HISTORY AT A GLANCE
TODAY is Saturday, March 11, the 70th day of 2017. There are 295 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date: 1975 – Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong guerrilla forces establish control over Ban Me Thuot commune from the South Vietnamese army. 1977 – The 1977 Hanafi Siege: More than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations. 1978 – Coastal Road massacre: At least 37 are killed and more than 70 are wounded when Fatah hijack an Israeli bus, prompting Israel’s Operation Litani. 1983 – Pakistan successfully conducts a cold test of a nuclear
weapon. 1990 – Lithuania declares itself independent from the Soviet
Union. 1990 – Patricio Aylwin is sworn in as the first democratically
elected President of Chile since 1970. 1993 – Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States. 2004 – Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on
rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain, kill 191 people. 2006 – Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as first female
president of Chile. 2007 – Georgia claims Russian helicopters attacked the Kodori Valley in Abkhazia, an accusation that Russia categorically denies later. 2009 – Winnenden school shooting: Sixteen are killed and 11 are injured before recent-graduate Tim Kretschmer shoots and kills himself, leading to tightened weapons restrictions in Germany. 2010 – Economist and businessman Sebastián Piñera is sworn in as President of Chile, while three earthquakes, the strongest measuring magnitude 6.9 and all centered next to Pichilemu, capital of Cardenal Caro province, hit central Chile during the ceremony. 2011 – An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. 2014 – Russia annexed Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Getting 2014 Crimean crisis and 2014–15 Russian military intervention in Ukraine.