TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2017

On this day in history:

1789 - Bennelong, the Aborigine, is captured, to be used as an intermediary between the Aboriginal and white cultures.

1867 - Alfred Nobel patented dynamite.

1952 - Agatha Christie’s The

Mousetrap” opened in London. 1970 - Japanese author Yukio Mishima committed ritual suicide after giving a speech attacking Japan’s post-war constitution.

1973 - Greek President George Papadapoulos was ousted in military coup.

1983 - Mediators from Syria and Saudi Arabia announced a cease-fire in the PLO civil war in Tripoli, Lebanon.

1990 - Poland held its first popular presidential election. 1992 - The Czech parliament voted to split the country into separate Czech and Slovak republics beginning January 1, 1993.

1993 - Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Sedki escaped an attempt on his life when a bomb was detonated by Islamic militants near his motorcade.

1995 - Serbs protested in the streets of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo The protest was against a peace plan.

1998 - Britain’s highest court ruled that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, whose extradition was being sought by Spain, could not claim immunity from prosecution for the crimes he committed during his rule. 1998 - President Jiang Zemin arrived in Tokyo for the first visit to Japan by a Chinese head of state since World War II.

1998 - The IMF (International Monetary Fund) approved a $5.5 billion bailout for Pakistan. 2000 - The 2000 Baku earthquake, with a Richter magnitude of 7.0, leaves 26 people dead in Baku, Azerbaijan, and becomes the strongest earthquake in the region in 158 years.

2008 - Cyclone Nisha strikes northern Sri Lanka, killing 15 people and displacing 90,000 others.

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.