The New Carissa was a freighter that ran aground on a beach near Coos Bay, Oregon, United States, during a storm in February 1999 and subsequently broke apart. An attempt to tow the bow section of the ship out to sea failed when the tow line broke, and the bow was grounded again. Eventually, the bow was successfully towed out to sea and sunk. The stern section remains on the beach near Coos Bay. Fuel on board the ship was burned off in situ, but a significant amount was also spilled from the wreckage, causing ecological damage to the coastline. The United States Coast Guard performed an investigation and found that captain's error was the main cause of the wreck; however, no criminal liability was established and the captain and crew were not charged. There were significant legal and financial consequences for the ship's owners and insurer. There are plans in place to dismantle the stern section at its current site and remove it from the beach. (more...)

March 31: Mawlid in Sunni Islam (2007); César Chávez Day in various U.S. states, Freedom Day in Malta.

• 1854 - Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy signed the Treaty of Kanagawa, forcing the opening of Japanese ports to American trade.
• 1889 - The Eiffel Tower (pictured) was inaugurated in Paris.
• 1903 - New Zealand inventor Richard Pearse reportedly flew in one of the first flying machines.
• 1917 - The Danish West Indies became the U.S. Virgin Islands after the United States paid Denmark US$25 million for the Caribbean islands.
• 1930 - Hollywood movie studios instituted the Production Code to avoid government censorship.

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• The New Horizons spacecraft becomes the fastest ever launched, taking off successfully from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a nine-year mission to Pluto.
• Alleged fraud prompts heavy sales of livedoor stock, forcing the Tokyo Stock Exchange to close early for the first time.
• Socialist Michelle Bachelet is elected the first female President of Chile.
• Tarja Halonen and Sauli Niinistö take the first round of the Finnish presidential election.

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From Wikipedia's newest articles:

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