Ivan Alexander ruled as Emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria from 1331 to 1371, during the Second Bulgarian Empire. The date of his birth is unknown. He died on February 17, 1371. The long reign of Ivan Alexander is considered a transitional period in Bulgarian medieval history. Ivan Alexander began his rule by dealing with internal problems and external threats from Bulgaria's neighbours, the Byzantine Empire and Serbia, as well as leading his empire into a period of economic recovery and cultural and religious renaissance. However, the emperor was later unable to cope with the mounting incursions of Ottoman forces, Hungarian invasions from the northwest and the Black Death. In an ill-fated attempt to combat these problems, he divided the country between his two sons, thus forcing it to face the imminent Ottoman conquest weakened and divided. (more...)

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• Following a provincial general election that saw no party win more than 39% of the seats, the Liberal Party retains power in Quebec (flag pictured) as the province's first minority government in 129 years.
• Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi is declared the winner of the Mauritanian presidential election.
• In Northern Ireland, members of the DUP and Sinn Féin, led respectively by Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams, meet face-to-face for the first time, and agree on a timetable for implementing the St Andrews Agreement.
• Iran's Revolutionary Guards detain fifteen British Royal Navy personnel assigned to HMS Cornwall, alleging they illegally entered Iranian waters.
• Jamaican police are treating the death of Pakistan cricket team coach Bob Woolmer during the ongoing Cricket World Cup as a case of murder.
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From Wikipedia's newest articles:

• ...that the passing of the Great Comet of 1577 (pictured) caused almost century-long debate, during which Galileo argued that comets were merely optical illusions?
• ...that Cesar Picton, who was enslaved aged six in Senegal, died in England as a wealthy coal-merchant?
• ...that, according to human rights organizations, Azerbaijani journalist Eynulla Fatullayev has been beaten, received death threats and had his father kidnapped due to his criticism of the government?
• ...that three days after a fire gutted the passenger ferry Levina 1, killing at least 49, she sank with a party of journalists and investigators on board, killing at least one more?
• ...that during the Battle of Jarosław in 1939 the Polish Army defended the town for two days before retreating in good order?
• ...that in the 1850s Arnold Guyot measured the elevation of Old Black in the Great Smoky Mountains to within 3 feet (1 m) of the modern value?
• ...that Sir David Robertson initially agreed to mind the constituency of another British parliamentarian who was interned during the Second World War?
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March 30: Education and Sharing day in the United States (2007); Spiritual Baptist Shouter Liberation Day in Trinidad and Tobago.

• 1867 - U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska for US$7.2 million from Russia.
• 1912 - Sultan Abdelhafid signed the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.
• 1940 - World War II: Wang Jingwei (pictured) was installed by Japan as head of the puppet government in China.
• 1961 - The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, an international treaty aimed against the illicit manufacture and trafficking of narcotic drugs, was signed.
• 1981 - John Hinckley, Jr. shot and wounded U.S. President Ronald Reagan and three others outside the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.

• Recent days: March 29 – March 28 – March 27

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