General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence, accompanied by James Baker, the former US Secretary of State, presided over the first graduation ceremony of the American University in Dubai at which 87 students were awarded degrees. After the ceremony, Shaikh Mohammad said, “We encourage and support the establishment of universities and higher academic institutes in our country. We provide these institutes with all possible facilities to undertake their human mission, contribute to the updating and spreading of knowledge and to reflect our country’s development in all sectors.” He praised the educational standard of the graduates and said he hoped more UAE nationals would join the universities and institutes and contribute to the country’s progress. Baker handed out degrees in arts, fine arts and business administration to the graduates and Shaikh Mohammad shook hands with them, congratulating them on their success.
Other important events:
1818 The Teatro Rossini opera house opens in Pesaro, Italy
1848 The first telegraphic link between New York City and Chicago is made functional.
1868 Michael III, king of Serbia, is murdered, and is succeeded by Milan IV.
1886 Mount Tarawera in New Zealand erupts, killing 153 people.
1898 US Marines invade Cuba in Spanish-American War.
1916 Emir Hussain Bin Ali of Makkah revolts against Turkish rule.
1924 Italian opposition politician Giacomo Matteoti is murdered by fascists.
1963 US President John F. Kennedy signs into law the Equal Pay Act, which aimed to abolish pay disparity based on gender.
1967 The six-day war ends as Israel and Syria agreed to observe a UN-mediated ceasefire.
1971 The United States lifts a 21-year-old embargo on trade with China.
1977 Apple Computer releases the Apple II — the first personal computer to feature colour graphics.
1985 Kuwaitis go to the polls to elect 50 members of a transitional parliament.
1989 China and Taiwan open direct telephone links.
1990 Former US National Security Adviser John Poindexter is sentenced to six months in prison for his role in the Iran-Contra affair.
1991 Iraqi troops begin attacking Shiites in southern Iraq who rebelled after Gulf War.
1996 Chechen rebels and Russian negotiators sign an accord at Nazran, Ingushetia, on withdrawing Russian forces from Chechnya.
1999 Yugoslav troops begin pulling out of Kosovo and Nato suspends its punishing 78-day air war.
2000 Syrian President Hafez Al Assad dies at the age of 69.
2001 Media baron Silvio Berlusconi becomes Italy’s premier for the second time.
2002 Israel seals off the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, West Bank.
2004 Gunmen kill 12 in a night raid on a camp of Chinese road workers in Afghanistan.
2006 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas calls for a referendum on a Palestinian state.
2012 Kenya’s Internal Security Minister George Saitori is killed in a police helicopter when it crashes near Nairobi.
2013 The Cayan Tower, the tallest twisted architectural creation in the world, is inaugurated in Dubai.
2014 Taliban gunmen attacks a security post outside Pakistan’s Karachi airport, killing 25 people.
2017 Unseeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko wins the French Open title after beating Simona Halep in the final.
