Today in History

April 25

1809 - Britain concludes treaty of friendship with Sikhs at Amritsar in India.

1859 - Construction of the Suez Canal begins in Egypt.

1881 - French troops occupy Algeria and Tunisia.

1898 - United States declares war on Spain.

1901 - New York becomes the first US state to require automobile licence plates.

1920 - Poland launches offensive against Soviets in the Ukraine. 1942 - A coal mine disaster in Benxi, Japanese occupied China, kills 1,549 workers.

1950 - Chuck Cooper becomes first black to play in NBA.

1957 - US Sixth Fleet sails for eastern Mediterranean as King Hussain proclaims martial law in Jordan and seals frontiers after a Palestinian coup attempt.

1974 - Portugal’s bloodless “Revolution of the Carnations” ends 48 years of rightist dictatorship.

1980 - US hostage rescue mission fails in Iran.

1982 - Egypt regains Sinai from Israel after 15 years. 1989 - Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita resigns over the country’s biggest political scandal in decades.

1990 - Violeta Barrio de Chamorro is inaugurated President of Nicaragua.

1992 - Italian President Francesco Cossiga resigns.

1993 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin wins vote of confidence in Russia’s referendum.

1994 - Tsutomu Hata is elected Prime Minister of Japan.

1996 - Pakistan cricket hero Imran Khan launches political front of Tehreek-e-Insaf.

2001 - Former Philippines president Joseph Estrada is arrested in Manila for the offence of plunder case.

2010 - Two tourists are killed as hot air balloon crashes in Al Ain.

2012 - Pakistan successfully launches an intermediate range nuclear capable ballistic missile. 2015 - A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.8 strikes Nepal, killing more than 8,000 people.

2016 - Saudi Arabia unveils the details of the kingdom’s new economic plan dubbed “Saudi Vision 2030.”