1992 - Judith Ward tasted freedom for the first time in 18 years when she was released on bail by Britain’s Appeal Court after being told her conviction in 1974 for the Irish Republican Army bombing of a coach on an English motorway was to be quashed. It was the latest of a series of overturned convictions for terrorist bombings in England in the 1970s. Ward, 43, walked from the High Court amid jubilant supporters after three judges decided that a personality disorder rendered her unreliable when she confessed to the atrocity. She will have to wait for the formal declaration that the convictions for the blast on the M62 near Leeds, which killed 12 people, and two other explosions were “unsafe and unsatisfactory”. As she was swept from the High Court, Ward said: “I’ve waited 18 years. It’s brilliant.”
Other important events
1812 - Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of Britain, is shot dead in London.
1824 - British forces take Rangoon in Burma.
1867 - Luxembourg gains independence.
1924 - Cartel des Gauches emerges winner in French parliamentary election.
1944 - Allied forces launch a major offensive in central Italy.
1949 - Siam changes its name to Thailand.
1962 - Antonio Segni becomes President of Italy.
1981 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi begins her three-day official visit to the UAE.
1988 - Guatemalan army says it quashed military coup attempt on President Vinicio Cerezo’s civilian government.
1992 - Arabs and Israelis begin talks on halting the flood of weapons in the Middle East.
1997 - The supercomputer Deep Blue makes chess history when it defeats Garry Kasparov for an overall victory in their six-game re-match,
1998 - India conducts three underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, Rajasthan.
1999 - Sharjah International Airport’s Dh20 million runway extension project is completed.
2000 - Queen Elizabeth II opens the Tate Modern art gallery in London.
2007 - North and South Korea reach a military agreement enabling the first train to cross their heavily armed border in more than half a century.
2011 - David Cameron becomes Britain’s youngest Prime Minister.
2014 - Lewis Hamilton makes four wins in a row after winning Spanish Grand Prix.
2015 - An Indian court overturns the graft conviction of powerful politician J. Jayalalitha.
