Landslide victory for Maskhadov
1997 - Chechnya’s newly elected president affirmed his belief that the breakaway Muslim republic was already an independent state, setting the stage for a fresh confrontation with Russia. Aslan Maskhadov, the landslide winner of the presidential race, said he was prepared to start negotiations with Moscow on the highly emotional issue of Chechnya’s political status. Moscow says it will not tolerate secession, and Russian President Boris Yeltsin made it clear that Chechnya had to stay within Russia. Still, Maskhadov’s apparent sweeping victory gives him a strong mandate to pursue independence. Chairman of the central electoral commission Mumadi Saydayev said Maskhadov had won the election with almost 70 per cent of the vote with almost all votes in.
January 28
1547 - England’s King Henry VIII dies and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son, Edward VI.
1871 - France surrenders in the Franco-Prussian War.
1885 - British relief force reaches Khartoum and Sudan is evacuated.
1909 - US control in Cuba ends.
1911 - Frenchman Henri Rougier wins first Rally of Monte Carlo.
1932 - Japanese troops occupy Shanghai in China.
1949 - UN Security Council adopts resolution to establish a ceasefire in Indonesia.
1961 - Rwanda’s provisional government proclaims republic.
1973 - A ceasefire officially goes into effect in the Vietnam War.
1981 - UAE and Sweden sign agreement to cooperate in agriculture and fisheries.
1982 - US General James Dozier is freed by Red Brigades in Padua, Italy.
1986 - Space shuttle Challenger explodes 75 seconds after lift off, killing all crew members.
1991 - Somali President Siad Barre flees as rebels seize capital.
1992 - Leadership of National Liberation Front, which won Algeria’s independence and ruled for three decades, resigns.
1993 - Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club is inaugurated.
1994 - Three Italian journalists are killed by a mortar shell in Mostar, Bosnia.
1995 - US and Vietnam finally bury the hatchet nearly 20 years after the war.
1999 - India and Pakistan conduct their first cricket match in the subcontinent in 12 years.
2001 - A Ukrainian vessel sinks in the Black Sea, killing at least 14 people.
2006 - Insulin inhaler to fight diabetes gets FDA approval in the US.
2007 - Northern Ireland’s Sinn Fein votes ‘yes’ for Police Service of Northern Ireland in the British-run province.
2008 - Lawmakers elect Samak Sundaravej as Prime Minister of Thailand.
2014 - District One of the Dh30 billion Mohammad Bin Rashid City project is inaugurated in Dubai.
2016 - Sudan opens its border with South Sudan for the first time since the south’s secession in 2011.
