1993 Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa lost a crucial no-confidence vote in Parliament that set the stage for elections and could signal the end of 38 years of single-party rule. After a humiliating defeat in what should have been a ruling party-controlled Lower House, Miyazawa dissolved Parliament to trigger snap elections in late July. “What happened was very unfortunate,” a dejected-looking Miyazawa said. The premier was laid low by public disgust over his failure to push through legislation to halt rampant political corruption in the wake of three big payoff scandals in just five years, all involving senior ruling party lawmakers. Pro-reform lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) crossed over to join the opposition and hand Miyazawa a crushing defeat amid cheers of “Banzai” in the chamber. Socialist Party chief Sadao Yamahana, thundering out the no-confidence motion in the Lower House, charged Miyazawa with betraying the trust of the people.
Other important events
1812 US declares war on Britain.
1817 The first Waterloo Bridge opens in London.
1928 Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
1953 Egypt becomes a republic and the monarchy is abolished, General Mohammad Najeeb becomes the first president.
1954 Pierre Mendes-France becomes Prime Minister of France.
1965 Air Vice-Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky assumes office as premier of South Vietnam.
1975 First North Sea oil pumps ashore in Britain.
1979 US and Soviet Union sign the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.
1983 Li Xiannian is elected China’s first president since the 1960s.
1985 US space shuttle Discovery, with Saudi Prince Sultan Bin Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, launches a satellite for the Arab world.
1988 Turkey’s Premier Turgut Ozal is wounded slightly by a gunman as he addresses the party convention in Ankara.
1990 Civil war is officially declared in north-east Sri Lanka.
1992 The Dubai Creek Golf Club and Marina Complex opens to public with a Topping Out ceremony.
1993 The UN Security Council approves sending 7,600 peacekeepers to six Bosnian cities.
2001 About 30,000 Syrian troops pull out of Beirut and redeploys after 25 years.
2002 A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates explosives on a bus in occupied Jerusalem, killing himself and at least 19 Israelis.
2003 American forces capture Lt Gen Abed Hamoud Al Tikriti, a leader in Saddam Hussain’s regime.
2004 European Union leaders agree on a constitution for their newly reunited continent.
2006 Kazakhstan launches its first satellite.
2007 America and Europe lift aid embargo on Palestinians.
2009 Somali Minister of Security Omar Hashi Aden is killed by a suicide bomber in a hotel in Beledweyne, near the Ethiopia border.
2013 Afghan forces take control of security across the country, as US-led combat troops prepare to withdraw after 12 years of fighting the Taliban.
2014 A overloaded boat carrying Indonesian illegal migrants sink in rough seas off western Malaysia and kills 8 people.
2017 Former Ecuadorean president Abdala Buccaram returns after 20 year of exile in Panama.
