Today in History - March 4
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561 Mar 4,
Pelagius I, Italian Catholic Pope (556-61), died.
(PTA, 1980, p.120)
1152 Mar 4, Frederick Barbarossa
was chosen as emperor and united the two factions, which emerged in
Germany after the death of Henry V.
(HN, 3/4/99)
1172 Mar 4, Stephan III, King of
Hungary (1162-72), died.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1193 Mar 4, Saladin [Salah
ed-Din]) Yusuf ibn Ayyub (52), Kurdish sultan of Egypt and Syria
(1175-1193), died. Saladin led the Muslims against the Crusaders.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.M6)(PC, 1992, p.100)(AP, 3/4/04)
1386 Mar 4, Jogaila was
crowned King of Poland.
(LHC, 3/4/03)
1394 Mar 4, Prince Henry the
Navigator, sponsor of Portuguese voyages of discovery, was born.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1461 Mar 4, Henry VI was deposed
and the Duke of York was proclaimed King as Edward IV. He tried to
settle once and for all the dynastic struggle between York and
Lancaster. At the Battle at Towton Duke Edward of York beat English
queen Margaretha.
(HN, 3/4/99)(SC, 3/4/02)
1484 Mar 4, Casimir
(Kazimierz), the son of Lithuania's Grand Duke Casimir, died in Grodno
at age 25. In 1602 he was declared a saint and protector of Lithuania.
St. Casimir was born Oct 3,1458, in Cracow.
(LHC, 3/4/03)
1540 Mar 4, Protestant count
Philip of Hessen married his 2nd wife.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1562 Mar 4,The Archdiocese of
Riga was attached to Lithuania.
(LHC, 3/4/03)
1570 Mar 4, Spain’s King Philip II
banned foreign Dutch students.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1590 Mar 4, Mauritius of Nassau's
ship reached Breda, Netherlands.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1595 Mar 4, Robert Southwell,
English poet, was hanged for becoming a Catholic priest.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1611 Mar 4, George Abbot was
appointed archbishop of Canterbury.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1621 Mar 4, Jakarta, Java, was
renamed Batavia.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1634 Mar 4, Samuel Cole opened the
first tavern in Boston, Massachusetts.
(HN, 3/4/99)
1665 Mar 4, English King Charles
II declared war on Netherlands.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1675 Mar 4, John Flamsteed was
appointed 1st Astronomer Royal of England.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1678 Mar 4, Antonio Vivaldi
(d.1741), Italian Baroque composer (4 Seasons) and violinist, was born
in Venice. [see 1675]
(HN, 3/4/01)(SC, 3/4/02)
1681 Mar 4, England's King Charles
II granted a charter to William Penn (37) for 48,000 square miles that
later became Pennsylvania. Penn’s father had bequeathed him a claim of
£15,000 against the king. Penn later laid out the city of
Philadelphia as a gridiron about 2 miles long, east to west, and a mile
wide.
(PCh, 1992, p.259)(AP, 3/4/98)(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.T1)
1699 Mar 4, Jews were expelled
from Lubeck, Germany.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1741 Mar 4, English fleet under
Admiral Ogle reached Cartagena, Colombia.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1747 Mar 4, Casimir Pulaski
(d.1779), Count, American Revolutionary War General, was born in
Poland. Pulaski led troops in some of the bloodiest fighting of the
Revolutionary War.
(HN, 3/4/98)(SC, 3/4/02)
1774 Mar 4, The 1st sighting of
the Orion nebula was made by William Herschel.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1782 Mar 4, Johann Wyss, Swiss
folklorist, writer (Swiss Family Robinson), was born.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1789 Mar 4, The Constitution of
the United States, framed in 1787, went into effect as the first
Federal Congress met in New York City. Lawmakers then adjourned for the
lack of a quorum (9 senators, 13 representatives).
(WUD, 1994, p.314)(AP, 3/4/98)(HN, 3/4/98)(SC,
3/4/02)
1789 Mar 4, Pavel P. Gagarin,
Russian monarch, was born.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1791 Mar 4, President Washington
called the US Senate into its 1st special session.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1791 Mar 4, Vermont was admitted
as the 14th state. It was the first addition to the original 13
colonies.
(HN, 3/4/98)(AP, 3/4/98)
1791 Mar 4, 1st Jewish member of
US Congress, Israel Jacobs (Pennsylvania), took office.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1792 Mar 4, Oranges were
introduced to Hawaii.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1793 Mar 4, George Washington was
inaugurated as President for the second time. His 2nd inauguration was
the shortest with just 133 words. Since George Washington’s second
term, Inauguration Day had been March 4 of the year following the
election. That custom meant that defeated presidents and congressmen
served four months after the election. In 1933, the so-called Lame Duck
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution moved the inauguration of newly
elected presidents and congressmen closer to Election Day. The 20th
Amendment required the terms of the president and vice-president to
begin at noon on January 20, while congressional terms begin on January
3.
(HN, 3/4/98)(HNPD, 3/4/99)(SC, 3/4/02)
1793 Mar 4, French troops
conquered Geertruidenberg, Netherlands.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1797 Mar 4, Vice-President John
Adams, elected President on December 7, to replace George Washington,
was sworn in. Adams soon selected Timothy Pickering as his secretary of
state. Pickering extended aid to Haitian slaves in their ongoing revolt
against French colonists. This policy was reversed under Jefferson.
(HN, 3/4/99)(SSFC, 11/2/03, p.M6)
1798 Mar 4, Catholic women were
force to do penance for kindling a Sabbath fire for Jews.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1801 Mar 4, Thomas Jefferson was
the first President to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1805 Mar 4, Pres. Thomas Jefferson
delivered his 2nd inaugural address.
(http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570282_10/thomas_jefferson.html)
1809 Mar 4, Madison became 1st
President inaugurated in American-made clothes.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1813 Mar 4, The Russians fighting
against Napoleon reached Berlin. The French garrison evacuated the city
without a fight.
(HN, 3/4/99)
1825 Mar 4, John Quincy Adams was
inaugurated as 6th President.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1826 Mar 4, The Granite Railway in
Quincy, MA, became the 1st US RR to be chartered.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1829 Mar 4, An unruly crowd mobbed
the White House during the inaugural reception for President Jackson,
the 7th US President. The event was later depicted by artist Louis S.
Glanzman in his painting “Andrew Jackson’s Inauguration” (1970).
(AP, 3/4/98)(WSJ, 1/17/09, p.W5)
1830 Mar 4, V. Bellini's opera "I
Capuleti e i Montecchi" premiered in Venice.
(WSJ, 11/10/98, p.A20)(SC, 3/4/02)
1831 Mar 4, Georg Michael Telemann
(82), composer, died.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1835 Mar 4, HMS Beagle moved into
Bay of Concepcion.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1837 Mar 4, Martin Van Buren was
inaugurated as 8th President.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1837 Mar 4, When Pres. Jackson
left office there followed a financial crash and a bitter depression
and the government was again forced to borrow money. Pres. Jackson had
returned surplus government funds to the state governments as bonuses.
(WSJ, 2/6/97, p.C18)(WSJ, 6/26/00, p.A1)
1837 Mar 4, The Illinois state
legislature granted a city charter to Chicago.
(AP, 3/4/99)
1837 Mar 4, Weekly Advocate
changed its name to the Colored American.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1841 Mar 4, Dion Boucicault's
"London Assurance" premiered in London.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1841 Mar 4, Longest presidential
inauguration speech (8,443 words) to date was made by William Henry
Harrison.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1845 Mar 4, James K. Polk was
inaugurated as 11th President.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1848 Mar 4, Sardinia-Piemonte got
a new Constitution.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1849 Mar 4, The US had no
President. Polk's term ended on a Sunday and Taylor couldn't be
sworn-in; Senator David Atchison (pres pro tem) term had ended March
3rd.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1852 Mar 4, Lady (Isabella
Augusta) Gregory, Irish playwright, was born. She helped found the
Abbey Theatre.
(HN, 3/4/01)
1852 Mar 4, Nikolai Gogol, Russian
writer (b.1809), died (NS) [see Feb 21].
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Gogol)
1853 Mar 4, Pope Pius IX recovered
Catholic hierarchy in Netherlands.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1853 Mar 4, William Rufus de Vane
King (D) was sworn in as 13th US Vice President.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1858 Mar 4, Sen. James Henry
Hammond, D-S.C., declared, "Cotton is king" in a speech to the US
Senate.
(AP, 3/4/08)
1858 Mar 4, Matthew Calbraith
Perry (63), the American naval officer who'd opened trade relations
between the US and Japan, died in New York.
(AP, 3/4/08)
1861 Mar 4, Abraham Lincoln was
inaugurated president.
(AP, 3/4/99)
1861 Mar 4, President Lincoln
opened the Government Printing Office.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1861 Mar 4, Confederate States
adopted the "Stars and Bars" flag.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1863 Mar 4, Battle of Thompson's
Station, Tennessee.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1865 Mar 4, President Lincoln was
inaugurated for his 2nd term as President. It was held at the Patent
Office, the site of a military hospital.
(SC, 3/4/02)(WSJ, 2/12/04, p.D12)
1865 Mar 4, Confederate congress
approved the final design of "official flag."
(SC, 3/4/02)
1869 Mar 4, Ulysses S. Grant was
sworn in as the 18th president of the US.
(ON, 9/01, p.7)
1873 Mar 4, Pres. Ulysses S. Grant
accepted the oath of office, administered by Chief Justice Salmon
Chase, for his 2nd term. At the inauguration ceremony 150 canaries,
whose chirping was to amuse guests, froze to death in their cages.
(SFC, 1/20/09,
p.A7)(www.bartleby.com/124/pres34.html)
1873 Mar 4, New York Daily
Graphic, 1st illustrated daily newspaper in US, was published.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1876 Mar 4, US Congress decided to
impeach Secretary of War (under Ulysses S. Grant) William Worth Belknap
(1829-1890) of malfeasance in office for accepting over $24,000 in
bribes from a post trader seeking immunity from removal. It is not
clear whether he was aware of the arrangement or whether his wife had
made the bargain and accepted the payoffs. Nevertheless, he was
impeached by a unanimous vote of the United States Senate, though at
his formal trial the Senate fell short of the number of votes required
to convict. By then he had resigned, which doubtless accounted for his
acquittal. He died in Washington, D.C. on October 13,1890 and was
buried in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery.
(SC, 3/4/02)(www.arlingtoncemetery.net/wwbelkna.htm)
1877 Mar 4, The Russian Imperial
Ballet staged the first performance of Tchaikovsky’s incomplete ballet
"Zwanenmeer" (Swan Lake) in Moscow.
(WSJ, 5/18/99, p.A24)(HN, 3/4/01)(SC, 3/4/02)
1880 Mar 4, NY Daily Graphic
published 1st half-tone engraving made by S.H. Horgan.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1881 Mar 4, Fiction’s Sherlock
Holmes and Watson began "A Study in Scarlet", their 1st case together.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1881 Mar 4, James A. Garfield was
inaugurated as 20th President.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1881 Mar 4, California became the
1st state to pass plant quarantine legislation.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1881 Mar 4, South African
President Kruger accepted a cease-fire with the British in the First
Boer War (1880-1881 – aka Transvaal Revolt). [see Mar 23]
(SC, 3/4/02)
1883 Mar 4, John Gordon Cashmans
began "Vicksburg Evening Post" in Mississippi.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1883 Mar 4, Alexander H. Stephens
(71), Vice President Confederate States, died.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1885 Mar 4, Grover Cleveland was
inaugurated as 1st Democratic President since Civil War.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1887 Mar 4, William Randolph
Hearst (23) became "Proprietor" of the SF Examiner newspaper.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A9)
1888 Mar 4, Knute Rockne,
Norwegian-US football player, coach for Notre Dame, was born.
(HN, 3/4/98)(SC, 3/4/02)
1889 Mar 4, Benjamin Harrison was
inaugurated as 23rd President.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1893 Mar 4, Grover Cleveland (D)
was inaugurated as 24th US President (2nd term).
(SC, 3/4/02)
1893 Mar 4, Francis Dhanis' army
attacked the Lualaba and occupied Nyangwe (Congo).
(SC, 3/4/02)
1894 Mar 4, There was a great fire
in Shanghai; over 1,000 buildings were destroyed.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1895 Mar 4, Gustav Mahler's 2nd
Symphony, premiered in Berlin.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1897 Mar 4, Lefty O’Doul (d.1969),
baseball star, was born in SF in the old Butchertown neighborhood south
of Market. He played for the SF Seals, and spent 11 years in the major
leagues with the Phillies, Dodgers, Yankees and Giants before returning
to manage the Seals and the Pacific Coast League. He was the National
League batting champ in 1929 with the Phillies and again in 1932 with
the Brooklyn Dodgers.
(SFC, 3/5/96, p.C1)(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A9)
1897 Mar 4, William McKinley was
sworn in as the 25th president.
(AP, 3/4/98)
1901 Mar 4, Charles Goren, world
expert on the game of bridge, was born.
(HN, 3/4/01)
1901 Mar 4, 1st advanced copy of
an inaugural speech was published by the Jefferson-National
Intelligencer.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1901 Mar 4, William McKinley was
inaugurated president for the second time. Theodore Roosevelt was
inaugurated as vice president. The team ran on the issue of keeping the
Philippines as a colony.
(HN, 3/4/99)
1901 Mar 4, Term of George H.
White, last of post-Reconstruction congressmen, ended.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1902 Mar 4, The American
Automobile Association was founded in Chicago.
(AP, 3/4/98)(HN, 3/4/98)
1904 Mar 4, George Gamow, nuclear
physicist, cosmologist, writer (1, 2, 3...'infinity'), was born.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1904 Mar 4, Ding Ling, Chinese
writer and women's rights activist, was born.
(HN, 3/4/01)
1904 Mar 4, Russian troops began
to retreat toward the Manchurian border as 100,000 Japanese advanced in
Korea.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1905 Mar 4, The inauguration of
Theodore Roosevelt.
http://condor.stcloudstate.edu/~brixr01/theTIMEMACHINE.html
1905 Mar 4, Gerhart Hauptmann's
"Elga" premiered in Berlin.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1906 Mar 4, John McAllister
Schofield, a Union general in the Civil War and onetime commanding
general of the army, died in St. Augustine, Fla., at age 74.
(AP, 3/4/06)
1908 Mar 4, The New York board of
education banned the act of whipping students in school.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1908 Mar 4, A fire at Lake View
School in Collinwood, Ohio, claimed the lives of 172 children and three
adults.
(AP, 3/4/08)
1909 Mar 4, Harry Helmsley
(d.1997), billionaire New York landlord (Empire State Building), was
born in NYC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Helmsley)(http://tinyurl.com/ropqy)
1909 Mar 4, President Taft was
inaugurated as 27th President during a 10" snowstorm.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1909 Mar 4, US prohibited the
interstate transportation of game birds.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1911 Mar 4, Victor Berger of
Wisconsin became the 1st socialist congressman in US.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1912 Mar 4, The French council of
war unanimously voted a mandatory three-year military service.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1913 Mar 4, Gabriel Fauré's
opera "Penelope" premiered in Monte Carlo.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1913 Mar 4, Woodrow Wilson was
inaugurated as 28th President.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1913 Mar 4, Department of Commerce
& Labor was split into separate departments.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1913 Mar 4, 1st US law regulating
the shooting of migratory birds was passed.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1914 Mar 4, Doctor Fillatre of
Paris, France successfully separated Siamese twins.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1915 Mar 4, Petrus de Jong, Dutch
premier (KVP, 1967-71), was born.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1917 Mar 4, Republican Jeanette
Rankin of Montana took her seat as the first woman elected to the House
of Representatives.
(AP, 3/4/98)
1918 Mar 4, Terek Autonomous
Republic was established in RSFSR (until 1921).
(SC, 3/4/02)
1919 Mar 4, Czech Legions shot and
killed some 50 German demonstrators, including women and children, in
Sudetenland.
(http://tinyurl.com/856hg)
1920 Mar 4, Last day of Julian
civil calendar in Greece.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1921 Mar 4, Warren G. Harding was
sworn in as America’s 29th President. By the time Pres. Woodrow Wilson
left office, the top tax rate was 77%.
(HN, 3/4/98)(WSJ, 9/25/02, p.D8)
1921 Mar 4, Hot Springs National
Park was created in Arkansas.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1922 Mar 4, Bert Williams
(b.1874), Antigua-born black actor, mime and singer, died after
collapsing onstage in Detroit. In 2005 Caryl Phillips authored “Dancing
in the Dark,” a novel based on Bert Williams. His recordings included
“Nobody.”
(www.duboislc.org/ShadesOfBlack/BertWms.html)(SFC,
2/11/08, p.E1)
1923 Mar 4, Lenin's last article
in Pravda (about Red bureaucracy) was published.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1924 Mar 4, "Happy Birthday To
You" was published by Claydon Sunny.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1925 Mar 4, President Calvin
Coolidge's inauguration was broadcast live on 21 radio stations
coast-to-coast.
(AP, 3/4/99)
1925 Mar 4, Swain's Island (near
American Samoa) was annexed by US.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1926 Mar 4, De Geer government in
Netherlands took office.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1928 Mar 4, Alan Sillitoe,
novelist (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, The Loneliness of the Long
Distance Runner), was born.
(HN, 3/4/01)
1928 Mar 4, The Transcontinental
Footrace began and 55 men ran from Los Angeles to New York in 81 days.
Andrew Payne of Oklahoma won the “Bunyon Derby.”
(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.M4)(PBS-TV, 11/24/02)
1929 Mar 4, Herbert Hoover,
trained in California as an engineer, was inaugurated as the 31st US
President. Engineers in SF asserted: "the engineer dominates the 20th
century."
(SFC, 2/05/04, p.E8)
1929 Mar 4, Charles Curtis
(R-Kansas) became 1st native American Vice President.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1930 Mar 4, Coolidge Dam in
Arizona was dedicated.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1932 Mar 4, The Pecora
Investigation began. It was an inquiry by the United States Senate
Committee on Banking and Currency to investigate the causes of the Wall
Street Crash of 1929. The name refers to the fourth and final chief
counsel for the investigation, Ferdinand Pecora, chief lawyer on the
Senate Banking Committee from 1933-1934.
(Econ, 1/9/10,
p.33)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecora_Commission)
1932 Mar 4, Miriam Makeba, singer
(Grammy 1965), was born in Johannesburg, South Africa.
(HN, 3/4/01)(SC, 3/4/02)
1933 Mar 4, Henderson, DeSylva and
Brown's "Strike Me Pink" premiered in NYC.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1933 Mar 4, Franklin D. Roosevelt
was inaugurated to his first term as president in Washington, D.C. He
pledged to lead the country out of the Great Depression: "We have
nothing to fear but fear itself." The start of President Roosevelt's
first administration brought with it the first woman to serve in the
Cabinet: Labor Secretary Frances Perkins. He chose Homer Cummings as
his attorney general. Cummings served 5 years and 10 months. Herbert
Hoover was denied the courtesy of Secret Service protection
traditionally accorded an outgoing president.
(AP, 3/4/98)(HN, 3/4/98)(SFC, 1/11/99, p.A5)(HNQ,
1/16/01)(SC, 3/4/02)
1933 Mar 4, Chancellor Dollfuss
dissolved the Austrian parliament.
(www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2005/mar2005p17_1890.html)
1934 Mar 4, Easter Cross on Mount
Davidson, San Francisco, was dedicated.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1936 Mar 4, 1st flight of airship
Hindenburg was made in Germany.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1939 Mar 4, Laurence Steinhardt
was named as the U.S. ambassador to the USSR
(HN, 3/4/98)
1941 Mar 4, 18 Geuzen resistance
fighters were sentenced to death in The Hague.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1941 Mar 4, Serbian Prince Paul
visited Hitler.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1943 Mar 4, Transport Number 50
departed with French Jews to Majdanek and Sobibor.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1944 Mar 4, The U.S. declared the
non-recognition of Argentina because of their collaboration with the
Axis.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1944 Mar 4, Louis Buchalter, aka
Lepke, was executed at Sing Sing along with Mendy Weiss. Lepke and
fellow gangsters had dispatched Weiss in 1935 to kill Dutch Schultz,
who had planned to kill NYC prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey.
(AH, 12/02, p.4)
1944 Mar 4, A squadron of American
B-17 bombers hit Berlin for the first time during daylight hours. Col.
H. Griffin Mumford (d.2007) led a group 4-engine Flying Fortresses over
Berlin.
(SFC, 7/20/07,
p.B12)(www.100thbg.com/mainmenus/history/historysummary_home.htm)
1944 Mar 4, Anti-German strikes
took place in North Italy.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1947 Mar 4, France and Britain
signed an alliance treaty.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1948 Mar 4, Antonin Artaud (51),
French poet, actor (Napoleon), died.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1949 Mar 4, In the USSR foreign
minister V.M. Molotov was replaced by A. Vishinsky and Minister of
Defense Marshal N.A. Bulganin was replaced by Marshal A.M.
Vassilievsky. Molotov and Bulganin continued as members of the
politburo.
(EWH, 1968, p.1197)(TOH, 1982, p.1949)
1949 Mar 4, Security Council of UN
recommended membership for Israel.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1952 Mar 4, Ronald Reagan and
Nancy Davis were married in the San Fernando Valley, north of Los
Angeles.
(AP, 3/4/98)
1952 Mar 4, North Korea accused
the U.N. of using germ warfare.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1954 Mar 4, JE Wilkins was
appointed 1st Black US sub-cabinet member.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1955 Mar 4, 1st radio facsimile
transmission (fax) was sent across the continent.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1959 Mar 4, US Pioneer IV missed
the Moon and became a 2nd (US 1st) artificial planet.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1960 Mar 4, Lucille Ball filed for
divorce from Desi Arnaz.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1960 Mar 4, In Cuba Alberto Korda
took a photo of Che Guevara at a rally where Castro blamed the US for
the cargo ship disaster of the previous day. The photo later became
famous as a poster of Che and symbol for the Cuban revolution.
(USAT, 10/8/97, p.8A)
1961 Mar 4, Paul-Henri Spaak
resigned as Secretary-General of NATO.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1962 Mar 4, AEC announced 1st
atomic power plant in Antarctica in operation.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1963 Mar 4, William Carlos
Williams (79), US physician, poet, died.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1963 Mar 4, Six people got the
death sentence in Paris plotting to kill de Gaulle.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1964 Mar 4, Jimmy Hoffa was
convicted of jury tampering.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1965 Mar 4, David Attenborough
became the new controller of BBC2.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1966 Mar 4, John Lennon said: "We
(Beatles) are more popular than Jesus." Radio stations in the
Netherlands and in Spain quickly banned the playing of Beatle records
as did the South African Broadcasting Corporation, stating that "The
Beatles' arrogance has passed the ultimate limit of decency. It is
clowning no longer."
(www.beatles.ws/1966.htm)
1966 Mar 4, North Sea Gas was 1st
pumped ashore by BP.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1966 Mar 4, Canadian Pacific
airliner exploded on landing in Tokyo and 64 died.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1968 Mar 4, Martin Luther King Jr.
announced plans for Poor People's Campaign. In late March and early
April 1968, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. devoted his organizing
talents to a drive to bring the nation's poor people to Washington,
D.C. for a series of massive nonviolent demonstrations. King's "Poor
People's Campaign" would attempt to unify African Americans, Latinos,
and lower-income whites in pressing the Johnson Administration and
Congress in an election year to enact a $30 billion-a-year domestic
"Marshall Plan" to alleviate poverty.
(SC, 3/4/02)(http://hnn.us/articles/49016.html)
1968 Mar 4, NASA launched its
Orbiting Geophysical Observatory 5.
(http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/ogo.html)
1970 Mar 4, The French submarine
Eurydice exploded and sank in the Mediterranean off Cape Camarat
killing all 57 of its crew.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurydice_(S644))
1971 Mar 4, Five Turkish militants
kidnapped 4 US military men at Ankara, Turkey. The kidnappers released
the four airmen unharmed on March 8, and were subsequently arrested,
tried and convicted. Three were hanged, one was imprisoned, and one was
killed in a gunfight with Turkish authorities.
(www.prophetofdoom.net/Islamic_Terrorism_Timeline_1971.Islam)
1971 Mar 4, Canadian Prime
Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau (52) married Margaret Sinclair (22) in
North Vancouver, B.C. They later divorced.
(AP, 3/4/99)(SFC, 9/29/00, p.D7)
1972 Mar 4, Libya and USSR signed
a cooperation treaty.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1973 Mar 4, Khalid Duhham
Al-Jawary (b.1947), and possibly others readied cars with bombs in
anticipation of Israeli PM Golda Meir's visit to NYC. The bombs failed
to detonate and were discovered after two cars on Fifth Avenue were
towed. The FBI learned about a third car at JFK and notified police. In
1979 Border police stopped Al-Jawary's car as he and another man tried
to cross into Germany from Austria. In the trunk of the car, police
found 88 pounds of high explosives, electronic timing-delay devices and
detonators hidden in a suitcase. They also unearthed cash and nine
passports inside a portable radio that could be used to monitor
transmissions from ships, airplanes or the police. Germany released
Al-Jawary long before the FBI knew that he had been taken into custody.
In 1991 he was detained in Rome and picked up by the FBI. In 1993 a
jury convict Al-Jawary, just days after the first attack on the World
Trade Center, based on evidence that included his fingerprints on one
of the NYC bombs. In 2009 Al-Jawary was deported to Sudan after
completing only about half his term, including time served prior to his
sentencing and credit for good behavior.
(AP, 1/25/09)(SFC, 2/27/09, p.A5)(WSJ, 3/5/09, p.A6)
1974 Mar 4, The first issue of
People Magazine was dated March 4.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_(magazine))
1974 Mar 4, The play "Knuckle" by
David Hare (b.1947) premiered in London.
(www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uthrc/00052/hrc-00052.html)(SC, 3/4/02)
1974 Mar 4, Harold Wilson, head of
the Labor Party, replaced resigning Edward Heath as British premier.
Wilson called elections for October and the Labor Party defeated the
Conservatives, after which Margaret Thatcher replaced Heath as party
leader.
(SC, 3/4/02)(SFC, 7/18/05, p.B6)
1975 Mar 4, Charlie Chaplin
(1889-1977), British-born American film comedian, was knighted by Queen
Elizabeth.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin)
1976 Mar 4, Pan Am was the first
airline charged with criminal negligence in a crash.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1977 Mar 4, A 7.4 earthquake in
Romania killed about 1,570 people and was felt across southern and
eastern Europe.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Bucharest_Earthquake)(AP,
3/4/98)(SFC, 4/28/99, p.A15)
1978 Mar 4, Chicago Daily News,
founded in 1875, published its last issue.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Daily_News)
1979 Mar 4, "Grand Tour" closed at
Palace Theater in NYC after 61 performances.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=3913)
1979 Mar 4, The US Voyager I
obtained the first image of Jupiter's rings.
(http://spacephysics.ucr.edu/index.php?content=v25/v4.html)
1980 Mar 4, Robert Mugabe's
ZANU-PF won parliamentary election in Zimbabwe. Black nationalist
guerrillas led by Robert Mugabe laid down their arms and beat their
white-backed opponents at the polls. Rhodesia was renamed Zimbabwe.
Martin Meredith later authored "The Past Is Another Country," the story
of Rhodesia.
(WSJ, 9/8/98, p.A1)(SC, 3/4/02)(WSJ, 3/13/02, p.A16)
1981 Mar 4, A jury in Salt Lake
City convicted Joseph Paul Franklin, an avowed racist, of violating the
civil rights of two black men who were shot to death.
(AP, 3/4/01)
1982 Mar 4, NASA launched Intelsat
V.
(www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/main/this_month_march.html)
1985 Mar 4, The EPA ordered a
virtual ban on leaded gas.
(http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/lead/01.htm)
1985 Mar 4, New Zealand floated
its currency.
(http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_business_story_skin/477448?format=html)
1986 Mar 4, Aleta Carol Bunch (16)
was kidnapped, raped and murdered in Augusta, Georgia, by Alexander E.
Williams IV (17). Williams was convicted and sentenced to death. In
2000 the state Supreme Court stayed the execution to see if
electrocution violated the state constitution. Williams, a chronic
paranoid schizophrenic, was kept synthetically sane with forced
medication. His execution, set for Feb 20, was stayed on Feb 19.
Williams was granted clemency Feb 25 and his sentence was commuted to
life in prison.
(SFC, 8/23/00, p.A7)(SFC, 2/19/02, p.A3)(SFC,
2/20/02, p.A7)(SFC, 2/26/02, p.A5)
1987 Mar 4, President Reagan
addressed the nation on the Iran-Contra affair. He took full
responsibility for the affair acknowledging his overtures to Iran had
"deteriorated" into an arms-for-hostages deal. Michale Ledeen, Pentagon
employee, later authored "Perilous Statecraft: An Insider's Account of
the Iran-Contra Affair."
(AP, 3/4/98)(HN, 3/4/98)(SFC, 5/14/03, p.A19)
1987 Mar 4, Jonathon Pollard
(b.1954), US naval intelligence analyst convicted of conspiracy to
commit espionage, was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He
had sought to share US intelligence on Iraqi weapons with Israel and
did so when after his superiors disagreed.
(WSJ, 1/25/96, p.A-16)(WSJ, 1/28/98,
p.A18)(www.jonathanpollard.org/2000/010900.htm)
1988 Mar 4, The US Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported that the civilian unemployment rate had dropped the
previous month to 5.7 percent.
(AP, 3/4/98)
1989 Mar 4, Time Inc. and Warner
Communications Inc. announced a deal valued at $14 million to merge
into the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate. The
supreme court of Delaware had judged that Time’s directors could reject
a $200-per-share hostile offer from Paramount, forcing shareholders to
accept a $138 friendly bid from Warner.
(AP, 3/4/99)(WSJ, 1/11/00, p.B1)(Econ, 3/11/06, p.69)
1989 Mar 4, Eastern Airlines
machinists went on strike and were joined by pilots and flight
attendants.
(AP, 3/4/99)
1990 Mar 4, The 20th Easter Seal
Telethon was held.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1990 Mar 4, Atlantis 6, the US
65th manned space mission STS 36, returned from space.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1990 Mar 4, Voters in the Soviet
republics of Russia, Byelorussia and the Ukraine participated in local
and legislative elections, resulting in notable gains for reformists
and nationalists.
(AP, 3/4/00)
1991 Mar 4, 2:05 p.m., The Army’s
37th Engineer Battalion blew up 33 Iraqi bunkers in the Iraqi desert.
The Pentagon later acknowledged that one of the bunkers probably
contained shells of sarin, a nerve agent, and mustard gas.
(SFC, 8/12/96, p.A3)
1991 Mar 4, George W. Bush
notified the SEC about his 1990 sale of Harken stock.
(SSFC, 7/28/02, p.A19)
1991 Mar 4, Iraq released ten
allied prisoners-of-war. A second group was freed the following day.
(AP, 3/4/01)
1991 Mar 4, The Bank of Credit
& Commerce International divested itself of 1st American Bank. BCCI
was majority owned by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).
(SC, 3/4/02)(WSJ, 10/21/05, p.A10)
1992 Mar 4, Another round of
Middle East peace negotiations concluded in Washington, D.C., with
Israel rejecting a plan for Palestinian elections.
(AP, 3/4/02)
1992 Mar 4, Arthur Babbitt (84),
Disney animator (Mr. Magoo, Goofy), died of heart failure.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1993 Mar 4, "Goodbye Girl" opened
at Marquis Theater in NYC for 188 performances.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1993 Mar 4, Authorities announced
the arrest of Mohammad Salameh, a suspect in the bombing of the World
Trade Center in New York City. Salameh was later convicted of playing a
key role.
(AP, 3/4/98)
1994 Mar 4, In New York, four
extremists were convicted of the World Trade Center bombing that killed
six people and injured more than a thousand.
(AP, 3/4/99)
1994 Mar 4, US Senate Majority
Leader George Mitchell announced he would not seek re-election.
(AP, 3/4/04)
1994 Mar 4, The space shuttle
STS-62, Columbia 16, blasted off on a two-week mission.
(AP, 3/4/99)
1994 Mar 4, John Candy (b.1950),
Canadian born actor and comedian, died in Durango, Mexico.
(AP, 3/4/99)(www.imdb.com/name/nm0001006/)
1994 Mar 4, In Egypt machine-gun
fire fatally wounded a German woman on a Nile cruise ship at Abu Tig.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.C2)
1995 Mar 4, President Clinton, in
his weekly radio address, said spending cuts proposed by congressional
Republicans would gut safe-school and anti-drug programs needed to
protect children.
(AP, 3/4/00)
1996 Mar 4, Jury selection began
in Little Rock, Ark., in the trial of President Clinton's Whitewater
partners, James and Susan McDougal, and the man who succeeded him as
Arkansas governor, Jim Guy Tucker. James McDougal and Tucker were later
convicted of fraud and conspiracy; Susan McDougal was convicted of
fraud.
(AP, 3/4/06)
1996 Mar 4, Comedian Minnie Pearl
died in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 83.
(AP, 3/4/01)
1996 Mar 4, In Spain the
conservative Popular Party under Jose Maria Aznar won general elections
over PM Felipe Gonzalez and ended 13 years of Socialist rule. The
national government created an Environment Ministry. Previously the
environment was the responsibility of the Public Works Ministry.
(WSJ, 3/4/96, p. A-1)(SFEC, 4/20/97, p.A17)
1996 Mar 4, A suicide bomber blew
himself up outside a Tel Aviv shopping center, killing 13 people in the
fourth deadly attack in nine days.
(WSJ, 3/5/96, p. A-1)(AP, 3/4/01)
1997 Mar 4, Calling creation of
life "a miracle that reaches beyond laboratory science," President
Clinton barred spending federal money on human cloning.
(AP, 3/4/98)
1997 Mar 4, President Clinton
surveyed tornado destruction in his home state of Arkansas and also
declared Ohio and Kentucky disaster areas because of floods.
(AP, 3/4/98)
1997 Mar 4, Comet Hale-Bopp
directly above the Sun (1.04 AU).
(SC, 3/4/02)
1997 Mar 4, Two Albanian air force
pilots diverted their MiG-15 fighter to southern Italy after being
ordered to fire on civilians. Tanks were reported in Gjirokastra and in
Vlore, the hotel complex owned by Vefa, the biggest investment scheme
still officially intact, was destroyed along with 6 factories.
(SFC, 3/5/97, p.A8)
1997 Mar 4, Brazil Senate allowed
women to wear slacks.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1997 Mar 4, In Chile the prison
population was reported to be 25,000 people. They were encouraged to
participate as employees in a joint government-business program.
(SFC, 3/4/97, p.A5)
1997 Mar 4, It was announced that
the US was providing as much as $20 million in military supplies to
Eritrea.
(WSJ, 3/4/97, p.A14)
1997 Mar 4, Russia launched Zeya
Start-1, a test satellite, aboard a modified SS-25 ballistic missile
from the new Svobodny cosmodrome in the Amur region of eastern Siberia.
(WSJ, 3/5/97, p.A1)(SC, 3/4/02)
1997 Mar 4, In Spain the matadors
agreed to go back to work but the bull horn issue remained unsettled.
(SFC, 3/5/97, p.A9)
1998 Mar 4, The Supreme Court
ruled that sexual harassment at work can be illegal even when the
offender and victim are of the same gender.
(WSJ, 1/4/98, p.R4)(AP, 3/4/99)
1998 Mar 4, The US House approved
a special referendum in Puerto Rico that would allow voters to choose
one of 3 options: continued commonwealth status, statehood or
independence.
(SFC, 3/5/98, p.A5)
1998 Mar 4, A judge ordered Miami
to hold a new mayoral election, saying widespread absentee-ballot fraud
played a role in the victory of Xavier Suarez the previous fall.
(AP, 3/4/99)
1999 Mar 4, In North Carolina a
military jury acquitted Captain Richard J. Ashby of all charges in the
1998 death of 20 people, who died when his jet cut the cable of their
ski gondola in the Italian Alps. Italian authorities were outraged,
(SFC, 3/5/99, p.A1)(AP, 3/4/00)
1999 Mar 4, Manuel Noriega's
sentence was reduced from 40 years to 30 by a federal judge in Florida.
He would be eligible for parole in 2007.
(WSJ, 3/5/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 4, Retired Supreme Court
Justice Harry A. Blackmun, who wrote the 1973 decision that legalized
abortion nationwide, died in Arlington, Va., at age 90.
(SFC, 3/5/99, p.A1) (AP, 3/4/00)
1999 Mar 4, In Brazil Arminio
Fraga, the new Central Bank president, raised the interest rates to 45%.
(SFC, 3/5/99, p.D2)
1999 Mar 4, Congo rebels who
served under Mobutu Sese Seko took the town of Bolobo, upstream from
Kinshasa.
(SFC, 3/5/99, p.D2)
1999 Mar 4, In Nigeria the
outgoing military government freed 47 political prisoners including
Gen'l. Oladipo Diya.
(SFC, 3/5/99, p.D2)
1999 Mar 4, In Russia Pres.
Yeltsin ordered Boris Berezovsky to be fired from his job with the
Commonwealth of Soviet States.
(WSJ, 3/5/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 4, In Turkey a female
suicide bomber killed herself and wounded 3 civilians in the town of
Batman.
(SFC, 3/5/99, p.A14)
1999 Mar 4, Ugandan soldiers
killed 10 more Rwandan rebels inside Congo for the killing of foreign
tourists.
(SFC, 3/8/99, p.A16)
1999 Mar 4, In Venezuela the
bodies of 3 Americans, who were kidnapped Feb 25 in Colombia, were
found shot to death. Ingrid Washinawatok (41), Lahe'ena'e Gay (39) and
Terence Freitas (24) were coordinating a campaign for the U'wa Indians
when they were abducted. Raul Reyes, senior commander of FARC, later
said that local commander Gildardo and 3 rebels seized and executed the
3 Americans without authorization. In Dec. German Briceno, a FARC
officer, was indicted in absentia on murder charges along with Gustavo
Bogota, a member of the U'wa Indian tribe. In 2000 Nelson Vargas was
captured in Saravena and identified as the guerrilla commander
responsible for the kidnap-slayings. Police later said Gildardo Gomez
was the commander suspected in the killings, but still held Vargas on
suspicion of rebel membership.
(SFC, 3/6/99, p.A10)(SFC, 3/11/99, p.A10)(SFC,
12/22/99, p.A18)(SFC, 3/24/00, p.D3)(SFC, 3/27/00, p.A13)
2000 Mar 4, Ahead of Super
Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush charged John
McCain with “clouded” education views while the Arizona senator asked
“Where the outrage?” over a late surge of money to pay for negative TV
ads.
(AP, 3/4/01)
2000 Mar 4, On the AIDS crises it
was reported that 1 in every 50 black men in the US was HIV positive.
It was also reported that 1 in 300 of all people in the US were HIV
positive.
(SFEC, 3/5/00, Z1 p.1)
2000 Mar 4, In Bangladesh a
tornado hit the northwest Natore district and left nearly 3000 people
homeless. 50 people were injured.
(SFC, 3/6/00, p.A12)
2000 Mar 4, In Beijing, China,
2,900 delegates from 32 provinces and regions gathered for the 10-11
day session of the Ninth National People's Congress. During the session
Hu Changqing, a former official in Jiangxi province, was scheduled to
be executed for taking bribes worth $658,000.
(SFC, 3/4/00, p.C1)(SFEC, 3/5/00, p.A22)
2001 Mar 4, President George W.
Bush dedicated a $4 billion aircraft carrier in honor of former
President Reagan. Nancy Reagan christened the ship. It was commissioned
in 2003.
(AP, 3/4/02)(SSFC, 7/13/03, p.A2)
2001 Mar 4, The US Coast Guard
found a record 13 (8) tons of cocaine aboard a 152-foot fishing vessel,
the Svesda Maru, in a Belize-flagged vessel 1,500 miles south of San
Diego. The ship’s crew were from Russia and Ukraine.
(SFC, 5/15/01, p.A5)(SFC, 5/30/01, p.A10)
2001 Mar 4, An oceanside memorial
was held in Hawaii for 9 people from a Japanese fishing boat who were
killed when their vessel was accidentally sunk by a U.S. submarine.
(AP, 3/4/02)
2001 Mar 4, Singer Glenn Hughes,
the biker character in the disco band the Village People, died in New
York at age 50.
(AP, 3/4/02)
2001 Mar 4, Former Ohio 4-term
Gov. James A. Rhodes died at age 91.
(SFC, 3/5/01, p.A24)
2001 Mar 4, Harold E. Stassen
(93), former Minnesota 3-term Gov. and perennial presidential
candidate, died in Bloomington, Minn..
(SFC, 3/5/01, p.A24)(AP, 3/4/02)
2001 Mar 4, In England a bomb
exploded in London outside the BBC studios. It was the work of the Real
IRA and one person was injured.
(SFC, 3/5/01, p.A12)(WSJ, 3/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 4, In Israel a
Palestinian suicide bomber killed himself and 3 Israelis in Netanya.
(SSFC, 3/4/01, p.A27)
2001 Mar 4, Macedonia sealed its
border with Kosovo after 3 soldiers were killed in heavy fighting with
ethnic Albanian rebels.
(WSJ, 3/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 4, In Portugal a bridge
over the Douro River near Penafiel collapsed and at least 70 people in
a bus and 2 cars plunged into the river and were killed.
(SFC, 3/5/01, p.A12)(WSJ, 3/5/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 3/6/01,
p.A1)
2001 Mar 4, In Saudi Arabia Muslim
pilgrims climbed Mount Arafat as some 2 million gathered for the annual
hajj to Mecca.
(WSJ, 3/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 4, Swiss voters rejected
membership talks with the EU by 77%.
(SFC, 3/5/01, p.A11)
2002 Mar 4, In Afghanistan at
least 7 US soldiers were killed while trying to drop off reconnaissance
teams in fighting in Paktia province. 6 of the soldiers were killed in
an effort to try to rescue a 7th during Operation Anaconda.
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A1)(SFC, 3/6/02, p.A1,12)
2002 Mar 4, Roy Porter (b.1946),
British historian, died. He had recently published "Madness: A Brief
History." His other books included “The Greatest Benefit to Mankind”
(1997), a survey of the history of medicine.
(www.guardian.co.uk/news/2002/mar/05/guardianobituaries.obituaries)(SSFC,
4/21/02, p.M3)(WSJ, 10/4/08, p.W8)
2002 Mar 4, European Union’s 15
members ratified the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, but failed to
set pollutant-emission levels to meet the accord’s targets.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2002 Mar 4, El Salvador declared a
state of emergency in the town of Berlin after some 60 horses died from
apparent anthrax infections.
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A7)
2002 Mar 4, In Ahmadabad, India,
Hindu militants razed the 80-year-old Manchaji mosque and erected a
foot-tall statue of the monkey god Hanuman in its place. The death toll
from Hindu-Muslim violence in the region climbed to 544.
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A6)
2002 Mar 4, Israeli forces killed
at least 14 Palestinians including the wife of an Islamic militant and
their 3 children.
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 4, In Kashmir separatist
violence left at least 17 people dead. This included 8 Islamic
militants killed by Indian soldiers.
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A7)
2002 Mar 4, In Kosovo Ibrahim
Rugova, moderate Albanian leader, became Kosovo’s 1st president and
joined PM Bajram Rexhepi to push for independence.
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A7)
2003 Mar 4, It was later reported
that CNN top people found out that the US war on Iraq would begin Mar
19. The Army's oldest armored division, "Old Ironsides," got orders to
head for the Persian Gulf as the total of U.S. land, sea and air forces
arrayed against Iraq or preparing to go neared 300,000.
(SFC, 4/3/03, p.W2)(AP, 3/4/04)
2003 Mar 4, The Bank of
Canada raised its key overnight interest rate to 3 percent from 2.75
percent, as it fretted about a steeper inflation rate.
(AP, 3/4/03)
2003 Mar 4, In the
Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir a bus fell into a deep gorge,
killing at least nine people and injuring 52.
(AP, 3/4/03)
2003 Mar 4, Iran called for
UN-supervised elections in neighboring Iraq and urged the divided Iraqi
opposition to reconcile with Pres. Saddam Hussein as part of a plan
aimed at averting a US-led war on Iraq.
(AP, 3/4/03)
2003 Mar 4, In northern
Iraq Kurdish soldiers killed 5 Muslim men in a possible case of
mistaken identity.
(AP, 3/4/03)(SFC, 3/5/03, p.A10)
2003 Mar 4, Israeli troops
killed one Palestinian and wounded another in an shootout at an
Internet cafe in the West Bank.
(AP, 3/4/03)
2003 Mar 4, In the
Philippines a bomb hidden in a backpack exploded at the Davao airport
on Mindanao, killing 21 people and wounding some 150.
(AP, 3/4/03)(SFC, 3/5/03, p.A1)
2004 Mar 4, It was reported that
new nickels honoring the 1803 Louisiana Purchase have been shipped to
the Federal Reserve. A new Jefferson nickel was set for 2005.
(SFC, 4/25/03, B3)(SFC, 11/7/03, p.A2)(AP,
3/4/04)(SFC, 9/14/04, p.D3)
2004 Mar 4, George Pake (b.1924),
founding head (1970-1978) of Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC),
died in Tucson, Ariz.
(SFC, 10/25/00, p.D1)(SFC, 3/11/04, p.C5)
2004 Mar 4, Brunei officials
reported that two retired senior army and police intelligence officers
and a businessman had been jailed without trial for leaking government
secrets, some of them posted on the Internet.
(AP, 3/4/04)
2004 Mar 4, Mounir el Motassadeq,
the only person in the world convicted in the 9-11 attacks, won a
retrial in a German appeals court.
(AP, 3/4/05)
2004 Mar 4, Israeli forces raided
the southern Gaza town of Rafah, killing a 14-year-old boy, bulldozing
houses and damaging the water and electricity networks.
(AP, 3/4/04)
2004 Mar 4, Ukrainian authorities
pulled a private station off the air, four days after it began
broadcasting U.S.-funded Radio Liberty's shortwave programming.
(AP, 3/4/04)
2005 Mar 4, Pres. Bush nominated
career scientist Stephen L. Johnson (53) to head the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA).
(SFC, 3/5/05, p.A1)(AP, 3/4/06)
2005 Mar 4, The DJIA rose 107 to
10,940, its highest level since June, 2001.
(SFC, 3/5/05, p.A10)
2005 Mar 4, Martha Stewart
returned from prison to the multi-million-dollar estate where she will
remain under the watch of federal authorities while trying to revive
her homemaking empire.
(AP, 3/4/05)
2005 Mar 4, India approved
cultivation of genetically modified cotton in its fertile northern
region, rejecting demands from anti-biotechnology activists.
(AP, 3/4/05)
2005 Mar 4, American troops fired
on a car taking Giuliana Sgrena to Baghdad's airport and wounded her.
Nicola Calipari, the Italian intelligence officer who negotiated her
freedom, was hit by the gunfire and died in her arms. Sgrena returned
to Italy the next day. In 2007 an Italian court threw out the case
against the US soldier charged in the shooting of Calipari.
(AP, 3/5/05)(AP, 10/25/07)
2005 Mar 4, In Iraq Pvt. Gardi
Gardev, a Bulgarian soldier, was killed by friendly fire." President
Georgi Parvanov summoned U.S. Ambassador James Pardew on Mar 7 and
complained about the lack of coordination between coalition troops in
Iraq.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 4, Nepal government
forces killed at least 30 Maoist rebels in the western district of
Arghakhanchi.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 4, In southwestern
Pakistan police said Ramzan Mengal, an Islamic militant accused of
killing as many as 130 Shiite Muslims over recent years, was arrested
in Quetta.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Mar 4, Palestinian gunmen
opened fire at a police station, sparking a gunfight that left three
people wounded.
(AP, 3/4/05)
2005 Mar 4, Tribes from western
Sudan and the neighboring Central African Republic signed a peace
charter in a bid to end cross-border clashes.
(AFP, 3/4/05)
2005 Mar 4, Swiss police said they
have detained five purported Islamic extremists suspected of running
Web sites that showed the execution of hostages and provided details of
how to make bombs and carry out attacks.
(AP, 3/4/05)
2005 Mar 4, Ukraine's former
interior minister was found dead of an apparent suicide, just before he
was to meet with prosecutors for questioning about the 2000 slaying of
an investigative journalist.
(AP, 3/4/05)
2005 Mar 4, President Hugo Chavez
said Venezuela wants to supply crude oil to India, Asia's third-biggest
consumer, under a long-term agreement.
(AP, 3/4/05)
2006 Mar 4, The US Army announced
it would start a criminal investigation into the 2004 friendly fire
death of former professional football player Patrick Tillman in
Afghanistan.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2006 Mar 4, Jenny McCarthy
received 3 Razzies: worst picture, worst actress and worst screenplay
as producer, for the gross-out romantic comedy “Dirty Love.”
(SSFC, 3/5/06, p.A2)
2006 Mar 4, Some 10,000 fans paid
$50 to $450 to watch the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) at
Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
(WSJ, 3/15/06, p.A1)
2006 Mar 4, A bomb killed four
Afghan intelligence agents when it blew up under their vehicle as they
were driving near the southern provincial capital of Lashkargah in
Helmand province.
(AP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, In Afghanistan Taliban
militia fatally shot Mohammad Hashim, a UN engineer, in the Bala Buluk
district of Farah province, where he was doing rural rehabilitation
work.
(AP, 3/6/06)
2006 Mar 4, Algeria began
releasing former Islamist fighters from prison, fulfilling an amnesty
aimed at promoting national reconciliation after more than a decade of
conflict.
(Reuters, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, Detectives
investigating Britain's largest cash robbery arrested a 28-year-old man
on suspicion of the Feb 22 robbery in south London. Five people have
been charged so far in the case.
(AP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, Cambodia deported an
American for running websites that promoted the impoverished kingdom as
a destination for people who wanted to end their lives. Californian
Roger Graham, 57, who owned the Blue Mountain Coffee and Internet Cafe
in the quiet coastal backwater of Kampot, had advertised his avid
support of euthanasia, or mercy killing, on his websites
www.euthanasiaincambodia.com and www.asian-hearts.com.
(AFP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, Chechnya's Parliament
unanimously approved Ramzan Kadyrov (29), the head of a security force
widely accused of human rights abuses, as PM of the war-battered
republic.
(AP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, A government spokesman
said China's military budget will rise 14.7% this year to $35.3
billion. China’s National People's Congress, largely a rubber-stamp for
decisions taken at the top level of the Chinese Communist Party,
approved a 14.7% increase in military spending to 35 billion dollars
(27 billion euros). Although this is paltry compared to the 419 billion
dollar (325 billion euro) US defense budget in 2006, the Pentagon last
year estimated that China's defense spending was two to three times the
publicly announced figure.
(AP, 3/4/06)(AP, 8/17/06)
2006 Mar 4, The French the defense
ministry said a French special forces officer was killed in clashes
with Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan. This was the second French
soldier to be killed in action in Afghanistan.
(AFP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, Youssef Fofana, the
suspected leader of a gang accused of torturing to death a young Jewish
man near Paris, was extradited from the Ivory Coast to France.
(AP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, In India hundreds of
Hindu protesters rampaged through the town of Sanvodem in the coastal
state of Goa, storming a police station, beating officers, looting
Muslim shops and burning vehicles and buildings.
(AP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, Indonesia raised its
death toll due to the H5N1 strain of bird flu to 21 after tests confirm
that a boy (3) had succumbed to H5N1 in central Java.
(AP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, Iraq's Kurdish
president said that he joined Sunni Arab and secular politicians in
trying to block the Shiite Muslim prime minister from a second term
because Ibrahim al-Jaafari has become a divisive figure.
(AP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, The Arab League said
it will open offices in Iraq for the first time since the 2003 US-led
invasion, part of its efforts to help reconcile the country's Sunni
Arab, Shiite and Kurdish communities.
(AP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, President Bush and
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf recommitted their nations to the
difficult task of hunting down terrorists still hiding here and across
the globe. Police detained former cricket star Imran Khan and arrested
dozens of his opposition party's supporters to block a rally against
President Bush. Bush praised Pakistan's fight against terrorism as
unfaltering but turned down an appeal for the same civilian nuclear
help the US intends to give India.
(AP, 3/4/06)(AP, 3/5/06)
2006 Mar 4, Final results showed
that South Africa's governing African National Congress won two-thirds
of council seats in local elections. President Thabo Mbeki vowed to
repay the confidence shown by voters in the ruling African National
Congress and speed up delivery of services to millions of poor blacks.
(AP, 3/4/06)(AP, 3/5/06)
2006 Mar 4, Supporters of the
Basque separatist group ETA clashed with riot police in northern Spain
to protest the deaths of two jailed members of the militant
organization.
(AP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, Sri Lanka said it will
put the clock back by half an hour and revert to its original time
after a 10-year experiment that largely failed to save energy. "The
change will take place from the Tamil and Sinhala New Year on April 13."
(AFP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, An armed group
attacked a Tamil Tiger rebel checkpoint in eastern Sri Lanka, killing
two guerrillas in what the rebels called a "serious" violation of the
country's cease-fire.
(AP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 4, Sudanese President
Omar al-Beshir repeated his country's refusal to allow any UN-led troop
intervention in strife-torn Darfur, but still insisted Khartoum was
committed to working with the world community.
(AFP, 3/4/06)
2007 Mar 4, NAACP President Bruce
S. Gordon announced he was quitting the civil rights organization after
just 19 months at the helm, citing growing strain with board members
over the group's management style and future operations.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2007 Mar 4, Stephen Grant (37) of
Mount Clemens, suspected of killing and dismembering his wife, was
captured as he fled searchers, running through snow in northern
Michigan. Tara Grant (34) was last seen on Feb 9. Stephen Grant
reported her missing five days later.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, In NYC a videotape
captured Rose Morat (101) as she repulsed an attack by a mugger in the
vestibule of her apartment. A suspect was later arrested.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.A3)
2007 Mar 4, Thomas Eagleton
(b.1929), former US Senator from Missouri, died. In 1972 he served as
George McGovern’s nominee for vice-president until it was revealed that
he had been hospitalized for psychiatric depression.
(SFC, 3/5/07, p.D5)
2007 Mar 4, In eastern Afghanistan
a suicide attack by an explosives-filled minivan hit an American
convoy. US Marine Special Forces fleeing a militant ambush opened fire
on civilian cars and pedestrians on a busy highway in Nangarhar
province. As many as 19 people were killed and 34 wounded in the
violence. The marine unit involved was soon ordered to leave
Afghanistan. The attack was carried out by a breakaway faction of
Hezb-e-Islami that was once led by Younis Khalis, a former mujahedeen
commander who died last year. The group is now believed to be led by a
son of Khalis. A US-led coalition airstrike destroyed a mud-brick home,
killing nine people from four generations of an Afghan family during a
clash between Western troops and militants. On May 23, 2008, Lt. Gen.
Samuel Helland, the commander of US Marine Corps Forces, Central
Command, decided not to bring charges after reviewing the findings of a
special tribunal.
(AP, 3/4/07)(AP, 3/5/07)(SFC, 3/24/07, p.A8)(SFC,
1/9/08, p.A13)(AP, 5/24/08)
2007 Mar 4, In Algeria suspected
Islamic militants attacked a police checkpoint with rocket-propelled
grenades and machine guns, killing five officers and wounding three
others.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, In the Central African
Republic French fighter jets destroyed several rebel vehicles in
retaliation for an attack on French troops.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, Chad named the former
rebel leader Mahamat Nour Abdelkerim as its new defense minister in a
major reshuffle of the volatile central African country's government.
(AFP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, China said it will
boost military spending by 17.8% this year, continuing more than a
decade of double-digit annual increases that have raised concerns among
the United States and China's neighbors.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, Copenhagen police
arrested dozens of people in a third straight day of unrest triggered
by the eviction of squatters from a disputed youth center.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, In East Timor
International security forces backed by helicopters raided a rebel
hide-out and killed four suspected insurgents, though their leader
Alfredo Reinado escaped.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, Voting stations opened
in Estonia's first Parliamentary election since joining the EU. PM
Andrus Ansip's center-right Reform Party narrowly won parliamentary
elections. Ansip's party had 27.8% of the votes, ahead of the
left-leaning Center Party led by political veteran Edgar Savisaar,
which had 26.1%. Ansip pledged to preserve the market-friendly policies
credited with the Baltic nation's impressive growth. President Toomas
Hendrik Ilves likely will ask Ansip to form the next government of the
country of 1.3 million.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, In Ethiopia a group of
French tourists who had also been missing since March 1 arrived in
Mekele, the Afar region's capital, and said they had not been
kidnapped, as was previously believed. Eritrea denied accusations that
it was behind the disappearance of five kidnapped Britons.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, In eastern India
suspected communist rebels assassinated lawmaker Sunil Mahato as he
watched a soccer game being played. Two bodyguards and a civilian also
were killed.
(AP, 3/5/07)
2007 Mar 4, Hundreds of US
soldiers entered the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in the first major
push into the area since an American-led security sweep began last
month around Baghdad. US troops raided a mosque in Baghdad and captured
three suspected insurgents hiding inside. At least 10 people died in
violence, including three women and a child, all Shiite pilgrims
heading to the holy city of Karbala, killed in a roadside bombing in
Hillah. Two policemen were killed and three hurt in clashes the
northern Iraqi city of Mosul. A British-Iraqi raid on a police
intelligence headquarters in southern Iraq found 30 prisoners with
signs of torture and an alleged death squad leader was captured.
(AP, 3/4/07)(AP, 3/5/07)
2007 Mar 4, Ivory Coast's Pres.
Laurent Gbagbo signed a peace accord with Guillaume Soro, the country's
main rebel leader, calling for a new government to hold elections by
the year's end, and for the dismantling of a vast buffer zone
separating the two sides. The latest deal is the result of meetings
between the two camps that started in early February under the
oversight of Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, An aide said PM Shinzo
Abe will stand by Japan's 1993 apology over forcing Asian women to have
sex with Japanese troops in the last century, after the leader's denial
that Tokyo used coercion caused an international uproar.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, Officials said
Kuwait's Cabinet has resigned in a widely expected move that pre-empts
a vote of no-confidence in the health minister, who is a member of the
ruling family. Kuwaiti governments have previously pre-empted votes of
no-confidence by resigning and Cabinet reshuffles. Such moves have even
led to dissolving parliament.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, Avalanches killed at
least five skiers in the Swiss and French Alps following days of heavy
snow.
(AP, 3/5/07)
2007 Mar 4, Thirty-six Yemenis
with alleged ties to al-Qaida went on trial on charges they planned to
take part in foiled suicide attacks on oil and gas installations in the
country.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2008 Mar 4, John McCain clinched
the Republican nomination. Hillary Clinton won primaries in Texas, Ohio
and Rhode Island, halting Barack Obama's winning streak. Obama won in
Vermont. Obama came away with a large share of delegates, too, in
counting that continued.
(AP, 3/5/08)
2008 Mar 4, In Vermont voters in
Brattleboro and Marlboro passed a nonbinding, symbolic measure that
instructs town police to arrest President George W. Bush and Vice
President Dick Cheney for "crimes against our Constitution" and
"extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to
prosecute them."
(Reuters, 3/5/08)
2008 Mar 4, Platinum prices spiked
to an all-time peak at $2,279.25.
(AP, 3/5/08)
2008 Mar 4, Gary Gygax (b.1938),
co-creator of the role-playing Dungeons & Dragons game, died in
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Gygax and Don Kaye had founded Tactical Studies
Rules (TSR) in 1973. In 1974 Gygax and David Arneson published D&D.
In 1997 TSR was sold to Wizards of the Coast.
(WSJ, 3/8/08, p.A7)(Econ, 3/15/08, p.102)
2008 Mar 4, In eastern Afghanistan
a suicide car bomb exploded near a government compound, killing a
policeman. The bombing, claimed by the extremist Taliban, was the fifth
in a week in the eastern province of Khost. In southwestern Nimroz
province Taliban militants attacked a police checkpoint, and the
ensuing two-hour gunbattle left three policemen dead. Near Hyderabad,
Afghanistan, an Afghan man was killed. Master Sgt. Joseph D. Newel
faced allegations in the case that included premeditated murder;
wrongfully mutilating a dead body; larceny; and violation of a lawful
order. In 2009 Newell was acquitted of premeditated murder and
mutilation.
(AFP, 3/4/08)(AP,
3/5/08)(http://shadowspear.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13756)(SFC, 2/26/09,
p.A4)
2008 Mar 4, Ethnic Armenian and
Azerbaijani forces exchanged fire for hours near the disputed territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan warned it could try to reclaim the
disputed region. Soldiers were killed and wounded on both sides. Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty said in a statement that its two Armenian
affiliates halted the broadcasts to comply with an emergency decree
that allows media to only report news that is sanctioned by the
government.
(AP, 3/5/08)(WSJ, 3/5/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 4, The Reserve Bank of
Australia raised its official cash-rate target by a quarter point to
7.25% in an effort to tighten credit as inflation remained problematic.
(WSJ, 3/5/08, p.A2)
2008 Mar 4, An Australian
aquaculture company claimed a world first in artificially breeding
endangered southern bluefin tuna.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, The US embassy in
Sarajevo said the US government has cut development aid to the
political party of Bosnian Serb PM Milorad Dodik because of its
nationalist policy.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, In Brazil police used
rubber bullets and tear gas to remove 900 activists from a tree farm
they had invaded to highlight allegations its Swedish-Finnish operators
violated a law forbidding foreign companies from owning certain lands.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, The Bank of Canada
slashed its overnight interest rate by 50 basis points for the first
time since November 2001, lowering it to 3.5% and signaling further
cuts to shield the economy from the damaging effects of the US slowdown.
(Reuters, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, China said its defense
spending would jump 17.6 percent this year but insisted the rise was
moderate, amid a flare-up in tensions with the United States over
Beijing's growing military muscle.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, China and Russia
scuttled a Western attempt to introduce a resolution on Iran's nuclear
defiance at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, Costa Rican police
detained 14 people, including a family court judge and a lawyer, on
suspicion of participating in a scheme in which mothers allegedly were
paid to give up their babies.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, In Cairo US Sec. of
State Condoleezza Rice said she has released $100 million in military
aid to Egypt after telling the US Congress the money was necessary for
national security reasons. Police arrested 54 members of Egypt's
largest opposition movement, the first day for registration of
candidates for key local council elections.
(Reuters, 3/4/08)(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, France pinned the
blame on Sudanese forces for a shooting near the border with Chad that
left one French soldier wounded and another missing and asked Sudanese
authorities for help in locating the missing soldier. Sgt. Gilles
Pollin’s remains were formally identified Mar 7 and flown to Paris from
Khartoum.
(AP, 3/4/08)(AP, 3/7/08)
2008 Mar 4, Israel said it would
return to Hamas-ruled Gaza if necessary as it mounted new airstrikes on
the Palestinian territory after militants fired more rockets at a
nearby Israeli town. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared that
peace is his first choice in the Mideast and visiting Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice exhorted Israel to "spare innocent life" in the
latest upsurge in fighting in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Palestinians fired
three rockets at Israel. About 25 Israeli armored vehicles rumbled into
southern Gaza and clashed with militants after nightfall. A 1-month-old
baby was killed in the crossfire. A local Islamic Jihad leader was
killed and 8 militants and 3 civilians were wounded.
(AP, 3/4/08)(AP, 3/5/08)
2008 Mar 4, Israel has said
Hezbollah is rearming and has an arsenal that includes 10,000
long-range rockets and 20,000 short-range rockets in southern Lebanon,
according to a report from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, Italian police said
they have seized 150 million euros of property and goods from feuding
Calabrian mafia clans who are under investigation for the murder of six
Italians outside a pizzeria in Germany last year.
(Reuters, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, Ian Paisley, the fiery
Protestant preacher who reversed a lifetime of stubbornness to embrace
an unlikely peace, announced his retirement as leader of Northern
Ireland's power-sharing government with Roman Catholics.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, In Pakistan 2 suicide
bombers blew themselves up at a prestigious naval college in the
eastern city of Lahore, killing at least five people and injuring 19.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, The Rwandan government
and the UN signed a deal allowing detainees sentenced by the UN-backed
court on the Rwanda genocide to be jailed in Rwanda.
(AFP, 3/5/08)
2008 Mar 4, In Sri Lanka 7 rebels
were killed in ongoing clashes as government forces pushed deeper into
Tamil Tiger territory. 3 days of fighting left at least 90 guerrillas
and nine government soldiers dead.
(AFP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, In southern Sudan
activists warned that the 2006 arrival of White Nile Petroleum Company
(WNPOC), a consortium led by Malaysia's Petronas, in Unity State
threatens the Sudd wetlands, the world's largest maze of swamps,
lagoons and tributaries. Villagers said thousands were forcefully
evicted to make way for the low-sulphur crude oil venture. They lost
ancestral homes, died from contamination and saw livelihoods
jeopardized.
(AFP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, Officials said Turkey
is ready to take part in a planned Mediterranean Union after winning
assurances that it is not meant as a substitute for Ankara's eventual
EU membership.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 4, Ugandan troops clashed
with rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army inside neighboring Sudan.
(AFP, 3/6/08)
2008 Mar 4, Ukraine's natural gas
company warned that if Russia further cuts its gas supplies, it could
begin diverting shipments intended for western Europe.
(AP, 3/4/08)
2009 Mar 4, The Obama
administration kicked off a new program that's designed to help up to 9
million borrowers stay in their homes through refinanced mortgages or
loans that are modified to lower monthly payments. President Barack
Obama approved an order to overhaul the way the US government awards
contracts for work to be done by the private sector, reversing a Bush
administration policy.
(AP, 3/4/09)
2009 Mar 4, British PM Gordon
Brown addressed a joint session of the US Congress and bestowed an
honorary knighthood for Senator Edward Kennedy.
(Econ, 3/7/09, p.65)
2009 Mar 4, In California David
Paradiso (28), a man accused of killing his girlfriend, was shot to
death in a Stockton courtroom after he attacked the judge presiding
over his murder trial.
(AP, 3/5/09)
2009 Mar 4, In Texas Kenneth Wayne
Morris was executed for killing a Houston man in a botched burglary
nearly 18 years ago.
(SFC, 3/5/09, p.A6)
2009 Mar 4, Joseph Bloch,
Juilliard School pianist and scholar, died.
(WSJ, 3/19/09,
p.D9)(www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/arts/music/15bloch.html)
2009 Mar 4, In Afghanistan a car
bomb exploded outside the main US military base at Bagram and wounded
three people. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
(AP, 3/4/09)
2009 Mar 4, In central China more
than 2,000 people displaced by construction of the Three Gorges Dam
clashed with police during a protest over missing resettlement
payments, leaving 30 protesters injured.
(AP, 3/4/09)
2009 Mar 4, Channel tunnel
operator Eurotunnel said it will pay its first ever dividend after
making a net profit of 40 million euros in 2008 despite fire damage of
200 million euros (250 million dollars).
(AP, 3/4/09)
2009 Mar 4, The Finnish Parliament
approved controversial legislation that allows employers to track
workers' e-mails.
(AP, 3/4/09)
2009 Mar 4, Union leaders on the
French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe agreed to suspend a 44-day-old
general strike as most of their demands continue to be met.
(AP, 3/4/09)
2009 Mar 4, In India officials
said investigators looking into an outbreak of hepatitis uncovered a
huge operation engaged in illegally recycling hundreds of tons of used
medical equipment. Gujarat state officials launched the probe 2 weeks
earlier after 56 people died of hepatitis B.
(SFC, 3/5/09, p.A2)
2009 Mar 4, In Ingushetia a man
fired several grenades at the home of former President Murat Zyazikov
in Nazran. Zyazikov was unhurt, but the attacker died in the explosion.
(AP, 8/17/09)
2009 Mar 4, In Iraq a suicide
bomber triggered an explosives-packed belt as he walked among members
of a police intelligence unit in central Baghdad, killing three people.
A suicide car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint in Mosul, killing at
least two policemen and wounding 15 people. Gunmen killed a Sunni
sheik, his wife and two sons near Samarra, 60 miles (100 kilometers)
north of Baghdad. Gunmen killed Brig. Gen. Salam Salman Mohammed, a
senior Ministry of Interior official, as he drove to work in Baghdad.
(AP, 3/4/09)(SFC, 3/6/09, p.A2)
2009 Mar 4, The Israeli military
aircraft fired upon three smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt
border. An Israeli missile strike in northern Gaza killed Khaled
Shalan, described as a senior Islamic Jihad commander.
(AP, 3/4/09)(SFC, 3/6/09, p.A3)
2009 Mar 4, Salvatore Samperi
(64), Italian director, died in his house on Lake Bracciano. He was
best known for erotic comedies that challenged the morals of Italy's
middle class.
(AP, 3/5/09)
2009 Mar 4, In Mexico a fight
between gangs in a state prison in Ciudad Juarez left at least 20
prisoners dead.
(SFC, 3/5/09, p.A5)
2009 Mar 4, In southern Nigeria
gunmen seized two passengers from a ferry near the Bonny Island gas
terminal. 19 others were released shortly after the ferry was seized.
(AFP, 3/5/09)
2009 Mar 4, The UN described the
war zone in northern Sri Lanka as an "unfolding humanitarian
catastrophe," where civilians were trapped and dying because they
lacked food and medicine.
(AP, 3/4/09)
2009 Mar 4, The International
Criminal Court at The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese
President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against
humanity in Darfur. He is the first sitting head of state the court has
ordered arrested. The French medical aid organization Doctors Without
Borders (MSF) said it was pulling staff out of Darfur after the
Sudanese government ordered them to leave. Sudan ordered at least 10
humanitarian groups expelled from Darfur.
(AP, 3/4/09)(AFP, 3/4/09)
2009 Mar 4, Ukrainian masked and
armed security agents searched the headquarters of Naftogaz, Ukraine's
natural gas company, in a raid that the firm said threatened a deal
with Russia over the shipment of gas supplies to Europe. The raid was
said to be connected to a criminal investigation launched this week
into the alleged diversion of some 7.4 billion hryvna ($900 million) in
Russian gas by officials at Naftogaz.
(AP, 3/4/09)
2009 Mar 4, Venezuela’s Pres.
Chavez ordered the expropriation of the rice operations of US grain
giant Cargill Inc. and threatened to take over beer and food
manufacturer Polar, the country’s largest private company.
(WSJ, 3/5/09, p.A9)
2009 Mar 4, Zimbabwe’s PM Morgan
Tsvangirai made his first call for an end to international sanctions,
part of his bid to start rebuilding the shattered economy. He also said
the detention of political prisoners is undermining donor confidence in
Zimbabwe's unity government, hurting efforts to rebuild the economy. US
President Barack Obama extended sanctions against Zimbabwe, saying the
troubled African nation had not resolved its political crisis.
(Reuters, 3/4/09)(AFP, 3/4/09)(Reuters, 3/5/09)
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