843 – Icon veneration officially re-instated in Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople. 1502 -Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty, crowned Shah of Persia (rules till 1524). 1918 – Moscow becomes the capital of revolutionary Russia. 1966 – Military coup led by Indonesian General Suharto breaks out. 1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev replaces Konstantin Chernenko as Soviet leader. 2004 – Madrid suffered a series of terrorist attacks when 10 bombs, detonated by Islamist militants, exploded on four trains at three different rail stations, killing 191 people and injuring some 1,800 others. 2011 – 9.0 magnitude earthquake strikes 130 km (80 miles) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people and causing the second-worst nuclear accident in history at Fukushima nuclear plant. 2018 – China’s National People’s Congress approves removal of term limits for a leader, will allow Xi Jinping presidency for life.
Births & Deaths: 1931 – Rupert Murdoch, the founder of the News Corporation Ltd., was born in Melbourne, Australia.
Sport: 1917 – 1st NHL championship game ever played, Toronto Arenas beats Montreal Canadiens 7-3 in 1st of 2 game set (second game on March 13).
Music: 1851 – Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Rigoletto” premieres in Venice.
TV & Film: 1958 – Charles Van Doren finally loses on US TV game show “Twenty-One” after winning $129,000 – later revealed to be fixed.
