1997 - The Italian luxury cruise liner Silver Wind sailed for the first time into Port Rashid in Dubai, the ninth passenger ship to do so this year. Among those welcoming the six-star ship was an independent official, commissioned by Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), who conducted part of a feasibility study on building a cruise terminal at Port Rashid’s Berth 10. “General Shiakh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence, has given a strong recommendation to establish ways of putting Dubai on the map as a cruise ship hub. Silver Wind’s Italian captain Antonio DiPalma says all immigration procedures for passengers taking tours in Dubai went smoothly,” a DTCM official said.
Other important events
1868 - US President Andrew Johnson avoids impeachment by one vote.
1887 - British East Africa Company is chartered.
1906 - Vauxhall Bridge is opened in London.
1924 - US President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill limiting immigration in United States, completely excluding the Japanese.
1942 - German forces begin their drive for Stalingrad and the Caucasus in the Second World War.
1956 - A fire on board aircraft-carrier USS Bennington in Narragansett Bay, off Rhode Island, kills 103 crew members.
1972 - President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in Moscow.
1979 Israel formally returns the sovereignty of the Sinai capital of Al Arish to Egypt.
1980 - The first consignment of Dubai-made aluminium is loaded on to a ship at Jebel Ali Port.
1981 - A bomber crashes during a night landing on the flight deck of USS Nimitz, killing 14 people.
1989 - Chinese Communist Party Chief Zhao Ziyang is put under house arrest.
1990 - Boris Yeltsin fails to win a majority in balloting for Russian presidency.
1993 - Pakistan Supreme Court restores the dissolved National Assembly.
1994 - The US renews trade privileges for China.
1999 - India joins an elite club of commercial satellite-launching nations.
2010 - The space shuttle Atlantis returns from orbit for the last time, ending a 25-year flying stint.
2014 - Narendra Modi takes the oath as the new Prime Minister of India.
