Sunday, 13 March 2016

HISTORY: Historical Events of 13th March

483        Mar 13, St. Felix began his reign as Catholic Pope.
    (HN, 3/13/98)

607        Mar 13, The 12th recorded passage of Halley's Comet occurred.
    (HN, 3/13/98)

1194        Mar 13, Richard I, King of England, landed at Sandwich and immediately prepared to march north to recover his castles.
    (ON, 8/07, p.9)

1401      Mar 13, The 1st Samogitian uprising supported by Vytautas took place against the German knights. (LHC, 3/13/03)

1519        Mar 13, The Spaniards under Cortez landed at Veracruz. Cortez landed in Mexico with 10 stallions, 5 mares and a foal.
    (SFEC,11/9/97, p.T5)(SFC, 9/2/96, p.A3)(HN, 3/13/98)

1564      Mar 13, Zigmantas Augustas gave over to Poland his rights to Lithuania and supported the Warsaw parliament recess and summons for the 1st representatives on talks regarding union.
    (LHC, 3/13/03)

1569        Mar 13, Count of Anjou defeated the Huguenots at the Battle of Jarnac. Louis Conde, French prince, co-leader of Huguenots, died in battle.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1599        Mar 13, Johannes Berchmans, Jesuit, saint, was born in Belgium.
    (MC, 3/13/02)(de Winkler Prins encyclopedia)

1610        Mar 13, Galileo published his observations of the night sky under the title “Siderius Nuncius" (Starry Messenger).
    (CW, Spring ‘99, p.36)

1615        Mar 13, Innocent XII, Roman Catholic Pope, was born.
    (HN, 3/13/98)

1634        Mar 13, Academie Francaise was established. Its task was to preserve the purity of the French language, which included maintaining a dictionary. Members came to be known as the “immortals" and by 1998 they were struggling with masculine nouns of positions held by women who desired feminine endings.
    (SFC, 1/17/98, p.A12)(MC, 3/13/02)

1639        Mar 13, Cambridge College was re-named Harvard University for clergyman John Harvard.
    (AP, 3/13/98)(MC, 3/13/02)

1656        Mar 13, Jews were denied the right to build a synagogue in New Amsterdam.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1660        Mar 13, A statute was passed limiting the sale of slaves in the colony of Virginia.
    (HN, 3/13/99)

1677        Mar 13, Massachusetts gained title to Maine for $6,000.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1716        Mar 13, Georg Gabriel Schutz (46), composer, died.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1719        Mar 13, German alchemist Johann Friedrich Bottger (b.1682) died. He was generally acknowledged as the inventor of European porcelain. Sources later ascribed this to Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. Böttger is still credited with the industrial manufacturing process of Meißen porcelain.
    (ON, 8/10, p.10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Friedrich_B%C3%B6ttger)

1733        Mar 13, Joseph Priestly (d.1804), English chemist, author and clergyman, was born. He is credited with the discovery of oxygen.
    (HN, 3/13/99)(WUD, 1994 p.1142)

1741        Mar 13, Jozef II, arch duke of Austria, Roman Catholic German emperor (1765-90), was born.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1744        Mar 13, David Allan, Scottish painter, was born.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1752        Mar 13, Josef Reicha, composer, was born.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1764        Mar 13, Charles Earl Grey (Whig), British Prime Minister (1830-1834), was born.
    (HN, 3/13/98)(MC, 3/13/02)

1777        Mar 13, Congress ordered its European envoys to appeal to high-ranking foreign officers to send troops to reinforce the American army.
    (HN, 3/13/99)

1781        Mar 13, Astronomer William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus, which he named 'Georgium Sidus,' in honor of George III. He initially though it was a comet. It is the 7th planet from the sun and revolves around the sun every 84.02 years. It is 14.6 time the size of Earth and has five satellites.
    (AHD, p.1408)(HFA, '96, p.26)(AP, 3/13/98)(HN, 3/13/99)(MC, 3/13/02)

1797        Mar 13, Cherubini's opera "Medee," premiered in Paris.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1798        Mar 13, Abigail Powers Fillmore, First Lady, was born.
    (HN, 3/13/98)

1835        Mar 13, Charles Darwin departed Valparaiso for Andes crossing.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1836        Mar 13, Refugees from the Alamo arrived in Gonzales, Texas, and informed Gen. Sam Houston of the March 6 fall of the Alamo. Houston immediately ordered a retreat.
    (ON, 8/10, p.1)

1846        Mar 13, Friedrich Hebbel's "Maria Magdalena," premiered in Konigsberg.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1848        Mar 13, Metternich was overthrown by a mob in Vienna. This ended his career as foreign minister of Austria and Emp. Francis I elevated him to the rank of prince.
    (ON, 5/04, p.4)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Kossuth)

1852        Mar 13, Uncle Sam made his debut as a cartoon character in the New  York Lantern.
    (AP, 3/13/98)

1855        Mar 13, Percival Lowell (d.1916), astronomer, was born. He predicted the discovery of the planet Pluto. He also wrote “The Soul of the Far East" and “Occult Japan." He predicted the existence of a planet behind Neptune before Pluto was discovered by Tombaugh in 1930.
    (NH, 12/96, p.22)(HN, 3/13/99)

1861        Mar 13, Jefferson Davis signed a bill authorizing slaves to be used as soldiers for the Confederacy.
    (HN, 3/13/98)

1862        Mar 13, The US Congress passed a bill prohibiting the military from returning slaves to their masters.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_Prohibiting_the_Return_of_Slaves)

1868        Mar 13, The impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson began in the U.S. Senate.
    (AP, 3/13/97)(ON, 9/01, p.7)

1869        Mar 13, Arkansas legislature passed anti-Klan law.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1872        Mar 13, Oswald Garrison Villard, American journalist, was born.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1881        Mar 13, Alexander II (b.1818), Tsar of Russia, was assassinated. A bomb was thrown at him near his palace by the anarchist group People’s Will led by Sophia Perovskaya. He was succeeded by his son Alexander III (36). A wave of repression and persecution followed. In 2005 Edvard Radzinsky authored the biography “Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar."
    (PCh, 1992, p.557)(WSJ, 4/17/03, p.D8)(WSJ, 10/27/05, p.D7)

1982        Mar 13, At the Massacre of Rio Negro 130 [177] Achi Maya women and children were killed by Xococ patrolmen. On Nov 30, 1998, three Xococ pro-government fighters, Carlos Chen, Pedro Gonzalez and Fermin Lajuj, were sentenced to death for their war crimes in the massacre. In 2003 the PBS documentary "Discovering Dominga" told the story of a Mayan girl who survived the massacre and her struggle to discover what happened to her family.
    (SFC, 12/1/98, p.A11)(SFC, 1/18/99, p.A11)(SFC, 7/14/00, p.A11)(SFC, 7/4/03, p.E3)

1883        Mar 13, Sergei Degaev (26) shot and killed Lt. Col. Georgii Sudeikin, security chief of Czar Alexander III. The 2 men had conspired to undermine both the government and the Revolutionary People’s Will. Degaev fled Russia to the US where he earned a Ph.D. in mathematics at Johns Hopkins and became the 1st math prof. At the new Univ. of South Dakota, where he taught until he died in 1921. In 2003 Richard Pipes authored “The Degaev Affair."
    (WSJ, 4/17/03, p.D8)

1884        Mar 13, US Congress adopted Eastern Standard Time for the District of Columbia.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
1884        Mar 13, Siege of Khartoum, Sudan, began. Gen. Gordon ordered a counter-attack at Halfaya and troops rescued some 500 from a Mahdist assault.
    (ON, 4/02, p.10)(MC, 3/13/02)

1886        Mar 13, Albert William Stevens, balloonist and photographer, was born.
    (HN, 3/13/01)

1887        Mar 13, Chester Greenwood of Maine patented earmuffs.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1888        Mar 13, Great Blizzard of 1888 raged. During the blizzard a cattle drover killed his biggest ox, gutted it, and crawled inside to survive the freeze.
    (SFEC, 1/25/98, Z1 p.8)(MC, 3/13/02)

1892        Mar 13, Janet Flanner, writer ("Letter from Paris"), was born.
    (HN, 3/13/01)

1894        Mar 13, The Dynamite Squadron of ships, purchased and outfitted in the US, steamed into the harbor of Rio de Janeiro. Rebel sailors immediately surrendered in exchange for safe passage to Argentina aboard Portuguese warships. The rebellion ended a weeks later when the rebel flagship, Aquidbada, was captured off Desterro by the American crew of the Nictheroy, the former Morgan steamship El Cid.
    (ON, 12/06, p.12)

1896      Mar 13, The 1st telephone station in Vilnius began operating.
    (LHC, 3/13/03)

1898        Mar 13, The ship New York, built in Philadelphia in 1888 as the T.F. Oaks,  was caught in the surf of Half Moon Bay and broke up after a few days. It was 259 days out of Hong Kong and all 22 aboard under Capt. Thomas Peabody made it to shore. Most of the cargo was lost.
    (Ind, 4/6/02, 5A)

1900        Mar 13, George Seferis (d.1991), Greek poet, was born.
    (HN, 3/13/01)

1901        Mar 13, Benjamin Harrison (67), 23rd president of the United States (1889-1893), died in Indianapolis.
    (AP, 3/13/97)(MC, 3/13/02)

1905        Mar 13, Margaretha Zelle made her debut as the oriental dancer “Mata Hari," in Paris.
    (WSJ, 1/16/97, p.A16)(AP, 3/13/97)

1906        Mar 13, Susan B. Anthony (b.1820), abolitionist and advocate of black suffrage as well as the rights of women to vote, died at age 85. Eleanor Roosevelt suggested that Susan B. Anthony should be added to the four faces of Mount Rushmore.  Eleanor Roosevelt later suggested that social reformer and woman suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony should be included with the images of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, but her suggestion was not accepted.
    (AP, 3/13/99)(HNQ, 4/17/00)

1908        Mar 13, Walter Annenberg (d.2002), publisher (Triangle-TV Guide), Ambassador to GB, was born in Milwaukee, the 6th of 9 children.
    (SFC, 10/2/02, p.A2)(AP, 3/13/08)
1908        Mar 13, Jerusalem's inhabitants saw their first automobile owned by Charles Glidden of Boston.
    (HN, 3/13/98)

1911        Mar 13, LaFayette Ron Hubbard (L. Ron Hubbard, d.1986), sci-fi writer, scientologist founder of Scientology (Dyanetics), was born.
    (SFC, 2/12/01, p.A13)(MC, 3/13/02)
1911        Mar 13, The Supreme Court approved the corporate tax law.
    (HN, 3/13/98)

1913        Mar 13, William J. Casey, headed CIA during Iran Contra scandal (1981-87), was born.
    (MC, 3/13/02)
1913        Mar 13, Kansas legislature approved censorship of motion pictures.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1913        Mar 15, Lewis Robert Wasserman (d.2002) was born in Cleveland. In 1946 Dr. Jules Stein (d.1981), founder of Music Corp. of America hired Lew Wasserman as director of advertising and public relations. Wasserman went on to expand the company as MCA Inc. into a major entertainment conglomerate.
    (SFC, 6/4/02, p.A18)

1915        Mar 13, Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson tried to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane, but the pilot substituted a grapefruit.
    (MC, 3/13/02)
1915        Mar 13, The Germans repelled a British Expeditionary Force attack at the battle of Neuve Chapelle in France.
    (HN, 3/13/99)

1918        Mar 13, Women were scheduled to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York due to a shortage of men.
    (HN, 3/13/98)

1920        Mar 13, The Kapp Putsch took place, involving a group of Freikorps troops who gained control of Berlin and installed Wolfgang Kapp (a right-wing journalist) as chancellor. The national government fled to Stuttgart and called for a general strike. The strike crippled Germany's ravaged economy and the Kapp government collapsed after only four days on March 17.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic)

1921        Mar 13, Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) declared independence from China.
    (HN, 3/13/98)(MC, 3/13/02)

1922        Mar 13, George Bernard Shaw’s "Back to Methusaleh V," premiered in NYC.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1923        Mar 13, Lee de Forest demonstrated his sound-on-film moving pictures in NYC.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1924        Mar 13, The Reichstag was dissolved for the fifth time in German history.
    (HN, 3/13/98)

1925        Mar 13, The Tennessee legislature passed the Butler Bill which prohibited the teaching of evolution in the public schools. [see Mar 21,23]
    (Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.74-76)(AP, 3/13/97)

1928        Mar 13, Rudolph Friml's musical "Three Musketeers," premiered in NYC.
    (MC, 3/13/02)
1928        Mar 13, In California hundreds of people died when the San Francisquito Valley was inundated with water after the St. Francis Dam burst just before midnight on March 12.
    (AP, 3/13/08)

1930        Mar 13, The Lowell Observatory in Arizona announced Clyde Tombaugh’s Feb 18 discovery of a new planet, later named Pluto.
    (HN, 3/13/98)(NH, 6/03, p.20)

1931        Mar 13, Rosalind Elias, mezzo-soprano, was born in Lowell, Mass.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1932        Mar 13, Hindenburg won 49.6% of the vote in the German presidential election, Hitler won 30.1%, and the rest of the votes went to other candidates. Since Hindenburg did not win a majority, a run-off election was set for April.
    (www.fff.org/freedom/fd0403a.asp)

1933        Mar 13, Banks began to re-open after a holiday declared by President Roosevelt.
    (AP, 3/13/97)
1933        Mar 13, In Germany Wagner’s opera “Die Meistersinger" was used to celebrate the first Nazi-dominated Reichstag and became the Third Reich’s national festival opera.
    (WSJ, 8/2/96, p.A10)(AP, 3/13/97)
1933        Mar 13, Josef Goebbels became Nazi minister of Information and Propaganda.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1935        Mar 13, Driving tests were introduced in Great Britain.
    (MC, 3/13/02)
1935        Mar 13, Three-thousand-year-old archives were found in Jerusalem confirming biblical history.
    (HN, 3/13/98)

1936         Mar 13, The first meeting of the Friday the 13th Club founded by Philip Klein, advertising executive, was held. Klein requested that the club self-destruct before the year 2001.
    (SFEC, 10/13/96, Parade p.19) (AP, 3/13/97)
1936        Mar 13, William Alexander Coulter (b.1849), Irish-born maritime artist, died, in Ca.
    (SFC, 7/4/05, p.B1)(www.edanhughes.com/biography.cfm?ArtistID=145)

1938        Mar 13, Clarence S. Darrow (80), famed attorney in the Scopes Monkey Trial, died in Chicago.
    (AP, 3/13/98)(MC, 3/13/02)

1940        Mar 13, The 105-day war between Russia and Finland ended with the signing of a treaty in Moscow. Finland capitulated conditionally to Soviet terms, but maintains its independence. Some 27,000 Finnish soldiers were killed and 43,000 wounded in a population of 3.7 million. The Soviet Union put its losses at 217,500 dead or wounded.
    (HN, 3/13/01)(AP, 11/30/09)

1941        Mar 13, Hitler issued an edict calling for an invasion of the USSR
    (HN, 3/13/98)

1942        Mar 13, Julia Flikke of the Nurse Corps became the first woman colonel in the U.S. Army.
    (HN, 3/13/98)

1943        Mar 13, There was a failed assassination attempt on Hitler during the Smolensk-Rastenburg flight.
    (MC, 3/13/02)
1943        Mar 13, Germans closed the Krakow ghetto in Poland.
    (HN, 3/13/98)
1943        Mar 13, Japanese forces ended their attack on the American troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville.
    (HN, 3/13/99)

1945        Mar 13, Queen Wilhelmina returned to Netherlands.
    (MC, 3/13/02)
1945        Mar 13, Peru declared war on Germany.
    (HN, 3/13/98)   
   
1947        Mar 13, "The Best Years of Our Lives" won the Academy Award for best picture of 1946; Oscars also went to its director, William Wyler, lead actor Fredric March and supporting actor Harold Russell; Olivia De Havilland won best actress for "To Each His Own"; Anne Baxter won best supporting actress for "The Razor's Edge."
    (SFEC, 3/23/97, DB p.38)(AP, 3/13/97)
1947        Mar 13, The Lerner and Loewe musical "Brigadoon" opened on Broadway for 581 performances.
    (AP, 3/13/97)(http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=1534)

1951        Mar 13, Israel demanded DM 6.2 billion ($1.5 billion) in German reparations for the cost of caring for war refugees.
    (HN, 3/13/98)(MC, 3/13/02)
1951        Mar 13, Alfred Hugenberg, German RC pres-dir of Krupp, media magnate, died.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1954        Mar 13, Viet Minh General Giap opened an assault on French forces at Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam. In 2010 Ted Morgan (aka Sanche Armand Gabriel de Gramont) authored “Valley of Death: The Tragedy at Dien Bien Phu That Led America into the Vietnam War."
    (HN, 3/14/98)(Econ, 4/3/04, p.86)(Econ, 2/20/10, p.80)

1957        Mar 13, The FBI arrested Jimmy Hoffa on bribery charges.
    (HN, 3/13/98)
1957        Mar 13, Bloody battles followed an anti-Batista demonstration in Havana, Cuba.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1960        Mar 13, NFL's Chicago Cardinals moved to St Louis.
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1961        Mar 13, Pablo Picasso (79) married his model Jacqueline Rocque (37).
    (MC, 3/13/02)

1962        Mar 13, John F. Kennedy met Cameroon President Ahmadou Ahidjo.
    (HN, 3/13/98)

1963        Mar 13, China invited  Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to visit Peking.
    (HN, 3/13/98)

1964        Mar 13, In a notorious case 38 residents of a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens reportedly failed to respond to the cries of Kitty Genovese (28), a gay woman, as she was being stabbed to death. Winston Mosely was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. In  2014 Kevin Cook authored “Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime That Changed America." Here he refutes the story of 38 witnesses and details the what happened.
    (AP, 3/13/97)(AARP Bulletin, 3/14, p. 24)

1965        Mar 13, Corrado Gini (b.1884), Italian statistician, died. He developed the Gini coefficient, a measure of the income inequality in a society. Gini was also a leading fascist theorist and ideologue who wrote “The Scientific Basis of Fascism" in 1927.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrado_Gini)(Economist, 10/13/12, SR p.4)

1968        Mar 13, Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) and Humble Oil and Refining Company (now Exxon Company, U.S.A.) announced the discovery of oil on Alaska’s North Slope (Prudhoe Bay). The oil companies soon began efforts to construct a pipeline, but work was suspended due to environmental concerns.
    (AH, 2/05, p.14)(www.alyeska-pipe.com/Pipelinefacts/Chronology.html)

1969        Mar 13, In Vietnam Navy Lt. John Kerry rescued Jim Rassman on the Bay Hap River while under Viet Cong fire. In 2004 Kerry became the Democratic nominee for President.
    (SSFC, 2/8/04, p.A1)
1969        Mar 13, The Apollo 9 astronauts splashed down, ending a mission that included the successful testing of the lunar module.
    (AP, 3/13/97)

1970        Mar 13, Cambodia ordered Hanoi and Viet Cong troops to get out.
    (HN, 3/13/98)

1971        Mar 13, Rockwell Kent (b.1882), artist, illustrator and printmaker, died in New York. He was a member of the rugged realist school of landscape painters. In the 1930s he created a set of illustrations for "Moby Dick." In 1935 he authored “Salamina," a memoir of his first Arctic winter (1931–32) painting and exploring while based in the settlement of Igdlorssuit, Greenland. In 1960 he donated 80 paintings and 800 watercolors to the people of the Soviet Union.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockwell_Kent)(WSJ, 8/15/00, p.A24)(SFC, 8/25/01, p.D12)

1973        Mar 13, George Norman skipped out of Denver on a 2-year sentence for embezzling more than $500,000 from the now defunct Rocky Mountain Bank. He evaded arrest for 23 years and made millions by legal means until his capture in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1996.
    (SFC, 11/26/96, p.A8)

1974        Mar 13, The Dow Jones dropped to 577.60.
    (WSJ, 7/22/96, p.B1)(http://tinyurl.com/4uu3s9)

1975        Mar 13, Bernard Slade's "Same Time, Next Year," premiered in NYC. In 1978 it was made into a film starring Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda.
    (www.theatredb.com/QShow.php?sid=s1314)

1976        Mar 13, In California a jury convicted 4 Black Muslims for 3 murders and 4 assaults out of a total of 23 Bay Area crimes that included 14 murders. Jessie Lee Cooks, Larry Craig Green, Manuel Moore and J.C.X. Simon were given life sentences.
    (SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22)

1977        Mar 13, Jan Patocka (b.1907), Czech philosophy professor and one of the three founding spokesmen of “Charter 77," died following a grueling 11-hour interrogation.
    (Econ, 12/31/11, p.32)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Pato%C4%8Dka)

1979        Mar 13, European Monetary System (EMS) entered into force.
    (http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1961/index_en.htm)

1980        Mar 13, Ford Motor Chairman Henry Ford II announced he was stepping down.
    (AP, 3/13/00)
1980        Mar 13, A jury in Winamac, Ind., found Ford Motor Company innocent of reckless homicide in the fiery deaths of three young women riding in a Ford Pinto.
    (AP, 3/13/00)

1981        Mar 13, Pres. Reagan granted Atlanta $1.5 million to search for the murderer of some 20 black children.
    (http://tinyurl.com/3ytusv)
1981        Mar 13, In the Poletown case the Michigan Supreme Court allowed Detroit to take 1,000 homes and 600 businesses to make way for a General Motors Corp. plant. The decision was overturned in 2004 when the court ruled that state and local governments may not take property from one private owner and give it to another purely for the purpose of economic development.
    (WSJ, 7/30/04, p.A6)(www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/2920831.html)

1982        Mar 13, In Guatemala at the Massacre of Rio Negro 177 Achi Maya women and children were killed by Xococ patrolmen. On Nov 30, 1998, three Xococ pro-government fighters, Carlos Chen, Pedro Gonzalez and Fermin Lajuj, were sentenced to death for their war crimes in the massacre. In 2003 the PBS documentary "Discovering Dominga" told the story of a Mayan girl who survived the massacre and her struggle to discover what happened to her family. In 2008 5 former paramilitary members were sentenced to 780 years each in prison for massacring 26 people at Rio Negro.
    (SFC, 12/1/98, p.A11)(SFC, 1/18/99, p.A11)(SFC, 7/14/00, p.A11)(SFC, 7/4/03, p.E3)(AP, 5/30/08)

1983        Mar 13, "Woman of the Year" closed at Palace Theater NYC after 770 performances.
    (www.ibdb.com/production.asp?id=4104)

1985        Mar 13, Konstantin Chernenko was buried near the Kremlin Wall in Moscow. Mikhail Gorbachev became the new leader of the Soviet Union. He oversaw the dismantling of the Soviet nuclear arms stockpile and the end of the Soviet Union itself.
    (HN, 3/13/99)

1986        Mar 13, The US submarine Nathaniel Green was severely damaged when it ran aground in the Irish Sea. It was deactivated in May, 1986.
    (http://navysite.de/ssbn/ssbn636.htm)
1986        Mar 13, Ed Balatti (62), a San Francisco used car dealer, was arrested and charged with fencing everything from TVs to vintage wines. This climaxed an 11-month undercover investigation. Balatti had played as an end on the original 49-er football team in 1946-48.
    (SSFC, 3/13/11, DB p.42)
1986        Mar 13, Microsoft Corp., an 11-year-old company, went public and rose from $21 to $28 on opening day. Revenues for the year were $197 million and it employed 1,153 people. At its debut Microsoft was worth $519 mil. with just over $85 mil. in revenue for the prior six months.
    (Wired, 12/98, p.196)(WSJ, 8/9/95, p.C-1)

1987        Mar 13, John Gotti was acquitted of racketeering.
    (HN, 3/13/98)
1987        Mar 13, The president of Ecuador announced his country had suspended payments on its foreign debt after earthquakes killed hundreds of people and ruptured the country's main oil pipeline. The quake destroyed nearly 25 miles of oil pipeline.
    (AP, 3/13/97)(SFC, 5/1/03, A8)
1987        Mar 13, Gerald Moore (b.1899), pianist, died in England. The book: “Am I Too Loud?, Memoirs of Gerald Moore" was published in 1962.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Moore)

1988        Mar 13, Yielding to student protests, the board of trustees of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a liberal arts college for the hearing-impaired, chose I. King Jordan to become the school's first deaf president, replacing Elisabeth Ann Zinser, a hearing woman..
    (AP, 3/13/98)
1988        Mar 13, John Curtis Holmes, former porn star, died of an AIDS-related illness. In 2003 the film "Wonderland" starred Val Kilmer as Holmes.
    (ST, 10/17/03, p.22H)(http://tinyurl.com/4whfj)

1989        Mar 13, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration began a quarantine of all fruit imported from Chile after traces of cyanide were found in two Chilean grapes.
    (AP, 3/13/99)
1989        Mar 13, The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a five-day mission.
    (AP, 3/13/99)
1989        Mar 13, In Canada a transformer failure on one of the main power transmission lines in the HydroQuebec system precipitated a catastrophic collapse of the entire power grid. The string of events that produced the collapse took only 90 seconds from start to finish. The transformer failure was a direct consequence of ground induced currents from a solar flare. 6 million people lost electrical power for 9 or more hours.
    (www.windows.ucar.edu/spaceweather/blackout.html)(ON, 4/12, p.6)

1990        Mar 13, President Bush lifted trade sanctions against Nicaragua in a show of support for President-elect Violeta Chamorro.
    (AP, 3/13/00)
1990        Mar 13, The Soviet Congress of People's Deputies approved Mikhail S. Gorbachev's proposals for a multiparty political system headed by a powerful president.
    (AP, 3/13/00)
1990        Mar 13, Bruno Bettelheim (86), Austrian-US psychoanalyst, committed suicide. His books included "The Empty Fortress" (1967), on infantile autism and "the Use of Enchantment" (1976), a study of fairy tales. In 1996 Richard Pollak wrote: "The Creation of Dr. B: A Biography of Bruno Bettelheim." In 2002 Theron Raines authored "Rising to the Light: A Portrait of Bruno Bettelheim."
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Bettelheim)(SFC, 12/29/96, BR p.1)(SSFC, 9/8/02, p.M4)

1991        Mar 13, President Bush, during a visit to Ottawa, Canada, warned Iran against seizing Iraqi territory in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War.
    (AP, 3/13/01)
1991        Mar 13, Exxon pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to pay $100 million fine in a $1.1 billion settlement of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The deal fell apart when the Alaska House rejected it. A new settlement was reached later.
    (www.epa.gov/history/topics/valdez/02.htm)(HN, 3/13/98)(AP, 3/13/01)

1992         Mar 13, The U.N. Security Council stood firm in its demand that Iraq comply totally with Gulf War cease-fire resolutions, rebuffing an appeal for leniency from Saddam Hussein's special envoy, deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz.
    (AP, 3/13/97)
1992        Mar 13, Some 498 died in an earthquake at Erzincan, Turkey.
    (www.uwm.edu/Dept/Geosciences/qketour/qkexampl/qk990817.html)

1993        Mar 13, A deadly blizzard paralyzed much of the East Coast, leaving more than 100 dead in its wake. Syracuse, NY, was covered with fresh snow 43 inches thick.
    (AP, 3/13/98)(SFC, 3/13/09, p.D8)
1993        Mar 13, The Russian Congress adjourned after a session that seriously weakened President Boris Yeltsin's power.
    (AP, 3/13/98)

1994        Mar 13, The Israeli Cabinet outlawed two Jewish extremist groups, Kach and Kahane Lives, branding them terrorist organizations.
    (AP, 3/13/99)
1994        Mar 13, A South African diplomat took over as leader of Bophuthatswana as the black homeland's president, Lucas Mangope, was deposed.
    (AP, 3/13/99)
1994        Mar 13, The oil tanker Nassia collided with an empty cargo ship at the entrance of the Bosporus. 27-29 people lost their lives. 9,000 tons of petroleum spilled and 20,000 tons burned for four days long affecting the marine environment.
    (www.bosphorusstrait.com/the-bosporus-strait/incidents/)(AP, 4/27/11)

1995        Mar 13, Two Americans working for U.S. defense contractors in Kuwait, David Daliberti and William Barloon, were seized by Iraq after they strayed across the border; sentenced to eight years in prison, both were freed the following July.
    (AP, 3/13/00)
1995        Mar 13, Istanbul police killed at least 15 Alawi (Alevi) demonstrators.
    (http://tinyurl.com/byu4j)

1996        Mar 13, World leaders, including President Clinton, held a summit in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, where they vowed unequivocal support for the Mideast peace process.
    (AP, 3/13/97)
1996        Mar 13, Liggett, the nation's fifth-largest tobacco company, made history by settling a private class-action lawsuit alleging cigarette makers manipulated nicotine to hook smokers. Liggett became the first tobacco company to acknowledge that cigarettes are addictive and cause cancer. In 1997 Bennet LeBow, owner of Liggett, revealed that Philip Morris had agreed to pay $10 million per year in legal fees while he kept silent.
    (AP, 3/15/97)(SFC, 7/22/97, p.A2)
1996        Mar 13, Thomas Hamilton (43) killed 16 kindergarten children, a teacher and himself in a classroom in Dunblane, Scotland.
    (WSJ, 3/14/96, p.A-1)(AP, 3/13/01)

1997        Mar 13, Eddie DeBartolo, owner of the SF 49ers, was awarded a Louisiana casino license one day after paying former Gov. Edwin Edwards $400,000 in cash.
    (SFC, 4/12/00, p.A5)
1997        Mar 13, The UN General Assembly voted 130 to 2 for Israel to abandon its plan to build new Jewish housing on Arab land.
    (SFC, 3/14/97, p.A12)
1997        Mar 13, In Australia it was revealed that the 1995 award-winning autobiography of an Aboriginal woman, “My Own Sweet Time, “ was actually written by a 47-year-old white man in Sidney named Leon Carmen.
    (SFC, 3/14/97, p.A16)
1997        Mar 13, A Jordanian soldier fired on Israeli junior high school girls on a field trip, killing seven of them. The soldier, Cpl. Ahmed Daqamseh, was later sentenced by a military court to life in prison.
    (SFC, 3/14/97, p.A13)(AP, 3/13/98)
1997        Mar 13, Four masked, suspected Islamic gunmen opened fire in a Christian village in southern Egypt and killed 14 men before escaping.
    (SFC, 3/14/97, p.A16)(AP, 3/13/98)

1998        Mar 13, US Sergeant Major Gene McKinney (47), once the Army's top enlisted man, was cleared on 18 of 19 charges brought against him by women who said he pressured them for sex. He was convicted for obstruction of justice for trying to persuade his chief accuser to lie. McKinney was reprimanded and demoted by one rank.
    (SFC, 3/14/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 3/17/98, p.A1)(AP, 3/13/99)
1998        Mar 13, U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, D-Mass., announced he would not seek a seventh term.
    (AP, 3/13/99)
1998        Mar 13, Canada legalized the growing of industrial hemp
    (SFC, 3/14/98, p.A10)
1998        Mar 13, Israeli and Palestinian troops made a joint effort to end four days of protests over the killing of West Bank workers.
    (SFC, 3/14/98, p.A9)
1998        Mar 13, In Korea Pres. Kim Dae-Jung approved an amnesty that cleared the records of 0f 5.5 million Koreans and freed scores of political prisoners. He also planned to release 2,300 prison inmates who spent over 2 decades in jail for supporting North Korea.
    (SFC, 3/13/98, p.A14)
1998        Mar 13, In Kosovo 40,000 ethnic Albanians protested against Serbia.
    (SFC, 3/14/98, p.A8)

1999        Mar 13, Evander Holyfield, the WBA and IBF champion, and Lennox Lewis, the WBC champion, kept their respective titles after fighting to a controversial draw in New York.
    (AP, 3/13/00)
1999        Mar 13, It was reported that Nasa measurements showed ice sheets in the low-lying areas of Greenland were melting at the rate of 3-feet per year.
    (SFC, 3/13/99, p.A6)(AP, 3/13/00)
1999        Mar 13, Garson Kanin, playwright and film director, died in New York at age 86.
    (SFEC, 3/14/99, p.D8)
1999        Mar 13, In Indonesia the National Front Party of prime minister Mahathir Mohamad won elections in oil-rich Sabah state with 25 of the 48 seats.
    (SFEC, 3/14/99, p.A8)
1999        Mar 13, In Kosovo 2 bombs struck in Podujevo and 1 in Kosovska Mitrovica killing 6 people and wounding 58. The state TV blamed the Albanians, who in turn blamed the Serbs.
    (SFEC, 3/14/99, p.A17)
1999        Mar 13, Serb government forces destroyed more than 25 homes of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, apparently in retaliation for the killing of Serb civilians.
    (AP, 3/13/00)
1999        Mar 13, In Turkey 13 people were killed in a bomb attack on a shopping center in the Goztepe section of Istanbul.
    (SFEC, 3/14/99, p.A24)
1999        Mar 13, In Zimbabwe three Americans appeared in court on charges of terrorism, espionage and sabotage against Pres. Kabila. They had been tortured and pictures with the names: Gary George Blanchfield, Jona Lamonte-Dixon, and Joseph Pettijohn were displayed. The men were associated with Harvestfield Ministries in Indianapolis.
    (SFC, 3/13/99, p.A13)(SFC, 3/15/99, p.A8)(WSJ, 3/15/99, p.A1)

2000        Mar 13, A quarter century after the end of the Vietnam War, US Defense Secretary William Cohen arrived in Hanoi to push the pace of reconciliation.
    (AP, 3/13/01)
2000        Mar 13, CBS began filming its “Survivor" show on the Malaysian island of Pulau Tiga. Filming lasted to April 20 and the last survivor was to be awarded a $1 million prize.
    (SFC, 6/2/00, p.C15)
2000        Mar 13, The Tribune Co. bought the LA Times in a $6.5 billion merger with the Times Mirror Co. This ended 119 years of ownership of the LA Times by the Otis and Chandler families.
    (SFC, 3/14/00, p.A1)
2000        Mar 13, In Costa Rica 2 American women were found shot to death near Cabhuita. Emily Howell of Kentucky and Emily Eagen of Michigan were attacked while driving an SUV. A 16-year-old boy was later arrested and 2 other suspects were sought. Jorge Alberto Urbina (19) was arrested Mar 28. The 16-year-old was sentenced to 14 ½ years in prison.
    (SFC, 3/15/00, p.A10)(SFC, 3/28/00, p.A12)(SFC, 3/29/00, p.A15)(SFC, 7/28/00, p.A12)
2000        Mar 13, In Japan the government reported that the economy swung back into recession at the end of 1999.
    (SFC, 3/13/00, p.A11)
2000        Mar 13, In Taiwan the Taipei market dropped 617 points in fear of an election win by Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian.
    (SFC, 3/14/00, p.A8)
2000        Mar 13, In Mongolia the Red Cross reported that winter blizzards had killed over 1 million head of livestock and that some 300,000 people were short of food. The dead animal number was soon raised to 1.8 million, or 1 in every 15 in the nation.
    (SFC, 3/14/00, p.A10)(SFC, 3/27/00, p.A12)

2001        Mar 13, Pres. Bush backed off from seeking reductions in carbon dioxide emissions due to projected higher energy costs from a shift from coal to natural gas.
    (SFC, 3/14/01, p.A1)
2001        Mar 13, Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian national who was arrested with a carload of explosives just before New Year's Eve 1999, went on trial in Los Angeles on charges of plotting to bomb Seattle and other U.S. cities during the millennium celebrations. He was convicted of terrorism the following month.
    (AP, 3/13/02)
2001        Mar 13, In China four writers were detained a few months after they had formed the New Youth Study Group for discussing political change in China. In 2003 Xu Wei (28) and Jin Haike (26) were sentenced to 10 years in prison for subverting state power. Yang Zili (32) and Zhang Honghai (29) were sentenced to 8 years. Wei and Haike were released On March 12, 2011, after completing their jail terms.
    (SFC, 5/30/03, p.A16)(AP, 3/13/11)
2001        Mar 13, In Costa Rica Shannon Martin (23), a student from Topeka, Kan., was stabbed to death, after she left a nightclub in Golfito, 100 miles south of San Jose. In 2003 Kattia Cruz, 28, and Luis Alberto Castro, 38, were found guilty of murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison for the killing.
    (AP, 11/25/03)
2001        Mar 13, France announced its first case of foot-and-mouth disease, prompting the U.S. Department of Agriculture to suspend imports of livestock and fresh meat from the European Union.
    (SFC, 3/14/01, p.A1)(AP, 3/13/02)
2001        Mar 13, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 351 to 11,819, a 16-year low.
    (WSJ, 3/14/01, p.A14)
2001        Mar 13, In Indonesia supporters and opponents of Pres. Wahid staged protests as police clashed with students who threw rocks and gasoline bombs in Jakarta.
    (SFC, 3/14/01, p.A9)
2001        Mar 13, North Korea cancelled negotiations with South Korea due to Pres. Bush’s toughened stance on the North.
    (SFC, 3/14/01, p.A10)

2002        Mar 13, President Bush declared at a news conference that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was a menace "and we're going to deal with him," and said Osama bin Laden had been reduced to a marginal figure in the war on terrorism.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2002        Mar 13, The US Senate rejected higher fuel economy standards for cars.
    (SFC, 3/14/02, p.A1)
2002        Mar 13, Pres. Mubarek of Egypt said he would press Iraq to readmit UN weapons inspectors and had received indications of agreement.
    (SFC, 3/14/02, p.A6)
2002        Mar 13, In India a high-court panel ruled that no religious ceremony may be held in Ayodhya at the 67-acre site of the former Babri Masjid mosque, destroyed by Hindus in 1992. Mahant Paramhans Ramchandra, head of the Ram temple movement, vowed to defy the court order.
    (SFC, 3/14/02, p.A7)(SFC, 3/15/02, p.A16)
2002        Mar 13, In Indonesia Sjahril Sabirin, governor of the central bank, was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 3 years in prison. In 1999 some $80 million intended for the bailout of PT Bank Bali was used to help finance the election campaign of then Pres. Habibie.
    (WSJ, 3/14/02, p.A10)
2002        Mar 13, Palestinians set off a bomb next to an Israeli tank escorting a convoy in Gaza and 3 Israelis were killed. 2 Palestinians stabbed an Israeli husband and wife in Nachliel. An Italian photographer was killed by fire from an Israeli tank.
    (SFC, 3/14/02, p.A6)(WSJ, 3/14/02, p.A1)
2002        Mar 13, In the Philippines Agus Dwikarna (b.1964), a Jemaah Islamiya Terrorist Operations Facilitator, was arrested. In July he was convicted of carrying C-4 plastic explosives and bomb parts at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport as he and two other Indonesians were leaving Manila for Bangkok. He was sentenced to a prison term of 10 to 17 years. In 2014 Dwikarna was deported back to Indonesia.
    (www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/agus_dwikarna.htm)(AP, 3/5/14)
2002        Mar 13, In Zimbabwe Pres. Mugabe was declared the winner with 1.6 million votes to Tsvangirai’s 1.2 mil. The opposition apposed the results and many observers described the process as deeply flawed.
    (SFC, 3/14/02, p.A7)

2003        Mar 13, Forced into a diplomatic retreat, U.S. officials said President Bush might delay a vote on his troubled United Nations resolution or even drop it, and fight Iraq without the international body's backing.
    (AP, 3/13/04)
2003        Mar 13, The Senate voted 64-33 to ban a procedure that critics called partial birth abortion.
    (AP, 3/13/04)
2003        Mar 13, In Alaska Robert Sorlie of Norway won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race in nine days, 15 hours, 47 minutes.
    (AP, 3/13/04)
2004        Mar 13 Iran froze inspections of its nuclear facilities after the U.N. atomic agency censured Tehran for hiding suspect activities. Tehran relented two days later.
    (AP, 3/12/05)
2003        Mar 13, Israeli soldiers mistakenly killed 2 Israeli security guards.
    (SFC, 3/14/03, p.A13)
2003        Mar 13, Nepal and Maoist rebels agreed to release all prisoners of war and set guidelines for peace.
    (WSJ, 3/14/03, p.A1)
2003        Mar 13, The UN Human Rights chief excoriated the US Guantanamo policy. He said the world shouldn't have territory "where no law applies."
    (WSJ, 3/14/03, p.A1)

2004        Mar 13, In the first DARPA Grand Challenge robotic vehicles began a 200-mile road race near Barstow, California. The Pentagon sponsored race ended without a winner, as none of the autonomous vehicles built by the 15 qualifying teams was able to travel farther than 7 miles from the starting line.
    (SFC, 3/13/04, p.A1)(AP, 3/14/04)
2004        Mar 13, In Afghanistan Taliban armed with rockets and heavy machine guns attacked a government office near the Afghan-Pakistan border, sparking a firefight that killed one Afghan soldier and three Taliban.
    (AP, 3/14/04)
2004        Mar 13 Iran froze inspections of its nuclear facilities after the U.N. atomic agency censured Tehran for hiding suspect activities. Tehran relented two days later.
    (AP, 3/12/05)
2004        Mar 13, In Tikrit, Iraq, a roadside bomb killed two American soldiers and wounded three. 3 American soldiers died in two bomb explosions in Baghdad. A 4th died from his injuries the next morning.
    (AP, 3/13/04)(AP, 3/14/04)
2004        Mar 13, Israeli soldiers shot and killed two Palestinian militants in an off-limits military zone between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
    (AP, 3/13/04)
2004        Mar 13, In Pakistan the India cricket team beat a Pakistan team at Karachi's National Stadium in a match that came down to the final ball.
    (SSFC, 3/14/04, p.A15)

2005        Mar 13, The Disney Corp. board of directors named Robert Iger to succeed Michael Eisner in October.
    (WSJ, 3/14/05, p.A1)
2005        Mar 13, In southern Brazil a tourist-filled bus crashed into a logging truck, killing seven people and injuring at least 20.
    (AP, 3/13/05)
2005        Mar 13, Paul Schaefer (83), former head of a secretive German colony in southern Chile, was flown to Santiago after his arrest in Argentina. Schaefer founded Colonia Dignidad, or Dignity Colony, a commune-like enclave in 1961, and is accused in the disappearance of a dissident under dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
    (AP, 3/13/05)
2005        Mar 13, In India at least 19 people were killed and 15 injured when a bus skidded off a mountain road into a deep gorge in Uttaranchal.
    (AP, 3/13/05)
2005        Mar 13, Israel's Cabinet adopted a report on the state's complicity in setting up 105 illegal West Bank settlement outposts and decided to dismantle 24 of them.
    (AP, 3/13/05)
2005        Mar 13, Kyrgyzstan held parliamentary runoff elections amid rising tension over signs the longtime leader plans to extend his rule beyond constitutional limits. President Askar Akayev (60) won an overwhelmingly loyal Parliament in runoff elections. The opposition won 6 of 75 seats and said the vote was riddled with abuses.
    (AP, 3/14/05)(SFC, 3/15/05, p.A3)
2005        Mar 13, Vigilantes in Oaxaca, Mexico, killed a state police officer setting him on fire in revenge for the shooting of a taxi driver in a barroom brawl.
    (AP, 3/13/05)
2005        Mar 13, Saudi police killed an alleged Islamic militant and arrested three others in a shootout at a suspected terror cell hideout in the Red Sea city of Jiddah.
    (AP, 3/13/05)
2005        Mar 13, In Musina, South Africa, thousands of protesters held an 18-hour vigil on the border with Zimbabwe to demonstrate against mounting repression in the neighboring country two weeks before a key parliamentary election there.
    (AP, 3/13/05)
2005        Mar 13, Pope John Paul II was released from the hospital and returned to his Vatican apartment overlooking St. Peter's Square.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2005        Mar 13, Venezuela announced that it would seize parts of 4 large estates, some 270,000 acres of farmland, after finding irregularities in their ownership status.
    (WSJ, 3/15/05, p.A18)

2006        Mar 13, The US Agriculture Dept. confirmed that a cow in Alabama had tested positive for mad cow disease. The animal had not entered the food supply for people of animals. This case of the disease, as well as one from Texas in 2005, was later reported as atypical.
    (SFC, 3/14/06, p.A3)(SFC, 6/12/06, p.A6)
2006        Mar 13, The 47 lacrosse players at Duke Univ., North Carolina, paid a couple of strippers to entertain them. Events this night led to the arrest of 2 players on April 18. In 2014 William Cohan authored “The Price of Silence: The Duke Lacrosse Scandal, the Power of the Elite, and the Corruption of Our Great Universities."
    (Econ, 9/15/07, p.46)(Econ, 4/12/14, p.83)
2006        Mar 13, Deadly tornadoes raked the Midwest while wildfires scorched the Texas Panhandle.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2006        Mar 13, The Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Black Sabboth, Blondie, Miles Davis, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Sex Pistols at a ceremony in NYC.
    (SFC, 3/14/06, p.A2)
2006        Mar 13, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force announced a merger with the Institute for Welcoming Resources, a religious group representing 1,400 Protestant organizations that unconditionally welcome gays and lesbians.
    (SFC, 3/14/06, p.A2)
2006        Mar 13, US Credit-card issuer Capital One Financial Corp. said it has agreed to buy North Fork Bancorp. Inc. in a stock and cash deal worth about $14.6 billion.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, The McClatchy Co. said it has reached a deal to buy Knight Ridder Inc., the second-largest U.S. newspaper publisher, for about $4.5 billion in cash and stock. McClatchy will also assume about $2 billion in Knight Ridder's debt.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, South Korea’s Kia Motors Corp. said it will build a $1.2 billion factory in West Point, Ga., its first in the US. Toyota said it will build a plant in Lafayette, Ind.
    (SFC, 3/14/06, p.D3)
2006        Mar 13, Heart researchers said clogging of arteries by plaque was reversed through aggressive use of an anticholesterol statin.
    (WSJ, 3/14/06, p.A1)
2006        Mar 13, Peter Tomarken (63), former host of the 1980s TV game show "Press Your Luck," and his wife, Kathleen Abigail Tomarken (41), were killed along with 2 others when their small plane crashed into Santa Monica Bay, Ca.
    (www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,18559,00.html?fdnews)
2006        Mar 13, Maureen Stapleton (b.1925), film and stage actress, died in Lenox, Mass.
    (SFC, 3/14/06, p.B5)
2006        Mar 13, Abdul Rahim Wardak, Afghanistan's defense minister, said the national army will be fully operational within four to five years and ready to take over more responsibility for security from international troops.
    (Reuters, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, A UN agency said bird flu has been found at two sites in Afghanistan and there's a high risk that tests could prove it to be the deadly H5N1 strain.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, Bangladesh riot police fired tear gas in Dhaka to disperse hundreds of stone-throwing activists who tried to march in support of a general strike.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, Rana Abdel Rahim Koleilat (39), a fugitive bank executive wanted for questioning in the U.N. probe of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination, was arrested in Brazil on an unrelated charge. She offered officers up to $200,000 to release her and was arrested on a charge of attempted bribery. In 2003 Koleilat made headlines in Lebanon and Europe in connection with questions about her role in the disappearance of $300 million from the private Medina Bank where she worked. The funds' disappearance was the worst financial scandal at a Lebanese bank since the country's 1975-90 civil war.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, Defense Secretary John Reid said Britain will cut its forces in Iraq by 10 percent, a reduction of about 800 troops, by May because Iraqi security forces are becoming more capable of handling security.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, In London 6 men participated in a drug trial and soon became seriously ill. The men had been given does of TGN1412, a monoclonal antibody developed by TeGenero AG of Wuerzburg, Germany, for treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and leukemia.
    (AP, 3/16/06)(Econ, 4/8/06, p.78)
2006        Mar 13, Newly inaugurated President Michelle Bachelet said that all Chileans older than 60 will immediately begin receiving free care at public hospitals.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, News reports said the world industrial-standards association has rejected China's controversial wireless encryption standard for global use.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, Liu Zhijun, China’s minister of railways, announced $25 billion plans to build two new high-speed train lines linking Shanghai with Beijing (1320km) and another linking Shanghai and Hangzhou (175km). Plans included the use of magnetic levitation technology that can reach speeds of 260 mph.
    (AP, 3/13/06)(Econ, 3/25/06, p.69)
2006        Mar 13, Germany's public sector strikes entered their sixth week developing into a test of union strength and exposing cracks between the parties in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, Merck KGaA, a maker of pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals, launched a 15-billion-euro (18-billion-dollar) hostile takeover bid for Berlin-based rival Schering, opening the way for a bitter bidding battle.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, Indonesia's state-run oil and gas company Pertamina and Exxon Mobil Corp. agreed to jointly operate the country's largest untapped oil field, ending a five-year dispute that had shaken foreign investors' confidence in the sprawling archipelago.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, Iranian lawmakers approved spending $15 million to investigate alleged American intervention in the country.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, Iraqi officials received a report alleging that American soldiers had killed a family of 4 in the Khasir Abyad area, about 6 miles north of Mahmoudiya. Police found four hanged men dangling from electricity pylons in a Baghdad Shiite slum, hours after car bombs and mortars shells ripped through teeming market streets, killing at least 58 people and wounding more than 200. An armed group that says it was created with government backing to drive al-Qaida fighters out of a restive Iraqi province claimed that it had killed five top members of the terrorist group. 2 US soldiers assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania Army National Guard, were killed in fighting in Anbar province.
    (AP, 3/13/06)(AP, 3/15/06)(AP, 7/1/06)
2006        Mar 13, The Tokyo Stock Exchange said shares of disgraced Japanese Internet startup Livedoor Co. will be delisted from the exchange next month over alleged securities law violations.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, Leaders of Lebanon's rival factions resumed talks after a weeklong break in an attempt to agree on the biggest issues that divide the country, the fate of the pro-Syrian president and the U.N. call for Hezbollah's disarmament.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, Mexico’s attorney general said he will close a special prosecutor's office dedicated to investigating atrocities committed by the government during its two-decade campaign to weed out suspected guerrillas and leftists.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, Myanmar reported its first case of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, Nepal's royal government offered amnesty, cash, jobs and land to communist rebels who surrender in the next three months.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, In Nigeria and official report said ethnic and religious fighting, land disputes and communal conflicts have driven more than three million Nigerians from their homes since the return to democracy in 1999.
    (Reuters, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, A Spanish judge indicted 32 people for allegedly plotting to drive a truck packed with explosives into a courthouse that has been the hub for anti-terrorism investigations. Authorities suspected that Mohamed Achraf was planning to ram a truck loaded with 1,100 pounds of explosives into the court in downtown Madrid.
    (AP, 3/21/06)
2006        Mar 13, Jan Egeland, the UN humanitarian chief, said increasing violence has left hundreds of thousands of civilians in Sudan's Darfur region without food and facing the prospect of widespread disease and death within weeks.
    (AP, 3/13/06)
2006        Mar 13, Pope Benedict XVI and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held talks at the Vatican about Iran, Iraq and the prospects for lasting peace in the Middle East.
    (AP, 3/13/06)

2007        Mar 13, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales admitted mistakes in how the Justice Department handled the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors but said he wouldn't resign.
    (AP, 3/13/08)
2007        Mar 13, Federal agents in Connecticut raided New Haven police headquarters and charged the head of the narcotics division with stealing thousands of dollars planted by the FBI during sting operations.
    (AP, 3/14/07)
2007        Mar 13, In Alaska Lance Mackey won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, in nine days, five hours, eight minutes.
    (AP, 3/13/08)
2007        Mar 13, New Mexico got an official state neckwear, a real Western icon, the bolo tie.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, The US Mortgage Bankers Association reported that 13% of subprime borrowers were behind in their payments. It was estimated that 13% of all adjustable rate mortgages originated between 2004 and 2006 and were headed for repossession in the next few years.
    (Econ, 3/24/07, p.79)
2007        Mar 13, Viacom filed a $1 billion suit against YouTube and parent company Google, to stop the publication of Viacom videos without authorization.
    (SFC, 3/14/07, p.A1)
2007        Mar 13, Environmental group Greenpeace launched a fresh attack on genetically modified maize developed by US biotech giant Monsanto, saying that rats fed on one version developed liver and kidney problems.
    (Reuters, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, Scientists reported the discovery of what appear to be sea-size bodies of liquid, probably methane or ethane, on the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, with one about as big as Montana.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, Entrepreneur Marc Hodosh (34) was named senior director of the Archon Genomics X Prize. His job was to offer $10 million to the first team of researchers that can accurately map the genetic codes of 100 people in 10 days for a cost of $10,000 or less per genome. The competition was launched in 2006 year by the nonprofit X Prize Foundation of Santa Monica, Calif., which also has sponsored races to build commercial spacecraft and fuel-efficient cars.
    (http://tinyurl.com/2vfp9b)(Econ, 12/8/07, p.94)
2007        Mar 13, In Boston Raymond Echavarria (23) dragged his ex-girlfriend, Xiomara Rhodes (21) into an elevator in the office building where she worked and ignited a can of gasoline. Investigators treated the slaying as a murder-suicide.
    (SFC, 3/16/07, p.A8)
2007        Mar 13, A suicide bomber crossed the border from Pakistan into southern Afghanistan and blew himself up in a crowded pedestrian area, killing three civilians and wounding eight.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, Australia and Japan signed a groundbreaking defense pact in Tokyo that the leaders of both countries stressed was not aimed at reining in China, but the road ahead for a two-way trade deal looked rougher.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, The British government published its climate-change bill.
    (Econ, 3/17/07, p.60)
2007        Mar 13, Brazil announced that it will build a wall on a small portion of its border with Paraguay in an effort to combat contraband and smuggling.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, Canada said it had the highest population growth rate among G-8 industrialized nations between 2001 and 2006, thanks to the arrival of 1.2 million immigrants.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, In Colombia Trino Luna, the governor of Magdalena province, surrendered to federal prosecutors, becoming the first opposition politician arrested as part of the widening scandal over links between the country's political elite and far-right militias.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, Some 20 lawmakers fired last week by Ecuador's top electoral court for allegedly interfering with plans for a constitutional referendum forced their way past dozens of police guarding Congress and took up their seats.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, Five Europeans, kidnapped in Ethiopia and held captive for 13 days, were released in good health in Eritrea. 8 Ethiopians kidnapped with the group were still missing.
    (AP, 3/14/07)(WSJ, 3/14/07, p.A1)
2007        Mar 13, France's highest court rejected as unlawful the first marriage by a gay couple in France, annulling the union of the two men.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, Iraq's Shiite prime minister made a groundbreaking and unannounced visit to Ramadi, the Sunni insurgent stronghold in Anbar province. A roadside bomb hit a minibus carrying Industry Ministry employees in northern Baghdad, killing two workers and wounding six. In Suwayrah police dragged two bodies out of Tigris River. The bodies showed signs of torture. In Kut gunmen killed Ibrahim Sasa, an interpreter working for coalition troops.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, In Jamaica Cricket’s World Cup began with the 1st match between Pakistan  and the West Indies. The ICC Cricket World Cup was hosted by the West Indies from March 13 to April 28, 2007.
    (http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SPORT/03/12/cricket.schedule/index.html)
2007        Mar 13, In Mexico Pres. Bush met with Pres. Felipe Calderon in Merida. Bush sought to soothe strained ties by promising to prod Congress to overhaul tough US immigration policies, but Mexican President Felipe Calderon criticized US plans for a 700-mile border fence. Hundreds of demonstrators marched to the US Embassy in Mexico City, attacking riot police with concrete blocks, metal bars and tearing down barricades to protest Bush's visit.
    (AP, 3/14/07)(AP, 3/13/08)
2007        Mar 13, A Hamas military commander was killed in a shootout with Fatah gunmen shortly before the leaders of the two groups met to try to bridge their differences over a power-sharing deal.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pope Benedict XVI met for the highest-level Kremlin-Vatican talks in more than three years, focusing on easing tension between Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians and finding common ground in denouncing intolerance and extremism.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, In Serbia former customs chief Mihalj Kertes, a key aide to late President Slobodan Milosevic, was charged for allegedly siphoning off millions of dollars of state money.
    (AP, 3/17/07)
2007        Mar 13, Somalia's president came under mortar attack in his palace, hours after arriving for a rare visit to the increasingly violent capital, witnesses said. A 12-year-old boy was killed and three of his siblings were wounded in the shelling.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, Alice Amafo, Suriname's youngest-ever Cabinet member, resigned amid reports she used thousands of dollars in government funds to pay for her 30th birthday party.
    (AP, 3/13/07)
2007        Mar 13, Vietnam's former deputy trade minister and his son went on trial for accepting bribes for quotas to export textiles to the US, in a major graft case with 14 defendants.
    (AP, 3/13/07)

2008        Mar 13, The US House Republicans’ campaign committee said it is missing several hundred thousand dollars, and possibly more, after discovering suspected fraudulent activity by former treasurer Christopher Ward, who was dismissed on Jan 28.
    (WSJ, 3/14/08, p.A1)
2008        Mar 13, US gold futures rallied to a record high of $1,000 an ounce, fueled by a combination of a weakening dollar, strong investment demand and inflation fears due to rising crude oil prices.
    (AP, 3/13/08)
2008        Mar 13, The Florida Senate passed a bill that could mean suspensions for students with droopy britches. Orlando Sen. Gary Siplin, a Democrat, has said the fashion statement has a back-story -- it was made popular by rap artists after first appearing among prison inmates as a signal they were looking for sex.
    (Reuters, 3/14/08)
2008        Mar 13, AOL said it will acquire Bebo, a social Web site, for $850 million.
    (SFC, 3/14/08, p.C1)
2008        Mar 13, In Afghanistan a remote-controlled bomb hit a police vehicle in Saydabad district of Wardak province, killing one policeman and wounding four others. A suicide bomber in Kabul targeting US troops killed 6 Afghan civilians.
    (AP, 3/13/08)(SFC, 3/14/08, p.A17)
2008        Mar 13, Canada’s Parliament voted to extend its mission in Afghanistan to 2011, provided NATO supplies more troops and equipment to back up its forces in the volatile south.
    (AP, 3/14/08)
2008        Mar 13, Chad accused Sudan of sending anti-government rebels across their border into its territory as international mediators struggled to broker a fresh peace accord between the two neighbors. The presidents of Chad and Sudan signed a non-aggression pact, vowing not to support rebel attacks against each other, many of which were launched from troubled Darfur.
    (AP, 3/13/08)(AFP, 3/14/08)
2008        Mar 13, Chile said it has agreed to receive 117 Palestine refugees from Iraq who have spent months living in tents along the desert border with Syria.
    (AP, 3/14/08)
2008        Mar 13, In China an avalanche buried 12 workers at a mountainous construction site for a pipeline in the far northwest.
    (AP, 3/13/08)
2008        Mar 13, A human rights group said Chinese sales of assault rifles and other small arms to its ally Sudan have grown rapidly during the Darfur conflict despite a UN arms embargo.
    (Reuters, 3/13/08)
2008        Mar 13, A deployment of 100 Sudanese soldiers arrived in Comoros, ahead of a likely African Union-backed operation against the rebel island of Anjouan.
    (AFP, 3/14/08)
2008        Mar 13, Cuba and Mexico declared their once-chilly relations fully restored, and Cuba's foreign minister said he will soon deliver a formal invitation for Mexico's president to visit the island.
    (AP, 3/14/08)
2008        Mar 13, In Egypt A Muslim Brotherhood leader said more than 90 percent of Egyptian Islamist candidates have been prevented from registering for April local elections due to a crackdown by the regime and a campaign of obstruction.
    (AFP, 3/13/08)
2008        Mar 13, In Ethiopia a bus hit a landmine near the disputed Ethiopian-Eritrean border, killing at least eight people and wounding 27 others.
    (AFP, 3/14/08)
2008        Mar 13, Volkswagen, the biggest European car maker, vowed to become "the best auto manufacturer in the world" and welcomed a looming takeover by luxury sports car maker Porsche.
    (AFP, 3/13/08)
2008        Mar 13, Indian police arrested 100 Tibetan exiles trying to walk to their homeland as part of a major protest ahead of the Beijing Olympics, although the demonstrators vowed the march would go on.
    (AP, 3/13/08)
2008        Mar 13, A parked car bomb exploded in a commercial district of central Baghdad, killing 18 people and wounding 57. 5 members of an Awakening Council were killed when gunmen attacked two separate checkpoints near Tikrit. A female suicide bomber attacked an Awakening Council gathering in the village of Zab outside Kirkuk and 3 people were killed with seven others wounded.
    (AP, 3/13/08)(AP, 3/14/08)
2008        Mar 13, The militant Islamic Jihad group in Gaza fired more than a dozen rockets at southern Israel after Israeli undercover forces killed one of its West Bank leaders, shattering a recent lull in Gaza fighting.
    (AP, 3/13/08)
2008        Mar 13, In central Mexico 6 people were shot and killed inside a private law office in Guadalajara.
    (AP, 3/14/08)
2008        Mar 13, The Dutch parliament voted unanimously to outlaw bestiality and pornography involving animals.
    (AP, 3/14/08)
2008        Mar 13, In Pakistan more than 1,000 tribesmen protested against the killing of eight civilians by Pakistani forces this week in the lawless Bajaur tribal region.
    (AP, 3/13/08)
2008        Mar 13, Serbian President Boris Tadic disbanded parliament and called an early general election for May 11.
    (AP, 3/13/08)

2009        Mar 13, The Obama administration dropped the use of the term “enemy combatant" for suspected terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay and slightly modified the legal standard used to justify their continued imprisonment.
    (WSJ, 3/14/09, p.A3)
2009        Mar 13, California said it faced a new $8 billion shortfall by July 2010 due to declining tax revenues.
    (WSJ, 3/14/09, p.A1)
2009        Mar 13, Alan W. Livingston (91), the music executive who created Bozo the Clown and signed the Beatles during his tenure as president of Capitol Records, died ion Beverly Hills. He came up with the Bozo the Clown character for the 1946 album "Bozo at the Circus," which became a hit and spawned a cottage industry of merchandise and the television series featuring the wing-haired clown.
    (AP, 3/15/09)
2009        Mar 13, Betsy Blair (85), Oscar-nominated actress and teenage bride (1941-1957) of Gene Kelly, died in London. In the late 1940s Blair took parts in "The Guilt of Janet Ames," and "A Double Life." But her movie career stalled after her enthusiasm for leftist causes landed her on Hollywood's blacklist. The New Jersey-born actress later married film director Karel Reisz.
    (AP, 3/20/09)
2009        Mar 13, Dozens of popular tourist beaches on Australia's northeast coast were declared a disaster zone, with their once-pristine sands fouled by a massive oil and chemical slick. Queensland state's marine safety authority said up to 100 tons of fuel, 250,000 liters, were now believed to have spilled from the Hong Kong-flagged ship Pacific Adventurer amid cyclonic conditions on March 11.
    (AP, 3/13/09)(Econ, 3/21/09, p.45)
2009        Mar 13, Terra Firma, a London-based private equity firm, announced it would buy 90% of Consolidated pastoral Company, the Australian cattle holdings of the Packer family, which encompass 12 million acres of land.
    (Econ, 3/21/09, p.67)
2009        Mar 13, In Bangladesh a fire at Dhaka’s 22-story Bashundhara City mall killed at least 7 people as helicopters plucked survivors from the roof.
    (SFC, 3/14/09, p.A2)
2009        Mar 13, Thousands of people across Britain took part in events for Red Nose Day, with money going towards helping the disadvantaged in Africa and Britain.
    (AFP, 3/13/09)
2009        Mar 13, John Worboys (b.1957), a London cab driver, was found guilty of raping or assaulting 12 women, often after persuading them to drink champagne spiked with sedatives. On April 21 he was sentenced  to at least 8 years in prison. In 2010 Scotland Yard said 102 women have come forward to accuse Worboys of sexually motivated crimes since his highly publicized trial.
    (AP, 10/26/10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Worboys)
2009        Mar 13, In Burundi an albino man was murdered and dismembered overnight by suspected smugglers with links to Tanzanian witch doctors, the fourth such case in a month in the central African nation.
    (AFP, 3/13/09)
2009        Mar 13, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Beijing is willing to hold talks with the Dalai Lama if Tibet's exiled spiritual leader abandons his separatist cause, as he defended his government's hard-line policies toward the region.
    (AP, 3/13/09)
2009        Mar 13, In Greece dozens of youths carrying sledgehammers and iron bars smashed cars, banks and storefronts in an upscale district of central Athens. Leaflets identified the attackers as members of local anarchist groups. A similar attack also occurred in the northern city of Thessaloniki, leaving three banks damaged.
    (AP, 3/13/09)
2009        Mar 13, Japan said it could shoot down any threatening object falling toward its territory, after North Korea said a planned rocket launch would send it across Japanese territory.
    (AP, 3/13/09)
2009        Mar 13, In Kyrgyzstan Medet Sadyrkulov, a key opposition figure to Pres. Bakiyev, was killed in an alleged car crash that left him and 2 passengers burned beyond recognition.
    (WSJ, 3/14/09, p.A6)(Econ, 1/9/10, p.45)
2009        Mar 13,  In southern Nigeria an attack took place on Chevron Nigeria Limited’s 16-inch Makaraba-Utonana pipeline. The attack forced Chevron cut its crude oil production by 11,500 barrels per day.
    (AFP, 3/17/09)
2009        Mar 13, Pakistani officials appealed to the opposition to join talks aimed at resolving the country's political crisis, even as police stepped up a crackdown on activists trying to reach the capital for a planned anti-government protest.
    (AP, 3/13/09)
2009        Mar 13, Tristan Anderson (38) of Oakland, Calif., was wounded in the West Bank village of Naalin, during a protest against Israel's separation barrier. He remained in serious condition after undergoing surgery.
    (AP, 3/14/09)
2009        Mar 13, Russia’s Kontinental Management said it has closed for good its Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill, located on the southern edge of Lake Baikal. It halted production in October. The plant has polluted the world's largest freshwater lake with chemical effluent for decades.
    (AP, 3/13/09)
2009        Mar 13, A spokeswoman for Doctors Without Borders says 35 of its foreign staff are leaving Darfur after the abduction of three colleagues.
    (AP, 3/13/09)
2009        Mar 13, The Swiss government said it would cooperate on cases of international tax evasion, breaking with a long-standing tradition of protecting wealthy foreigners accused of hiding billions of dollars in the Alpine nation.
    (AP, 3/13/09)
2009        Mar 13, Taiwan’s economic stimulus package was reported to include a $104 shopping voucher for every one of the island’s 23 million people to be used between the Chinese New year and the end of April. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin added $150 food vouchers for the poor along with job training programs, financial incentives for new hires and loan guarantees for small businesses.
    (SFC, 3/13/09, p.C1)
2009        Mar 13, In Thailand suspected Muslim militants killed 3 soldiers in an ambush in southern Narathiwat province.
    (SFC, 3/14/09, p.A2)
2009        Mar 13, In Uganda a building collapsed in the capital, Kampala, when nearby construction loosened the foundation. At least five people were killed and dozens remained trapped under the rubble.
    (AP, 3/13/09)

2010        Mar 13, A storm battered parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut with gusts of up to 70 mph.
    (AP, 3/14/10)
2010        Mar 13, Afghanistan's Pres. Karzai backed off from a much-criticized move to control the previously independent monitoring body for upcoming parliamentary elections, offering to allow two foreigners on the commission. Afghanistan rowed back from a total ban on media broadcasts of "disturbing" images from insurgent attacks or live pictures of security operations.  Police reported four explosions in Kandahar. Multiple bomb attacks in Kandahar killed 35 people, but failed to free insurgents from the city prison. The blasts included two car bombs, six suicide attackers on motorbikes and bicycles, and homemade bombs. The attackers targeted the city's prison, police headquarters, a wedding hall next door and other areas on roads leading to the prison.
    (AP, 3/13/10)(Reuters, 3/13/10)(AP, 3/14/10)
2010        Mar 13, In Canada 2 people were killed and 30 hurt by an avalanche near Revelstoke, British Columbia, when the slide hit a snowmobile rally.
    (Reuters, 3/14/10)
2010        Mar 13, Cyclone Tomas began battering island groups off Fiji's northern coast, causing flooding, pounding seas and one death. Officials said the storm likely would only sideswipe the main islands of the South Pacific nation. At least 2 people were killed by the storm.
    (AP, 3/15/10)(AP, 3/19/10)
2010        Mar 13, In Georgia a hoax television broadcast said Russia had invaded and the president had been killed. It sparked wide anxiety in the country still traumatized by the August 2008 war in which Russian troops advanced deep into the country.
    (AP, 3/15/10)
2010        Mar 13, In Honduras Nahum Palacios (36), director of a TV station in Tocoa near the Caribbean coast, was shot to death as he drove home and was intercepted by two other vehicles. This was the third such slaying in two weeks.
    (AP, 3/15/10)
2010        Mar 13, In India Abdul Latif Rashid and Riyaz Ali were arrested late in the day in Mumbai's Matunga suburb. Police said the two men were preparing to attack several targets in the city, the country's financial and entertainment hub. Police said the men had links with terror groups in Pakistan and were acting on directions from handlers there.
    (AP, 3/14/10)
2010        Mar 13, Iran’s Fars the news agency said Iran has busted what it says was a US-funded cyber network group linked to an exiled opposition movement that collected data on its nuclear scientists. 30 members of the network with links to the outlawed People's Mujahedeen and monarchists were said to have been arrested.
    (AFP, 3/14/10)
2010        Mar 13, In Mexico a series of shootings killed 24 people in a Pacific coast state plagued by drug gang violence. Nearly half died in one shootout between soldiers and armed men. Suspected drug gang hit men separately ambushed two cars carrying families with ties to the US consulate in Ciudad Juarez, killing an American couple and a Mexican man. Three young children survived, although two suffered wounds. On March 26 suspect Ricardo Valles de la Rosa (45), a member of the Barrio Azteca gang, was arrested for the US consulate linked killings. A confession by de la Rosa suggested that El Paso jail officer Arthur H. Redelfs was targeted in the Ciudad Juarez shootings that also killed his wife, Lesley A. Enriquez, an employee of the US consulate. The husband of another consulate worker was killed in the other vehicle attacked. In April Mexico arrested a 2nd suspect, a member of the Los Aztecas gang, who confessed to taking part in the killing of a US consulate official. In September Jesus Ernesto Chavez, was extradited to the US, for ordering the killing of Lesley A. Enriquez.
    (AP, 3/14/10)(AP, 3/15/10)(AP, 3/29/10)(AP, 3/31/10)(AFP, 4/23/10)(SSFC, 9/5/10, p.A10)
2010        Mar 13, Mozambique's health ministry spokesman said the country's cholera outbreak has now killed 42 people in the northern and central parts of the southern African country.
    (AP, 3/13/10)
2010        Mar 13, In Myanmar ethnic rebels in Nam Zam township, Shan State, killed 20 government  troops in an ambush aimed at deterring the military government from launching an offensive against them ahead of elections this year.
    (Reuters, 3/19/10)
2010        Mar 13, Several dozen Palestinian women scuffled with Israeli troops on the outskirts of Jerusalem amid rising religious and political tensions in the disputed city.
    (AP, 3/13/10)
2010        Mar 13, In Pakistan a renewed wave of violence struck Saidu Sharif, the administrative capital of the Swat Valley, when a suicide bomber on a motorized rickshaw killed 13 people at a security checkpoint, raising fears the nation is sliding back into a period of relentless bloodletting.
    (AP, 3/13/10)
2010        Mar 13, In Qatar a two week UN conference opened with a focus on the Atlantic bluefin tuna and other marine life in the world's overfished oceans. The 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) discussed new proposals on regulating the trade in number of plant and animal species.
    (AP, 3/13/10)
2010        Mar 13, In Somalia a fight over land rights between two rival clans in northern Amara village killed at least 15 people.
    (AP, 3/14/10)
2010        Mar 13, The Swiss daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung quoted Swiss Abbot Martin Werlen saying around 60 people over the last 15 years have reported being victims of abuse by Catholic priests in Switzerland.
    (AP, 3/13/10)
2010        Mar 13, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez called for regulation of the Internet while demanding authorities crack down on a critical news Web site that he accused of spreading false information. A Venezuelan police official said security forces have seized two tons of cocaine hidden in two bulldozers at a port in the central state of Carabobo. The cocaine was intended to be smuggled to the Netherlands.
    (AP, 3/14/10)

2011        Mar 13, In Vansant, Virginia, a gunman opened fire on sheriff’s deputies investigating a possible robbery. Two officers were killed and two injured before the gunman was shot dead.
    (SFC, 3/14/11, p.A4)
2011        Mar 13, In southern Afghanistan a roadside bomb killed four Afghan civilians in a car in Kandahar province's Shorabak district. Two NATO service members were killed this weekend. One died in an insurgent attack in the east and another in a bomb attack in the south.
    (AP, 3/13/11)(SFC, 3/14/11, p.A2)
2011        Mar 13, In Australia Owsley Stanley (b.1935), counterculture maker of LSD and Grateful Dead associate, died in a car crash. His Bear Research Group reputedly made over 1.25 million doses of LSD from 1965-1967.
    (SFC, 3/14/11, p.A1)
2011        Mar 13, In Bahrain riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at anti-government demonstrators blocking the highway into the capital's financial district and surrounded the protesters' main camp in the capital. More than 200 people were injured there in clashes between riot police and demonstrators.
    (AP, 3/13/11)(AFP, 3/14/11)
2011        Mar 13, Benin opened polls for a twice-delayed presidential election after a last-minute scramble to register hundreds of thousands of eligible voters left off voter rolls. Pres. Boni Yayi sought a 2nd term against 13 candidates. Partial and unofficial results indicated President Boni Yayi and his main challenger, Adrien Houngbedji, may be headed for a run-off. On March 18 the country's electoral commission announced that President Thomas Boni Yayi had received more than 53 percent of the vote, giving him an absolute majority.
    (AP, 3/13/11)(SFC, 3/14/11, p.A2)(AFP, 3/15/11)(AP, 3/19/11)
2011        Mar 13, Broadway import "Legally Blonde The Musical," based on the 2001 Reese Witherspoon film, picked up this year’s Olivier Award for Best New Musical, in the Society of London Theatre's prize-giving ceremony at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
    (AFP, 3/14/11)
2011        Mar 13, In the Central African Republic at least six people were killed and dozens abducted during an attack on Nzako village by Lord's Resistance Army rebels. They had crossed into the CAR last year after being routed from their bases in Uganda.
    (AFP, 3/15/11)
2011        Mar 13, The Indian navy captured 61 pirates who jumped into the Arabian Sea to flee a gunfight and fire on the hijacked ship from which they had staged several attacks. Two Indian navy ships also rescued 13 crew members from the Mozambique-flagged Vega 5, a fishing boat seized in December.
    (AP, 3/14/11)
2011        Mar 13, In Iraq 22 people, including 15 guards, were injured in a melee that started after officials found holes in the prison's steel fence and discovered an escape plan by inmates linked to al-Qaida in Salahuddin province. One inmate was killed by jumping off the roof in an effort to escape from prison during a riot.
    (AP, 3/14/11)
2011        Mar 13, Israel said it has approved the building of 300 to 500 apartments and settler homes. They would take place in major West Bank settlement blocs that Israel expects to hold on to in any final peace deal.
    (AP, 3/13/11)
2011        Mar 13, People across a devastated swath of Japan suffered for a third day without water, electricity and proper food, as the country grappled with the enormity of a massive earthquake and tsunami that left more than 10,000 people dead in one area alone. Japanese officials raised their estimate of the quake's magnitude to 9.0. Japan also fought to avert a meltdown at three earthquake-crippled nuclear reactors.
    (AP, 3/13/11)(Reuters, 3/13/11)
2011        Mar 13, In Lebanon tens of thousands filled a central Beirut square to mark the 2005 protests that ended Syria's 30-year domination of the country and to demand that the militant group Hezbollah, seen as a proxy of Syria, give up its weapons.
    (AP, 3/13/11)
2011        Mar 13, Libyan rebels abandoned Brega, another key town under heavy shelling from advancing government forces, as international backing grew only slowly for a no-fly zone over the country. In Benghazi, 240km east of Brega, all mobile telephone services were suddenly cut for an unknown reason. State television said Libya has asked foreign firms to resume oil exports, saying its ports are safe despite a deadly month-long conflict. Libya's de facto oil minister said the country's crude production has fallen "drastically" and that he has reached out to Italian oil giant Eni SpA for help in extinguishing a blaze at Ras Lanouf.
    (AFP, 3/13/11)(AP, 3/13/11)
2011        Mar 13, In Mexico nine people were shot dead in the resort city of Acapulco.
    (AP, 3/14/11)
2011        Mar 13, In Morocco security forces prevented about 100 people from holding a pro-reform demonstration in Casablanca, leaving several people wounded.
    (AFP, 3/13/11)
2011        Mar 13, In Maputo, Mozambique, 2 people suffocated to death in a crowd of 10,000 at the weekend opening of the new Universal Church of the Reign of God, a Brazilian-based evangelical church.
    (AFP, 3/14/11)
2011        Mar 13, In central Nigeria 6 people died in attacks on two villages near Jos.
    (SFC, 3/15/11, p.A2)
2011        Mar 13, Oman's ruler granted lawmaking powers to officials outside the royal family in the boldest reforms yet aimed at quelling protests for jobs and a greater public role in politics.
    (AP, 3/13/11)
2011        Mar 13, In Pakistan two suspected US missile strikes killed 7 militants in Spalgah village near Miran Shah, North Waziristan. The strikes also wounded five militants. Gunmen ambushed a van and killed 9 civilians in a stretch of the northwest covered by a new peace deal among tribes from rival Muslim sects. Security forces responding to the attack killed three alleged gunmen. A suspected US missile strike missed a target in Azam Warsak, South Waziristan.
    (AP, 3/13/11)
2011        Mar 13, In the Philippines police commandos raided a house in Lamitan town on southern Basilan island in search of the former mayor linked to the 2007 bombing that killed a lawmaker but they instead captured Nawaf Jainuddin. He was allegedly one of several Abu Sayyaf gunmen who seized several hostages and staged deadly attacks in 2001 in Lamitan.
    (AP, 3/14/11)
2011        Mar 13, Russians from the Bering Strait to the Baltic voted in regional elections, testing Vladimir Putin's ruling party before December parliamentary polls and a presidential vote next March. Russia's ruling party swept the local elections.
    (Reuters, 3/13/11)(AP, 3/14/11)
2011        Mar 13, More than 200 Saudis were allowed to protest outside the Interior Ministry to demand the release of detainees in the largest demonstration in the capital since the regional outbreak of pro-democracy unrest.
    (AP, 3/13/11)
2011        Mar 13, A top Southern Sudanese official said Southern Sudan is suspending talks and diplomatic contact with northern Sudan over claims that the northern government is funding militias in the south.
    (AP, 3/13/11)
2011        Mar 13, Tunisia’s TAP news agency said that a 7 pm to 5 am curfew has been imposed on the mining town of Metlaoui, where clashes 2 days earlier left 2 people dead and 20 injured. Protests had begun amid rumors that a regional phosphate mining company was secretly recruiting in a specific tribal area, instead of opening its jobs to the entire local population.
    (AP, 3/13/11)
2011        Mar 13, In Turkey hundreds of journalists, joined by members of some non-governmental organizations, protested the detention of reporters that the authorities allege were involved in an attempt to bring the government down in 2003.
    (AP, 3/13/11)
2011        Mar 13, Yemeni police on rooftops fired live bullets and tear gas at protesters, injuring more than 100 people who were camping near Sanaa University. A protester in Aden died from wounds he suffered a day earlier bringing that total to seven. Violence left 2 people dead in a southern province. Security officials said two Americans and two Britons have been detained by authorities for illegally entering the country.
    (AP, 3/13/11)(AP, 3/14/11)(SFC, 3/14/11, p.A3)

2012        Mar 13, Republican presidential primaries were held in Alabama and Mississippi. Rick Santorum won both state. Newt Gingrich placed second in both contests with narrow leads over Mitt Romney.
    (SFC, 3/14/12, p.A6)
2012        Mar 13, It was reported that the chytrid fungus has spread to nearly 600 species of frog and has probably driven over 200 species to extinction. SF State Univ. biologist Vance T. Vredenburg called it the “worst population crash of animals in history."
    (SFC, 3/13/12, p.A10)
2012        Mar 13, In Afghanistan gunmen attacked a memorial service for 16 villagers killed by a US soldier, shooting dead a member of the Afghan military and wounding a policeman in a hail of gunfire. About 400 university students chanting "Death to America -- Death to Obama" took to the streets of Jalalabad, in the first protest against the US army sergeant's killing spree.
    (AFP, 3/13/12)
2012        Mar 13, An Algerian court sentenced the head of Al-Qaeda's north African offshoot to death in absentia for a string of 2007 attacks, including a deadly bombing at the prime minister's office. Abdelmalek Droukdel, leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM), and eight co-defendants were sentenced to death for premeditated murder, membership of a terrorist group and attacks using explosives.
    (AFP, 3/13/12)
2012        Mar 13, Argentina’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously that any rape victim can get an abortion.
    (SFC, 3/14/12, p.A2)
2012        Mar 13, In Bahrain vandals smashed the windows of one of country’s oldest Shiite mosques and ransacked offices and prayer areas, making sure to pull down some framed parchments with Quranic verses. Shiite clerics claim at least 38 mosques and affiliated sites, such as charity offices, have been destroyed since the revolt began in February 2011.
    (AP, 3/21/12)
2012        Mar 13, In Bangladesh a ferry packed with about 200 people collided with a cargo boat and capsized in the Meghna River, killing 142 people and over a dozen more missing.
    (AP, 3/13/12)(AP, 3/14/12)(AP, 3/16/12)
2012        Mar 13, In Belgium an arsonist attack on a Shiite mosque left imam Abdallah Dadou (46) dead. Authorities attributed the attack to tensions between Shiite and Sunni communities.
    (SFC, 3/14/12, p.A2)
2012        Mar 13, In Brazil federal prosecutors said that they are filing criminal charges for the first time related to crimes committed by government representatives during the 1964-1985 military dictatorship. Prosecutors argued that kidnappings and the hiding of bodies so the victims were never found are "permanent crimes." Since such crimes continue to the present, they fall outside the 1961-79 period covered by the amnesty law.
    (SFC, 3/14/12, p.A2)(AP, 3/16/12)
2012        Mar 13, Some 3,000 people gathered in Liverpool, England, for the annual Global Entrepreneurship Congress.
    (Econ, 3/17/12, p.79)
2012        Mar 13, British chip designer ARM unveiled what it said was the world's most energy-efficient microprocessor design that will help devices ranging from fridges to medical equipment to parking meters to communicate with other devices.
    (Reuters, 3/13/12)
2012        Mar 13, In Colombia oil tankers carrying oil from the Ombu field in Caqueta came under fire from guerrillas leaving 2 civilians dead.
    (Econ, 3/17/12, p.44)
2012        Mar 13, Israel halted its airstrikes against Gaza Strip militants and rocket fire from the Palestinian territory ebbed as an Egyptian-mediated cease-fire ending 4 days of clashes appeared to be taking effect. At least 24 Palestinians, including at least four civilians, died in cross-border fighting since March 9.
    (AP, 3/13/12)(SFC, 3/13/12, p.A2)
2012        Mar 13, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara named Jeannot Ahoussou-Kouadio as prime minister, a prominent member of a rival party which had backed his 2010 election bid.
    (AP, 3/13/12)
2012        Mar 13, Japan said it had won approval from Beijing to buy Chinese government bonds for the first time, in a move aimed at binding Asia's two biggest economies and traditional rivals closer together.
    (AFP, 3/13/12)
2012        Mar 13, Japan, the EU and the US brought a case to the World Trade Organization (WTO) alleging that China was exporting too little of tungsten, molybdenum and 17 rare earth elements.
    (Econ, 3/17/12, p.86)
2012        Mar 13, In northern Nigeria suspected sect members shot dead two policemen in Kano. Soldiers killed one of the assailants during the attack.
    (AP, 3/13/12)
2012        Mar 13, In Pakistan American drone-fired missiles hit a vehicle traveling on the Afghan border, killing six militants from a group known to have signed a nonaggression pact with the Pakistani army. Two commanders from the network led by Maulvi Nazir were among the dead in the attack in the Birmal district of South Waziristan.
    (AP, 3/13/12)
2012        Mar 13, A Pakistani court jailed Naseem Ahmed (42) for life for burning a Koran. The Muslim man said he would appeal the sentence, professing his innocence and saying he had no idea that a Koran was among a pile of books he set alight.
    (AP, 3/15/12)
2012        Mar 13, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Russia will abide by existing contracts to deliver weapons to Syria despite Pres. Assad's yearlong crackdown on the opposition.
    (AP, 3/13/12)
2012        Mar 13, Russian and South Korean scientists signed a deal on joint research intended to recreate a woolly mammoth, an animal which last walked the earth some 10,000 years ago.
    (AFP, 3/13/12)
2012        Mar 13, Somalia's Shebab rebels banned the aid group Save the Children from operating in regions under their control. It accused Save the Children of distributing expired porridge to children, as well as corruption and failing to comply with the rules laid down by the Al Qaeda-linked group.
    (AFP, 3/13/12)
2012        Mar 13, South African wildlife dealer Jacques Els (39) was sentenced to eight years in jail over 38 horns cut off sedated rhinos. Els was arrested in 2010 after buying the horns for 760,000 rands ($100,000, 77,000 euros) from game farm manager Tommie Fourie who drugged the animals and cut off their trademark spikes. Els claimed the horns were removed from the animals "to protect them from poaching."
    (AFP, 3/14/12)
2012        Mar 13, In Switzerland a bus carrying Belgian students returning from a ski holiday crashed into a wall in a tunnel near Sierre, killing 22 Belgian 12-year-olds and six adults. Another 24 students were hospitalized with injuries.
    (AP, 3/14/12)
2012        Mar 13, The Syrian army recaptured the northern rebel stronghold of Idlib near the Turkish border, a major base that military defectors had held for months. An international rights group, meanwhile, said the regime was mining the border with Turkey. The LCC and the Observatory said that bodies of six people were found today near the village of Maaret Shoureen in Idlib province.
    (AP, 3/13/12)
2012        Mar 13, The Zimbabwean government and mining firm Zimplats reached an agreement to transfer a 51 percent stake to local investors, as required by the country's controversial "indigenization" policy.
    (AFP, 3/13/12)

2013        Mar 13, Ken Salazar, US Interior Sec., announced plans for two large federal solar projects in the California desert.
    (Econ, 3/16/13, p.30)
2013        Mar 13, Shares of Silver Spring Networks (SSNI) of Redwood City, Ca., closed at $22 in an IPO of 4.75 million shares on the NYSE. The maker of smart meter technology jumped nearly 30% from the $17 offer.
    (SFC, 3/14/13, p.C1)
2013        Mar 13, The 2012 A.M Turing Award for computer scientists was awarded to Shafi Goldwasser and Silvio Micali of MIT.
    (Econ, 3/23/13, p.84)
2013        Mar 13, In New York Kurt Myers (64) started a fire in his apartment in Mohawk and then killed two customers in a nearby barbershop. He then drove to nearby Herkimer and killed two more people before holing up in an abandoned building. Myers was killed the next day in an exchange of gunfire with police.
    (SFC, 3/14/13, p.A7)(SFC, 3/15/13, p.A6)
2013        Mar 13, Afghan intelligence agents killed five suspected suicide bombers and arrested two others, all members of the militant Haqqani network, during a raid in which a truck was seized with 7,200 pounds of explosive on the outskirts of Kabul.
    (AP, 3/15/13)
2013        Mar 13, In Afghanistan several people were killed and injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of sports fans watching a buzkashi game in Kunduz province.
    (AP, 3/13/13)
2013        Mar 13, Bahrain’s public prosecutor's office said six people have been detained over the last couple of days for allegedly defaming the country's ruler on Twitter.
    (AP, 3/13/13)
2013        Mar 13, Chile officially opened the $1.3 billion Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the world’s most powerful radio telescope. It consisted of 66 dishes.
    (Econ, 3/16/13, p.81)
2013        Mar 13, Croatia's parliament approved the withdrawal of some 100 peacekeeping troops from the Golan Heights amid fears they could be targeted by Syrian government troops fighting the rebels.
    (AP, 3/13/13)
2013        Mar 13, In Egypt a leaked report concluded that police were behind the killing of nearly 900 protesters in Tahrir Square during the 18-day uprising that began on Jan 25, 2011.
    (SFC, 3/14/13, p.A4)
2013        Mar 13, German authorities banned three ultraconservative Islamic groups, including one whose Internet propaganda videos helped inspire the extremist who killed two American airmen at Frankfurt airport in 2011.
    (AP, 3/13/13)
2013        Mar 13, Aleqa Hammond looked set to be Greenland's first female prime minister after winning 42 percent of votes in elections on a platform of greater control and heavier taxation of foreign mining.
    (AP, 3/13/13)
2013        Mar 13, Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq freed eight captured Turkish soldiers and officials as part of peace efforts between Turkey and the rebel group aimed at ending a decades-long conflict.
    (AP, 3/13/13)
2013        Mar 13, Scientists said that the number of Monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico dropped by 59% this year, falling to its lowest level since record keeping began 20 years ago.
    (SFC, 3/14/13, p.A2)
2013        Mar 13, New Zealand lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill allowing same-sex marriage, all but assuring that it will soon become law.
    (AP, 3/13/13)
2013        Mar 13, In Nigeria a strike at Aero Contractors Co. of Nigeria Ltd., halted flights "temporarily."
    (AP, 3/16/13)
2013        Mar 13, In Karachi, Pakistan, gunmen shot and killed pioneering activist Perween Rahman (54), the director of the Orangi Pilot Project, who helped bring services like sewer and water to the city's poorest neighborhoods.
    (AP, 3/14/13)
2013        Mar 13, In southwest Pakistan gunmen abducted two female Czech tourists and their police guard as they were traveling on a bus through troubled Baluchistan province.
    (AP, 3/14/13)
2013        Mar 13, In Saudi Arabia 7 men convicted of theft, looting and armed robbery were beheaded, more than a week after their families and a rights group appealed to the king for clemency. One of the men told The Associated Press in early March that he was only 15 when he was arrested as part of a ring that stole jewelry in 2004 and 2005. Nasser al-Qahtani said he was tortured to confess and had no access to lawyers.
    (AP, 3/13/13)
2013        Mar 13, Syrian government troops fought fierce battles with rebels for control of key neighborhoods in the north of Damascus. A European Union staff member was killed in a rocket attack in an opposition stronghold south of the capital. Fighting also raged in other cities, including in Homs, where the regime pounded rebel positions with artillery and carried out several airstrikes on the Baba Amr district.
    (AP, 3/13/13)
2013        Mar 13, Tunisian vendor Adel Khedhri (27) died of full-body burns a day after setting himself ablaze. He was from a poor town in northwestern Tunisia and had struggled to find a steady job to support his mother and siblings.
    (AP, 3/13/13)
2013        Mar 13, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (76), known for his work with the poor in Buenos Aires' slums, was elected as the 266th Pope. He became the first Jesuit pope and first non-European since the Middle Ages and decided to call himself Francis after St. Francis of Assisi.
    (AP, 3/14/13)
2013        Mar 13, Zimbabwe's official election body said it will not back down on its ban preventing a leading human rights group from monitoring a referendum o0n a new constitution on March 16.
    (AP, 3/13/13)

 2014        Mar 13, President Obama signed the first congressionally passed public lands bill in five years, and called on Congress to do more to protect the wilderness. The law officially expanded the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Glen Arbor, Mich., a move that will protect an additional 32,500 acres of Lake Michigan coastline.
    (http://tinyurl.com/pkuv6nl)(SFC, 3/21/14, p.A7)
2014        Mar 13, US authorities said Ahmed Bel Bacha (44), held for 12 years without charge at Guantanamo Bay, has been turned over to the Algerian government. This reduced the Gitmo prisoner population to 154.
    (AP, 3/13/14)
2014        Mar 13, The Colorado Court of Appeals said people whose cases were under appeal when Amendment 64 took effect in Dec 1012, are eligible to have their convictions for possessing small amount of marijuana dismissed. The amendment allowed adults over 21 to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.
    (SFC, 3/14/14, p.A6)
2014        Mar 13, In Texas Rashad Charjuan Owens (21) drove drunk into a crowd at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin leaving 2 people dead and 23 injured. 9 remained hospitalized in critical condition. A 3rd person died of her injuries on March 17.
    (AFP, 3/13/14)(SFC, 3/15/14, p.A11)(SFC, 3/18/14, p.A7)
2014        Mar 13, US border agent Esteban Manzanares (32) committed suicide. He was accused of kidnapping and assaulting an immigrant woman, her daughter and another girl a day earlier in Mission, Texas.
    (SFC, 3/15/14, p.A10)(AP, 3/17/14)
2014        Mar 13, Bosnian police said the driver of a city bus was killed when a man threw a hand grenade into the vehicle as it stood at a bus stop in Banja Luka.
    (AP, 3/13/14)
2014        Mar 13, Edward Haughey (70), Northern Ireland's wealthiest man, died after his helicopter crashed in thick fog in eastern England. He had founded Norbrook Laboratories, a world-leading veterinary drugs company.
    (AP, 3/14/14)
2014        Mar 13, The Toronto National Post reported that a new generation of mutant lice have become immune to poisons of decades past and constituted 97.1% of all Canadian head lice cases.
    (SSFC, 3/16/14, p.A4)
2014        Mar 13, Police in southwestern China took away veteran activist Huang Qi, who runs a rights monitoring website, and seized his computers and mobile phones in Chengdu.
    (AP, 3/13/14)
2014        Mar 13, Czech priest and intellectual Tomas Halik (65) won the 2014 Templeton Prize. Halik pushed for religious and cultural freedoms after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and became a leading advocate of dialogue among different faiths and non-believers.
    (AFP, 3/13/14)
2014        Mar 13, East African heads of state met in Addis Ababa in the latest push for peace in war-torn South Sudan, where almost three months of raging conflict has left thousands dead.
    (AFP, 3/13/14)
2014        Mar 13, Egypt brokered a ceasefire aimed at ending a flare-up of rocket attacks from Gaza on Israeli towns and Israeli air strikes in the Palestinian enclave.
    (Reuters, 3/13/14)
2014        Mar 13, In Egypt an attack on an army bus killed one officer and wounded three others in Cairo. The army blamed the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, who in turn strongly condemned the attack.
    (Reuters, 3/13/14)
2014        Mar 13, El Salvador’s electoral court said Sanchez Ceren (69), the leftist candidate of the ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), won the March 9 presidential election with got 50.1% of the votes.
    (AP, 3/13/14)
2014        Mar 13, The Paris-based OECD said it has postponed all activities related to Russia's accession to the organization following a request from its 34 members.
    (Reuters, 3/13/14)
2014        Mar 13, Germany's Angela Merkel warned Moscow that it risked "massive" political and economic damage if it refused to change course on Ukraine.
    (AP, 3/13/14)
2014        Mar 13, In Germany Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness was found guilty and sentenced to 3½ years in prison for evading millions of euros (dollars) in tax through an undeclared Swiss bank account.
    (AP, 3/13/14)
2014        Mar 13, Israeli warplanes pounded 29 Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip  in response to heavy Palestinian rocket fire into the Jewish state as Gaza militants resumed rocket fire. Israel’s defense ministry shut down the Kerem Shalom goods crossing into southern Gaza following rocket fire over the border.
    (AFP, 3/13/14)(AP, 3/13/14)(AFP, 3/16/14)
2014        Mar 13, In Lebanon clashes broke out in Tripoli after gunmen fatally shot a Sunni man who had Alawite relatives and lived in a mostly Alawite area of the city.
    (Reuters, 3/16/14)
2014        Mar 13, Madagascar said it has restored ties with the International Monetary Fund for the first time since a coup in 2009.
    (Reuters, 3/13/14)
2014        Mar 13, Malaysian police arrested 62 people who had illegally crossed the porous border between Thailand and Malaysia.
    (Reuters, 3/14/14)
2014        Mar 13, In Mexico a top leader of the self-defense movement in Michoacan state was charged in the murder of two members of a rival vigilante faction.
    (SSFC, 3/16/14, p.A10)
2014        Mar 13, New Zealand's Reserve Bank raised its benchmark interest rate by quarter of a percentage point to 2.75 percent after holding it at a record low for three years.
    (AP, 3/13/14)
2014        Mar 13, In northern Nigeria attackers returned to Marabar Kindo village in Katsina state and gunned down another 7 villagers.
    (SFC, 3/14/14, p.A2)
2014        Mar 13, Russia said it will impose symmetrical sanctions if the United States and European Union impose their own.
    (Reuters, 3/13/14)
2014        Mar 13, Sri Lanka's police arrested Balendran Jeyakumari and referred her daughter Vithushaini (13) to child care officials. Jeyakumari had been vocal in calling for the release of her 15-year-old son, a child recruit of the Tamil Tiger rebels, whom she had handed to the military as fighting ended in 2009.
    (AP, 3/14/14)(SFC, 3/15/14, p.A2)
2014        Mar 13, A court in Sudan sentenced former governor of the southern Blue Nile State and leader of the opposition group Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North Malik Agar and 17 other members of the group to death by hanging. 47 others were given life sentences in a hearing. All but one were tried in absentia.
    (AP, 3/14/14)
2014        Mar 13, Syria's parliament unanimously approved a new election law  allowing multiple candidates to run for president, opening the door — at least in theory — to other potential contenders besides President Assad. However only candidates who have lived in Syria for 10 consecutive prior to nomination can run.
    (AP, 3/13/14)(SFC, 3/14/14, p.A4)
2014        Mar 13, Ukraine's parliament appealed to the UN to discuss the occupation by Russian forces of its Crimea peninsula and said it reserved the right to ask individual countries for help in resolving the issue. A man (22) was stabbed to death in Donetsk in clashes between pro-Russian protesters and a crowd favoring European integration and denouncing Russian forces' seizure of Crimea.
    (Reuters, 3/13/14)(Reuters, 3/14/14)
2014        Mar 13, In Yemen 6 Shiite rebels and 2 soldiers were killed in a firefight near Sanaa. Eight of the Huthi rebels, also known as Ansarullah (Partisans of God), were wounded in the clash in Qaratel.

Health: Pineapple nutrition facts

pineapples

One of the most prized and popular fruits, pineapple or "ananas" has an interesting history to narrate. Originally indigenous to local Paraguayans in South America, it spread from its native land by the local Indians up through the South and Central Americas and to the West Indies. Later, it was brought to Spain when Columbus discovered Americas’ in 1493. In the 15th and 16th centuries, it spread to rest of the world by the European sailors (just like tomatoes) who carried it along with them to protect themselves from scurvy, a disease caused by the deficiency of vitamin C.
Scientifically, it is known as "Ananas comosus" and belongs to the family of Bromeliaceae, in the genus; Ananas.
 
Pineapple is a tropical, perennial, drought-tolerant plant. it grows up to 5-8 ft in height and spreads around about 3-4 feet radius cover. It is essentially a short, stout stem with a rosette of waxy long, needle-tipped leaves.
The plant bears several long, oval to cylindrical fruits during each season from March until June.
The ananas fruit is described as compound (multiple) type of fruit that develops from many small fruitlets fused together around central core. Its pulp is juicy and fleshy with the stem serving as a supporting fibrous core. The outer skin features rough, tough, and scaly rind. The color in the ripe fruits may be yellow, orange-yellow or reddish. Internally, its juicy flesh may range from creamy white to yellow and has a mix of sweet and tart taste with rich flavor. Each fruit measures up to 12 inches in length and weighs 1 to 8 pounds or more.

Health benefits of Pineapple fruit

  • Fresh pineapple is low in calories. Nonetheless, it is a storehouse for several unique health promoting compounds, minerals and vitamins that are essential for optimum health.
  • 100 g fruit provides just about 50 calories equivalent to that of apples. Its flesh contains no saturated fats or cholesterol; however, it is rich source of soluble and insoluble dietary fiber like pectin.
  • Pineapple fruit contains a proteolytic enzyme bromelain that digests food by breaking down protein. Bromelain also has anti-inflammatory, anti-clotting and anti-cancer properties. Studies have shown that consumption of pineapple regularly helps fight against arthritis, indigestion and worm infestation.
  • Fresh pineapple is an excellent source of antioxidant vitamin; vitamin C. 100 g fruit contains 47.8 or 80% of this vitamin. Vitamin C is required for the collagen synthesis in the body. Collagen is the main structural protein in the body required for maintaining the integrity of blood vessels, skin, organs, and bones. Regular consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps the body protect from scurvy; develop resistance against infectious agents (boosts immunity) and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals from the body.
  • It also contains small amount Vitamin A (provides 58 IU per 100 g) and beta-carotene levels. These compounds are known to have antioxidant properties. Vitamin A is also required maintaining healthy mucusa, skin and is essential for vision. Studies suggests that consumption of natural fruits rich in flavonoids helps the human body to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.
  • In addition, ananas fruit is rich in B-complex group of vitamins like folates, thiamin, pyridoxine, riboflavin and minerals like copper, manganese and potassium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids, helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Copper is a helpful cofactor for red blood cell synthesis. Manganese is a co-factor for the enzyme superoxide dismutase, which is a very powerful free radical scavenger.
Pineapple or ananas season lasts from March until June when fresh fruits available in the markets at their best. In the store, choose that are heavy for their size. While larger fruits will have a greater proportion of edible flesh, they make no difference in quality over a small size pineapple.
Choose fruit that should be free of soft spots, mold, bruises and darkened "eyes," all of which may indicate that the fruit is past its prime. Some people judge freshness, ripeness and quality by tapping a finger against the side of the fruit. A good, ripe pineapple has a dull, solid sound while immaturity and poor quality are indicated by a hollow thud. It stops ripening as soon as it is picked; therefore, choose fruit with a fragrant sweet smell at the stem end. Avoid those that smell musty, sour or fermented.
Ripe fruits perish quickly if left at room temperature and should be eaten rather early. Moreover, since they are chill sensitive and therefore, cannot be stored in the refrigerator for long periods. However, if not readily eaten; you may prepare the fruit and place the whole or cut sections wrapped inside a thin plastic cover in the refrigerator for 1-2 days for later use.

Preparation and serving method

Pineapple can be cut and peeled in many ways. Usually, the crown and the base of the fruit are chopped off with a knife. To peel the fruit, place its base side down and carefully slice off the skin, carving out any remaining "eyes" with the tip of your knife. Once the rind is removed, cut the fruit into desirable chunks.
One may also use pineapple "corers" to make the job easier. While they provide a quick and convenient method for peeling and coring pineapples, sometimes, they result in waste of a good amount of fruit since they often cannot be adjusted for different-sized fruits. Similarly, some markets offer devices that will peel and core the ananas, but once again, this process may result in wastage of some fruit.
 
Here are some serving tips:
 
  • Fresh ananas sections are a great addition to fruit salads and in toppings.


  • Fresh pineapple juice can be a refreshing intra-day drink.


  • It also used in the preparation of desserts, jams, and jellies.


  • The fruit is used in a variety of delicious pineapple recipes, mainly as a flavoring ingredient.

  • Buhari: If We Were Truly In A Democracy

     
    Democracy! They say you are the government of the people, by the people and for the people; the government that is strictly built on the rule of law and adherence to the very minute tenet of the nation's constitution. Ok! In Nigeria, if we were truly in a democracy, would all these despicable 'peculiar mess,' as that revered South-Western politician of yore would say, be happening in Ekiti today, under the much-awaited change leadership of President Muhammadu Buhar? If we were truly in a democracy, would the Federal Government be brazenly disregarding the proclamations of the judiciary, courts, held as one of the three arms that is the last resort of the people in a people's government?
    If we were in a democracy in Nigeria, why would the sanctity of the Ekiti governorship election be tested from the very first rung of applicable judiciary hierarchy to the Supreme Court (after which, in Nigeria's constitution, next is court of God), only for the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) to be employing every available subterfuge means to truncate the elected wishes of the people in the name of politics?
    If we were truly in a democracy in Nigeria, why would the Department of State Security (DSS), an agency of the Federal Executive, storm the Ekiti State House of Assembly, a component of the legislative arm recognized by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and abduct four members of the House on trumped-up allegations, when the same constitution guarantees separation of powers?
    To my consternation, I even heard that another Ekiti government official, secretly apprehended by the DSS, respected Chief Toyin Ojo, Commissioner for Finance, was asked by DSS what he contributed to Fayose's election to merit his appointment. What a mockery and rape of democracy, if that was coming from officers of the DSS. When did contribution to electoral finances become a criterion for holding professional positions in our governments? Why haven't the moneybags in this nation who have been known to bankroll governors' and presidents' elections been appointed to key government positions? And if they had been, in which statute book is it stated that they had no right to be so appointed?
    To me, were we truly in a democracy, the Nigeria Police would have protested the usurpation of its powers and illegal hijacking of its duties by the DSS, if at all there was any offence committed by the abducted Ekiti top government functionaries. The height of the absurdity is that the police, its arms responsible for economic crimes, where there is any, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as well as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), among other relevant agencies, kept mute on the infringement. Is this truly a democracy? Also, to me, it doesn't seem like a democracy when President Buhari has no deemed it fit to comment since Friday 4, March that the news broke that 'his men' desecrated the hallowed chamber of a House of Assembly, under his watch ad Nigeria's democratically-elected president.
    If we were in a true democracy, would the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria keep silent when more than hundreds of Agatu people of Benue State were being killed by members of his clan of Fulani herdsmen, not until the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose, raised the alarm that the president's silence portended a grave danger?
    If we were in a democracy, would President Buhari not be concerned that four elected lawmakers from a state under his watch had been abducted and were still in incarceration since over five days without any charge preferred against them, when they should never be in custody for more than 24 hours under the law of the nation he governs? If we were in a democracy in today's Nigeria, would our president look elsewhere when petitions had been written against a former government by the substantive one over transactions that plunged the state into unprecedented debt when the Federal Government says it is fighting corruption? At least, there is no harm in investigating one who has done no wrong. Or, what have we been told that the abducted Ekiti lawmakers did? If we were in a democracy, all allegations of corruption ought to be looked at, irrespective of the party or state they came from.
    Fayose had said that those who rode on the back of a tiger would eventually end in the belly of the tiger. As it is, we don't seem to have a democracy in Nigeria. President Buhari needs our help; both of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the APC as well as other political parties. All the ethnic stocks are not left out, if we are all interested in a democratic Nigeria.
    You cannot say that because lawmakers enjoy no immunity, you would coerce them to get at a Governor Fayose who has immunity. That is if we were in a democracy.
     
    Written by Stephen Gbadamosi, Special Assistant (Media) to the Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly

    Saturday, 12 March 2016

    A Leader Unifies Not Divides

     
         
    From an unpublished book I have written since the last half a decade on one of Nigeria's most influential litigation lawyers CHIEF AFE BABALOLA (SAN) I will borrow some citations of what constitute good leadership as espoused by leading thinkers from all around the world.
    HERB RUBENSTEIN believes that the creation and fulfillment of worthwhile opportunities by honorable means are the best forms of the characteristics of a good leader.
    JOHN C. MAXWELL on his own part defined leadership in a more pragmatic perspective as follows;“leadership is influence- nothing more, nothing less”.
    The general summary of what most contemporary thinkers say about leadership can be summed up in the following terms: “a good leader is one who has made a lasting impact on people who he is not commanding. Anyone who can influence people who are not under his control or supervision can be called a leader.”
    The purpose of digging a bit dipper into contemporary political history for clear guides on what leading thinkers see as good qualities of a good leader is basically to highlight these virtues and to more appropriately recommend to the political leadership hierarchies in contemporary Nigeria the imperative and indeed existential urgency of exhibiting these qualities in the ways and manners they administer or run Nigeria.
    The institutionalization of good governance is the antidote to drive Nigeria away safely from the imminent threats of implosion and the deep rooted animosities amongst and between different component parts of the Nation State known as Nigeria.
    The Constitution of Nigeria of 1999 (as amended) being the Indisputable grund norm has clearly indicated that the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a state based on the principles of democracy and social justice.
    But in reality, there are pent up and bottled up angst amongst different ethnic nationalities as a sovereign entity that the Country is not appropriately governed in the best traditions and tenets enshrined in the constitution.
    From North and South, there are loud cries of marginalization and systematic scheming out of certain component parts of Nigeria from some important organs of political administration in Nigeria.
    In the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, there are considerable volumes of protests of systematic alienation of some ethnic nationalities as against the intendment and intentions of the Constitution which in Section 42 (1) makes it illegal that any group of persons should be schemed out of things by the powers-that-be.
    The Nigerian Constitution in Section 42(1) provides thus: “A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person (a) be subjected either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any Law in force in Nigeria or any Executive or Administrative action of the Government, to disabilities or restriction to which citizen of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions are not made subject….”
    I will adopt two major objections raised by two significant opinion leaders to highlight the existence of some forms of policy of exclusion which is noticeable in the current Government at the center led by Retired Military General, Muhammad Buhari.
    First, the Gwari ethnic Nationality are the original dominant indigenous tribe of the Federal Capital Territory known today as Abuja.
    The Federal Capital Territory is not strictly speaking a State as we know the other 36 States which individually have Houses of Assembly. But the Federal Capital Territory is to be treated as a State, as stated by the constitution in section 299 of the Nigerian constitution states as follows: “The provisions of this constitution shall apply to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja as if it were one of the states of the federation…”
    Ironically, since Abuja became the Federal Capital Territory for over three decades, the single largest indigenous tribe of this city –Gwaris is yet to produce the minister in-charge of the federal capital just as other ethnic nationalities outside of the North for a long time have yet to occupy this political position but rather the position of minister of FCT has almost become the exclusive preserve of our northern brothers.
    The only possible exception was from inception of the new capital city between 1976 to 1979 when MOBOLAJI AJOSE ADEOGUN was the Minister of FCT.

    To show how skewed and tilted towards Northern Nigeria appointments into the ministerial position for the Federal Capital Territory has been I will reproduce the entire list.
    John Jatau Kadiya 1979 – 1982; Iro Abubakar Dan Musa 1982 -1983; Haliru Dantoro1983- 1984; Mamman Jiya Vatsa 1984 December – 1985; Air Vice Marshal Hamza Abdullahi1986 – 1989; General Gado Nasko1989 – 1993; Lieutenant General Jeremiah Timbut Useni1993 – 1998 ; General Mamman Kontagora1998 – 1999; Architect Ibrahim Bunu1999 -2001; Alhaji Mohammed Abba Gana 8 February 2001 – 17 July 2003; Mr Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai 17 July 2003 – 27 July 2007; Dr Aliyu Modibbo Umar 27 July 2007 – 29 October 2008; Senator Muhammadu Adamu Aliero17 December 2008 – 8 April 2010 ; Senator Bala Mohammed 8 April 2010 – 29th May 2015; and current Alhaji Mohammed Bello11 November 2015 till date.
    The second example of complaints of systemic alienation is that of the Igbo speaking people numbering close to fifty million and reputed for extensively settling in far and near from the South East of Nigeria.
    The current president is quoted as saying that in political patronage those who gave him 95 percent votes would corner more juicy portfolios than those who gave him 5 percent. In the March 2015 presidential election, Muhammadu Buhari won with the gap of a little less than three million votes to beat the incumbent president Dr. Goodluck Jonathan who scored over twelve million votes.
    By his own admission in a television interview during his maiden State visit to the United States of America after his inauguration, Nigerians mostly from Northern Nigeria and parts of South West which constituted the 95 percent of votes which he got out of his total of less than fifteen million votes would be treated favorably than those Nigerians largely from South East and South/South geopolitical zones that constitute the remaining five percent out of his scored votes.
    This means that the other twelve million persons who voted for his rival at that election will be unfairly treated. He nevertheless considered the fact that since Nigeria has a population of nearly 160 million people, it therefore follows that the cumulative percentage of Nigerians that participated in that election were less than 30 percent of our total count. So if the current president goes ahead to favor the 95 percent of those who voted for him, he will not only alienate the other 12 million plus people who voted for his rival but also the multitudes numbering over one hundred million Nigerians may not matter in his calculation. Over one hundred million Nigerians didn’t participate in the last General election. Alienating this huge population is not only divisive but a threat to national security .
    A leader is elected to unify the people of such a heterogeneous political entity like Nigeria and not introduce and implement policies that divide the people.
    Understandably the South East is protesting their exclusion from the constitutional body known as National Defence Council which is the highest decision policy making body in matters of National Security. This is unconstitutional and a direct breach of the federal character principle. How can over fifty million Nigerians be excluded when matters that concerns national security is to be discussed and decided upon? This is the root cause of the social upheavals in parts of the South East whereby most youths who feel excluded in the national scheme of affairs by the Muhammadu Buhari's government has resorted to agitating peacefully and constructively for self determination since evidence abound to show that the government of the day is treating the South East zone as an inconsequential part of the Sovereign entity of Nigeria. Sadly too, the central government has rather than dialogue decided to use military brute force to clamp down on the peaceful civilian protesters in the South East of Nigeria.
    A human rights group has just filed a case in the Federal High Court demanding redress concerning the exclusion of South East from the composition of the National Defence Council but the overwhelming apprehension is that President Buhari may not comply with whatever decision the Court makes.
    But the president must be reminded that as a leader, his duty is to unify and not to divide. Let Mr. President provide redress for the complaints of systematic scheming out of the Igbo and aloso pick a Gwari indigene to join the Federal Executive Council to represent the Federal Capital Territory.
    In the area of allocations of projects in the 2016 budget, both the National Assembly and the presidency must prevent a situation whereby certain geopolitical entities are treated with the short end of the stick. The South East of Nigeria since the last fifty years after it was devastated and bombarded by the then Federal Forces during the Civil War has continued to remain grossly underdeveloped. A leader who wants to be remembered long after he has gone as a unifying and not a divisive personality must redress the clear imbalance suffered by the presence or lack of it of Federal government's strategic projects and institutions in the South East.
    Why for instance has the South East not being allocated a refinery when in fact many states in the zone are endowed with Crude Oil but Kaduna in North west of Nigeria has no crude oil resources but the Nigerian State built one of the largest refineries there?
    Why is the government playing games with the second Niger bridge and in this Year’s budget the game plan is manifesting to show that whereas other zones like Sotherton West and North have in the near past got bridges and flyovers built by Federal Government but in the case of the South East where the second Niger bridge is located the road users would be taxed to pay for the construction of the bridge across the River Niger?
    A breakdown of the strategic projects included in the soon to be passed 2016 budget showed that again the South East is being treated with the short end of the stick.
    The Southwest geo-political zone has got the largest share of N88.7 billion for major projects in the 2016 proposed budget for the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.
    The ministry has N433.4 billion total sum for the capital projects of the ministry and some agencies under it. Erstwhile Lagos State governor Babatunde Fashola is the minister so he has cornered most of these juicy projects to his geopolitical zone of birth.
    The main ministry's capital budget is N334.3 billion, NREA N15.3 billion, TCN N50 billion and FERMA N25 billion.
    Other agencies are Electricity Management Services Limited (EMSL), N19 billion; National Power Training Institute, N1.8 billion and Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Limited, N2 billion.
    The North-West has the second largest allocation of N30.1 billion; North-Central, N29 billion; South-South, N22.5 billion; South-East was allocated N2.9 billion; North-East has N9.4 billion. Again the South East is marginalized.
    For the South-East, it showed that some important projects are concession of 2nd Niger Bridge in Anambra and Delta States, N17 billion; completion of Enugu – Abakaliki road in Enugu/Ebonyi states N29.3; completion of rural electrification in 6 Abia State communities N425 million; provision of 100KW solar mini-grid electrification of Obinaochia, Umudim, Umunneochi LGA of Abia State N65 million; rehabilitation/completion of rural electrification scheme in 5 communities of Anambra State N322.5 million; rural electrification of 15 communities in Enugu State N364 million and completion of the construction of area zonal office in Enugu State N44.4 million. By this analysis by Daily Trust Newspaper the South East of Nigeria is again about to be shortchanged.
    The blame is not for President Buhari alone as there are enough to go round but the political elite of the South East of Nigeria have failed the people.
    Why for instance is the South East not strategically developed by the manufacturers and leading traders of South East origin who dominate the manufacturing industry in lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria owned by the Yorubas?
    Arewa Consultative Council which is the political pressure group of the North now have their former secretary (Colonel Hamid Ibrahim Ali) as the Comptroller General of Customs who has carefully positioned officers from the North to occupy strategic offices. This retired military man has introduced a range of policies that are detrimental to the business interest of South East importers who dominate the Lagos based maritime industry.
    The South West which actively partnered with Muhammadu Buhari in forming a political alliance (APC) which won the 2015 presidential election narrowly is today manning key cabinet level positions which has now being used to corner major projects to that geopolitical zone.
    While we task President Buhari to be a unifying President and be fair to all zones, the political and economic elite of the South East of Nigeria must show good example by relocating their main businesses to the South East. By so doing the agitations for self government as championed by Igbo Youth would reduce significantly.

    Written by Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria.

    Okorocha, Ndi Imo And The Limit Of Propaganda

    “When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic.”  Dresden James
    Social media websites are no longer performing an envisaged function of creating a positive channel of information, communication and a link among friends, family and even the government; it has been reduced to an enterprise based on falsity and hatred.
     
    It is unfortunate that those who ought to know better have taken it as a duty to mislead the public with personal bias and prejudices. It's been 10 months since elections were lost and won but our permissive opposition politicians are yet to come to terms with the fact that elections are over. They have continued to do the unimaginable, including Goebbels kind of propaganda, to smear and tarnish the good name and pedigree of the people's governor with uncharitable expletives both on print and social media.
     
    Last week, an attempt was made to malign and undermine the iron clad reputation of the people's governor, His Excellency, Owelle Anayo Rochas Okorocha by some implacable politicians of the old corrupt political order.
     
    While Imo State was agog with the inaugural hosting of the Southern Governors' Wives Forum (SGWF) last week Thursday by the quintessential First Lady of Imo State, Ugonneoma Nkechinyere Rochas Okorocha, an online news website that has A1 rating in propagating false news, published in its website that Dr. Paschal Obi, the Principal Secretary of Imo State Government and two other aides of the governor were whisked away by EFFC for interrogation over baseless and unsubstantiated allegation bothering on diversion of #2 billion bailout fund.
     
    Imo State government, in a press release, refuted the news, insisting as at the time the news was published, the above named official was at his office in government house carrying out his official duties.
     
    When the peddlers of the unfounded news discovered the invented canard had less than a needle effect on Ndi Imo, a misguided journalist in an irresponsible attempt to paint the governor and his government with bad brush published another scurrilous stunt, barely 24 hours after the first one on the website of a newspaper whose owner is allegedly one of the beneficiaries of the Dasuki gate scandal, with same purpose; to batter and maul the people's governor's hard earned reputation. In the said publication, they alleged the people's governor had jetted out of the country to avoid unnecessary embarrassment from EFCC officials.
     
    Briefing news men last week Saturday, at the State House, the people's governor told the journalists what transpired and insisted EFCC didn't pick up any of his aides as reported neither did he travel out of the country to avoid embarrassment from the anti-graft agency, but rather, jetted off to Ibadan for the coronation ceremony of the 41st Olubadan of Ibadan land, Oba Saliu Adetunji and afterwards returned same day to Imo State.
     
    Such social media asphyxiating lies are becoming an affront to the integrity of the people's governor. What exactly do these social media empowered activist intend to gain by discrediting a governor whose place as one of the performing governors in Nigeria is unimpeachable?
    Could it be that their sponsors are not comfortable the people's governor is blazing the trail with his lasting laudable projects which are scattered across the landscape of the State and would do the unimaginable to set the people's governor in opposition to the good people of Imo State?
    The people's governor's second coming has redefined leadership, excess baggage has been cut down, loopholes are being blocked and efficient methods employed to increase the State's revenue. Despite the decline in the economy, we are still building bridges, constructing roads and attracting investors; records are being broken and standards have improved in all facets of the State.
     
    The governor is human being, fallible and incapable of pleasing everyone. It takes only a man of purpose and vision to achieve this, let's stop demonizing what we admire; even the traducers of the people's governor can't hide their admiration for him. He is evil, I agree but we need more of him than your saintly specie.
     
    This is the time to tell ourselves the bitter truth: there is a limit to everything, including propaganda. The best we can do, (including the shameless kiss and tell source we have within) is to allow our collective commitment to this Rescue Mission Government of His Excellency, Owelle Anayo Rochas Okorocha remain unquestionable.
     
    Written by Hon. Uju Kingsley Chima, Deputy Chief Of Staff (Operations) IMSG.

    How To Overcome The New Insurgency In Nigeria And The World

     
    What constitutes a people lie in their commonly held values. The Nigerian peoples, Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, etc have core values and beliefs that keep them united as a people and Nigeria has imbibed these collectives of values cemented by Western Education that keep her going as a people.
     
    Now what the invaders or conqueror s do is to violate these values to disunite the people before engaging them in a war. This is what Boko Haram and its affiliates are doing with Nigeria right now. Remember that the British Colonialists used it to success in conquering or pacifying the then thriving city states of old Nigeria at the turn of the century. Before then the Arabs used it to great effect on Northern Emirates and what did British use? A new religion, a new education, a new language, indeed new values.
     
    The Arab invaders also used a new language Arabic, a new religion Islam and these translated to a new value system. Now Nigeria faces a new threat. Boko Haram, meaning Western Education is sacrilege. It says volumes about this new insurgency happening in modern times. The very cement of nationhood Western Education is to be violated by a determined group with international affiliates who believe that it was the British Colonialists that stopped them from totally colonizing Nigeria before 1900. So if western education is removed, then the likelihood that Nigeria would be reduced to its tribal parts is high and under this fluid situation the very binding values that keep each of the tribes together could then subsequently be attacked to create a mass of confused people ready to be pacified or conquered!!
     
    So how to go about it in an environment of pervasive Western education and tools of communication. Simple. Just make these institutions, tools unworkable by exploiting its loopholes.
    Indeed the social media has become a veritable tool since it could not be banned. Watchers of the social media report unprecedented influx of fake and duplicated profiles with half baked commentators. Their strategy is to violate our most cherished values and create disbelief, shock and frustration. They post  insane videos and graphic photos against all existing journalistic laws. For instance they bring you graphic video of beheading of human beings to create convulsion and fear. Some post snakes, graphic scenes of rituals. Others bring blue movies of incest and other abominable behaviours to tell you that it is possible and violate your inmost beliefs.
     
    How to tackle these insurgents. When you see them avoid their company on social media and protect all those connected with you. You may wish to use any of the avenues open to you on social media. Retain your cherished values and refuse to allow those who could not obtain good western education or who had no home training dictate your lifestyle. Refuse to focus unduly on ‘mediocres’ whether they are elevated by our skewed political system or not for they have nothing better to give you than to take away the most cherished values that protect you as a person and as a people.
     
    Written by Nwokedi Nworisara.

    SUNDAY STORY: The Last Pamphlet – The Story of Father’s Love

    Child-smilingI’ve been so blessed in many ways in my life, but this morning, I got a magnificent story from my pastor. I could say this story was a life-changing one, at least for me. The story is called “The Last Pamphlet”.
    This story tells us that our life is not ours to decide; in terms of life and death. It’s our God’s decision.

    So, this is the story. I paraphrased it.
    One Sunday, after the morning service, the pastor and his 11-years old son would go around the town to hand out evangelic pamphlets to the residents. It is their routine. One Sunday afternoon, the sky was dark and it was raining outside. The child called his father, “Dad, It’s time to hand out the pamphlets, let’s go!”.
     
    “I would not go out in a weather like this, it’s pouring down heavily outside.” His father replied.
    “But Dad! will people not go to hell?” His son asked bluntly.
    “Son, I’m not going out when it’s cold like this.”
     
    The boy looked sad and asked, “Dad, would you please let me go out and hand out the pamphlets?”
    His father hesitated for a bit and said, “Here you go son, take care!”
    The boy walked around the town and went door to door to give the pamphlets. He walked for two hours in the rain. He was soaking wet but there is one pamphlets left. He looked around the street, but no one was there, the street was deserted. He went to the first house he saw and rang the bell, but no one answered. He rang the bell again, but again no one came out. He waited a bit but there is no one there. He turned his back and was going to leave the house, but something stopped him. He turned back to the door and rang the bell. This time he knocked the front door even louder. Something was keeping him on that porch. He rang again and the door opened. He saw an old lady came out and looked very sad.
     
    She asked, “What can I do for you son?” She saw a boy with radiant smile that lit up her world.
     
    “So..sorry mam if I’m disturbing you, but I just want to say that Jesus loves you very much and I’m here to give you our last pamphlets which will tell you about Jesus and his love.” The smiling boy turned his back to leave.
     
    The old lady said, “Thank you son, may God bless you.”
    The next Sunday, his father, the pastor asked the congregation, “Does anyone have something to share this morning?”
    An elderly lady stood up and began to speak with a magnificent smile transcended her face
     
    83
     
    “Nobody knows me in this church, I’ve never been here before. Last Sunday I was not a Christian. My husband passed away for sometime ago and leaving me completely alone. Last Sunday, in a cold and rainy day, I decided to end my life. So I took a chair and rope to the attic. I started to tie the rope and I stood up on the chair feeling so lonely and broken hearted. I was so ready to jump off the chair but the door bell rang and startled me. I thought that the bell would stop ringing and whoever it is will eventually go away, but the sound of the bell became louder and louder. Then, someone started to knock on the front door very loudly. I thought no one ever came to see me for a long time, who could it be. So i loosened the rope and went to the door. As I opened the door, I saw a boy with the most radiant and angelic smile I’ve ever seen in my life. I could never describe how he spoke to me and brought my heart back to life. He said to me that Jesus loves me very much. I closed the door and read every words on this pamphlet. I took my chair and the rope from my attic as I won’t need them anymore, I am now the daughter of the King of Glory. I personally came to thank that little angel who came at the right time to save me from spending my life eternally in hell.” The elderly lady ended her speech as the congregation praised the Lord and applauded very loudly.
    The pastor came down from the stage and sobbed as he held up his son. No church has ever had such a touching moment. That is the story of The Father’s love for all of his son. He sent His only child to this cold and dark world, then He welcomed back His Son as all of the heaven shouted praises (John 3:16).  May all of you be blessed with this story. Happy Sunday!

    Reported final fine settlement premature – MTN Nigeria

     
    Lagos – Mr Ferdi Moolman, Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria has said that reports making round on the company’s final settlement of the N780 billion fine was false. This is contained in a statement signed by Moolman on Saturday in Lagos. Moolman was quoted in the statement as saying that the reports of the claim of settlement were premature, as the telecommunications company was still negotiating with the Federal Government of Nigeria.
     
    ”The management of MTN Nigeria is aware of the reports on the settlement negotiations. ”The confidential negotiations are still very much ongoing with the authorities to achieve an amicable resolution of the matter. ”Accordingly‎, no further comment can be made at this time,” the statement quoted Moolman as saying. The company has been negotiating with the Government over a possible reduction of the fine and made a part payment of $251 million (N50 billion), also setting aside $600 million for further payment of the fine. The Senate Committee on Communications, headed by Sen. Gilbert Nnaji, on Thursday, March 10 revealed how the Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) were sidelined in the process of negotiation. The senate committee, which held an investigative hearing into the N1.04 trillion fine imposed on MTN was also, informed that the company had proposed to pay the sum of N300 billion between now and 2020.
     
    The committee was told that a proposal for out-of-court settlement of the fine was already ongoing between the MTN and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, with respect of the fine which had been reduced to N780 billion. Vice Chairman of the Communications Committee, Sen. Adeola Olamilekan (Lagos West), during the sitting, displayed a proposal from MTN, which he said was made to the government by MTN.
     
    The solicitor-general of the federation, Taiwo Abiodun, was reported to have acknowledged the proposal. In the proposal, the telecommunications company told Government it could only pay the sum of N300 billion between now and 2020. A breakdown of the proposal indicated that MTN, having already paid N50 billion to a recovery account at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), would pay another N100 billion via electronic transfer between Dec. 31, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2020. The proposal further indicated that another N80 billion would be paid by MTN ”as a demonstration of its commitment to and confidence in the Nigerian economy and subject to necessary regulatory approvals.” It added that MTN Nigeria would make a purchase of N80 billion of Nigerian sovereign debt issued on international market in 2016 to 2017.
     
    The proposal stated that the last tranche of the payment proposal would be N70 billion. “MTN would pay through providing the FGN with access, subject to excess capacity to the company’s fibre network, for the purposes of allowing the Government to expand its e-initiatives (e.g visa processing, public service, connecting schools, registration etc.), from the date of the execution of this agreement through Dec. 31, 2020.” it added

    FIVE EASY STEPS TO STOP DRUG ADDICTION

    Recovering from addiction can be a difficult and taxing process. Certain people are much more susceptible to addiction, as factors such as genetics or environmental issues can make substance abuse much more likely. There are, however, several effective ways to prevent drug addiction. Here are some tips on how to stop addiction before it even starts. 1.Find healthy ways to cope with stress. Many people begin using drugs as a way to deal with stress and tension. The reality is, however, that drugs are only a temporary fix. Once a person comes down from drugs, they are likely to experience physical and psychological side effects that only intensify feelings of anxiety. Finding coping methods such as exercise or meditation can eliminate the urge to try drugs. 2.Seek therapy or counseling. It is not at all uncommon to experience feelings of depression. Many people experience highs and lows that can be difficult to cope with. Drug users often are people who are attempting to self-medicate for their psychological issues. The problem is that drugs do not treat mental issues themselves. They simply treat the symptoms. Working through problems with a mental health professional is a much more effective and long-lasting way of treating a psychological or emotional problem. 3.Maintain a lifestyle that makes you happy. Low self-esteem and depression are major triggers for drug abuse. It is easy to let one aspect of your life, such as work, become overwhelming, to the point that you do not enjoy or partake in other important aspects of your life. Maintaining strong relationships and a healthy balance between physical and mental activity can help you maintain the stability that is needed to stay drug free. 4.Have things in your life that you care deeply about. Whether it’s a sport, artistic endeavor, or personal relationships, having something that you are passionate about motivates you to stay healthy and mentally and emotionally in shape. If you care deeply enough about the people and activities in your life, you are less likely to jeopardize them by experimenting with drugs. 5.Be aware of your family’s history with substance abuse. The tendency toward addiction is linked to genetics, so be familiar with any parents or other family members who have struggled with addiction. If you know that you have a higher chance of becoming addicted, take extra precautions to avoid drugs and alcohol. It is much easier to avoid substances altogether than it is to recover from addiction. If you were around a parent who abused drugs as a child, you may also want to seek counseling to help you resolve any issues you may have around alcohol or other addictive drugs. No matter what your background or current situation is, it is possible to avoid slipping into the dangers of addiction. They keys lie in keeping yourself happy and healthy while you are drug-free.

    Watermelon a Great fruit and its benefits

    •Alongside of tomatoes, watermelon has moved up to the front of the line in recent research studies on high-lycopene foods. Lycopene is a carotenoid phytonutrient that's especially important for our cardiovascular health, and an increasing number of scientists now believe that lycopene is important for bone health as well. Among whole, fresh fruits that are commonly eaten in the U.S., watermelon now accounts for more U.S. intake of lycopene (by weight of fruit eaten) than any other fruit. Pink grapefruit and guava are two other important fruit sources of lycopene, although in the U.S., these fruits are more often consumed in the form of juice. •Health scientists are becoming more and more interested in the citrulline content of watermelon. Citrulline is an amino acid that is commonly converted by our kidneys and other organ systems into arginine (another amino acid). The flesh of a watermelon contains about 250 millligrams of citrulline per cup. When our body absorbs this citrulline, one of the steps it can take is conversion of citrulline into arginine. Particularly if a person's body is not making enough arginine, higher levels of arginine can help improve blood flow and other aspects of our cardiovascular health. There's also some preliminary evidence from animal studies that greater conversion of citrulline into arginine may help prevent excess accumulation of fat in fat cells due to blocked activity of an enzyme called tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase, or TNAP. •If you've gotten used to thinking about the juicy red flesh at the center of a watermelon as its only nutrient-rich area—and far more nutrient-rich than the more lightly-colored flesh that is farther out near the watermelon rind—it is time to change your thinking. In a recent study, food scientists compared the nutrient content of flesh from different parts of a watermelon: flesh from the center, the stem end, the blossom end (opposite from the stem), and the periphery (the part nearest to the rind). What they've discovered were impressive concentrations of phenolic antioxidants, flavonoids, lycopene, and vitamin C in all of these different areas. The exact distribution of nutrients was also highly dependent on the variety of watermelon. But there was no area in any of the watermelon varieties that came out badly in terms of nutrients, and in many of the watermelon varieties, the flesh's outer periphery contained impressive concentrations of most nutrients. •Recent studies have confirmed the nutritional importance of allowing a watermelon to fully ripen. For example, research has shown that the biggest jump in lycopene content occurs at the time when a watermelon's flesh turns from white-pink to pink. Yet when that flesh continues to ripen, resulting in a color change from pink to red, the lycopene content becomes even more concentrated. Prior to ripening, when the flesh of a watermelon is primarily white in color, its beta-carotene content is near zero. Even when allowed to ripen to the white-pink stage, a watermelon still contains very little of its eventual beta-carotene content. But as it moves from white-pink to pink to red, the beta-carotene content of a watermelon steadily increases. Like lycopene and beta-carotene, total phenolic antioxidants in a watermelon also increase consistently during ripening, all the way up until the appearance of fully red flesh. The bottom line: eating a fully ripe watermelon can really pay off in terms of nutrient benefits. Please see our section called "How to Select and Store" to learn about determining a watermelon's ripeness before you purchase it. watermelon contains the following minerals: vitamin C - 16% pantothenic acid - 7% copper - 7% vitamin A - 5% potassium - 5% biotin - 5% magnesium - 4% vitamin B6 - 4% vitamin B1 - 4% This chart graphically details the %DV that a serving of Watermelon provides for each of the nutrients of which it is a good, very good, or excellent source according to our Food Rating System. Additional information about the amount of these nutrients provided by Watermelon can be found in the Food Rating System Chart. A link that takes you to the In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Watermelon, featuring information over 80 nutrients, can be found under the Food Rating System Chart.
    Health Benefits Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Support Phenolic compounds in watermelon—including flavonoids, carotenoids, and triterpenoids—make this fruit a choice for anti-inflammatory and antioxidant health benefits. If you had to pick a single nutrient from this anti-inflammatory and antioxidant category that has put watermelon on the map, that nutrient would be lycopene. Alongside of pink grapefruit and guava, watermelon is an unusually concentrated source of this carotenoid. Whereas most fruits get their reddish color from anthocyanin flavonoids, watermelon gets it reddish-pink shades primarily from lycopene. The lycopene content of watermelons increases along with ripening, so to get the best lycopene benefits from watermelon, make sure that your melon is optimally ripe. (See our section entitled, "How to Select and Store" for practical tips on selecting a fully ripe watermelon.) The lycopene in watermelon is a well-documented inhibitor of many inflammatory processes, including the production of pro-inflammatory messaging molecules, the expression of enzymes like cyclo-oxygenase and lipoxygenase that can lead to increased inflammatory response, and the activity of molecular signaling agents like nuclear factor kappa B (NFkB). Lycopene is also a well-known antioxidant, with the ability to neutralize free radical molecules. Recent research has shown that the lycopene content of watermelon also remains very stable over time. When two-inch cubes of fresh-cut watermelon were stored in the refrigerator at 36°F (2°C) over 48 hours, researchers found virtually no deterioration in lycopene content. That deterioration did not start to become significant until about seven days of storage, when it decreased by about 6-11%. While we do not recommend waiting seven days before consuming fresh cut watermelon, we believe that the excellent stability of watermelon lycopene over a two-day period is great news for anyone wanting to enjoy fresh cut watermelon over the course of several days. Cucurbitacin E is another unique anti-inflammatory phytonutrient (called a tripterpenoid) found in watermelon. Like the carotenoid lycopene, this anti-inflammatory nutrient has been shown to block activity of cyclo-oxygenase enzymes and neutralize reactive nitrogen-containing molecules. (Interestingly, cucurbitacin E does not appear to neutralize activity of reactive oxygen species—called ROS—but only activity of reactive nitrogen species, called RNS.) Antioxidant carotenoids found in watermelon include significant amounts of beta-carotene. Like lycopene, the beta-carotene in watermelon also increases with ripening. Red-pink fleshed watermelons typically contain far more lycopene and beta-carotene than yellow-white fleshed varieties. For example, one study we've seen showed red watermelon to contain over 600 micrograms of beta-carotene per 3.5 ounces of melon and over 6,500 micrograms of lycopene. By comparison, yellow-fleshed varieties were found to contain only 5-10 micrograms of beta-carotene and no measurable amount of lycopene. In red/pink-fleshed watermelons as a group, we've seen lycopene amounts that vary widely in a range of approximately 2,000–6,700 micrograms per 3.5 ounces of fresh melon. Beta-carotene in these red/pink-fleshed varieties also varies widely, in a range of approximately 5–325 micrograms. Because watermelon contains so many different phytonutrients—as well as key vitamins and minerals, as well as dietary fiber—your health is going to be improved by any watermelon variety that you choose. However, if you specifically want to maximize your lycopene and beta-carotene intake, you'll most likely want to stick with red/pink-fleshed varieties of watermelon. It would be a mistake to ignore the important amount of vitamin C found in watermelon. In our Food Rating System, watermelon qualifies as very good source of vitamin C, even though the amount provided (about 12 milligrams per cup of fresh melon) is only 16% of the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI). However, due to its very high water content, the same amount of watermelon that provides us with 16% of the DRI for vitamin C only costs us about 46 calories, or about 2% of our total daily calories on a 1800-2000 calorie diet. That's excellent nutrient richness, and it makes watermelon a great choice for increasing vitamin C antioxidant protection. Citrulline, Arginine, and Nitric Oxide-Related Benefits One of the more unusual aspects of watermelon is its rich supply of the amino acid, citrulline. Citrulline is an amino acid that is commonly converted by our kidneys and other organ systems (including cells that line our blood vessels) into arginine (another amino acid). The flesh of a watermelon contains about 250 millligrams of citrulline per cup. When our body absorbs citrulline, one of the steps it can take is conversion of citrulline into arginine. An enzyme called nitric oxide synthase (NOS)—found in many of our body's cell types—is able to take the amino acid arginine and use it to help produce a very small molecule of gas called nitric oxide (NO), which is a muscle relaxant. For example, when NO tells the smooth muscles around our blood vessels to relax, the space inside our blood vessels can expand, allowing blood to flow more freely and creating a drop in blood pressure. The relaxing of muscle tension and increasing of blood flow is also the way that NO can change erectile function in men. (The prescription medication sildenafil or Viagra (TM) works in this way.) The amount of citrulline found in fresh watermelon is not enough to make it a food that can automatically improve blood pressure or affect other problems like erectile dysfunction. But in animal studies, intake of watermelon has been shown to help support cardiovascular function, including improvement of blood flow (through relaxation of blood vessels, or what is technically called vasodilation). In humans, intake of watermelon has been shown to increase blood levels of arginine, but only when consumed in very large amounts. For example, in one study that we reviewed, participants consumed either three cups or six cups of fresh watermelon juice daily over the course of three weeks and experienced increases in their blood arginine levels of approximately 12-22%. Another fascinating new area of research involving watermelon and its citrulline content relates to the deposition of body fat. In animal studies, high intake of amino acid citrulline—followed by conversion of citrulline into the amino acid arginine—can result in the formation of arginine-related molecules called polyarginine peptides. These polyarginine peptides are able to block activity of an enzyme called tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase, or TNAP. When TNAP activity is shut down, our fat cells (adipocytes) tend to create less fat (adipogenesis). Researchers believe that the connection between citrulline in food, arginine production by nitric oxide synthase, and fat cell metabolism may eventually provide us with additional tools for helping prevent over-accumulation of body fat. At present, however, the best we can conclude about watermelon and its unusual citrulline content is that it's likely to provide us with some cardiovascular benefits, especially if we don't consume many foods that are high in arginine. (Some of the WHFoods highest in arginine include shrimp, spinach, sea vegetables, turkey, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds.) Other Health Benefits Watermelon seeds can provide us with small but helpful amounts of both iron and zinc. We're talking about several hundred seeds (the amount contained in a typical seeded watermelon, which is not an amount that we would anticipate or suggest eating at one time) to obtain 1–2 milligrams of either mineral. Still, regular consumption of whole, seeded watermelon would provide us with nutrient benefits in this area over time. Interestingly, we've seen one study showing that the iron and zinc in watermelon seeds is surprisingly bioavailable (85-90%), despite the oxalates and phytates that are contained in the seeds. (Oxalates and phytates can sometimes bind with minerals like iron and zinc to lessen their bioavailability.) The amount of protein in watermelon seeds is approximately 1 gram per 24 seeds. At this rate, we're likely to get several grams of protein when we eat several slices of whole, seeded watermelon. While we would not want to depend on watermelon as a key protein food, this valuable amount of protein in its seeds should at least remind us that a fruit like watermelon does have something to offer us in the way of protein benefits. At approximately two-thirds of one gram of dietary fiber per cup, watermelon does not rank as a good, very good, or excellent source of this nutrient in our ranking system. However, you'd be receiving about 3-4 grams of dietary fiber if you enjoyed 175–200 calories of fresh watermelon in the form of several large slices, and this dietary fiber would include a nice mix of soluble to insoluble fiber. (Insoluble fibers can provide special support to the digestive system, and soluble fibers can provide special support to the cardiovascular system.) So while watermelon is not a concentrated source of fiber, we often enjoy it in larger amounts that can provide us with great fiber benefits at a low calorie cost. Description If you have ever tasted a watermelon, it is probably no surprise to you why this juicy, refreshing fruit has this name. Watermelon has an extremely high water content, approximately 92%, giving its flesh a juicy and thirst-quenching texture while still also subtly crunchy. As a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, the watermelon is related to the cantaloupe, squash, pumpkin, cucumber, and gourd that grow on vines on the ground. Watermelons can be round, oblong, or spherical in shape and feature thick green rinds that are often spotted or striped. (Many people report, however, that they like the taste and predictable ripeness of a watermelon best if the watermelon is symmetrical in shape.) Watermelons range in size from a few pounds to upward of ninety pounds. Between 600–1,200 different varieties of watermelon exist worldwide, but all of these varieties belong to the same scientific genus and species of plant, called Citrullis lanatus. While we often associate a deep red/pink color with watermelons, there are many varieties that feature orange, yellow, or white flesh. These varieties are typically lower in the carotenoid lycopene than red/pink varieties. A good bit of controversy has arisen over the exact nature of seedless watermelons. Contrary to some information that you will find on various websites, seedless watermelons are not the result of genetic engineering. Seedless watermelons are the result of hybridization. By crossing a diploid watermelon (with two sets of chromosomes) and a tetraploid watermelon (with four sets of chromosomes), it is possible to produce a watermelon that contains triploid seeds (with three chromosomal sets). When planted, these triploid seeds will grow into seedless watermelons. Seedless watermelons will typically appear to contain some white seeds even though they are labeled as seedless. These white seeds are not actually seeds, but only empty seed coats. Ten years ago, it was somewhat rare to find seedless watermelons in the marketplace. Today, up to 85% of all watermelons produced in the U.S. are estimated to be seedless. This great increase in the availability of seedless watermelons is due to the vastly increased use of "non-bearing pollinators" by watermelon growers. Previously, growers were required to interplant rows of acreage with seeded, fruit-bearing watermelons in order to pollinate their seedless varieties. Today, they are able to pollinate with plants that produce flowers needed by bees, but yield no fruit. These non-fruit-bearing plants allow pollination to continue, but in a less time-consuming and space-consuming way. It's possible to grow seedless watermelons most anywhere that seeded watermelons will grow. Some of the more common seedless varieties include Fandango, Super Cool, Honeyheart, King of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, Crimson Trio, Scarlet Trio, and SuperSweet. Some common varieties of seeded watermelon include Jubilee, Royal Jubilee, Royal Sweet, Crimson Sweet, Sangria, Fiesta, Sugar Baby, Baby Doll, and Charleston Gray. A 15–20 pound diploid, seeded watermelon will typical contain hundreds of seeds. History Watermelons are generally believed to have originated in Africa several thousand years ago and to have traveled over time from Africa to Asia to Europe to North America. Their arrival in Asia and the Middle East is believed to date back to approximately 900–1,000 A.D., and their arrival in Europe is estimated to have occurred in 1300–1400 A.D. It was not until Europeans began to colonize North America that watermelons arrived in what is now the U.S. Today, over four billion pounds of watermelon are produced each year in the U.S. About 85% of watermelons are purchased in fresh form by consumers. Although there is some watermelon production in virtually all states, about three-fourths of all U.S. watermelons are grown in Florida, California, Texas, Georgia, and Indiana. On an average, per person basis, we eat over 15 pounds of fresh watermelon each year. On a global basis, China is by far the largest watermelon-producing country and accounts for over half of all world production. The European Union countries, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Brazil, and the United States are the next largest watermelon producers, but each produces less than 5% of the world total. How to Select and Store If you are purchasing a pre-cut watermelon that has already been sliced into halves or quarters, choose the flesh that is deepest in color and lacks any white streaking. If the watermelon is seeded, the seeds should also be deep in color, or white. When purchasing a whole, uncut watermelon, there are several features to you'll want to evaluate. The first is its weight. A fully ripened watermelon will feel heavy for its size. Heaviness in a watermelon is a good thing because the water content of a watermelon will typically increase along with ripening, and a fully ripened watermelon will be over 90% water in terms of weight, and water is one of the heaviest components in any food Second, look for a watermelon with a relatively smooth rind that is slightly dulled on top. The top and the bottom of a watermelon are worth determining and examining on a watermelon. The bottom or "underbelly" of a watermelon is the spot where it was resting on the ground. If that "ground spot" is white or green, the watermelon is unlikely to be fully ripe. A fully ripened watermelon will often have a ground spot that has turned creamy yellow in color. Opposite from the ground spot will be the top of the watermelon. In a fully ripened watermelon, that spot will typically not be shiny but somewhat dulled. The green color may appear in many different shades, however, from light green to deeper shades. Perhaps most controversial about ripeness testing of a watermelon is whether or not to give it a thump. We've read many arguments both pro and con. However, among experts who recommend thumping, most seem to agree that a fully ripened watermelon will have a deeper, hollower "bass" sound rather than a solid and shallow "soprano" sound. Finally, some grocers will be willing to core an uncut watermelon so that you can have an actual taste. (If you decide not to purchase the melon, the grocer can slice it up and sell it in sliced form.) So consider requesting this if you are uncertain as to the quality. Uncut watermelons are best stored at temperatures of 50-60°F (10–16°C). In many regions, room temperatures will typically be warmer than 60°F and may be less than ideal for whole watermelon storage due to increased risk of decay. Better storage temperatures will typically be found in cellars or basements that are partly or completely below ground level. While we've seen one study showing increases in lycopene content when whole watermelon was stored at a temperature of 68°F (20°C), we believe that a fully-ripe or close-to-fully-ripe melon will already have outstanding lycopene content and that it would be better for you to err on the safe side in terms of decay risk if you are planning to wait several days before slicing open your watermelon. Like temperatures above 60°F (16°C), temperatures much below 50°F (10°C) are not recommended for storage of uncut watermelons. This is due to increased risk of chilling-type injury that can decrease shelf life and flavor. (Therefore, the refrigerator would not be a good place for you to store a whole, uncut watermelon for this reason.) With uncut, whole watermelon, one final storage precaution would be the avoidance of contact with high ethylene-producing foods like passion fruit, apples, peaches, pears, and papaya. Watermelons are ethylene-sensitive fruits that may become overly ripe too quickly under these circumstances. Once cut, watermelons should be refrigerated in order to best preserve their freshness, taste, and juiciness. Store your cut watermelon in a sealed, hard plastic or glass container with a lid. Tips for Preparing and Cooking Tips for Preparing Watermelon Wash the watermelon before cutting it. Due to its large size, you will probably not be able to run it under water in the sink. Instead, wash it with a wet cloth or paper towel. Depending upon the size that you desire, there are many ways to cut a watermelon. The flesh can be sliced, cubed, or scooped into balls. Watermelon is delicious to eat as is, while it also makes a delightful addition to a fruit salad. While many people are just accustomed to eating the juicy flesh of the watermelon, both the seeds and the rind are also edible and nutrient-rich. (In fact, in many parts of the world, watermelon seeds are widely enjoyed as a snack and pickled watermelon rind has a rich culinary tradition.) If you choose to eat the rind, we recommend purchase of certified organic watermelon. (The reason for this suggestion is an increased risk of unwanted contaminants like pesticide residues on the outer skin of non-organic watermelon.) How to Enjoy A Few Quick Serving Ideas •Purée watermelon, cantaloupe and kiwi together. Swirl in a little plain yogurt and serve as refreshing cold soup. •In Asian countries, roasted watermelon seeds are either seasoned and eaten as a snack food or ground up into cereal and used to make bread. •A featured item of Southern American cooking, the rind of watermelon can be marinated, pickled, or candied. •Watermelon mixed with thinly sliced red onion, salt and black pepper makes a great summer salad. •Watermelon is a wonderful addition to fruit salad. And fruit salad can be made days ahead since cut fruit, if chilled, retains its nutrients for at least 6 days. WHFoods Recipes That Feature Watermelon •Grape and Melon Salad •5-Minute Watermelon Frappe Individual Concerns Watermelon is not a commonly allergenic food, is not known to contain measurable amounts of oxalates or purines and is also not included in the Environmental Working Group's 2012 report "Shopper's Guide to Pesticides" as one of the 12 foods most frequently containing pesticide residues. During the past decade, non-organic watermelons grown in part of China became the topic of widespread controversy in the popular press following the use of a synthetic growth stimulator called forchlorfenuron in their cultivation. A combination of heavy rainfall and potential overuse of the growth stimulator actually caused many watermelons on farms in Jiangsu Province to burst open, drawing media attention to this practice. While we are not aware of any data on widespread use of synthetic growth stimulators in the production of non-organic watermelon, we have seen one study predicting residues of forchlorfenuron in the range of 1-5 ppb in watermelons raised with the use of this synthetic growth stimulator. If you are seeking to lower your risk of contamination with all synthetic additives in watermelon and other foods, we recommend purchase of certified organic watermelon, since synthetic growth stimulators and other synthetic additives are prohibited in organic food production. Nutritional Profile Watermelon is an unusual fruit source of the carotenoid lycopene and a rich source of phenolic antioxidants. Watermelon contains cucurbitacin E, a triterpene anti-inflammatory phytonutrient, and unusual amounts of the amino acid citrulline. Watermelon is a very good source of vitamin C. It is also a good source of pantothenic acid, copper, biotin, potassium, vitamin A (in the form of carotenoids), vitamin B1, vitamin B6, and magnesium. For an in-depth nutritional profile click here: Watermelon. In-Depth Nutritional Profile In addition to the nutrients highlighted in our ratings chart, an in-depth nutritional profile for Watermelon is also available. This profile includes information on a full array of nutrients, including carbohydrates, sugar, soluble and insoluble fiber, sodium, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids and more. Introduction to Food Rating System Chart In order to better help you identify foods that feature a high concentration of nutrients for the calories they contain, we created a Food Rating System. This system allows us to highlight the foods that are especially rich in particular nutrients. The following chart shows the nutrients for which this food is either an excellent, very good, or good source (below the chart you will find a table that explains these qualifications). If a nutrient is not listed in the chart, it does not necessarily mean that the food doesn't contain it. It simply means that the nutrient is not provided in a sufficient amount or concentration to meet our rating criteria. (To view this food's in-depth nutritional profile that includes values for dozens of nutrients - not just the ones rated as excellent, very good, or good - please use the link below the chart.) To read this chart accurately, you'll need to glance up in the top left corner where you will find the name of the food and the serving size we used to calculate the food's nutrient composition. This serving size will tell you how much of the food you need to eat to obtain the amount of nutrients found in the chart. Now, returning to the chart itself, you can look next to the nutrient name in order to find the nutrient amount it offers, the percent Daily Value (DV%) that this amount represents, the nutrient density that we calculated for this food and nutrient, and the rating we established in our rating system. For most of our nutrient ratings, we adopted the government standards for food labeling that are found in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "Reference Values for Nutrition Labeling.

    What's New and Beneficial About Watermelon

    •Alongside of tomatoes, watermelon has moved up to the front of the line in recent research studies on high-lycopene foods. Lycopene is a carotenoid phytonutrient that's especially important for our cardiovascular health, and an increasing number of scientists now believe that lycopene is important for bone health as well. Among whole, fresh fruits that are commonly eaten in the U.S., watermelon now accounts for more U.S. intake of lycopene (by weight of fruit eaten) than any other fruit. Pink grapefruit and guava are two other important fruit sources of lycopene, although in the U.S., these fruits are more often consumed in the form of juice. •Health scientists are becoming more and more interested in the citrulline content of watermelon. Citrulline is an amino acid that is commonly converted by our kidneys and other organ systems into arginine (another amino acid). The flesh of a watermelon contains about 250 millligrams of citrulline per cup. When our body absorbs this citrulline, one of the steps it can take is conversion of citrulline into arginine. Particularly if a person's body is not making enough arginine, higher levels of arginine can help improve blood flow and other aspects of our cardiovascular health. There's also some preliminary evidence from animal studies that greater conversion of citrulline into arginine may help prevent excess accumulation of fat in fat cells due to blocked activity of an enzyme called tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase, or TNAP. •If you've gotten used to thinking about the juicy red flesh at the center of a watermelon as its only nutrient-rich area—and far more nutrient-rich than the more lightly-colored flesh that is farther out near the watermelon rind—it is time to change your thinking. In a recent study, food scientists compared the nutrient content of flesh from different parts of a watermelon: flesh from the center, the stem end, the blossom end (opposite from the stem), and the periphery (the part nearest to the rind). What they've discovered were impressive concentrations of phenolic antioxidants, flavonoids, lycopene, and vitamin C in all of these different areas. The exact distribution of nutrients was also highly dependent on the variety of watermelon. But there was no area in any of the watermelon varieties that came out badly in terms of nutrients, and in many of the watermelon varieties, the flesh's outer periphery contained impressive concentrations of most nutrients. •Recent studies have confirmed the nutritional importance of allowing a watermelon to fully ripen. For example, research has shown that the biggest jump in lycopene content occurs at the time when a watermelon's flesh turns from white-pink to pink. Yet when that flesh continues to ripen, resulting in a color change from pink to red, the lycopene content becomes even more concentrated. Prior to ripening, when the flesh of a watermelon is primarily white in color, its beta-carotene content is near zero. Even when allowed to ripen to the white-pink stage, a watermelon still contains very little of its eventual beta-carotene content. But as it moves from white-pink to pink to red, the beta-carotene content of a watermelon steadily increases. Like lycopene and beta-carotene, total phenolic antioxidants in a watermelon also increase consistently during ripening, all the way up until the appearance of fully red flesh. The bottom line: eating a fully ripe watermelon can really pay off in terms of nutrient benefits. Please see our section called "How to Select and Store" to learn about determining a watermelon's ripeness before you purchase it. watermelon contains the following minerals: vitamin C - 16% pantothenic acid - 7% copper - 7% vitamin A - 5% potassium - 5% biotin - 5% magnesium - 4% vitamin B6 - 4% vitamin B1 - 4% This chart graphically details the %DV that a serving of Watermelon provides for each of the nutrients of which it is a good, very good, or excellent source according to our Food Rating System. Additional information about the amount of these nutrients provided by Watermelon can be found in the Food Rating System Chart. A link that takes you to the In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Watermelon, featuring information over 80 nutrients, can be found under the Food Rating System Chart.

    Meet the young Africa entrepreneus

    Meet the entrepreneurs at the heart of Africa's boom - and they're all youngFabrice Alomo's MyAConnect aims to help small businesses in Africa to reach a wider audience and sell online. The company's AMoney payment solution allows customers to buy local goods, even without a bank card or account. 1;Africa has the world's youngest and fastest-growing population. Today, the continent is home to more than 200 million people between the ages of 15 and 24, and its young population is increasingly well-educated. On current trends, nearly 60% of 20-24 year-olds in Africa will have a secondary education in 2030, according to the World Bank. This growing cohort of young, skilled people is reflected in a wave of entrepreneurship that is transforming economies across Africa. The is an award for African entrepreneurs between the ages of 17 and 22, which rewards individuals who have created businesses that solve economic and social problems. In September, the judging panel announced its 12 finalists, who will compete for a share of the $75,000 prize money. Past grand prize winners -- who take home $25,000 -- include Cameroonian, who created a mobile app that helps maternal health workers calculate expectant mothers' due dates; and Ugandan Best Aiyorworth, who founded a microfinance organization for women and girls.

    Health: The natural approach to improving sperm health

    Prior to now, it was popularly believed that infertility is something that affects the woman alone. However, reality has shown to us now that the man is also a culprit especially if he cannot produce healthy, motile, and normal sperm cells. It is an established fact that conception is a complex process involving the man’s sperm and the woman’s egg. It is also a reality that only one sperm is needed to fertilize the egg of a woman despite the fact that millions are released in a single ejaculate. Today, a lot of things affect sperm production in men and the statistics have reflected a correlation between our lifestyle changes and the declining state recorded in producing healthy sperm cells. Drugs (both legal and illegal), alcohol and tobacco can all reduce the health of your sperm and the likelihood that you and your partner will conceive. Avoiding these substances so that the body can detox when preparing for pregnancy, will help ensure the sperm you produce are optimally healthy. This will increase your chances of conception, and ensure that the pregnancy gets off to the healthiest start possible. Smoking reduces your fertility by affecting the concentration, motility and shape of your sperm. On average, men who smoke have a lower concentration of sperm in their semen. In addition their semen contains a higher concentration of sperm which are immobile (unable to swim) and abnormally shaped. Because of their shape, these sperm may be immobile, but even if they can swim properly, they will have a harder time trying to penetrate and fertilize an egg, compared to normally shaped sperm. There is also some evidence that smoking reduces the quality of DNA in a man’s sperm, and that this may in turn make the children of fathers who smoke around the time of conception, more susceptible to some conditions like childhood cancer. Alcohol affects the health of dads’ sperm by influencing the function of the cells in the testes which produce testosterone and those which are regulated by testosterone to produce sperm. In the long term, heavy drinking has been shown to reduce fertility in men. Those who drink excessively ejaculate a smaller quantity of semen each time, and their semen contains a lower number of sperm compared to men who do not drink heavily. The sperm of heavy drinkers are also less motile. Recreational drugs have an adverse effect on a man’s fertility and should be avoided in general but particularly whilst you are trying to conceive. Marijuana and cocaine impair sperm production by affecting the cells in the testes which produce sperm. Heavy marijuana users have lower concentrations of sperm, which may take 2-3 months to recover when the man stops using marijuana. Marijuana also reduces testosterone levels which can impair sperm production. Similarly, cocaine use lowers the concentration of sperm in the semen. It has also been associated with the production of immobile and abnormally shaped sperm. Cocaine use may also increase the likelihood of erectile dysfunction (the inability to achieve and maintain an erection) which indirectly affects fertility. Opiate drugs such as heroin may also reduce fertility because they have hormone altering effects and decrease libido. Performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids impair fertility because they alter hormone production and reduce libido. Detoxification and Preconception Supplementation have been proven to help several men deal with male infertility as it helps the body get rid of several of those toxins affecting health sperm production, and also supplying the needed nourishment necessary for healthy sperm production. You should visit www.fertilityhome.com.ng to learn more about our Natural Detoxification and Supplementation Program targeted at men who might be having a challenge in this direction.

    One Winnner, One Soul

    Welcome to the last week of “Operation By All Means 2016” prophetic agenda. I have no doubt; it must have been a most eventful season of our spiritual adventure till date as individual. But here, we are at the very last moment of this amazing season. The question is, “What does God require of me as an individual in this last week?” Remember, every divine agenda speaks loudest at the end: 1. At the end it shall speak….. Hab 2:3 2. The last moment is everybody’s moment – Jn 7:37-38 3. When the day of Pentecost was fully come….. cloven tongues as of fire landed on every one of them and they began to speak in different languages, reaching out to all tribes present – Acts 2:1-4 4. Prizes are only awarded at the end in every race - 1Cor. 9:24-26/ Phil. 3:14/ Matt. 24:13 Therefore, by the signal of the Holy Ghost, every winner must ensure that at least ONE BRAND NEW SOUL comes along with him/her to the church to meet with Christ this coming Sunday, 13th March 2016. Whatever we may have accomplished hitherto notwithstanding, we must strive to bring in one additional soul this coming Sunday. We must make this a ‘MUST-DELIVER’ instruction after the order of Jesus – Jn. 10:16 In addition, everyone in the line for a miracle job and everyone who got his job wrongly terminated should let Jesus engage them full time this week both in the morning and evening raid and in prayers and no employer will reject them – Matt. 20:1-6 To the glory of God, Faith Tabernacle shall turn to a city without walls before our very eyes come next Sunday in the name of Jesus Christ – Zech. 24-5 As it is written, “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” – Is. 66:7-8 More often than not, every prophetic word is subject to human mockery and this is because God’s way is higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. That learned man, mocked the prophetic declaration of Elisha because he could not handle the possibility of such declaration, saying, “…even if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?...” He ended up a victim instead of a beneficiary of that prophetic word – 2Kgs. 7:1-2/20 Remember, there is nothing new under the sun, explosive dimensions of church growth is not new both in Bible times and in our contemporary days and it shall continue to increase their commitment to kingdom-advancement promotions. For example: 1. A 3 million-member strong church, called the church in the wilderness, was born in one day – Ex. 12:42 /Acts 7:38 2. The upper room church, a 3,000 member church was also born in one day – Acts 2:1-14/41/ Acts 5:28 3. On a particular Sabbath day, almost the whole city gathered together to hear the word of God – Acts 13:44 4. Also in this commission, here at Faith Tabernacle, on a particular Sunday, 25th October 2015 to be precise, over 100,000 souls were added to this church over the previous Sunday. As the Lord lives, it shall happen again as we see multitudes flowing into Churches in droves this coming Sunday for worship in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen and amen. Jesus is Lord! David O. Oyedepo President & Founder LIVING FAITH CHURCH WORLDWIDE