1991 - Georgia, angry that the Soviet Union’s new governing body accepted the Baltic states’ independence but not its own, has announced it is severing all relations with the Kremlin. “Georgia breaks off its official relations with the USSR at all levels,” said Akaki Assatiani, speaker of the Georgian parliament. He said he failed to receive a “sufficiently grounded answer” when he demanded to know why the State Council did not recognise Georgia’s independence when it had just recognised the Baltic States’ secession. “Any economic or defence-related agreements with the USSR are out of the question now,” Assatiani said. He said the Soviet Army divisions on Georgian territory will be identified as a foreign army or an occupation force from now on. Assatiani said Georgia would soon withdraw its representatives from all Soviet bodies. The move came at a time when demonstrations against the government of Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia are taking place daily in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.
Other important events
1714 - France signs Peace of Baden with Holy Roman Empire, as France keeps Alsace and Strasbourg.
1776 - The first submarine used in warfare makes an unsuccessful attempt to attach a mine to a British flagship in New York harbour.
1812 - Russians begin to abandon Moscow after defeat by French at Borodino.
1822 - Brazil proclaims independence from Portugal.
1888 - The first baby incubator is used to care for a premature infant.
1901 - Peace of Peking ends Boxer Rebellion in China.
1921 - Margaret Gorman becomes the first Miss America.
1923 - Interpol is founded in Vienna.
1927 - American Philo T. Farnsworth transmits an image through electronic means by using a device called an image dissector.
1939 - German army overruns Pomerania and Silesia in Poland.
1962 - Laos establishes diplomatic relations with China and North Vietnam.
1985 - Afghan rebels using rockets shoot down a civilian Afghan airliner.
1986 - Desmond Tutu is installed as the first black to lead the Anglican Church in southern Africa.
1987 - West German engineer Alfred Schmidt is released by kidnappers in Beirut.
1988 - The first Afghan in space, Abdul Ahad Mohmand, 29, and his Soviet crewmate Vladmir Lyakhov, 47, lands on the steppes of Soviet Union using manual controls.
1992 - Ciskei troops open fire killing 28 African National Congress protesters in South Africa.
1993 - India and China move to end a 30-year border dispute, vowing to cut the number of troops deployed on their frontier and to maintain peace in the region.
1999 - Greece’s deadliest earthquake in more than 40 years strikes outside Athens, killing at least 101 people.
2006 - UAE women’s team makes clean sweep at 10th GCC Karate Championship.
2011 - A private Russian jet carrying a top ice hockey team slams into a riverbank moments after take off, killing at least 43 people.
2015 - Egyptian Agriculture Minister Salah Helal is arrested shortly after he was sacked from his post over corruption allegations.
