Defending world champion Michael Schumacher virtually secured the 1995 Formula One title when he claimed a magnificent victory in the European Grand Prix. Schumacher, 26, driving a Benetton, won the race with thrilling skills in changing conditions, mixed with exemplary, tactical judgment to finish 02.6 seconds ahead of Frenchman Jean Alesi in a Ferrari. Schumacher’s triumph extended his commanding lead over British rival Damon Hill from 17 points to 27 with three races remaining — a margin which the Englishman conceded before the race would be insurmountable. Hill’s Williams team mate and fellow Briton David Coulthard was third more than 32 seconds behind Alesi, while Hill himself was left standing at the side of the circuit to applaud the victor after spinning off with eight of the 67 laps remaining. Schumacher’s 17th win in the 66th race of his career was his seventh of the season and owed as much to his courage and great skill as he fought his way pass Alesi with a stunning overtaking move through the Veedol chicane two laps from the end.
Other important events
1800 Spain cedes Louisiana to France in a secret treaty.
1838 The first Anglo-Afghan War begins
1887 Balochistan is united with India.
1890 Yoshemite National Park is established in California.
1927 Russian-Persian nonaggression pact is signed.
1940 America’s first toll superhighway, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, opens to traffic.
1949 The People’s Republic of China is proclaimed in Beijing under Mao Zedong.
1963 Nigeria becomes republic within the Commonwealth.
1964 Japan’s Shinkansen (bullet trains) begin high-speed rail service from Tokyo to Osaka.
1970 Egypt’s Vice-President, Anwar Sadat, succeeds the late Jamal Abdul Nasser as President.
1971 Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida.
1975 Muhammad Ali knocks out Joe Frazier to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
1980 Warsaw court gives legal approval to Poland’s first six independent trade unions.
1985 Israel bombs the Palestinian Liberation Organisation headquarters in Tunisia, killing 73 people.
1986 Former US President Jimmy Carter’s presidential library and museum is dedicated in Atlanta.
1988 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes President of the Soviet Union.
1990 Minority Serbs in Croatia proclaim autonomy.
1991 The US and France cut off millions of dollars in aid to Haiti after a military coup.
1992 Vice-President Itamar Franco takes over from Brazil’s impeached President Fernando Collor de Mello.
1996 The UN Security Council lifts sanctions against Yugoslavia in recognition of Serbia’s role in helping bring peace to Bosnia.
1997 The founder of Hamas, Shaikh Ahmad Yassin, is released from Israel’s Ayalon prison and flown to Amman, Jordan.
1998 Europol, Europe’s cross-border police force, officially begins operation.
2002 Two navy transport planes collide over in western India and crashes in a ball of fire, killing all 12 crewmen and three people on the ground.
2005 Twin bombings rip through restaurants in Bali, Indonesia, killing at least 22 people.
2006 Families in northwest Nigeria are sweep away in a torrent of water and up to 40 people are feared dead after a dam collapses.
2007 A volcano erupts on Jabal al-Tair, a tiny Yemeni island in the Red Sea.
2008 US Congress approves a landmark nuclear energy deal with India.
2012 Two ferries collide near Lamma Island in Hong Kong, killing 37 people.
2013 American spy and military thriller best-seller author Tom Clancy died at the age of 66.
2014 At least 41 Syrian children aged under 12 are killed in a double bombing at a school in Homs.
