1996 - Gabriela Sabatini said goodbye to pro tennis in New York in an emotional ceremony at the WTA Championships, the same event where she enjoyed one of her greatest triumphs only two years ago. “It feels strange to walk on the court with a different outfit on and not play tennis,” the Argentine star said. Sabatini is ending a career that included 27 WTA titles. She won the season-ending WTA Championships in 1988 and 1994, and captured her only Grand Slam singles crown at the 1990 US Open. Sabatini was honoured on the first night of the season’s final WTA event. Fans stood and cheered. Some chanted ‘Gaby’, while others waved an Argentine flag. She said: “The moments we shared will remain in my memories forever.”
Other important events
1820 - US Navy Captain Nathaniel Palmer is the first person to reach Antarctica.
1830 - National Congress in Belgium declares independence.
1903 - The US and Panama sign a treaty granting the US rights to build the Panama Canal.
1928 - Mickey Mouse makes his debut in the US in the first successful sound-synchronised cartoon, Steamboat Willie.
1936 - Germany and Italy recognise General Francisco Franco’s government in Spain.
1941 - British troops launch an attack in Africa’s Western Desert in the Second World War.
1970 - West Germany and Poland agree to restore relations, ending 31 years of enmity.
1976 - Spain’s parliament approves a bill to establish a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.
1977 - Egyptian embassy in Athens is stormed by Palestinian students.
1978 - A total of 912 people die in Jonestown, Guyana, after Peoples Temple cult leader Jim Jones convinces most followers to commit mass suicide by drinking a cyanide-laced punch.
1982 - New exhibition hall is officially inaugurated at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
1994 - Palestinian National Authority police open fire at protesters for the first time, killing 12 in Gaza.
1996 - Italian boxer Fabrizio De Chiara dies from ring injuries.
1999 - Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia sign a deal to build a $2.4 billion (Dh8.82 billion) pipeline.
2005 - Two suicide bombings kill more than 77 people at Shiite mosques during Friday prayers in a northeastern Iraqi town.
2007 - A methane blast rips through a coal mine in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 70 miners.
2011 - An Italian prototype plane crashes off Dubai’s coast on its way home after taking part in the Dubai Airshow.
2012 - A massive fire rips though the 34-storey Tamweel Tower in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, leaving hundreds of people homeless.
2014 - Sharjah opens plot sales to expatriates with valid UAE residence visas for the first time.
2015 - Dr Amal Al Qubaisi becomes first woman Speaker of the Federal National Council.
