Summary of the Day ✨ 17 March (17/03)
On this day, the Movement for a Democratic Society declared the establishment of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria while Robin Cook resigned from the British Cabinet in protest against the planned invasion of Iraq. Simultaneously, Kosovo experienced deadly unrest with numerous casualties and destruction of religious sites, while a Ugandan cult suffered a devastating fire that killed over 500 members, and an Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires was attacked by a car bomb that killed 29 people.
Historical Events 📜
- 2016: Rojava conflict: At a conference in Rmelan, the Movement for a Democratic Society declares the establishment of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.
- 2004: Unrest in Kosovo: More than 22 are killed and 200 wounded. Thirty-five Serbian Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Serbia are destroyed.
- 2003: Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council, Robin Cook, resigns from the British Cabinet in disagreement with government plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
- 2000: Five hundred and thirty members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God die in a fire, considered to be a mass murder or suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult. Elsewhere another 248 members are later found dead.
- 1992: Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires: Car bomb attack kills 29 and injures 242.
- 1992: A referendum to end apartheid in South Africa is passed 68.7% to 31.2%.
- 1988: A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143.
- 1988: Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.
- 1985: Serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the “Night Stalker”, commits the first two murders in his Los Angeles murder spree.
- 1979: The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers.
- 1979: Aeroflot Flight 1691 crashes on approach to Vnukovo International Airport, killing 58.
- 1973: The Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph Burst of Joy is taken, depicting a former prisoner of war being reunited with his family, which came to symbolize the end of United States involvement in the Vietnam War.
- 1969: Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel.
- 1968: As a result of nerve gas testing by the U.S. Army Chemical Corps in Skull Valley, Utah, over 6,000 sheep are found dead.
- 1966: Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the DSV Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.
Famous Births 👶
- 2001: Pietro Pellegri, Italian footballer
- 1998: Brandon Aiyuk, American football player
- 1997: Katie Ledecky, American swimmer
- 1997: Daniel Sprong, Dutch ice hockey player
- 1995: Claressa Shields, American boxer and mixed martial artist
- 1994: DeForest Buckner, American football player
- 1994: Terry Rozier, American basketball player
- 1994: Ivan Provedel, Italian footballer
- 1994: Marcel Sabitzer, Austrian footballer
- 1993: Matteo Bianchetti, Italian footballer
- 1993: Rhys Hoskins, American baseball player
- 1993: Yao Yuanjun, Chinese Border police officer (died 2011)
- 1992: John Boyega, British actor and producer
- 1992: Patrick Cantlay, American golfer
- 1992: Yeltsin Tejeda, Costa Rican footballer
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2025: John Hemingway, Irish fighter pilot, last surviving Battle of Britain pilot (born 1919)
- 2025: Lee Shau-kee, Hong Kong real estate billionaire (born 1928)
- 2023: Lance Reddick, American actor (born 1962)
- 2021: John Magufuli, the fifth President of Tanzania (born 1959)
- 2018: Mike MacDonald, Canadian comedian (born 1954)
- 2018: Phan Văn Khải, the fifth Prime Minister of Vietnam (born 1933)
- 2016: Meir Dagan, Israeli general (born 1945)
- 2016: Zoltán Kamondi, Hungarian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1960)
- 2015: Frank Perris, Canadian motorcycle racer (born 1931)
- 2014: Marek Galiński, Polish cyclist (born 1974)
- 2014: Joseph Kerman, American musicologist and critic (born 1924)
- 2014: Rachel Lambert Mellon, American gardener, philanthropist, art collector and political patron (born 1910)
- 2013: William B. Caldwell III, American general (born 1925)
- 2013: Lawrence Fuchs, American scholar and academic (born 1927)
- 2013: A.B.C. Whipple, American journalist and historian (born 1918)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Birthday of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Bangladesh)
- Children’s Day (Bangladesh)
- Christian feast day:
Alexius of Rome (Eastern Church) - Christian feast day:
Gertrude of Nivelles - Christian feast day:
John Sarkander - Christian feast day:
Joseph of Arimathea (Western Church) - Christian feast day:
Patrick of Ireland - Christian feast day:
March 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - Evacuation Day (Suffolk County, Massachusetts)
- Saint Patrick’s Day, a public holiday in Ireland, Montserrat and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, widely celebrated in the English-speaking world and to a lesser degree in other parts of the world.