Today in History - March 11

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222        Mar 11, Varius A. Bassianus (18), Syrian emperor of Rome (218-22), was murdered.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

537        Mar 11, The Goths lay siege to Rome.
    (HN, 3/11/98)

638        Mar 11, Sophronius of Jerusalem, saint, patriarch of Jerusalem, died.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

843        Mar 11, Icon worship was officially reinstated in Aya Sofia, Constantinople.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1302        Mar 11, Romeo and Juliet were married on this day, according to Shakespeare.
    (HN, 3/11/98)(MC, 3/11/02)

1513        Mar 11, Giovanni de' Medici became Pope Leo X. The Medici Pope Leo X led the Catholic Church until 1521.
    (OG)(MC, 3/12/02)

1544        Mar 11, Torquato Tasso, Italian Renaissance poet (Aminta, Apologia), was born.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1566          Mar 11, The 2nd Lithuanian statutes went into effect and upheld a democracy of landowners. The Statute of Lithuania gave the Seimas legislative power. The parliament had developed since Casimir ascended to the Polish throne. It was composed of an upper chamber or Council of Lords and assemblies of noblemen. They assembled in Vilnius or Brest-Litovsk.
    (DrEE, 10/5/96, p.5)(LHC, 3/11/03)

1649        Mar 11, The peace of Rueil was signed between the Frondeurs (rebels) and the French government.
    (HN, 3/11/99)

1665        Mar 11, A new legal code was approved for the Dutch and English towns, guaranteeing religious observances unhindered.
    (HN, 3/11/99)

1669        Mar 11, Mount Etna in Sicily erupted  killing 15,000. [see Mar 25]
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1702        Mar 11, The Daily Courant, the first regular English newspaper was published.
    (HN, 3/11/99)

1731        Mar 11, Robert Treat Paine, Declaration of Independence signer, was born.
    (HN, 3/11/98)

1791        Mar 11, Samuel Mulliken of Philadelphia was the 1st to obtain more than 1 US patent.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1795        Mar 11, Battle at Kurdla,  India: Mahratten beat Moguls.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1801        Mar 11, Paul I (46), Czar of Russia (1796-1801), was strangled in his bedroom in St. Petersburg ending 4 years of insane rule. His son Alexander I Pavlovich (23) succeeded him.
    (PCh, 1992, p.360)(SS, 3/23/02)

1810        Mar 11, Emperor Napoleon of France was married by proxy to Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria.
    (AP, 3/11/98)(HN, 3/11/98)

1811        Mar 11, Urbain Jean Joseph le Verrier, co-discoverer (Neptune), was born.
    (MC, 3/12/02)
1811        Mar 11, Ned Ludd led a group of workers in a wild protest against mechanization. Members of the organized bands of craftsmen who rioted against automation in 19th century England were known as Luddites and also "Ludds." The movement, reputedly named after Ned Ludd, began near Nottingham as craftsman destroyed textile machinery that was eliminating their jobs. By the following year, Luddites were active in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire and Leicestershire. Although the Luddites opposed violence towards people (a position which allowed for a modicum of public support), government crackdowns included mass shootings, hangings and deportation to the colonies. It took 14,000 British soldiers to quell the rebellion. The movement effectively died in 1813 apart from a brief resurgence of Luddite sentiment in 1816 following the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
    (HN, 3/11/01)(HNQ, 5/14/01)(WSJ, 3/29/04, p.A1)

1812        Mar 11, Citizenship was granted to Prussian Jews.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1824        Mar 11, The U.S. War Department created the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A lifelong friend and trusted aide of Ulysses S. Grant, Ely Parker rose to the top in two worlds, that of his native Seneca Indian tribe and the white man's world at large. He went on to become the first Indian to lead the Bureau.
    (HN, 3/11/98)

1832        Mar 11, Franz Melde, German physicist (Melde test), was born.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1845        Mar 11, Seven hundred Maoris led by their chief, Hone-Heke, burned the small town of Kororareka in protest at the settlement of Maoriland by Europeans, in breach with the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.
    (HN, 3/11/99)

1850        Mar 11, Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania opened as the 1st female medical school. [see 1848, Oct 12, 1850]
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1860        Mar 11, Thomas Hastings, architect of the New York Public Library, was born.
    (HN, 3/11/98)

1861        Mar 11, The Confederate convention in Montgomery, Ala., adopted a constitution.
    (AP, 3/11/98)(HN, 3/11/98)

1862        Mar 11, Pres. Lincoln suspended General George McClellan from command of all the Union armies so that McClellan could concentrate on the Army of the Potomac and Richmond.
    (www.civilwarhome.com/macbio.htm)

1863        Mar 11, A naval engagement occurred between the CSS Alabama and the USS Hatteras.
    (HN, 3/11/98)
1863        Mar 11, Union troops under General Ulysses S. Grant gave up their preparations to take Vicksburg after failing to pass Fort Pemberton, north of Vicksburg.
    (HN, 3/11/99)
1863          Mar 11, A Lithuanian ruling group replaced a committee for the lead in an uprising.
    (LHC,3/11/03)

1865        Mar 11, General Sherman and his forces occupied Fayetteville, N.C. Union General William Sherman considered Judson Kilpatrick, his cavalry chief, "a hell of a damn fool." At Monroe's Cross Roads, N.C., his carelessness and disobedience of orders proved Sherman's point.
    (HN, 3/11/98)

1867        Mar 11, Great Mauna Loa volcano eruption in Hawaii.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1874        Mar 11, Charles Sumner (63), a white civil rights leader, died.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1884        Mar 11, Gen. Gordon learned that the telegraph cable to Cairo had been cut. Khartoum soldiers killed 5 Mahdists at Halfaya. Mahdist insurgents in return massacred 150 men from the Khartoum garrison as they were cutting wood.
    (ON, 4/02, p.10)

1885        Mar 11, Sir Michael Campbell, the first motorist to exceed 300 mph, was born.
    (HN, 3/11/99)

1888        Mar 11-14, The famous "Blizzard of ‘88" struck the northeastern United States, resulting in some 400 deaths. New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington were cut off for days.
    (AP, 3/11/98)(WSJ, 9/13/01, p.B11)(SSFC, 9/4/05, p.A7)

1890        Mar 11, Vannevar Bush was born. He developed the 1st electronic analogue computer.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1892        Mar 11, Raoul Walsh, director (Thief of Baghdad, Battle Cry), was born in NYC.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1899        Mar 11, Frederick IX, King of Denmark, was born.
    (HN, 3/11/98)

1900        Mar 11, British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury rejected the peace overtures offered from Boer leader Paul Kruger.
    (HN, 3/11/98)

1905        Mar 11, The Parisian subway was officially inaugurated.
    (HN, 3/11/98)

1906        Mar 11, The Simplified Spelling Board was announced with Andrew Carnegie funding the organization, to be headquartered in New York City. In August Pres. Theodore Roosevelt issued an executive order mandating simplified spelling in all government administrative documents.
    (Econ, 8/30/08, p.19)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Spelling_Board)

1907        Mar 11, President Roosevelt induced California to revoke its anti-Japanese legislation.
    (HN, 3/11/98)

1908        Mar 11, Lawrence Welk, orchestra leader, was born in Strasburg, ND.
    (HN, 3/11/98)(MC, 3/12/02)

1911        Mar 11, The Cadillac Division of General Motors demonstrated the first electric self starter, enabling women to drive alone. Charles Kettering created the first successful electric self-starter for Cadillac. It was introduced in the 1912 model. The perfection of the self-starter by inventor Charles Kettering enormously expanded the market for the automobile. Kettering, born in Londonville, Ohio, in 1876, had invented an electric cash register motor while at the National Cash Register Company in 1906. In 1909 he organized the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, later known as Delco, and soon made notable improvements in automobile ignition and lighting systems. His self-starter was introduced in the 1912 Cadillac. He founded the Charles F. Kettering Foundation dedicated to natural science research and was co-founder of the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research.  Kettering died in 1958.
    (SMTS, 10/1/86, p.4)(F, 10/7/96, p.67)(HNQ, 3/3/99)

1917        Mar 11, British troops occupied Baghdad.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1919        Mar 11, A general strike in Germany was crushed.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1926        Mar 11, Ralph David Abernathy, civil rights leader, was born.
    (HN, 3/11/98)

1927        Mar 11, The 1st armored commercial car hold-up in US took place in Pittsburgh.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1929        Mar 11, Major Seagrave broke the auto speed record in Daytona Beach. He reached an average of 223.2 mph in a 450 horse powered Golden Arrow.
    (HN, 3/11/98)

1930        Mar 11, Former President and Chief Justice Taft was the first U.S. president to be buried in the National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.
    (HN, 3/11/98)(AP, 3/11/02)
1930        Mar 11, Silvio Gesell (b.1862), German merchant and theoretical economist, died. He was an ethical vegetarian, considered himself a world citizen and believed Earth should belong to all people, regardless of race, gender, class, wealth, religion. Based on his theories the Bavarian coalmining village of Schwanenkirchen created an alternative currency in 1931 called the wara, which obligated its holder to pay a tax. This encouraged all users of the currency to get rid of it as soon as possible.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Gesell)(Econ, 1/24/09, p.81)

1931        Mar 11, Rupert Murdoch, media baron, was born in Melbourne, Australia.
    (WSJ, 6/5/07, p.A20)(www.filmreference.com/film/22/Rupert-Murdoch.html)
1931        Mar 11, The USSR banned the sale or importation of Bibles.
    (HN, 3/11/98)

1941        Mar 11, President Roosevelt authorized the Lend-Lease Act and signed into law the Lend-Lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis.
    (AP, 3/11/98)(HN, 3/11/98)

1942        Mar 11, As Japanese forces continued to advance in the Pacific during World War II Gen. Douglas MacArthur left Corregidor in the Philippines for Australia. MacArthur, who subsequently vowed, "I shall return," kept that promise more than 2 1/2 years later. MacArthur relinquished command in the Philippines to Gen’l. Jonathon Wainwright.
    (SFEC, 12/15/96, p.T7)(AP, 3/11/98)(http://tinyurl.com/736ws)
1942        Mar 11, 1st deportation train left Paris for the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
    (MC, 3/12/02)
1942        Mar 11, Japanese troops landed on North Sumatra.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1945        Mar 11, 1,000 allied bombers harassed Essen with 4,662 tons of bombs.
    (MC, 3/12/02)
1945        Mar 11, Flemish Nazi collaborator Maria Huygens was sentenced to death.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1948        Mar 11, Reginald Weit became the 1st black to play in the US Tennis Open.
    (MC, 3/12/02)
1948        Mar 11, Jewish Agency of Jerusalem was bombed.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1950        Mar 11, Jerry Zucker, film director and TV producer, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
    (www.imdb.com/name/nm0958387/)

1952        Mar 11, Douglas Adams, British writer, (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), was born.
    (HN, 3/11/01)

1953        Mar 11, F.M. Adams became the 1st US commissioned woman army doctor.
    (MC, 3/12/02)
1953        Mar 11, An American B-47 accidentally dropped a nuclear bomb on South Carolina, however the bomb did not go off due to 6 safety catches.
    (HN, 3/11/98)(MC, 3/11/02)

1954        Mar 11, The U.S. Army charged that Wisconsin Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy and his subcommittee's chief counsel, Roy Cohn, had exerted pressure to obtain favored treatment for Pvt. G. David Schine, a former consultant to the subcommittee. The confrontation culminated in the famous Senate Army-McCarthy hearings.
    (AP, 3/11/04)

1955        Mar 11, Alexander Fleming (73), English bacteriologist (penicillin), died.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1956        Mar 11, Curtis L. Brown Jr., astronaut (STS 47, STS 66, 77, 85, sk:95), was born in NC.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1957        Mar 11, Charles Van Doren's 14-week run on the rigged NBC game show "Twenty-One" ended as he was "defeated" by attorney Vivienne Nearing; Van Doren's take was $129,000.
    (AP, 3/11/07)
1957        Mar 11, American explorer Richard E. Byrd died in Boston at age 68.
    (AP, 3/11/07)

1958        Mar 11, A B-47 out of Hunter AFB in Savannah, Georgia, had just leveled off at 15,000 feet, when a bomb lock failed and dropped a nuclear bomb on the suburban neighborhood of Florence, South Carolina. The bomb's high explosives exploded on impact, wrecking a house and injuring several people on the ground. The extent of radioactive contamination was never revealed.
    (www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Broken_Arrows.html)

1959        Mar 11, The Lorraine Hansberry drama "A Raisin in the Sun" opened at New York City's Ethel Barrymore Theater.
    (AP, 3/11/98)

1960        Mar 11, Pioneer 5 was launched into solar orbit between Earth & Venus.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1965        Mar 11, "I Lost It at the Movies," a collection of film criticism by Pauline Kael, was first published by Little, Brown and Co.
    (AP, 3/11/05)
1965        Mar 11, The American navy began inspecting Vietnamese junks in hopes of ending arms smuggling to  South Vietnam.
    (HN, 3/11/99)
1965        Mar 11, The Rev. James J. Reeb (65), a white minister from Boston, died after whites beat him during civil rights disturbances in Selma, Ala.
    (AP, 3/11/98)

1966        Mar 11, Three men were convicted of the murder of Malcolm X.
    (HN, 3/11/98)
1966        Mar 11, In Indonesia army generals held guns to the head of Pres. Sukarno and forced him to sign a document transferring power to Gen. Suharto.
    (SFC, 12/9/00, p.A18)

1967        Mar 11, British psychedelic group Pink Floyd released “Arnold Layne,” their 1st single song.
    (http://pinkfloydhyperbase.dk/albums/arnold.htm)(SFC, 9/26/06, p.D6)

1969        Mar 11, Levi-Strauss started to sell bell-bottomed jeans.
    (HN, 3/11/98)

1970        Mar 11, Iraq’s Ba’ath Party agreed to an autonomy accord with the Kurd nation.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Kurdistan)

1971        Mar 11, Federal Communications Commission stated that television networks ABC, NBC and CBS must have a limited three-hour nightly program service now called 'Prime Time'.  Prime Time began in September of 1971.
    (MC, 3/12/02)
1971        Mar 11, Philo T. Farnsworth (b.1906), inventor of television, died in Salt Lake City, Utah. Later Prof. Donald Godfrey authored "Philo T. Farnsworth: The Father of Television" and Evan I. Schwartz authored "The Last Lone Inventor."
    (SFC, 9/7/02, p.D1)(www.aoc.gov/cc/art/nsh/farnsworth.cfm)

1973        Mar 11, An FBI agent was shot at Wounded Knee in South Dakota.
    (HN, 3/11/98)

1974        Mar 11, Iraq's "Law for Autonomy in the Area of Kurdistan" was promulgated. It stipulated that: "The Kurdish language shall be the official language of education for Kurds ... Kurdish shall be the official language of education for the Kurds."
    (www.jafi.org.il/education/actual/iraq/4.html)

1977        Mar 11, More than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims were freed after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined the negotiations.
    (AP, 3/11/98)

1978        Mar 11, Palestinian Arab terrorists led by Dalal Mughrabi killed 37 people in an attack along the Tel Aviv coastal highway. The terrorists were identified as belonging to Fatah; 9 were killed and two captured.
    (AP, 3/11/98)(www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_terrorism_1970s.php)

1980        Mar 11, Marilyn McIntyre (18) was beaten, stabbed and strangled to death at her home in Columbus, Wis. In 2009 Curtis Forbes, a friend of her husband, was charged with 1st degree murder based on DNA evidence.
    (SFC, 3/31/09, p.A6)(www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/11251061.html)
1980        Mar 11, Julius Chan (b.1939) succeeded Michael Somare as PM of Papua New Guinea.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Somare)

1982        Mar 11, Protesting his innocence, Sen. Harrison A. Williams Jr., D-N.J., resigned after 23 years in the Senate, rather than face expulsion in the wake of his ABSCAM conviction.
    (AP, 3/11/02)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_A._Williams)

1985        Mar 11, The Soviet Union announced the March 10 death of its leader, Konstantin U. Chernenko. Politburo member Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed him and became general-secretary of the Communist party and the Premier of the Soviet Union.
    (TMC, 1994, p.1985)(SFEC, 12/22/96, BR p.7)(AP, 3/11/98)(HN, 3/11/98)
1985          Mar 11, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited Lithuania.
    (LHC, 3/11/03)

1986        Mar 11, The state of Georgia pardoned Leo Frank, a Jewish businessman who had been lynched in 1915 for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan.
    (AP, 3/11/06)

1988        Mar 11, Pres. Reagan directed that actions be taken to suspend trade preferences available to Panama under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and the Caribbean Basin Initiative.
    (www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1988/031188a.htm)
1988        Mar 11, Saying, "The people have decided," Gary Hart withdrew a second time from the race for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination. Gary Hart, former US Senator from Colorado campaigned for the democratic nomination for president until a photograph of himself with a woman named Donna Rice, not his wife, appeared. She sat on his lap aboard a boat named Monkey Business. In 1996 Hart wrote a book using Machiavelli’s "The Prince" format. It was titled: "The Patriot: An Exhortation to Liberate America From the Barbarians."
    (SFC, 7/14/96, p.C11)(AP, 3/11/98)

1989        Mar 11, Former World Bank head John J. McCloy, who had advised several presidents, died in Stamford, Conn., at age 93.
    (AP, 3/11/99)

1990        Mar 11, Chile’s General Augusto Pinochet gave up power after 16 years of rule, but remained commander of the army.
    (SFC, 8/23/96, p.A20)(SFC, 3/25/99, p.A3)
1990        Mar 11, The Lithuanian parliament voted to break away from the Soviet Union and restore its independence. The Supreme Council promulgated the historic document: "On the Re-establishment of the Independent State of Lithuania." Validity of the 1938 Constitution was briefly reinstated and the provisional Fundamental Law was adopted. Vytautas Landsbergis was elected president of Lithuania under the party Sajudis. Landsbergis was elected Chairman of the Council with Bronislovas Juozas Kuzmickas, Kazimieras Motieka and Ceslovas Stankevicius as Vice Chairmen, with Liuvikas Sabutis as Secretary. Four governments were formed under tenure of the Council. They were led by Kazimiera Danute Prunskiene, Albertas Simenas, Gediminas Vagnorius and Aleksandras Algirdas Abisala. Moscow responded with an economic blockade that brought industry and transportation to a standstill. In June the Lithuanians agreed to suspend independence.
    (DrEE, 10/5/96, p.5)(CSOE)(HN, 3/11/98)(AP, 3/11/00)

1991        Mar 11, Secretary of State James A. Baker the Third visited Israel, where he met with Foreign Minister David Levy to discuss prospects for Middle East peace.
    (AP, 3/11/01)

1992        Mar 11, Members of the U.N. Security Council accused Iraq of playing a game of “cheat and retreat” from its promises to disarm and respect its people's human rights; Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz lashed back, saying his country was complying with Gulf War cease-fire resolutions.
    (AP, 3/11/02)
1992        Mar 11, Manuel De Dios Unanue (48), US anti-drug journalist and former editor of El Diario-La Prensa, was murdered by two bullets to the head in a restaurant in the Jackson Heights section of the borough of Queens, New York City. His death was linked to his writing critically about the Colombian Drug Cartel.
    (http://tinyurl.com/2f3c4x)

1993        Mar 11, Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to be attorney general.
    (AP, 3/11/98)
1993        Mar 11, Dino Bravo (b.1948), wrestler (WWF), was shot to death in Laval, Quebec, Canada. Bravo, born as Adolfo Bresciano, was known as the “World’s Strongest Man.” 
    (www.garywill.com/wrestling/canada/bravo.htm)
1993        Mar 11, North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in a harsh rebuff of Western demands to open suspected nuclear weapons development sites for inspection. It later suspended its withdrawal.
    (AP, 3/11/98)(AP, 4/24/03)

1994        Mar 11, Secretary of State Warren Christopher arrived in Beijing, the mood of his trip already soured by a fresh government crackdown on Chinese dissidents.
    (AP, 3/11/99)
1994        Mar 11, Eduardo Frei (b.1942) began office as president of Chile.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_Frei_Ruiz-Tagle)

1995        Mar 11, President Clinton nominated Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch to be CIA director.
    (AP, 3/11/00)
1995        Mar 11, Gerry Adams, leader of the IRA-allied Sinn Fein party, arrived in the United States for a St. Patrick's Day visit.
    (AP, 3/11/00)

1996        Mar 11, On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 110.55 to end the day at 5581 following a 171.24-point plunge the Friday before.
    (AP, 3/11/01)
1996        Mar 11, Charles William Oatley (92), electrical engineer, died. He perfected the scanning electron microscope.
    (www.tecsoc.org/pubs/history/2002/mar11.htm)

1997        Mar 11, In a startling turnaround, Senate Republicans agreed to a broader investigation of campaign financing that would include a look at huge "soft money" donations.
    (AP, 3/11/98)
1997        Mar 11, Senate confirmation hearings for CIA Director-designate Anthony Lake began.
    (AP, 3/11/98)
1997        Mar 11, Scientists from observatories in Chile and Australia were to announce the discovery of a star in the Southern Hemisphere constellation of Dorado that measured some 370 times the size of the Sun. Stars of this size are believed to be doomed to collapse and explode as supernovas.
    (SFC, 3/11/97, p.A3)
1997        Mar 11, Rock star Paul McCartney was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
    (AP, 3/11/98)
1997        Mar 11, A gunman, Allen Griffin, in Detroit killed 3 and wounded 2 before being killed by police after staging an robbery at the Comerica Bank on the East Side.
    (SFC, 3/12/97, p.A3)
1997        Mar 11, A nuclear fuel reprocessing plant experienced 2 fires and an explosion 70 miles northeast of Tokyo. There were no injuries. The chief investigator destroyed photographs of the accident. Debris was also removed and then replaced.
    (SFC, 3/13/97, p.A12)(SFC, 5/1/97, p.A13)
1997        Mar 11, In Russia Pres. Yeltsin reorganized the government and only kept Prime Minister Chernomyrdin and top economic deputy Chubais.
    (WSJ, 3/12/97, p.A16)

1998        Mar 11, It was announced that the David and Lucille Packard Foundation would give $175 million over 5 years to protect the California landscape from over-development.
    (SFC, 3/11/98, p.A13)
1998        Mar 11, A Florida appeals court restored Joe Carollo as mayor of Miami after charges of voter fraud on absentee ballots.
    (AP, 3/11/99)
1998        Mar 11, The International Astronomical Union issued an alert, saying a mile-wide asteroid could zip very close to Earth on Oct. 26, 2028, possibly colliding with it. But the next day, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said there was no chance the asteroid will hit Earth.
    (AP, 3/11/99)
1998        Mar 11, In Los Angeles Efren Saldivar, a respiratory care therapist, claimed to have killed as many as 50 terminally ill patients from 1989 to 1997 at the Glendale Adventist medical Center. He later recanted his confession. Exhumations to verify the claims began Apr 30. In 2001 Saldivar was arrested for the murder of 6 patients whose remains indicated that they were murdered. In 2002 Saldivar pleaded guilty to murdering 6 patients. In 2002 Saldivar was sentenced to 6 life terms in prison plus 15 years to life for attempted murder.
    (SFC, 3/28/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.C7)(SFC, 1/10/01, p.A5)(SFC, 3/13/02, p.A7)(USAT, 4/18/02, p.3A)
1998        Mar 11, In Chile Gen’l. Pinochet could not be removed as head of the army until this date. His successor would be chosen by Pres. Eduardo Frei from 5 generals proposed by Pinochet.
    (SFC, 12/9/96, p.A18)
1998        Mar 11, In Japan the Tokyo Public Prosecutor’s Office raided the offices of the Bank of Japan. Yasayuki Yoshizawa, director of the capital markets division, was arrested on suspicion of leaking market moving information.
    (SFC, 3/26/98, p.B2)
1998        Mar 11, In Moscow Marino Yarovov (43) was boiled to death when she fell into a sinkhole of muddy, boiling water, created from leaking underground hot water pipes run by Mosenergo. A 10-year old boy died similarly 6 weeks previously. His father, who tried to rescue him, died 11 days later from severe burns.
    (SFC, 4/8/98, p.A14)

1999        Mar 11, The House voted 219-191 to conditionally support President Clinton's plan to send U.S. troops to Kosovo if a peace agreement was reached. 
    (AP, 3/11/00)
1999        Mar 11, Defense Sec. William Cohen announced $3.2 billion in subsidized arms sales to Egypt.
    (SFC, 3/12/99, p.A16)
1999        Mar 11, The US Rodman naval base in Panama was transferred to Panama.
    (WSJ, 3/12/99, p.A1)
1999        Mar 11, Pope John Paul II met with Mohammad Khatami of Iran.
    (SFC, 3/12/99, p.A14)
1999        Mar 11, In Germany Oskar Lafontaine, the finance minister, resigned following an apparent power struggle with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Hans Eichel. Governor of Hesse, was expected to succeed him.
    (SFC, 3/12/99, p.A15)(WSJ, 3/12/99, p.A1)
1999        Mar 11, In Ecuador Pres. Mahuad announced tax increases and other harsh measures to fight the economic crises.
    (SFC, 3/12/99, p.A14)
1999        Mar 11, In northern Italy an avalanche killed 3 German skiers.
    (SFC, 3/12/99, p.A15)
1999        Mar 11, In Kosovo fighting spread as Yugoslav forces shelled villages near Prizren.
    (SFC, 3/12/99, p.A14)
1999        Mar 11, Norway approved a $57.7 million package to compensate the nation's Jews for suffering during WW II.
    (SFC, 3/12/99, p.A15)
1999        Mar 11, In Palestine at least 85 people were injured in a 2nd day of clashes in the Gaza Strip.
    (SFC, 3/12/99, p.A15)

2000        Mar 11, Storms in the US south were blamed for at least 5 deaths.
    (SFEC, 3/12/00, p.A2)
2000        Mar 11, From Argentina it was reported that researchers had unearthed a pack of large predatory dinosaurs in Patagonia that dated back to about 100 million years BP.
    (SFC, 3/11/00, p.A1)
2000        Mar 11, In Chile Pres. Ricardo Lagos took power as the 1st socialist president since Salvadore Allende.
    (SFEC, 3/12/00, p.A19)
2000        Mar 11, in Ukraine a methane gas explosion at the Barakova mine on the eastern border killed at least 80 workers.
    (SFEC, 3/12/00, p.A17)

2001        Mar 11, Lawrence Summers, former Clinton Treasury Secretary, was named as the 27th president of Harvard. Neil Rudenstine planned to step down in June.
    (WSJ, 3/12/00, p.A1)
2001        Mar 11, In England 25 new cases of hoof-and-mouth disease were reported with outbreaks in Scotland, Wales, Devonshire and Kent.
    (SFC, 3/12/01, p.A15)
2001        Mar 11, In Indonesia anti-Wahid students rallied in Jakarta. A plunging currency added to the unrest on the streets.
    (WSJ, 3/12/01, p.A1)
2001        Mar 11, In Malaysia ethnic violence between Malays and ethnic Indians continued for a 4th day. Five people were killed in the last 4 days.
    (SFC, 3/12/01, p.A15)
2001        Mar 11, In Mexico some 75,000-100,000 supporters filled the square of Mexico City as the Zapatista rebels arrived. “We are here to shout for and to demand democracy, liberty and justice.” Masked Zapatista rebels urged passage of an Indian rights bill.
    (SFC, 3/12/01, p.A1)(AP, 3/11/02)
2001        Mar 11, In Spain over 100,000 people protested in Madrid against a $23 billion plan to divert water from the Ebro river to areas in the south.
    (SFC, 3/12/01, p.A14)

2002        Mar 11, At the White House Pres. Bush outlined a “second stage of the war on terror” in an address that marked the 6-months since the Sep 11 terrorist attacks. Bush also unveiled a commemorative stamp to raise money to help Sept. 11 victims "get their lives back in order."
    (SFC, 3/12/02, p.A1)(AP, 3/11/07)
2002        Mar 11, Two columns of light soared skyward from ground zero in New York as a temporary memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
    (AP, 3/11/07)
2002        Mar 11, It was reported that the US CIA and State Dept. was interviewing former Iraqi generals for a possible overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
    (SFC, 3/12/02, p.A12)
2002        Mar 11, The National Book Critics Circle (f.1974) awarded top honors to W.G. Sebald (d.2001) for his novel “Austerlitz.” Nicholson Baker won the nonfiction category for “Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper.”  Martin Amis won the criticism category for “The War Against Cliché.” Albert Goldbarth won the poetry category for “Saving Lives.” Adam Sisman won the biography category for “Boswell’s Presumptuous Task: The Making of the Life of Dr. Johnson.”
    (SFC, 3/12/02, p.A2)
2002        Mar 11, James Tobin (b.1918), a key Kennedy advisor and economics Nobelist (portfolio theory, 1981), died in New Haven, Conn. He developed the ideas of Keynesian economics, and advocated government intervention to stabilize output and avoid recessions. Outside of academia, Tobin was widely known for his suggestion of a tax on foreign exchange transactions, later known as the "Tobin tax."
    (WSJ, 3/13/02, p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tobin)
2002        Mar 11, Israeli forces swept into the Jabaliya camp in Gaza and 23 residents were killed in heavy fighting. PM Sharon announced that Arafat was free to resume traveling about the West Bank and Gaza.
    (SFC, 3/12/02, p.A6)(WSJ, 3/12/02, p.A1)
2002        Mar 11, In Pakistan Shakeel Anwar, head of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi extremist group, was killed in a gun battle with police. He was wanted in the slaying of 38 people including a former foreign minister.
    (SFC, 3/12/02, p.A10)
2002        Mar 11, In Zimbabwe the polls closed. A request for a 4th day of voting was denied.
    (SFC, 3/12/02, p.A70)

2003          Mar 11, Striking Broadway musicians settled a contract dispute with theater producers to end a walkout that shut had down 18 musicals since Mar 7, agreeing to a smaller number of musicians in the largest theaters.
    (AP, 3/11/03)
2003          Mar 11, California scientists reported that polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), a family of flame retardants, were found in elevated amounts in the breasts of Bay Area women.
    (SFC, 3/12/03, p.A4)
2003          Mar 11, Benetton, an Italian retailer, said it planned to attach salt-grain sized microchip transmitters to clothing at its 5,000 stores.
    (SFC, 3/12/03, p.B1)
2003          Mar 11, A US Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Fort Drum, NY, and 11 of 13 soldiers were killed.
    (SFC, 3/12/03, p.A5)
2003          Mar 11, Kofi Annan said military action against Iraq without support of the UN security council would be out of conformity with the UN charter. The US and Britain considered a short extension past March 17, but rejected a 45-day deadline backed by 6 council members.
    (SFC, 3/11/03, p.A1)(SFC, 3/12/03, p.A1)
2003          Mar 11, The 18-judge world court was inaugurated at the Hague. It had been approved Jul 17, 1998, by the Rome Treaty.
    (SFC, 3/12/03, p.A1)
2003          Mar 11, A top Australian intelligence adviser resigned to protest the government's hard-line policy on Iraq. Andrew Wilkie, one of its senior intelligence analysts argued that, based on U.S. and other intelligence information he has seen, there is currently no justification for a war on Iraq.
    (IPS, 3/12/03)
2003          Mar 11, Talks to unify the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus collapsed after rival Greek and Turkish leaders failed to agree on a UN power-sharing agreement.
    (AP, 3/11/03)
2003          Mar 11, Iraq destroyed more Al Samoud 2 missiles raising the total destroyed to 52 of some 100.
    (AP, 3/11/03)
2003          Mar 11, Israeli troops fired a tank shell at a 3-story apartment building, then razed it, killing a Palestinian gunman who several hours earlier had attacked an Israeli army patrol.
    (AP, 3/11/03)
2003          Mar 11, Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin bolstered the clout of the Federal Security Service (FSB) by giving it control over the country's border guards and government communications.
    (AP, 3/11/03)
2003        Mar 11, In Turkey Recep Erdogan was confirmed as the prime minister.
    (WSJ, 3/12/03, p.A1)

2003          Mar 11, Striking Broadway musicians settled a contract dispute with theater producers to end a walkout that shut had down 18 musicals since Mar 7, agreeing to a smaller number of musicians in the largest theaters.
    (AP, 3/11/03)
2003        Mar 11, The DJIA fell 44 to 7524, the lowest level of the year, on war concerns and bad corporate news.
    (WSJ, 1/2/04, p.R8)
2003          Mar 11, California scientists reported that polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), a family of flame retardants, were found in elevated amounts in the breasts of Bay Area women.
    (SFC, 3/12/03, p.A4)
2003          Mar 11, Benetton, an Italian retailer, said it planned to attach salt-grain sized microchip transmitters to clothing at its 5,000 stores.
    (SFC, 3/12/03, p.B1)
2003          Mar 11, A US Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Fort Drum, NY, and 11 of 13 soldiers were killed.
    (SFC, 3/12/03, p.A5)
2003          Mar 11, Kofi Annan said military action against Iraq without support of the UN security council would be out of conformity with the UN charter. The US and Britain considered a short extension past March 17, but rejected a 45-day deadline backed by 6 council members.
    (SFC, 3/11/03, p.A1)(SFC, 3/12/03, p.A1)
2003          Mar 11, The 18-judge world court was inaugurated at the Hague. It had been approved Jul 17, 1998, by the Rome Treaty.
    (SFC, 3/12/03, p.A1)
2003          Mar 11, A top Australian intelligence adviser resigned to protest the government's hard-line policy on Iraq. Andrew Wilkie, one of its senior intelligence analysts argued that, based on U.S. and other intelligence information he has seen, there is currently no justification for a war on Iraq.
    (IPS, 3/12/03)
2003          Mar 11, Talks to unify the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus collapsed after rival Greek and Turkish leaders failed to agree on a UN power-sharing agreement.
    (AP, 3/11/03)
2003          Mar 11, Iraq destroyed more Al Samoud 2 missiles raising the total destroyed to 52 of some 100.
    (AP, 3/11/03)
2003          Mar 11, Israeli troops fired a tank shell at a 3-story apartment building, then razed it, killing a Palestinian gunman who several hours earlier had attacked an Israeli army patrol.
    (AP, 3/11/03)
2003          Mar 11, Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin bolstered the clout of the Federal Security Service (FSB) by giving it control over the country's border guards and government communications.
    (AP, 3/11/03)
2003        Mar 11, In Turkey Recep Erdogan was confirmed as the prime minister.
    (WSJ, 3/12/03, p.A1)

2004        Mar 11, The California Supreme Court halted gay weddings in San Francisco for at least a few months while it decides whether they are legal.
    (AP, 3/12/04)(SFC, 3/12/04, p.A1)
2004        Mar 11, The California Office of Environmental Health Hazzard Assessment raised the action level for reporting perchlorate pollution in drinking water from 4 to 6 ppb.
    (WSJ, 3/12/04, p.A8)
2004        Mar 11, In San Diego 4 Marines were killed when their small UC-35 jet crashed on landing at Air Station Miramar.
    (SFC, 3/12/04, p.B3)
2004        Mar 11, Canadian officials said a "very sophisticated criminal scheme" bilked the Defense Department of tens of millions of dollars in computer contracts over 10 years. Public Works Minister Stephen Owen said the government is going after computer giant Hewlett Packard, the prime contractor in $160-million worth of military computer hardware and support services.
    (AP, 3/11/04)
2004        Mar 11, In Iraq 2 American soldiers were killed when the Humvee they were riding in struck a homemade bomb.
    (AP, 3/12/04)
2004        Mar 11, In Madrid, Spain, a series of 10 bombs hidden in backpacks exploded in quick succession at 3 stations, blowing apart four commuter trains. 191 people were killed and over 1,450 wounded. Spanish leaders were quick to accuse Basque terrorists but a shadowy group claimed responsibility in the name of al-Qaeda. On October 31, 2007, 3 lead defendants were convicted of murder. Four other top suspects were acquitted of murder but convicted of lesser charges. In all 21 of the 28 defendants were convicted. On July 17, 2008, a Spanish court cleared four of the 21 people charged for crimes related to the train bombings. In 2009 7 people were indicted for helping the bombers flee.
    (WSJ, 3/12/04, p.A1)(AP, 3/13/04)(SFC, 3/13/04, p.A1)(SFC, 3/19/04, p.A3)(AP, 3/23/08)(AP, 10/31/07)(Reuters, 7/17/08)(AP, 11/2/09)

2005        Mar 11, Pres. Bush picked  Johns Hopkins physicist Michael Griffin to lead NASA.
    (SFC, 3/12/05, p.A8)
2005        Mar 11, The US Commerce Dept. reported the US trade deficit for January hit $58.3 billion. It was just below the all-time high set in Nov, 2004.
    (SFC, 3/12/05, p.C1)
2005        Mar 11, Maurice Greenberg, president and CEO of AIG Int’l. Group, transferred 1.4 million shares of AIG stock, valued at $2.68 billion, to his wife. He resigned March 14 amid probes of the company’s accounting.
    (SFC, 4/14/05, p.A1)
2005        Mar 11, Crude oil futures prices climbed over $54 a barrel after the Int’l. Energy Agency estimated global petroleum demand would grow faster than previously expected in 2005.
    (AP, 3/13/05)
2005        Mar 11, In Georgia Brian Nichols (33), on trial for rape, shot and killed Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau and Deputy Hoyt Teasley at the Fulton County Courthouse. He then killed deferral agent David Wilhelm in Atlanta’s posh Buckhead neighborhood. Nichols was captured the next day. In 2008 Nichols pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. On Nov 7, 2008, Nichols was convicted of murder. On Dec 13 he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
    (AP, 3/12/05)(SFC, 3/12/05, p.A1)(SFC, 9/23/08, p.A4)(SFC, 11/7/08, p.A5)(SSFC, 12/14/08, p.A6)
2005        Mar 11, Canada’s Jetsgo announced in the dead of night that it was going out of business and grounding all flights immediately as thousands of passengers prepared to jet away for March break, one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
    (AP, 3/11/05)
2005        Mar 11, Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, co-founder of the Cali drug cartel, was sent in handcuffs on a plane to the US to face trial for drug trafficking and related charges. The cartel at its peak ruled the world's cocaine industry.
    (AP, 3/11/05)
2005        Mar 11, Germany’s parliament tightened laws against neo-Nazi demonstrations.
    (SFC, 3/12/05, p.A3)
2005        Mar 11, In India separatist rebels threw three grenades in the troubled state of Assam, killing three people.
    (Reuters, 3/11/05)
2005        Mar 11, Moldova arrested Valeriu Pasat, former defense minister, on suspicion of pocketing $10 million during the 1997 sale of 21 MiG-29 fighter jets to the US.
    (WSJ, 3/14/05, p.A1)
2005        Mar 11, Nepal freed sacked PM Sher Bahadur Deuba from house arrest, amid mounting international pressure on the country's king to relinquish power and restore democracy.
    (Reuters, 3/11/05)
2005        Mar 11, Pakistan's highest Islamic court threw out the acquittal of five men convicted of raping Mukhtar Mai in 2002 on orders from a village council, saying a lower appeals court had no jurisdiction to rule on the case.
    (AP, 3/11/05)
2005        Mar 11, Garry Kasparov, Russian chess master ranked No. 1 since 1984, announced his retirement. His future plans included writing and political action, which included a lead role in Committee 2008: Free Choice, a group formed by liberal opposition leaders.
    (SFC, 3/12/05, p.A10)
2005        Mar 11, South Africa’s Pres. Mbeki nominated Pius Langa to become chief justice when incumbent Arthur Chaskalson retires in May. Langa would be the 1st black to hold the office.
    (Econ, 3/19/05, p.54)
2005        Mar 11, The last Syrian troops left northern Lebanon but left behind intelligence officers in nine offices. The UN Mideast envoy said Syria needs to produce a timetable for a full withdrawal from the rest of Lebanon. Since 1976 some 15,000 Syrian troops were killed in the Lebanese civil war. Lebanese protests following the Feb 14 assassination of Rafik Hariri, later dubbed the “cedar revolution,” forced Pres. Assad to withdraw his army after a 30-year stay.
    (AP, 3/11/05)(Econ, 4/2/05, p.41)(Econ, 7/25/09, SR p.11)
2005        Mar 11, Turkey’s state institution over religious life issued a sermon to be preached at some 75,000 officially registered mosques on the dangers posed to national unity by Christian missionaries.
    (Econ, 6/25/05, p.49)

2006        Mar 11, Investors began to recoil from almost any asset class that looked risky.
    (Econ, 6/3/06, p.74)
2006        Mar 11, Rural house fires in Tennessee and Indiana killed 15 members of two families, and most of the victims were children.
    (AP, 3/12/06)
2006        Mar 11, In Afghanistan’s Helmand province the bodies of 2 policemen, kidnapped from their homes a day earlier, were found beheaded and dumped in the desert. A roadside bomb hit a police patrol in Helmand's Nad Ali district, killing a policeman and wounding five others.
    (AP, 3/11/06)
2006        Mar 11, Authorities in Central African Republic accused exiled former President Ange-Felix Patasse of forming a rebel movement and recruiting fighters to overthrow the government.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 11, Michelle Bachelet, a Socialist pediatrician who suffered prison, torture and exile under Chile's military dictatorship, was sworn in as the nation's first female president.
    (AP, 3/11/06)
2006        Mar 11, A Chinese activist who documented villagers' claims of forced abortions and sterilizations was detained while trying to report the beating of his cousin. Chen Guangcheng, his older brother and his cousin were taken away in a police van and other vehicles from their home village of Dongshigu in Shandong, as they were on their way to file a police report.
    (AP, 3/12/06)
2006        Mar 11, Police stormed France's famed Sorbonne University to dislodge students occupying the building in protest of a new national employment measure, hours after the demonstrators hurled furniture and ladders from the landmark's windows.
    (AP, 3/11/06)
2006        Mar 11, Iran threatened to use oil as a weapon if the UN Security Council imposes sanctions over its nuclear program.
    (AP, 3/11/06)
2006        Mar 11, In Iraq at least six people including Amjad Hameed (45), director of Iraq’s public TV channel and a human rights activist, were killed in drive-by shootings.
    (AP, 3/11/06)(SSFC, 3/12/06, p.A10)
2006        Mar 11, Premier Silvio Berlusconi denounced Italy's judiciary as a danger to democracy and promised changes to the system as he tries to hold on to the premiership in next month's election.
    (AP, 3/11/06)
2006        Mar 11, In Jordan 2 militants were executed by hanging for the killing in Amman of a US diplomat.
    (AP, 3/11/06)
2006        Mar 11, Nepalese officials said a 15-year-old boy, whose followers believe he is the reincarnation of Buddha, has disappeared after 10 months of meditation in the jungle.
    (AP, 3/12/06)
2006        Mar 11, In the Netherlands former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic (b.1941), the so-called "butcher of the Balkans" being tried for war crimes after orchestrating a decade of bloodshed during his country's breakup, was found dead in his prison cell. Milosevic spent nearly five years at a UN detention facility in Scheveningen, a suburb of The Hague. An autopsy showed that he died of a heart attack. A Dutch toxicologist said he took unprescribed pills that neutralized heart medication.
    (SFC, 3/13/06, p.A3)(WSJ, 3/14/06, p.A1)(Econ, 3/18/06, p.83)
2006        Mar 11, In Lahore, Pakistan, hundreds of kites filled the skies on the opening day of a traditional spring festival, despite a ban that followed the deaths of seven people killed by glass-coated or wire kite strings.
    (AP, 3/12/06)
2006        Mar 11, In Sudan 5 members of the main opposition group in eastern Sudan were arrested or detained, in a move party officials said hindered any chance to start long-delayed peace talks.
    (Reuters, 3/11/06)
2006        Mar 11, Turkish and Kurdish intellectuals gathered under tight security for a major 2-day conference in Istanbul to discuss a peaceful resolution to the 22-year-old Kurdish conflict.
    (AP, 3/11/06)
2006        Mar 11, In Zimbabwe lawmaker Giles Mutseyekwa of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and seven others were formally charged with violating security laws. The eight were rounded up on Mar 7-8 after security agents had arrested one of the suspects identified as Mike Peter Hitschmann over an arms cache found at his home in Mutare.
    (AFP, 3/12/06)
2006        Mar 11, Zimbabwe’s Central Statistical Office said inflation was 782 percent for the 12 months that ended in February. Moffat Nyoni, acting director of the government-run Statistical Office, said prices of food and nonalcoholic beverages rose 824 percent during that time.
    (AP, 3/11/06)

2007        Mar 11, The US national debt was reported to be approaching $9 trillion. Some $240 billion would be spent this year paying interest on the half that’s held by public creditors, of which China and Japan are the largest.
    (SSFC, 3/11/07, p.D1)
2007        Mar 11, Most of the US switched to daylight saving time a few weeks earlier than usual.
    (AP, 3/11/07)
2007        Mar 11, Halliburton CEO Dave Lesar announced that his oil services company will soon shift its corporate headquarters from Houston to the Mideast financial powerhouse of Dubai.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 11, In Hawaii a tour helicopter crashed on Kauai and one person was killed. This was the 2nd fatal copter crash on the island in 4 days.
    (SFC, 3/12/07, p.A3)
2007        Mar 11, Betty Hutton (b.1921), film star, died in Palm Springs. Her films included “Annie Get Your Gun” (1950) and “Somebody Loves Me” (1952).
    (SFC, 3/14/07, p.A2)
2007        Mar 11, In Bolivia Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez called for a socialist counterattack against the American "empire," taking his campaign to upstage President Bush's Latin American tour to a packed gymnasium in a poor, indigenous Bolivian city.
    (AP, 3/12/07)
2007        Mar 11, In northeast China 22 miners were confirmed dead and the lives of seven others were feared lost in a coal mine flood on the previous day. The flood occurred in a pit belonging to the state-owned Fushun Mining Group in the province of Liaoning.
    (AFP, 3/11/07)
2007        Mar 11, In Colombia about 150 protesters attacked riot police with rocks and metal barriers and ripped down lampposts Bogota, just moments after President Bush landed for a six-hour visit. Bush put fighting poverty at the top of his agenda in Colombia and promised more aid and a trade deal for Pres. Uribe.
    (AP, 3/11/07)(WSJ, 3/12/07, p.A1)
2007        Mar 11, Health Ministry and World Health Organization officials said a 4-year-old Egyptian boy has contracted the deadly bird flu virus, bringing to 24 the number of Egyptians who have tested positive for the disease.
    (AP, 3/11/07)
2007        Mar 11, Jacques Chirac, admired and scorned during 12 years as France's president, announced he will not seek a third term in elections this spring, a widely expected move given his low popularity, his age and a conservative rival who has siphoned off his political base. His popularity had shrunk to 29% as unemployment stood at 8.6%.
    (AP, 3/11/07)(Econ, 3/17/07, p.27)
2007        Mar 11, Iranian TV quoted government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham as saying Ahmadinejad "intends to attend a UN Security Council meeting to be held on Iran's nuclear case in order to defend the rights of the Iranian nation in exploiting peaceful nuclear energy."
    (AP, 3/12/07)
2007        Mar 11, At least 58 people were killed in a spate of attacks across Iraq, including 31 Shiite pilgrims who died in a car bombing as they returned from a religious festival.
    (AFP, 3/11/07)
2007        Mar 11, Voters in Mauritania went to the polls with hopes that whoever wins the first presidential election since a coup two years ago will not plunge the country back into totalitarian rule.
    (AP, 3/11/07)
2007        Mar 11, In Morocco a man with explosives hidden under his clothes had a dispute with the owner of an Internet café in Casablanca and a blast occurred as the two men were coming to blows. Another man at the scene who attempted to flee was arrested by police and found to be carrying explosives.
    (Reuters, 3/12/07)
2007        Mar 11, Palestinian gunmen from Hamas and Fatah exchanged fire in the Gaza Strip, killing a local militia leader and wounding seven people.
    (AP, 3/11/07)
2007        Mar 11, Russians voted in scattered regional ballots marred by complaints that opposition forces are being frozen out of the country's politics.
    (AP, 3/11/07)
2007        Mar 11, In Somalia a 13-year-old boy and a woman were killed by stray bullets and five others were injured as Ethiopian troops protecting government installations battled with insurgents in Mogadishu.
    (AP, 3/12/07)
2007        Mar 11, Spain unveiled a towering monument to those killed three years ago in the bombings that ripped apart rush-hour commuter trains, a glass oval containing messages of condolence written in the aftermath of Europe's worst Islamic terror attack.
    (AP, 3/11/07)
2007        Mar 11, Sri Lanka's president chided his top police officers over a new wave of "execution-style" killings and demanded immediate action to end a climate of terror.
    (AFP, 3/11/07)
2007        Mar 11, Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested as riot police thwarted a planned mass demonstration in Harare against President Robert Mugabe's government. Top opposition leaders were assaulted and tortured by police who broke up a prayer meeting planned to protest government policies. Tsvangirai suffered head injuries while in police custody. Opposition militant Gift Tandare was killed as police disbanded the prayer meeting. President Robert Mugabe (83) said in an interview that he intends to stand in the country's next presidential elections if they are held as scheduled in 2008.
    (AFP, 3/11/07)(Reuters, 3/12/07)(AP, 3/19/07)

2008        Mar 11, The US Federal Reserve and other central banks said they will pump $200 billion into the financial markets, using the Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF), to help ease the strain from the credit crisis. Wall Street rebounded with its biggest rally since 2002 at the DJIA rose 416.66 to 12,156.81. Gas prices rose to a record national level of $3.2272 per gallon.
    (AP, 3/11/08)(SFC, 3/12/08, p.B1,B3)(Econ, 3/15/08, p.89)
2008        Mar 11, Sen. Barack Obama picked up five more delegates than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in Mississippi's Democratic primary.
    (AP, 3/12/08)
2008        Mar 11, The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 26% of US teen girls are infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease. The rate was highest among blacks.
    (AP, 3/11/08)(WSJ, 3/12/08, p.A1)
2008        Mar 11, The SF Board of Supervisors passed a law requiring chain restaurants to post nutrition information on their menus.
    (SFC, 3/12/08, p.C1)
2008        Mar 11, The Pacific Fishery Management Council said it would have to ban all salmon fishing, due to depleted spawning, unless a request is made for an emergency exception.
    (SFC, 3/13/08, p.A1)
2008        Mar 11, The US space shuttle Endeavour blasted off from a seaside Florida launch pad to deliver part of a long-awaited Japanese space laboratory and a Canadian-built robotic system to the International Space Station.
    (AP, 3/11/08)
2008        Mar 11, In western Afghanistan police backed by NATO-led troops killed four suspected criminals after a spate of kidnappings and robberies. The ministry said an Afghan soldier was killed in Kapisa province, just north of Kabul. Taliban militants attacked a district administrative compound in southern Zabul province, and the ensuing one-hour gunbattle left one Taliban dead and three wounded. 5 militants set fire to the generator, fuel tank and antenna of the tower in the Obe district of Herat province. The tower belonged to the Areeba company. Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed nearly a dozen suspected militants in Helmand during a clash in Garmsir district.
    (AP, 3/11/08)(AP, 3/12/08)(AP, 3/13/08)
2008        Mar 11, Bangladesh's military-backed government backed down from a policy to ensure equal property rights to women amid angry protests by Muslim clerics that the move would override Islamic law.
    (AFP, 3/12/08)
2008        Mar 11, The Belgian government and banks agreed to pay $170 million to Holocaust survivors, families of victims and the Jewish community for their material losses during Word War II.
    (AP, 3/11/08)
2008        Mar 11, The Bank of England said it would inject a further 10 billion pounds into money markets amid the ongoing credit crunch.
    (AP, 3/11/08)
2008        Mar 11, Some 600,000 poor Chileans will receive monthly pensions starting in July under a law signed by President Michelle Bachelet that plugs gaps in Chile's widely copied private pension system.
    (AP, 3/12/08)
2008        Mar 11, China unveiled plans to revamp bureaucratic government ministries and create new agencies to help it tackle pressing issues such as nuclear energy, food and drug safety, environmental protection and the Internet.
    (AP, 3/11/08)
2008        Mar 11, Thousands of Chinese security personnel fired tear gas to try to disperse more than 600 monks taking part in a second day of rare street protests in Tibet.
    (Reuters, 3/12/08)
2008        Mar 11, Three generals regarded as national heroes in Croatia went on trial at the Hague, accused of orchestrating the killing of at least 150 Serbs in a 1995 military campaign that unleashed widespread murder and pillage.
    (AP, 3/11/08)
2008        Mar 11, EU regulators cleared Google's $3.1 billion bid for online ad tracker DoubleClick, saying the acquisition won't curb competition for online ads.
    (AP, 3/11/08)
2008        Mar 11, At least 42 people were killed across Iraq. A roadside bomb hit a bus traveling in southern Iraq, killing at least 16 civilians, while gunmen opened fire on another bus in the capital, leaving one person dead. The Pentagon said up to 90% of the foreign fighters in Iraq cross from Syria.
    (AFP, 3/11/08)(AP, 3/12/08)(WSJ, 3/12/08, p.A1)
2008        Mar 11, In Japan authorities arrested in Osaka arrested Hatsue Shimizu (64) and Yoshiko Ishii (55), two sisters, for allegedly hiding millions of dollars worth of cash in their garage to evade inheritance taxes. Their father, who was in the real-estate lease business, died in 2004, leaving $72.9 million to his family.
    (AP, 3/12/08)
2008        Mar 11, Top leaders Malaysia's opposition-ruled states will no longer follow a longtime affirmative action program that benefits the majority Malays, in the wake of an election upheaval that clipped the ruling coalition's powers.
    (AP, 3/11/08)
2008        Mar 11, Mexico's federal attorney general's office announced an investigation into allegations of corruption against Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino, a confidant of the president who holds the government's second highest profile job.
    (AP, 3/12/08)
2008        Mar 11, State media said Mozambique's President Armando Guebuza has sacked three senior members of his government, including his foreign minister.
    (AP, 3/11/08)
2008        Mar 11, Nigerian soldiers hunting Niger Delta gang leader Ateke Tom said they had found a huge cache of arms and ammunition, along with an illegal pipeline used to tap stolen oil, in a raid on one of his bases.
    (AFP, 3/12/08)
2008        Mar 11, In Lahore, Pakistan, massive suicide bombs ripped through a seven-story police headquarters and a business, killing 27 people and wounding more than 200 others in attacks that deepened the security crisis. The wounded included 32 girls who were hit by flying debris at a school near the police building.
    (AP, 3/11/08)(AP, 3/12/08)
2008        Mar 11, Palestinian militants in Gaza launched a rocket at the Israeli city of Ashkelon, causing no injuries but threatening to upset a recent period of calm.
    (AP, 3/11/08)
2008        Mar 11, In Peru a helicopter ferrying passengers from the La Granja copper mine owned by the Rio Tinto Group crashed in the Andes with 10 people aboard. The wreckage was found the next day.
    (AP, 3/13/08)
2008        Mar 11, Serbia and Russia demanded that the UN administration in Kosovo halt the transfer of authority to the European Union, calling a handover illegal and declaring they will never recognize the independence of the Serb province.
    (AP, 3/12/08)

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