Nato entered a new era as the former Cold War bloc opened its doors to seven ex-communist nations in a historic expansion and vowed to transform and equip itself for the fight against terrorism. The Alliance, formed in 1949 to counter the perceived Soviet threat, invited Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania to join which is expected at Nato’s next summit in 2004. Leaders of the world’s most important military alliance hailed the historic decision as changing the map of Europe. US President George W. Bush said enlargement would “refresh” the spirit of the alliance, ushering in a new era as it struggles to transform itself into a force relevant in the post-September 11 world. Russia, which bitterly opposed Nato expansion in the past, reacted pragmatically to long-anticipated decision, saying the real threat came from the country’s southern flank. Nato chief George Robertson, formally inviting the new members to join the existing 19 allies.
Other important events
1877 - Thomas A. Edison announces invention of the phonograph.
1922 - Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia is sworn in as the first woman in the US Senate.
1938 - Western border areas of Czechoslovakia are forcibly incorporated into German Reich.
1962 - China agrees to a ceasefire on India-China border.
1976 - Syrian army completes its final phase of occupation of Lebanon.
1977 - The supersonic Concorde airliner takes off on its first flight from London to New York City.
1980 - A fire at the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas kills 87.
1985 - Former US Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard is arrested and accused of spying for Israel.
1990 - The Cold War ends as leaders of Nato and Warsaw Pact states sign the Charter of Paris and a treaty on conventional forces in Europe.
1991 - Eight Soviet republics make an historic pact with the world’s seven richest countries.
1995 - The presidents of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia sign peace agreement that would end the three-and-a-half-year-old Balkan war.
1996 - A gas explosion at a shoe store in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 19 people and injures about 80.
1998 - Italian officials release Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the main Kurdish rebel group.
1999 - China announces the flight of its first craft capable of carrying a man into space.
2001 - Maoist rebel leaders in Nepal withdraw from their four-month-old cease-fire, and launch their worst-ever attacks, killing more than 200 people.
2004 - A China Eastern commuter plane crashes into a frozen lake seconds after take off in Inner Mongolia, killing 54 people.
2005 - The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange is opened.
2006 - Lebanese minister Pierre Gemayel is gunned down in a carefully orchestrated assassination.
2008 - Somali pirates release a hijacked Greek-owned tanker MV Genius with all 19 crew members safe after payment of a ransom.
2009 - Emirates NBD unveil a new brand after two years of the merging process.
2012 - Ajmal Kasab, a convicted terrorist of the 26/11 attack is hanged at the Yerawada prison in Pune, India.
2013 - DubaiSat 2, the UAE’s second earth imaging satellite, is launched into orbit successfully.
2015 - A helicopter carrying tourists crashes in Fox Glacier, New Zealand and kill all seven people abroad.
