This Day in History: Magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami strike Japan

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on March 11:

1917 – British and Indian troops marched into Baghdad in World War One, capturing 9,000 Turkish prisoners.

1955 – Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish bacteriologist who discovered penicillin in 1928, died.

1993 – Janet Reno confirmed as first female attorney-general of the United States.

1995 – Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams arrives in New York.

2001 – Zapatista Subcommander Marcos and 23 rebel leaders made a triumphant entry into Mexico City after a 12-state march from their jungle hideout in their campaign for Indian rights.

2004 – Simultaneous bomb blasts ripped through four packed commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people in one of Europe’s bloodiest guerrilla attacks.

2005 – Almost all Syrian troops left north Lebanon, ending an unbroken 29-year presence and underlining Syria’s diminishing role in its small neighbour.

2006 – Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his cell at The Hague, only months before a verdict was due in his war crimes trial. Serbian president from 1990 until his overthrow in 2000, he was 64.

2006 – Michelle Bachelet inaugurated as Chile’s first female president.

2011 – Magnitude 8.9 earthquake strikes Japan.

2016 – EU, Cuba sign pact in Havana establishing full ties.

(Reuters)