Today in History - March 8
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International Women’s Day: In 1909 in
accordance with a
declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National
Woman's Day
was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued
to
celebrate it on the last Sunday of that month through 1913. In 1910 the
Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women's
Day,
international in character, to honor the movement for women's rights
and to
assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. In 1911 as a result
of the
decision taken at Copenhagen the previous year, International Women's
Day was
marked for the first time (19 March) in Austria, Denmark, Germany and
Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended
rallies. As
part of the peace movement brewing on the eve of World War I, Russian
women
observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in
February
1913. In 1917 with 2 million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian
women
again chose the last Sunday in February to strike for "bread and
peace". Four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the
provisional Government granted women the right to vote. That historic
Sunday
fell on 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia, but
on 8
March on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere.
(www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/women/womday97.htm)
883 Mar 8,
Albumasar [Ahmad Aboe M Gafar al-Balkhi], Arabic astronomer, died.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1144 Mar 8, Celestine II [Guido],
Italian Pope (1143-44), died in battle.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1466 Mar 8, Francesco Sforza
(b.1401), Italian condottiere, duke of Milan, died. He was the founder
of the Sforza dynasty in Milan, Italy, and the brother of Alessandro,
with whom he often fought.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Sforza)
1495 Mar 8, Juan de Dios,
Portuguese-Spanish saint, founder (Brothers of Mercy), was born.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1576 Mar 8, Diego Garcia de
Palacios, a representative of Spain's King Felipe II, wrote to the
crown with news of the ruins at Copan in western Honduras.
(AP, 3/7/05)
1607 Mar 8, Johann Rist, composer,
was born.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1618 Mar 8, Johannes Kepler came
up with his Third Law of Planetary Motion.
(SFC, 6/16/96, PM p.5)(HN, 3/8/98)
1702 Mar 8, William III of Orange
(51), Dutch King of England (1689-1702), died after falling from his
horse and catching a chill. Anne Stuart (37), his sister-in-law,
succeeded to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland and reigned
until 1714.
(PCh, 1992, p.272)(MC, 3/8/02)(AP, 3/8/98)
1706 Mar 8, Vienna's Wiener
Stadtbank was established.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1709 Mar 8, William Cowper/Cooper
(~62), English anatomist, died.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1714 Mar 8, Carl Philipp Emanuel
Bach (d.1788), German composer, son of J.S. Bach, was born. He played
keyboard at the court of Frederick the Great for 28 years, and
succeeded Telemann at Hamburg. Because he was left-handed he did not
play the violin. He represented the elegant, noncontrapuntal style
gallant that was developed by the Mannheim composers and led into Haydn
and Mozart.
(LGC-HCS, p.31)(MC, 3/8/02)
1722 Mar 8, Afghan monarch Mir
Mahmud occupied Persia.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1746 Mar 8, Cumberland's troops
occupied Aberdeen, Scotland.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1759 Mar 8, French King Louis XV
revoked the license of the Encyclopedie as the 8th volume was about to
be printed.
(ON, 4/05, p.9)
1782 Mar 8, The Gnadenhutten
massacre took place as some 90 Christian Delaware Indians were slain by
militiamen in Ohio in retaliation for raids carried out by other
Indians.
(AP, 3/8/98)(AH, 4/07, p.14)
1783 Mar 8, Hannah Hoes Van Buren,
wife of Martin Van Buren, was born.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1787 Mar 8, Karl Ferdinand von
Grafe was born. He helped create modern plastic surgery.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1790 Mar 8, George Washington
delivered the first State of the Union address.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1799 Mar 8, Simon Cameron,
political boss, was born.
(HN, 3/8/01)
1804 Mar 8, Alvan Clark, telescope
manufacturer, was born.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1813 Mar 8, The 1st concert of
Royal Philharmonic.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1828 Mar 8, Johann Anton Sulzer
(75), composer, died.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1839 Mar 8, James Mason Crafts, US
chemist (Friedel-Crafts-synthesis), was born.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1841 Mar 8, Oliver Wendell Holmes
Jr. (d.1935), 59th Supreme Court Justice (1902-1932), the "Great
Dissenter," was born in Boston. "To have doubted one's own first
principles, is the mark of a civilized man."
(AP, 3/8/98)(HN, 3/8/98)(WSJ, 6/22/99, p.A22)(AP,
3/6/00)
1853 Mar 8, The first bronze
statue of Andrew Jackson was unveiled in Washington, D.C.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1854 Mar 8, US Commodore Matthew
C. Perry landed at Yokohama on his 2nd trip to Japan. Within a month,
he concluded a treaty with the Japanese. In 2003 Christopher Benfey
authored "The Great Wave: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics and
the Opening of Old Japan."
(AP, 3/8/98)(SSFC, 5/18/03, p.M6)
1855 Mar 8, The first train
crossed Niagara Falls on a suspension bridge.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1857 Mar 8, Ruggiero Leoncavallo,
Italian composer (I Pagliacci/Zaza), was born.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1859 Mar 8, Kenneth Grahame,
Scottish author who created the children’s classic “The Wind in the
Willows,” was born.
(HN, 3/8/99)
1861 Mar 8, St. Augustine,
Florida, surrendered to Union armies.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1862 Mar 8, On the second day of
the Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern) in Arkansas, Confederate
forces, including some Indian troops, under General Earl Van Dorn
surprised Union troops, but the Union troops won the battle. Pea Ridge
Natl. Military Park, Arkansas, marked the site where Confederate
commanders, Gen. Ben McCulloch and Gen. James McIntosh, were killed.
(Postcard, Coastal Photo Scenics, SW Harbor,
Maine)(HN, 3/8/98)(HN, 3/8/99)
1862 Mar 8, The ironclad CSS
Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack) rammed and sank the USS Cumberland
and inflicted heavy damage on the USS Congress, both frigates, off
Newport News, Va. Popular during the Crimean War, the floating battery
was revived by hard-pressed Confederates.
(AP, 3/8/07)(HN, 3/8/98)
1862 Mar 8, Nat Gordon, last
pirate, was hanged in NYC for stealing 1,000 slaves.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1865 Mar 8, Frederick William
Goudy, US printer, type designer, was born.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1865 Mar 8, Battle of Kingston, NC
(Wilcox's ridge, Wise's Forks).
(MC, 3/8/02)
1869 Mar 8, Louis Hector Berlioz
(b.1803), French composer (Symphony Fantastic), died. He was later
hailed as the most blazing musical innovator of the early 19th century.
In 1969 David Cairns translated his memoirs “The Memoirs of Hector
Berlioz.”
(WSJ, 4/8/03, p.D4)(WSJ, 3/1/08,
p.W8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_Berlioz)
1874 Mar 8, Millard Fillmore
(b.1800), the 13th president of the United States (1850-1853), died of
a stroke in Buffalo, N.Y.
(SFC, 2/21/97, p.A25)(AP, 1/7/98)(AP, 3/8/98)
1876 Mar 8, Franco Alfano, Italian
opera composer (Il dottore Antonio), was born.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1879 Mar 8, Otto Hahn, German
co-discoverer of nuclear fission, was born. He received a Nobel Prize
in 1944.
(HN, 3/8/98)(MC, 3/8/02)
1880 Mar 8, President Rutherford
B. Hayes declared that the United States would have jurisdiction over
any canal built across the isthmus of Panama.
(HN, 3/8/99)
1884 Mar 8, The 1st performance of
Edward MacDowell's 2nd Piano suite.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1886 Mar 8, Edward Kendall,
chemist, isolated cortisone (Nobel 1950), was born.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1887 Mar 8, Everett Horton of
Connecticut patented a fishing rod of telescoping steel tubes.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1887 Mar 8, Henry Ward Beecher
(b.1813), American clergyman and brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe,
died. His books included the “Summer in the Soul” (1858), “Life of
Jesus Christ” (1871), Yale Lectures on Preaching (1872) and Evolution
and Religion (1885). In 2006 Debby Applegate authored “The Most
Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher. ”
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASbeecher.htm)(SSFC, 7/2/06, p.M3)
1889 Mar 8, Jens/John Ericsson
(85), Swedish-US, engineer (fire extinguisher), died.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1891 Mar 8, Sam Jaffe, actor
(Gunga Din, Dr Zorba-Ben Casey), was born in NYC.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1894 Mar 8, NY passed the 1st
state dog license law.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1898 Mar 8, Richard Straus' "Don
Quixote," premiered in Keulen.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1902 Mar 8, Louise Beavers, film
actress, was born.
(HN, 3/8/01)
1902 Mar 8, The 1st performance of
Jean Sibelius' 2nd Symphony.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1904 Mar 8, The Bundestag in
Germany lifted the ban on the Jesuit order of priests.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1905 Mar 8, The peasant revolt in
Russia was reported to be spreading to Georgia.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1908 Mar 8, The House of Commons,
London, turned down the women's suffrage bill.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1909 Mar 8, Anthony Donato,
composer, was born.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1909 Mar 8, An F4 tornado hit
Brinkley, Arkansas, killing 49 people. It was but one of 7 to touch
down on the state this day.
(SSFC, 3/8/09, p.C10)
1909 Mar 8, Pope Pius X lifted the
church ban on interfaith marriages in Hungary.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1910 Mar 8, Baroness de Laroche
became the first women to obtain a pilot's license in France.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1911 Mar 8, Alan Hovhaness,
composer (Lousadzak, Ukiyo), was born in Somerville, Mass.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1911 Mar 8, International Women's
Day was established when American working women demonstrated for their
rights as workers and women.
(HFA, '96, p.26)(SFC, 3/8/02, p.A32)
1913 Mar 8, Internal Revenue
Service began to levy and collect income taxes. [see Mar 1, Oct 13]
(MC, 3/8/02)
1916 Mar 8, US invaded Cuba for
3rd time. This time "to end corrupt Menocal regime."
(MC, 3/8/02)
1917 Mar 8, The US Senate voted to
limit filibusters by adopting Rule XXII, the cloture rule, introduced
at the urging of Pres. Wilson. The Senate had operated without a
cloture rule since 1806. The rule required a 2/3 vote. It was later
amended to a 3/5 vote.
(AP, 3/8/98)(Econ, 5/21/05, p.30)(Econ, 2/20/10,
p.24)
1917 Mar 8-12, Russia’s democratic
February revolution took place in Russia. The "February Revolution"
(according to the Old Style calendar that Russians used) began with
rioting and strikes in the Russian army garrison at Petrograd.
(AP, 3/8/98)(LHC, 3/8/03)
1917 Mar 8, Ferdinand von Zeppelin
(78), Dutch count, air pioneer, died.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1919 Mar 8, Reports from Paris
indicated that 6,000 American men had married French women in the past
year.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1921 Mar 8, Spanish Premier
Eduardo Dato was assassinated while leaving Parliament in Madrid.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1921 Mar 8, French troops occupied
Dusseldorf.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1923 Mar 8, Cyd Charisse, dancer,
actress, was born.
(HN, 3/8/01)
1923 Mar 8, John McPhee, writer
(Oranges, A Sense of Where You Are), was born.
(HN, 3/8/01)
1924 Mar 8, Coal mine explosion
killed 171 at Castle Gate, Utah.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1930 Mar 8, William Howard Taft
(72), 27th president of the United States (1909-1913), died in
Washington. In addition to John F. Kennedy, William Howard Taft is the
only other U.S. president buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Born
in Cincinnati on September 15, 1857, Taft was the 27th president,
serving from 1909 to 1913. He later served as Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court from 1921 until illness forced him to resign in 1930.
(AP, 3/8/98)(HNQ, 12/10/98)
1930 Mar 8, Mahatma Gandhi started
civil disobedience in India. [see Mar 12]
(MC, 3/8/02)
1934 Mar 8, It was reported that
Workmen excavating for the SF Federal Building unearthed the skeletal
remains of 3 SF settlers and several gold and silver coins near the
corner of McAllister and Hyde streets. Over 20 graves were uncovered
during the course of the excavation.
(SSFC, 3/8/09, DB p.45)
1934 Mar 8, Edwin Hubble photo
showed as many galaxies as Milky Way has stars.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1935 Mar 8, In San Francisco a
boxing match between Joe Lewis and Red Barry was stopped after Barry
collapsed under punches from Lewis. Close to 8,000 fans watched the
bout at Dreamland where Lewis won close to $3,650 with Barry
getting about $1,200.
(SSFC, 3/7/10, p.46)
1936 Mar 8, Gabor Szabo, Hungarian
jazz pianist (Perfect Circle), was born.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1938 Mar 8, Herbert Hoover told
Hitler that his doctrine would be unacceptable and intolerable in the
U.S.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1939 Mar 8, Robert Tear, tenor
(Welsh Nat’l Opera 1970), was born in Barry, Wales.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1940 Mar 8, In the US it was tax
freedom day, the day by which citizens met their financial obligations
to the government. In 1902 it was Jan 31 and by 1999 it had shifted to
May 10.
(SFEC, 4/18/99, BR p.7)
1941 Mar 8, Martial law was
proclaimed in Holland in order to extinguish any anti-Nazi protests.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1942 Mar 8, Japanese captured
Rangoon, Burma, during World War II. Detachment 101 harried the
Japanese in Burma and provided close support for regular Allied forces.
(AP, 3/8/98)(HN, 3/8/98)
1943 Mar 8, Japanese forces
attacked American troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville. The battle lasted
five days.
(HN, 3/8/99)
1943 Mar 8, 335 allied bombers
attacked Nuremberg.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1944 Mar 8, U.S. bombers resumed
bombing Berlin.
(AP, 3/8/98)
1945 Mar 8, "Kiss Me Kate" opened
in Britain.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1945 Mar 8, Phyllis Mae Daley
received a commission in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps. She was the first
African-American nurse to serve duty in World War II.
(HN, 3/8/99)
1945 Mar 8, The U.S. First Army
crossed the Rhine between Cologne and Coblenz.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1945 Mar 8, 53 Amsterdammers were
executed by Nazi occupiers.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1946 Mar 8, The 1st helicopter
licensed for commercial use was in NYC.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1946 Mar 8, Frederick William
Lanchester (b.1868) died in England. He was a major contributor to the
theory and practice of automobile engineering and aeronautical
engineering. He also published works in radio, acoustics, relativity,
music and poetry.
(http://www.lanchester.com/Lanc1.html)
1948 Mar 8, The US Supreme Court,
in the case of McCollum vs. the Board of Education, struck down
voluntary religious education classes in Champaign, Ill., public
schools, saying the program violated separation of church and state.
Judge Robert Jackson warned: "One can hardly respect a system of
education that would leave the student wholly ignorant of the currents
of religious thought that move the world."
(HN, 3/8/98)(WSJ, 8/13/99, p.W11)(AP, 3/8/08)
1950 Mar 8, Marshall Voroshilov of
the USSR announced the Soviet Union had developed an atomic bomb. [see
August 29, 1949]
(PC, 1992 ed, p.922)
1951 Mar 8, The Int’l. Table
Tennis Federation banned Egypt for refusing to play Israel.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1953 Mar 8, Census indicated
239,000 farmers gave up farming in last 2 years.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1954 Mar 8, The U.S. signed a
defense pact with Japan, offering them $100 million in aid within the
next three months.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1956 Mar 8, On the 2nd day of a
3-day regional conference of the Southern District Division of
Production, American Petroleum Institute, in San Antonio, Texas, M.
King Hubbert, a Shell geologist, predicted that US oil production for
the 48 states would peak (i.e., reach a maximum annual extraction rate)
in 1965 if the nation ultimately produced 150 billion barrels, and in
1969 if the nation ultimately produced 200 billion barrels. 1970 turned
out to be the peak year, both for the 48 states and for the 50 states
including Alaska.
(SSFC, 3/21/04, p.J3)(WSJ, 6/28/05, p.D8)
1957 Mar 8, Israeli troops left
Egypt. Suez Canal re-opened for minor ships.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1958 Mar 8, William Faulkner said
US schools had degenerated to become babysitters.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1959 Mar 8, Groucho, Chico and
Harpo made their final TV appearance together.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1961 Mar 8, Jean Kerr's "Mary,
Mary," premiered in NYC. It was adopted to film in 1963.
(MC, 3/8/02)(SFC, 1/7/03, p.A22)
1961 Mar 8, US nuclear submarine
Patrick Henry arrived at Scottish naval base of Holy Loch from SC in a
record under seas journey of 66 days 22 hrs.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1961 Mar 8, Max Conrad circled the
globe in a record time of eight days, 18 hours and 49 minutes in Piper
Aztec.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1961 Mar 8, Thomas Beecham (81),
English conductor (Last Night of the Prom), died.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1964 Mar 8, Malcolm X left the
Black Muslim Movement. [see Mar 12]
(MC, 3/8/02)
1965 Mar 8, The United States
landed its 1st combat troops, about 3,500 Marines in South Vietnam.
More than 4,000 Marines landed. They joined some 23,000 Americans who
had been serving as military advisors to South Vietnam for several
years. Gen. Frederick Karch (d.2009 at 92) landed with the 9th Marine
Expeditionary Brigade on Red Beach at Da Nang. Prior to their arrival
all military personnel in Vietnam were there as advisors.
(AP, 3/8/98)(HN, 3/8/98)(SFC, 8/18/00, p.D2)(SFC,
5/27/09, p.B9)
1966 Mar 8, "Golden Boy" closed at
Majestic Theater in NYC after 569 performances.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1966 Mar 8, Australia announced
that it would triple the number of troops in Vietnam.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1966 Mar 8, An IRA bomb destroyed
Nelson Column in Dublin.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1968 Mar 8, Some 1500 students
demonstrated in Warsaw following a government ban on the performance of
a play by Adam Mickiewicz, (Dziady), written in 1824). Within four
days, protests spread to Krakow, Lublin, Gliwice, Wroclaw, Gdansk,
Poznan, and Lodz
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Polish_political_crisis)
1968 Mar 8, The Russian K-129, a
Golf-II class, diesel-electric submarine armed with nuclear missiles
and 98 seamen aboard, sank in 16,000 feet of water northwest of the
Hawaiian island of Oahu. Russian officials suspected that the K-129 was
struck by an American submarine, the USS Swordfish. The US Navy said
the vessel suffered a catastrophic internal explosion. A US sub, the
Halibut, found the Soviet vessel 6 months later and recovered 3
missiles with nuclear warheads, Soviet code books and an encryption
machine. In August 1974 the CIA recovered part of the sub. A 100 foot
section was pulled in by the Glomar Explorer with 2 nuclear tipped
torpedoes and the bodies of 6 Russian sailors.
(SFC, 7/15/96, p.A6)(SFC, 7/5/96, p.A19,21)(AP,
9/11/07)(AP, 2/13/10)
1970 Mar 8, The Nixon
administration disclosed the deaths of 27 Americans in Laos.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1971 Mar 8, Radio Hanoi broadcast
Jimi Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner."
(MC, 3/8/02)
1971 Mar 8, Joe Frazier fought
Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight championship. Frazier won. They fought
rematches in 1974 and 1975. In 2001 Mark Kram authored “Ghosts of
Manila,” and account of the Frazier-Ali boxing matches.
(WSJ, 5/25/01, p.W8)
1971 Mar 8, Pres. Nixon expressed
his bigotry against women, blacks and Mexicans and Italians on tape
recordings that were only made public in 1998.
(SFEC, 12/27/98, p.a15)
1971 Mar 8, Catholic radicals in
Media, Pa., broke into the local FBI offices and stole documents that
revealed the agency’s illegal activities against radical groups and
leaked them to the media.
(SFEC, 2/16/97, BR p.8)
1971 Mar 8, Harold Lloyd (b.1893),
US comic, actor (Why Worry), died of cancer. Lloyd, an avid 3-D
photographer, left behind a large collection that included thousands of
nude women as subjects. In 2004 granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd published
“Hollywood Nudes in 3-D.”
(www.haroldlloyd.us/articles/biog3.htm)(SSFC,
11/21/04, p.M1)
1972 Mar 8, Pres. Nixon signed
Executive Order 11652 lifting a 50-year secrecy ban on the exploits of
the more than 6,000 Nisei, second-generation Japanese-Americans, who
helped decode Japanese messages and who provided crucial information on
Japanese military operations during WW II.
(SFC, 5/26/96, Par p.14)(http://tinyurl.com/64kjn2)
1973 Mar 8, In London a bomb
inside a parked car exploded in front of the Old Bailey near Trafalgar
Square. It hurled nearby vehicles into the air, wrecked a pub and
smashed hundreds of windows. Marian Price and her sister Dolores were
among nine people convicted over the bombing, which killed one person
and left almost 200 others injured. Jerry Kelly was convicted of
causing explosions and conspiracy to cause explosions after he planted
four car bombs in London in March 1973.
(AP, 11/17/09)(http://tinyurl.com/yfzl7th)
1974 Mar 8, Charles the Gaulle
Airport (aka Roissy I) opened outside of Paris.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Gaulle_International_Airport)
1975 Mar 8, The United Nations
began observing International Women's Day.
(www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/iwd/)
1975 Mar 8, George Stevens (70),
US director (Swing Time, Gunga Din), died.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1977 Mar 8, The U.S. Army
announced that they had conducted 239 open-air tests of germ warfare.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1978 Mar 8, In Nicaragua General
Raynoldo Perez Vega, the National Guard Chief, was assassinated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nora_Astorga)
1979 Mar 8, Cesar Chavez led some
5,000 striking farmworkers on a march through the streets of Salinas,
Ca.
(SFC, 2/05/04, p.E8)
1982 Mar 8, The U.S. accused the
Soviets of killing 3,000 Afghans with poison gas.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1983 Mar 8, Pres Reagan called the
USSR an "Evil Empire."
(http://www.ronaldreagan.com/sp_6.html)
1983 Mar 8, IBM released PC DOS
version 2.0.
(http://www.e-articles.info/e/a/title/DOS-Versions/)
1983 Mar 8, William T. Walton
(b.1902), English composer (Belhazzar's feast), died.
(www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Walton-William.htm)
1985 Mar 8, Thomas Creighton (33)
died at the Univ. of Arizona after having three heart transplants in a
46-hour period.
(HN, 3/8/98)(http://tinyurl.com/tbw75)
1986 Mar 8, Four French television
crew members were abducted in west Beirut; a caller claimed the Islamic
Jihad was responsible. All four were eventually released.
(AP, 3/8/98)
1986 Mar 8, The Japanese probe
Suisei passed 151,000 kilometers (95,000 miles) from the nucleus of
Haley’s Comet.
(www.nasm.si.edu/ceps/etp/comets/comet_halley.html)
1988 Mar 8, Vice President George
Bush was the big winner in the Super Tuesday Republican presidential
primaries. Among Democrats, Michael S. Dukakis, Jesse Jackson and Al
Gore split the lion's share of delegates.
(AP, 3/8/98)
1988 Mar 8, Seventeen soldiers
died when two Army helicopters from Fort Campbell, Ky., collided in
midair.
(AP, 3/8/98)
1989 Mar 8, In Lebanon daily
artillery barrages between Christian and Syrian forces and their
militia allies began in Beirut; at least 930 people were killed before
a cease-fire took hold the following September.
(AP, 3/8/99)
1990 Mar 8, Opening arguments were
heard in the Iran-Contra trial of former national security adviser John
M. Poindexter.
(AP, 3/8/00)
1990 Mar 8, NYC's Zodiac killer
shoot his 1st victim, Mario Orosco. Orozco survived a bullet lodged
near his spine.
(http://karisable.com/skazzodiac.htm)
1991 Mar 8, Planeload after
planeload of US troops arrived home from the Persian Gulf to an
emotional welcome from relatives. Iraq handed over 40 foreign
journalists and two American soldiers whom it had captured.
(AP, 3/8/01)
1992 Mar 8, President George H.W.
Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton headed toward “Super Tuesday” claiming
big boosts from weekend victories.
(AP, 3/8/02)
1992 Mar 8, Ninety people were
killed when a ferry carrying pilgrims to a Buddhist shrine collided
with an oil tanker in the Gulf of Thailand.
(AP, 3/8/02)
1993 Mar 8, On Wall Street, the
Dow Jones industrial average soared to a record high, climbing 64.84 to
end the day at 3,469.42.
(AP, 3/8/98)
1993 Mar 8, Singer-bandleader
Billy Eckstine died in Pittsburgh at age 78.
(AP, 3/8/98)
1994 Mar 8, President Clinton
announced the appointment of Washington attorney Lloyd Cutler as senior
counsel, replacing Bernard Nussbaum.
(AP, 3/8/99)
1994 Mar 8, The US Defense
Department announced a smoking ban for workplaces ranging from the
Pentagon to battle tanks.
(AP, 3/8/99)
1994 Mar 8, The IRA launch the 1st
of 3 mortar attacks on London's Heathrow Airport.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Irish_Republican_Army)
1995 Mar 8, Two United States
diplomats were killed, one injured, when their car was ambushed as they
were driving to the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.
(AP, 3/8/00)
1995 Mar 8, The plummeting dollar
stabilized after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan called the
decline unwarranted.
(AP, 3/8/00)
1996 Mar 8, Wall Street plummeted
in a major sell off triggered by seemingly good economic news—a drop in
the nation’s unemployment rate and the biggest jobs gain in more than a
decade. Investors apparently worried that a stronger economy would mean
no more interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
(AP, 3/8/01)
1996 Mar 8, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was
acquitted of assisted suicide for helping two suffering patients kill
themselves.
(AP, 3/8/01)
1997 Mar 8, President Clinton, in
keeping with his push for private businesses and churches to hire off
welfare rolls, ordered federal agencies to do the same.
(AP, 3/8/07)
1998 Mar 8, James McDougal, one of
the most important cooperating witnesses in Kenneth Starr's Whitewater
investigation, died of cardiac arrest in a federal medical prison in
Fort Worth, Texas, at age 57.
(SFC, 3/9/98, p.A1) (AP, 3/8/99)
1998 Mar 8, More than a foot of
wind-driven snow paralyzed travel across the central Plains and
Midwest.
(AP, 3/8/99)
1998 Mar 8, Hall of Fame
linebacker Ray Nitschke died in Florida at age 61.
(AP, 3/8/99)
1998 Mar 8, In northern
Afghanistan an avalanche crushed the village of Darbandi and killed 70
people.
(SFC, 3/7/98, p.A11)
1998 Mar 8, In Algeria attackers
slit the throats of 6 people on a farm in Haouch Mena, near the home
village of Antar Zouabri, believed to be the leader of the militant
Armed Islamic Group.
(SFC, 3/9/98, p.A11)
1998 Mar 8, Columbia elected new
representatives to Congress. Rebels interference forced vote
cancellations in 46 municipalities. 8 guerrillas and 7 soldiers were
reported killed in combat.
(SFC, 3/7/98, p.A10)
1998 Mar 8, In Israel a letter
from over 1,500 Israeli army reserve officers urged Pres. Netanyahu to
curb settlements and reach a West Bank deal with Palestinians.
(WSJ, 3/9/98, p.A1)
1998 Mar 8, In Kosovo 7,000
Albanian women marched against the crackdown on separatist guerrillas.
(SFC, 3/9/98, p.A10)
1999 Mar 8, Alice Munro of Canada
won the National Book Critics Circle award for fiction for her
short-story collection "The Love of a Good Woman." Philip Gourevitch
won the nonfiction award for "We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We
Will Be Killed With Our Families," a work on the Rwandan genocide.
Sylvia Nassar won the biography award for her work on John Forbes Nash
Jr., Nobel laureate in mathematics. Gary Giddins won the award for
criticism for "Visions of Jazz: The First Century."
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.C2)
1999 Mar 8, Women around the world
took part in ceremonies and protests marking Int'l. Women's Day.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.B10)
1999 Mar 8, The Clinton
administration directed the firing of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee from
his job at the Los Alamos National Laboratory because of alleged
security violations. Lee was exonerated in 2000. Energy Secretary Bill
Richardson fired Wen Ho Lee, a Los Alamos weapons designer, who was
under suspicion of handing nuclear secrets to China in 1988.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A1)(AP, 3/8/00)(SFC, 7/1/00,
p.A4)(SFEC, 9/10/00, p.C19)
1999 Mar 8, Pres. Clinton began a
4-day tour of Central America and the region's efforts to recover from
Hurricane Mitch. Clinton toured Posoltega, Nicaragua, by the Casita
Volcano where a wall of mud took 2,000 lives.
(SFC, 3/8/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 3/9/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 8, US warplanes dropped
laser-guided bombs on northern and southern Iraq.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.B10)
1999 Mar 8, Intel settled an
antitrust suit with charges that it had abused monopoly power in the
computer chip industry.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 8, Joe DiMaggio, New York
Yankees baseball star known as the "Yankee Clipper," died at age 84 in
Hollywood, Florida. In 1975 Maury Allen authored “Where Have You Gone,
Joe DiMaggio.” In 1995 Joseph Durso authored the biography “DiMaggio:
The Last American Knight.” In 2000 Richard Ben Cramer authored “Joe
DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life.”
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 3/9/99, p.A1)(WSJ,
10/18/00, p.A24)
1999 Mar 8, William Wrigley
(b.1933), CEO of Chicago-based Wrigley Gum, died. His son William
Wrigley Jr. took over the company.
(WSJ, 3/11/06,
p.A10)(www.thememoryhole.org/foi/apbnews-list/)
1999 Mar 8, Brazil sealed a deal
with the IMF for a currency injection in exchange for more belt
tightening.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.B10)
1999 Mar 8, Britain and Ireland
signed 4 treaties for the Northern Ireland peace accord. Formation of a
new government was postponed.
(WSJ, 3/9/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 8, In China 148 people
were poisoned in Luoyang after nitric acid was put into the donkey meat
soup. 5 people were later arrested. Chi Jianguo, the owner of a
competing restaurant, hired 4 farmers to poison the soup. He was later
sentenced to death, but the sentence was suspended for 2 years.
(SFC, 3/22/99, p.A11)(SFC, 4/7/99, p.C12)
1999 Mar 8, In Ecuador the
government declared a banking holiday to deal with the plunging
currency.
(WSJ, 3/9/99, p.A17)
1999 Mar 8, Guinea said that it
had reinforced its border with Sierra Leone following the fall of
Kambia to rebels and raids by rebels against Guinean villages.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.B10)
1999 Mar 8, Kosovo KLA leaders
agreed to accept a peace plan but commander Ramush Hajredinaj insisted
that they would not give up their arms.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A12)
2000 Mar 8, President Clinton
submitted to Congress legislation to establish permanent normal trade
relations with China.
(AP, 3/8/01)
2000 Mar 8, In California 55 Oscar
statuettes were reported missing from a loading dock in LA. Willie
Fullgear (61) found them in a dumpster on Mar 19. Police arrested two
men associated with the trucking company.
(SFC, 3/21/00, p.a3)
2000 Mar 8, In Florida a
24-vehicle pileup on I-10, 90 miles east of Tallahassee, left 3 people
dead and 21 injured. Blinding smoke from a forest fire was blamed.
(SFC, 3/9/00, p.A3)
2000 Mar 8, In Nevada a van
crashed on I-15 at Jean and 8 people were killed with 5 injured.
(SFC, 3/9/00, p.A3)
2000 Mar 8, In Memphis, Tenn., an
off-duty firefighter, Frederick Williams (41), shot and killed 2
firefighters and a sheriff's deputy. Letter carrier Stacey Williams
(32), Williams’ wife, was also found dead at the site where a fire was
started.
(SFC, 3/9/00, p.A3)(SFC, 3/10/00, p.D3)
2000 Mar 8, It was reported that
the EU will require car manufacturers by 2006 to take back cars after
the resale value drops to zero and to recycle 85% of scrapped cars.
(SFC, 3/8/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 8, In China Hu Changqing,
former vice governor of Jiangxi province, was executed for corruption.
(SFC, 3/9/00, p.A10)
2000 Mar 8, In Israel the supreme
court ruled that the government may no longer allocate land based on
religion or ethnicity and may no longer prevent Arab citizens from
living where they choose.
(SFC, 3/9/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 8, In Italy Harold
Bloom’s new book “How To Read and Why” was published. The American
version came out in April. His other 24 books included “The Western
Canon.”
(WSJ, 5/1/00, p.A24)
2000 Mar 8, In Japan 2 subway
trains collided during rush hour in Tokyo. 3 people were killed and
over 30 injured.
(SFC, 3/8/00, p.C4)
2000 Mar 8, In Madagascar tropical
storm Gloria left over 100 people dead just weeks after Cyclone Eline
left 54 dead.
(SFC, 3/9/00, p.A10)
2000 Mar 8, In Mexico police
announced that 6 suspects were arrested for the slaying of a police
chief in Tijuana and 14 other people. The suspects were reported to be
acting as hit men under orders from Vicente Zambada Niebla, the son of
a drug trafficker in Sinaloa.
(SFC, 3/9/00, p.A11)
2000 Mar 8, In Mexico Juan Manuel
Izabal, a top aide to the attorney general, was found dead from
suicide. A stash of $700,000 was also found.
(SFC, 3/10/00, p.A12)
2000 Mar 8, In Mozambique recent
flooding began to wash old civil war land mines to the surface. An
estimated 400,000 to 5 million mines were still present.
(SFC, 3/9/00, p.A10)
2000 Mar 8, Near Puerto Rico at
least 10 people died when a boat carrying some 70 illegal immigrants
from the Dominican Republic capsized.
(SFC, 3/9/00, p.A12)
2000 Mar 8, Singapore complained
to Indonesia about out of control fires on Sumatra and Borneo.
(WSJ, 3/9/00, p.A1)
2001 Mar 8, The
Republican-controlled House voted for an across-the-board tax cut of
nearly $1 trillion over the next decade, handing President Bush a major
victory only 48 days into his term.
(WSJ, 3/9/01, p.A1)(AP, 3/8/02)
2001 Mar 8, Scott Waddle, the
embattled commander of the Navy submarine that collided with a Japanese
fishing vessel off Hawaii, offered a tearful apology to the families of
some of the victims.
(AP, 3/8/02)
2001 Mar 8, A new AIDS vaccine was
reported to be successful in monkeys.
(WSJ, 3/9/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 8, The space shuttle
Discovery lifted off with supplies for the int’l. space station in a
new Italian module named Leonardo. The 12-day mission also included a
fresh crew of 3 for the station.
(SFC, 3/9/01, p.A2)(WSJ, 3/9/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 8, Rev. Arthur Peacocke,
a scientist and Church of England priest, won the annual Templeton
Prize for Progress in Religion. His writings included “Paths from
Science Towards God.”
(SFC, 3/9/01, p.D6)
2001 Mar 8, In Afghanistan the
giant Buddha at Bamiyan was destroyed.
(SFC, 3/12/01, p.A12)
2001 Mar 8, Dame Ninette de
Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet, died in London at age 102.
(AP, 3/8/02)
2001 Mar 8, In Indonesia Pres.
Wahid visited Borneo and fighting erupted right after his departure. At
least 4 Dayak protesters were killed.
(SFC, 3/9/01, p.D2)
2001 Mar 8, In southern Sudan
dozens of gunmen attacked and looted an aid agency. 4 workers were
killed and 2 were kidnapped.
(SFC, 3/13/01, p.A18)
2001 Mar 8, Flooding in the
Ukraine and northeastern Hungary left at least 5 people dead. Tens of
thousands were driven from their homes as the Tisza and other
Carpathian streams rose.
(WSJ, 3/9/01, p.A1)
2002 Mar 8, The US Senate passed
the economic stimulus bill. Pres. Bush signed it the next day. The
Senate bill cut taxes and extended unemployment benefits.
(SFC, 3/9/02, p.A4)(WSJ, 3/11/02, p.A1)(AP, 3/8/07)
2002 Mar 8, The US Labor Dept.
reported an addition of 66,000 jobs in February, the 1st increase in 8
months.
(SFC, 3/9/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 8, The Holy Land
Foundation filed suit against the US Departments of Justice, Treasury
and State for violation of its civil rights and putting it out of
business as a suspected conduit for terrorist funds.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A14)
2002 Mar 8, K-Mart announced the
closure of 284 stores and layoffs of 22,000.
(SFC, 3/9/02, p.B1)
2002 Mar 8, In Noble, Georgia, the
parents and sister of Ray Brent Marsh were arrested for signing death
certificates even though they were not licensed. The number of corpses
found at the Tri-State Crematory rose to 339. [see Feb 16]
(SFC, 3/9/02, p.A3)
2002 Mar 8, It was reported that
scientists had found a link between SV40, a simian virus, and
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
(SFC, 3/9/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 8, A gunman killed 5
Israelis in Gaza. Israeli forces attacked Palestinian positions and
killed 36 including Maj. Gen. Ahmed Mefraj. This was the deadliest day
in 17 months of fighting.
(SFC, 3/8/02, p.A11)(SFC, 3/9/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 8, Pakistan prepared to
expel thousands of foreign students studying at religious schools.
(SFC, 3/9/02, p.A13)
2003 Mar 8, Michael Moore won
best original screenplay for "Bowling for Columbine" in the 55th annual
Writer's Guild Awards.
(SFC, 3/10/03, p.D2)
2003 Mar 8, Former US president
and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter condemned preparations for a
unilateral US attack on Iraq.
(AP, 3/9/03)
2003 Mar 8, Thousands of US women
staged "Code Pink" marches against a possible war with Iraq. Some 4,000
marched near the White House.
(SSFC, 3/9/03, p.A3)
2003 Mar 8, Elliot Jaques (86),
psychoanalyst, died. He coined the term mid-life crises and adopted
hierarchies that reflected employees' ability to handle long-range
assignments.
(SFC, 1/21/02, p.A21)
2003 Mar 8, The first Afghan radio
station programmed solely for women began broadcasting in Kabul. Daily
broadcasts will increase to 2 hours next week and up to 4 hours in
several months.
(AP, 3/9/03)
2003 Mar 8, An Argentine judge
asked Interpol to arrest four Iranian diplomats, accusing them of
responsibility in a deadly terrorist attack that destroyed a Jewish
community center in Buenos Aires in 1994.
(AP, 3/9/03)
2003 Mar 8, In Romania 5 Iraqi
diplomats were expelled for "activities incompatible with their
status." Last week the US expelled two U.N.-based Iraqi diplomats and
identified 300 Iraqis in 60 countries, some operating as diplomats out
of Iraqi embassies, whom it wanted expelled.
(AP, 3/10/03)
2003 Mar 8, In the Czech Republic
a bus accident near Ceske Budejovice left 17 dead. 2 more people soon
died from injuries sustained in the crash.
(AP, 3/9/03)
2003 Mar 8, In India separatist
rebels in northeastern Assam state shot and killed three laborers,
ignited a huge fire by launching mortars at an oil refinery and used
explosives to damage a pipeline.
(AP, 3/8/03)
2003 Mar 8, Interpol reissued an
international arrest warrant charging former Peru President Alberto
Fujimori with murder after receiving additional information from the
government.
(AP, 3/8/03)
2003 Mar 8, Iraq resumed the
destruction of banned Al Samoud 2 missiles after taking a day off and
called on the UN to lift sanctions after arms inspectors gave a
positive assessment of Baghdad's cooperation. Iraq also demanded that
the UN strip Israel of weapons of mass destruction, require withdrawal
from occupied Palestinian territory and that the UN brand the US and
Britain as liars.
(AP, 3/8/03)(SSFC, 3/9/03, p.A8)
2003 Mar 8, An Israeli helicopter
missile strike killed Ibrahim Makadmeh (51), the top commander of
Hamas' military wing and three other militants in a car in the Gaza
Strip. Hamas vowed revenge; the Israeli army promised to strike the
militants again.
(AP, 3/8/03)(AP, 3/8/08)
2003 Mar 8, Malta became the first
of 10 countries to vote on whether to join the European Union, which is
luring new members with a $40 billion aid package. The referendum was
approved 53.65 to 46.35%.
(AP, 3/8/03)(SFC, 3/10/03, p.A3)
2003 Mar 8, The presidents of Peru
and Ecuador inaugurated a bridge connecting the two nations. The
$1.8-million bridge spans the Canchis River near the Peruvian town of
Namballe, 500 miles northeast of Lima.
(AP, 3/9/03)
2004 Mar 8, An Ohio nuclear power
plant was allowed to reopen following a 2-year shutdown over an acid
leak.
(WSJ, 3/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 8, Todd Bertuzzi of the
Vancouver Canucks slugged Colorado Avalanche forward Steve Moore during
a game, leaving Moore with a broken neck, concussion and facial cuts.
Bertuzzi, who was suspended indefinitely from the NHL, later pleaded
guilty to criminal assault.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2004 Mar 8, Keith Hopkins (69), a
historian who brought an innovative sociological approach to the study
of ancient Rome, died in Cambridge, England. His books included
"Conquerors and Slaves" and "Death and Renewal."
(AP, 3/15/04)(SFC, 3/16/04, p.B7)
2004 Mar 8, Actor Robert
Pastorelli (49) was found dead in his Hollywood Hills, Calif., home.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2004 Mar 8, China's parliament
began discussing a constitutional amendment that would protect private
property for the first time since the 1949 communist revolution.
(AP, 3/8/04)
2004 Mar 8, Guinea-Bissau soldiers
released deposed Pres. Kumba Yala from house arrest, six months after
he was ousted in a bloodless coup on Sep 14.
(AP, 3/9/04)
2004 Mar 8, In Haiti US Marines
shot and killed the driver of a vehicle speeding up to a military
checkpoint.
(AP, 3/9/04)
2004 Mar 8, Iraq's Governing
Council signed a landmark interim constitution after resolving a
political impasse sparked by objections from the country's most
powerful cleric.
(AP, 3/8/04)
2004 Mar 8, Abul Abbas (56), the
Palestinian who planned the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro
passenger ship in which a wheelchair-bound American tourist was killed
and thrown overboard, died of natural causes in Baghdad while in U.S.
custody.
(AP, 3/10/04)
2004 Mar 8, Syrian authorities
broke up a rare protest by human rights activists demanding political
and civil reforms on the 41st anniversary of the ruling party's
accession to power.
(AP, 3/8/04)
2005 Mar 8, President Bush said
authoritarian rule in the Middle East had begun to ease, and he
insisted anew that Syria had to end its nearly three-decade occupation
of Lebanon.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2005 Mar 8, Afghan gunmen killed a
British advisor in Kabul.
(WSJ, 3/9/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 8, Bolivian lawmakers
unanimously rejected a resignation offer by President Carlos Mesa,
granting crucial support to his government.
(AP, 3/9/05)(Econ, 3/12/05, p.39)
2005 Mar 8, Brazilian prosecutors
formally charged four men in the death of a 73-year-old American nun
who worked to defend poor rainforest communities. Rayfran Neves Salles
was charged with firing the six shots that killed Dorothy Stang.
Clodoaldo Batista was charged as an accomplice. Two other men, Amair
Feijoli and Vitalmiro Moura, were charged with homicide.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 8, China unveiled a law
authorizing an attack if Taiwan moves toward formal independence,
increasing pressure on the self-ruled island while warning other
countries not to interfere.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 8, In Guatemala City
hundreds of protesters blocked lawmakers from voting on a free-trade
agreement between Central America and the US and authorities said they
were prepared to send troops if the demonstrations continued.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 8, In Iraq clashes
erupted between US troops and insurgents in the city of Ramadi, leaving
at least two people dead.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 8, Kosovo's PM Ramush
Haradinaj resigned after being indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal
for his alleged part in atrocities during the fight against Serb forces.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 8, In Lebanon nearly
500,000 pro-Syrian protesters waved flags and chanted anti-American
slogans in a central Beirut square, answering a nationwide call by the
militant Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 8, Nepali police arrested
nearly two dozen activists, including former ministers, as they rallied
in the Himalayan kingdom's capital on in one of the biggest protests
since King Gyanendra seized power last month.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 8, The parliament of
Nigeria, Africa's most-indebted nation, passed a nonbinding resolution
demanding Nigeria stop repaying its $35 billion foreign debt.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 8, A spokesman for
Russian forces said Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has been
killed. Russia had offered a $10 million reward.
(AP, 3/8/05)(WSJ, 3/16/05, p.A1)(Econ, 3/12/05, p.84)
2005 Mar 8, In Madrid, Spain, a
summit on terrorism opened.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2006 Mar 8, Six months after
Hurricane Katrina, President Bush got a close-up look at the remaining
mountains of debris, abandoned homes and boarded-up businesses in New
Orleans. The Hornets played their first game at The New Orleans Arena
since Katrina; they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, 113-107.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2006 Mar 8, US federal law
enforcement officials arrested 3 college students, Matthew Lee Cloyd
(20), Benjamin Nathan Moseley (19) and Russell Lee DeBusk Jr. (19), for
the string of church arsons that destroyed or damaged nine rural
churches in Alabama last month.
(AP, 3/8/06)(SFC, 3/9/06, p.A4)
2006 Mar 8, NFL owners agreed to
the players' union proposal, extending the collective bargaining
agreement for six years.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2006 Mar 8, Researchers reported
that single viral gene nef played a significant role in the
pathogenesis of AIDS.
(http://tinyurl.com/zmdlv)(Econ, 6/17/06, p.87)
2006 Mar 8, In eastern Afghanistan
suspected Taliban rebels hiding in a walled compound battled with
security forces, and a militant and a woman were killed.
(AP, 3/9/06)
2006 Mar 8, Argentina suspended
most beef exports for at least 180 days to prevent surging int’l. beef
prices from pushing local prices beyond the power of Argentine
families. Exceptions included the EU due to a quota program and
countries with bilateral beef-import accords.
(WSJ, 3/10/06, p.A15)
2006 Mar 8, Thousands of women
from villages and cities across patriarchal Asia took to the streets
for International Women's Day to press for freedom, equal rights and an
end to discriminatory laws.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, Brazil’s central bank
dropped its benchmark interest rate by .75% to 16.5%.
(WSJ, 3/10/06, p.A15)
2006 Mar 8, In Brazil about 2,000
highly organized farm workers, mostly women, invaded a plantation owned
by a big paper and pulp company about 700 miles south of Sao Paulo.
They uprooted saplings and destroyed a laboratory in an environmental
rampage. Via Campesina said it organized the invasion "to denounce the
social and environmental impact of the growing green desert created by
eucalyptus monoculture.”
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, Britain issued new
rules for diplomats to stop the publishing of tell-all memoirs such as
a recent portrayal of Prime Minister Tony Blair as starstruck and
senior ministers as "political pygmies."
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, Chinese officials
promised to crack down on seizures of farmland for redevelopment that
were fueling unrest, saying as many as 1 million farmers lose their
land each year and are paid too little for it. Communist leaders
launched China's most ambitious initiative in decades, promising
billions of dollars in social spending and farm aid to help the 800
million people in its neglected countryside catch up with its booming
cities.
(AP, 3/8/06)(AP, 3/10/06)
2006 Mar 8, Xinhua News reported
that a court in southern China has sentenced 16 officials to jail terms
of up to six years in connection with The Aug 7, 2005, coal mine flood
that killed 123 people.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, In Ecuador soldiers
fired tear gas to disperse rock-throwing oil workers, hours after
President Alfredo Palacio declared a state of emergency in three jungle
provinces to quell a strike and regain control of oil installations.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, French government
attempts to stop Internet users downloading music and movies ratcheted
up a notch when Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy blasted the
widespread practice as theft.
(AFP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, A German minister
claimed that deadly bird flu was moving closer to infecting humans in
Europe after two more cats died of the virus. China reported its 10th
human fatality.
(AFP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, Iran threatened the US
with "harm and pain" for its role in hauling Tehran before the UN
Security Council over its nuclear program. America's ambassador to the
United Nations said Iran's comments reflected the menace it poses.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, In Baghdad, Iraq,
gunmen in camouflage uniforms stormed the offices of a private security
company and kidnapped as many as 50 employees. Police found the bodies
of four handcuffed and strangled men in an open field in east Baghdad.
Another body, shot in the head, was found near a shop in an eastern
suburb. Bombings, gunfire and other violence claimed at least seven
other lives.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8-2006 Mar 9, In Japan 9
people in two groups were found asphyxiated in sealed cars, apparently
the latest cases of group suicides that have surged there. A record 91
people died in 34 Internet-linked suicide cases last year, up from 55
people in 19 cases in 2004.
(AP, 3/10/06)
2006 Mar 8, A Jordanian military
court convicted 11 militants, including five fugitives, of running a
network that recruited and smuggled fighters into Iraq to attack US
forces.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, In Kuwait Mishaal
al-Shimmiri, a Muslim fundamentalist convicted in absentia and
sentenced to 10 years in prison for belonging to a terrorist group,
turned himself in to an appeals court hearing a case that stemmed from
clashes with police in Jan 2005.
(AP, 3/9/06)
2006 Mar 8, Malaysia and the US
announced that they have agreed to begin negotiating a free trade deal
to eliminate trade barriers between the two nations.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, In Nigeria government
sources said the head of the Nigerian military in the oil-producing
Niger Delta has been removed from his post on suspicion of involvement
in the theft of crude oil. Militants killed at least 5 soldiers in a
firefight during an attack by the army in the southern Niger Delta.
(Reuters, 3/9/06)(AFP, 3/9/06)
2006 Mar 8, Train services linking
Pakistan with neighboring Iran were suspended indefinitely following
bombings and rocket attacks on the rail in southwestern Pakistan.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, Legislators of Sark, a
tiny self-governing island in the English Channel, voted to swap its
feudal government for democracy. After around 450 years of rule almost
exclusively by landowners, the smallest independent state in the
British commonwealth will allow each of the 600 residents to stand for
election.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, Western powers sought
to persuade Sudan to agree to a weak African Union peacekeeping force
being turned into a more robust UN mission to stop killing in the
Darfur region. Thousands of Sudanese protested in Khartoum against any
deployment of UN troops in Darfur.
(Reuters, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 8, In Kampala,
Uganda, a church wall collapsed during a thunderstorm. 23 people were
killed and nearly 100 injured. A criminal investigation was launched
the next day.
(AP, 3/9/06)
2007 Mar 8, President Bush opened
a weeklong tour of Latin America in Brazil. Police clashed with
students, environmentalists and left-leaning Brazilians protesting
Bush’s visit and his push for an ethanol energy alliance. Local news
media said at least 18 people were hurt and news photographs showed
injured people being carried away.
(AP, 3/8/07)(AP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 8, House Democrats
unveiled legislation that would require the withdrawal of US combat
troops from Iraq by the fall of 2008; the White House said President
Bush would veto it.
(AP, 3/8/08)
2007 Mar 8, In his first news
conference since taking over command of US forces in Iraq, Gen. David
Petraeus said insurgents were seeking to intensify attacks and that
additional US forces would be sent to areas where militant groups were
regrouping.
(AP, 3/8/08)
2007 Mar 8, Winners were announced
for the annual Ted Prize at the annual TED conference in Monterey, Ca.,
where attendees examined technology, entertainment and design.
(SSFC, 3/11/07, p.D1)(www.ted.com/ted2007/)
2007 Mar 8, Dr. Martin Wikelski of
Princeton Univ. along with colleagues proposed a satellite tracking
system, the International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space
(ICARUS), based on one gram transmitters for the study of animal
behavior.
(Econ, 3/10/07, p.80)
2007 Mar 8, In Hawaii a tour
helicopter crashed at an airport on the island of Kauai, killing four
people and critically injuring three.
(AP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 8, Fugitive Afghan rebel
leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar used a video to tell The Associated Press
that his forces have ended cooperation with the Taliban and suggested
that he was open to talks with embattled President Hamid Karzai. In
northern Afghanistan gunmen killed a German aid worker and robbed his
three Afghan colleagues. A suicide bomber targeting a NATO convoy
wounded five civilians in the country's south.
(AP, 3/8/07)(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, In Argentina a federal
judge ordered former de facto president Reynaldo Bignone arrested in
connection with human rights abuses stemming from the 1976-83
dictatorship.
(AP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 8, At least two people
were killed when a cyclone slammed into Australia's northwest coast,
paralyzing mining operations and leaving a trail of destruction in its
wake.
(AFP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 8, In Austria delegates
to a 35-nation meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency
approved the suspension of nearly two dozen nuclear technical aid
programs to Iran as part of UN sanctions imposed because its nuclear
defiance.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, The security forces of
Bangladesh's emergency interim government arrested six politicians over
corruption allegations. They included Tarique Rahman, the son of former
prime minister Khaleda Zia, dubbed “Mr Ten Per Cent” for his alleged
cut in almost any deal done by his mother’s government.
(AP, 3/8/07)(Econ, 3/10/07, p.39)
2007 Mar 8, The British government
bowed to pressure to improve conditions for Nepalese Gurkha soldiers
who have served in the British armed forces for two centuries, granting
them full pensions and other rights. Gurkhas began serving as part of
the Indian army in British-run India in 1815. Since Indian independence
in 1947, Gurkha pensions have been linked to those who served in the
Indian army, not those in the British army.
(AFP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, British actor John
Inman (71), best known for his role as camp shop assistant Mr Humphries
in the long-running BBC comedy "Are You Being Served?" died.
(Reuters, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, The first regularly
scheduled civilian passenger flight in six years arrived at Chechnya's
main airport, in what officials say is yet another sign that normalcy
has returned to the war-wracked Russian region.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, Chinese lawmakers
formally introduced a hotly debated law to protect private property,
saying that personal wealth in an increasingly prosperous China
requires legal safeguards.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, The European Central
Bank raised its key interest rate a quarter percentage point to 3.75%,
a move aimed at keeping growth from moving too quickly.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, In Greece rioters
protesting education reforms battled police for more than three hours,
hurling Molotov cocktails and vandalizing businesses in central Athens,
leaving more than 40 people injured.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, PM Shinzo Abe said
that ruling party lawmakers will conduct a fresh investigation into the
Japanese military's forced sexual slavery of women during World War II.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, Lebanese parliamentary
leaders met for the first time in four months in an effort to end a
power struggle that has divided the government and paralyzed the nation.
(AP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 8, In Malawi Garnet
Halliday (50), a senior Australian mining executive in charge of
the development of a new uranium mine, died with his pilot when his
chartered light aircraft crashed.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, Moroccan officials
arrested Saad Houssaini, an alleged member of a terrorist group that is
believed linked to the 2004 Madrid bombings and 2003 attacks in
Casablanca.
(AP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 8, The Netherlands said
it has ratified an accord to open to a long-secret archive of Nazi
death camp records in Germany, another step toward giving scholars
access to a vast collection of historically invaluable Holocaust
documents.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, Palestinians desperate
to cross into Egypt from Gaza surged toward a border terminal, throwing
stones as security personnel fired their weapons to maintain control.
Seven people were injured.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, Portugal's parliament
voted overwhelmingly to legalize abortion up until the 10th week of
pregnancy, a major step in bringing this small Roman Catholic nation in
line with most of its European neighbors.
(AP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 8, In Somalia insurgents
ambushed a convoy of African Union peacekeepers sent to help stabilize
Mogadishu, setting off a gunfight that killed at least 12 civilians.
(AFP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, South Africa launched
a new national plan to combat one of the world's highest rates of
domestic violence on International Woman's Day.
(AFP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 8, Syria’s Pres. Bashar
Assad inaugurated the first stage of a joint Syrian-Iranian auto
factory, test-driving one of the new cars and declaring that the
project will boost cooperation between the allies.
(AP, 3/9/07)
2008 Mar 8, Calls to end forced
marriage, domestic abuse and job discrimination marked International
Women's Day as demonstrators took to the streets worldwide.
(AFP, 3/8/08)
2008 Mar 8, Over 20 inches of snow
in Columbus, Ohio, eclipsed the February 1910 record of 15.3 inches. At
least 7 deaths were linked to the Midwest snowstorm.
(SFC, 3/10/08, p.A6)
2008 Mar 8, Sen. Barack Obama
captured the Wyoming Democratic caucuses, seizing a bit of momentum in
the close, hard-fought race with rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for
the party's presidential nomination.
(AP, 3/9/08)
2008 Mar 8, In Algeria Al Qaeda's
wing in north Africa said in an Internet posting that it has killed 20
Algerian soldiers and wounded 30 in clashes in its eastern stronghold,
where the army has launched a campaign against the rebels.
(Reuters, 3/9/08)
2008 Mar 8, In Colombia a stadium
brawl at a soccer rivalry game left about 80 people wounded in the city
of Cali, 18 of them with stab wounds.
(AP, 3/9/08)
2008 Mar 8, India awarded Russia a
965-million-dollar contract to upgrade its multi-role MiG-29 warplanes.
The two post-Cold War allies signed the deal to extend the life of
India's fleet of 70 MiG-29 jets another 15 years from their current 25
years.
(AFP, 3/10/08)
2008 Mar 8, As many as 5,000
people took to the streets in Basra, protesting deteriorating security
in the southern city where Iraqi forces assumed responsibility for
safety last December. Two separate bombings in Diyala province left six
people dead. The US military said that Iraqi security forces had
discovered a mass grave near Khalis in Diyala province containing
perhaps 100 bodies. Police also reported that the bullet-ridden bodies
of 13 men were found near the same town.
(AP, 3/8/08)
2008 Mar 8, It was reported that
Kenya’s wild animal populations has fallen by about 70% in the last 30
years.
(Econ, 3/8/08, p.86)
2008 Mar 8, Malaysia's ruling
coalition was dealt a shock rebuke in elections that looked set to
deliver the key state of Penang to the opposition as well as a slice of
its majority in parliament. The National Front won only 140 seats, or
63 percent of the constituencies, losing its two-thirds majority for
the first time since 1969 and slumping from its 2004 landslide victory
when it won 91 percent of the seats. An alliance of three opposition
parties also secured control of 5 of Malaysia’s 13 state
administrations.
(AFP, 3/8/08)(AP, 3/9/08)(WSJ, 3/10/08, p.A3)
2008 Mar 8, North Korea’s official
news agency reported that leader Kim Jong Il hopes for stronger
friendship with Syria, amid lingering suspicions of a secret nuclear
connection between the two countries.
(AP, 3/8/08)
2008 Mar 8, Rwandan President Paul
Kagame announced a major cabinet reshuffle which saw the appointment of
seven new ministers.
(AFP, 3/8/08)
2008 Mar 8, Serbian PM Vojislav
Kostunica announced his resignation, saying his government was no
longer functioning because of disunity in the coalition.
(Reuters, 3/8/08)
2008 Mar 8, In Turkey Iraq's Pres.
Jalal Talabani, on the 2nd day of his visit, said he wants a
"strategic" partnership with Turkey, including getting the neighboring
nation's businesses to invest in his oil-rich but war-torn country.
(AP, 3/8/08)
2009 Mar 8, In Illinois Pastor
Fred Winters was shot and killed during his Sunday sermon at First
Baptist Church in Maryville. He had deflected the first of Terry Joe
Sedlacek’s four rounds with a Bible, sending a confetti-like spray of
paper into the air in a horrifying scene that congregants initially
thought was a skit. Churchgoers wrestled Sedlacek (27) to the ground as
he waved a knife, slashing himself and two other people.
(AP, 3/9/09)(SFC, 3/9/09, p.A4)
2009 Mar 8,
Country singer Hank Lochlin (b.1918) died at his home in Brewston,
Alabama. His 70 charted singles included “Send Me the Pillow You Dream
On” (1949 & 1958) and “Please Help Me, I’m Falling” (1960).
(SFC, 3/12/09, p.B6)
2009 Mar 8, Afghan President Hamid
Karzai welcomed President Barack Obama's call to identify moderate
elements of the Taliban and encourage them to reconcile with the Afghan
government. In southern Afghanistan a roadside bomb exploded, killing a
Canadian soldier and wounding four others in Kandahar province.
(AP, 3/8/09)(AP, 3/9/09)
2009 Mar 8, In Argentina Matthew
Lizotte (25) of Aspen, Colorado, died while scaling the 11,411-foot
(3,480-meter) Mount Tronador in Nahuel Huapi National Park. Two
unidentified students were injured when the ice bridge they were
crossing broke.
(AP, 3/9/09)
2009 Mar 8, Ali Bongo (William
Oliver Wallace), English master magician, died at age 79.
(Econ, 3/21/09, p.93)
2009 Mar 8, Iran, Afghanistan and
Pakistan carried out their first joint counter narcotics operation.
(AP, 3/11/09)
2009 Mar 8, The US military
announced that 12,000 American and 4,000 British troops will leave Iraq
by September, hours after a suicide bomber struck police and recruits
lined up at the entrance of Baghdad's main academy, killing about
30 people, including 5 police officers.
(AP, 3/8/09)(SFC, 3/9/09, p.A2)
2009 Mar 8, Kim Jong Il was
unanimously re-elected to North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament.
Outside observers watched closely for hints leader Kim Jong Il may be
grooming a successor.
(AP, 3/8/09)(AP, 3/9/09)
2009 Mar 8, Sudan's Pres. Omar
al-Bashir threatened to kick out more aid groups and expel diplomats
and peacekeepers during his first trip to the beleaguered Darfur region
after an international court indicted him on war crimes.
(AP, 3/8/09)
2009 Mar 8, Off southern Thailand
a 60-foot (18-metre) diving boat, carrying 30 people including 19
foreigners, was reported missing in the Similan islands. Police and
navy rescued 23 passengers and crew the next day but two Swiss
nationals, two Austrians, a Japanese, a German and a Thai member of the
crew remained missing. The body of one woman was found on March 10.
(AFP, 3/10/09)
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