2001 - Propelled by the record-breaking offensive power of Florent Sinama Pongolle, France shut out mighty Nigeria 3-0 for its first championship trophy in the Fifa Under-17 World Championship. For French football, the victory at Hasely Crawford Stadium means yet another trophy to add to an already impressive collection. France’s adult national team is at the top in Fifa rankings after winning the 1998 World Cup and last year’s European Championship. The first-half goal by Pongolle, already widely considered the finest player of the championship, was his ninth of the tournament. With the score, he broke the long-standing tournament record of eight made by West Germany’s Marcel Witeczek in the 1985 competition in China.
Other important events
1800 - Spain cedes Louisiana to France in a secret treaty.
1838 - The first Anglo-Afghan War begins.
1890 - Yosemite National Park is established in California.
1927 - Russian-Persian non-aggression pact is signed.
1940 - America’s first toll superhighway, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, opens to traffic.
1963 - Nigeria becomes republic within the Commonwealth.
1964 - Japan’s Shinkansen (bullet trains) begin high-speed rail service from Tokyo to Osaka.
1970 - Egypt’s Vice-President, Anwar Sadat, succeeds the late Jamal Abdul Nasser as President.
1971 - Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida.
1980 - Warsaw court gives legal approval to Poland’s first six independent trade unions.
1985 - Israel bombs the Palestinian Liberation Organisation headquarters in Tunisia, killing 73 people.
1986 - Former US President Jimmy Carter’s presidential library and museum are dedicated in Atlanta.
1988 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes President of the Soviet Union.
1990 - Minority Serbs in Croatia proclaim autonomy.
1991 - The US and France cut off millions of dollars in aid to Haiti after a military coup.
1992 - Vice-President Itamar Franco takes over from Brazil’s impeached President Fernando Collor de Mello.
1996 - The UN Security Council lifts sanctions against Yugoslavia in recognition of Serbia’s role in helping bring peace to Bosnia.
1997 - The founder of Hamas, Shaikh Ahmad Yassin, is released from Israel’s Ayalon prison and flown to Amman, Jordan.
2005 - Twin bombings rip through restaurants in Bali, Indonesia, killing at least 22 people.
2006 - Families in northwest Nigeria are swept away in a torrent of water and up to 40 people are feared dead after the collapse of a dam.
2008 - US Congress approves a landmark nuclear energy deal with India.
2014 - At least 41 Syrian children aged under 12 are killed in a double bombing at a school in Homs.
