1598-William Shakespeare’s play “The Merchant of Venice” enters the Stationers’ Register upon a decree by Queen Elizabeth.
1896- The first edition of “Sham” newspaper published in Damascus.
1906- The coronation of Haakon VII as a King of Norway.
1943- Banning the Nazi parties in Switzerland.
1944- The independence of Poland.
1946- 110 British people killed in an attack launched by the Zionist organization of the Irgun against King David Hotel, the headquarters of the British forces in Jerusalem.
1952- Forming a new government in Egypt led by Ahmed Najib al-Hilali.
1970- Oman’ Sultan Qaboos bin Said comes into power.
1981- An Italian court finds Mehmet Ali Agca guilty of trying to assassinate John Paul II and sentences him to life in prison.
1987- Opening fire on Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali in London.
Born Today:
1478- King Philip I of Castile.
1510- Duke of Florence Alessandro de Medici.
Passed away:
1908- British politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1903 Sir William Randal
Cremer.
1936- Iraqi writer and Historian Ahmed Izzat al-A’azami.
R.J/Barry