Historical timeline for March 3

A bomb blast in Karachi, Pakistan, kills at least 48 people and injured 200 others in a predominantly Shia Muslim area.

James Roszko murders four Royal Canadian Mounted Police constables during a drug bust at his property in Rochfort Bridge, Alberta, then commits suicide. This is the deadliest peace-time incident for the RCMP since 1885 and the North-West Rebellion.

Margaret Wilson is elected as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, beginning a period lasting until August 23, 2006, where all the highest political offices (including Elizabeth II as Head of State), were occupied by women, making New Zealand the first country for this to occur.

Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refueling.

An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.

United Airlines Flight 585 crashes on its final approach to Colorado Springs killing everyone on board.

The Australia Act 1986 commences, causing Australia to become fully independent from the United Kingdom.

A magnitude 8.3 earthquake strikes the Valparaíso Region of Chile, killing 177 and leaving nearly a million people homeless.

The USS Nautilus is decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.

Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashes at Ermenonville near Paris, France killing all 346 aboard.

Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 crashes as a result of a control malfunction and insufficient training in emergency procedures.

Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module.

Nuri al-Said becomes Prime Minister of Iraq for the eighth time.

A De Havilland Comet (Canadian Pacific Air Lines) crashes in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 11 people.

World War II: In poor visibility, the RAF mistakenly bombs the Bezuidenhout area of The Hague, Netherlands, killing 511 people.

A freight train carrying stowaway passengers stalls in a tunnel shortly after departing from Balvano, Basilicata, Italy just after midnight, with 517 dying from carbon monoxide poisoning.

The Order of Nakhimov and Order of Ushakov are instituted in USSR as the highest naval awards.

World War II: In London, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.

World War II: Ten Japanese warplanes raid Broome, Western Australia, killing more than 100 people.

Five people are killed in an arson attack on the offices of the communist newspaper Flamman in Luleå, Sweden.