On This Day — 25 September

2018

Bill Cosby is sentenced to three to ten years in prison for aggravated sexual assault.

Bill Cosby

2003

The 8.3 Mw  Hokkaidō earthquake strikes just offshore Hokkaidō, Japan.

2003 Tokachi earthquake

1998

PauknAir Flight 4101, a British Aerospace 146, crashes near Melilla Airport in Melilla, Spain, killing 38 people.

PauknAir Flight 4101

1997

NASA launches Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-86 to the Mir space station.

Space Shuttle Atlantis

1992

NASA launches the Mars Observer. Eleven months later, the probe would fail while preparing for orbital insertion.

NASA

1987

Fijian Governor-General Penaia Ganilau is overthrown in a coup d'état led by Lieutenant colonel Sitiveni Rabuka.

Penaia Ganilau

1985

3 civilians killed by alleged supporters of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Larnaca yacht killings.

Palestine Liberation Organization

1983

Thirty-eight IRA prisoners, armed with six handguns, hijack a prison meals lorry and smash their way out of the Maze Prison.

Maze Prison escape

1981

Belize joins the United Nations.

Belize

1978

PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727, collides in mid-air with a Cessna 172 and crashes in San Diego, killing all 135 aboard Flight 182, both occupants of the Cessna, as well as seven people on the ground.

Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182

1977

About 4,200 people take part in the first running of the Chicago Marathon.

Chicago Marathon

1974

Dr. Frank Jobe performs first ulnar collateral ligament replacement surgery (better known as Tommy John surgery) on baseball player Tommy John.

Frank Jobe

1969

The charter establishing the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is signed.

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation

1964

The Mozambican War of Independence against Portugal begins.

Mozambican War of Independence

1963

Lord Denning releases the UK government's official report on the Profumo affair.

Tom Denning, Baron Denning

1962

The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria is formally proclaimed. Ferhat Abbas is elected President of the provisional government.

Algeria

1962

The North Yemen Civil War begins when Abdullah al-Sallal dethrones the newly crowned Imam al-Badr and declares Yemen a republic under his presidency.

North Yemen civil war

1959

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Ceylon, is mortally shot by a Buddhist monk, Talduwe Somarama, and dies the next day.

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike

1957

Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, is integrated by the use of United States Army troops.

Little Rock Central High School

1956

TAT-1, the first submarine transatlantic telephone cable system, is inaugurated.

TAT-1

1955

The Royal Jordanian Air Force is founded.

Royal Jordanian Air Force

1944

World War II: Surviving elements of the British 1st Airborne Division withdraw from Arnhem via Oosterbeek.

World War II

1937

Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese Eighth Route Army gains a minor, but morale-boosting victory in the Battle of Pingxingguan.

Second Sino-Japanese War

1926

The international Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery is first signed.

1926 Slavery Convention

1918

World War I: The end of the Battle of Megiddo, the climax of the British Army's Sinai and Palestine campaign under General Edmund Allenby.

Battle of Megiddo (1918)

1915

World War I: The Second Battle of Champagne begins.

World War I

1912

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is founded in New York City.

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

1911

An explosion of badly degraded propellant charges on board the French battleship Liberté detonates the forward ammunition magazines and destroys the ship.

French battleship Liberté

1906

Leonardo Torres Quevedo demonstrates the Telekino in the Bilbao Abra (Spain), guiding an electric boat from the shore with people on board, which was controlled at a distance over 2 km (1.2 mi), in what is considered to be the origin of modern wireless remote-control operation principles.

Leonardo Torres Quevedo

1890

The United States Congress establishes Sequoia National Park.

Sequoia National Park

1868

The Imperial Russian steam frigate Alexander Nevsky is shipwrecked off Jutland while carrying Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia.

Russian frigate Alexander Nevsky

1804

The Teton Sioux (a subdivision of the Lakota) demand one of the boats from the Lewis and Clark Expedition as a toll for allowing the expedition to move further upriver.

Lewis and Clark Expedition

1790

Four Great Anhui Troupes introduce Anhui opera to Beijing in honor of the Qianlong Emperor's eightieth birthday.

Hui opera

1789

The United States Congress passes twelve constitutional amendments: the ten known as the Bill of Rights, the (unratified) Congressional Apportionment Amendment, and the Congressional Compensation Amendment.

United States Bill of Rights

1786

The mine of Huancavelica in the Peruvian Andes collapses, killing more than hundred people. The event was a major setback for quicksilver production in the Spanish Empire.

Huancavelica

1775

American Revolutionary War: Ethan Allen surrenders to British forces after attempting to capture Montreal in the Battle of Longue-Pointe during the invasion of Quebec.

American Revolutionary War

1775

American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec sets off to join the American invasion.

Benedict Arnold

1768

Unification of Nepal

Unification of Nepal

1690

Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick, the first newspaper to appear in the Americas, is published for the first and only time.

Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick

1555

The Peace of Augsburg is signed by Emperor Charles V and the princes of the Schmalkaldic League.

Peace of Augsburg

1513

Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa reaches what would become known as the Pacific Ocean.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa

1396

Ottoman Emperor Bayezid I defeats a Christian army at the Battle of Nicopolis.

Battle of Nicopolis

1237

England and Scotland sign the Treaty of York, establishing the location of their common border.

Treaty of York

1066

In the Battle of Stamford Bridge, Harald Hardrada, the invading King of Norway, is defeated by King Harold II of England.

Battle of Stamford Bridge

762

Led by Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, the Hasanid branch of the Alids begins the Alid Revolt against the Abbasid Caliphate.

Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya

275

For the last time, the Roman Senate chooses an emperor; they elect 75-year-old Marcus Claudius Tacitus.

Tacitus (emperor)