March 2002: January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December Contents 1 Events 1.1 March 1 2002 1.2 March 2 2002 1.3 March 3 2002 1.4 March 4 2002 1.5 March 11 2002 1.6 March 12 2002 1.7 March 19 2002 1.8 March 20 2002 1.9 March 23 2002 1.10 March 24 2002 1.11 March 27 2002 1.12 March 28 2002 1.13 March 29 2002 1.14 March 30 2002 1.15 March 31 2002: Easter 2 References Events March 1 2002 Space Shuttle mission STS-109 is launched at 6:22 a.m. The Bush Administration acknowledges the implementation of the Continuity of Operations Plan for the first time. March 1 falls on a Friday for the last time in eleven years. March 2 2002 2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan: Army Chief Warrant Officer Stanley L. Harriman of the Third Special Forces Group is killed in an ambush along the road from Gardz to the Shahi Kot Valley. March 3 2002 Israeli-Palestinian conflict: A Palestinian sniper firing from a hill near Ofra kills seven Israel Defense Forces soldiers and three Israeli settlers and wounds another six. He is later captured and imprisoned for life. March 4 2002 2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan: Seven American Special Operations Forces soldiers are killed as they attempt to infiltrate the Shahi Kot Valley on a low-flying helicopter reconnaissance mission. Around 3 a.m. local time a Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade causing a soldier to fall out and damaging a hydraulic line. The helicopter made an emergency landing a half-mile away. A second helicopter on the mission picked up the first helicopter's crew and flew to where the crew member had fallen. The soldiers soon came under heavy fire and six were killed. The remaining soldiers returned fire and retrieved the bodies before returning to base. Bubble fusion: Scientific papers for and against the observation of apparent nuclear fusion in imploding bubbles become available online. If this can be repeated this is an important scientific breakthrough. Other physicists fear that this may be a repeat of the cold fusion fiasco. March 11 2002 Robert Mugabe wins the Zimbabwe elections with 54% of the vote to Morgan Tsvangirai's 40% on a turnout of 55.9%. His victory is controversial and comes amid claims that many have been prevented from voting and there has been a campaign of intimidation. But election observers from South Africa and the Organisation of African Unity state that the outcome is legitimate. In Australia the first edition of the Melbourne edition of Seven News is produced at the station's new Docklands studios. March 12 2002 Israel ground troops invade the West Bank and Gaza Strip in her largest offensive since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Dozens of tanks occupy Ramallah. Thirty-seven total dead so far Israeli and Palestinian. Coheed and Cambria release their first album The Second Stage Turbine Blade on Equal Vision Records. Twentieth Century Fox's American television drama series The Shield premieres. March 19 2002 The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions calls a three-day general strike protesting police interference with union meetings harassment of trade unionists and general lawlessness following the general elections which has led to slow-downs in business. In South Korea 5600 power plant workers are on the 25th day of their strike protesting the neoliberal government plans to privatize the state-run electricity plants. A vote among the remaining power plant workers to strike is cancelled due to company interference. March 20 2002 The U.S. Senate passes the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill 6040. March 23 2002 Two million to three million trade union members rally in Rome in protest both of labor legislation filed by Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi and of the assassination of Marco Biagi an advisor to the Labor Minister by the re-formed Red Brigades.1 Labor leaders threaten a general strike if the legislation is passed.2 March 24 2002 74th Academy Awards ceremony takes place. March 27 2002 Recent celebrity deaths: Milton Berle Dudley Moore and Billy Wilder die. President Bush signs the campaign finance reform bill. IsraeliPalestinian conflict: At the start of Passover a suicide bomber kills 30 and injures about 140 in a hotel in Netanya. The event triggers Operation Defensive Shield. March 28 2002 ArabIsraeli conflict: Delegates to the summit of the Arab League endorse the "land for peace" plan proposed by Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Pope John Paul II accepts the resignation of Archbishop Juliusz Paetz who had been accused of sexual abuse. March 29 2002 Filipino actor Rico Yan died while vacationing on Dos Palmas Resort in Puerto Princesa CityPalawan Philippines at the age of 27 due to acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis. March 30 2002 Recent celebrity deaths: Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon the Queen Mother dies. Israeli-Palestinian conflict: A suicide bomber explodes in My Coffee Shop a Tel Aviv caf at around 9:30 p.m. local time wounding 32 people. March 31 2002: Easter Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israeli troops exchange gunfire with guards of Yasir Arafat in Ramallah. A suicide bomber identified as Shadi Tubasi a resident of the refugee camp Jenin kills 14 and wounds more than 40 in Haifa. Later a suicide bomber wounds four members of an intensive-care unit one critically in a paramedics' dispatch station in Efrat. In the past 18 months according to the Associated Press 1262 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and on 401 on the Israeli side. References 2m workers march through Rome in anti-terror protest Italian unions call first general strike for 20 years v d eList of events by month 2009: January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December 2008: January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December 2007: January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December 2006: January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December 2005: January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December 2004: January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December 2003: January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December 2002: January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December 2001: January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December 2000: January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December