Euro changeover smooth
2002 - The European Central Bank (ECB) said that the euro cash changeover was going very smoothly and expected almost all Eurozone cash machines to be switched over to the new currency by midnight. “So far, no problems have been reported, everything is on schedule and running very smoothly,” an ECB spokeswoman said. “By lunchtime, between 50 and 85 per cent of ATMs have been switched over to euros in the whole of the euro area and we expect that nearly 100 per cent will be switched over by the end of today,” she said. More than 300 million Europeans in 12 Eurozone countries began swapping their national currencies for euros in one of biggest-ever logistical exercises crowning an ambitious monetary union aimed at securing peace and greater prosperity.
January 1
1804 - Haiti declares itself independent from France, becoming a republic.
1851 - The leader of the Taiping rebellion in China, Hung Hsiu-ch’uan, proclaims himself emperor.
1863 - United States President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation declaring slaves free.
1877 - England’s Queen Victoria proclaimed Empress of India.
1890 - Eritrea becomes an Italian colony.
1901 - Commonwealth of Australia is proclaimed.
1935 - The colonies of Cyrenaica, Tripoli and Eezaan unite to form the country of Libya.
1946 - The first civil flight takes off from London’s Heathrow Airport, heading to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1956 - Sudan is proclaimed an independent democratic republic.
1962 - Western Samoa becomes first sovereign independent Polynesian state.
1965 - Palestine Liberation Organisation is formed.
1979 - United States and China begin a new era in international relations by officially recognising each other after nearly three decades of mutual suspicion.
1984 - Brunei becomes fully independent from Britain.
1986 - Portugal and Spain are formally admitted to the European Union.
1992 - Boutros Boutros Gali from Egypt is appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations.
1993 - Czechoslovakia peacefully splits into the independent Czech Republic and Slovakia.
1995 - Austria, Finland and Sweden join European Union, expanding the bloc to 15 members.
1994 - North America Free-Trade Agreement goes into effect.
1999 - Eleven nations in the European Union adopt the euro as their common currency.
2003 - Gulf Cooperation Council states launch common Customs Union.
2011 - Dilma Rousseff is elected the first woman President of Brazil.
2012 - European Union imposes the Carbon Tax on airlines, under the emissions trading scheme.
2013 - At least 60 people die and dozens more are injured in a stampede in Ivory Coast during celebratory New Year’s fireworks.
