01|Israeli troops attack Palestinian refugee camps on the West Bank for the second day in a row. At least 19 Palestinians and 2 Israelis are killed in what Israeli officials describe as the most explosive confrontations between the two groups since the violence erupted in September 2000. More than 1,000 Palestinians and 290 Israelis have died in the conflict in the last 17 months.|
01|U.S. President George W. Bush orders U.S. Special Operations forces to Yemen to train members of the Yemeni military in antiterrorist operations. In late February, the Bush administration had announced plans to send American troops to Georgia, a former Soviet republic, to train troops in counterinsurgency against Islamic militants in the area.|
01|Nearly 200 of the 300 Taliban and al-Qa'ida prisoners being held at the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, stage a hunger strike until the base's military commander reverses his decision to ban turbans.|
02|U.S. forces in Afghanistan launch a major offensive against hundreds of suspected Taliban and al-Qa'ida terrorists hiding in the Shahi Kot mountain region of eastern Afghanistan. Officials with the U.S. Department of Defense describe the offensive as the most aggressive yet launched in the war in Afghanistan, which began in October 2001.|
02|A lone sniper armed with an M-16 rifle shoots and kills seven Israeli soldiers and three Israeli settlers at a checkpoint on the West Bank. Earlier, people in an ultra-orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem walking home from evening services at the end of the Jewish Sabbath were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself apart. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant Palestinian group with connections to Yasir Arafat's Fatah faction, claims responsibility for both attacks, calling the latest violence a reprisal for the recent Israeli raids on Palestinian refugee camps on the West Bank.|
03|At least 500 people have been killed in three days of fierce religious violence in the northwestern Indian state of Gujarat, state officials announce. The conflict was touched off on February 27 when a mob of Muslim activists in Godhra firebombed a train packed with more than 2,500 Hindu nationalists on their way home from a pilgrimage. A total of 58 were killed. Hindus in Gujarat state responded by attacking mosques and forcing Muslim-owned businesses to close. The attacks and reprisals touched off waves of riots and violence between Hindus and Muslims.|
03|The people of Switzerland vote to join the United Nations (UN). Political experts suggest that while Switzerland has supported the work of the United Nations since its inception at the end of World War II (1939-1945), the Swiss people have resisted UN membership in the past because of the country's long history of neutrality.|
04|Seven American soldiers are killed when two MH-47 Chinook helicopters are hit by enemy fire during intense fighting in the Shahi Kot mountain region of eastern Afghanistan. Both incidents took place as the helicopters were attempting to drop off reconnaissance teams during a ground and air assault on suspected al-Qa'ida and Taliban fighters holed up in caves in the region. Approximately 2,000 troops from a coalition of countries, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, and the United States, are participating in the operation, which began on March 2. U.S. military officials describe the offensive as the beginning of a new, more dangerous phase of the war in Afghanistan.|
04|An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude shakes an area stretching from Tajikistan to India. In northern Afghanistan, at least 100 people are killed in Samangan Province where the earthquake unleashes a landslide that buries the village of Dakhli-e-Zeu.|
05|A Palestinian gunman armed with an M-16 assault rifle fires into a crowded Tel Aviv nightclub, killing 3 Israelis and wounding at least 10 other people before being gunned down by police. A group calling itself the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades takes credit for the attack, which a spokesperson announces is a response to Israeli helicopter and tank assaults in the West Bank city of Ram Allah on March 4. Those attacks left 17 Palestinians dead.|
05|U.S. President George W. Bush imposes tariffs of up to 30 percent on most types of steel imported into the United States from Japan, Europe, and South America. Canada and Mexico, partners with the United States in the North American Free Trade Agreement, are exempt from the tariffs, which are to remain in effect for three years.|
05|A federal judge orders the Bush administration to make public within two months all records relating to the energy task force that met in 2001 under the direction of Vice President Dick Cheney to formulate a national energy plan. The Bush administration had declined to release the names of energy company officials who met with Cheney, claiming that the power of the presidency would be undermined if meetings with industrial experts were made public.|
06|Independent counsel Robert W. Ray issues a 237-page report on the seven-year investigation of former President Bill Clinton, U.S. Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton (D., New York), and members of the Clinton administration. The investigations, which cost $70 million, covered Whitewater, a failed Arkansas real estate development; allegations that the Clinton administration mishandled Federal Bureau of Investigation files; allegations that White House travel bureau employees had been wrongly dismissed; and questions about the former president's relationship with a student intern, Monica Lewinsky. Ray, who took over from Independent Council Kenneth Starr in late 1999, concludes that sufficient evidence exists to convict the former president of perjury and obstruction of justice for having lied under oath about the nature of his relationship with Lewinsky. Ray notes, however, that he does not intend to prosecute.|
07|Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, tells the Senate Banking Committee that he is encouraged by recent trends in key economic indicators and believes that the recession in the U.S. economy that began in 2001 is over and that recovery is under way.|
08|U.S. military officials in Afghanistan announce that resistance shown by al-Qa'ida forces in the Shahi Kot mountain region is weakening, though the fighting, which began on March 2, continues to be fierce. Afghan, American, and allied soldiers are battling more than 1,000 al-Qa'ida fighters holed up in caves in eastern Afghanistan. According to U.S. military officials, allied forces have taken key positions on high ground and have cut off mountain passes being used by al-Qa'ida reinforcements. Although the al-Qa'ida defenses appear to be failing, U.S. officials do not believe that the hardened and well-trained fighters will surrender.|
08|The unemployment rate in the United States dropped from 5.6 percent in January to 5.5 percent in February, announces a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Labor. Economists suggest the decline, the first since July 2001, is another indication that the U.S. economy is climbing out of a recession.|
09|A suicide bombing in a Jerusalem cafe that leaves at least 12 people dead caps the most violent weekend yet in the 17-month-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East. On March 8, Israeli soldiers killed 39 people in a series of strikes on Palestinian strongholds in Bethlehem, the West Bank, and the Gaza strip after five Israeli teen-agers had been gunned down in a school study hall by a member of the Islamic militant group Hamas.|
10|Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon orders the Israeli Army to end a siege that has kept Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat confined to his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ram Allah since December 2001. Sharon announces that he is lifting all restrictions on Arafat's movement because Palestinian authorities have arrested all of the men suspected of murdering an Israeli cabinet minister in October. Experts on international relations suggest that the lifting of the travel ban is the second important step taken by Sharon toward reviving peace talks with the Palestinians. On March 8, 2002, he announced that he no longer demanded a seven-day period of nonviolence before reentering cease-fire negotiations.|
11|President George W. Bush declares that the United States will assist any country and provide military aid to any government that is attempting to battle terrorism. In a speech commemorating the six-month anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, the president notes that the war on terrorism is now in a second stage. The U.S. campaign against terrorism has moved beyond Afghanistan to countries like the Philippines, Yemen, and Georgia, where remnants of the al-Qa'ida terrorist network are attempting to regroup.|
11|The Federal Aviation Administration reports that the number of flights at the 31 major hub airports in the United States declined by 12.2 percent in the five months following the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, compared with the same period in 2000. The greatest declines were at Washington-Ronald Reagan National, where air traffic dropped by 56.1 percent; Los Angeles International by 22.5 percent; and New York City's La Guardia and Kennedy airports by 21.1 percent. The FAA attributes part of the decline at Washington-Ronald Reagan National to the fact that the U.S. government kept the airport closed from September 11 through early October 2001 and reopened it only gradually.|
12|United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan appeals to Israel to end its "illegal occupation" of Palestinian lands and calls on both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to resume peace negotiations. Annan's statement is made in the wake of the largest Israeli military offensive in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the territories were captured during the 1967 Six-Day War. Thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships participate in the mobilization, which leaves 33 Palestinians and 6 Israelis dead. Israeli troops arrest dozens of Palestinian boys and young men as suspected terrorists.|
13|U.S. President George W. Bush orders an inquiry into operations at the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) after INS officials issued student visas to two of the dead hijackers who carried out the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.|
13|U.S. Army officials declare victory against al-Qa'ida and Taliban forces holed up in the Shahi Kot Valley in eastern Afghanistan, ending a battle that lasted 12 days and left eight Americans and several hundred enemy fighters dead. A U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson warns, however, that there are pockets of al-Qa'ida and Taliban resistance still active in Afghanistan, which could necessitate a number of similar operations.|
13|Government officials in Zimbabwe declare Robert Mugabe the winner in the recent presidential election. Mugabe, with 56.2 percent of the vote, easily defeated challenger Morgan Tsvangirai, who received 41.9 percent of the 3 million ballots cast in the election, which stretched out over three days. Tsvangirai, however, contests the results, claiming the election was "massively rigged," and officials from several nations, including the United Kingdom and the United States, condemn the voting as unfair and marred by violence.|
14|The discovery of the earliest known intact wall painting of the Maya civilization is announced by archaeologists at the University of New Hampshire at Durham and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The painting, which depicts scenes of Maya myth and ritual, is located in a buried chamber at the Maya ruins of San Bartolo, a ceremonial site in a part of northeastern Guatemala that is uninhabited. William Saturno, the head of team that discovered the painting, dates the work to about A.D. 100.|
14|The accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP of Chicago has been indicted on a charge of obstruction of justice, reveal officials with the U.S. Department of Justice. The indictment, which was handed down by a grand jury during the week of March 4, charges that Andersen employees in Houston, Chicago, London, and Portland, Oregon, systematically shredded records related to the Justice Department's investigation into the financial collapse of Enron Corp. of Houston. The criminal indictment against an entire accounting firm, rather than individual accountants, is the first in U.S. history.|
14|Leaders of the two Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Montenegro sign a pact that abolishes the nation of Yugoslavia and creates a new nation to be called Serbia and Montenegro. The new nation is to be a loose federation in which both states are to be largely self-governing under separate constitutions. The pact, which political experts expect the Serbian and Montenegrin parliaments to quickly ratify, is strongly supported by European Union leaders, who remain concerned about maintaining stability in the Balkans.|
14|Four people are killed and 39 others are injured when a tractor-trailer crosses the median on Interstate Highway 75 near Ringgold, Georgia, triggering a 125-vehicle pile-up. Police blame the accident on heavy fog.|
15|Israel ends a three day occupation of Ram Allah, the unofficial Palestinian capital, by pulling more than 100 tanks out of the city. Israel troops march out of other towns on the West Bank but remain in force in what Israeli officers call "security operations" in some areas of the West Bank. Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat tells Anthony Zinni, U.S. President George W. Bush's special envoy, that there can be no cease-fire until all Israeli forces leave the West Bank and Gaza Strip.|
16|Leaders of the European Union (EU) close a two-day meeting in Barcelona, Spain, with an agreement to increase competition in the energy markets of the 15 member nations. The group agrees to forge ahead with economic reforms designed to push the European economy ahead of the United States economy by 2010. EU leaders also appropriate funds for the creation of a European satellite network, Galileo, to rival the U.S. Global Positioning System.|
17|Two men walk into the nondenominational Protestant International Church in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, and toss several grenades into the sanctuary. Five people, including two Americans, are killed, and at least 40 others are wounded. The church is located in the city's highly guarded embassy enclave, which is largely populated with foreign residents.|
18|A ship crowded with as many as 1,000 illegal immigrants, including 300 children, docks at the port of Catania in Sicily. Italian health officials believe that most of the immigrants, Kurds fleeing Iraq, are ill or in poor physical shape after spending a week at sea in crowded, unhygienic conditions. The Italian Navy, which intercepted the ship in the eastern Mediterranean Sea on March 17, allowed it to dock only after the immigrants threatened to throw children overboard if the Kurds were not granted entry into Italy.|
19|More than two thirds of Antarctica's Larsen Ice Shelf, about 3,420 square miles (8,860 square kilometers) of ice 700 feet (213 meters) thick, has disappeared since 1998, report scientists with the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado at Boulder. A section measuring 1,250 square miles (3,240 square kilometers)--an area 50 percent larger than the state of Rhode Island--fractured and disintegrated into the ocean during a 35-day period ending on March 7, 2002. According to NSIDC glaciologist Theodore Scamobs, the now disappearing Larsen Ice Shelf existed essentially unchanged since the last ice age, some 12,000 years ago. Scientists agree that the breakup is being triggered by warmer summer air temperatures. Mean temperature in the area has risen by 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit (2.5 degrees Celsius) in the last 50 years. Most scientists attribute the warming to the emission of such "greenhouse" gases as carbon dioxide.|
19|Prime Minister John Howard of Australia, accompanied by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, announce in London that Zimbabwe has been suspended temporarily from the Commonwealth of Nations. The Commonwealth is an association of independent countries and other political units that have lived under British law and government. According to political experts, the suspension is designed to punish Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, for the manner in which he conducted the recent presidential election. International observers claim the election was marred by violence and rigged to keep Mugabe in office.|
20|The U.S. Senate votes 60 to 40 to approve legislation designed to curb the influence of money on U.S. politics. The bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives in February, bans political parties from raising or spending so-called "soft money"--unlimited contributions from corporations, labor unions, and individuals. It also prohibits corporations and unions from funding advertising that mentions a federal candidate within specific time periods before elections. U.S. President George W. Bush has stated that he will sign the bill.|
20|Four Israeli soldiers and three civilians are killed when a Palestinian suicide bomber detonates an explosive inside an intercity bus crowded with Israeli soldiers returning to their bases in northern Israel. The radical Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.|
20|A car bomb explodes outside the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru, killing at least nine people, including two Peruvian police officers. The U.S. Department of State condemns the bombing as a terrorist attack.|
21|A Palestinian suicide bomber blows himself apart in Jerusalem's main shopping district, killing three bystanders and wounding more than 60 other people. The al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militia linked to Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, claims responsibility.|
22|Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, proposes taking over the management of Arthur Andersen LLP in an attempt to save the Chicago-based accounting firm. Andersen has lost many corporate accounts since its role in the financial collapse of the Houston-based Enron Corp. was made public in January. Volcker proposes installing a new, independent management team at Andersen if the U.S. Department of Justice drops a charge of obstruction of justice against the company. Justice officials claim that Andersen employees destroyed records related to the department's investigation of Enron. Arthur Andersen served as Enron's auditor before the energy trading company filed for bankruptcy in December 2001.|
23|U.S. President George W. Bush, speaking with Peruvian President Alejandra Toledo in Peru's capital, Lima, vows that the United States will help battle Marxist rebels on Peru's border with Colombia. Experts on the political situation in Colombia believe that the rebels regularly cross into Peru to escape arrest. Bush, the first sitting U.S. president to visit Peru, also announces that the Peace Corps is to return to Peru after an absence of nearly 30 years.|
24|African American actors win the Academy Awards for both best actor and best actress. Denzel Washington is honored for his role as a corrupt narcotics agent in Training Day. Halle Berry wins for her performance as the wife of a condemned convict in Monster's Ball. Berry is the first African American woman to receive an Academy Award in the best actress category in the 74-year history of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.|
25|A series of earthquakes in the Hindu Kush mountain region of Afghanistan leaves several hundred people dead and thousands of others homeless. The epicenter is about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Kabul, the capital, near the market town of Nahrin, which is leveled. Officials at the U.S. Geological Survey estimate that the magnitude of the quakes ranges from 6.0 to 5.0.|
25|The Argentine peso tumbles on international markets by 20 percent in a single day, closing at 3.9 pesos to 1 U.S. dollar. The decline sends thousands of people across Argentina into banks and currency outlets to exchange pesos for dollars in an attempt to protect their savings. The fall of the peso began in early January, when the Argentine government attempted to break out of four years of economic recession by abandoning a policy that linked its currency to the U.S. dollar on a one-to-one basis.|
26|The Bush administration, under order of a U.S. District Court, releases 11,000 pages of heavily edited documents related to the creation of the national energy policy that was unveiled in May 2001. The documents reveal that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham met with representatives of energy companies and related industries at least 100 times during the preparation of the energy policy but did not meet with environmental or consumer groups. Conservationists and many Democrats in Congress contend that the administration's policy strongly favors the energy industry over the environment.|
27|Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah formally presents his peace initiative for the Middle East at an Arab summit in Beirut, Lebanon. The initiative calls for Arab nations to formally recognize the existence of Israel. In return, Israel is to withdraw from all Arab land it has occupied since the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel also must recognize the existence of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with Jerusalem as its capital. Foreign affairs experts note that Abdullah's proposal carries little weight with key Arab leaders absent from the summit. Yasir Arafat did not attend because he feared that Israel might bar his return should he leave the West Bank. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak boycotted the meeting as a show of solidarity with Arafat. Jordan's King Abdullah II pulled out without giving a reason.|
27|A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates a bomb in a hotel dining room in Netanya, Israel, killing 25 people and injuring more than 100 others. The dining room was crowded with more than 200 people gathered for a seder, the traditional Passover meal in celebration of one of the highest Jewish holidays. The Islamic militant group Hamas claims responsibility for the attack.|
27|U.S. President George W. Bush signs into law the campaign finance reform legislation that was passed by the U.S. Senate on March 20. The bill, which bans so-called "soft money" goes into effect after the mid-term Congressional elections in November 2002.|
28|Israeli troops backed by tanks move into the West Bank for what Israeli officials describe as a massive assault on the Palestinian leader's headquarters in Ram Allah. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the Israeli Army to isolate Arafat in his compound after 25 Israelis attending a Passover dinner were killed when a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated an explosive in a restaurant in Netanya on March 27.|
29|Israeli tanks shell Yasir Arafat's Ram Allah headquarters, giving Israeli troops access into the compound where they battle the Palestinian leader's personal guards room by room. At least five Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers are killed in the assault. According to Israeli officials, Arafat is locked in a windowless office. Although the Israeli government announced that Arafat is not to be harmed, the Palestinian leader claims he is prepared to die as a martyr.|
29|An 18-year-old woman identified as a Bethlehem high school student blows herself apart in a suicide bombing of a Jerusalem supermarket. The attack leaves the bomber and two Israelis dead and at least 30 others wounded.|
30|Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat appeals to world leaders to pressure Israel to end its siege of his Ram Allah headquarters, which has been without running water or electricity since Israeli troops, reinforced by tanks, surrounded the compound on March 28. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell reportedly telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on March 29 to urge Israeli government officials not to have Arafat killed or exiled from the West Bank. Powell argued that killing Arafat would strengthen Palestinian resolve to keep fighting.|
31|Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announces that Israel is engaged in a "war against terrorism" and labels Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat "Israel's enemy" and "the enemy of the entire free world." The announcement comes shortly after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself apart in a restaurant in the city of Haifa, killing 15 Israelis. Five suicide bombings in five days in various locations throughout Israel left more than 40 people dead.|
31|The University of Connecticut beats the University of Oklahoma 86-70 to win the National College Athletic Association women's basketball championship. The Connecticut team finishes its 2001-2002 season with a 39-0 record.|
