1997 - Two top Swiss banks decided to merge to create the world’s second biggest bank by assets and the largest fund manager, worth $60 billion (Dh220.68 billion) and controlling almost one trillion dollars of funds. Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) and Swiss Bank Corp (SBC) will form United Bank of Switzerland. The move will prompt cuts of 13,000 jobs from a combined workforce of 56,000 over three or four years, including about 7,000 in Switzerland and around 3,000 in London alone. The new bank will have managed funds of 1,320 billion Swiss francs (Dh3.35 trillion). Combined assets will total 922.3 billion Swiss francs, second only to Japan’s Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. Market capitalisation would be $60 billion, fifth highest among world banks.
Other important events
1881 - Fire at Vienna’s Ring Theatre destroys the structure and kills more than 620 people.
1914 - British destroy German naval squadron off Falkland Islands.
1925 - Reza Shah Pahlavi becomes Shah of Iran after seizing power in a coup.
1941 - US and Britain declare war on Japan.
1962 - Brunei rebellion collapses after British intervention.
1963 - A Pan Am airliner crashes near Elkton, Maryland, after being struck by lightning, kills 81 people.
1966 - Greek ferry sinks near Island of Melos, killing 234.
1970 - UN Security Council votes to condemn Portugal for military moves in Guinea.
1972 - A United Airlines plane crashes at Chicago’s Midway Airport, killing 45.
1980 - Beatle John Lennon is shot dead outside his New York City apartment by a deranged fan.
1987 - The first Palestinian Intifada against the Israeli occupation begins in the Israeli-occupied territories.
1987 - A plane chartered by the Alianza Lima football team crashes into the Pacific Ocean, killing 54 people abroad.
1988 - A US Air Force warplane slams into a downtown residential area in a city in central West Germany, killing five people.
1990 - Thai Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan resigns after a long power struggle with the military.
1991 - Russia, Belorussia and Ukraine form the Commonwealth of Independent States.
1992 - An avalanche of mud buries a gold mining camp in the remote foothills of the Andes in Bolivia, killing at least 50 miners.
1995 - Russia signs an agreement with the pro-Moscow Chechen government, defining a special status for the rebel territory.
1997 - Jenny Shipley becomes the first female Prime Minister of New Zealand
2009 - Car bombs kill at least 127 people in Baghdad.
2010 - A fire in a Chilean prison kills 83 inmates.
2013 - Metallica performs at the Argentina Carlini Base in Antarctica, a rare and historic concert.
2016 - The Emirates Soil Museum opens on Dubai-Al Ain Road.
