March 13
1639 Harvard University is named after clergyman John Harvard.
1714 Battle of Storkyro leads to Russian domination of Finland.
1781 Sir William Herschel discovers Uranus.
1808 Danish crown prince Frederick VI ascends the throne following the death of his father Christian VII.
1809 Swedish King Gustav IV is driven from power in a coup.
1881 Russia’s Czar Alexander II is assassinated by radical terrorists who demand a constitutional government in Russia.
1868 The impeachment trial of US President Andrew Johnson begins in the US Senate.
1900 British forces under Frederick Roberts capture Bloemfontein, South Africa.
1901 Former US president Benjamin Harrison dies in Indianapolis at the age of 67.
1913 New Australian federal capital officially named Canberra.
1938 Germany annexes Austria.
1974 Arab nations agree to end five-month oil embargo against US.
1979 Socialists in Grenada stage a bloodless coup.
1988 The Seikan Tunnel is officially opened in Japan.
1989 The capital’s new ultra-modern bus terminal on Eastern Road is opened.
1991 Royal welcome for the UAE troops returning from Kuwait.
1992 A 6.2 magnitude earthquake rocks Erzincan, Turkey, claiming at least 570 lives.
1993 Prime Minister Paul Keating claims victory in Australia’s general election.
1996 A gunman in Dunblane, Scotland, shoots to death 16 children and a teacher.
1997 A military cargo plane crashes in the mountains in northeastern Iran, killing all 88 people on board.
1998 South Korean President Kim Dae-jung grants amnesty to some 5 million South Koreans.
2000 Chechen warlord Salman Raduyev is captured in a secret operation in Moscow.
2002 Angola’s government announces a ceasefire in its 27-year civil war against the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola.
2007 Somalia’s President Abdullahi Yousuf comes under mortar attack in his palace, which kills seven people.
2008 Serbia’s president dissolves parliament and calls an early election.
2012 A ferry capsizes in suburban Munshiganj area and kills at least 34 passengers.
2013 Jorge Mario Bergoglio is elected as the new Pope.
2016 A car bomb rips through a busy square in central Ankara, Turkey, killing at least 27 people.
2017 Dubai Police gets a Bugatti Veyron, the fastest police car in the world.
HIGHLIGHT
1998
Italy sail away with King’s Trophy
The nine-day ISAF World Sailing Championships came to a close at the Dubai International Marine club, with Italy winning the King’s Trophy: the honour accorded to the top sailing nation in the world. Italy also won the overall world championship trophy in La Rochelle, France, four years ago. The world sailing body was then known as IYRU. The Italian captain then in his enthusiasm lifted the trophy, made of Waterford crystal, and then dropped it. King Constantine of Greece who was present at the proceedings announced that he would donate a trophy which came to be called the King’s Trophy. The first trophy was a one-off prize and the Italians would have got to keep it. The King’s Trophy is a rolling trophy, up for grabs every four years. Italy edged out rivals Great Britain to second place. The Italians had a total of 271 points to Britain’s 264. With three titles being decided: the men’s singlehanded, women’s doublehanded and the double handed open, the spotlight fell on the women’s singlehanded.
