Portal:Current events/2008 March 12

March 12, 2008 (Wednesday)

The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces a major expansion of efforts to fight smog in cities and towns throughout the United States. (AP via Google News)^{[permanent dead link]}
The total amount of digital information is estimated at 281 exabytes in 2007, exceeding available data storage for the first time. (Ars Technica) (IDC via EMC)
Crude oil futures contracts end trading at a new closing high of $109.92 a barrel after earlier topping $110 a barrel for the first time. (MarketWatch)
Israeli commandos kill four militants on the West Bank including three members of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine. (Reuters)
Sweden’s largest lake, the Vänern, which is also the third largest lake in Europe, will be lowered by 15 centimeters, in order to avoid flooding. (Expressen)
Southwest Airlines grounds 41 jets after the FAA discovers the airline failed to inspect its Boeing 737s for structural flaws during 2006 and 2007. (Reuters)
The last French veteran of World War I, Lazare Ponticelli, an Italian immigrant who lied about his age to join the French Foreign Legion and fight in the trenches, dies at 110. (BBC News)
French Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner and his Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt pronounce their support for Serbian membership of the European Union. (Reuters)
Chinese police fire tear gas to disperse protesters during the second day of demonstrations by Buddhist monks in Lhasa, Tibet demanding the region's independence. (AFP)^{[permanent dead link]}
Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer resigns effective March 17 amid a prostitution ring scandal. He will be replaced by David Paterson, the first African American and legally blind person to hold this position. (Yahoo! Finance)
A gunman opens fire at a bank in McComb, Mississippi, killing two people, before forcing his wife into a car and driving away, later killing her and committing suicide. (WAPT)
A man under investigation for the sexual abuse of children at an orphanage in Sofia, Bulgaria, opens fire on teenage witnesses, killing one and wounding two others before committing suicide. (MSNBC)