2007 Yasuo Fukuda, a dovish lawmaker who has vowed to heal his party and improve ties with Japan’s neighbours, took over as prime minister braced for a bruising fight in a divided parliament. Fukuda stood up, smiled and bowed to members of parliament around him as he was declared prime minister. He later named a cabinet with few major changes, keeping fellow experienced insiders in key posts. Shinzo Abe, the outgoing premier whose 365-day rule was dogged by cabinet scandals, gaffes and a heavy election defeat, resigned with his entire cabinet in a formality shortly before the vote. Abe shook hands with all of his ministers after briefly checking out of the hospital where he has been treated for exhaustion since a day after his abrupt September 12 announcement that he was stepping down. Fukuda, a 71-year-old former oilman known for his skills at damage control, won approval as premier in a mostly party-line 338-117 vote by the Lower House, where the ruling Liberal Democratic Party holds a strong majority.
Other important events
1890 Sequoia National Park is established in California, US.
1955 The Royal Jordanian Air Force is founded.
1956 TAT-1, the first submarine transatlantic telephone cable system, is inaugurated.
1959 Sri Lankan Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike is assassinated.
1966 Two typhoons hit Japan, leaving more than 300 people dead and missing.
1973 Three-man crew of US space laboratory, Skylab 2, makes safe splashdown in Pacific Ocean after record 59 days in orbit around earth.
1976 Prime Minister Ian Smith accepts a proposal for eventual black rule in Rhodesia in a broadcast to the nation.
1978 PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727-214, collides in mid-air with a Cessna 172 and crashes in San Diego, California, resulting in the deaths of 144 people.
1979 Pakistan votes in the first elections to be held since the armed forces came to power in July 1977.
1981 Sandra Day O’Connor is sworn in as the first female US Supreme court justice.
1983 Syria and Saudi Arabia reach a ceasefire agreement for Lebanon.
1984 Jordan resumes diplomatic relations with Egypt, ending a five-year boycott.
1989 Vietnamese troops complete their final withdrawal from Cambodia.
1990 The UN Security Council imposed air embargo against Iraq and Kuwait.
1993 Three American soldiers are killed in Somalia when a rocket-propelled grenade brings down their helicopter.
1995 New Zealand volcano Mount Ruapehu bursts angrily into life.
1996 At least 40 Palestinians and 11 Israelis are killed in a fight triggered by Israel creating a new opening to an archaeological tunnel in occupied Jerusalem.
2005 A US military helicopter crashes during an anti-militant operation in Afghanistan, killing all five American crew members.
2006 Gunmen kill the southern provincial head of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Safia Ama Jan, outside her home.
2007 Yasuo Fukuda, a dovish lawmaker takes over as prime minister of Japan.
2008 Kgalema Motlanthe becomes the third president of South Africa since the end of white rule.
2011 19 died after a plane crashlanded in Nepal.
2012 An Antonov An-72 military transport plane crashes in Kazakhstan killing all 27 people on board.
2013 The Oracle Team USA wins the America’s Cup in San Francisco Bay against Emirates Team New Zealand.
