Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admits that Israel had planned an attack on Lebanon in the event of kidnapped soldiers on the border, months before Hezbollah carried out its kidnapping.
Greek Cypriots dismantle the portion of the separation fence between the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in Nicosia. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6433045.stm (BBC)
800,000 people gather for an opposition rally in Beirut, a month after the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. It is the largest rally in Lebanon's history.
Saturday, March 8, 2003
An oil refinery and an oil pipeline are attacked in the northeastern Indian province of Assam. The United Liberation Front of Asom separatist group claims responsibility and according to regional newspapers threatens more such attacks. //www.canada.com/news/story.asp?id=70FD4B15-B9E1-4020-9D4F-0036E79A7115
The People's Republic of China begins surface-to-surface missile testing and military exercises off Taiwanese coastal areas. The United States government condemns the act as provocation, and the Taiwanese government warns of retaliation.
The USS \'\'Wisconsin\'\' is decommissioned, leaving the United States Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1896 (it is recommissioned October 22, 1988).
Friday, March 8, 1957
Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal.
Monday, March 8, 1948
"McCollum v. Board of Education": The United States Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools violates the U.S. Constitution.
Monday, March 8, 1943
WWII: American forces are attacked by Japanese troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville, in a battle that will last 5 days.
Saturday, March 8, 1941
WWII: The U.S. Senate passes the Lend-Lease Act (60–31).
Friday, March 8, 1935
Hachikō, the loyal dog who was remembered for his loyalty to his owner, even many years after his owners death, passes away on the very same spot he had waited for over nine years.
March 9 ndash Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa leads about 500 Mexican raiders in an attack against Columbus, New Mexico, killing 12 U.S. soldiers. A garrison of the U.S. 13th Cavalry Regiment fights back and drives them away.
American Civil War: The iron-clad CSS "Virginia" (formerly USS "Merrimack") is launched at Hton Roads, Virginia the Battle of Hton Roads starts the same day.
Brazil: With the arrival of the Portuguese royal family in Brazil (1808), the colony became the seat of Portuguese Empire.
Friday, March 8, 1782
March 8 In Ohio, the Gnadenhutten massacre of Native Americans takes place in which 29 men, 27 women, and 34 children are killed by white militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by another Native American group.
O.S.) ndash William III dies Princess Anne Stuart becomes Queen Anne of England, Scotland and Ireland. Anne is the mother of 17 children by her husband Prince George of Denmark but none of them will survive childhood and she will die without heir to enable the Hanoverian Succession. In the Netherlands, the Staten Generaal do not appoint a new stadtholder and so the United Provinces become a true republic again.
Tuesday, March 8, 1701
March ndash The War of the Spanish Succession begins. It is an international retaliation to Louis XIV’s acceptance in 1700 of the Spanish crown on behalf of his grandson Philip of Anjou, who became Philip V, first Bourbon king of Spain. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor forms the Grand Alliance with Great Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Savoy and Prussia. Louis XIV allies France with Spain and Bavaria.
Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion (he soon rejects the idea after some initial calculations were made but on May 15 confirms the discovery).
Sunday, February 27, 1564 (Julianian calendar)
Naples prohibits kissing in public under penalty of death.
Sunday, February 26, 1542 (Julianian calendar)
Antoine Escalin des Eymars, the French ambassador, returns from Constantinople with promises of Ottoman aid in a war against Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
