Subscribe Login
Jamaica Observer
ePaper
The Edge 105 FM Radio Fyah 105 FM
Jamaica Observer
ePaper
The Edge 105 FM Radio Fyah 105 FM
    • Home
    • News
      • Latest News
      • Cartoon
      • International News
      • Central
      • North & East
      • Western
      • Environment
      • Health
      • #
    • Business
      • Business Bites
      • Social Love
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Basketball
      • Cricket
      • Horse Racing
      • World Champs
      • Commonwealth Games
      • FIFA World Cup
      • Olympics
      • #
    • Videos
    • Entertainment
      • Music
      • Movies
      • Art & Culture
      • Bookends
      • #
    • Lifestyle
      • Page2
      • Food
      • Tuesday Style
      • Food Awards
      • JOL Takes Style Out
      • Design Week JA
      • Black Friday
      • #
    • All Woman
      • Home
      • Relationships
      • Features
      • Fashion
      • Fitness
      • Rights
      • Parenting
      • Advice
      • #
    • Obits
    • Classifieds
      • Employment
      • Property
      • Motor Vehicles
      • Place an Ad
      • Obituaries
    • More
      • Games
      • Elections
      • Jobs & Careers
      • Study Centre
      • Jnr Study Centre
      • Letters
      • Columns
      • Advertorial
      • Editorial
      • Supplements
      • Webinars
    • Home
    • News
      • Latest News
      • Cartoon
      • International News
      • Central
      • North & East
      • Western
      • Environment
      • Health
      • #
    • Business
      • Business Bites
      • Social Love
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Basketball
      • Cricket
      • Horse Racing
      • World Champs
      • Commonwealth Games
      • FIFA World Cup
      • Olympics
      • #
    • Videos
    • Entertainment
      • Music
      • Movies
      • Art & Culture
      • Bookends
      • #
    • Lifestyle
      • Page2
      • Food
      • Tuesday Style
      • Food Awards
      • JOL Takes Style Out
      • Design Week JA
      • Black Friday
      • #
    • All Woman
      • Home
      • Relationships
      • Features
      • Fashion
      • Fitness
      • Rights
      • Parenting
      • Advice
      • #
    • Obits
    • Classifieds
      • Employment
      • Property
      • Motor Vehicles
      • Place an Ad
      • Obituaries
    • More
      • Games
      • Elections
      • Jobs & Careers
      • Study Centre
      • Jnr Study Centre
      • Letters
      • Columns
      • Advertorial
      • Editorial
      • Supplements
      • Webinars
  • Home
  • News
    • International News
  • Latest
  • Business
    • Business Bites
  • Cartoon
  • Games
  • Food Awards
  • Health
  • Entertainment
    • Bookends
  • Regional
  • Sports
    • Sports
    • World Cup
    • World Champs
    • Olympics
  • Videos
  • Career & Education
  • Classifieds
  • All Woman
  • Environment
  • Webinars
  • More
    • Football
    • Elections
    • Letters
    • Advertorial
    • Columns
    • Editorial
    • Supplements
  • Epaper
  • Design Week
News
March 20, 2014

This Day in History

Today is the 80th day of 2014. There are 285 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

2002: Pope John Paul II releases his first statement addressing the large number of recent cases of sexual abuse of minors by members of the Roman Catholic clergy. He denounces the priests saying they betrayed their vows and succumbed to evil.

OTHER EVENTS

1500: French garrison in Novara, Italy, capitulates to forces of Ludovico Sforza of Milan.

1829: Earthquake in Spain kills 6,000.

1871: Journalist Henry M Stanley begins his famous expedition to Africa to locate the missing Scottish missionary David Livingstone.

1884: France legalizes trade unions.

1919: Soviet Republic is proclaimed.

1945: After bombing the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen, British RAF planes mistakenly bomb the French School killing 86 children and 10 nuns.

1946: The United Nations sets up temporary headquarters at Hunter College in New York City.

1953: Sudan achieves self-government.

1960: Pan-African demonstrations against laws in South Africa leads to shooting and killing 60 blacks in Sharpeville. A state of emergency is declared.

1963: Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay is emptied of its last inmates at the order of Attorney General Robert F Kennedy.

1965: More than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev Martin Luther King Jr begin a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

1975: Military government in Ethiopia abolishes royal position of Emperor.

1977: India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi resigns after losing her seat in parliamentary elections.

1985: Police in Langa, South Africa, open fire on black protesters marching to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville shootings, killing at least 21 demonstrators.

1997: US President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin hold summit in Helsinki, Finland, and agree to slash their nuclear arsenals.

1999: Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov escapes an assassination attempt when a remote-controlled mine explodes near his motorcade. One person is killed and eight are injured.

2003: South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), set up in 1995 to investigate human rights abuses during the apartheid system of white-minority rule, urges the Government to pay $270 million (euro201.25 million) to some 20,000 victims who testified about atrocities suffered under apartheid.

2005: Secretary General Kofi Annan unveils a plan to overhaul the United Nations and immediately begins the task of selling his vision to all 191 UN member states, urging them to make the proposals a reality when they meet again in six months.

2007: Somali insurgents drag the corpses of four Somali soldiers and two of their Ethiopian allies through the streets of Mogadishu and set the bodies on fire, drawing crowds who throw stones and kick the bodies as violence rages throughout the capital.

2011: Officials race to restore electricity to Japan’s leaking nuclear plant, but getting the power flowing will hardly be the end of their battle: With its mangled machinery and partly melted reactor cores, bringing the complex under control is a monstrous job.

2012: Britain’s finance minister cuts the rate of income tax for the country’s wealthiest citizens but imposes a raft of measures to prevent tax avoidance and a hefty new charge on expensive property sales in an attempt to spread the burden of austerity across the UK’s taxpayers.

2013: A suicide bombing tears through a mosque in the Syrian capital, killing a top Sunni Muslim preacher and longtime supporter of President Bashar Assad along with at least 41 other people.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (1685-1750); Frederick Richter (Jean Paul), German author (1763-1825); Benito Juarez, Mexican president (1806-1872); King Ghazi of Iraq (1912-1939); Timothy Dalton, Welsh actor (1944-); Gary Oldman, US actor (1958-); Rosie O’Donnell, US comedian/former talk show host (1962-)

–AP

{"website":"website"}{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
img img
0 Comments · Make a comment

ALSO ON JAMAICA OBSERVER

Sunshine Girls win back-to- back silver medal at CWG
Latest News, News
Sunshine Girls win back-to- back silver medal at CWG
August 2, 2026
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls won back-to-back silver medals after being beaten 56-48 in the final of the Commonwealth Games netball co...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
‘Redeemed: A Father’s Love’ set for Jamaican premiere
Entertainment, Latest News
‘Redeemed: A Father’s Love’ set for Jamaican premiere
BY KEDIESHA PERRY Observer writer 
August 2, 2026
Jamaica’s growing film industry is set to take another bold step forward on Monday, August 3, with the premiere of Redeemed: A Father’s Love;  a faith...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
St Mary teacher arrested for gun offences during joint operation
Latest News, News
St Mary teacher arrested for gun offences during joint operation
August 2, 2026
ST MARY, Jamaica — A male teacher was arrested on Saturday in connection with an illegal firearm and a woman was arrested for assaulting a police cons...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Five dead, 41 missing in Indonesia ferry fire
International News, Latest News
Five dead, 41 missing in Indonesia ferry fire
August 2, 2026
SURABAYA, Indonesia (AFP) — An Indonesian ferry caught fire at sea on Sunday, killing five people and leaving another 41 missing after some jumped ove...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Power returns to Cuba’s west after grid failure
International News, Latest News, Regional
Power returns to Cuba’s west after grid failure
August 2, 2026
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Power returned to Havana and other parts of western Cuba early Sunday after the latest in a string of widespread grid failures wa...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Big turnout for Old Harbour Bay Regatta
Latest News, News
Big turnout for Old Harbour Bay Regatta
August 1, 2026
ST CATHERINE, Jamaica – The Old Harbour Bay Regatta hit a high note on Saturday as thousands of spectators flocked to the beach of the town's fishing ...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Celebrated cricket photojournalist Headley ‘Dellmar’ Samuels dies
Latest News, News
Celebrated cricket photojournalist Headley ‘Dellmar’ Samuels dies
August 1, 2026
Headley “Dellmar” Samuels, the photojournalist credited with capturing the glory days of West Indies Cricket, has died. He passed away on Saturday aft...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Land must become more accessible to Jamaicans, says PJ Patterson Institute in Emancipation message
Latest News, News
Land must become more accessible to Jamaicans, says PJ Patterson Institute in Emancipation message
August 1, 2026
KINGSTON, Jamaica   –    The PJ Patterson Institute for Africa Caribbean Advocacy is urging the region to continue the unfinished work of emancipation...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
❮ ❯

Polls

HOUSE RULES

  1. We welcome reader comments on the top stories of the day. Some comments may be republished on the website or in the newspaper; email addresses will not be published.
  2. Please understand that comments are moderated and it is not always possible to publish all that have been submitted. We will, however, try to publish comments that are representative of all received.
  3. We ask that comments are civil and free of libellous or hateful material. Also please stick to the topic under discussion.
  4. Please do not write in block capitals since this makes your comment hard to read.
  5. Please don't use the comments to advertise. However, our advertising department can be more than accommodating if emailed: advertising@jamaicaobserver.com.
  6. If readers wish to report offensive comments, suggest a correction or share a story then please email: community@jamaicaobserver.com.
  7. Lastly, read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Recent Posts

Archives

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Tweets

Polls

Recent Posts

Archives

Logo Jamaica Observer
Breaking news from the premier Jamaican newspaper, the Jamaica Observer. Follow Jamaican news online for free and stay informed on what's happening in the Caribbean
Featured Tags
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Health
  • Auto
  • Business
  • Letters
  • Page2
  • Football
Categories
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Page2
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Page2
Ads
img
Jamaica Observer, © All Rights Reserved
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • RSS Feeds
  • Feedback
  • Privacy Policy
  • Editorial Code of Conduct