Unix Timestamp: 1015804800
Monday, March 11. 2002, 12:00:00 AM UTC

A 9.1-magnituderef name=staradvertiser

The Governor of Oklahoma, Mary Fallin, declares a state of emergency in all 77 counties due to wildfires burning out of control in that state and Colorado. //www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/11/wildfires/index.html (CNN)

The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration delays the Space Shuttle "Discovery"'s mission to the International Space Station due to a hydrogen gas leak. //www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ijDA5bgxiHlTvS_r-SSjskS1Tq1wD96S0ERO2 (AP via Google News)

The launches from Kennedy Space Center carrying the crew of STS-123, the Japanese Experiment Module, and Dextre. The ship will rendezvous with the International Space Station. //www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html (NASA)

Terrorists execute simultaneous attacks, with bombs in 4 rush-hour trains in Madrid, killing 191 people.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 7524, a five month low.

Danish parliamentary election, 1998: Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen is re-elected.

John Howard is sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Australia.

Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States.

North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea announces that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites.

1993 Bombay bombings: Several bombs explode in Bombay, India, killing 257 and injuring hundreds more.

Manuel de Dios Unanue, former editor of "El Diario La Prensa", is slain in a restaurant in Queens after having received death threats from the Colombiandrug cartels.

A curfew is imposed on black townships in South Africa, after fighting between rival political gangs kills 49.

Australia's First Hawke Ministry is sworn in Andrew Peacock becomes Federal Opposition leader.

Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet is sworn in as President of Chile for another 8-year term.

Coastal Road Massacre: Palestinianterrorists kill 34 Israelis.

Angola and Benin recognize the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

The leftist military government in Portugal defeats a rightist coup attempt.

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson mandates that all computers purchased by the federal government support the ASCII character encoding.Lyndon B. Johnson (March 11, 1968). //www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=28724 Memorandum Approving the Adoption by the Federal Government of a Standard Code for Information Interchange. "The American Presidency Project". Accessed 2008-04-14.

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson edges out antiwar candidate Eugene J. McCarthy in the New Hshire Democratic primary, a vote which highlights the deep divisions in the country, and the party, over Vietnam.

Mauritius achieves independence from British rule.

White Unitarian Universalist minister James J. Reeb, beaten by White supremacists in Selma, Alabama on March 9 following the second march from Selma, dies in a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.

A U.S. B-47 bomber accidentally drops an atom bomb on Mars Bluff, South Carolina. Without a fissile warhead, its conventional explosives destroy a house and injure several people.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 500 for the first time rising 2.40 points, or 0.48%, to 500.24.

After having opened in London the previous year, Laurence Olivier's film, "Richard III", adapted from Shakespeare's play, has its U.S. premiere in theatres and on NBC Television on the same day. On TV it is not shown in prime time, but as an afternoon matinée, in a slightly cut version. It is one of the first such experiments of its kind. Olivier is later nominated for an Oscar for his performance.

96 U.S. Congressmen sign the Southern Manifesto, a protest against the 1954 Supreme Court ruling ("Brown v. Board of Education") that desegregated public education.

Dutch resistance fighter Joop Westerweel.

WWII: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law.

Ed Ricketts, John Steinbeck and six others leave Monterey, California for The Sea of Cortez on a collecting expedition.

The "Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR" programme, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union.

Mohandas Gandhi is arrested in Bombay for sedition.

Mexican Revolution: Venustiano Carranza is elected president of Mexico the United States gives "de jure" recognition of his government.

The North Carolina Legislature issues a charter for the creation of Elon College.

The Great Blizzard of '88 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.

Work begins erecting the Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.

A reservoir near Sheffield, England bursts 250 die.

American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.

A Royal Navy fleet sails from Britain under Vice AdmiralSirCharles Napier.

Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto" is first performed at "La Fenice" in Venice.

Flagstaff War: Chiefs Kawiti and Hone Heke lead 700 Māoris in the burning of the British colonial settlement of Kororareka (now known as Russell, New Zealand).

U.S. Survey of the Coast transferred to the Department of the Navy.

Felix Mendelssohn performs St Matthew Passion. The success of this performance sparks a revival of interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

The United States War Department creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Napoleon marries Marie-Louise of Austria.

Russian troops occupy Tere.

Canonsburg Academy (now Washington Jefferson College) is chartered by the General Assembly.

In battle near Manupur (15 km northwest of Sirhind), Mughal forces under Prince Ahmad Shah Bahadur are victorious against Ahmad Shah Durrani.

Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a Britishmonarch vetoes legislation.

O.S.) ndash The first regular English-language newspaper, "The Daily Courant". is published for the first time.

May ndash Warsaw is conquered by Charles XII of Sweden.

The Royal Chelsea Hospital for Soldiers is founded in England.

Mount Etna erupts, destroying the town of Nicolosi and killing 20,000 people.

The rebel "Frondeurs" and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.

Amiens is taken by Spanish forces, but retaken by France on September 25.

Battle of Castagnaro between the Italian cities of Verona and Padua: Padua, led by John Hawkwood, is victorious over Giovanni Ordelaffi of Verona.

The silver content of the Roman denarius falls to 35 percent under emperor Alexander Severus, down from 43 percent under Elagabalus.

Three Kingdoms: Eastern Wu is established in China. Emperor Liu Bei invades with an army (100,000 men) the border of Eastern Wu in the Battle of Yiling to retake the Jing province. However, because of a tactical mistake, Liu Bei's military cs are destroyed by forces of Sun Quan.

Alexander Severus succeeds Elagabalus. He is only 13 years old, his mother, Julia Avita Mamaea, governs the Roman Empire with the help of Domitius Ulpianus and a council composed of 16 senators.

Emperor Elagabalus is assassinated, along with his mother, Julia Soaemias, by the Praetorian Guard during a revolt. Their mutilated bodies are dragged through the streets of Rome before being thrown into the Tiber.