Emirates, Air Lanka to retain status
1998 - Emirates airline and Air Lanka will continue to operate as separate entities, though industry experts believe some synergy will be created following the acquisition of a 40 per cent stake and management control in Air Lanka by Emirates. “They will continue to operate as two separate airlines. There will be no merger of operations. There is nothing in the deal which affects the standing of Air Lanka as Sri Lanka’s national carrier,” an Emirates spokesperson said. “The Sri Lanka government made it known that it was willing to let other airlines take a stake, but Air Lanka had to remain its national carrier. Several airlines made an offer, and Emirates was chosen by the government,” the spokesperson added.
April 1
1852 - Second Burmese War breaks out after British ultimatum to King of Burma (now Myanmar).
1863 - The first wartime US conscription law is enacted.
1867 - British East India Company rule in Malay Straits ends.
1918 - Britain’s Royal Air Force is founded.
1939 - Spanish Civil War ends with Nationalist victory.
1942 - Japanese troops invade Dutch New Guinea.
1945 - US Marines land on Japanese-held island of Okinawa in the Second World War.
1946 - Tsunamis strike Hawaiian Islands, killing more than 170.
1947 - King George II of Greece dies, succeed by his brother Paul.
1954 - The US Air Force Academy is established.
1960 - US launches the world’s first weather satellite, Tiros-1.
1964 - A military coup in Brazil overthrows the government of President Joao Goulart.
1976 - Apple is founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
1979 - Iran is proclaimed an Islamic Republic following the Shah’s fall.
1989 - Dubai Police College is inaugurated.
1997 - A US Air Force cargo plane overshoots the runway in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, crashing on a busy street and killing three of those aboard.
1998 - Israel formally accepts a United Nations resolution calling for its withdrawal from south Lebanon.
1999 - Nunavut, a self-governing territory for Canada’s indigenous Inuit people, is created out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
2001 - Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic surrenders after an armed stand-off.
2004 - Google launches its free email service, Gmail.
2005 - Qatar allows expatriates to invest in its stock market.
2007 - Georgia’s first president Zviad Gamsakhurdia is laid to rest after he died in mysterious circumstances 13 years ago.
2012 - Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi wins a parliament seat in a by-election from Kawhmu, Myanmar.
2017 - Twenty people are killed at Pakistani Sufi shrine by men wielding batons and knives.
