Thursday, July 25, 1686

The Duffield Memorial (central medallion pictured) in Great Baddow, an "unusual example of Art Nouveau design in metal work", was designated a listed building by Historic England.

WikiLeaks published 75,000 classified documents about the War in Afghanistan in one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history.

Pratibha Patil was sworn in as the first female president of India.

Phoolan Devi, a serving Indian member of Parliament, was shot outside her house in New Delhi, India.

Air France Flight 4590 , a Concorde en route from Paris to New York, crashed in Gonesse, France, killing all 109 passengers on board and four people on the ground.

The orbiting spacecraft Viking 1 took a photograph of an apparent face on Mars in a classic example of pareidolia.

Korean War: After American troops withdrew, North Korean forces captured the village of Yongdong in South Korea.

The Grand Council of Fascism voted a motion of no confidence against Benito Mussolini, who was arrested the same day by King Victor Emmanuel III and replaced by Pietro Badoglio.

Spanish–American War: After more than two months of sea-based bombardment, the United States invaded Puerto Rico.

The Corinth Canal was formally opened, bisecting the narrow Isthmus of Corinth in Greece to connect the Ionian Sea's Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean Sea's Saronic Gulf.

Mozart completed his Symphony No. 40, one of his two extant symphonies in a minor key.

Eighty Years' War: Dutch and English forces relieved the siege of Knodsenburg in the Spanish Netherlands, having defeated the Duke of Parma's army in the field.