March 23rd News and Events

1956 Pakistan Independence 23rd March, 1956 : The Islamic Republic of Pakistan becomes an independent republic within the British Commonwealth. Following the fighting in Pakistan and India in 1947 Muslims moved to Pakistan, creating a country where 96% of the population are Muslim.
Currently Pakistan has the world's sixth largest population. Below is a table with the worlds top ten population estimates as of latest figures.
1 People's Republic of China 1,323,353,000
2 India 1,128,000,000
3 United States 303,232,774
4 Indonesia 231,627,000
5 Brazil 186,029,000
6 Pakistan 162,312,500
7 Bangladesh 158,665,000
8 Nigeria 148,093,000
9 Russia 141,849,000
10 Japan 127,790,000

1942 U.S.A. Japanese-Americans Evacuated 23rd March, 1942: More than 600 Japanese aliens and Japanese-Americans from the Pacific Coast assembled at Pasadena's Rose Bowl under military orders to evacuate to a camp in Owens Valley, California..

1909 U.S.A. Theodore Roosevelt 23rd March, 1909: Former President Theodore Roosevelt has left for a hunting trip in Africa to collect specimen's for the Smithsonian Institution on the steamer Hamburg,

1913 U.S.A. Tornado's 23rd March, 1913: A series of tornados near Omaha, Nebraska and in Iowa kill 115 people .

1919 Italy The Italian National Fascist Party 23rd March, 1919: Benito Mussolini establishes the Fascist Party, just 2 years later in 1922 they took over power in Italy and ruled until 1943.
The party promised they could take Italy back to the times of The Great Roman Empire and make Italy once more an important world power, and expanded the Italian colonies of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan until they were formally unified into the colony of Italian Libya in 1934. In 1936 they took control after much bloody fighting of Ethiopia but managed to alienate many of the world powers over the brutal war, leaving themselves with only one other country supporting them, Germany under the power of Hitler. This was possibly the main reason Italy joined the axis pact with Germany in 1936.
The party was dissolved following the arrest of Benito Mussolini in 1943 and is the only party whose reformation is explicitly banned by the Constitution of Italy

1920 U.S.A. Women’s suffrage 23rd March, 1920 : Delaware was the last of 36 states that needed to make a decision regarding Women’s suffrage. If this state voted “yes” to the 18th Amendment, then women would be able to vote in the upcoming November presidential election.

1930 France Debt Repayment 23rd March, 1930 : France has been told that a number of ministers and deputies were awaiting the receipt of delayed war debt payments. The reason for this delay given by the Prime Minister of France was that it was awaiting action by the U.S. regarding the exact terms of the debt.

1940 Romania German Oil Embargo 23rd March, 1940 : Germany had requested help from Romania. This assistance was initially delivered in the form of oil. However, Germany had met with Allied opposition (the countries fighting against the Nazi regime in World War II). Countries opposed to Germany during the war refused to that country oil.

1955 England Aneurin Bevan 23rd March, 1955 : Clement Atlee had saved Aneurin Bevan from losing his position within the British Labor Party. Bevan’s expulsion was put on the back burner and a hearing was scheduled to take place in front of a subcommittee. He had almost lost his position in office after defying Atlee’s leadership.

1963 Korea Peace Talks 23rd March, 1963 : An offer to schedule peace talks in Seoul, Korea was made by minister Won Woo. The military government had invited representatives from 14 different political parties as well as leaders of other organizations. This meeting was set to take place on the Wednesday after this date, in the capitol conference room.

1966 Vatican Church Leaders Meet 23rd March, 1966: For the first time in more than four centuries, heads of the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches met in Vatican City. .

1972 Jordan King Hussein 23rd March, 1972 : King Hussein, the man who was commonly referred to as the “father of Jordan”, made a plan to visit the U.S. He wanted to discuss his plans for the Middle East with President Richard Nixon. At this time, Hussein was offering a proposal for forming the United Arab Kingdom. This particular political structure would be made up of two plots of land that exist on both sides of the Jordan River. Additionally, King Hussein denied plans to create a partially self-governing entity on the West Bank of the Jordan.

1981 U.S.A. Supreme Court Abortion Ruling 23rd March, 1981 : The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could require, with some exceptions, parental notification when teenage girls seek abortions .
Currently 6 states in the US do not require parental consent
Other US states require one or all of the following prior to allowing abortion.
One or both parents to be informed
One or both parents must consent
Parental notification law currently enjoined
Parental consent law currently enjoined
There are a number of other laws in each state relating to this highly charged issue and parental consent is just one of the laws used to make abortion harder or easier depending on the ideological stance in that state.

1983 U.S.A. Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) 23rd March, 1983: President Ronald Reagan proposes that the United States starts a program to develop antimissile technology that would make the country nearly impervious to attack by nuclear missiles often called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)..

1987 West Germany IRA Bombing 23rd March, 1987 : A British Army base in Rheindahlen, West Germany is targeted by a large car bomb injuring 30 as part of the ongoing war of terrorism by the IRA on British Troops.

1987 Lebanon US Hostages 23rd March, 1987 : In Lebanon, a group of Muslim kidnappers held an 1ll American hostage. They wanted to trade this sick hostage for 100 Arab prisoners held in Israel. Avi Pazner, aid to Prime Yitzhak Shamir, refused to consider the kidnappers’ demands. Pazner said that Israel does not negotiate with terrorists.

1991 Iraq Saddam Hussein 23rd March, 1991 : Saddam Hussein was defeated by allies fighting in the Gulf War, and it was announced that he had stepped down from his position as prime minister of Iraq. However, he also had at the same time created a new government, and received the support of associates close to him, so rumor had it that he was still a presidential position within the country.

2001 Space Mir Space Station Ends 23rd March, 2001 : Mir Russia's and the worlds first consistently inhabited long-term research station in space ended 15 yrs in space when it is decommissioned and ends with a planned fiery plunge into the South Pacific. The space station was originally built for only Russian space exploration. The use of Mir evolved over the years as tensions between East and West eased with the ending of the cold war to become a sign that space exploration could become a truly joint project with the US Space Shuttle taking supplies and new crew members from many countries including the US and Russia.

2002 U.S.A. War Against Terrorism Funding 23rd March, 2002 : A news report indicates that President George Bush requested an extra $27 billion from Congress for use on the war against terrorism. While Bush was visiting in El Paso, Texas he said that the “price of freedom is never too high” as far as he was concerned.

2006 France France’s marriage age is changed 23rd March, 2006 : The French parliament passes a law that raises the age at which a woman can get married from 15 to 18. The earlier law had set the minimum age for women to marry at 15, and men at 18, and had been introduced in 1804. The new legislation brings France into line with most of the other European Union members. The punishments for rape and assault of a spouse will now include partners and ex-partners, and sentences for murder have also been increased.

2007 Australia Burnley Tunnel Accident 23rd March, 2007 : A crash involving three trucks and four cars deep in the Burnley Tunnel in Melborne results in an explosion and subsequent fire which causes the death of three and the evacuation of drivers and passengers from 200 vehicles. It was estimated that at one point the fire reached temperatures in excess of 1800 °F ( 1000 °C, but for the well organised emergency services and the Tunnels design many more could have lost their lives .
This Day In History For Tomorrow March 24th Day After March 25th Or You Can Use Our Calendar at the top of the page to find the day or month you are looking for

2007 Iraq Royal Navy sailors captured in Iraqi/Iranian waters 23rd March, 2007 : Fifteen British navy personnel have been captured at gunpoint by Iranian forces. The men were seized when they boarded a boat in the Gulf, off the coast of Iraq, which they suspected was involved in smuggling. The Royal Navy has said the group was on a routine patrol in Iraqi waters, but the Iranians have said that they had illegally entered Iranian waters. The sailors were from the Type 22 frigate H.M.S. Cornwall.

2008 Iraq 4000 U.S. servicemen and women dead in Iraq 23rd March, 2008 : The number of United States military personnel killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion has passed the 4,000 mark. The latest to die were the four soldiers whose vehicle was blown up by a bomb in southern Baghdad today. A fifth soldier was wounded in the attack, which took place about 3 p.m. E.T. This milestone has come just days after Americans marked the fifth anniversary of the war's start.

2009 United States Mount Redoubt volcano Eruption 23rd March, 2009 : The Mount Redoubt volcano in Alaska has erupted again, and sent a cloud of ash to around 50,000 feet. The volcano, which is 103 miles from Anchorage, had erupted on the evening of March 22nd, and four more explosions have taken place today. The volcano's ash has fallen on towns to the north of Anchorage, although the city itself has not been affected. Alaskan Airlines have canceled nineteen flights because of the ash, and aircraft at the Elmendorf Air Force Base are also being sheltered. The National Weather Service has called it 'a light dusting.'

2010 United States Obama signs healthcare reform bill into law 23rd March, 2010 : President Obama has signed his healthcare bill, which has been hailed as the most expansive social legislation in decades, saying it enshrines "the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care.” Having signed the measure, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, he spoke to an audience of of the Democratic lawmakers who have riden the legislative process. They interrupted him repeatedly with cheers, applause and standing ovations.

2010 United States Virgin Galactic's Space Ship Two 23rd March, 2010 : Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo "VSS Enterprise" is shown to reporters from around the world on its maiden flight from the Mojave Air and Spaceport in Mojave, California, United States. Space Ship Two is designed to carry "space tourists" with tickets costing $200,000 each, under development by The Spaceship Company, a joint venture between Scaled Composites and Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group. 65,000 would-be space tourists have applied for the first batch of 100 tickets

Portugal 2011 Portugal Portuguese Prime Minister Resigns 23rd March, 2011 : The Prime Minister of Portugal, Jose Socrates, resigned after his austerity budget failed to pass in parliament. Failure to pass the budget meant that Portugal would likely join the ranks of Greece and Ireland in the European Union, and would need help from a bailout package similar to the ones that those two countries received in 2010. The budget aimed at tackling the harsh economic situation in the country included tax rises and spending cuts, however the five opposition parties all voted against it.