More powers for Palestinians in West Bank
1995 - Peace between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Israel moved a step forward when the two sides signed an agreement in Cairo giving Palestinians more administrative powers in the West Bank. The accord, part of a deal to expand Palestinian autonomy from Gaza to the West Bank, was signed by PLO negotiator Jamil Tarifi and by Israel’s General Oren Shahor. But the 23-page document, which was distributed, said “all powers and responsibilities regarding law enforcement, including investigation, judicial proceedings and imprisonment will continue to be under the responsibility” of the Israeli military authority in the West Bank. Egyptian foreign ministry official Badr Hammam congratulated the signatories.
August 27
1783 - Frenchman Jacques Alexander Cesar Charles launches the first practical hydrogen balloon.
1883 - The most powerful volcanic eruption ever recorded blows apart Mount Krakatoa in the Sunda Straits, Indonesia.
1892 - New York City Metropolitan Opera House catches fire.
1910 - The first radio broadcast is transmitted from a plane in flight.
1928 - The Kellogg-Briand Pact or Pact of Paris is established by which countries vow to solve conflicts by peaceful means.
1941 - Shah of Iran abdicates and is succeeded by his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
1955 - The first edition of the Guinness Book of Records (now Guinness World Records) is published.
1966 - English yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester begins the first around-the-world solo sea voyage.
1979 - Lord Mountbatten dies in a boat explosion.
1982 - Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla Altikat is shot and killed in Ottawa.
1999 - The last crew shuts the door on the 13-year-old Mir space station.
2000 - Abu Sayyaf frees five hostages after 126 days in captivity in the Philippines.
2001 - Israel kills Palestinian leader Abu Ali Mustafa in a missile strike in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
2006 - A Comair commuter jet taking off for Atlanta crashes just past the runway and bursts into flames in Kentucky, killing 49 people.
2012 - Seven Emiratis and an Omani child are killed on the spot in a head-on collision in eastern Salalah, Oman.
2013 - Pakistani Malala Yousufzai wins the Children’s Peace Prize for her passionate advocacy for girls’ education.
