March_2007

March 2007

March 2007 is the third month of the year. It began on a Thursday, and ended 31 days later on a Saturday.

International holidays

March 1 - St Davids Day United Kingdom
March 4 - Purim (Jewish holiday)
March 10 - Arba'een (Shi'a Islam)
March 12 - Commonwealth Day (Commonwealth of Nations)
March 12 - Arbor Day (China)
March 14 - White Day (Japan and Korea)
March 14 - New Year's Day (Sikh Nanakshahi calendar)
March 15 - National Day (Hungary)
March 15 - Hōnen Matsuri (Japan)
March 17 - Saint Patrick's Day
March 18 - Mothering Sunday (Britain)
March 19 - Saint Joseph's Day (Western Christianity)
March 19 - Fathers' Day
March 19 - Canberra Day (Australian Capital Territory)

March 20 - Norouz (Iran and Zoroastrianism)
March 21 - Independence Day (Namibia)
March 21 - World Poetry Day
March 21 - Equinoctial Earth Day
March 22 - World Day for Water
March 23 - Republic Day (Pakistan)
March 24 - World Tuberculosis Day
March 25 - Freedom Day (Belarus)
March 25 - Feast of the Annunciation (Christianity)
March 28 - Teachers' Day (Czech Republic and Slovakia)
March 30 - Spiritual Baptist Shouter Liberation Day (Trinidad and Tobago)
March 31 - César Chávez Day (some U.S. states)
March 31 - Freedom Day (Malta)
March 31 - Mawlid (Sunni Islam)

Portal:Current events

March 1, 2007 (Thursday)

history

watch

Switzerland accidentally invades Liechtenstein after 171 infantrymen get lost and cross the Liechtenstein border. (Fox News) (BBC)
A human case of bird flu is confirmed in China. (USA Today)
Pakistani authorities capture Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, a former Defense Minister of Afghanistan under the Taliban. (Voice of America)
India requests the extradition of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi from Argentina in relation to the Bofors scandal. (NDTV)
Ten French tourists are kidnapped in northern Ethiopia. (AP via CNN)
The Spanish Government moves hungerstriking ETA prisoner Iñaki de Juana Chaos from a cell in Madrid to one in the Basque Country. (AP via the Houston Chronicle)
A boat carrying Haitian migrants catches fire off the coast of the Dominican Republic resulting in the death of at least eight people and 44 people missing. (AP via Fox News)
Dozens of people are arrested in Copenhagen as the police evict squatters from The Youth House in the centre of the city. (AP via IHT)
The Turkish government orders an investigation into claims that the Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Öcalan was poisoned. (BBC)
A tornado strikes southern Missouri killing a seven-year-old girl. Tornadoes in Alabama kill at least ten people including eight students at Enterprise High School. In Georgia, at least nine people die in storms. It is part of a larger tornado outbreak. (The Birmingham News) (AP via Houston Chronicle) (KDKA CBS)
Senegalese election officials confirm that Abdoulaye Wade has been re-elected as the President of Senegal. (Voice of America)
The United States formally charges David Hicks with aiding the Taliban. He will be the first person tried under the new law for military commissions. (AP via CNN)
Eight people die in a landmine explosion in Chhattisgarh, India. (BBC)
A New South Wales coroner issues a warrant for the arrest of Indonesian politician Yunus Yosfiah for failure to appear to give evidence in the coronial inquest into the death of the Balibo Five in Balibo, East Timor in 1975. (News Limited)
The fourth International Polar Year, a $1.5 billion research program to study both the North Pole and South Pole is launched in Paris, France. (BBC)
Greek archaeologists announce that a 2,200-year-old statue of the goddess Hera has been found during excavations in the ruins of ancient Dion, a city under Mount Olympus. (AP)

March 2, 2007 (Friday)

history

watch

Protestors set cars and barricades on fire in Copenhagen over evictions. (Fox News)
Italian leader Romano Prodi is reinstated as prime minister after winning his second and final confidence vote in the Parliament, ending a political crisis that began last week when Prodi resigned after losing a foreign policy vote. (CNN)
Cuban foreign minister Felipe Pérez Roque claims leader Fidel Castro is recovering from his illness and could come back to lead Cuba again. (CNN)
The Bush administration selects a design from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for a new generation of nuclear warheads that could replace the Trident missile on submarines by 2012. (AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Prices at the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange continue to drop after a massive sell-off earlier in the week. (CBC)
The Parliament of Chechnya appoints Ramzan Kadyrov as the President of Chechnya after his nomination by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin. (BBC)
The United States Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey resigns over poor conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. President Bush later orders a full review of health care available to returning soldiers. (New York Times)
A bus carrying the baseball team of Bluffton University plunges off an overpass onto Interstate 75 near Atlanta, Georgia, killing six including four students. (CNN)
Puerto Rico institutes a smoking ban in all public places. Smoking will only be allowed in homes, places dedicated to tobacco sales, and open and ventilated places. (El Nuevo Día)
A bomb explodes near a car carrying a judge of the Pakistani anti-terrorist court, Mian Bashir Bhatti, wounding him and killing at least three others. (AP via IHT)
Indonesia declares the deaths of the Balibo Five to be a closed case despite a New South Wales coronial inquest into their deaths in Balibo, East Timor in 1975. (News Limited)
The Communist Party of China expels nine senior officials and business leaders over a Shanghai corruption scandal related to misuse of Government pension funds. The nine people will also face criminal charges. (BBC)
The Attorney General for England and Wales, Lord Goldsmith, obtains an injunction from the High Court preventing the BBC from broadcasting an item about investigations into an alleged cash for honours political scandal. (BBC)

March 3, 2007 (Saturday)

history

watch

The eviction of Ungdomshuset by Danish police results in more rioting in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, leading to about 100 arrests during a second night of protests. (BBC)
United States President Bush declares Coffee County, Alabama, hit by a tornado last Thursday, to be a federal disaster area. (CTV Canada)
A total lunar eclipse is visible from the Midwestern United States to Southeast Asia from 22:44 to 23:58 GMT. (BBC)
The Cherokee Nation has voted to exclude the descendants of freed slaves from Cherokee citizenship, reversing a decision of the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court. (BBC)

March 4, 2007 (Sunday)

history

watch

Estonian parliamentary election, 2007:
- Andrus Ansip's Reform Party wins 27% of the vote raising its mandate in the Riigikogu to 31 seats from 19.
- Approximately 30,000 voters take advantage of electronic voting, becoming the first nationwide election where part of the votecasting was allowed via the Internet. (BBC)
Abkhazian parliamentary election, 2007: Separatists in the breakaway Georgian republic of Abkhazia hold elections. The Government of Georgia claims that the elections are not legitimate. (UPI)
Sunil Kumar Mahato, an Indian member of parliament from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, is killed by suspected Maoist rebels while watching football in Jharkand. (The Hindu)
China raises its defense budget by 17.8 percent, while cutting the budget deficit to 1.1 percent of GDP. (People's Daily) (Reuters)
A memorial service is held at St Mary's Church in Dover, United Kingdom, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster. (BBC)
War in Afghanistan (2001–present):
- U.S. troops open fire after a suicide bomb attack on a convoy and kill 8 or more civilians on the main road linking Jalalabad with the Pakistan border. Local people protest at the soldiers' actions. (BBC)
- Taliban insurgency: Two British soldiers serving with the NATO International Security Assistance Force force are killed in Helmand province during clashes with Taliban forces. (BBC)
Australian troops enter the town of Same in East Timor where fugitive East Timorese army officer Alfredo Reinado was located with orders to arrest Reinado from the President of East Timor Xanana Gusmão. Reinado evades capture but four of his men are killed. (ABC News Australia) (AAP and AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)

March 5, 2007 (Monday)

history

watch

The United States and North Korea commence talks in New York City to establish diplomatic relations following the abandonment of the North Korean nuclear weapons program. (AP via CNN)
Ramush Haradinaj, the former Prime Minister of Kosovo, goes on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague for war crimes allegedly committed while he was a regional leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army. (The Independent)
Iraq War:
- A car bomb in Baghdad kills at least 26 people. (CNN)
- Two car bombs kill at least 9 United States Army soldiers north of Baghdad. (AP via IHT) (BBC)
Ungdomshuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, is demolished to prevent it from being re-occupied. (AP via CNN)
The government of Vanuatu declares a state of emergency in Port Vila following ethnic clashes. (AP via Washington Post) (Radio New Zealand)
The 2007 National People's Congress opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. In his report to the nation, Premier Wen Jiabao focuses on environmental concerns, narrowing the wealth gap, controlling housing prices, and "resolute opposition" to Taiwan independence. (BBC) (Reuters) (CNN) (China Daily)

March 6, 2007 (Tuesday)

history

watch

Iraq War: Two suicide bombers in a crowd of Muslim pilgrims in Al Hillah kill at least 115 people and wound 150. (BBC)
Foreign Minister of People's Republic of China Li Zhaoxing criticises President of the Republic of China Chen Shui-bian for making calls for Taiwan independence. (The Times)
United States v. Libby: Former Bush administration aide Lewis Libby is found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice. (CNN)
The United States Congress opens hearings into the dismissal of eight U.S. Attorneys, probing whether the Bush Administration had political motives for ousting the federal prosecutors. (AP via The Guardian)
Heavy security operations begin in Bogotá, Colombia, for the visit of U.S. President Bush on March 11. Security forces expect protests on Wednesday. (El Tiempo)
Japanese news agency Kyodo News reports that Empress Michiko is suffering from internal bleeding. (BBC)
Two earthquakes measuring 6.4 and 6.3 on the Moment magnitude scale hit Sumatra in Indonesia, with the epicenter near Lake Singkarak. At least 82 fatalities are currently reported. The earthquakes were felt as far as in Malaysia and Singapore. (The Age) (USGS on the 6.4 quake) (USGS on the 6.3 quake)
India and Pakistan hold a meeting in Islamabad to discuss joint actions against terrorism with discussion focussing on the Samjhauta Express bombings. (BBC)
Celebrations in Ghana mark the fiftieth anniversary of its independence. (BBC)
War in Afghanistan (2001–present): NATO-led forces launch Operation Achilles against the Taliban in Helmand province. (AP via IHT)

March 7, 2007 (Wednesday)

history

watch

Reform of the House of Lords: In a British House of Commons vote, a majority of MPs express support for a fully elected House of Lords. A smaller majority support an 80% elected, 20% appointed chamber. Other options with a lower elected component are rejected. The proposals were put forward by Leader of the House of Commons Jack Straw, who describes the votes as "a historic step forward". (BBC) (Telegraph) (AP via Boston Globe)
At least 30 Shia pilgrims heading to the city of Karbala for Arbaeen die as a suicide bomber attacks a café in Balad Ruz in Iraq's eastern Diyala Governorate. (BBC)
Three Jordanians go on trial for plotting to assassinate U.S. President George W. Bush. (Al-Bawaba)
The People's Republic of China announces that its first probe to the Moon, Chang'e 1, will be launched later in 2007, with the eventual goal of landing a man on the moon by 2022. The probe is supposed to orbit the Moon at least three times. (BBC)
President of Mauritius Anerood Jugnauth threatens to leave the Commonwealth of Nations over the British government's treatment of the Îlois of the Chagos Archipelago. (BBC)
Foreign Minister of Iran Manouchehr Mottaki confirms that Iran will attend a conference on Iraq featuring Iraq's neighbours and the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. (Dow Jones via NASDAQ)
The Israel Defence Forces raid the Palestinian Authority's military intelligence headquarters in Ramallah. (AFP via News Limited) (AlJazeera)
The Taliban claim that they have kidnapped Daniele Mastrogiacomo, an Italian journalist working for La Repubblica newspaper. (Washington Post)
Rogerio Lobato, former Interior Minister of East Timor, is found guilty on five counts of arming hit squads during civil unrest in 2006. (The Melbourne Age)
Voters in Northern Ireland go to the polls to elect new members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. (BBC) (BreakingNews.ie)
Garuda Indonesia Flight 200 crashes and catches fire during a landing in Yogyakarta, Indonesia resulting in 21 confirmed deaths. (The Age) (CNN) (ABC News Australia)
The United States Department of State issues a report saying that human rights in Fiji have sharply deteriorated since the 2006 coup. (NZ Herald)
Iranian general Ali Reza Askari is reported to have to defected to US custody after disappearing on February 7 in Istanbul.(The Jerusalem Post)
Turkey bans user generated content web site YouTube after insulting clips of Turkish founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk are discovered. (BBC)

March 8, 2007 (Thursday)

history

watch

Georgia increases the size of its contingent in the multinational force in Iraq from 850 to 2000. (Fox News)
2006-07 Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone season: Tropical Cyclone George crosses the coast of northwest Western Australia near Port Hedland, resulting in at least three deaths and serious property damage in the area. (AAP via News Limited),(NineMSN),(BBC)
Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives propose legislation that would withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by August 2008 or sooner if certain requirements are not met. (CNN) (BBC)
2007 National People's Congress: The People's Republic of China launches a property law designed to better protect individual property rights. (BBC)
Sri Lankan Civil War: Thousands of civilians flee their homes in Sri Lanka because of fighting between government troops and the Tamil Tigers. (BBC)
War in Somalia: African Union peacekeepers are ambushed by insurgents in Mogadishu for a second successive day. (BBC)
U.S. President George W. Bush departs on a tour of Latin America that will take him to Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico. Upon arrival in São Paulo he is greeted with protest demonstrations. (AP via CNN) (BBC)
Greek Cypriots dismantle the portion of the separation fence between the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in Nicosia. (BBC)

March 9, 2007 (Friday)

history

watch

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf suspends Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on charges of misuse of authority. (IBN)
Following a recent referendum, the Portuguese Parliament votes to legalise abortion until the tenth week of pregnancy. (BBC)
The European Union agrees to new targets to combat climate change including having a fifth of its power from renewable sources and 10% of its vehicles from biofuels. (Canadian Press)
Ugandan judges end a week long strike after President Yoweri Museveni expressed regret over an incident where security men seized Opposition supporters from the High Court of Uganda. (Reuters Alertnet)
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit strikes down the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975, a local law in the District of Columbia which banned residents from keeping handguns at home, on Second Amendment grounds. (Bloomberg)
Nepal:
- The Interim legislature of Nepal amends the constitution to turn the country into a federal state. (BBC)
- Nepalese Civil War: The Nepalese government reaches an agreement with Maoist rebels in which the rebels will be represented in the Cabinet and will return property seized to the relevant owners. (PTI via The Hindu)
Results from the Northern Ireland Assembly election show the DUP and Sinn Féin making gains, and ensuring that in order for direct rule to cease both parties must agree to cooperate in a powersharing Executive. (BBC)
Cuba-United States relations: The United States Coast Guard stages an exercise in Florida in preparation for a possible mass exodus from Cuba in the event of the death of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. During the drill 40 Cuban exiles reach the United States. (BBC) (BBC)
Kelvin Thomson, the Shadow Attorney-General, in Australia resigns after it is discovered that he provided a reference to fugitive accused drug trafficker Tony Mokbel when Mokbel applied for a liquor licence in 2000. (News Limited)
Iraq War: Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the insurgency group the Islamic State of Iraq, is captured in Baghdad. (BBC), (CNN)
Doğu Perinçek is found guilty of genocide denial by a Swiss district court, making him the first person ever convicted for denial of the Armenian Genocide by a court of law.(swissinfo)

March 10, 2007 (Saturday)

history

watch

Five people drown in heavy flooding around the town of Labasa on the island of Vanua Levu in Fiji. (ABC News Australia)
Twenty people die and 9 are missing after a flood in a coal mine in Fushun, a city in the province of Shenyang in China. (AP via Forbes)
President George W. Bush approves 8,200 more United States troops for Iraq and Afghanistan. (Washington Post)
Thousands of supporters of legislation giving equal rights on issues to heterosexual and gay couples in Italy attend a rally in Rome. (AP via the Houston Chronicle)
Sri Lankan Civil War: More than 30,000 Sri Lankans flee intensifying fighting between the Government and the Tamil Tigers in the east of Sri Lanka. (ABC Australia)
Tens of thousands of people in Madrid protest the release of jailed Basque separatist José Ignacio de Juana Chaos. (BBC)
The launch of the European Space Agency's latest Ariane 5 mission from French Guiana, carrying a platform for the Skynet 5 military satellite system for use by the UK Ministry of Defence, is postponed due to a minor technical failure (BBC)
Zambia starts a program of mass demolition of illegal housing starting in the capital Lusaka. The demolitions are to end corruption in the distribution of land plots highlighted by the recent sacking of Lands Minister Gladys Nyirongo. (Reuters via IOL South Africa)
Yearlong talks on the future of Kosovo end in stalemate between the Serbian Government and the ethnic Albanian leaders of the province. (CNN)
War in Iraq:
- A major international conference starts in Baghdad to look at ways to stabilise Iraq featuring representatives from Iran, Syria and the United States. (BBC)
- A number of bombs detonate at the above event, but there are no casualties. (SkyNews)

March 11, 2007 (Sunday)

history

watch

Leading opponents of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, including Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, and four other members of parliament and party activists, are arrested for defying a ban on protest rallies in Harare. Riot police shoot one activist dead. (AFP via News Limited) (BBC)
The President of France Jacques Chirac announces that he will not be seeking a third term. (ABC News Australia) (BBC)
Voters in Russia go to the polls in elections in 14 regions including Saint Petersburg. The elections have been widely criticised by the Opposition. (AP via IHT)
The Ariane 5 rocket carrying the new generation Skynet 5 military satellite system is launched successfully from Kourou in French Guiana at 22:03 GMT. (BBC)
Mauritanian voters go to the polls to elect a new President to replace Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall who took power in a coup d'état two years ago. It is likely that a runoff election will be held as there is no clear frontrunner. (BBC)
The ninth Cricket World Cup opens in Trelawny Stadium, Montego Bay, Jamaica. The 2007 championship will feature cricket matches staged in various locations across the Caribbean. (BBC)

March 12, 2007 (Monday)

history

watch

While identifying as a Unitarian, Representative Pete Stark (D-CA) becomes the first member of the United States Congress to openly acknowledge that he does not hold a "god-belief". (Press Release) (AP via Guardian.co.uk)
The BBC's correspondent in the Gaza Strip, Alan Johnston, who is the only Gaza-based foreign reporter from a major media organisation, is kidnapped. All the main Palestinian militant groups have called for his release. (BBC)
The High Court of Zimbabwe rules that detained opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change must either be brought into court on Tuesday or released. (BBC)
Nigel Griffiths resigns as the Deputy Leader of the British House of Commons over the proposed expansion of the Trident missile system. (The Scotsman), (BBC)
Lieutenant General Kevin Kiley resigns as the surgeon general of the United States Army over the Walter Reed Medical Center scandal. (CNN) (BBC)
Asanbekov Sarybayev, the Deputy Culture Minister of the Government of Kyrgyzstan, resigns and joins the United Front For A Worthy Future For Kyrgyzstan opposition coalition. The United Front says it will hold protests in Bishkek in April against the Constitution and in favor of early presidential elections. (RFE/RL)
United Nations investigators criticise Sudan for gross human rights violations in Darfur, including murder, mass rape and kidnapping. (BBC)
The blueprint for the Chinese space program, including the first Chinese-built astronomy satellite, a joint unmanned mission to Mars with Russia, and other extensive international cooperation, is released. (PTI via the Hindu),(Xinhua)
Lawyers in Pakistan boycott courts in protest at President Pervez Musharraf's suspension of the country's Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for alleged "misuse of authority". More than 20 lawyers were injured in clashes with police during demonstrations in Lahore. (BBC)
2007 National People's Congress: After announcements in February that China's trade surplus is near a record high, in an open press conference, People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan and Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai were both vocal in their criticism towards the United States in a proposed 27.5% tariff, with Bo calling it "destructive to bilateral trade". (The New York Times) (BBC)

March 13, 2007 (Tuesday)

history

watch

Demonstrators in Mexico City clash with police as U.S. President George W. Bush meets with Mexican President Felipe Calderón in Mérida, Yucatán. (AP via Jerusalem Post)
Relatives of the 17 victims of the USS Cole bombing take Sudan to court in a civil suit claiming that the terrorist attack could not have happened without Sudan's help. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
Twenty Ecuadoran lawmakers clash with police after trying to regain their seats in Congress. The legislators were part of a group of 57 dismissed by President Rafael Correa for trying to block a referendum. (BBC)
Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe, appears in court limping and with a head wound after having been arrested on Sunday. Tsvangarai is later taken from court to a hospital under police guard. (New York Times)
Spanish police arrest Brian David Anderson, a Canadian citizen, in Madrid, on behalf of the U.S. government, for allegedly engaging in fraud and funding a terrorist camp in Afghanistan. (The Columbus Dispatch)
Alexander Veshnyakov, the head of Russia's Central Election Commission, is removed after criticising changes to electoral laws favouring United Russia associated with Vladimir Putin. (BBC)
Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney General of the United States, acknowledges that mistakes were made in the handling of the firing of eight federal prosecutors. His top aide Kyle Sampson resigns for not advising other senior officials of the Department of Justice about discussions with former White House counsel Harriet Miers regarding the possible firings. (AP via the Advocate)
At least 50 people die due to heavy snow in Kashmir and thunderstorms in the rest of northern India. (AFP via News Limited)
Five British Embassy workers kidnapped in Ethiopia twelve days ago have been set free in neighbouring Eritrea. (The Times)
The first match of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, between West Indies and Pakistan, takes place at Sabina Park in Jamaica. The West Indies win by 54 runs.(BBC)
A draft Climate Change Bill is published in the United Kingdom, outlining a framework for achieving a mandatory 60% cut in carbon emissions by 2050. (BBC)
Japan and Australia sign a security pact, the first defence treaty for Japan with a nation other than the United States since the end of World War II. (BBC)
The Mauritanian government announces that Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and Ahmed Ould Daddah have won the most votes in the first round of the 2007 presidential election, and their runoff election will be held on March 25. (Reuters)(Xinhua via People's Daily) (BBC)

March 14, 2007 (Wednesday)