20 Esfand 1381 | Tuesday 11 March 2003

This day in four calendars

1941 (85 years ago) World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.
1977 (49 years ago) The 1977 Hanafi Siege: Around 150 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.
1981 (45 years ago) Hundreds of students protest in the University of Pristina in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia, to give their province more political rights. The protests then became a nationwide movement.
1985 (41 years ago) Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, making Gorbachev the USSR's de facto, and last, head of state.
2004 (22 years ago) Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain kill 191 people.
2012 (14 years ago) A U.S. soldier kills 16 civilians in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan near Kandahar.
2021 (5 years ago) US President Joe Biden signs the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law.
2023 (3 years ago) The Burmese military kills at least 30 villagers, including 3 Buddhist monks, during the Pinlaung massacre in Shan State, Myanmar.

1544 (482 years ago) Torquato Tasso, Italian poet and educator (died 1595)
1811 (215 years ago) Urbain Le Verrier, French mathematician and astronomer (died 1877)
1916 (110 years ago) Harold Wilson, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1995)
1920 (106 years ago) Nicolaas Bloembergen, Dutch-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2017)
1931 (95 years ago) Rupert Murdoch, Australian-American businessman and media magnate
1952 (74 years ago) Douglas Adams, English author and playwright (died 2001)
1957 (69 years ago) Qasem Soleimani, Former Iranian commander of the Quds Force (died 2020)
1978 (48 years ago) Didier Drogba, Ivorian footballer

222 (1804 years ago) Elagabalus, Roman emperor (born 203)
1907 (119 years ago) Jean Casimir-Perier, French lawyer and politician, 6th President of France (born 1847)
1908 (118 years ago) Edmondo De Amicis, Italian journalist and author (born 1846)
1931 (95 years ago) F. W. Murnau, German-American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1888)
1955 (71 years ago) Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist, pharmacologist, and botanist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1881)
1957 (69 years ago) Richard E. Byrd, American admiral and explorer (born 1888)
2002 (24 years ago) James Tobin, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)
2006 (20 years ago) Slobodan Milošević, Serbian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (born 1941)