Today in History

March 21 1935 - Persia is officially renamed Iran.

1945 - After bombing the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen, British RAF planes mistakenly bomb the French School killing 86 children and 10 nuns.

1963 - Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay is emptied of its last inmates on the order of Attorney-General Robert F. Kennedy.

1960 - At least 69 Africans are killed in Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa.

1975 - Ethiopia abolishes monarchy after 3,000 years.

1977 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi resigns after losing her seat in parliamentary polls.

1990 - Namibia gains independence from South Africa and Sam Nujoma becomes first president.

1991 - A Saudi transport plane crashes while trying to land at Ras Al Mushab airport near the Kuwaiti border, killing 92 Senegalese soldiers and six Saudi crew members.

1997 - US President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin hold summit in Helsinki and agree to slash their nuclear arsenals.

1998 - Dubai Heritage Village is officially opened in Shindagha.

1999 - Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov escapes an assassination attempt.

2000 - Taiwan approves direct links between part of its territory and mainland China for the first time in 50 years.

2001 - Saudi Arabia and Qatar sign the final border agreement in Doha.

2006 - The social media website Twitter is launched with the first tweet by co-founder Jack Dorsey.

2012 - The project of Dubai Modern Art Museum and Opera House District is launched.

2014 - Russia completes the annexation of Crimea.

2016 - American president Barack Obama arrives in Cuba in the first visit by a US president in 88 years.