1985 — Waves of Saudi men and children, chanting religious hymns and waving swords, were part of the homecoming of the first Arab Muslim astronaut, Prince Sultan Bin Salman, who participated in the US space shuttle Discovery last month. King Fahd stepped forward to embrace his nephew, who bent over the king’s hand and kissed it in the Arab tradition. Clad in a Nasa space suit, Sultan also hugged his father, Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, the governor of Riyadh. The king then conferred the collar of King Abdul Aziz on the astronaut, whose space flight was deemed a victory for Islam. Bedouin swordsmen and tribal dancers sang, while desert drummers beat Arab melodies. Visibly moved by the emotional welcoming, the king and his brothers flanked Sultan as he walked along a red carpet at the Taif airport, where the astronaut’s plane landed after a flight from the US. People chanted “Sultan, Sultan, the harbinger of hope, the forerunner of triumph,” as they waved swords and beat drums.
July 6
1785 - The dollar is unanimously chosen as the monetary unit for the United States.
1917 - Arab forces led by T.E. Lawrence capture the port of Aqaba from the Turks during the First World War.
1923 - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed.
1928 - The first all-talking motion picture, The Lights of New York, is shown in New York.
1957 - Althea Gibson becomes first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title.
1984 - Eight Sikh hijackers of an Indian airliner free all 256 hostages, ending a 20-hour drama.
1986 - Two Australians are hanged in Malaysia for drug trafficking, the first Westerners executed under Malaysia’s strict drug laws.
1988 - A Pakistan air force jet fighter crashes into a factory and explodes in a busy area of Karachi, killing 14 people.
1990 - Nato allies pledge to reduce both nuclear and conventional forces in Europe.
1992 - French First Lady Danielle Mitterrand narrowly escapes death as car bomb explodes near her motorcade in Iraq.
1995 - Floods cut through some of southern China’s poorest, most isolated areas, raising the death toll to nearly 600.
2002 - Afghan vice-president Haji Abdul Qadeer is assassinated.
2003 - Liberian leader Charles Taylor accepts an offer of asylum in Nigeria.
2008 - The UAE writes off all the debts owed by Iraq as a sign of brotherhood.
2013 - A solar-powered aircraft completes the final leg of a history-making cross-country flight, gliding to a smooth stop at New York’s JFK International Airport.
2014 - Serbian Novak Djokovic wins his second Wimbledon title.
