Flower Clock opens in Abu Dhabi
2002 - The Flower Clock on Salam Street in the UAE capital, a gift from the city of Geneva, was officially inaugurated in the presence of the visiting Mayor of Geneva, Manuel Tornare. The Flower Clock was unveiled at an impressive ceremony by Shaikh Mohammad Bin Butti Al Hamid, the Ruler’s Representative in the Western Region and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Municipality and Town Planning Department. The Clock, a replica of the Geneva Flower Clock, is a token of appreciation of the affection President His Highness Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan has shown to Switzerland.
April 30
1657 - English fleet defeats Spanish fleet off Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
1789 - George Washington becomes the first American President.
1803 - United States doubles in size with the purchases of the Louisiana Territory and New Orleans from France.
1881 - France invades Tunisia from Algeria, and later establishes a protectorate.
1897 - British physicist Joseph Thomson announces the discovery of electrons.
1900 - Hawaii becomes a US territory.
1945 - Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his Berlin bunker with his wife, Eva Braun.
1948 - The Organisation of American States holds its first meeting, in Bogota, Colombia.
1953 - People’s Progressive Party wins first election in British Guyana.
1975 - Vietnamese Communist troops take over Saigon, ending the Vietnam War.
1986 - Indian troops storm the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab, to flush out terrorists.
1993 - Monica Seles is stabbed in the back by a spectator during a match in Germany.
1994 - Austrian Roland Ratzenberger dies after a crash during final qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix.
1995 - US President Bill Clinton ends US trade and investment with Iran, accusing the Tehran government of supporting terrorism.
1998 - Noted Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani dies at his London home, at the age of 75.
2004 - Ten countries join European Union, the biggest expansion in its 47-year history.
2006 - Nepal’s parliament calls for a ceasefire with communist rebels and elections for an assembly to rewrite the constitution.
2009 - Qatari Minister of Commerce Shaikh Fahd Bin Jasim Bin Mohammad Al Thani dies in a car accident.
2012 - A double-decker ferry with more than 350 passengers sinks in the Brahmaputra river in Assam, India, killing at least 270 people.
2015 - Stand By Me singer Ben E. King dies at 76.
