Uvular-epiglottal consonant

The Chaser APEC pranks constituted a series of comic stunts that targeted the 2007 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Summit, which occurred from 2–9 September, in Sydney, Australia. They were coordinated and performed by the Australian satire group The Chaser for the television series The Chaser's War on Everything. The most prominent prank was the breach of an APEC restricted zone in the heart of Sydney's CBD on 6 September. Julian Morrow directed a fake Canadian motorcade, which was allowed through the restricted zone by police and not detected until Chas Licciardello alighted, dressed as Osama bin Laden. Although pranks that involved public locations, figures, and organisations were always a feature of the series, the APEC pranks yielded unprecedented local and international publicity, both positive and negative. Some team members faced charges for breaching the APEC zone, but these were dropped because police had allowed their entry in the restricted zone. Other less controversial and less publicised stunts were also shown on The Chaser's War on Everything, with ratings peaking at almost three million Australian viewers for the APEC wrap-up episode. (more...)

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• Space Shuttle Discovery is successfully launched (pictured) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying solar arrays to the International Space Station.
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March 16

• 1660 – The Long Parliament, originally called by King Charles I of England in 1640 following the Bishops' Wars, dissolved itself.
• 1802 – U.S. President Thomas Jefferson authorized the establishment of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, today the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency.
• 1926 – At the then-Asa Ward Farm in Auburn, Massachusetts, American scientist Robert H. Goddard launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, a 10-foot (3 m) cylinder that reached an altitude of about 41 feet (12 m) and flew for two-and-a-half seconds before falling to the ground.
• 1968 – Vietnam War: American soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in the Sơn Mỹ village in the Sơn Tịnh district of South Vietnam.
• 1978 – The oil tanker Amoco Cadiz (pictured) split in two after running aground on Portsall Rocks, about 3 miles (5 km) off the coast of Brittany, France, resulting in one of the largest oil spills ever.

• More events: March 15 – March 16 – March 17

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