In Kuwait
1961 — Kuwait’s first head of foreign affairs
Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah issued Decree 16 of 1961 naming Sheikh Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah the first head of the foreign affairs department, alongside his post at health.
1976 — Approving the Gulf news agency
Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah issued Decree-Law 68 of 1976 approving the convention that set up the Gulf News Agency.
1977 — A hijacked Japanese airliner at Kuwait airport
A hijacked Japanese aircraft stopped at Kuwait International Airport to refuel, then left for Damascus after seven hostages were released.
1986 — A new home for Kuwait’s UN mission
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah opened the new building of Kuwait’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York.
1998 — The region’s first futures market
Forward trading began on the Kuwait Stock Exchange, making it the first bourse in the Middle East to run such contracts.
2001 — A decree on claims to state-owned property
Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah issued Decree-Law 58 of 2001 regulating claims to property owned by the state, or compensation for it. The National Assembly struck the decree down at its sitting on the 22nd of the same month.
2005 — A permanent seat for the higher advisory committee
Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, on behalf of Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, opened the permanent headquarters of the Higher Advisory Committee on the completion of the application of Islamic law, which reports to the Amiri Diwan, in Mubarak Abdullah Al-Jaber near the fairgrounds. The committee was founded in 1991.
2005 — Bashaer Al-Khair is licensed
The Bashaer Al-Khair society was licensed as a public-benefit association, with a remit covering awareness of drugs and alcohol, help for addicts who want treatment, and support for the families of those in recovery.
2010 — The Kuwait B team wins West Asia
Kuwait’s B national football team took the sixth West Asian championship, beating Iran two to one at King Abdullah II Stadium in Qweismeh, Jordan.
2013 — Q8’s first staffless filling station
Kuwait Petroleum International (Q8) opened its first filling station with no staff, on a motorway at Emmen in the Netherlands, under the name Tango.
Around the world
1952 — Britain’s first nuclear test
Britain conducted its first atomic weapons test, codenamed Hurricane, aboard the frigate HMS Plym.
1990 — Germany reunified
Germany formally reunified after four decades of division, following Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s agreement to a single Germany inside NATO.
1995 — The O.J. Simpson verdict
One of the most watched trials in American history ended with a jury acquitting the former footballer O.J. Simpson of the murders of his ex-wife and her friend.
2025 — A first woman at Canterbury
Sarah Mullally was named the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, the first woman to hold the office in the Church of England’s more than 1,400-year history.
Source: KUNA, On This Day in Kuwait, and Britannica for the world entries.
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