1978 The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The Norwegian Nobel committee said it had a dual purpose in presenting the prestigious prize to the two Middle East leaders, who for 11 months had been engaged in an often-difficult drive to end 30 years of Arab-Israeli hostility. Committee head Aase Lionaes said: “With the historic visit of Sadat to Jerusalem in 1977, a breach was forced in the psychological wall which for a whole generation has blocked understanding and human contact between Egypt and Israel.”
Other important events
1904 The first rapid transit subway opens in New York City.
1938 DuPont announces the invention of nylon, a synthetic yarn.
1954 Benjamin O. Davis, Jr becomes the first African-American general in the US Air Force.
1955 Egypt and Saudi Arabia sign a joint defence agreement in Cairo.
1971 The Democratic Republic of Congo becomes the Republic of Zaire.
1973 UN peacekeeping forces arrive in Cairo to set up a ceasefire between Israeli and Arab forces.
1990 Askar Akayev becomes the first President of Kyrgyzstan.
1998 Hurricane Mitch kills more than 7,000 people in Honduras and Nicaragua.
1999 Armenian Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian is assassinated
2002 Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva becomes Brazil’s first leftist president.
2003 Five coordinated suicide bombing attacks kill at least 35 people in Baghdad.
2010 Ras Al Khaimah Ruler Shaikh Saqr Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi dies.
2013 Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central is officially inaugurated.
2017 The Catalan parliament declares independence from Spain.
