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UPI Almanac for Tuesday, March 20, 2018

On March 20, 2003, U.S.-led coalition forces begin military operations in Iraq.

By United Press International
An Aviation Boatswain's Mate directs an F/A-18 Hornet into position to be launched from the flight deck aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman on March 20, 2003. On March 20, 2003, U.S.-led coalition forces begin military operations in Iraq. File Photo by Michael W. Pendergrass/U.S. Navy
An Aviation Boatswain's Mate directs an F/A-18 Hornet into position to be launched from the flight deck aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman on March 20, 2003. On March 20, 2003, U.S.-led coalition forces begin military operations in Iraq. File Photo by Michael W. Pendergrass/U.S. Navy | License Photo

Today is Tuesday, March 20, the 79th day of 2018 with 286 to follow.

This is the first day of spring.

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The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune and Saturn. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mercury, Neptune, Uranus and Venus.


Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include adventurer/writer Edward Judson, originator of the dime novel, writing as Ned Buntline, in 1821; Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen in 1828; actor/bandleader Ozzie Nelson in 1906; actor Michael Redgrave in 1908; actor Vera Lynn in 1917 (age 101); diplomat Pamela Harriman in 1920; actor/producer/director Carl Reiner in 1922 (age 96); Fred Rogers (TV's Mister Rogers) in 1928; actor Hal Linden in 1931 (age 87); author Lois Lowry in 1937 (age 81); former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1939 (age 79); basketball Hall of Fame member Pat Riley in 1945 (age 73); hockey Hall of Fame member Bobby Orr in 1948 (age 70); actor William Hurt in 1950 (age 68); filmmaker Spike Lee in 1957 (age 61); actor Theresa Russell in 1957 (age 61); actor Holly Hunter in 1958 (age 60); actor David Thewlis in 1963 (age 55); model/actor Kathy Ireland in 1963 (age 55); singer Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) in 1976; actor Bianca Lawson in 1979 (age 39); actor Freema Agyeman in 1979 (age 39); model/actor Ruby Rose in 1986 (age 32); tennis player Sloane Stephens in 1993 (age 25); singer Zonnique Pullins in 1996 (age 22); Barron Trump, son of President Donald Trump, in 2006 (age 12).

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On this date in history:

In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was published.

In 1854, in what is considered the founding meeting of the Republican Party, former members of the Whig Party met in Ripon, Wis., to establish a new party to oppose the spread of slavery into the western territories.

In 1963, a volcano on the East Indies island of Bali began erupting. The death toll exceeded 1,500.

In 1976, San Francisco newspaper heiress and kidnapping victim Patty Hearst was convicted of bank robbery. Hearst served 22 months in prison and eventually was granted a full pardon.

In 1987, the U.S. government approved the sale of AZT, a treatment, but not a cure, for AIDS.

In 1995, 12 people were killed, and more than 5,000 made ill in a nerve-gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.

In 1996, the world learned of "mad cow" disease from a British government report questioning the safety of beef in Britain.

In 1997, the Liggett Group, fifth-largest U.S. tobacco company, agreed to admit that smoking was addictive and caused health problems and that the tobacco industry had sought for years to sell its products to children as young as 14.

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In 2001, five days after explosions destroyed one of its support beams and killed 11 people, the largest oil rig in the world collapsed and sank off the coast of Brazil.

In 2003, U.S.-led coalition forces begin military operations in Iraq.

In 2003, Brian Patrick Regan, a retired Air Force master sergeant, was sentenced to life in prison for offering to sell intelligence secrets to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the Chinese government.

In 2004, after narrowly escaping assassination the day before, Chen Shui-bian was re-elected president of Taiwan with about 50 percent of the vote.

In 2007, former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan was hanged in Baghdad for his part in the 1982 deaths of 148 Shiites.

In 2010, accusations of sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests were reported on the increase in Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Brazil.

In 2016, President Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba since 1928 after normalizing relations between the two countries.

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A thought for the day: "Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" -- Robin Williams

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