July 22
1793 Alexander Mackenzie becomes the first European to cross the Rocky Mountains and reach the Pacific Ocean.
1933 American aviator Wiley Post completes the first solo flight around the world in seven days and 18-and-a-half hours.
1950 King Leopold III returns to Belgium after six years in exile, but abdicates in August.
1952 Poland adopts Communist-imposed constitution.
1960 US-owned sugar factories in Cuba are nationalised.
1962 Algeria declares independence following protracted war of secession with France.
1971 Last US infantry units pull out of South Vietnam’s northern border area.
1977 China’s Deng Xiaoping is restored to power.
1981 Turkish extremist Mehmet Ali Agca is sentenced to life in prison for shooting Pope John Paul II.
1983 Dick Smith makes first solo helicopter flight around the world.
1984 Austria’s two-time world champion Niki Lauda wins the British Formula One Grand Prix.
1987 The first meeting of Sharjah Executive Council is inaugurated.
1990 Liberian President Samuel K. Doe becomes a virtual prisoner in his presidential mansion as rebels besiege Monrovia.
1994 Citing an economic crisis, Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera suspends constitutional rights.
1997 Nearly 400 rebels surrender their weapons to President Arnoldo Aleman in northern Nicaragua.
1998 Iran tests a medium-range missile capable of reaching Israel and Saudi Arabia.
2000 Major power failure hit thousands of homes and businesses in Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and Al Dhaid.
2002 Troubled WorldCom files for the biggest US bankruptcy.
2002 Prince Ahmad Bin Salman Bin Abdul Aziz dies of a heart attack in Riyadh, at the age of 44.
2003 Saddam Hussain’s sons Uday and Qusay are killed in Mosul.
2004 A packed express train travelling from Istanbul to the Turkish capital Ankara derails, killing 36 people.
2008 The UAE and Oman sign a final border demarcation treaty.
2011 A Norwegian gunman in police uniform guns down 92 people at a youth camp in Utoeya island, Norway.
2012 Pranab Mukherjee is elected as Indian president.
2013 UAE orders two military surveillance satellites from France, a deal worth more than Dh 3.378 billion.
2014 Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo wins the country’s presidential election with 53 per cent of the vote.
HIGHLIGHT
1995
Demon fast bowler Larwood dies
Harold Larwood, England’s demon fast bowler of the early 1930s dies in Sydney, immortalised himself in cricketing history with a technique of ‘bodyline’ bowling which almost soured relations between Britain and Australia. His menacing short-pitched deliveries aimed at the body were hurled down at the end of an long run-up at speeds estimated at 160 km an hour to intimidate the facing batsman. Bodyline was eventually outlawed. Larwood was made something of a scapegoat for the bodyline controversy and never played for his country again. His contribution to cricket was finally recognised 60 years later when he was awarded a royal honour in 1993, receiving the Member of the British Empire decoration. Larwood retired from cricket in 1938 and 12 years later sold his confectionary shop in Blackpool and came to live in Australia with his wife and their five daughters. The controversy of previous years was forgotten and Australians welcomed him warmly. He took a job in a soft drinks factory from which he retired in 1968 and went to live in the Sydney suburb of Kingsford.
