March 11

The Burmese military kills at least 30 villagers, including 3 Buddhist monks, during the Pinlaung massacre in Shan State, Myanmar.

US President Joe Biden signs the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the COVID-19 virus epidemic a pandemic.

A Bombardier Challenger 604 crashes into the Zagros Mountains near the Iranian city of Shar-e-kord, killing all 11 people on board.

A U.S. soldier kills 16 civilians in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan near Kandahar.

An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

Economist and businessman Sebastián Piñera is sworn in as President of Chile. Aftershocks of the 2010 Pichilemu earthquakes hit central Chile during the ceremony.

Winnenden school shooting: Fifteen are killed and nine are injured before recent graduate Tim Kretschmer shoots and kills himself, leading to tightened weapons restrictions in Germany.

Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-123, carrying the first component of the Japanese Kibō module to the International Space Station.

Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as the first female president of Chile.

Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain kill 191 people.

The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague.

Lithuania declares independence from the Soviet Union.

Patricio Aylwin is sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Chile since 1970.

Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, making Gorbachev the USSR's de facto, and last, head of state.

Bob Hawke is appointed Prime Minister of Australia.

Fifteen people are killed when Widerøe Flight 933 crashes into the Barents Sea near Gamvik, Norway.

Hundreds of students protest in the University of Pristina in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia, to give their province more political rights. The protests then became a nationwide movement.

Coastal Road massacre: At least 37 are killed and more than 70 are wounded when Fatah hijack an Israeli bus, prompting Israel's Operation Litani.

The 1977 Hanafi Siege: Around 150 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.

Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, is captured by British troops.

World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attempts a large-scale kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2.

World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived Japanese puppet state, is established.

World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.

In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre.

World War I: Mesopotamian campaign: Baghdad falls to Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Frederick Stanley Maude.

The Saint-Germain bombing ushers France into the Ère des attentats (1892-1894).

The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400 people.

Shō Tai formally abdicates his position of King of Ryūkyū, under orders from Tokyo, ending the Ryukyu Kingdom.

Construction of the Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, begins; it is located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.

The Great Sheffield Flood kills 238 people in Sheffield, England.

American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.

The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice.

Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.

Flagstaff War: Unhappy with translational differences regarding the Treaty of Waitangi, chiefs Hōne Heke, Kawiti and Māori tribe members chop down the British flagpole for a fourth time and drive settlers out of Kororāreka, New Zealand.

The Battle of Kharda is fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the Nizam of Hyderabad, resulting in Maratha victory.

The signing of the Treaty of Mangalore brings the Second Anglo-Mysore War to an end.

Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.

The Daily Courant, England's first national daily newspaper, is published for the first time.

The Frondeurs and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.

Guaraní forces living in the Jesuit reductions defeat bandeirantes loyal to the Portuguese Empire at the Battle of Mbororé in present-day Panambí, Argentina.

Battle of Castagnaro: Padua, led by John Hawkwood, is victorious over Giovanni Ordelaffi of Verona.

Arnošt of Pardubice becomes the last Bishop of Prague (3 March 1343 O.S.), and, a year later, the first Archbishop of Prague.

Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the veneration of icons in the Orthodox churches in the Byzantine Empire.