Unix Timestamp: 984960000
Monday, March 19. 2001, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Arab Spring and the Libyan civil war: In light of continuing attacks on Libyan rebels by forces in support of leader Muammar Gaddafi,

The President of the United States Barack Obama warns Muammar Gaddafi of consequences if attacks on civilians continue. //www.news.com.au/world/gaddafi-says-benghazi-attack-today/story-e6frfkyi-1226023693860?from=public_rss (AFP via News Limited)

North Korea detains two American Current TV journalists near its border with China. //www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/19/north-korea-reporters-detained (Guardian) //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7951982.stm (BBC)

An exploding star halfway across the visible universe becomes the farthest known object ever visible to the naked eye.

Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary and Monaco jointly recognize Kosovo's independence. //www.mfa.bg/en/index.php?option=com_contenttask=viewid=8853Itemid=217 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bulgaria) //afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jQMQ3pd4KwdjIKCNSuhSp01ZiStw (AFP via Google News) //www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/8741/ (Balkan Insight)

The Israeli Ministerial Committee for Symbols and Ceremonies declares the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict a war. //www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3378240,00.html#n (Ynetnews)

A time bomb explodes in a Muslim shrine in Quetta, southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 29 people and wounding 40.

The United Nations launches a political corruption investigation due to the scandal over its Iraqi Oil for Food program.

Iraq War begins with the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and allied forces.

U.S. begins military strikes in Iraq, which many consider the beginning of the Iraq War.

US war in Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 1) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, with 11 allied troop fatalities.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions calls a three-day general strike protesting police interference with union meetings, harassment of trade unionists, and general lawlessness following the general elections, which has led to slow-downs in business. In South Korea, 5,600 power plant workers are on the 25th day of their strike, protesting the neoliberal government plans to privatize the state-run electricity plants. A vote among the remaining power plant workers to strike is cancelled due to company interference.

Corporals killings: In Belfast, Northern Ireland, British Army Corporals Woods and Howes were murdered after driving straight into a funeral for the victims of the Milltown Cemetery Attack just three days earlier, after they were mistakenly thought to be carrying out a similar attack to the one by Ulster Defence Association (UDA) member Michael Stone, in which he killed three Catholics attending the funeral.

Three workers are killed and 5 injured during a test of the Space Shuttle "Columbia".

India and Bangladesh sign a friendship treaty.

March 23 ndash Afrocentrism, Black power, Vietnam War: Students at Howard University in Washington, D.C., signal a new era of militant student activism on college cuses in the U.S. Students stage rallies, protests and a 5-day sit-in, laying siege to the administration building, shutting down the university in protest over its ROTC program and the Vietnam War, and demanding a more Afrocentric curriculum.

A referendum in French Somaliland favors the connection to France.

The Texas Western Miners defeat the Kentucky Wildcats with 5 African-American starters, ushering in desegregation in athletic recruiting.

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 begins.

The wreck of the "SS Georgiana", reputed to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser ever built and owned by the real Rhett Butler, is discovered off the Isle of Palms, South Carolina, by teenage diver E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after she was sunk with a million dollar cargo while attempting to run past the Union blockade into Charleston.

Martin Luther King, Jr. leads 3,200 civil rights activists in the third march from Selma, Alabama to the capitol in Montgomery.

"Poupée de cire, poupée de son", sung by France Gall (music and lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 for Luxembourg.

Ranger program: NASA launches "Ranger 9", which is the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes."

An armistice begins in Algeria however, the OAS continues its terrorist attacks against Algerians.

Busch Gardens in Ta, Florida opens.

Two other islands join Addu in the United Suvadive Republic (abolished September 1963), in the Maldives Islands.

The Dalai Lama is granted asylum in India.

Monarch Underwear Company fire in New York.

At age 48, DutchboxerBep van Klaveren contests his last match in Rotterdam.

KXTV of Stockton, California, signs on the air in the United States, being the 100th commercial television station in this country.

Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory at Madison Square Garden, in the first televised boxing prize fight to be shown in color.

The 25th Academy Awards ceremony is held (the first one broadcast on television).

The 19th Academy Awards ceremony is held. The movie "Best Years of Our Lives" wins the Academy Award for Best Picture, along with several other Academy Awards.

Off the coast of Japan, bombers hit the aircraft carrier USS "Franklin", killing about 800 of her crewmen and crippling the ship.

Adolf Hitler orders that all industries, military installations, machine shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany be destroyed.

WWII: German forces occupy Hungary in Operation Margarethe.

Hitler sends a registered letter to the government of Lithuania stating that Germany intends to annex the port of Memel.

A riot breaks out in Harlem, NYC, after a rumor that police killed a shoplifter in the S. H. Kress Co. department store circulates.

The United States Congress refuses to ratify the Treaty of Versailles.

The U.S. Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time (DST goes into effect on March 31).

Pluto is photographed for the first time but is not then classified as a planet.

International Women's Day is celebrated for the first time.//timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/First-Womens-Day-celebration-took-place-in-1911/articleshow/7643681.cms First Women's Day celebration took place in 1911, "The Times of India", 7 March 2011.

The oldest Turkish football club, Besiktas JK, is founded in Istanbul.

Henry Cogswell College is established by Henry D. Cogswell.

The Ohio Legislature passes the Cannon Act, thereby establishing the Ohio Agriculture and Mechanical College, later Ohio State University.

The Claywater Meteorite explodes just before reaching ground level in Vernon County, Wisconsin fragments having a combined mass of 1.5 kg are recovered.

American Civil War: In Virginia, Confederate forces capture Fort Stedman from the Union. Lee's army suffers heavy casualties during the battle of Fort Stedman—about 2,900, including 1,000 captured in the Union counterattack. Confederate positions are weakened. After the battle, Lee's defeat is only a matter of time.

American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins by the end of the battle on March 21 the Confederate forces retreat from Four Oaks, North Carolina.

The is destroyed on her maiden voyage while attempting to run the blockade into Charleston, South Carolina. The wreck is discovered exactly 102 years later by E. Lee Spence.

The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.

An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina.

Italian unification: The surrender of Civitella del Tronto ends the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

American Express is founded by Henry WellsWilliam Fargo.

Founding of Cavendish Villa Football Club.

Agustin de Iturbide, Emperor of Mexico, abdicates thus ending the short-lived First Mexican Empire.

The Cádiz Cortes, in exile, create the first modern Spanish constitution.

The Act of Union with Scotland is ratified by the English Parliament.

The men under explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle murder him while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River.

The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring that it is "useless and dangerous to the people of England".

March ndash Robert Blake is promoted to become a General at Sea of the English fleet.

The citizens of Galway seize an English naval ship, close the town gates and declare support for Confederate Ireland.

Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in the Fortezza Vecchia Chapel of Saint Francesco, elevates Livorno to the rank of city.

The GuelphRepublic of Siena allows exiled Ghibelline rebels back into the city.ref name=biografico

King Rudolph I of Germany declares all Jews to be serfs of the Treasury, thus negating all their political freedoms.

King Alexander III of Scotland dies in a horse accident with only Yolande of Dreux, Queen of Scotland's unborn child and 3-year-old Margaret, Maid of Norway as heirs this sets the stage for the First War of Scottish Independence and increased influence of England over Scotland.

Prussians resettled in Sambia stage a famous uprising.

King Philip IV of France imposes the gabelle ndash a tax on salt in the form of a state monopoly ndash which would become immensely unpopular and grossly unequal, but persist until 1790.

The Mongol Empire reaches its largest extent. However, by this time the empire has already partially fragmented.

Battle of Yamen: Kublai Khan's Yuan Dynasty defeats and ends the Song Dynasty, and becomes the emperor of all China.

Pope Gregory IX succeeds Pope Honorius III as the 178th pope.