Unix Timestamp: 1237334400
Wednesday, March 18. 2009, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The Libyan government announces a ceasefire, amid foreign military preparations after a no-fly zone was imposed yesterday. //edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/18/libya.civil.war/index.html?iref=NS1 (CNN) //english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/03/2011318124421218583.html (Al Jazeera)

Canada and Japan recognize Kosovo's independence. //www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/03/18/canada-kosovo.html (CBC) //www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2008/3/0318.html (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan)

FBI agents raid the corporate headquarters of HealthSouth Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama, on suspicion of massive corporate fraud led by the company's top executives.

2000 Taiwanese presidential election: Chen Shui-bian is elected President of the Republic of China.

In Zaire, Etienne Tshiksekedi is appointed prime minister he ejects supporters of Mobutu Sese Seko from his cabinet.

Tara Lipinski, 14, becomes the youngest women's world figure skating chion.

The Comet Hale-Bopp makes its closest approach to Earth.

The tail of a Russian An-24 charter plane breaks off while en-route to Turkey, causing the plane to crash, killing all 50 on board, and resulting in the grounding of all An-24s.

Mercenaries of Sandline International withdraw from Papua New Guinea.

The Ozone Disco Club fire in Quezon City, Philippines kills 163.

Paul Tsongas withdraws from the Democratic Party presidential primaries, virtually assuring a victory for Bill Clinton.

The International Atomic Energy Agency orders Iraq to destroy an industrial complex at Al Atheer that was being used to manufacture nuclear weapons.

Pakistan won Cricket World Cup for very first time beating England and became Cricket Chion.

White South Africans vote in favour of political reforms which will end the apartheid regime and create a power-sharing multi-racial government.

STS-45: Space Shuttle \'\'Atlantis\'\' takes off from Cape Canaveral carrying instruments designed to study global warming.

In French regional elections, the conservative Rally for the Republic and the centre-right Union for French Democracy win in a landslide, capturing 20 of 22 metropolitan regional presidencies.

Dow Corning announces that it will stop manufacturing siliconebreast implants.

STS-45: Space Shuttle "Atlantis" takes off from Cape Canaveral carrying instruments designed to study global warming.

Woodstock of physics: The marathon session of the American Physical Society’s meeting features 51 presentations concerning the science of high-temperature superconductors.

Fifty people are killed at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, when a Vostok-2M rocket explodes on its launch pad during a fueling operation.

Ten miners die in a methane gas explosion at Golborne Colliery near Wigan, Lancashire.//news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/18/newsid_4226000/4226271.stm BBC “On this Day”

End of Oil embargo crisis: Most OPEC nations end a 5-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.

A landslide at Chungar, Peru crashes into Lake Yanahuani, killing 200.

Operation Breakfast, the secret bombing of Cambodia, begins.

British paratroopers and Marines land on the island of Anguilla.

A tall TV-mast at Emley Moor, UK, collapses due to ice build-up.

Gold standard: The Congress of the United States repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back U.S. currency.

The supertanker "Torrey Canyon" runs aground in between Land's End and the Scilly Isles.

The supertanker "Torrey Canyon" runs aground in between Land's End and the Scilly Isles.

"Gideon v. Wainwright": The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the poor must have lawyers.

American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill allowing for Hawaiian statehood.

An earthquake hits western Turkey, killing 250.

The Belgian government collapses as a referendum votes in favour of the return from exile of King Léopold III.

Singapore holds its first elections.

Renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini makes his television debut, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in an all-Wagner program.

April

Scientists Ralph Alpher and George Gamow publish the Alpher-Bethe-Gamow paper about the big bang.

Ludwig van Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony" is played on television in its entirety for the first time, in a concert featuring Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The chorus is conducted by Robert Shaw.

The Round Table Conference in The Hague, Netherlands for the preparation of the decolonization process for Aruba and the other Dutch Colonies. Aruba presents the mandate of the Aruban People for Aruba to become an Independent Country, under the souvereignty of the House of Orange, based on Aruba's first state constitution presented officially since August 1947, and a (4th) Member State of the future Dutch Commonwealth.

Jeju Uprising, Jeju residents revolt on Jeju island, South Korea.

President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan, which authorizes $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.

WWII: 1,250 American bombers attack Berlin.

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy kills 26 and causes thousands to flee their homes.

President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9102, creating the War Relocation Authority (WRA), which becomes responsible for the internment of Americans of Japanese and, to a lesser extent, German and Italian descent, many of them legal citizens.

WWII: Axis powers: Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.

Romanian War Scare: Virgil Tilea, the Romanian Minister in London, spreads false rumours that Romania is on the verge of a German attack.

Mother Frances Hospital opens in Tyler, Texas in response to the New London School explosion.

In the worst school disaster in American history in terms of lives lost, the New London School in New London, Texas suffers a catastrophic natural gas explosion, killing in excess of 295 students and teachers.

The Encyclical "Divini Redemptoris" of Pope Pius XI about communism is published.

The Tri-State Tornado, the deadliest in U.S. history, rages through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killing 695 people and injuring 2,027. It hits the towns of Murphysboro, Illinois Gorham, Illinois Ellington, Missouri and Griffin, Indiana.

In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to 6 years in prison for sedition (he serves only 2 years).

WWI: A British attack on the Dardanelles fails.

King George I of Greece is assassinated after 50 years on the throne. He is succeeded by his son Constantine.

Einar Dessau uses a short-wave radio transmitter, becoming the first radio broadcaster.

Traian Vuia makes a short flight in a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft.

Official opening of the London-Paris telephone system.ref name=Pocket On This Day

The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago.

The London-Paris telephone system is opened to the general public.ref name=Pocket On This Day/

American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States of America adjourns for the last time.

The first republican state in Germany, the Republic of Mainz, is declared by Andreas Joseph Hofmann.

American Revolution: The British Parliament repeals the St Act which is very unpopular in the British colonies. The persuasion of Benjamin Franklin is considered partly responsible. The Declaratory Act asserts the right of Britain to bind the colonies in all other respects.

3 MayJohn Winthrop the Younger the son of the first governor of Massachustts, has been honoured by being made a fellow of the Royal Society, England's new scientific society. Winthrop has used the election to the society to gain access to the king, who has granted him a new charter uniting the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven.

A short-lived experiment of the first public buses (holding 8 passengers) begins in Paris.

Susenyos is formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia at the ancient city of Axum.

Tycho Brahe's stipend is stopped.

N.S.March 28) ndash Death of Ivan the Terrible, ruler of Russia since 1533. He is succeeded as Tsar by his son Feodor.

April ndash Battle of Quipaipan in Peru: Atahualpa wins the civil war in the Inca Empire, defeating his brother Huáscar.

English parliament bans payment by English church to Rome

Albert II of Habsburg becomes King of Germany.

April ndash French besiege Aiguillon.ref name = crecy/

French prepare to defend Channel coasts.ref name = crecyDavid, Dr. Crecy. "1346: Triumph of the Longbow." Osprey Publishing (UK), 2000. p. 85 ISBN 1-85532-966-2

Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake.

Battle of Chmielnick: The Mongols defeat a feudal Polish army.

Sixth Crusade: Frederick II crowns himself King of Jerusalem.

The Eustathian schism in Antioch is healed.

John Cassian, Christian theologian, settled at a monastery in Marseille (Gaul), he organized monastic communities after a eastern model (approximate date).

Hypatia of Alexandria, Neoplatonist philosopher, is murdered by a Christian mob of Nitrian monks who accused her of paganism. They stripped her naked, skinned her to death with "ostraca" (pot shards), and then burned her remains.

Having driven out the Jews, Alexandria's new patriarch, Cyril, has instigated the mob after taking offense at Hypatia's scientific rationalism.

The Daysan River floods Edessa (Mesopotamia).

Emperor Alexander Severus and his mother Julia Mamaea are murdered by legionaries near Moguntiacum (modern Mainz), Legio XXII ''Primigenia'' mutinied. The Severan dynasty ends.

Emperor Alexander Severus and his mother Julia Mamaea are murdered by legionaries near Moguntiacum (modern Mainz), Legio XXII "Primigenia" mutinied. The Severan dynasty ends.

The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius's will and proclaims CaligulaRoman Emperor.ref name=cambridge

Caligula\'s attempt to have himself deified creates friction between himself and the Senate.

Caligula's attempt to have himself deified creates friction between himself and the Senate.