Saudi prince and pop star in mega deal
1996 - Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal confirmed his latest headline-grabbing deal, a multi-million dollar show business joint venture with American pop star Michael Jackson. Al Waleed, Saudi Arabia’s biggest investor, said in a statement from his head office in Riyadh that the business would be called Kingdom Entertainment. The name derives from Kingdom Establishment, the Prince’s main investment vehicle through which he has amassed a business empire that includes banks, theme parks, telecommunications, hotels and other property throughout the world. One of the first joint activities of the new company will be to sponsor Jackson’s world “History Tour”. Kingdom Entertainment planned to pursue investments and development projects around the world.
March 19
1877 - The Ottoman Parliament opens in Istanbul.
1932 - Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia officially opens.
1944 - Nazi German soldiers occupy Hungary.
1945 - Japanese kamikaze planes attack the USS Franklin off Japan’s coast, killing 800.
1970 - Heads of government of West and East Germany meet for the first time in Erfurt.
1991 - Begum Khaleda Zia is named prime minister of Bangladesh.
1993 - Georgia shoots down a Russian warplane.
1994 - Cambodian government seizes control of Pailin, the Khmer Rouge’s main stronghold.
1996 - At least 150 people are killed in a deadly fire which sweeps through a packed disco in Manila, Philippines.
1999 - A bomb blast in an outdoor food market in southern Russia kills 56 people.
2000 - A mob storms the Nationalist Party’s headquarters in Taiwan, forcing Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui to quit as party leader.
2003 - Mahmoud Abbas is appointed Palestinian Prime Minister.
2007 - New UAE regulation allows banks to finance and manage real estate projects.
2010 - Bahraini minister Mansour Bin Rajab is arrested on charges of money laundering.
2011 - Operation Odyssey Dawn begins to protect civilians with airstrikes against forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
2013 - Thirty-seven people are killed and 14 injured when a speeding bus slips off a bridge in Maharashtra, India.
2014 - An Egyptian army brigadier-general and a colonel are killed in clash with militants in the Nile Delta, Egypt.
