1988 - Hijackers, armed with pistols and hand grenades, identified only as Arab seized a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet, forced it to land in northeast Iran and threatened to harm three members of Kuwait’s ruling family on the plane if 17 pro-Iranian ‘political prisoners’ held in Kuwait were not freed.
The hijackers said in a statement: “We ask you Iranian officials to mediate between us and the Kuwaiti Government if you want. We have 17 prisoners in Kuwaiti jails who are under the worst kind of torture. This is our main demand. We are ready to cooperate with them (the Kuwaiti Government) and if they accept our demand, we will prove our goodwill.” The hijackers threatened to blow up the Boeing 747 if Iranian security forces approached it.
Other important events
1664 - Peace Treaty of Westminster ends first Anglo-Dutch War.
1768 - The New York Chamber of Commerce is founded
1881 - Britain concludes Treaty of Pretoria with Boers, recognising independence of South African Republic of Transvaal.
1896 - First modern Olympic Games begin in Athens.
1930 - Mahatma Gandhi ends a march to Dandi in the Salt Satyagraha.
1933 - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt bans the hoarding of gold in the US as it is stifling economic growth.
1951 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are sentenced to death in the US as atomic spies for Soviet Union.
1955 - Winston Churchill resigns as British Prime Minister amid signs of failing health.
1958 - Fidel Castro begins ‘total war’ against Batista government in Cuba.
1971 - Pakistan airlifts foreigners from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, as fighting rages during a revolt.
1975 - General Chiang Kai-shek dies after 47 years in power, first in China and later in Taiwan.
1976 - James Callaghan becomes British Prime Minister following Harold Wilson’s resignation.
1986 - Two people are killed and 150 injured in a bomb attack on a West Berlin La Belle discotheque.
1992 - Iranian planes bomb an opposition base in the Iraqi desert on their first raid into Iraq since 1988.
1994 - Israeli troops start pulling out of Gaza Strip.
1995 - The new headquarters for Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry are inaugurated.
1999 - Libya hands over to the UN two former government agents to stand trial for the bombing of a Pan Am aircraft over Lockerbie in 1988.
2000 - Yoshiro Mori replaces Keizo Obuchi as Prime Minister of Japan.
2008 - Zayed International Humanitarian Award is launched in Abu Dhabi.
2010 - Legendary England cricketer Alec Bedser dies at the age of 91.
2012 - The Saudi Arabia Olympic Committee announces that they will not endorse women athletes for the London Olympics.
2016 - Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigns in wake of Panama Papers scandal.
