Ballet supremo Nureyev dies in Paris
1993 - Rudolf Nureyev, one of the greatest ballet dancers of the century, died in Paris at the age of 54 after a long, debilitating illness. Warm tributes to Nureyev, who electrified stage and screen audiences for three decades, began pouring in within minutes of a brief announcement by the doctor that his heart had finally given out after months of fighting ill health. Pierre Berge, head of the Paris Opera, called his death “an immense, irreparable loss”. The Russian-born dancer shot to fame alongside Britain’s Dame Margot Fonteyn in the 1960s after he defected from the Soviet Union. He had all but withdrawn from the world after an emotional farewell appearance at Paris’s Opera Gamier last October, where he received a 10-minute standing ovation for his last production.
January 6
1810 - Turkey agrees to Russia’s annexation of the Crimea and Kuban with the enactment of the Treaty of Constantinople.
1838 - Samuel Morse publicly demonstrates his telegraph for the first time in New Jersey.
1891 - The world’s first penalty kick in football is taken by Airdrieonians FC in Scotland.
1919 - The 26th US President, Theodore Roosevelt, dies in Oyster Bay, New York, at the age of 60.
1839 - British forces capture Aden.
1950 - Britain recognises the Communist government of China.
1963 - Iran’s Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi launches his “white revolution,” including redistributing land to peasants and giving women the vote.
1980 - Former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi scores a stunning political comeback in general elections.
1998 - Fifty-one people die in a train crash in Karna, India.
2002 - Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar flees Afghanistan.
2007 - Bahrain revokes the citizenship of athlete Mushir Salem Jawher for competing in the Tiberias Marathon in Israel.
2009 - Bangladesh’s new Prime Minister, Shaikh Hasina, is worn in in Dhaka.
2010 - Rose Rayhaan by Rotana in Dubai officially opens as the world’s tallest hotel.
2011 - Abu Dhabi Municipality bans pets in public places.
2013 - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issues a presidential decree replacing the Palestinian National Authority with the State of Palestine.
2014 - Former Miss Venezuela Monica Spear and her ex-husband are shot dead in an attempted robbery on the highway between Puerto Cabello and Valencia in Venezuela.
