September 15, 2001: East Timor’s First parliament sworn in

2001 - East Timor’s first democratically elected lawmakers were sworn in, two weeks after voters turned out in overwhelming numbers to pick a constituent assembly to write their constitution. The 88 members observed a minute’s silence during the ceremony, in remembrance of the victims of terrorist attacks in the United States. Sergio Vieira de Mello, who heads the two-year-old transitional United Nations administration in East Timor (pictured left with East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao) swore in the assembly members and inaugurated the legislature’s new building, constructed with Australian funding. De Mello said he brought “mixed emotions” to the assembly’s inaugural session. “Feelings of joy, satisfaction that this important day for the people of East Timor has finally arrived.De Mello implored the lawmakers not to forget the people they represent. The legislature is dominated by the party that led the resistance against Indonesia’s 24-year occupation, Fretilin, with 55 seats. Fretilin’s majority however falls short of the minimum 60 seats required to pass the constitution on its own.

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1882 - British forces occupy Cairo.

1916 - Tanks are used for the first time in war, in a British attack on German lines near the Somme in France.

1917 - Russia is proclaimed a republic by Alexander Kerensky, the head of a provisional government.

1924 - A military junta ejects Chile’s elected president, Arturo Palma.

1946 - A people’s republic is formed in Bulgaria after referendum rejects monarchy.

1950 - UN forces under US Gen. Douglas MacArthur land at Incheon, South Korea, halting North Korean advance.

1963 - Ahmad Ben Bella becomes the first President of Algeria.

1981 - Al Zahra Hospital, the UAE’s first private general hospital, opens in Sharjah.

1982 - Former Iranian foreign minister Sadegh Ghotbzadeh is executed after being convicted of plotting against the government.

1987 - The Soviet Union and the US sign an agreement to limit the chances of accidental nuclear war.

1993 - Hijackers, brandishing grenades, force a Russian jetliner with 52 people aboard to land in Norway, then surrender to police and ask for political asylum.

1996 - Secessionist leader Umberto Bossi proclaims a self-styled “republic” in Italy’s affluent north.

1997 - IRA-allied Sinn Fein party enters Northern Ireland’s peace talks for the first time.

2000 - Mexicans are free to publicly toast their independence from Spain for the first time in 70 years.

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2008 - Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai signs a power-sharing agreement with his nemesis President Robert Mugabe.

2011 - Denmark elects its first female prime minister, ousting the right-wing government from power after 10 years of pro-market reforms.

2013 - India successfully test-fires its longest range Agni-V nuclear capable missile for the second time in less than a year and a half. 2015 - Malcolm Turnbull sworn in as Australia’s new prime minister