Unix Timestamp: 1206921600
Monday, March 31. 2008, 12:00:00 AM UTC


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Saturday, March 31, 2007

Iranian seizure of British Navy personnel:
The United States rules out exchanging five Iranian officials seized in Irbil, Iraq, in January 2007 for the 15 Royal Navy sailors seized by Iran. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6512927.stm (BBC)

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Four American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA are killed, and their bodies mutilated, after being ambushed in Fallujah, Iraq.

Sunday, March 31, 2002

Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israeli troops exchange gunfire with guards of Yasir Arafat in Ramallah. A suicide bomber identified as Shadi Tubasi, a resident of the refugee c Jenin, kills 14 and wounds more than 40 in Haifa. Later, a suicide bomber wounds four members of an intensive-care unit, one critically, in a paramedics' dispatch station in Efrat. In the past 18 months, according to the Associated Press, 1262 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and on 401 on the Israeli side.

Friday, March 31, 1995

American Tejano pop singer Selena is murdered at a motel in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Thursday, March 31, 1994

The journal "Nature" reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete "Australopithecus afarensis" skull (see Human evolution).

Tuesday, March 31, 1992

The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act of Singapore comes into force.
President of Peru Alberto Fujimori issues Decree Law 25418, dissolving the Congress of the Republic of Peru, imposing censorship and having opposition politicians arrested, setting off the 1992 Peruvian constitutional crisis.
Approximately 500,000 people march on Washington, D. C. in support of abortion rights in advance of oral arguments in the case of "Planned Parenthood v. Casey".
The Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (without the presence of Serb political delegates) proclaims independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Bosnian War: Serb troops, following a mass rebellion of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina against the Bosnian declaration of independence from Yugoslavia, besiege the city of Sarajevo.

Saturday, March 31, 1990

The Ultimate Warrior defeats Hulk Hogan to win the WWF Chionship in a Title for Title, winner takes all match at WrestleMania VI in front of nearly 68,000 at the SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario
Strangeways Prison riot: The longest prison riot in Britain's history begins at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, and continues for 3 weeks and 3 days, until April 25.
The Second Battle of Trafalgar: A massive anti-poll tax demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, turns into a riot 471 people are injured, and 341 arrested.
The Community Charge (poll tax) takes effect in England and Wales amid widespread protests

Sunday, March 31, 1985

Two Japanese government-owned corporations, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation, and Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation, are privatized and change their names to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, and Japan Tobacco.
Eighth seeded Villanova defeats national powerhouse Georgetown 66–64 to win the first 64 team field NCAA Tournament in Lexington, Kentucky.

Monday, March 31, 1980

The Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) is formed in Lusaka, Zambia.
New York City's Transport Works Union Local 100 goes on strike, which continues for 11 days.
The Mariel boatlift from Cuba begins.

Wednesday, March 31, 1976

Conrail (Consolidated Rails Corporation) is formed by the U.S. government, to take control of 13 major Northeast Class-1 railroads that had filed for bankruptcy protection. Conrail takes control at midnight, as a government-owned and operated railroad until 1986, when it is sold to the public.
The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that coma patient Karen Ann Quinlan can be disconnected from her ventilator. She remains comatose and dies in 1985.
Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Sunday, March 31, 1968

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces he will not seek re-election.
The film "2001: A Space Odyssey" premieres in Washington, D.C.
Bombs explode at midnight in two department stores in Frankfurt-am-MainAndreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin are later arrested and sentenced for arson.

Friday, March 31, 1967

U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signs the Consular Treaty.

Tuesday, March 31, 1964

The military overthrows Brazilian PresidentJoão Goulart in a coup, starting 21 years of dictatorship in Brazil.

Sunday, March 31, 1963

The 1962 New York City newspaper strike ends after 114 days.

Sunday, March 31, 1957

April ndash IBM sells the first compiler for the FORTRAN scientific programming language.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella", the team's only musical written especially for television, is telecast live and in color by CBS, starring Julie Andrews in the title role. The production is seen by millions, but this 1957 version is not to be telecast again for more than 40 years, when a kinescope of it is shown.

Saturday, March 31, 1951

Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.

Thursday, March 31, 1949

Éire leaves the British Commonwealth and becomes the Republic of Ireland.
The former British colony of Newfoundland joins Canada as its 10th province.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange is founded.

Monday, March 31, 1947

Jackie Robinson, the first African American in modern Major League Baseball,!recall Moses Welday Walker in 1884 signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
King George II of Greece is succeeded by his brother King Paul I.
The leaders of the Kurdish People's Republic of Mahabad, the second Kurdish state in the history of Iran, are hanged at the Chuwarchira Square in Mahabad after that country had been overrun by the Iranian army.

Wednesday, March 31, 1943

Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" opens on Broadway, heralds a new era in integrated stage musicals, becomes an instantaneous stage classic, and goes on to be Broadway's longest-running musical up to that time (1948).

Sunday, March 31, 1940

WWII: Commerce raiding

Friday, March 31, 1939

Neville Chamberlain gives a speech in the House of Commons offering the British guarantee of the independence of Poland.

Friday, March 31, 1933

The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission of relieving rant unemployment in the United States.

Tuesday, March 31, 1931

An earthquake destroys Managua, Nicaragua, killing 2,000 people.

Monday, March 31, 1930

The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted in the United States, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in motion pictures for the next 40 years.

Tuesday, March 31, 1925

Radio station "WOWO" in Ft. Wayne, Indiana begins broadcasting.
Frank Heath and his horse "Gypsy Queen" leave Washington, D.C. to begin a two-year journey to visit all 48 states.
AprilndashOctober ndash "Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes" in Paris, giving a name to the Art Deco style.

Wednesday, March 31, 1920

The Government of Ireland Act 1920 is presented in the British Parliament.

Monday, March 31, 1919

A general strike begins in the Ruhr.

Saturday, March 31, 1917

The United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies, which become the US Virgin Islands, after paying $25 million to Denmark.

Wednesday, March 31, 1909

Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Friday, March 31, 1905

April ndash Albert Einstein works on the special theory of relativity as well as the theory of Brownian motion.
German Emperor Wilhelm II asserts German equality with France in Morocco, triggering the Tangier or First Moroccan Crisis.

Thursday, March 31, 1904

British expedition to Tibet ndash Battle of Guru: British troops under Colonel Francis Younghusband defeat ill-equipped Tibetan troops.
Aleister Crowley begins writing Liber Al vel Legis, better known as The Book of the Law, a text central to Thelema. He completes this task on April 10.
The Entente Cordiale is signed between the UK and France.

Saturday, March 31, 1900

The Irish Guards are formed by Queen Victoria.
King George of Greece becomes absolute monarch of Crete.
In France, the length of a legal workday for women and children is limited to 11 hours.

Thursday, March 31, 1892

The world's first fingerprinting bureau is formally opened by the Buenos Aires Chief of Police it had been operating unofficially since the previous year.
April ndash The Johnson County War breaks out between small farmers and large ranchers in Wyoming.

Sunday, March 31, 1889

The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated (opens May 6). At 300 m, the its height exceeds the previous tallest structure in the world by 130 m. Contemporary critics regard it as aesthetically displeasing.

Tuesday, March 31, 1885

The United Kingdom establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland.

Wednesday, March 31, 1880

April - The government of Cape Colony sets a deadline for the surrender of weapons by the Basuto people. Non-compliance leads to the Basuto Gun War.
Wabash, Indiana becomes the first electrically lit city in the world.

Thursday, March 31, 1870

Thomas Mundy Peterson is the first African-American to vote in an election.
April ndash The "'Chicago Base Ball Club"', later to be known as the Chicago White Stockings, and ultimately the Chicago Cubs, play their first game against the St. Louis Unions of the National Association of Base Ball Players, an amateur league.

Monday, March 31, 1856

The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Crimean War.

Friday, March 31, 1854

CommodoreMatthew Perry of the U.S. Navy signs the Treaty/Convention of Kanagawa with the Japanese government (the Tokugawa Shogunate), opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade (see History of Japan).

Sunday, March 31, 1850

Thursday, March 31, 1842

Middleton Junction and Oldham Branch Railway line opened up to Werneth in North West England.

Tuesday, March 31, 1829

AprilndashSeptember ndash Felix Mendelssohn pays his first visit to Britain. This includes the first London performance of his concert overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and his trip to Fingal's Cave.
AprilndashSeptember ndash Felix Mendelssohn pays his first visit to Britain. This includes the first London performance of his concert overture to "A Midsummer Night\'s Dream" and his trip to Fingal's Cave.
Pope Pius VIII succeeds Pope Leo XII as the 253rd pope.

Sunday, March 31, 1822

Greek War of Independence: Start of Chios Massacre, during which 20,000 Greeks on the island of Chios are slaughtered by Ottoman troops and 23,000 exiled.

Thursday, March 31, 1814

Anti-Napoleonic troops occupy Paris.

Sunday, March 31, 1782

Easter Sunday) ndash Mission San Buenaventura is founded in Las Californias, part of the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain.

Thursday, March 31, 1774

Intolerable Acts: The British Parliament passes the Boston Port Act, closing the port of Boston, Massachusetts as punishment for the Boston Tea Party.

Wednesday, March 31, 1717

Bishop Benjamin Hoadly, acting on the advice of King George, begins the Bangorian Controversy by saying that God favors churches with no government.

Tuesday, March 31, 1648

A major earthquake strikes Van in Ottoman Armenia.

Friday, March 31, 1645

Fearing the spread of the Black Death (plague), Edinburgh Town Council prohibits all gatherings except weddings and funerals.

Wednesday, March 31, 1621

April ndash The Twelve Years' Truce between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Empire expires, and both sides prepare to resume the Eighty Years' War.
King Philip IV of Spain begins his 44-year rule.
April ndash The Twelve Years\\' Truce between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Empire expires, and both sides prepare to resume the Eighty Years' War.

Monday, March 31, 1603

The Nine Years War (Ireland) is ended by the submission of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, to the English Crown and the signing of the Treaty of Mellifont.
The Nine Years War (Ireland) is ended by the submission of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, to the English Crown and the signing of the Treaty of Mellifont.

Monday, March 21, 1547 (Julianian calendar)

Henry II succeeds his father Francis I as King of France.

Thursday, March 21, 1504 (Julianian calendar)

France and Spain agree to a ceasefire.

Thursday, March 22, 1492 (Julianian calendar)

Ferdinand and Isabella sign the Alhambra decree, expelling all Jews from Spain unless they convert to Roman Catholicism.

Sunday, March 23, 1376 (Julianian calendar)

Pope Gregory XI excommunicates all members of the government of Florence and places the city under an interdict.

Monday, March 24, 1152 (Julianian calendar)

King Baldwin III of Jerusalem exiles his mother Melisende, with whom he has been jointly reigning, to Nablus.

Sunday, March 30, 307 (Julianian calendar)

Constantine I established his capital in Augusta Treverorum (Trier). He begins a major expansion of the city, strengthening the walls with fortified gates, building a palace complex and the Imperial Baths.
After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine the Great marries Fausta Flavia Maxima, the daughter of the retired co-emperor Maximian.
Source: Wikipedia