1992 - The war by Afghan Mujahideen against the Soviet-installed regime ended when an Islamic council formally took power in Kabul, and a 70-year-old liberal theologian, Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, was sworn in as President. But even after 13 years’ combat, which has left more than two million people dead or maimed, peace still eludes Afghanistan. Mujahideen opposed to the new Islamic council renewed their four-day siege of Kabul, pounding the outskirts with artillery and rockets. It seemed that the forces of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar were storming Kabul as the sky blossomed with puffs of anti-aircraft smoke and machine-gun fire roared. The council will govern for two months before an interim government takes over.
Other important events
1770 - British navigator Captain James Cook, aboard Endeavour, lands in Australia, naming the natural harbour Botany Bay, now in the suburbs of Sydney.
1876 - Britain’s Queen Victoria is declared Empress of India.
1903 - A strong earthquake kills 2,200 in Turkey.
1936 - King Fouad of Egypt dies and is replaced on the throne by his son Farooq.
1945 - Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are executed.
1952 - War with Japan ends as a treaty is signed by the US and 47 other countries takes effect.
1965 - US Marines invade Dominican Republic, stay until October 1966
1967 - Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the Army.
1969 - Charles de Gaulle resigns as president of France
1980 - Cyrus Vance, Jimmy Carter’s Secretary of State, resigns
1982 - Gulf Cement Company is inaugurated in Ras Al Khaimah.
1984 - A new runway at Dubai International Airport is opened.
1992 - Italian President Francesco Cossiga formally resigns.
1993 - Zambian plane crashes at Libreville, Gabon, 30 soccer players die.
2001 - A Russian rocket lifts off from Central Asia bearing the first space tourist, American businessman Dennis Tito.
2003 - Apple launches the iTunes Music Store.
2005 - First democratically elected government is formed in Iraq.
2012 - A massive fire guts more than 100 flats in a 40-storey Al Tayer Tower leaving hundreds of people homeless in the Al Nahda in Sharjah.
2013 - Italian centre-left politician Enrico Letta is sworn in as Prime Minister.
