1981 - Morocco’s King Hassan voiced his support for the European peacekeeping force proposed for Sinai. Hassan said in his “personal opinion” the plan merited endorsement. “I personally don’t see anything wrong with it,” he said. This voicing of support for the Sinai Peace-Keeping force brings Morocco closer to the Camp David position, but when asked whether this, in effect, was not joining the Egyptian-Israeli accords, King Hassan merely said, “You should eat the fruit. Why bother who planted the tree?” The newly-proclaimed Moroccan position brings the country closer to the Bright Star group and farther away from the Arab ranks. The monarch said the Fez summit had been wrongly reported in the western media.
Other important events
1815 - The Kingdom of Poland adopts its constitution.
1895 - Alfred Nobel establishes Nobel Prize.
1912 - Spain declares a protectorate over the north shore of Morocco.
1919 - Bulgaria signs the First World War peace treaty, which yields territory to Greece and Yugoslavia.
1940 - Germany annexes French province of Lorraine during the Second World War.
1950 - United Nations troops retreat in Korea.
1962 - Britain agrees to provide arms to India to resist Chinese aggression.
1966 - Uruguay adopts constitution.
1979 - First day-night one-day International cricket match is played at Sydney cricket ground, between Australia and the West Indies.
1983 - A huge rally called by all Uruguayan political parties demands the end of the dictatorship and return to civilian democratic rule.
1984 - Top British diplomat Percy Norris is shot dead in Mumbai.
1987 - Rescue workers battle through floods in central Philippines after Typhoon Nina kills at least 450 people.
1989 - Colombian plane crashes, killing 107 people.
1990 - John Major becomes British Prime Minister.
1994 - Fire in a disco in Fuxin, north China, kills 233.
1995 - Liamine Zeroual is sworn in as the Algerian President.
1996 - A gas explosion in a coal mine in Shanxi province of China kills at least 91 miners.
1998 - Alan Chilton of Britain wins the first-ever Dubai Marathon event.
1999 - Prime Minister Jenny Shipley concedes defeat in New Zealand’s general elections.
2005 - The world’s first partial face transplant is carried out in France.
2007 - Ras Al Khaimah Municipality bans the smoking of shisha in all public facilities.
2011 - The Arab League slaps stringent sanctions on Syria.
2013 - Dubai wins the bid to host the World Expo 2020.
2014 - A suicide bomber on a motorbike attacks British embassy in Kabul, killing at least five.
