Unix Timestamp: 1047168000
Sunday, March 9. 2003, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The Governor of the US state of New Jersey, Chris Christie declares a state of emergency along the Passaic and Delaware Rivers and Bound Brook in Somerset County in order to prepare for anticipated floods later in the week. //www.therepublic.com/view/story/d149db5723834f14b9362921dc9f5a66/NJFlooding-NJ/# (AP via "The Columbus Republic")

National Islamic Front founder Hassan al-Turabi is released after seven weeks of incarceration for suggesting that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir should surrender to the International Criminal Court. //www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g4MlEURQSctzJlNMl-dN7ZKNbABgD96QESQO1 (AP)

The first European Space AgencyAutomated Transfer Vehicle, a cargo spacecraft for the International Space Station, launches from Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana.

An Ariane 5 rocket launches the first Automated Transfer Vehicle, "Jules Verne", from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. The space will rendezvous with and supplies to the International Space Station on March 29. //www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMDYOK26DF_index_0.html (ESA)

Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt says that Kosovo may become a European Union member state even if it is not a member of the United Nations. //news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/10/content_7751968.htm (Xinhua News Agency)

NASA's Cassini-Huygens spacecraft discovers geysers of a liquid substance shooting from Saturn's moon Enceladus, signaling a possible presence of water.

Jorge Saio is the new Portuguese president.

Rodney King testifies at the federal trial of 4 Los Angeles, California, police officers accused of violating his civil rights when they beat him during an arrest.

The People's Republic of China ratifies the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Gulf War ndash Operation Phase Echo: 540,000 American troops begin to leave the Persian Gulf.

In the Salvadoran legislative election, the Nationalist Republican Alliance wins 39 of 48 seats in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.

Massive demonstrations are held against Slobodan Milošević in Belgrade 2 people are killed and tanks are in the streets.

A strike forces financially troubled Eastern Air Lines into bankruptcy.

The Irish rock band U2 releases their studio album "The Joshua Tree".

United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle "Challenger" the bodies of all seven astronauts are still inside.

Anne Burford resigns as head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency amid scandal.

The United States places an embargo on Libyan oil imports, alleging Libyan support for terrorist groups.

Charles Haughey becomes Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland.

Syzygy: All eight planets align on the same side of the Sun (see also Jupiter effect).

Hanafi Siege: Approximately a dozen armed Hanafi Movement members take over 3 buildings in Washington, D.C., killing 1 person and taking more than 130 hostages. The hostage situation ends 2 days later.

March 11 – Two coal mine explosions claim 26 lives at the Blue Diamond Coal Co. Scotia Mine in Letcher County, Kentucky.

A cable-car disaster in Cavalese, Italy leaves 42 dead.

Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.

"The Rocky Horror Show" opens on Broadway in New York City with 4 performances.

Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Me Thuot, South Vietnam, on their way to capturing Saigon.

Extended portion of "Sanyo Shinkansen" between Okayama Station and Hakata Station opens, thus making Shinkansen reaching second island, Kyushu, Japan.

Joseph Stalin's daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, defects to the USA via the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi.

The Velvet Underground's groundbreaking first album, "The Velvet Underground Nico", is released. It is initially a disaster but receives widespread critical and commercial acclaim in later years.

The Indonesian State Assembly takes all presidential powers from Sukarno and names Suharto as acting president.

Ronnie Kray murders George Cornell in east London's Blind Beggar pub, a crime for which he is finally convicted in 1969.

The second attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr., stops at the bridge that was the site of Bloody Sunday, to hold a prayer service and return to Selma, in obedience to a court restraining order. White supremacists beat up white Unitarian Universalist minister James J. Reeb later that day in Selma.

Engagement announced between Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and Pieter van Vollenhoven, who will become the first commoner and the first Dutchman to marry into the Dutch Royal Family.

Goldie, a London Zoogolden eagle, is recaptured 12 days after her escape.

The Barbie doll debuts.

American journalists Edward Murrow and Fred W. Friendly produce a 30-minute "See It Now" documentary, entitled "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy".

United Artists releases sci-fi film "The Man from Planet X".

Carrie Chapman Catt dies in New Rochelle.

March 10 ndash WWII: American B-29 bombers attack Tokyo, Japan with incendiary bombs the city is fire-bombed, killing 100,000 citizens.

The film "Les Enfants du Paradis" premieres in Paris.

WWII: Soviet Army planes attack Tallinn, Estonia.

Şükrü Saracoğlu forms the new government of Turkey. (14th government Şükrü Saracoğlu had served twice as a prime minister)

WWII: Executive order 9082 (February 28, 1942) reorganizes the United States Army into three major commands: Army Ground Forces, Army Air Forces, and Services of Supply, later redesignated Army Service Forces.

March 12 ndash WWII: General General Douglas MacArthur, his family, and key members of his staff are evacuated by PT boat, under cover of darkness, from Corregidor in the Philippines. Command of US forces in the Philippines passes to Major General Jonathan M. Wainwright.

Pro-democratic militarist Keisuke Okada steps down as Prime Minister of Japan and is replaced by radical militarist Koki Hirota.

March 9 ndash Porky Pig makes his debut as the first major Looney Tunes character in I Haven't Got a Hat.

Great Depression: The U.S. Congress begins its first 100 days of enacting New Deal legislation.

Italy annexes Fiume.

Vladimir Lenin suffers his third stroke, which renders him bedridden and unable to speak consequently he retires his position as Chairman of the Soviet government.

The Egyptian Revolution of 1919 breaks out.

Women in Germany demand the right to participate in university entrance exams.

Responding to national outrage at the defeat at Adwa, Italian Prime Minister Francesco Crispi resigns.

March 12 ndash A powerful storm off England's south coast sinks 14 ships.

Yohannes IV is killed in the Battle of Metemma Sudanese forces, who had been almost defeated, rally and destroy the Ethiopian army.

Frederick III is crowned German Emperor.

American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln appoints Ulysses S. Grant commander in chief of all Union armies.

American Civil War: First battle between two ironclad warships, the USS ''Monitor'' and the CSS "Virginia", begins.

American Civil War: First battle between two ironclad warships, the USS "Monitor" and the CSS "Virginia", begins.

The first Japanese ambassador to the United States, Niimi Buzennokami, and his staff arrived in San Francisco.

The army of Piedmont-Sardinia mobilizes against Austria, beginning the crisis which will lead to the Austro-Sardinian War.

National Fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon is founded at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Mexican-American War: United States forces under General Winfield Scott invade Mexico near Veracruz.

The conclusion of the First Anglo-Sikh War with the signing of the Treaty of Lahore.ref name=Pocket On This Day Kashmir is ceded to the British East India Company and the Koh-i-Noor diamond is surrendered to Queen Victoria.

Giuseppe Verdi's third opera "Nabucco" premieres in Milan its success establishes Verdi as one of Italy's foremost opera writers.

"Amistad": The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the case that the Africans who seized control of the ship had been taken into slavery illegally.

April ndash The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad is completed from Raleigh, North Carolina to near Weldon, North Carolina.

The Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad is completed from Wilmington, North Carolina to Weldon, North Carolina. At 161.5 miles (260 km), it is the world's longest railroad.

King Ferdinand VII of Spain accepts the new constitution, beginning the "Trienio Liberal".

The USS Enterprise reaches Wilmington, North Carolina, returning from the Caribbean.

Aargau becomes a Swiss canton.

MarchndashApril ndash The "franc germinal" is introduced in France.

Widow Joséphine de Beauharnais marries General Napoléon Bonaparte.

Adam Smith publishes "The Wealth of Nations".

After a public caign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though his son may have committed suicide.

July ndash The Russian army, under Matyushkin, captures Baku.

Mapuche Uprising of 1723 begins in Chile.

Amboyna massacre: Ten men in the service of the British East India Company, nine Japanese and one Portuguese, are executed by the Dutch East India Company.

Yemana Kristos, brother of EmperorSusenyos, ends the rebellion of Melka Sedeq in the Battle of Segaba in Begemder.

Edward Kelley arrives at John Dee's house.

Pope Leo X succeeds Pope Julius II as the 217th pope.

Pope Clement V settles the papal seat in Avignon, following a visit.

Henry of Ghent becomes the last major theologian to openly consider annuities as usurious contract. The end of the debate allows for the expansion of the budding practice of renten emission to become a staple of public finance in north-western Europe.

Stefan Dragutin of Serbia becomes King of Serbia.

June ndash King Rudolph I of Germany declares war on King Otakar II of Bohemia, a political rival by November, Otakar II is forced to cede four important territories as demanded by the diet of Nuremberg in 1274.

Mudejar rebellion in Valencia (put down in 1278).ref name=negotiating

Merton College, Oxford, is first recorded as having a collection of books, making its Library the world's oldest in continuous daily use.

Augsburg becomes an Imperial Free City. Ravensburg also does in the same year.

Iberian Peninsula: Alphonso IX defeats Ibn Hud al-Yamani (known as almogàver by the Christians) at the battle of Alange. This success opens the road to Badajoz to the Leonese troops.ref name=linehan1999

Bulgarian tsar Ivan Asen II defeats Theodore of Epirus near the village of Klokotnitsa.

A major earthquake strikes Palestine and Syria.

Tassilo III, duke of the Bavarians, recognizes the supremacy of Frankish king Pepin the Short.

The Battle of Suiyang is fought.

Offa becomes king of Mercia (to 796). He is noted for Offa's Dyke, built as a defence against Welsh marauders.

Fruela I becomes king of Asturias.

After the death of Muhammad, Abu Bakr becomes the first caliph and the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661) is established.

The Last Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada') of Prophet Muhammad.

Kadungon succeeds Avani Culamani as ruler of the Pandyan kingdom in India.

Bahrām Chobin is crowned as King Bahrām VI of Persia.