 81 seats in the national legislature; the election had been called 15 months ahead of schedule while Singapore’s 2.7 million people were enjoying conspicuous prosperity.

OTHER EVENTS

301: San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world’s oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus.

1189: Richard the Lionheart is crowned in Westminster, and 30 Jews are massacred after the coronation; Richard orders the perpetrators to be executed.

1609: English navigator Henry Hudson, in a quest for a passage to India on behalf of the Dutch East India Company, sails into the harbour of present-day New York City, United States of America, and up the river that now bears his name.

1658: English soldier and statesman Oliver Cromwell dies in London.

1836: The Portland Parish Church, also called Christ Church, is built on indentured land.

1894: Labor Day is celebrated as a legal holiday in the United States for the first time.

1904: For the first time in Olympic Games history there is a throw-off in the discus final after Americans Martin Sheridan and Ralph Rose tie with a best throw of 128 feet 10½ inches (39.28 metres) in St Louis; Sheridan wins with 127 feet 10¼ inches (38.97 m).

1906: After an eight-minute argument over an umpire call the NY Highlanders win by forfeit over the Philadelphia A’s; the Highlanders achieve a Major League Baseball (MLB) record fifth double-header sweep on consecutive days.

1935: British racer Malcolm Campbell powers Bluebird to 301.129 miles per hour (mph) at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, becoming the first automobile to exceed 300 mph.

1939: In a radio address, Britain’s King George VI says, “With God’s help, we shall prevail”; the same day, a German U-boat torpedoes and sinks the British liner SS Athenia some 250 miles off the Irish coast, killing more than 100 out of the 1,400 or so people on-board.

1946: A truck strike opens in New York, USA, curtailing shipments of food to the metropolis.

1950: Giuseppe “Nino” Farina secures top spot in the inaugural Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship by winning the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in an Alfa Romeo, finishing three points ahead of Juan Manuel Fangio.

1964: United States Attorney General Robert F Kennedy resigns in order to campaign as Democratic candidate for the Senate from New York.

1965: A Rolling Stones concert at Adelphi Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, halts after 12 minutes due to a riot.

1966: Future Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Orr signs his first National Hockey League contract with the Boston Bruins — a two-year deal paying a then-record US$70,000 plus a signing bonus.

1970: After playing a National League record 1,117 consecutive MLB games, Chicago Cubs outfielder Billy Williams asks to sit out.

1971: Qatar officially becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

1972: Atlanta Braves slugger Hank Aaron earns his 6,135th total base to break Stan Musial’s MLB record in an 8-0 home loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

1978: Bernard Slade’s stage comedy Same Time, Next Year closes at the Ambassador Theatre, New York City, after 1,453 performances and a Tony Award.

1984: Jerry Lewis’s 19th muscular dystrophy telethon raises US$32,074,566.

1987: President of Burundi, Jean-Baptiste Bagan, is “relieved of his duties as head of State, party, and army” by a group of military officers led by Major Pierre Buyoya; Bagaza had been accused both at home and abroad of keeping his fellow Tutsi in power by rigging elections, censoring the press, and suppressing dissent.

1989: Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods closes at the Martin Beck Theatre, New York City, after 764 performances and three Tony Award wins.

1991: American director Frank Capra — best known for beloved films including It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) — dies at age 94.

1992: The Chemical Weapons Convention, banning the use of chemical weapons in war and also prohibiting all development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, or transfer of such weapons, is adopted by the United Nations Conference on Disarmament.

1995: Online auction site eBay is founded in San Jose, California, USA, by Pierre Omidyar under the name AuctionWeb.

1996: Ruth Perry, a former senator, is installed as Liberia’s head of State and assigned the responsibility of running the Government until democracy can be restored through a general election.

1997: The Reverend Henry J Lyons retains the presidency of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc, after his supporters thwart a strong move to unseat him because of allegations he had misappropriated church funds.

2000: The governor of Khartoum issues an order banning women in the Sudanese capital from any job in which they come in contact with men, intending to honour women, uphold their status in line with Islamic law, and respect the values and the traditions of the nation.

2004: The Beslan school massacre — an Islamist terrorist attack in Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, south-western Russia — ends in the deaths of approximately 344 people, mostly teachers and children.

2006: Los Angeles Sparks centre Lisa Leslie wins the Women’s National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player award, joining Sheryl Swoopes as the league’s only three-time winners.

2007: Pedro Martínez returns from the disabled list, wins his 207th career game, and collects his 3,000th career strikeout.

2009: Mexican airline Aeromexico announces that passengers may use cellphones in flight, two days after Mexico’s Government lifts a ban on the practice.

2010: A suicide bomber kills at least 53 people in Quetta, Pakistan, when he detonates his weapon during a parade of Shiites marching to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians.

2012: American actor Michael Clarke Duncan, best known for his breakout role as John Coffey in The Green Mile (1999), dies in Los Angeles at 54 years old from complications following a heart attack.

2012: “Godmother of Cocaine” Griselda Blanco, a Colombian drug trafficker who was a leading figure on the Miami drug scene in the 1970s and early 80s, is fatally shot in Medellín, Colombia.

2013: Microsoft purchases Nokia for US$7.2 billion.

2015: A Kentucky clerk in Rowan County, USA, is jailed for refusing to issue marriage licences to gay couples.

2017: Adam Ondra climbs Silence in Norway, the world’s first 9c (5.15d) grade route — the most challenging sport climb.

2018: The first public caning and conviction of a lesbian couple attempting to have sex is carried out by and inside the religious Sharia High Court in Terengganu state, Malaysia.

2019: Hurricane Dorian finally moves off Grand Bahama after stalling for more than a day, bringing catastrophic devastation and killing at least 50, with over 2,000 people missing.

2020: MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist and ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, becomes the world’s richest woman, worth US$68 billion.

2023: Typhoon Haikui makes landfall in eastern Taiwan, forcing the evacuation of 400,000 people.

2024: The city of Phoenix, Arizona, USA, reaches a high temperature of at least 100° Farenheit (37.8°Celsius) for the 100th consecutive day.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Ferdinand Porsche, Austrian engineer (1875-1951); Whitey Bulger, American crime boss (1929-2018); Mario Draghi, prime minister of Italy (1947- ); Malcolm Gladwell, Canadian journalist and writer (1963- )

On this day, 2018, the first public caning and conviction of a lesbian couple attempting to have sex is carried out by and inside the religious Sharia High Court in Terengganu state, Malaysia.

Hurricane Dorian moves from Grand Bahama in the Caribbean on this day, 2019, after stalling for more than a day during which it brought catastrophic devastation, killed at least 50, and left over 2,000 people missing. AP