August 12, 2001: Israel bans PNA activities in occupied Jerusalem

2001 - A suicide bomber blew himself up on the patio of a restaurant near the northern Israeli coastal town of Haifa, killing himself and wounding 20 people. In the West Bank city of Hebron, a seven-year-old Palestinian girl was shot dead, hospital officials said, apparently in crossfire between Israelis and Palestinians. Meanwhile, the Israeli government said in a statement there would be no more activities by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in occupied Jerusalem, just two days after occupying the unofficial Palestinian headquarters in the city. “Activities of a diplomatic or administrative character — by a foreign entity — inside the state of Israel, without its consent, constitute an infringement of Israeli sovereignty,” the statement said.

Other important events

1658 - The first police force in the US is established in New Amsterdam (now New York).

1687 - Duke of Lorraine and Louis of Baden defeat Turks under Sulaiman Pasha at Battle of Mohacs, ending Turkish occupation of Hungary.

1759 - Russian and Austrian forces defeat Prussians at Kunersdorf, Germany, and Dresden falls into Austrian hands.

1851 - Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.

1877 - Asaph Hall discovers the Mars moon Deimos.

1898 - An Armistice ends the Spanish-American War.

1938 - Germany begins mobilisation of its armed forces.

1953 - Soviet Union tests first hydrogen bomb in Kazakhstan.

1960 - Echo I, the first communications satellite, is launched.

1964 - South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games due to the country’s racist policies.

1971 - Syria severs diplomatic relations with Jordan as border fighting breaks out.

1972 - Last US ground combat unit in South Vietnam is deactivated.

1976 - At least 2,000 people are killed at Tel Al Zaatar massacre, in Beirut, during Lebanese Civil War.

1978 - Japan and China sign a peace treaty, implemented in October.

1985 - A Japanese Boeing 747 carrying 524 people crashes in the mountains near Tokyo.

1987 - Italian Olympic champion Alessandro Andrei smashes the world shot put record 22.91 metres at the Viareggio athletics meet.

1988 - Rebels seize a major Afghan town for the first time, taking the northern provincial capital of Kunduz as Soviet troops pulled out.

1990 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussain offers to withdraw from Kuwait if Israel withdraws from Occupied Territories.

1992 - Franjo Tudjman is sworn in as the first President of independent Croatia.

2000 - A Russian nuclear submarine, the Kursk, malfunctions in the Barents Sea and sinks after two explosions in its forward weapons bay, killing 118 crewmen aboard.

2005 - Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar is assassinated in Colombo.