Portal:United States/2007 March

• The United States Food and Drug Administration identifies the chemical melamine in tainted wheat-gluten shipped from China and used by Menu Foods and an unnamed second company to manufacture pet food. (CNN)

• U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates supports closing the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and moving dangerous inmates elsewhere. (BBC)
• Powerful tornadoes hit several U.S. states, killing a couple in Oklahoma, a woman in Colorado and a man in Texas. (BBC)
• War in Iraq:
  • At least 104 Iraqis die as a result of suicide bombings in markets in Shi'ite areas of Baghdad and in the town of Khalis. (AP via Detroit Free Press)
  • The U.S. Senate passes a bill 51-47, joining the U.S. House of Representatives, that calls for the U.S. to withdraw all troops from Iraq by March 31, 2008 while continuing to fund the war through 2009 and allowing upwards of 80,000 troops to remain. (Reuters)
• The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passes a US$2.9 trillion budget blueprint which results in a surplus after five years but relies heavily on the expiration of the Bush tax cuts to do so. The U.S. Senate passed a similar budget blueprint last week with negotiations to ensue. (AP via San Francisco Examiner)
• Insurgency in Somalia: Helicopters bomb an insurgent stronghold in Mogadishu hours after six people die in a gun battle. (Boston Globe)
• Beef from the United States goes on sale in Japan as a ban imposed due to mad cow disease in the U.S. is lifted. (AP via The Houston Chronicle)

• United States District Court Judge Thomas Hogan dismisses a case of alleged torture against former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld brought by nine former prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. (USA Today)

• Nine United States Army officers including four generals could face disciplinary proceedings as a result of mistakes made in the aftermath of the friendly-fire death of Pat Tillman. (San Francisco Chronicle)

• Condoleezza Rice, the United States Secretary of State, travels to the Middle East to talk with Israel and the Palestinian National Authority about the peace process. (CNN)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–present):
  • US Marines accused of shooting and killing civilians after a suicide bombing in Afghanistan are under investigation and their unit has been shipped out of the country.(AP via Forbes)
• Iraq War:
  • The United States House of Representatives votes in favor of withdrawing all U.S. troops from Iraq by August 2008. President Bush promises to veto the bill. (BBC)
• Veterinarians warn that thousands of cats and dogs may die in the wake of the Menu Foods voluntary recall of over 60 million cans of aminopterin-contaminated pet food across North America. (ABC)

• NBC, News Limited, AOL, MSN and Yahoo! join forces to develop an ad-supported online video network to compete with YouTube. (Business Week)
• A senior U.S. District Judge, Lowell Reed Jr., strikes down the Child Online Protection Act, which made it an offence for commercial website operators to allow minors to access "harmful" material. (The Times)
• Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton claims the United States deliberately resisted calls for an immediate ceasefire during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. (BBC)

• United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announces that the Bush administration will cut its security package to the government of the Palestinian National Authority by nearly half in order to ensure that Hamas does not receive funding. (AP via IHT)

• Commercial spaceflight venture SpaceX launches the second Falcon 1 rocket into space, though failing to reach orbit. (Space.com)
• Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy: The Bush administration agrees to allow Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers to testify but not under oath. (AP via San Francisco Examiner)

• The Supreme Court of the United States hears Morse v. Frederick, in which an Alaskan high school student argues free speech rights in connection with his displaying a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" in front of a Juneau high school. (MSNBC)
• Six-party talks resume to discuss progress in implementing last month's agreement, with North Korea and the United States having resolved an issue about North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank. (Bloomberg)

• Thousands of activists march to The Pentagon in Washington to mark the fourth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq. (New York Times)

• Three officers of the New York Police Department are indicted on charges related to the death of a black man, Sean Bell, on his wedding day. (AP via IHT)

• Four United States soldiers die in Baghdad in a car bomb attack, while 12 Iraqis die in Baghdad and Iskandariya in the south of Iraq. (BBC)
• The Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger signs a bill to move the California primary from June to February 5. (AP via CBS News)

• Four people die in a shootout in Greenwich Village in New York City. (AP via CNN)
• Nancy Worley, former Secretary of State of the U.S. state of Alabama, is indicted for violations related to solicitation of campaign contributions from Secretary of State employees.(Associated Press)
• The trial against former media baron Conrad Black begins in Chicago. He is accused of defrauding Hollinger's shareholders of millions of dollars. (CBC News)

• Relatives of the 17 victims of the USS Cole bombing take Sudan to court in a civil suit claiming that the terrorist attack could not have happened without Sudan's help. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
• Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney General of the United States, acknowledges that mistakes were made in the handling of the firing of eight federal prosecutors. His top aide Kyle Sampson resigns for not advising other senior officials of the Department of Justice about discussions with former White House counsel Harriet Miers regarding the possible firings. (AP via the Advocate)

• While identifying as a Unitarian, Representative Pete Stark (D-CA) becomes the first member of the United States Congress to openly acknowledge that he does not hold a "god-belief". (Press Release)

• President George W. Bush approves 8,200 more United States troops for Iraq and Afghanistan. (Washington Post)

• The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit strikes down the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975, a local law in the District of Columbia which banned residents from keeping handguns at home, on Second Amendment grounds. (Bloomberg)
• Cuba-United States relations: The United States Coast Guard stages an exercise in Florida in preparation for a possible mass exodus from Cuba in the event of the death of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. During the drill 40 Cuban exiles reach the United States. (BBC) (BBC)

• Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives propose legislation that would withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by August 2008 or sooner if certain requirements are not met. (CNN) (BBC)
• U.S. President George W. Bush departs on a tour of Latin America that will take him to Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico. Upon arrival in São Paulo he is greeted with protest demonstrations. (AP via CNN) (BBC)

• United States v. Libby: Former Bush administration aide Lewis Libby is found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice. (CNN)
• The United States Congress opens hearings into the dismissal of eight U.S. Attorneys, probing whether the Bush Administration had political motives for ousting the federal prosecutors. (AP via The Guardian)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–present): NATO-led forces launch Operation Achilles against the Taliban in Helmand province. (AP via IHT)

• The United States and North Korea commence talks in New York City to establish diplomatic relations following the abandonment of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.
• Iraq War:
  • Two car bombs kill at least 9 United States Army soldiers north of Baghdad. (AP via IHT) (BBC)

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