1998 - Libya has agreed to hand over the two suspects in the 1988 bombing of a US airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, for trial by a panel chaired by a Scottish judge named by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the spokesman for the families of the British victims said. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi gave his personal agreement that the suspects could stand trial before a panel of five judges, Jim Swire said on his return to Britain from a visit to Libya. “We also suggested that the other four judges be nominated by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan,” said Swire, who lost his daughter in the 1988 bombing of a PanAm plane in which 270 people were killed. Swire and Edinburgh University Scottish law professor Robert Black met the Libyan leader and other suspects.
Other importante events
1509 - Henry VIII becomes King of England.
1898 - The first shot of the Spanish-American War rings out as the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship off Key West, Florida.
1931 - Egypt and Iraq sign treaty of friendship, the first pact between Egypt and another Arab state.
1945 - Allied forces take Bologna in Italy during the Second World War.
1956 - China appoints Dalai Lama chairman of a committee to prepare Tibet for regional autonomy within Chinese People’s Republic.
1970 - The first Earth Day is celebrated.
1975 - First Vietnamese refugees arrive on US West Coast while South Vietnam gradually falls to Communists.
1980 - Dubai Natural Gas Company Limited (Dugas) is inaugurated.
1990 - American hostage Robert Polhill is freed in Lebanon after almost 39 months.
1992 - A series of at least 20 gas explosions hit Reforma district in Mexico, killing at least 230 people.
1993 - The first popular web browser, Mosaic 1.0, is officially released.
1997 - Commandos storm the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima, Peru, ending a 126-day hostage crisis.
1998 - The 22 members of the Arab League sign the first Arab convention against terrorism.
1999 - Nato destroys Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s home during air strike.
2004 - Two trains carrying fuel collide and explode at a North Korean railway station near the Chinese border and kill 154 people.
2006 - Hundreds are injured in Kathmandu when Nepalese security opens fire on tens of thousands of protesters marching towards the royal palace.
2007 - South Korea reaches a deal with North Korea to resume rice aid as well as agreeing to the first run of trains across their border in 50 years.
2008 - Several hijackers of a Dubai-registered ship are arrested when the vessel is stormed by Somali troops to end the hijack.
2012 - Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel wins the Bahrain Grand Prix in Manama.
