4
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March 4 in History
2009
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002.
2007
Estonian parliamentary election, 2007: Approximately 30,000 voters take advantage of electronic voting in Estonia, the world's first nationwide voting where part of the votecasting is allowed in the form of remote electronic voting via the Internet.
2006
No response is received in the final attempt to contact Pioneer 10 by the Deep Space Network.
2005
The car of released Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena is fired on by US soldiers after it runs a roadblock in Iraq, causing the death of an Italian Secret Service Agent and injuring two passengers.
2002
Afghanistan: Seven American Special Operations Forces soldiers are killed as they attempt to infiltrate the Shahi Kot Valley on a low-flying helicopter reconnaissance mission.
Canada bans human cloning but permits government-funded scientists to use embryos left over from fertility treatment or abortions.
2001
Hintze Ribeiro disaster, a bridge collapses in northern Portugal, killing up to 70 people.
4 March 2001 BBC bombing: a massive car bomb explodes in front of the BBC Television Centre in London, seriously injuring 1 person. The attack was attributed to the Real IRA.
1998
Gay rights: ''Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services'': The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex, although to strictly refer to this as "gay rights" is something of a misnomer.
1997
U.S. President Bill Clinton bans federally funded human cloning research.
1994
Space shuttle STS-62 (''Columbia'' 16) launches into orbit.
Bosnia's Bosniaks and Croats sign an agreement to form a federation in a loose economic union with Croatia.
1991
Sheikh Saad Al-Abdallah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, the Prime Minister of Kuwait, returns to his country for the first time since Iraq's invasion.
1990
Loyola Marymount University, All-American basketball player Hank Gathers dies on the court of a heart attack during a conference semifinal game.
1986
The Soviet Vega 1 begins returning images of Comet Halley and the first images ever of its nucleus.
1985
The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS, used since then for screening all blood donations in the United States.
1983
Bertha Wilson is appointed the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada.
1982
NASA launches the Intelsat V-508 satellite.
1980
Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory to become Zimbabwe's first black prime minister.
1977
The 1977 Bucharest Earthquake in southern and eastern Europe kills more than 1,500.
1976
The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland resulting in direct rule of Northern Ireland from London via the British parliament.
The first Cray-1 supercomputer is shipped to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico.
1970
French submarine ''Eurydice'' explodes.
1966
Canadian Pacific Air Lines DC-8-43 explodes on landing at Tokyo International Airport, killing 64 people.
1962
The United States Atomic Energy Commission announces that the first atomic power plant at McMurdo Station in Antarctica is in operation.
1960
French freighter 'La Coubre' explodes in Havana, Cuba killing 100.
1957
The S&P 500 stock market index is introduced, replacing the S&P 90.
1954
Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, announces the first successful kidney transplant.
1945
Lapland War: Finland declares war on Nazi Germany.
In the United Kingdom, Princess Elizabeth, later to become Queen Elizabeth II, joins the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service as a driver.
1944
World War II: After the success of Big Week, the USAAF begins a daylight bombing campaign of Berlin.
1943
World War II: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea in the South West Pacific comes to an end.
1941
World War II: The United Kingdom launches Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands.
1933
The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure – Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates an authoritarian rule by decree.
Frances Perkins becomes United States Secretary of Labor, the first female member of the United States Cabinet.
1931
The British Viceroy of India, Governor-General Edward Frederick Lindley Wood and Mohandas Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) meet to sign an agreement envisaging the release of political prisoners and allowing salt to be freely used by the poorest members of the population.
1930
Floods hit Languedoc and the surrounding area in south-west France, resulting in twelve départements being submerged and causing the death of over 700 people.
1929
Charles Curtis becomes the first native-American Vice President of the United States.
1925
Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to have his inauguration broadcast on radio.
1918
The first case of Spanish flu occurs, the start of a devastating worldwide pandemic.
1917
Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia's renunciation of the throne is made public, and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia publicly issues his abdication manifesto. The victory of the February Revolution.
Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives.
1911
Victor Berger (Wisconsin) becomes the first socialist congressman in U.S..
1909
U.S. President William Taft used what became known as a '''Saxbe fix''', a mechanism to avoid the restriction of the U.S. Constitution's Ineligibility Clause, to appoint Philander C. Knox as U.S. Secretary of State
1908
The Collinwood School Fire, Collinwood near Cleveland, Ohio, kills 174 people.
1904
Russo-Japanese War: Russian troops in Korea retreat toward Manchuria followed by 100,000 Japanese troops.
1902
In Chicago, the American Automobile Association is established.
1899
Cyclone Mahina sweeps in north of Cooktown, Queensland, with a {{Convert|12|m|ft}} wave that reaches up to {{Convert|5|km|mi}} inland, killing over 300.
1894
Great fire in Shanghai. Over 1,000 buildings are destroyed.
1890
The longest bridge in Great Britain, the Forth Rail Bridge in Scotland, measuring {{Convert|1710|ft|m}} long, is opened by the Prince of Wales, who later becomes King Edward VII.
1887
Gottlieb Daimler unveils his first automobile which he test runs in Esslingen and Cannstatt, Germany.
1882
Britain's first electric trams run in east London.
1877
Tchaikovsky's ballet ''Swan Lake'' receives its première performance at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
1865
Third (and last) national flag of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
1863
The Idaho Territory is created as a political division of the United States.
1861
First national flag of the Confederate States of America (the "Stars and Bars") is adopted.
1848
Carlo Alberto di Savoia signs the ''Statuto Albertino'' that will later represent the first constitution of the ''Regno d'Italia''
1837
Chicago is incorporated as a city.
1824
The "National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck" is founded in the United Kingdom, later to be renamed The Royal National Lifeboat Institution in 1858.
1814
Americans defeat the British at the Battle of Longwoods between London, Ontario and Thamesville, near present-day Wardsville, Ontario.
1813
Russian troops fighting the army of Napoleon reach Berlin in Germany and the French garrison evacuates the city without a fight.
1804
Castle Hill Rebellion: Irish convicts rebel against British colonial authority in the Colony of New South Wales.
1797
In the first ever peaceful transfer of power between elected leaders in modern times, John Adams is sworn in as President of the United States, succeeding George Washington.
1794
The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed by the U.S. Congress.
1793
French troops conquer Geertruidenberg, Netherlands.
1791
Vermont is admitted as the 14th U.S. state.
A Constitutional Act is introduced by the British House of Commons in London which envisages the separation of Canada into Lower Canada (Quebec) and Upper Canada (Ontario).
1790
France is divided into 83 ''départements'', cutting across the former provinces in an attempt to dislodge regional loyalties based on ownership of land by the nobility.
1789
In New York City, the first Congress of the United States meets, putting the United States Constitution into effect.
1778
The Continental Congress votes to ratify both the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance with France. The two treaties are the first entered into by the United States government.
1776
The American War of Independence: The Americans capture Dorchester Heights dominating the port of Boston, Massachusetts.
1681
Charles II grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania.
1675
John Flamsteed is appointed the first Astronomer Royal of England.
1665
English King Charles II declares war on the Netherlands marking the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
1629
1621
Jakarta, Java is renamed Batavia.
1611
George Abbot is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.
1570
King Philip II of Spain bans foreign Dutch students.
1519
Hernan Cortes arrives in Mexico in search of the Aztec civilization and their wealth.
1493
Explorer Christopher Columbus arrives back in Lisbon, Portugal, aboard his ship Niña from his voyage to what is now The Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean.
1492
King James IV of Scotland concludes an alliance with France against England.
1461
Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI is deposed by his Yorkist cousin, who then becomes King Edward IV.
1386
Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila) is crowned King of Poland.
1351
Ramathibodi becomes King of Siam.
1238
The Battle of the Sit River is fought in the northern part of the present-day Yaroslavl Oblast of Russia between the Mongol Hordes of Batu Khan and the Russians under Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal during the Mongol invasion of Russia.
1215
King John of England makes an oath to Pope Innocent III as a crusader to gain his support.
1152
Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of the Germans.
932
Translation of the relics of martyr Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, Prince of the Czechs.
852
Croatian Duke Trpimir I issues a statute, a document with the first known written mention of the Croats name in Croatian sources.
51
Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title ''princeps iuventutis'' (head of the youth).