2005 - A B-52 bomber belonging to the United States, returning from an attack against Iraqi forces, crashed in the Indian Ocean near its home base on Diego Garcia. Three of its six crew members have been rescued and a search has been mounted for the others. A US Air Force team is investigating the incident, the spokesman said, adding that there was no evidence that it was shot down. The B-52, the largest and perhaps most fearsome plane in the allied forces, has been bombing thousands of dug-in members of the elite Iraqi Republican Guards based in southern Iraq and Kuwait, Pentagon officials said. At a height of 16km in the sky, the giant B-52s are sent information from the tiny island base to lay down a pattern of bombs on Iraqi positions over 4,000km away.
Other Highlights
1830 - Greece is declared independent under protection of France, Russia and Britain.
1931 - Earthquake kills 256 people in Hawks Bay, New Zealand.
1959 - A plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, claims the lives of rock-and-roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson.
1966 - Unmanned Soviet spaceship Luna 9 makes soft landing on Moon and begins sending signals back to Earth.
1973 - Fighting in Vietnam comes to a halt after US and North Vietnam’s ceasefire goes into effect.
1984 - An infertile woman in a California hospital becomes what is believed to be the world’s first to give birth to a baby from donated embryo.
1988 - The US House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan’s request for at least $36.25 million (Dh133.32 million) in aid to the Nicaraguan Contras rebels.
1992 - Avalanches kill at least 178 people in seven mountain villages in southeast Turkey.
1994 - US lift the 19 years trade embargo against Vietnam.
1995 - Space shuttle Discovery blasts off with a woman in the pilot seat for the first time.
1996 - An earthquake ravages Lijiang, China, killing at least 210 people.
2006 - Hundreds die as Egyptian ferry carrying about 1,400 people sinks in the Red Sea.
2007 - A suicide truck bomber strikes a market in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad, killing 137 people.
2013 — India approves death sentences for sexual violence against women that leads to death of the victim.
2015 — The UAE is named the world’s largest donor of official development assistance.
