Za’abeel underpass opens in Dubai
1996 - The Za’abeel underpass opened to traffic in Dubai. It now takes just 15 minutes to reach Jumeirah or Shaikh Zayed Road, from Deira — less than half the time it took earlier. All roads and underpasses of the Dubai Trade Centre and Za’abeel projects are now open after months of intensive work. Dunes, ‘Dubai’ spelt out in calligraphy, the tents of the Emirates Golf Club and the familiar features of the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club decorate the three underpasses that opened yesterday, adding visual delight to practical convenience. The underpasses provide direct links between Maktoum Bridge and Trade Centre and Za’abeel Road and Trade Centre. Another underpass provides a quick route between Shaikh Zayed Road and Deira, moving on to link with the Dubai-Sharjah highway.
September 23
1642 - Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, holds its first commencement.
1817 - Spain signs treaty with Britain to end slave trade.
1846 - The planet Neptune is discovered by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle.
1913 - French aviator Roland Garros becomes the first person to fly non-stop across the Mediterranean Sea.
1920 - Alexandre Millerand is elected President of France.
1956 - Britain and France submit Suez Canal dispute to United Nations Security Council.
1967 - Soviet Union pledges to send military and economic assistance to North Vietnam.
1973 - Former Argentine president Juan Peron returns to power.
1982 - Ameen Gemayel is sworn in as President of Lebanon.
1983 - A passenger plane coming from Karachi crashes in the desert between Al Ain and Dubai, killing all 112 passengers and crew.
1989 Azerbaijan declares sovereignty from the Soviet Union.
1991 Armenia becomes an independent nation.
1992 - UN General Assembly votes to expel the Belgrade government from the seat once occupied by the defunct Yugoslav federation.
1992 - Thirty-six people die in the worst floods to hit southern France in 34 years.
1993 - The South African parliament approves a law giving blacks their first official say in the running of the country.
1995 - Gunmen in Mexico ambush a squad of policemen outside a village in southern Guerrero state, killing four officers and wounding five.
1996 - A typhoon batters China’s Hainan Island, leaving at least 38 people dead and 96 missing.
1999 - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s wife Raisa is buried.
2002 - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat rejects Israel’s terms for lifting its siege of his battered offices in Ramallah.
2004 - About 300 Syrian soldiers in a convoy cross the Lebanese border into Syria.
2010 - UAE gets a seat on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors.
2013 - Egypt court orders ban of Muslim Brotherhood and seizure of its assets.
