2006 - Nepal’s King Gyanendra, facing sweeping anti-monarchy protests, said he was restoring political power to the people, but the country’s largest party said that was not enough. “Executive power of the kingdom of Nepal, which was in our safekeeping, shall from this day be returned to the people,” King Gyanendra said in an address to the nation in the Nepalese language. “We ask the seven-party alliance to recommend the name for the post of prime minister at the earliest for the constitution of a council of ministers, which will bear the responsibility of governing the country in accordance with the constitution.” India welcomed the announcement. The European Union also welcomed the king’s pledge to hand over power.
Other important events
1789 - John Adams is sworn in as the first US vice-president.
1856 - Australia adopts eight-hour working day.
1898 - United States recognises independence of Cuba.
1918 - German air ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen, known as the Red Baron, is shot down and killed over the western front during a dogfight.
1926 - Birth of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
1947 - Crown Prince Frederik is acclaimed King Frederik IX of Denmark by thousands of Danes in parliament square.
1956 - Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Yemen sign military alliance in Jeddah.
1960 - Brazil moves its capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia.
1967 - Army officers led by Col Georgios Papadopoulos seize power in Greece.
1972 - Two US Apollo 16 astronauts spend seven hours exploring highlands of the Moon.
1975 - South Vietnam’s President Nguyen van Thieu resigns.
1977 - Pakistan’s Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto assumes emergency powers and imposes martial law on three major cities.
1980 - South Yemen’s Marxist President Abdul Fateh Esmail resigns and is succeeded by prime minister Ali Nasser Mohammad.
1981 - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher makes a historic visit to the UAE.
2008 - US becomes the second country with which the UAE signs an agreement on peaceful nuclear energy cooperation.
2014 - Saudi Health Minister Abdullah Al Rabie is removed as Mers death toll rises.
2015 - Toppled Egyptian leader Mohammad Mursi is sentenced to 20 years in prison.
