2001 - His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, urged pupils in the country to join scouts and guides and called on the Ministry of Education and Youth to provide more support to these organisations in schools. The Ruler was speaking during the inauguration of the new headquarters for the Sharjah Scouts Commission (SSC), the Emirates Sports Union for the Handicapped and the Committee of Anti-Normalisation of Ties with Israel, which are all located on the banks of the Al Qasba Canal. “Scouting activities help to instil in youngsters the values of cooperation, giving and community service that secures a proper upbringing,” said the Ruler, following the inauguration.
Other important events
1793 - Queen Marie Antoinette is beheaded during the French Revolution.
1949 - East Germany establishes formal diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.
1951 - The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, is assassinated in Rawalpindi.
1963 - Ludwig Erhard becomes Chancellor of West Germany.
1964 - Harold Wilson becomes British Prime Minister for the first time.
1979 - Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit resigns.
1983 - A US Marine is killed and three are wounded in a sniper and grenade attack at Beirut International Airport.
1987 - Rescuers free Jessica McClure, an 18-month-old girl trapped in an abandoned well for 58 hours in Midland, Texas.
1991 - A man crashes a pickup truck into a restaurant in Killeen, Texas, and shoots patrons, killing 23 people before taking his own life.
1992 - Indigenous rights activist Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala is named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
1993 - Lieutenant General Omar Hassan Al Bashir becomes President of Sudan after military ruler for four years.
1994 - Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s government wins a thin majority in Germany’s elections.
1996 - Fans try to squeeze into a World Cup qualifying football match in Guatemala City, killing 78 people in the crush.
1997 - Thai supertanker Orapin Global and Cyprus-registered tanker Evoikos collide in the Singapore Strait, causing one of the worst oil spills in Southeast Asia.
1998 - British police arrest former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in London.
2002 - US President George W. Bush signs a congressional resolution authorising war against Iraq.
2003 - United Nations Security Council votes unanimously to adopt a resolution on post-war Iraq.
2005 - Spaniard Fernando Alonso wins the Chinese Grand Prix to hand Renault their first Formula One constructor’s title.
2014 - Apple unveils iPad Air 2, the world’s slimmest tablet.
