Unix Timestamp: 1236211200
Thursday, March 5. 2009, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The government of Vanuatu declares a state of emergency in Port Vila following ethnic clashes. //www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/04/AR2007030401098.html (AP via Washington Post) //www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=readid=30550 (Radio New Zealand)

An appeals court in Norway ruled that Jon Johansen, the teenager who developed the DeCSS software that allows DVDs to be copied, will have to be retried on charges that he violated copyright and anti-hacking laws.

In Mecca, 35 Muslim pilgrims are crushed to death during the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

NASA announces that the Clementine probe orbiting the Moon has found enough water in polar craters to support a human colony and rocket fueling station.

MacedonianPalair Flight 305, a F-100 on a flight to Zurich, crashes shortly after take-off from Skopje killing 83 of the 97 on board.

Iran accuses Iraq of using chemical weapons the United Nations condemns their use on March 30.

Bob Hawke is elected Prime Minister of Australia.

Voyager I makes its closest approach to Jupiter at 172,000 miles.

Formula One driver Tom Pryce dies after colliding with a track marshal at the South African Grand Prix in Kyalami.

Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis leaves the Greek Communist Party.

Clifford Irving admits to a New York court that he had fabricated Howard Hughes' autobiography.

The United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China elevate diplomatic exchanges to the ambassadorial level after 22 years.

The Pakistani army occupies East Pakistan.

A bomb being constructed by members of the Weathermen and meant to be planted at a military dance in New Jersey, explodes, killing 3 members of the organization.

Süleyman Demirel of AP forms the new government of Turkey (32nd government)

A Solar Eclipse passes along the Atlantic coast region. Totality was visible across southern Mexico and across the southeast coast of the United States, Nantucket, and Nova Scotia.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect, after ratification by 56 nations.

Citroën introduces the SM at the Geneva Auto Salon

In Camden, Tennessee, country music superstar Patsy Cline (Virginia Patterson Hensley) is killed in a plane crash along with fellow performers Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and Cline's manager and pilot Randy Hughes, while returning from a benefit performance in Kansas City, Kansas for country radio disc jockey Cactus Jack Call.

Alberto Korda takes his iconic photograph of Che Guevara, "Guerrillero Heroico", in Havana.

The Canton of Geneva in Switzerland gives women the right to vote.

Vietnam War: The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers will be sent to Vietnam.

WBBJ-TV signs on the air in the Jackson, Tennessee, with WDXI as its initial call-letters, to expanded American commercial television in mostly-rural areas.

In his speech at Westminster College, in Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill talks about the "Iron Curtain".

Katyn massacre: Members of the Soviet Politburo (Joseph Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, Mikhail Kalinin, Kliment Voroshilov and Lavrenty Beria) sign an order, prepared by Beria, for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs.

Danish painter Einar Wegener goes through a sexual reassignment surgery and takes the name Lili Elbe.

A. Mitchell Palmer becomes Attorney General of the United States through recess appointment.

Soviet Russia moves its national capital from Petrograd to Moscow.

March 7 ndash First Battle of Bud Dajo: American troops decisively defeat Moro rebels in the Philippines.

Italian forces are the first to use airships for a military purpose, using them for reconnaissance west of Tripoli, Libya, behind Turkish lines.

Roald Amundsen in Hobart, Tasmania, announces his success in reaching the South Pole the previous December.

French aviator Henri Seimet makes the first nonstop flight from Paris to London, in three hours.

At the opening of the new State Duma in St. Petersburg, Russia 40,000 demonstrators are dispersed by Russian troops.

Russo-Japanese War: Russian troops begin to retreat from Mukden after losing 100,000 troops in 3 days.

Cassie Chadwick is sentenced for 14 years in Cleveland, Ohio for fraud.

Russo-Japanese War: The Japanese capture of Mukden (now Shenyang) completes the rout of Russian armies in Manchuria.

The Ottoman Empire and the German Empire sign an agreement to build the Constantinople-Baghdad Railway.

Baby-farmer Ada Williams is hanged at Newgate Prison for murdering a 21-month old girl.

A coal mine explosion in West Virginia kills 50 miners.

Two U.S. Navycruisers are sent to Central America to protect American interests in a dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

The Gloucester City A.F.C. is formed.

First ever international Association Football match between England and Scotland at the Oval, London. Organized by the Football Association.

Fenian rising in Ireland.

Fire destroys the Covent Garden Theatre in London.

Opening of the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Strait.

Zachary Taylor, the 12th President of the United States of America, takes his oath of office.

Mexican troops led by Rafael Vasquez invade Texas, briefly occupy San Antonio, and then head back to the Rio Grande. This is the first such invasion since the Texas Revolution.

Longwood University is founded in Farmville, Virginia.

Peninsular War: Battle of Barrosa, an unsuccessful French attack on a larger Anglo-Portuguese-Spanish force attempting to lift the Siege of Cádiz in Spain.

The New Brunswick Legislature passes a bill to advance literacy in the province, which eventually leads to the creation of public education in what is now Canada.

French troops enter Bern.

French troops are defeated by Austrian forces and Liège is recaptured.

Last celebration of Massacre Day.

Boston Massacre: Eleven Americans are shot, five fatally, by British troops in an event that helps start the American Revolutionary War 5 years later.

Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.

Nine Years' War: French troops under Marshal Louis-Francois de Boufflers besiege the Spanish-held town of Mons.

Emperor Go-Sai's reign ends and Emperor Reigen ascends to the throne of Japan.

Thirty Years' War ndash The Treaty of Hamburg is signed by France and Sweden.

The first American temperance law is enacted, in Virginia.

Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorizing them to discover unknown lands.ref name=Cassell's Chronology

March ndash Santo Domingo is discovered.

June ndash The Earl of Warwick and Edward, Earl of March, eldest son of the Duke of York, land in England with an army and seize London.

KingChristian I of Denmark issues the Treaty of Ribe.

The second of two main surveys of the Hundred Rolls, an English census seen as a follow up to the Domesday Book completed in 1086, is begun it lasts until 1280.

The town of Haapsalu, Estonia is founded.

The first of the Statutes of Mortmain are passed under King Edward I of England, which prevents land from passing into possession of the church.

Battle of Aizkraukle: Lithuanian forces led by Traidenis defeat the Teutonic Knights.

Al-Razi's important medical writings are translated into Latin by Faraj ben Salim, some 350 years after Al-Razi's death.

The Royal Mint of England moves into the Tower of London.

Naser Khosrow begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he later describes in his book "Safarnameh".

Emperor Julian departs from Antioch with his army (90,000 men) and heads north towards the Euphrates. On route he creates a diversion and sends a force of 30,000 soldiers under his cousin Procopius to Armenia.

April ndash Julian crosses the Euphrates near Hierapolis, using 50 pontoon ships, and moves eastwards to Carrhae. He destroyed Perisapora and overruns Persian forts along the desert frontier ("Limes Arabicus").