Navratilova reclaims number one spot
1985 - Martina Navratilova reclaimed the world’s number one ranking with victory in the New South Wales Women’s Open. The American’s 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, win over US Open champion Hana Mandlikova in the final, hard on the heels of her Brisbane classic triumph last week, shot her above arch-rival Chris Evert Lloyd, who played in neither event. “It’s nice to be back,” a jubilant Navratilova said after the match. “To be number one again makes me very happy.” She lost the top ranking to Lloyd a month ago after her compatriot won England’s Brighton classic tournament. The Wimbledon champion will be seeded second behind titleholder Lloyd in the Australian Open. Navratilova said she felt she was better prepared now for a major tournament than at any stage of her illustrious career.
November 24
1863 - Battle of Chattanooga begins in US Civil War.
1874 - Barbed wire is patented by American Joseph F. Glidden.
1935 - King George II of Greece returns to his homeland after 12 years in exile in London.
1942 - Germans suffer heavy losses in Battle of Stalingrad in Soviet Union in Second World War.
1948 - Ireland votes for independence from UK.
1950 - The musical Guys and Dolls opens on Broadway, New York.
1955 - The Fokker F-27 Friendship turboprop airliner makes its first flight.
1956 - The UN General Assembly presses Britain, France and Israel for withdrawal of their troops from Egypt.
1958 - Mali becomes autonomous state within French community.
1961 - UN Security Council calls on UN members to make Africa a nuclear weapons-free zone.
1963 - Lee Harvey Oswald, accused assassin of US president John F. Kennedy, is shot to death.
1975 - Earthquake in eastern Turkey kills at least 574 people.
1979 - The UAE’s first electric cable factory opens in Jebel Ali.
1983 - Bulent Ulusu, Turkey’s prime minister since the 1980 military coup, resigns.
1985 - Egyptian commandos storm hijacked Egyptian airliner at Malta.
1987 - US and the Soviet Union agree to scrap short- and medium-range missiles in the first superpower treaty.
1987 - China names Li Peng as acting premier.
1988 - Bangladesh is hit by the worst cyclone and kills over 5,000 people.
1989 - Elias Hrawi is elected president of Lebanon following the assassination of Rene Mouawad.
