Today in history
October 5
1796 Spain declares war on Britain.
1864 The city of Calcutta, India is flooded and almost totally destroyed by a cyclone, more than 60,000 people killed.
1908 Ferdinand I declares Bulgaria’s independence from the Ottoman Empire.
1910 Portugal overthrows monarchy, proclaims republic.
1930 American pilot Laura Ingalls become the first woman to fly across North America, from New York to Glendale, California, in 30 hours, 27 minutes.
1944 Suffrage is extended to women in France.
1947 The first televised White House address is given by US President Harry Truman.
1962 The Beatles’ first hit, ‘Love Me Do’, is released in Britain.
1965 Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with Malaysia.
1970 Egypt’s only political party names Anwar Sadat to succeed late President Gamal Abdul Nasser.
1981 Former Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is posthumously granted honorary US citizenship for his humanitarian actions during Second World War.
1983 Lech Walesa, leader of Poland’s Solidarity labour movement, wins Nobel Peace Prize.
1984 Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
1986 American Eugene Hasenfus is captured by Sandinista soldiers after the weapons plane he is in is shot down over southern Nicaragua.
1989 The Dalai Lama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
1993 China breaks moratorium on nuclear testing.
1994 Forty-eight bodies are found in two locations in Switzerland after a cult’s mass suicide-murder.
1997 Sixteen schoolchildren and their driver are killed in Algeria when their bus is attacked by gunmen.
1999 At least 31 people are killed when two commuter trains collide in Britain’s worst rail crash in more than 10 years.
2000 The UAE joins the global anti-sanctions solidarity campaign by sending an Emirates Boeing to embargo-hit Baghdad.
2003 Akhmad Kadyrov becomes the first President of the Chechen Republic.
2004 Major General Alu Alkhanov is sworn in as Chechnya’s president.
2008 Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu Al Geit made a surprise visit to Iraq, the first such trip since 1990.
2009 A train derails during heavy rains near the coastal Thai city of Hua Hin, killing at least 10 people.
2011 Aakash, the world’s cheapest tablet, is launched in India.
2012 Michael Schumacher announces his retirement from Formula One for the second time and at the age of 43.
2013 Dubai announces its strategy to make the emirate the capital of Islamic economy in three years.
HIGHLIGHT
Malek and Qadir win double wicket championship
1990 - Pakistani cricketers Salim Malek and Abdul Qadir captured the Gulf News Cricket for Peace Double Wicket Championship beating their more fancied countrymen pair of Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram by one run at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. The slight disappointment for the spectators was the exit of the Indian pairs from the competition in the semifinals. Indians Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar lost to Salim Malek and Qadir, while Miandad and Wasim Akram defeated Azharuddin and Ravi Shastri. The tournament which starred 16 players, including some of Asia’s finest cricketers, was organised by Gulf News in association with the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) and sponsored by a host of companies. The money generated from this venture will go to ease the burden of the influx of refugees in the UAE due to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The spirit of the entire’s day competition — watched by over 10,000 eager spectators — was symbolised by the gesture of Miandad and Akram to gift all their prize money, won from awards, to the relief fund.
