From the pages of Gulf News dated July 5 to 11, 1979

July 5

UAE and Libya stress ties
PRESIDENT His Highness Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the visiting Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi held wide ranging talks on the situation in the Arab world. The two leaders reviewed the recent developments pertaining to the Palestinian question and reaffirmed the need to consolidate Arab unity of action in various fields.

July 7

French air pioneer dead
FRENCH Aviation Pioneer Emile Dewoitine died at the age of 87. Working between the two world wars, he built some of the first aircraft to have a metal fuselage and specialised in fighter planes and prototypes for air races. His best known aircraft was the Dewoitine-520 fighter.

World record for Coe
BRITAIN'S Sebastian Coe smashed the two-year-old 800 metres world record of Cuban ace Alberto Juantoreho with a brilliant run at an international athletic meeting. Coe, the British 800 metres record holder, clocked one minute 42.33 seconds, clipping more than a second off the Olympic champions previous record of 1:43.4, set in Sofia in August, 1977.

July 8

Iran to repay debts to foreign banks
IRAN'S nationalised banks will repay all their foreign debts, estimated at one billion dollars, the governor of the Central Bank said. Dr Ali Movlavi said that foreign banks which lent the money had nothing to worry about.

China and US sign trade deal
China and the United States signed a trade pact which when ratified by Congress will grant Peking the most-favoured-nation status which the Soviet Union has not yet managed to achieve.

July 9

China opens door to foreign capital
CHINA published its first law allowing foreign companies to invest capital in the world's most populous country and get their profits out. The 15-article code, adopted by the national People's Congress on July 1, permits foreign firms to enter into joint ventures with Chinese companies. But western experts said the new law was much tighter than expected, and that some points in the code were vague.

July 10

Arab boycott costs Egypt $18.5 billion
EGYPT has asked the world's seven major industrial nations for $18.5 billion(Dh67.89 billion) over the next five years to offset what it calls the anticipated grave economic consequences of the Arab boycott against it.

July 11

Britain extends direct rule over N-Ireland
THE BRITISH Parliament has extended its direct rule over the strife- torn province of Northern Ireland for another 12 months. The House of Lords agreed, without a vote, to orders already passed in the House of Commons, extending Parliament's direct rule over Ulster and continuing the British government's special emergency powers to combat terrorism.