On This Day: 5 dead in Jonesboro, Ark., school shooting

March 24 (UPI) --

In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I of England died after 44 years of rule. She was succeeded by King James VI of Scotland, uniting England and Scotland under a single British monarch.

In 1934, the United States granted independence to the Philippine Islands, effective July 4, 1946.

In 1975, the beaver became the official symbol of Canada.

In 1989, the Exxon Valdez hit a reef in the Gulf of Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil in the largest oil tanker spill in U.S. history.

In 1998, four girls and a teacher at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Ark., were killed by bullets fired from a nearby wooded area. The shooters were two boys, ages 11 and 13, who were convicted as juveniles and served prison time.

In 1999, NATO airstrikes hit military targets across the Yugoslav union of Serbia-Montenegro after ethnic cleansing launched by Serbian forces against Kosovar Albanians.

In 2003, British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the House of Commons that coalition forces were well on their way to Baghdad, and victory in Iraq was certain despite some anxious moments ahead.

In 2004, the European Commission fined software giant Microsoft $613 million for EU antitrust violations.

In 2012, former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, 71, underwent heart transplant surgery at a hospital in Falls Church, Va.

In 2014, a court in Minya, Egypt, sentenced 529 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death on charges including murder and attempted murder. Most of the suspects were tried in absentia.

In 2015, a Germanwings plane carrying 150 people, including German high school students, crashed in the French Alps in southern France. Everyone on board died.

In 2017, Republican leaders in the House shelved a scheduled vote to replace the Affordable Care Act after they failed to gather enough votes to pass it.