Rajiv signs peace pact for Punjab
1985 - Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (right) launched a bold bid for peace in strife-racked Punjab state by signing a package agreement with moderate Sikh leader Harchand Singh Longowal (left). The 11-point agreement dealt with demands by the main Sikh party, the Akali Dal, for autonomy in Punjab. It was laid before parliament amid wild cheers from politicians. The Punjab state government ordered what it called precautionary measures to prevent ‘terrorist activities’ following the agreement. It said the agreement included the transfer of Chandigarh, now shared with Haryana state, directly to the Punjab authorities, and the transfer of Hindi-speaking areas nearby to Haryana. Sikh demands for political autonomy would be referred to a commission.
July 24
1799 - Napoleon Bonaparte defeats Turks at Aboukir in Egypt.
1911 - Yale University professor Hiram Bingham discovers Machu Picchu in Peru.
1922 - League of Nations Council approves mandates for Palestine and Egypt.
1963 - Victor Marijnen becomes Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
1969 - The US Apollo 11 astronauts, the first men to walk on the Moon, splash down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
1974 - Konstantinos Karamanlis returns from exile and is sworn in as prime minister of Greece.
1976 - US spacecraft Viking 1 lands on Mars and starts tests to determine whether life exists on the planet.
1981 - Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation endorse truce deals to end fighting along the Lebanese-Israeli border.
1996 - Two powerful bombs rip through a packed train near the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo killing 70 people.
1997 - Scotland to get its first parliament in almost 300 years under decentralisation plans unveiled by the British government.
1998 - Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi is elected Japan’s Prime Minister.
2001 - Tamil rebels attack Colombo international airport and the adjoining air base, destroying 13 aircraft and leaving 20 people dead.
2005 - Lance Armstrong retires after winning his seventh consecutive Tour de France competition.
2010 - Nineteen people are killed and hundreds injured in a stampede at the Love Parade music festival in Duisburg, Germany.
2014 - All 116 people are killed in an Air Algerie plane crash in northern Mali.
