May 23, 1998: Yes vote for Northern Ireland peace deal

1998 - The voters on both sides of the Irish border resoundingly backed a landmark peace deal designed to end 30 years of Protestant-Catholic bloodshed, referendum results showed. In Northern Ireland, 71.1 per cent voted “Yes” and in the south a massive 94.4 per cent were in favour, according to final official figures. “It’s a day for joy,” British Prime Minister Tony Blair said at his country residence Chequers, northwest of London. As Chief Electoral Officer Pat Bradley read out the result in a Belfast hall, waiting “Yes” campaigners broke into cheers and jeered at their “No” rivals.

Other important events

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1926 - France declares Lebanon a republic.

1945 - Winston Churchill resigns as British Prime Minister.

1949 - German Federal Republic comes into being with capital in Bonn.

1951 - China annexes Tibet.

2000 - Gulf Cooperation Council states sign the Declaration on Cooperation with European Free Trade Association in Brussels.

2003 - US Administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, officially dissolves the Iraqi Army, putting 400,000 troops out of work.

2005 - Renowned Kuwaiti pioneer Abdul Aziz Hamad Al Saqr dies at the age of 92.

2017 - James Bond actor Roger Moore dies at the age of 89.