A US deadline for Iraq to start withdrawing from Kuwait passed unheeded and the two sides in the war prepared for the biggest land attack since the Second World War. US President George Bush said he regretted that Iraqi President Saddam Hussain had made no move to withdraw from Kuwait by the 1700 GMT deadline. The US and its allies launched a massive ground offensive against Iraqi troops in Kuwait, putting in motion an invasion unmatched since D-Day troops stormed into Normandy in 1944. “We remain determined to fulfil the UN resolutions, the liberation of Kuwait has entered a final phase,” Bush said in a statement released by the White House. The attack would be combined with an amphibious landing by marines on Kuwait from the Gulf, the experts said. Ruling Revolution Command Council Vice-chairman Izzat Ebrahim said, “The American ultimatums are aggressive and we don’t heed them. We are at war and the air and land aggression continues.”
Other important events
1656 Spain declares war on England.
1783 Spain recognises independence of United States.
1801 Aleksandr P. Romanov becomes emperor of Russia.
1821 Mexico declares independence from Spain.
1839 American inventor William Otis is granted a patent for the steam shovel
1848 French king Louis Philippe is overthrown by revolutionary citizens.
1868 The US House of Representatives impeaches President Andrew Johnson.
1883 Long-distance telephone service is inaugurated between Chicago and New York.
1920 Nazi Party is organised in Germany.
1924 Greece becomes a republic.
1945 Egypt’s Premier Ahmad Pasha is assassinated.
1946 Juan Peron is elected to the first of three presidential terms in Argentina.
1966 Military coup in Ghana deposes President Kwame Nkrumah while he is out of country en route to China.
1979 War between North and South Yemen begins.
1981 Britain’s Prince Charles announces his engagement to Lady Diana Spencer.
1989 Japanese Emperor Hirohito is laid to rest inside a hillside crypt.
1993 Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney retires after nine years in office.
1996 Dubai Shopping Festival is officially inaugurated.
1997 The world’s first liquefied natural gas exporting facility is inaugurated in Qatar.
2000 Mayon, one of the Philippines’ deadliest volcanoes, erupts forcing about 30,000 people to flee.
2004 A 6.5-magnitude quake rocks northern Morocco, killing more than 550 people.
2005 Somalis sing and shout a welcome President Abdullah Yousuf Ahmad as he makes his first trip home since his government-in-exile was formed last year.
2006 Saudi Arabia forces foil suicide attack on oil complex.
2007 Australia’s Matthew Hayden smashes fastest World Cup century against South Africa.
2008 Raul Castro takes over from his brother Fidel Castro as Cuban president.
2013 Regional African leaders sign a deal aimed at bringing peace and stability to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo after years of unrest.
2014 UAE’s Florence Nightingale Salma Al Sharhan dies at the age of 80 in Ras Al Khaimah.
2015 West Indies Chris Gayle sets record for the highest individual score in a World Cup cricket with 215 runs.
