2003 - Japan’s Hiroshi Masuoka clinched victory in Sharm Al Shaikh, Egypt, in his Mitsubishi in the autos section of the Dakar Rally for his second straight win after the 17th and final stage, essentially a 56km lap of honour. Masuoka had benefited from mechanical problems suffered by long-time race leader Stephane Peterhansel, who had himself been poised for victory after Mitsubishi said barring accidents they would call for him to be allowed to go on to claim the win. The 42-year-old Masuoka won four stages in this the 25th edition of the race, making it 21 stage wins in all since he first set out on the Dakar trail in 1987. Peterhansel thus failed in his bid to emulate race creator Hubert Auriol, the only man to win on two and four wheels.
Other important events
1910 - Germany and Bolivia end commerce/friendship treaty
1918 - The Bolsheviks dissolve Russian Constitutional Assembly in Petrograd.
1938 - General Motors begins mass-producing lightweight diesel engines.
1945 - Soviet troops take Krakow, Poland during the Second World War.
1956 - Sudan joins Arab League as ninth member.
1966 - Indira Gandhi is elected the third Prime Minister of India.
1981 - United States and Iran sign an agreement paving the way for the release of 52 Americans held hostage for more than 14 months.
1986 - Yemeni President Ali Nasser Mohammad is ousted in a revolt.
1989 - Soviet Union announces it will unilaterally withdraw some of its short-range nuclear missiles from Europe.
1990 - Controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Rajneesh dies of a heart attack in India.
1993 - Czech Republic and Slovakia join the United Nations.
1996 - Chechen sympathizers who hijacked a Turkish ferry surrender, ending a four-day ordeal for more than 240 hostages.
1997 - A powerful car bomb explodes outside a cafe in downtown Algiers, killing at least 20 people hours after attackers massacred 36.
1998 - Peru and Ecuador agree on a timetable for a peace treaty to formally end their 1995 border war.
2002 - Sudanese government signs ceasefire agreement with rebels.
2006 - Nasa launches its New Horizons space probe to study the dwarf planet Pluto.
2007 - China launches a missile to destroy an ageing satellite, sparking space arms race fears
2008 - Abu Dhabi Judicial Department appoints two women public prosecutors for the first time.
2014 - The UAE Cabinet passes the National Service Law that stipulates compulsory military service for Emirati men ages 18 to 30.
2016 - A suicide bomber kills at least 10 people in a rush-hour attack on a market in Peshawar, Pakistan.
2017 - The Al Ain Fertility Centre is officially inaugurated.
