28 March 1259

A magnitude-7.7 earthquake killed more than 5,000 people in Myanmar and Thailand.

A siege of a hotel in Mogadishu by al-Shabaab militants, which began the previous day and killed at least 20 people, ended with the Somali Armed Forces recapturing the premises.

Kosovo War: Serbian police and special forces killed around 93 Kosovo Albanians in the village of Izbica.

In the Tragedy of Otranto, the Italian Navy vessel Sibilla collided with the Albanian civilian vessel Kateri i Radës, causing the latter to sink and leading to dozens of deaths.

British prime minister James Callaghan was defeated by one vote in a vote of no confidence after his government struggled to cope with widespread strikes during the Winter of Discontent.

Colonel Sun, written by Kingsley Amis, was published, becoming the first James Bond novel published after the death of Ian Fleming in 1964.

Civil rights movement: Over one hundred high school students conducted a sit-in protest in Rome, Georgia.

The US Department of State released the Acheson–Lilienthal Report, a proposal for the international control of nuclear weapons.

Second World War: The port of Saint-Nazaire in German-occupied France was disabled by British naval forces.

The Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will, directed by Leni Riefenstahl, premiered in Berlin.

After an on-board fire that may have been the first incident of airliner sabotage, the Imperial Airways biplane City of Liverpool broke apart in mid-air, killing fifteen people.

World War I: British and Australian troops defeated German forces at the First Battle of Dernancourt in northern France.

German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers discovered Pallas, the second asteroid to be identified, but at the time considered to be a planet.

Irish Confederate Wars: Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty, signed the First Ormond Peace for the Confederates in exchange for greater freedom of religion.

The Praetorian Guard assassinated Roman emperor Pertinax (bust pictured) and sold the imperial office in an auction to Didius Julianus.

An earthquake strikes close to Mandalay, Myanmar with a magnitude of 7.7, killing over 5400 people.

The region of Uusimaa (with the capital city Helsinki) is temporarily isolated from the rest of Finland due to increased COVID-19 infections.

At least one million union members, students and unemployed take to the streets in France in protest at the government's proposed First Employment Contract law.

An earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a magnitude of 8.6 and killing over 1000 people.

In a friendly fire incident, two American A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft attack British tanks participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, killing one soldier.

Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos begins operation.

Kosovo War: Serb paramilitary and military forces kill at least 130 Kosovo Albanians in Izbica.

In South Africa, African National Congress security guards kill dozens of Inkatha Freedom Party protesters.

United States President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.