2001 - England’s Ronnie O’Sullivan claimed his first World Championship snooker title after beating Scotland’s John Higgins 18-14 in the final. O’Sullivan, the biggest box office draw in the game, admitted he should have already pocketed snooker’s most coveted prize in a nine-year professional career. But the 25-year-old, beaten in three previous semifinals at the Crucible Theatre, kept his nerve after a spirited Higgins comeback and finally pocketed the $350,000 (Dh1.28 million) first prize. Higgins staged a brave rally in the evening session, but he never got closer than three frames to the ‘Rocket’ after losing the first session 6-2. For too long, O’Sullivan has had to carry the unwanted tag of being arguably the most naturally talented player.
Other important events
1821 - Britain takes over Sierra Leone, Gambia and the Gold Coast to form British West Africa.
1915 - Nearly 1,200 people die when a German torpedo sinks the British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast.
1926 - French Army and Air Force bombard sections of Damascus during an Arab revolt.
1939 - Germany and Italy announce alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.
1945 - Germany signs an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in France.
1954 - Ho Chi Minh’s forces defeat the French in Vietnam, marking the end of colonial rule.
1960 - Leonid Brezhnev takes over as President of the Soviet Union.
1975 - US President Gerald Ford declares the end of Vietnam war.
1994 - Black and white legislators sit down together for the first time to govern South Africa.
1995 - Jacques Chirac, conservative mayor of Paris, wins France’s presidency.
1996 - Lee Hong-koo is chosen as a leader of ruling New Korea Party.
1998 - Germany’s Daimler-Benz AG and Chrysler Corp merge, a $40 billion (Dh147.12 billion) deal which will create the world’s number five carmaker.
1999 - President Joao Bernardo Vieira of Guinea-Bissau is ousted by rebels after staying in power for 19 years.
2000 - Vladimir Putin takes over as Russian President.
2008 - Dmitry Medvedev is named Russia’s President.
2014 - Thailand’s Constitutional Court dismisses Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and several of her ministers on charges of abuse of power.
2015 - The Sharjah Centre for Space Sciences and Astronomy opens its doors in the University City of Sharjah.
