1997 - Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, opened the modern Armed Forces Officers Club in Abu Dhabi. Shaikh Khalifa toured the different sections of the complex after the inauguration. Shaikh Khalifa said that the new officers club constituted President His Highness Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s gift to his sons, the members of the armed forces in the UAE. He said the club was one of the most prominent constructions in the country. “In addition to its artistic and architectural value, the club is a prominent feature of our progress on all human, social and economic levels. “We will do everything in our capacity to provide all the needs for our armed forces,” Shaikh Khalifa said.
Other important events
1821 - Dominican Republic declares independence from Spain.
1886 - Sir George Everest, Welsh surveyor and geographer after whom Mount Everest is named, dies.
1887 - Portugal secures the secession of Macao from China.
1913 - The first US drive-in automobile service station opens in Pittsburgh.
1918 - Iceland becomes a separate state under the Danish crown.
1934 - Sergei Kirov, a trusted aide of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, is assassinated.
1935 - Chiang Kai-Shek is elected president of Kuomintang, China’s ruling party.
1948 - Arab conference at Jericho proclaims Abdullah of Transjordan King of Palestine.
1954 - US signs security pact with Nationalist China, now Taiwan.
1965 - An airlift of refugees from Cuba to US begins. Thousands of Cubans are allowed to leave their homeland.
1981 - A chartered Yugoslav DC-9 jetliner slams into a Corsican mountain as it approaches Ajaccio Airport, killing all 174 people aboard.
1988 - Benazir Bhutto is named Pakistan’s Prime Minister, becoming the first woman to lead a modern-day Muslim nation.
1991 - Ukrainians vote 9-1 in favour of independence from Soviet Union.
1997 - A 14-year-old student opens fire on a morning prayer group, killing three students at Health High School in Kentucky, US.
1999 - Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta returns to East Timor after 24 years in exile.
2001 - Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito’s wife, Crown Princess Masako, gives birth to a daughter, the couple’s first child.
2006 - Typhoon Durian kills 1,000 people in central Philippines.
2008 - One of the highest tides in its history brings Venice, Italy, to a virtual halt, flooding its historic St. Mark’s Square.
2011 - Iraqi navy forces take over complete security responsibility from US Navy in Basra.
2013 - India’s first mission to Mars leaves Earth’s orbit, successfully entering the second phase.
2014 - More than 150 people, including 38 police, are killed in a Boko Haram raid on the north-east Nigerian city of Damaturu.
