History of 23 March
- 1993 – U.N. experts announced that record ozone lows had been registered over a large area of the Western Hemisphere.
- 1994 – Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexico’s leading presidential candidate, was assassinated in Tijuana. Mario Aburto Martinez was arrested at the scene and confessed to the killing.
- 1994 – Wayne Gretzky broke Gordie Howe’s National Hockey League (NHL) career record with his 802nd goal.
- 1994 – Howard Stern formally announced his Libertarian run for New York governor.
- 1996 – Taiwan held its first democratic presidential elections.
- 1998 – Germany’s largest bank pledged $3.1 million to Jewish foundations as restitution for Nazi looting.
- 1998 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that term limits for state lawmakers were constitutional.
- 1998 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin fired his Cabinet.
- 1998 – The movie “Titanic” won 11 Oscars at the Academy Awards.
- 1998 – The German company Bertelsmann AG agreed to purchase the American publisher Random House for $1.4 billion. The merger created the largest English-language book-publishing company in the world.
- 1999 – NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana gave formal approval for air strikes against Serbian targets.
- 2001 – Russia’s orbiting Mir space station plunged into the South Pacific after its 15-years of use.
- 2003 – Battle of Nasiriyah, first major conflict during the invasion of Iraq.
- 2008 – Official opening of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, India
- 2009 – FedEx Express Flight 80: A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 flying from Guangzhou, China crashes at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, killing both the captain and the co-pilot.
- 2018 — President of Peru Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigns from the presidency amid a mass corruption scandal before certain impeachment by the opposition-majority Congress of Peru.
- 2019 – The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces declared military victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after four years of fighting, although the group maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells across Syria and Iraq.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Erin Crocker, American race car driver
- 1981 – Tony Peña, Jr., Dominican baseball player
- 1981 – Shelley Rudman, English bobsledder
- 1981 – Giuseppe Sculli, Italian footballer
- 1981 – Brett Young, American country music singer
- 1982 – José Contreras Arrau, Chilean footballer
- 1982 – Andrea Musacco, Italian footballer
- 1982 – Evgeni Striganov, Estonian ice dancer
- 1983 – Hakan Balta, Turkish footballer
- 1983 – Mo Farah, Somali-English runner
- 1983 – Sascha Riether, German international footballer, right-back
- 1983 – Jerome Thomas, English footballer
- 1984 – Ryan Araña, Filipino basketball player
- 1984 – Brandon Marshall, American football player
- 1985 – Maurice Jones-Drew, American football player
- 1985 – Bethanie Mattek-Sands, American tennis player
- 1986 – Patrick Bordeleau, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 – Andrea Dovizioso, Italian motorcycle racer
- 1986 – Brett Eldredge, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1986 – Kangana Ranaut, Indian actress
- 1987 – Alan Toovey, Australian footballer
- 1988 – Dellin Betances, American baseball player
- 1988 – Jason Kenny, English cyclist
- 1988 – Michal Neuvirth, Czech ice hockey player
- 1989 – Ayesha Curry, Canadian-American chef, author and television personality
- 1989 – Nikola Gulan, Serbian footballer
- 1989 – Sarah McKenna, English rugby player
- 1989 – Luis Fernando Silva, Mexican footballer
- 1990 – Jaime Alguersuari, Spanish race car driver
- 1990 – Robert Zickert, German footballer
- 1991 – Gregg Wylde, Scottish footballer
- 1992 – Tolga Ciğerci, German-Turkish footballer
- 1992 – Morgan Evans, Welsh rugby league player
- 1992 – Kyrie Irving, Australian-American basketball player
- 1993 – Kyle Lovett, Australian rugby league player
- 1993 – Aytaç Kara, Turkish footballer
- 1994 – Nick Powell, English footballer
- 1995 – Kevin Kauber, Estonian footballer
- 1995 – Jan Lisiecki, Canadian pianist
- 1995 – Ozan Tufan, Turkish footballer
- 1996 – Alexander Albon, Thai-British racing driver