1997 - President His Highness Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan issued a decree setting up a new 23-member Cabinet for the UAE under the premiership of His Highness Shaikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The reshuffle included a new minister of economy and commerce. The Cabinet sees eight new members infusing young blood and bringing in important new skills. The new ministers are Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (above), Shaikh Fahim Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Obaid Bin Saif Al Nasiri, Shaikh Majid Bin Saeed Al Nuaimi, Mohammad Nakhira Al Daheri, Mattar Humaid Al Tayer, Dr Mohammad Khalfan Bin Kharbash and Dr Ali Abdul Aziz Al Sharhan.
Other important events
1821 - Greece gains independence from Turkey.
1807 - British Parliament abolishes slave trade throughout the British Empire.
1896 - Modern Olympics begin in Athens, Greece.
1911 - A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York City kills 146 immigrant workers.
1913 - The Palace Theatre opens on Broadway in New York City.
1965 - Martin Luther King Jr leads 25,000 marchers to the state capital in Montgomery to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks.
1969 - Pakistan’s President Ayub Khan turns power over to the military after 11-year rule.
1975 - Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal is assassinated in Riyadh.
1989 - Heads of Egypt, Jordan and Palestine Liberation Organisation meet to coordinate Middle East peace strategy.
1990 - A fire races through a packed, illegal nightclub in a New York slum, killing at least 87 people.
1992 - Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev returns to Earth from the Mir space station after a 10-month stay in space.
1994 - American troops withdraw from Somalia after a 16-month humanitarian mission marred by fighting with Somali warlords.
2002 - An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale strikes the districts of Nahrin and Burkha in Afghanistan, kills more than 4,800 people.
2007 - Yemen becomes the 105th country in the world and the fourth Arab country to ratify the International Criminal Court treaty.
2008 - Russia and Egypt sign an agreement opening the way for Russian firms to bid for lucrative contracts to build nuclear power plants in Egypt.
2015 - The second phase of Dubai Healthcare City is launched.
