2001 Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan inaugurated another tourist attraction in the capital highlighting the cultural heritage and costumes of the country. Shaikh Sultan officially opened the Heritage Village which spreads across an area of 16,800 square metres at the breakwater on the corniche. The village has been built by the Emirates Heritage Club under the directives and patronage of Shaikh Sultan, who is also the chairman of the Club. After the inauguration, Shaikh Sultan toured the various sections of the village and witnessed live demonstrations by the club’s artisans making traditional boats, jewellery and other goods. The village has been designed to display the entire traditional lifestyle of the country — fishing, agriculture, cattle grazing and desert life — under one roof. A traditional marketplace, Al Souq Al Shahbi, has also been built in the Village, with utensils and other essential goods as well as fragrances and herbs on display.
1792 France declares war on Austria, marking the start of the French Revolutionary wars.
1854 Austria and Prussia conclude defensive alliance against Russia.
1859 The Netherlands and Portugal sign an accord dividing islands in the East Indies, including Timor, between them.
1902 Scientists Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive element radium.
1908 Some 44 people die when trains collide at Sunshine, Victoria, Australia.
1920 Tornadoes kill 219 in Alabama and Mississippi.
1923 Egyptian constitution is adopted.
1945 Soviet forces penetrate Berlin defences in Second World War.
1957 Japan protests to Soviet Union over nuclear tests.
1968 Pierre Elliott Trudeau is sworn in as Canada’s Prime Minister.
1970 Bruno Kreisky becomes first socialist chancellor of Austria.
1972 US Apollo 16 astronauts make safe landing on Moon.
1978 Soviet fighter planes force off-course South Korean airliner down in Soviet Union near Arctic Circle.
1980 The first Cubans sailing to the United States as part of the massive Mariel boatlift reach Florida.
1985 A bomb explosion seriously damage the Nato Assembly centre in Brussels.
1986 Giant irrigation reservoir bursts and floods Sri Lanka town, killing at least 100.
1987 Palestine Liberation Organisation Chairman Yasser Arafat calls for a sovereign Palestinian state.
1991 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit South Korea
1994 Israeli and PLO negotiators wrap up an agreement transferring civilian government powers to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
1995 Egyptian aircraft begin a UN-approved shuttle service for Muslim pilgrims from Libya to Saudi Arabia.
1998 An Ecuadorean airline of Bogota slams into a mountainside in Colombia, killing all 53 people aboard.
1999 15 people killed in a rash of school shootings at Columbine High School, US.
2000 Former Slovak prime minister Vladimir Meciar is arrested for abusing powers in office.
2005 Ecuador’s congress removes President Lucio Gutierrez after escalating street protests and swears in Vice- President Alfredo Palacio as the country’s new leader.
2012 A passenger plane belonging to Bhoja Air crashes near Islamabad, Pakistan, while trying to land, killing all 127 people on board.
2014 A speeding passenger bus smashed into a tractor-trailer in Sukkur, Pakistan, killing 42 people.
