March 12th Major News Events

1940 Burma Disturbances

1940 : Disturbances at three newspaper journalist offices were caused by a crowd of 5,000 people. A large number of this huge crowd of people was members of Burma’s workers’ union and Burma’s peasants’ union.

1945 Germany Anne Frank

1945 : Anne Frank, author of "The Diary of Anne Frank," died at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp from Typhus during a typhus epidemic that spread through the concentration camp.

1947 The Truman Doctrine

1947 : Very soon after the war President Truman had decided that to use America to stop the spread of communism around the world telling congress the country must intervene wherever necessary throughout the world to prevent the subjection of free people to Communist inspired totalitarian regimes at the expense of their national integrity.

One of the first requests to provide this support around the world to stop the spread of communism was to give $400 million in aid to bolster the hard-pressed Greek and Turkish governments against Communist pressure. This is also known as the beginning of "The Truman Doctrine" and the beginning of the battle to stop the spread of communism.

1956 Spain Stand Against Communism

1956 : A call for unity has spread among the European nations. Countries such as Yugoslavia, Greece, Spain, Brussels, Belgium, and Sweden, along with nations such as the United States, France and Italy gathered together to band against the communists. One organization responsible for this strong stand against the Reds (communists) is/was NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization).

1959 U.S.A. Hawaii

1959 : Congressional approval to admit Hawaii as the 50th state in the U.S.

1964 U.S.A. James Hoffa

1964 : The president of the powerful American Teamsters union James Hoffa is found guilty and sentenced to eight years on bribery charges. He had been on trial 4 times earlier but had not been found guilty. He appealed against the convictions and in 1966 while still going through the appeal process he was re-elected president of the lorry drivers' union in July 1966 - despite two prison sentences totaling 13 years hanging over him. He vanished in mysterious circumstances in 1975 and has never been seen since, his body has still not been found no one has been charged.

1969 England George Harrison

1969 : The police search former Beatles George Harrison’s home for illegal drugs. This was a year after John Lennon had been searched for hash (substance derived from marijuana).

1969 England Paul McCartney

1969 : Beatle Paul McCartney Marries American Linda Eastman in London.

1972 Vietnam Australia Withdraws

1972 : Australia withdraws from Vietnam following other countries withdrawal and US commitment to leave Vietnam.

1972 Cambodia Son Ngoc Thanh

1972 : Many people may have considered it just the right time for a new leader to take over as prime minister. Son Ngoc Thanh had just accepted this position, after Cambodia had went four days without a ruler. Thanh had served his country in the past as well-during World War II.

1980 U.S.A. The Killer Clown

1980 : A jury finds John Wayne Gacy Jr. ( also known as The Killer Clown ) guilty of the murders of 33 boys and young men, he had admitted the murders but he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He had started his murders in 1972 and continued till 1978 when he was caught, 27 were found in a crawl space under the floor of his house and others were found in nearby rivers. The sentence was 21 consecutive life sentences and 12 death sentences. On May 10, 1994, Gacy was executed at Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois, by lethal injection.

1984 England Miners Strike

1984 : Britain's miners have stopped work in protest against job losses with more than half the country's mineworkers now on strike. The miners are striking because of the announcement by the Chairman of the Coal Board Ian MacGregor that 20 uneconomic pits would close, putting 20,000 miners out of work. The miners' strike lasted a year and was one of the longest and possibly most damaging industrial disputes ever seen in the United Kingdom.

1986 U.S.A. Les Miserables

1986 : Following it's success in London's West End Les Miserables opens at the Broadway Theater running till it closed on May 18, 2003. In 2006 it was revived and is again on Broadway showing at the Broadhurst Theatre.

1988 Switzerland Avalanche

1988 : On 12th in 1988, a report was made regarding a narrow avalanche escape made by Prince Charles. He was skiing at a resort at the time the avalanche disaster took place. Charles barely escaped being buried by huge masses of snow. Moreover, he managed to help dig out the body of a friend Major Hugh Lindsey, former aid to Queen Elizabeth Despite the heroic royal rescue of Lindsey, he was unfortunately declared dead on arrival at a local Swiss hospital. Prince Charles’ wife Diana and the Duchess of York were also in Switzerland at the time, but they were not skiing during the avalanche occurrence. Therefore, they were not as much at risk.

1990 Germany Ticket Machines

1990 : Germany was considered to be a little behind in the implementation of computerized ticket purchase machines at this time. If this plan is approved by ticket outfits and concert halls, it was expected that this new ticket-selling service would be up and running within two years. Advantages and disadvantages of this new ticket purchasing system were expressed. The biggest pro of a computerized ticket system is that it is more convenient for buyers. One of the disadvantages is that competing performance halls can find out how well or how poorly competitors’ tickets are selling.

1993 India Bombay Bombing

1993 : A series of 13 bombs are exploded in Bombay's financial district including the Bombay Stock Exchange, Air India offices and government offices, banks, cinemas, bazaars, two hospitals, a university and several hotels, leaving over 200 dead and 1,000 injured. The bombs were thought to be in retaliation for anti-Muslim riots earlier in the year and were part of the ongoing Hindu-Muslim fighting which is still continuing today.

1994 UK Church of England Women Priests

1994 : The ordination of women as priests The Church of England begins.

2002 U.S.A. Andrea Yates

2002 : Andrea Yates, a 37-year-old housewife who drowned her five children in the bathtub of her Texas home in June, 2001 is found guilty.

2003 U.S.A. Elizabeth Smart Found

2003 : A miracle had taken place. A 15-year-old Elizabeth Smart was found in Utah nine months after being kidnapped from her home. Her abductors (employee who worked at the Smart’s home, and his wife) were captured as well, and were charged of kidnapping, burglary, and sexual assault.

2006 U.S.A. C.I.A. identities uncovered

2006 : The Chicago Tribune has compiled a list of 2,653 C.I.A. employees by searching the Internet. The newspaper states that Washington was uncertain of whether the Bush Administration had revealed the names of covert C.I.A. operatives to the press, and asserts that getting this sort of information is not so very difficult. Today's Chicago Tribune reports that it had found the names by searching commercial databases on the Internet. The Tribune's deputy managing editor for news has edited the story, and says that the paper was surprised by how much it could learn from its online sources (including supposedly undercover operatives' names). He said that: We were able to get identities, internal agency telephone numbers and the locations of some two dozen secret C.I.A. facilities around the United States. It has not published the names at the C.I.A's request. A C.I.A. spokeswoman has admitted that this will force the Agency to change its methods of protecting information.

2009 The shoe-hurling Iraqi has been jailed

2009 : The Iraqi journalist that threw his shoes at President Bush has been jailed for three years. Muntadar al-Zaidi told the court that his actions were 'just like any Iraqi' against the leader of an occupying force. Shoe hurling is a grave insult in Arab culture. Al-Zaidi has been hailed as a hero in the Arab world.

2010 Karl Rove says that he approved of waterboarding

2010 : President Bush's top political adviser has said he approved of the controversial techniques such as waterboarding. Known as the former president's 'brain,' Rove, said he did not believe that this form of interrogation amounted to torture. In an interview with BBC TV, he has claimed that waterboarding has helped prevent further terrorist attacks. 'I'm proud that we used techniques that broke the will of these terrorists and gave us valuable information that allowed us to foil plots,' he said.

2012 Robbers Attack Gold Market in Baghdad

2012 : Armed robbers killed at least nine people in an attack on a gold market in Baghdad. At least another fourteen people were injured from the robbery. Police stated that two cars full of gunmen attacked in the Ur district of the city where many jewelry shops were located in a mainly Shia area of the city. One of the men involved was arrested after the incident, but many of the others managed to escape.

2013 Vatican City Cardinals Begin Pope Vote

2013 : 115 Cardinals of the Roman Catholic church entered the Sistine Chapel to begin voting on a new Pope after Pope Benedict XVI stepped down from the position. A day later the Cardinals chose Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergolio as the new Pope who took the name Pope Francis. Pope Francis is the first Pope from Latin America and the first Jesuit pope.

2014 US President Meets Ukrainian Prime Minister

2014 : US President Barack Obama met with Ukraine's interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and pledged to back Ukraine in its dispute with Russia.