2002 - The inaugural session of the 11th South Asian meet that opened at the Birendra International Convention Centre was marred by the deep suspicions that mark Indo-Pakistan relations, with the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee hesitantly accepting the hand of friendship extended by Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf. The Pakistan president departed from the prepared text of his speech and said that he was using the “exalted forum” provided by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation to “extend the hand of friendship to Prime Minister Vajpayee”, in the hope that the two leaders could work together for peace. “Let us together commence [on] a journey of peace, harmony and progress in South Asia,” Musharraf said.
Other important events
1895 - German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discovers X-rays.
1925 - Nellie T. Ross succeeds her late husband as governor of Wyoming, becoming the first female governor in American history.
1940 - Edwin H. Armstrong demonstrates FM radio broadcasting over a long-distance relay network, using 5 radio stations each in a different US state.
1941 - Amy Johnson, a pioneering British aviator, dies after bailing out of her plane which had run out of fuel.
1953 - Passenger ships Willem Ruys and Orange collide in the Red Sea.
1961 - US severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.
1971 - The first one-day International cricket match is played between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
1976 - Cambodia is renamed the Democratic Kampuchea by the Khmer Rouge.
1991 - Cuba and the Soviet Union sign agreement ending trade on easy terms and artificially low prices.
1993 - Sharjah Museum opens to the public.
1996 - Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama announces his resignation.
1997 - General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum is named Humanitarian Personality of the Year 1996.
2000 - Palestinians hoist their flag over a former Israeli military camp, following a deal over West Bank land transfers.
2002 - Younus Al Aynaoui becomes the first Arab player to win the Qatar Open after beating Spain’s Felix Mantilla in the final.
2003 - Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, one of the ‘Gang of Four’ British politicians, dies at the age of 82.
2006 - His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum is elected Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE.
2007 - Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer bow out on a high as Australia win fifth and final Ashes Test to complete their first Ashes whitewash in 86 years.
2014 - Portugal’s football legend Eusebio dies at the age of 71.
2016 - Egyptian actor Mamdouh Abdul Aleem dies in Cairo.
