Today in History - April 3
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33CE Apr 3,
Christ was crucified (according to astronomers Humphreys and
Waddington). The date is highly debated. [see Apr 30, 30CE]
(MC, 4/3/02)
628 Apr 3, In Persia Kavadh
sued for peace with the Byzantines. He handed back Armenia,
Byzantine Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt.
(HN, 4/3/99)(AP, 4/3/99)
628 Apr 3, Chosroes II, emperor
of Persia (579-628), was murdered by his son.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1043 Apr 3, Edward the
Confessor was crowned king of England.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1367 Apr 3, Henry Bolingbroke,
aka Henry of Lancaster and later Henry IV, King of England
(1399-1413), was born in Lincolnshire.
(MWH, 1994)
1367 Apr 3, John of Gaunt and
Edward the Black Prince won the Battle of Najara, in Spain.
(HN, 4/3/99)
1559 Apr 3, Philip II of Spain
and Henry II of France signed the peace of Cateau-Cambresis, ending
a long series of wars between the Hapsburg and Valois dynasties.
(HN,
4/3/99)(www.comune.cumiana.to.it/storia/history.html)
1569 Apr 3, Giovanni Battista
Massarengo, composer, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1593 Apr 3, George Herbert
(d.1633), English metaphysical poet (5 Mystical Songs), was born.
"The best mirror is an old friend."
(AP, 4/16/98)(MC, 4/3/02)
1603 Apr 3, William Smith,
composer, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1649 Apr 3, Joseph-Francois
Salomon, composer, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1657 Apr 3, English Lord
Protector Cromwell refused the crown.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1679 Apr 3, Edmund Halley met
Johannes Hevelius in Danzig.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1680 Apr 3, Shivaji Raje Bhosle
(b.1627), warrior king and founder of the Maratha empire of western
India, died.
(Econ, 7/12/08,
p.73)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivaji)
1682 Apr 3, Esteban Murillo
(b.1617), Spanish painter, died. Some of his mid-century work in
Seville portrayed the effects of the Plague that killed 50% of the
population in 4 months.
(WSJ, 4/9/02, p.D19)(MC, 4/3/02)
1751 Apr 3, Jean-Baptiste
Lamoyne, composer, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1764 Apr 3, John Abernethy,
surgeon, was born in London.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1764 Apr 3, Austrian arch duke
Jozef crowned himself Roman Catholic king.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1776 Apr 3, George Washington
received an honorary doctor of law degree from Harvard College.
(AP, 4/3/97)
1783 Apr 3, Washington Irving
(d.Nov 28, 1859), essayist, author, historian, biographer,
attorney/lawyer, American writer (Legend of Sleepy Hollow & Rip
Van Winkle), was born in New York City. "No man is so methodical as
a complete idler, and none so scrupulous in measuring out his time
as he whose time is worth nothing."
(DTnet, 11/28/97)(HN, 4/3/98)(AP, 9/10/98)
1790 Apr 3, Revenue Marine
Service (US Coast Guard) was created.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1796 Apr 3, The 1st elephant
was shipped to the US from Bengal, India, by Broadway showman Jacob
Croninshield.
(SFC, 11/18/00, p.B3)
1822 Apr 3, Edward Everett
Hale, American clergyman and author (Man without a Country) , was
born.
(HN, 4/3/98)
1823 Apr 3, William Macy "Boss"
Tweed, New York City political boss, was born.
(HN, 4/3/98)
1837 Apr 3, John Burroughs
(d.1921), American author and naturalist, was born. “Time does not
become sacred to us until we have lived it, until it has passed over
us and taken with it a part of ourselves.”
(HN, 4/3/01)(AP, 5/28/98)
1838 Apr 3, Leon Michel
Gambetta, French attorney, premier (1881-82), was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1838 Apr 3, Francesco
Antommarchi (57), Napoleon's physician on St Helena, died.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1841 Apr 3, From Nassau,
Bahamas, a British magistrate wrote that 193 shipwrecked African
slaves from the ship Trouvadore were found naked on the shores of
the East Caicos Island. The slaves were then quarantined in a jail
and given food and clothing.
(AP, 8/21/04)
1842 Apr 3, Hermann Karl Vogel,
German astronomer, was born.
(HN, 4/3/01)
1854 Apr 3, The SF Mint opened
at 608 Commercial St. It issued $4 million in gold coins this year.
An Indian princess appeared on gold dollars.
(SFC, 8/21/01, p.A12)(SSFC, 1/28/03, p.E1)(WSJ,
12/12/03, p.W15)(SFC, 4/2/04, p.F3)
1856 Apr 3, Gunpowder in church
exploded killing 4,000 in Rhodes.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1859 Apr 3, Reginald De Koven,
composer (Robin Hood), was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1860 Apr 3, The US Pony Express
mail system began when one horse and rider carrying a bulging mail
pouch began the 10 1/2-day run from San Francisco, Calif., to St.
Joseph, Mo. Riders left St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, Ca., at
the same time. They averaged 12 mph over 75-100 mile segments
between 153 (190) change stations. The freight company of Russell,
Majors and Waddell began the service. The enterprise failed after
only 18 months, however, due to mounting financial losses and
competition from the ever-expanding telegraph network. Donald C.
Biggs (d.2000 at 72), prof. of history at SF State, later authored
"The Pony Express: Creation of the Legend."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express)(SFC,
2/15/97, p.D4)(AP, 4/3/97)(SFC, 6/12/00, p.A24)
1862 Apr 3, A bill was passed
to abolish slavery in Washington, D.C. [see Apr 16]
(HN, 4/3/98)
1865 Apr 3, Union forces
captured the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va.
(HFA, '96, p.28)(AP, 4/3/97)(HN, 4/3/98)
1865 Apr 3, Battle at Namozine
Church, Virginia (Appomattox Campaign).
(MC, 4/3/02)
1868 Apr 3, An earthquake
estimated at magnitude 7.9 hit the Big Island of Hawaii. 46 people
were killed in the resulting tsunami at Keauhou and 31 died in a
landslide at Kapapala.
(http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/events/1868_04_03.php)
1868 Apr 3, Franz Adolf Berwald
(71), Swedish composer, died.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1874 Apr 3, Eduardo Sanchez de
Fuentes, composer, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1882 Apr 3, Wood block alarm
was invented. When alarm rang it dropped 20 wood blocks.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1882 Apr 3, Outlaw Jesse James
(34) was shot in the back and killed at his home in St. Joseph, Mo.,
by Robert Ford, a cousin and member of his own gang for a $5,000
reward. Jesse and Frank James, the bank robbing James brothers, were
born as Woodson and Alexander. In 1995 the body of Jesse James was
exhumed for DNA testing. The test proved that it was James, who was
killed in 1882. In 2000 Desmond Barry authored the novel “The
Chivalry of Crime” based on the story of Jesse James. In 2000 the
body of a man, J. Frank Dalton (d.1951), who claimed to be Jesse
James was exhumed for DNA analysis.
(AP, 4/3/97)(SFC,12/26/97, p.C22)(SFEC, 4/23/00,
BR p.5)(SFC, 5/31/00, p.A4)(HNQ, 6/21/00)(HN, 4/3/02)
1885 Apr 3, Harry St. John
Philby, [sheik Abdullah], British explorer, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1888 Apr 3, Gertrude Bridget
"Ma" Rainey, American singer, "the mother of the blues,” was born.
[see Apr 26, 1886]
(HN, 4/3/01)
1893 Apr 3, Leslie Howard,
[Stainer], actor (Gone With the Wind), was born in London.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1895 Apr 3, Mario
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, composer, was born in Firenze (Florence),
Italy.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1897 Apr 3, The Vienna
Secession was founded by artists Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Josef
Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Max Kurzweil, and others. Although
Otto Wagner is widely recognized as a fundamental member of the
Vienna Secession he was not a founding member.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Secession)
1897 Apr 3,
Johannes Brahms (63), German composer, conductor (Hungarian Dances),
died.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, p.B11)(MC, 4/3/02)
1898 Apr 3, Henry R. Luce
(d.1967), magazine publisher, founder of Time, Fortune and Life, was
born. “Show me a man who claims he is objective and I’ll show you a
man with illusions.”
(HN, 4/3/01)(AP, 3/9/98)
1901 Apr 3, Richard D'Oyly
Carte, promoter (Gilbert & Sullivan operas), died.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1904 Apr 3, Iron Eyes Cody,
actor (Black Gold, Ernest Goes to Camp), was born in Tulsa, OK.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1910 Apr 3, Alaska's Mt.
McKinley, the highest mountain in North America, was climbed.
(HN, 4/3/98)
1911 Apr 3, The US Supreme
Court ruled against Dr. Miles Medical Co., which had sued a
distributor for selling at cut rate prices. In 1937 Congress passed
the Free Trade Law letting states selectively allow price fixing to
protect small retailers.
(http://supreme.justia.com/us/220/373/)(WSJ,
8/18/08, p.A12)
1913 Apr 3, British suffragette
Emily Pankhurst was sentenced to 3 years in jail.
(http://suffragettes.nls.uk/media/28977/project_1_4_1.pdf)
1915 Apr 3, Paul Touvier, war
criminal, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1916 Apr 3, Herb Caen (d.1997),
columnist (SF Chronicle), was born in Sacramento, Calif.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1917 Apr 3, Lenin left
Switzerland for Petrograd.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1918 Apr 3, Sixten Ehrling,
conductor (Royal Opera of Stockholm), was born in Malmo, Sweden.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1918 Apr 3, French Gen.
Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929) was named the supreme commander of the
Allied Forces.
{France, WWI}
(www.firstworldwar.com/source/foch_order.htm)
1919 Apr 3, Austria expelled
all Habsburgs.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1920 Apr 3, F. Scott Fitzgerald
and Zelda Sayre were married at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York
City.
(HN, 4/3/02)
1922 Apr 3, Stalin was
appointed General Secretary of Communist Party.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1924 Apr 3, Marlon Brando,
actor (On the Waterfront, The Godfather), was born in Omaha, Neb.
(HN, 4/3/01)(MC, 4/3/02)
1924 Apr 3, Murray Dickie,
opera singer, director, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1924 Apr 3, Doris Von
Kappelhoff [Doris Day], American singer and actress, was born in
Cincinnati, Oh.
(HN, 4/3/01)(MC, 4/3/02)
1925 Apr 3, Tony Benn, British
minister of technology (1968), was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1926 Apr 3, Virgil Grissom
(d.1967), Lt. Col. USAF, astronaut (Mercury 4, Gemini 3), was born
in Mitchell, Ind. He was the Mercury and Gemini astronaut who was
killed in a fire while preparing for the first Apollo flight.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollo204/grissom.html
(MC, 4/3/02)
1926 Apr 3, 1st performance of
Jean Sibelius' 7th Symphony in C.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1926 Apr 3, Robert Goddard
launched his 2nd flight of a liquid-fueled rocket.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1926 Apr 3, Italy established
corps of force in order to break powerful unions.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1930 Apr 3, The first of two
Academy Awards banquets this year was held in Los Angeles at the
Fiesta Room of the Ambassador Hotel. The awards were given for films
released between 2 August 1928 and 31 July 1929.
(SFC, 3/13/02,
p.D5)(www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Academy_Awards_USA/1930-1)
1930 Apr 3, Helmut Kohl, German
statesman and chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, was
born.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)(HN, 4/3/99)
1930 Apr 3, Ras Tafari became
Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
(MC, 4/3/02)
1933 Apr 3, The dirigible Akron
crashed into the Atlantic off of New Jersey and killed 73 0f the 76
men aboard.
(SFC, 9/20/97, p.A21)
1933 Apr 3, Royal Air Force
Lieutenant David McIntyre and the Scottish Marquess of Clydesdale,
flying two open-cockpit Westland aircraft, completed the first
overflight and aerial photographic survey of Mount Everest. The
British Mount Everest team, battled extreme cold and high winds as
they photographed the previously unknown crest of the 29,028-foot
peak.
(HNPD, 4/3/99)
1934 Apr 3, Jane van
Lawick-Goodall, ethologist (studied African chimps, 1974 Walker
Prize), was born in London, England. She was a British
anthropologist, known for her work with African chimpanzees. In 2000
her autobiography “Africa in My Blood: An Autobiography in Letters,
The Early Years, 1934-1966,” was edited by Dale Peterson.
(HN, 3/4/99)(SFEC, 6/18/00, BR p.6)(SC,
3/4/02)(MC, 4/3/02)
1936 Apr 3, Bruno Hauptmann,
convicted for the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, was electrocuted
in Trenton, N.J. The execution took 4 shocks and left Hauptman badly
burned. He claimed his innocence until he died. In 1976 NBC aired a
show titled The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case and Anthony Scaduto
published "Scapegoat." In 1982 PBS made the documentary Who Killed
the Lindbergh Baby and in 1985 Ludovic Kennedy published "The Airman
and the Carpenter." In 1996 a docudrama was aired by HBO based on
the Kennedy book.
(WSJ, 9/9/96, p.A16)(AP, 4/3/97)(SSFC, 4/3/11, DB
p.46)
1941 Apr 3, Walton's overture
"Scapino," premiered in Chicago.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1941 Apr 3, Churchill warned
Stalin of German invasion.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1941 Apr 3, Andre Michelin
(88), French tire manufacturer, died. In 2004 Herbert Lottman
authored "The Michelin Men: Driving an Empire," the story of Andre
and Edouard Michelin.
(MC, 4/3/02)(WSJ, 2/20/04, p.W5)
1941 Apr 3, Pal Teleki-von Szek
(61), PM Hungary (1920-21, 39-41), committed suicide.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1942 Apr 3, Marsha Mason,
actress (Blume in Love, Cinderella Liberty), was born in St Louis,
Mo.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1942 Apr 3, The Japanese began
their all-out assault on the U.S. and Filipino troops at Bataan.
(HN, 4/3/99)
1944 Apr 3, Tony Orlando,
singer (& Dawn-Tie a Yellow Ribbon), was born in NYC.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1944 Apr 3, The U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that black citizens are eligible to vote in all
elections, including primaries. The Smith vs. Allwright decision
ruled "white primaries" unconstitutional.
(HN, 4/3/01)(MC, 4/3/02)
1944 Apr 3, British dive
bombers attacked the battle cruiser Tirpitz.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1944 Apr 3, On Orthodox Easter
the Allied bombing of Nazi occupied Serbia resulted in the deaths of
some 4,000 Serbian civilians. An account of the raids, requested by
US Gen'l. Carl Spaatz, found that most of the bombs struck at least
600 yards from their targets.
(SFC, 4/1/99, p.A12)
1945 Apr 3, Nazis began
evacuation of camp Buchenwald. [see Apr 20]
(MC, 4/3/02)
1946 Apr 3, Lt. General
Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the Bataan
Death March, was executed outside Manila in the Philippines.
(AP, 4/3/97)
1948 Apr 3, Garrick Ohlsson,
pianist (Intl Busoni winner 1969), was born in Bronxville, NY.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1948 Apr 3, The 1st US figure
skating championships were held.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1948 Apr 3, Congress adopted
and President Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which allocated more
than $5 billion in aid for 16 European countries. The Marshall Plan
was begun to aid the European nations in their economic recovery
following WW II. It provided $13.15 billion over 4 years to 17
European nations.
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A20)(AP, 4/3/97)(SFEC, 5/25/97,
p.A10)(HN, 4/3/98)
1949 Apr 3, Israel signed a
ceasefire agreement with Transjordan.
(www.wikipedia.org)
1950 Apr 3, Kurt Julian Weill
(50), German composer (Dreigroschenoper), died. His best known work
is the music for "The Threepenny Opera." His work also included "Der
Jasager." He was married to the singer Lotte Lenya. Letters between
the two over a period of 26 years have been edited and translated in
a book by Lys Symonette and Kim H Kowalke: "Speak Low (When You
Speak Love)." His work also included the theater piece "Der Weg der
Verheissung" (The Eternal Road). In 2002 Foster Hirsch authored
"Kurt Weill on Stage: From Berlin to Broadway."
(SFC, 5/26/96, BR p.6)(WSJ, 5/4/99, p.A20)(SSFC,
3/17/02, p.M3)
1950 Apr 3, Carter G. Woodson
(b.1875), black historian, died. Woodson is best known for is the
creation of what became "Black History Month," begun in 1926 as
"Negro History Week." The idea of learning more about black history
caught on in schools all over the country. Many scholars recognize
him as the “Father of Black History.” His work included “The Negro
in Our History” (1922).
(WSJ, 5/19/05,
p.D8)(www.biography.com/articles/Carter-G.-Woodson-9536515)
1951 Apr 3, Christopher Fry's
"Sleep of Prisoners," premiered in Oxford.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1952 Apr 3, Dutch Queen Juliana
spoke to the US Congress.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1953 Apr 3, Walter Annenberg of
Philadelphia began a national TV Guide. His father had published
Radio Guide and he bought TV Forecast in Chicago and local
television guides in New York , Philadelphia and Washington to begin
his operation. A picture of the first cover featured Lucy and Desi
Arnaz’ baby (I Love Lucy).
(www.tvhistory.tv/tv_guide1.htm)(WSJ, 5/8/98,
p.W10)(www.fiftiesweb.com/pop/tv-guide.htm)
1954 Apr 3, Aristides de Sousa
Mendes (b.1885), former Portuguese consul general in Bordeaux,
France, died in poverty. He is credited with defying his
government’s ordes and saving 10,000 European Jews and some 20,000
other nationals by issuing transit visas to “undesirables” fleeing
the Nazis during WW II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristides_de_Sousa_Mendes)(SFC,
2/19/09, p.B5)
1955 Apr 3, In Guadalajara,
Mexico, a night train plunged into a canyon and some 300 people were
killed.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)(AP, 2/18/04)
1956 Apr 3, "Silk Stockings"
closed at Imperial Theater in NYC after 461 performances.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1956 Apr 3, German war
criminals Hinrichsen, Ruhl, Siebens and Viebahn were freed.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1957 Apr 3, Samuel Beckett's
"Endgame," premiered in London.
(V.D.-H.K.p.369)(MC, 4/3/02)
1958 Apr 3, "Say, Darling"
opened at ANTA Theater NYC for 332 performances.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1958 Apr 3, Fidel Castro's
rebels attacked Havana.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1959 Apr 3, David Hyde Pierce,
actor (Niles Crane-Fraiser), was born in NY.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1959 Apr 3, "Charlie Brown" by
The Coasters was banned by the BBC because it contained the word
"spitball."
(AP, 4/3/03)
1961 Apr 3, Eddie Murphy, actor
(SNL, 48 Hours, Beverly Hill Cop, Raw), was born in Brooklyn, NY.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1961 Apr 3, In San Francisco
thousands of people took part in the 39th Easter Sunrise Service on
Mount Davidson.
(SSFC, 4/3/11, DB p.46)
1962 Apr 3, Manolis Kalomiris
(78), Greek opera composer, died.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1966 Apr 3, Three-thousand
South Vietnamese Army troops led a protest against the Ky regime in
Saigon.
(HN, 4/3/98)
1968 Apr 3, Less than 24 hours
before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., civil rights leader
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "mountaintop" speech to a rally
of striking sanitation workers, "It really doesn't matter with me
now, because I've been to the mountain top, and I don't mind."
(AP, 4/3/98)
1968 Apr 3, North Vietnam
agreed to meet with US representatives to set up preliminary peace
talks.
(AP, 4/3/97)
1971 Apr 3, Manfred Bennington
Lee (65), detective writer, died. Brooklyn cousins Daniel
Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manford Lepofsky,
alias Manfred Bennington Lee (b.1905), used Ellery Queen as both a
fictional character and a pseudonym.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellery_Queen)
1971 Apr 3, Joseph Valachi
(b.1903), US gangster, died at La Tuna Federal Correctional
Institution in Texas. A biography heavily influenced by Valachi’s
memoirs and by interviews with Valachi was written by journalist
Peter Maas and published in 1968 as The Valachi Papers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Valachi)
1972 Apr 3, Charlie Chaplin
(1889-1977) returned to the US after a twenty-year absence.
(HN,
4/3/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin)
1972 Apr 3, Ferde Grofe
(b.1892), US pianist and composer (Grand Canyon Suite), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferde_Grof%C3%A9)
1974 Apr 3, A tape from the SLA
announced Patty Hearst’s decision to “stay and fight” with the SLA.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22,23)
1974 Apr 3, The Joint Committee
on Internal Revenue Taxation of the Congress reported that $476,531
in back taxes and interest was owed by President Richard Nixon.
Responding to charges of fraud, Nixon requested the committee
investigation of his taxes and, upon its report, agreed to pay. The
report made no conclusion regarding fraud.
(HNQ,
6/1/98)(www.house.gov/jct/aboutjct_mandate.html)
1974 Apr 3, A series of 148
deadly tornadoes struck wide parts of the South and Midwest before
jumping across the border into Canada; some 330 people were killed
in 13 states: Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,
Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Total property damage was
estimated at $600 million. In 2007 Mark Levine authored “F5:
Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent Tornado Outbreak of the
20th Century.”
(AP, 4/3/99)(WSJ, 9/13/01, p.B11)(SSFC, 9/4/05,
p.A7)(WSJ, 6/16/07, p.P10)
1975 Apr 3, Bobby Fischer
(1943-2008) was stripped of the world chess title for refusing to
defend it.
(www.bobby-fischer.net/)
1975 Apr 3, Mary Ure (b.1933),
Scottish actress (Sons & Lovers, Where Eagles Dare), died.
{Scotland, Film Star, Theater}
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ure)
1978 Apr 3, In the 50th Academy
Awards "Annie Hall" won as film. Richard Dreyfuss won as best actor
(The Goodbye Girl) and Diane Keaton won as best actress (Annie
Hall).
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271340/)
1979 Apr 3, Jane M. Byrne (D)
was elected as the 1st woman mayor of Chicago, defeating Republican
Wallace D. Johnson.
(AP, 4/3/97)(MC, 4/3/02)
1979 Apr 3, In Belgium Wilfried
Achiel Emma Martens (b.1936) became prime minister for the 1st of 9
times.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfried_Martens)
1982 Apr 3, Britain dispatched
a naval task force to the south Atlantic to reclaim the disputed
Falkland Islands from Argentina. The UN Security Council demanded
Argentina withdraw from Falkland Islands.
(AP, 4/3/02)
1983 Apr 3, Martin Cooper,
Motorola project manager, demonstrated the 1st mobile phone, the
DynaTAC 8000x. It was designed by Rudy Krolopp. The 2½ pound
cell phone was soon made available for $3,995.
(SFC, 4/12/00, p.D3)(SFC, 4/3/03, p.B1)(NW,
3/17/03, p.14)(SFC, 8/17/11, p.D1)
1984 Apr 3, Coach John Thompson
of Georgetown University became the first African-American coach to
win an NCAA basketball tournament.
(HN, 4/3/99)
1985 Apr 3, The landmark Brown
Derby restaurant in Hollywood closed after 56 years in business.
(AP, 4/3/97)
1986 Apr 3, US national debt
hit $2,000,000,000,000 (2 trillion).
(http://tinyurl.com/ftr8g)
1986 Apr 3, Peter Pears
(b.1910), English tenor (Death in Venice), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pears)
1987 Apr 3, Stock prices
rocketed on Wall Street as the Dow Jones industrial average soared
69.89 points, ending the day at a record 2,390.34.
(AP, 4/3/97)
1987 Apr 3, Duchess of
Windsor's jewels were auctioned for 31,380,197 pounds ($50 million).
(http://tinyurl.com/l4o9h)
1988 Apr 3, Secretary of State
George P. Shultz arrived in Israel to launch a fresh U.S. peace
initiative, telling the Israelis that the Palestinians must be
included in negotiations.
(AP, 4/3/98)
1989 Apr 3, The University of
Michigan Wolverines won the NCAA championship by defeating Seton
Hall in overtime, 80-79.
(AP, 4/3/99)
1990 Apr 3, Sarah Vaughan (66),
Jazz singer, died in suburban Los Angeles.
(AP, 4/3/00)
1990 Apr 3, A delegation from
the rebellious republic of Lithuania met with an adviser to Soviet
President Mikhail Gorbachev.
(AP, 4/3/00)
1991 Apr 3, "Penn & Teller
Refrigerator Tour" opened at Eugene O'Neill in NYC.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4636)
1991 Apr 3, The UN Security
Council (Resolution 687) adopted a Gulf War truce resolution
demanding that Iraq abolish weapons of mass destruction, renounce
terrorism and pay reparations.
(AP, 4/3/01)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1991 Apr 3, English novelist
Graham Greene died at age 86. His wife, Vivien Dayrell-Browning,
died in 2003 at age 98. Greene had told his wife that he had had 32
other women. His books included “The Quiet American” (1955). In his
so-called “Catholic” novels he challenged the idea that God is a
cruel, unstinting Rules Keeper. In 2004 Norman Sherry completed “The
Life of Graham Greene, Vol. III, 1955-1991.”
(AP, 4/3/01)(SFC, 8/25/03, p.B4)(SFC, 10/2/04,
p.E2)(WSJ, 10/6/04, p.D14)
1992 Apr 3, President Bush,
speaking in Philadelphia, said members of Congress should shorten
their annual sessions and retire after 12 years, calling for changes
in "a failed status quo"; Democratic leaders accused Bush of
"scapegoating."
(AP, 4/3/97)
1993 Apr 3, The Norman Rockwell
Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., opened. it replaced the Old Corner
House Museum on Main St. that had housed the artist’s nearly 600
works.
1993 Apr 3, President Clinton
and Russian President Boris Yeltsin opened a weekend summit in
Vancouver, B.C., beginning talks after a luncheon with Canadian
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
(AP, 4/3/98)
1993 Apr 3, Pinky Lee (85),
former children's TV show host, died of a heart attack at his
California home.
(AP, 4/3/03)
1994 Apr 3, Frank Wells,
president of the Walt Disney Co., died in helicopter crash while
returning from a ski trip in Nevada’s Ruby Mountains.
(www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Frank_Wells)
1994 Apr 3, In his Easter
Sunday address, Pope John Paul II expressed hope that the joy of
Christianity would overwhelm the din of violence and hate.
(AP, 4/3/99)
1995 Apr 3, UCLA defeated
Arkansas, 89-78, to win the NCAA basketball championship.
(AP, 4/3/00)
1995 Apr 3, Former United Way
of America President William Aramony was convicted in Alexandria,
Va., of 25 counts of fraud for stealing nearly $600,000 dollars from
the nation's biggest charity.
(AP, 4/3/00)
1996 Apr 3, Much of North
America was treated to a total lunar eclipse.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.62)
1996 Apr 3, FBI agents arrested
a suspect thought to be the Unabomber. Theodore John Kaczynski was
arrested near Lincoln, Montana on a tip from his brother. His mail
bombs had killed 3 and injured 23 over the last 17 years. An
original draft of his manifesto “Industrial Society and Its Future”
was found some days later.
(WSJ, 4/4/96, A-1)(SFC, 4/13/96, p.A-1)(AP,
4/3/97)
1996 Apr 3, A US Air Force
jetliner crashed near Dubrovnik, Croatia, and 35 people on board
were killed including Ron Brown, Sec. of Commerce. Brown had been
leading a delegation of business executives to the former Yugoslavia
to explore business opportunities that might help rebuild the
war-torn region.
(WSJ, 4/4/96, A-1)(WSJ, 4/5/96, p.A-1)(AP,
4/3/97)
1996 Apr 3, Carl Stokes died of
cancer AT 68. He was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1967, the first
black mayor of a major US city. He had been on medical leave from
his post since 1994 as ambassador to the Seychelles.
(WSJ, 4/4/96, A-1)(AP, 4/3/97)
1997 Apr 3, About 2,000
youngsters in California and Georgia lined up for shots to protect
them against hepatitis from a contaminated shipment of frozen
strawberries.
(AP, 4/3/98)
1997 Apr 3, In Tennessee 6
chained prisoners burned to death when their transport vehicle
caught fire.
(WSJ, 4/4/97, p.A1)
1998 Apr 3, Pres. Clinton
warned that Japanese officials “have to make a break” with their
past policies. Moody’s Investor’s Services changed its outlook on
Japan’s government debt to “negative” from “stable.”
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 3, Douglas Fred Groat,
a disgruntled spy fired by the CIA, was charged with espionage and
extortion. Groat later pleaded guilty to extortion, and was
sentenced to five years in prison.
(AP, 4/3/03)
1998 Apr 3, The Dow Jones
industrial average climbed above 9,000 for the first time, but
finished with a 3.23 point drop at 8,983.41.
(AP, 4/3/03)
1998 cApr 3, A 2-day meeting
called by the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers was
attended by 18 African nations, over a dozen European countries and
Japan, Canada and Argentina. They endorsed measures to control the
spread of light weapons.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A13)
1999 Apr 3, In Louisiana a
tornado hit north of Shreveport and 10 people sere reported killed
with some 100 injured.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A2)
1999 Apr 3, Pres. Clinton
authorized $50 million in emergency funds for Kosovo refugees and
urged Americans to make donations.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A11)
1999 Apr 3, A small plane
crashed in a snowstorm San Diego County and 4 people on board were
killed.
(SFC, 4/5/99, p.A5)
1999 Apr 3, NATO missiles
struck downtown Belgrade for the first time, destroying the
headquarters of security forces accused of waging a campaign against
Kosovo Albanians. NATO bombs struck the Serbian Internal Ministry
buildings near the Sava River.
(SFC, 4/3/99, p.A1)(AP, 4/3/00)
1999 Apr 3, Melaim Bellanica, a
villager from Velike Krusa, handed to international media a
5-day-old, smuggled video clip of Serb atrocities from his home.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A12)
1999 Apr 3, Montenegro
announced that over 31,000 Kosovar Albanians had entered the country
since NATO assaults began and that it was facing a humanitarian
catastrophe.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 3, Macedonia,
overwhelmed by some 70,000 Kosovar Albanians, declared that it won't
accept any more refugees unless they are sent on to other European
countries.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 3, Montenegro
announced that over 31,000 Kosovar Albanians had entered the country
since NATO assaults began and that it was facing a humanitarian
catastrophe.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 3, It was reported
that North Korea would run out of food this month and that some 2
million people would be packed off to the countryside to farm in the
4th year of famine.
(SFC, 4/3/99, p.A3)
1999 Apr 3, Lionel Bart, born
as Lionel Beglieter, died at age 68 in London. He wrote and composed
the 1960 musical "Oliver" based on the Dickens novel "Oliver Twist."
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.B12)
1999 Apr 3, In Sri Lanka 15
rebels were killed at Janakapurna village and 4 soldiers were killed
by a land mine in Tanmakeny village. 5 other rebels were killed in
the north.
(SFC, 4/5/99, p.A9)
2000 Apr 3, In Indianapolis
Michigan State beat the Florida Gators for the NCAA basketball
championship, 89-to-76.
(WSJ, 4/5/00, p.A24)(AP, 4/3/01)
2000 Apr 3, Judge Thomas
Penfield Jackson ruled that Microsoft violated the Sherman Act by
tying its Internet browser to its operating system, and by keeping
“an oppressive thumb” on competitors during the race to link
Americans to the Internet.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A1)(AP, 4/3/01)
2000 Apr 3, The US granted
visas to the immediate family of Elian Gonzalez along with a cousin,
doctor, and teacher. 22 other visas were under review.
(WSJ, 4/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, US defense chief
Cohen said that the US would join an int’l. force in south Lebanon
when Israel pulls out.
(WSJ, 4/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, A regional director
of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that graduate students
who work as teaching and research assistants at New York Univ. may
organize a union.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A3)
2000 Apr 3, The Nasdaq plunged
349 points while the Dow rose 300.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, In Massachusetts
the nation’s most comprehensive gun safety laws went into effect.
(SFC, 4/3/00, p.A11)
2000 Apr 3, It was reported
that 6 prestigious int’l. universities and cultural institutions
planned to sell knowledge and education over the Internet via the
Fathom Web site.
(SFC, 4/3/00, p.A5)
2000 Apr 3, In Bosnia NATO
troops arrested Momcilo Krajisnik, former speaker of the Bosnian
Serb assembly, for war crimes and flew him to the Netherlands to
stand trial.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A10)
2000 Apr 3, In Colombia leftist
rebels of the national Liberation Army kidnapped 23 motorists in
northern Cesar state after calling for a transportation strike.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A12)
2000 Apr 3, Jean Dominique
(69), radio journalist, was killed by 2 gunmen as he drove in for a
morning newscast in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In 2004 Jonathan Demme
debuted his documentary film "The Agronomist," a paean to Dominique.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A12)(WSJ, 1/29/02, p.A1)(SFC,
4/30/04, p.E6)
2000 Apr 3, In Madagascar a
cyclone left 2 people dead and nearly flattened the town of
Antalaha.
(WSJ, 4/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, In Russia 2
cosmonauts were scheduled to lift off for the Mir space station.
(WSJ, 4/3/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, Turkish warplanes
struck Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A12)
2001 Apr 3, President Bush
warned China it risked damaging relations with the United States
unless it quickly released the American crew of a damaged Navy spy
plane. The plane had made an emergency landing in China after
colliding with a Chinese fighter.
(AP, 4/3/02)
2001 Apr 3, The DJIA fell 292
to 9,485. The Nasdaq fell almost 110 to 1,673.
(SFC, 4/4/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 3, US agents seized
over 7 tons of marijuana from a tractor-trailer at the Tijuana
border. It was believed to be the largest seizure along the
US-Mexican border and was valued at $12.1 million.
(SFC, 4/5/01, p.A4)
2001 Apr 3, A US fishing boat,
the Arctic Rose out of Seattle, sank in the Bering Sea and all 15
aboard were feared dead.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 3, Israel fired
rockets at 4 Gaza Strip targets after a 10-year-old boy was injured
in a mortar assault on a Jewish settlement.
(SFC, 4/4/01, p.A10)
2001 Apr 3, In Russia Pres.
Putin in his state-of-the-nation address promised a government-wide
shakeup to reverse capital flight and sustain new economic growth.
(SFC, 4/4/01, p.A11)(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 3, In Russia the NTV
leadership was ousted by Gazprom, a large stake holder. Protesting
journalists barred access to the Ostankino studios.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 3, Sri Lanka agreed to
open peace talks with Tamil rebels following diplomatic initiative
by Norway.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A1)
2002 Apr 3, Cincinnati, Ohio,
agreed to restrictions on the use of force and announced plans to
establish an independent agency to investigate police brutality
complaints.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A4)
2002 Apr 3, Roy Huggins,
novelists, TV writer and producer, died at age 87. His shows
included “Cheyenne,” “The Fugitive” and “The Rockford Files.”
(SFC, 4/15/02, p.B5)
2002 Apr 3, The US-financed
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty began broadcasting in the North
Caucasus region that included Chechnya. The Kremlin viewed the
broadcasts as interference with internal affairs.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A6)
2002 Apr 3, Afghan security
officials reported the arrests of hundreds of political opponents
who planned a conspiracy and bombing campaign that was linked to
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. 140 men were released the next day, while 160
remained under detention.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A8)(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A9)
2002 Apr 3, In Argentina
Domingo Cavallo, former economy minister (1991-1996), was arrested
for illegal arms sales to Croatia and Ecuador in the 1990s,
diverting 6,500 tons of weapons worth over $100 million. He was
indicted Apr 10 for “aggravated contraband.”
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A7)(SFC, 4/11/02, p.A10)
2002 Apr 3, In Ambon,
Indonesia, a car bomb killed 4 people and wounded 43.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A8)
2002 Apr 3, Israeli tanks
entered the West Bank cities of Jenin, Salfeet and Nablus. At least
1 Israeli soldier and 12 Palestinians were killed. Gunners from
Lebanon’s Hezbollah exchanged artillery and mortar fire with Israeli
troops. Scores of Palestinian gunmen were holed up in the Church of
the Nativity in Bethlehem. The Egyptian government announced a
cutoff of official contacts with Israel. Syria shifted 20,000 troops
in Lebanon toward the Lebanese-Syrian border reportedly in accord
with the 1989 Taif agreement.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A1)(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A1,13)(WSJ,
4/4/02, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/7/02, p.A4)
2002 Apr 3, Pakistan’s Gen.
Musharraf visited Afghanistan and presented Hamid Karzai with a $10
million donation.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A8)
2003 Apr 3, Moving with a sense
of wartime urgency, the House and Senate separately agreed to give
President Bush nearly $80 billion to carry out the battle against
Iraq and meet the threat of terrorism.
(AP, 4/3/04)
2003 Apr 3, In the 16th day of
Operation Iraqi Freedom US Marines and infantry moved with
surprising speed toward Baghdad. Central Command said there was
"increasing evidence" that Saddam Hussein's regime had lost control
of its fighting forces. US troop casualty totaled: 51 dead, 16
missing and 7 captured. A power blackout in Baghdad coincided with
heavy artillery fire. US forces attacked Saddam Int'l. Airport.
(AP, 4/3/03)(SFC, 4/4/03, p.W1)(SSFC, 5/4/03,
p.C3)
2003 Apr 3, A car exploded at a
US checkpoint in western Iraq, killing three coalition soldiers, a
pregnant woman and the car's driver. Atlantic magazine editor
Michael Kelly, 46, became the first American journalist to be killed
while covering the Iraq war when his Army Humvee came under fire and
rolled into a canal.
(AP, 4/4/03)(AP, 4/3/08)
2003 Apr 3, US Sec. of State
Colin Powell assured NATO allies and the EU that the Bush
administration seeks a partnership with the United Nations for the
reconstruction of post-war Iraq.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, The International
Monetary Fund warned that the US housing market, after two years of
record sales over and strong increases in home prices, could be
headed for a fall.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, It was reported
that Alzheimer's symptoms were slowed by the drug memantine.
(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 3, Afghan militia
soldiers and 2-day blistering airstrikes by US-led coalition planes
killed eight suspected Taliban fighters in the southern mountains.
(AP, 4/4/03)
2003 Apr 3, In Chechnya a bus
was blown apart by a remote-controlled mine, killing at least six
people.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, The Colombia
government said it is handing over about 14,000 acres of farmland
seized from drug traffickers to poor farmers, marking Pres. Alvaro
Uribe's first effort at agrarian reform. Efforts to cancel the
property rights of drug traffickers were to be stepped up along with
the transfer of some 750,000 acres of their property to peasants.
(AP, 4/3/03)(WSJ, 4/4/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 3, Cuban security
forces arrested the hijackers of a passenger ferry, rescuing nearly
50 hostages.
(AP, 4/3/04)
2003 Apr 3, French air traffic
controllers, postal workers and other public employees brought much
of the country to a halt with a one-day strike over government plans
to overhaul the pension system.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroder said he hoped for a quick victory by US and British
forces in Iraq.
(WSJ, 4/4/03, p.A7)
2003 Apr 3, Haiti's government
officially sanctioned voodoo as a religion, allowing practitioners
to begin performing ceremonies from baptisms to marriages with legal
authority.
(AP, 4/10/03)(AP, 2/11/04)
2003 Apr 3, A car exploded at a
US checkpoint in western Iraq, killing 3 coalition soldiers, a
pregnant woman and the car's driver. Banditry and plundering were
reported across the countryside. Atlantic magazine editor Michael
Kelly (46), became the first American journalist to be killed while
covering the war when his Army Humvee came under fire and rolled
into a canal.
(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.A1)(AP, 4/4/03)(AP, 4/3/08)
2003 Apr 3, In northeastern
Congo 966 people were killed in attacks by armed militants on
villages in Ituri province. UN investigators later discovered some
20 mass graves in the region.
(AP, 4/6/03)
2003 Apr 3, Israeli forces
evicted some 1,500-3,000 Palestinian men from their homes in the
Tulkarem Refugee Camp and told them to stay out for 3 days. Several
Palestinians were killed in Gaza and West Bank raids.
(SFC, 4/4/03, p.A8)(WSJ, 4/4/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 3, Ivory Coast's
insurgents ended their boycott of a new unity government and urged
the international community to help make it work.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, Peru's Congress
voted to create a Senate and return to a bicameral legislature, a
decade after former Pres. Fujimori shut down the two houses in his
so-called self coup.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, Serbia and
Montenegro became a member of the Council of Europe.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, In Spain a female
doctor described as mentally unbalanced stabbed several people at a
Madrid hospital, killing a colleague and a patient and wounding six
others.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, Venezuela’s
government fired 828 more employees from Petroleos de Venezuela
(PDVSA), the state oil monopoly, for participating in a two-month
strike to oust Pres. Chavez. PDVSA lost many of its most experienced
and best-qualified employees.
(AP, 4/4/03)(Econ, 8/12/06, p.56)
2004 Apr 3, Soccer player
Freddy Adu (14), became the youngest athlete in a major American
professional sport in well over a century as he entered a game
between his team, D.C. United, and the San Jose Earthquakes (D.C.
United won, 2-1).
(AP, 4/3/05)
2004 Apr 3, The US Postal
Service unveiled a new John Wayne commemorative postage stamp for
its annual "Legends of Hollywood" issue at a private fund-raiser.
(AP, 4/5/04)
2004 Apr 3, Hundreds of
thousands of Germans protested against Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder's unpopular drive to trim the welfare state.
(AP, 4/3/04)
2004 Apr 3, A U.S.-led
multinational force trying to bring stability to Haiti helped detain
Jean Robert, a rebel sympathizer and gang leader accused of
terrorizing supporters of Aristide.
(AP, 4/9/04)
2004 Apr 3, In Iraq 2 attacks
on Iraqi police south of Baghdad killed four people. Col. Wissam
Hussein, the police chief of Mahmudiyah, was shot to death by gunmen
dressed as police.
(AP, 4/3/04)(SSFC, 4/4/04, p.A3)
2004 Apr 3, Israeli troops
arrested 23 wanted Palestinians early in a large-scale raid in the
West Bank city of Nablus. Zohair Arda, a Palestinian gunman, broke
into an Israeli settlement early, killing an Israeli man and
wounding his 12-year-old daughter in their home. Israeli troops
entered the Tulkarem refugee camp overnight and demolished the home
of Arda (18), who was shot dead during the attack.
(AP, 4/3/04)(AP, 4/4/04)
2004 Apr 3, Slovaks voted for a
new president. Former authoritarian PM Meciar led after the first
round of Slovakia's presidential election. Low turnout set up an Apr
17 runoff against a former political ally.
(AP, 4/4/04)(WSJ, 4/5/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 3, In Spain Sarhane
Abdelmajid Fakhet (35), a Tunisian national and the alleged
ringleader of last month's train bombings in Madrid, was among 5
suspects who blew themselves up as police raided their apartment.
(AP, 4/4/04)(SFC, 4/5/04, p.A3)(WSJ, 4/6/04,
p.A1)
2005 Apr 3, Daylight Savings
Time (DST) began on this 1st Sunday in April.
(SFC, 4/2/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 3, In Arizona
Minuteman anti-immigrant activists began showing up to guard the
border against illegal crossings. Grupo Beta, a Mexican
government-sponsored organization that tries to discourage people
from crossing illegally and aids those stranded in the desert, began
patrolling that area along with state police officers.
(AP, 4/6/05)
2005 Apr 3, Residents in
China’s Zhejiang province clashed with police officers and workers
sent in to quell their protests over pollution from chemical
factories. As many as 60 cars were destroyed and some people were
reported killed.
(SSFC, 10/2/05,
p.C1)(www.christusrex.org/www1/news/nyt-4-14-05b.html)
2005 Apr 3, Iraqi lawmakers
elected Sunni Arab Hachem Hassani as parliament speaker and Shiite
and Kurdish leaders as his deputies, ending days of deadlock.
(AP, 4/3/05)(WSJ, 4/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 3, In eastern Pakistan
hundreds of Islamic radicals protesting against the participation of
women in a road race hurled stones and bricks at competitors, and
clashed with police, leaving at least 18 people injured.
(AP, 4/3/05)
2005 Apr 3, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas announced plans for a jobs program aimed at militants.
(SFC, 4/12/05, p.A6)(http://tinyurl.com/6ldnx)
2005 Apr 3, In central Saudi
Arabia a gun battle began that left 7 suspected al-Qaida militants
killed in a shootout with Saudi security forces in ar-Rass.
(AP, 4/4/05)
2005 Apr 3, In southern
Thailand 2 near-simultaneous bombs exploded, including one at the
airport in Hat Yai city killing one person and wounding a dozen.
(AFP, 4/3/05)
2005 Apr 3, A day after the
death of Pope John Paul II, the body of the pontiff lay in state.
Millions prayed and wept at services across the globe, as the
Vatican prepared for the ritual-filled funeral and conclave that
would choose a successor.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, The Pentagon
released 2,733 pages of declassified transcripts of Guantanamo Bay
detainee hearings.
(SFC, 4/4/06, p.A4)
2006 Apr 3, In Boston a 10-ton
construction platform collapsed and fell 13 stories killing 3 people
on Boylston St.
(SFC, 4/4/06, p.A3)
2006 Apr 3, Denver area transit
workers went on strike for the 1st time in 24 years. A tentative
contract was reached on April 5.
(SFC, 4/4/06, p.A3)(SFC, 4/6/06, p.A18)
2006 Apr 3, David Wittig,
former chairman and CEO of Westar Energy, was sentenced in Kansas to
18 years in prison for defrauding the company. Former VP David Lake
was sentenced to 15 years. Both men were ordered to pay fines of $5
million each.
(WSJ, 4/4/06, p.C3)
2006 Apr 3, Florida beat UCLA,
73-57, to win its first NCAA title in men's basketball.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2006 Apr 3, Charles Barkley,
Dominique Wilkins and Joe Dumars were among six people elected to
the Basketball Hall of Fame.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2006 Apr 3, Constellation
Brands and Vincor Int’l., Canada’s largest wine company announced
plans for a $1.3 billion merger.
(SFC, 4/6/06, p.F2)
2006 Apr 3, Australia agreed to
sell China uranium for nuclear power stations despite concerns that
Beijing could divert the material to atomic weapons.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Czech officials
declared a state of emergency in seven flood-hit regions while
rivers continued to rise in neighboring European countries, forcing
evacuations in some areas. Flooding was also reported in Germany,
Poland, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, The National Bank
of Greece paid $2.8 billion for 46% of Finansbank, Turkey’s 3rd
largest bank. It planned a public offer for a controlling stake.
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.74)
2006 Apr 3, In western
Guatemala 4 young men accused of trying to rob a school were whipped
by their parents in a sentence dictated by Mayan elders.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, A suicide truck
bomb exploded near a Shiite mosque in northeastern Baghdad as
worshippers were leaving after evening prayers, killing at least 10
people and wounding 30. A car bombing in Baghdad's eastern Shiite
slum of Sadr City killed at least two civilians and wounded six
others, including a 9-year-old boy. 4 people were wounded when a car
bomb struck the central district of Karradah in Baghdad. Six people,
a navy officer, two policemen, two workers at an electrical plant
and a boy, were killed by drive-by shooters in a market area of the
southern city of Basra.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, PM Bertie Ahern
pledged that Ireland will legalize civil partnerships for gay
couples, as he opened new offices for the country's main gay rights
group.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, In Jordan a bomb
exploded at a shop selling Iraqi scrap metal, killing two people and
wounding four.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Dozens of Mexican
newspapers, frustrated by fruitless police probes of slain and
missing journalists, simultaneously published the first in a series
of reports on the cases.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Morocco’s state
news agency MAP said security forces were holding nine suspected al
Qaeda activists. Local newspapers said they were part of a ring that
plotted bomb attacks in France, Italy and Morocco.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, The chief of
Nepal's communist rebels promised to suspend attacks on the capital
ahead of a planned nationwide strike, a first sign of easing
tensions in a battle of nerves between the king's government and its
opponents.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, In Pakistan a
roadside bomb killed five people riding a minibus and security
forces shot dead two suspected militants in North Waziristan
province.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Negotiations in
Vienna on the future of Kosovo appeared to founder as UN mediators
struggled to overcome Serb demands for autonomy within the majority
Albanian territory.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Former Liberian
President Charles Taylor pleaded not guilty before an international
war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, denying he'd helped destabilize
West Africa through killings, sexual slavery and sending children
into combat.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2006 Apr 3, A senior South
African policeman went on a shooting rampage in Johannesburg,
killing eight people, including a 2-year-old baby, before being shot
dead by colleagues. A pedestrian was killed during a police chase of
the suspect.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 3, Jan Egeland, the
U.N.'s top humanitarian official in Sudan, said the government
barred him from visiting Darfur to prevent him seeing poor
conditions there.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Mohammed al-Maghout
(72), a Syrian poet and playwright known for his satirical
depictions of authoritarian Arab regimes, died of a stroke at his
home in Damascus.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, PM Thaksin claimed
victory in Thailand's general election that followed weeks of
anti-government protests, saying his party won more than half of the
popular vote, the threshold he had set for staying in office.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Venezuela seized
control of oil fields from France's Total SA and Italy's Eni SPA in
a show of force against those resisting President Hugo Chavez's
efforts to pry more profits from the industry at a time of high oil
prices.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 3, Dao Dinh Binh (61)
Vietnam's transport minister resigned and his deputy was arrested in
a major corruption scandal in which public officials embezzled
millions of dollars in government funds. The reformist newspapers
Thanh Nien (Young people) and Tuoi Tre (Youth Daily) had published a
joint expose of the transport ministry’s road building unit. In 2009
the government refused to renew the contracts for the papers.
(AFP, 4/4/06)(Econ, 1/17/09, p.43)
2007 Apr 3, President Bush
denounced Democrats for going on spring break without approving
money for the Iraq war; he also criticized House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi's trip to Syria.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, An AP investigation
said CIA and FBI agents hunting for al-Qaida militants in the Horn
of Africa have been interrogating terrorism suspects from 19
countries held at secret prisons in Ethiopia, which is notorious for
torture and abuse.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, An ex-con shot and
killed his ex-girlfriend at the CNN headquarters complex in Atlanta
before being wounded by a security guard. Arthur Mann was later
convicted of murdering Clara Riddles and sentenced to life without
parole.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, After a nine-year
title drought, Tennessee's Lady Vols basketball team captured a
seventh national title, beating Rutgers 59-46.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, Eddie Robinson
(b.1919), 56-year head football coach at Grambling College, died in
Ruston, La.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Robinson_(football_coach))
2007 Apr 3, UN officials in
Afghanistan said avalanches and floods triggered by heavy rains and
spring snow melt have killed about 150 people in recent days in the
mountains of central Asia. The toll in Afghanistan reached 88 with
over 50 killed in Pakistan. In southwest Afghanistan 2 French aid
workers and their three Afghan staff went missing between Nimroz and
neighboring Farah province.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, A state news agency
said China's government has ordered newspapers to stamp out the
common practice of demanding money from people they cover.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Colombian
authorities captured Ever Veloza, a fugitive right-wing warlord
accused in massacres and of running a murderous criminal band
involved in drug trafficking and extortion. He was arrested in the
banana-growing Uraba region on the Caribbean coast. Veloza already
faces charges in the April 11, 2001, massacre of 26 peasants in the
southwestern town of Naya.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Interpol issued an
international arrest warrant for three Israelis accused of training
private armies of Colombian drug cartels and right-wing death
squads. Yair Klein, Melnik Ferri and Tzedaka Abraham were being
sought on charges of criminal conspiracy and instruction in
terrorism.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Official figures
said the number of Egyptians inside and outside the country has
risen to more than 76 million, meaning an Egyptian baby is born
every 23 seconds.
(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, A French train with
a 25,000-horsepower engine and special wheels broke the world speed
record for conventional rail trains, reaching 357.2 mph as it zipped
through the countryside to the applause of spectators. It surpassed
the record of 320.2 mph set in 1990 by another French train. It fell
short of beating the ultimate record set by Japan's magnetically
levitated train, which hit 361 mph in 2003.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Nina Wang (69),
Asia's richest woman, died in Hong Kong after reports she had been
battling cancer, leaving unanswered questions over her estimated
$4.2 billion (2.1 billion pound) fortune. Wang successfully battled
her father-in-law for a multi-billion dollar estate left by her late
husband Teddy Wang, a property tycoon who vanished in 1990. Wang
left her $4 billion fortune to Chan Chun-chuen, a master of feng
shui in a will dated Oct. 16, 2006. On Feb 2, 2010, a Hong Kong
court deemed the will a forgery.
(Reuters, 4/4/07)(AP, 4/20/07)(Econ, 4/21/07,
p.78)(AP, 2/2/10)
2007 Apr 3, Activists said
traffickers are selling children in India for amounts that are often
lower than the cost of animals and most of them end up working as
laborers or commercial sex workers.
(Reuters, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told a meeting of Islamic clerics
that Muslim nations should ultimately replace coalition forces in
Iraq after a period of national reconciliation. Cliff Muntu (21), a
student at Indonesia’s Institute of Public Administration (IPDN),
died from wounds due to hazing by his seniors. This was the 35th
death in the school since 1993.
(AP,
4/3/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Muntu)(Econ, 4/21/07,
p.49)
2007 Apr 3, Iran reported that
an Iranian diplomat in Iraq seized two months ago by uniformed
gunmen has been released.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In Baghdad a senior
foreign ministry official said his government was "intensively"
seeking the release of five Iranians detained there by the US. Two
US soldiers were killed by small-arms fire, one in eastern Baghdad
and another on foot patrol in the southern outskirts of the capital.
Iraqi and US troops found a huge stash of weapons in a raid on the
home of Sunni legislator Khalaf al-Ilyan. They detained at least a
dozen men for questioning. Khalaf al-Ilyan, in Jordan for surgery,
later denied the charges and accused the Iraqi government and Iran
of trying to discredit him because of his criticism of state
policies.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/6/07)(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 3, Japan and Thailand
signed a free trade agreement that will cut tariffs on a wide range
of traded goods, from seafood to automobiles.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Nigerian Vice
President Atiku Abubakar lost an appeal against a decision by the
electoral commission to bar him from this month's presidential
election. Two courts issued competing rulings on the
disqualification, setting up a legal showdown just weeks before an
election meant to solidify civilian rule in the country.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Thousands of
flag-waving protesters rallied at Pakistan's Supreme Court to urge
President Pervez Musharraf to step down for controversially
dismissing the country's top judge.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In the Philippines
Pete Amurin, a local election board official in the city of Puerto
Rincesa, capital of Palawan island west of Manila, was shot dead at
close range near his office.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, Qatar's PM Sheik
Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani resigned and the country's emir
appointed the foreign minister as replacement.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Taiwan Presidential
front-runner Ma Ying-jeou pleaded not guilty at his corruption trial
in Taipei, saying that his use of a special municipal fund was in
keeping with government standards. A helicopter crashed into a radio
tower near Kaohsiung and killed 8 crew members.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, Thousands of
Ukrainian protesters streamed into the capital in the most serious
confrontation between the prime minister and the president since the
two men faced off during the Orange Revolution.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In Zimbabwe trucks
of riot police drove through Harare and military helicopters flew
overhead on the first day of a national strike to protest deepening
economic hardships blamed on the government of President Robert
Mugabe. The strike received a cool response from workers worried
about forfeiting vital wages. A UN study said Zimbabwe was Africa's
worst economic performer in 2006.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AFP, 4/3/07)
2008 Apr 3, President Bush won
NATO's endorsement for his plan to build a missile defense system in
Europe over Russian objections. The proposal also advanced with
Czech officials announcing an agreement to install a missile
tracking site for the system in their country. NATO decided not to
put Georgia and Ukraine on track to join the alliance after vehement
Russian opposition, but the alliance pledged that the strategically
important Black Sea nations will become members one day.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, The whistleblowers
who exposed maintenance and inspection problems at Southwest
Airlines told Congress their jobs were threatened and their reports
of noncompliance were ignored for years by their superiors.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Corn prices jumped
to a record $6 a bushel, driven up by an expected supply shortfall
that will only add to Americans' growing grocery bill and further
squeeze struggling ethanol producers.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, ATA Airlines
discontinued all flights and filed for bankruptcy.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, It was reported
that Nikolai Shaposhnikov and Lev Titarchuk had discovered a small
black hole in the Milky Way with the aid of NASA's Rossi X-ray
Timing Explorer satellite. They presented the findings earlier this
week at an American Astronomical Society conference. It was
discovered alongside a normal star in a binary system called XTE
J1650-500, named for its coordinates in the constellation Ara. The
system was discovered in 2001.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Wayne "Frosty
Freeze" Frost (44), a hip-hop pioneer, died. His acrobatic
performance with the legendary Rock Steady Crew in the 1983 movie
"Flashdance" helped set off a worldwide breakdancing craze.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In eastern Kunar
province, a truck supplying fuel to NATO troops hit a roadside bomb
that killed the Afghan driver.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In Chile Yasna
Provoste, Chile’s education minister, was impeached following the
discovery of $560 million shortfall in the ministry for 2004-2006.
(Econ, 5/17/08,
p.48)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasna_Provoste)
2008 Apr 3, Hu Jia, a Buddhist
Chinese dissident outspoken on Tibet and other sensitive topics, was
jailed for three-and-a-half years, a conviction likely to become a
focus of rights campaigns ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
(Reuters, 4/3/08)(WSJ, 4/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 3, Ivan Korade (44), a
retired Croatian army general suspected in a grisly quadruple
murder, died during a shootout with police that also killed one
officer. On April 1 Korade was charged with the March 27 killing of
four people in his village of Velika Veternicka: a 16-year-old boy,
his 62-year-old grandmother and two men, including a former Korade
aide.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Ledra Street, a
main shopping street in Cyprus' divided capital that had come to
symbolize the island's ethnic partition, reopened for the first time
in 44 years, boosting hopes for a renewed drive to reunify Cyprus.
Authorities were forced to close it for nearly two hours following a
dispute over how to police the street.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, French protesters
hurled bottles and stones at riot police who responded with tear gas
during a march by high school students in Paris over teacher job
cuts.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Iraqi troops killed
7 militants and detained 16 in three separate incidents in the Basra
area. A coalition air strike there killed two militants. A parked
car bomb targeting a police patrol in western Baghdad killed at
least one civilian and wounded 10 other people, including three
officers. A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol elsewhere in
the predominantly Sunni Yarmouk neighborhood in the capital, killing
one soldier and wounding three others. The office of Muqtada al-Sadr
called for a "million-strong" turnout for an anti-American
demonstration next week to mark the fifth anniversary of the capture
of Baghdad by invading US troops. A US airman was killed by a
roadside bomb in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/3/08)(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, Alitalia edged
closer to bankruptcy protection after Air France-KLM abruptly broke
off talks to buy the struggling national airline and Alitalia's
chairman of seven months resigned in frustration.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Japanese police
arrested Olatunbosun Ugbogu (22), a Nigerian national serving in the
US Navy, in the March 19 stabbing death of a taxi driver near an
American naval base outside Tokyo. He was handed over to Japanese
authorities just before the arrest under a bilateral security pact.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Kenya’s president
and opposition leader agreed on a cabinet as part of their
power-sharing deal to end violence.
(WSJ, 4/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 3, The UN tribunal in
The Hague, Netherlands, ruled that there was not enough evidence to
convict former Kosovo PM Ramush Haradinaj of murder, torture and
rape of Serbs and non-Albanians during the Kosovo war.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In Sri Lanka
battles along the northern front lines left 21 rebels and five
soldiers dead.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In Suriname a
twin-engine Antonov-AN28, operated by Surinamese carrier Blue Wing
airlines, crashed on approach to an airstrip in the Benzdorp mining
region, near the country's border with French Guiana. All 19 aboard
were killed. Blue Wing, which has operated since 2002, was barred
from landing at European airports in June 2006 after French aviation
officials found safety deficiencies during an inspection of planes.
The airline was removed from the blacklist in 2007 after a
commission said the company had resolved the issues.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In Tibet Wang
Xiangming, the deputy Communist Party secretary of Lhasa, said 800
had been arrested in local violence, while another 280 had
surrendered to take advantage of a police offer of leniency. New
violence broke out in a volatile Tibetan region of western China,
leaving eight people dead. Chinese police opened fire during a
"riot" in a Tibetan populated area of southwest China.
(AP, 4/3/08)(AP, 4/4/08)(AFP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, A group of about
200 Uighur Muslims demonstrated against China before the Olympic
torch ceremony near Istanbul's Blue Mosque, one of Turkey's most
famous tourist destinations.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Zimbabwe's ruling
party geared up for a final battle to keep Robert Mugabe in power,
saying it was ready for a presidential election run-off with
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
(AFP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, President Hugo
Chavez ordered the nationalization of Venezuela's cement industry,
saying his government cannot allow businesses to continue exporting
raw materials needed to help tackle a domestic housing shortage.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2009 Apr 3, US administration
officials said Pres. Obama planned to lift some curbs on travel to
Cuba, including a ban on family travel and remittances to Cuba.
(WSJ, 4/4/09, p.A1)
2009 Apr 3, The regulator of
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released a letter disclosing bonus awards
of more than $210 million through next year to more than 7,600
employees.
(SFC, 4/4/09, p.C1)
2009 Apr 3, Hassan Abu-Jihaad,
a former US Navy sailor, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for
giving details of ship movements in 2001 to operators of a Web site
in London that openly espoused violent jihad against the US.
(SFC, 4/4/09, p.A6)
2009 Apr 3, The Iowa Supreme
Court issued a unanimous ruling finding that the state's same-sex
marriage ban violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian
couples, making Iowa the third state where gay marriage is legal.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, In Binghampton, NY,
Jiverly Wong (41) barricaded the back door of a community center
with his car and then opened fire on a room full of immigrants
taking a citizenship class, killing 13 people before apparently
committing suicide. Officials the next day said the man, believed to
be Vietnamese immigrant, was depressed and angry over losing his job
and about his poor English skills.
(AP, 4/3/09)(AP, 4/4/09)(SSFC, 4/5/09, p.A15)
2009 Apr 3, Australia endorsed
a UN declaration that recognizes indigenous rights, reversing years
of opposition and promising a new era in relations between white
Australians and the nation's impoverished Aborigines. Australia was
one of four nations that voted against the declaration when it was
adopted by the General Assembly in 2007.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, Cambodian and Thai
soldiers traded fire with machine guns and rocket launchers along a
disputed border, killing as many as four people in an escalation of
tensions in a long-standing feud over an 11th century temple.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, NATO began its
2-day 60th anniversary summit in France and Germany.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, In France US Pres.
Obama won enthusiastic support for his new Afghan war strategy from
French Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy, who pledged more police trainers and
civilian aid.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, In Iraq an American
soldier died of noncombat-related causes in Anbar province.
(AP, 4/4/09)
2009 Apr 3, Israeli police
interrogated the country's new hard-line foreign minister for the
2nd straight day in an ongoing bribery investigation that could make
his tenure short-lived. Avigdor Lieberman was questioned for five
hours about an investigation involving suspicions of receiving
bribes, money laundering and breach of trust.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, A Malawi judge
rejected Madonna's request to adopt a second child from Malawi even
though the country's child welfare minister had supported Madonna's
application to raise the 3-year-old girl.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, Malaysian PM Najib
Razak, in his first act after talking office, freed 13 people being
held under a law that allows indefinite detention and lifted a ban
on two opposition newspapers.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, In Mexico Alberto
Rayas Rodriguez (37), the chief homicide detective in western
Jalisco state, was killed while on his way to a government event
when gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on his car.
(AP, 4/5/09)
2009 Apr 3, In Nigeria a source
close to negotiations said Pfizer has agreed to pay $75 million
compensation over a 1996 drug trial that caused the death of 11
children in northern Nigeria. Kano state confirmed the settlement on
May 14.
(AFP, 4/3/09)(AP, 5/14/09)
2009 Apr 3, The Philippines
said it will take needed steps to be stricken from a list of four
nations blacklisted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development as uncooperative tax havens.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, Sri Lankan troops
captured Anandapuram, a key village from the Tamil Tigers, after
heavy fighting that left at least 44 guerrillas dead. Police
commandos killed 13 Tiger rebels in the eastern district of Ampara.
(AFP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, The Swiss central
bank said UBS has transferred its final installment of toxic assets
to a special state aid fund, bringing the total to 38.7 billion
dollars.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, A Thai citizen was
sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of insulting the king and
his family by posting edited photos of the monarchy on the Internet.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, The UN appointed
Richard Goldstone, former chief prosecutor for war crimes in
Yugoslavia and Rwanda, to lead a mission to investigate alleged war
crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
(SFC, 4/4/09, p.A2)
2009 Apr 3, In Venezuela 3 of
the capital’s former police chiefs were sentenced to 30 years in
prison. They were accused without evidence of complicity in the
murder of several supporters of Pres. Chavez, who died during a coup
attempt in 2002.
(Econ, 4/11/09, p.36)
2009 Apr 3, The global diamond
certification body ordered a ban on trade in diamonds from eastern
Zimbabwe over concerns about human rights violations.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2010 Apr 3, In Portland, Maine,
about two dozen women drew a crowd of onlookers when they shed their
shirts and marched downtown to promote what they call
equal-opportunity public toplessness.
(AP, 4/5/10)
2010 Apr 3, Apple Inc. began
selling its much-anticipated iPad, drawing eager customers intent on
being among the first owners of a tablet-style device that the
company is hoping to convince more people they actually need. Some
300,000 iPads were sold the first day.
(AP, 4/3/10)(SFC, 4/6/10, p.D1)
2010 Apr 3, In Los Angeles
Nerse Arthur Galstyan (28), an Armenian national killed, 4 people in
a restaurant following a dispute and escaped the scene.
(SFC, 4/10/10, p.A4)
2010 Apr 3, The upper house of
Afghanistan's parliament backed a decree by President Hamid Karzai
that limits foreigners' role in elections, giving him a victory in a
dispute that has led to a quarrel with the White House.
(Reuters, 4/3/10)
2010 Apr 3, Australia’s PM
Kevin Rudd announced the country’s first population minister, citing
concerns about sustainability as the number of people is tipped to
balloon within decades.
(AFP, 4/3/10)
2010 Apr 3, The 230-meter
(754-ft) Shen Neng I, a bulk coal carrier, was on its way to China
when it ran aground on a shoal off offshore from the Australian city
of Rockhampton. Australian government officials said the stranded
ship was leaking oil into the sea and is in danger of breaking up
and damaging the Great Barrier Reef. The ship was refloated on April
12.
(Reuters, 4/4/10)(AP, 4/12/10)
2010 Apr 3, In Dagestan 3
militants there opened fire on police in a drive-by shooting,
killing one and injuring another.
(AP, 4/3/10)
2010 Apr 3, In Egypt police
arrested Ahmed Mahanna, owner of Dawin publishing, and confiscated
copies of "ElBaradei and the Dream of a Green Revolution," a book
calling for political change and lauding the former head of the UN
nuclear agency, Mohammed ElBaradei.
(AP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 3, Gunmen in Iraqi
military uniforms raided a village outside Baghdad and killed at
least 24 people in an execution-style attack, apparently targeting a
Sunni group that revolted against al-Qaida and helped turn the tide
of the Iraq war.
(AP, 4/3/10)
2010 Apr 3, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon repeatedly criticized Kyrgyzstan for
human rights problems, a strong rebuke to the country once regarded
as former Soviet Central Asia's "island of democracy."
(AP, 4/3/10)
2010 Apr 3, In Mexico 13
members of a family were traveling in a vehicle in an area where the
Defense Department said soldiers were pursing a convoy of gunmen in
the northern state of Tamaulipas. 2 boys were killed by soldiers.
The army later said the family got caught in crossfire during the
confrontation, in which five other members of the family were
wounded. In June Mexico's National Human Rights Commission said
soldiers apparently altered the crime scene to try to blame the
deaths on drug cartel gunmen.
(AP, 6/16/10)
2010 Apr 3, It was reported
that some 4.5 million animals in Mongolia had perished over the last
3 months. A dry summer in 2009 followed by low temperatures and a
heavy snow cover, a phenomenon called the zud, afflicted 19 of the
countries 21 provinces.
(Econ, 4/3/10, p.44)
2010 Apr 3, In Nigeria at least
two people were killed when police fired live rounds to disperse a
group of protesting youths in a suburb of Lagos.
(AFP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 3, Pakistani troops
fought gunbattles and bombed militant hide-outs in a Taliban
stronghold near the Afghan border, leaving six soldiers and 30
militants dead.
(AP, 4/3/10)
2010 Apr 3, In Somalia at least
13 people were killed in overnight fighting in Mogadishu. Hizbul
Islam's Moalim Hashi Mohamed Farah ordered radio stations to stop
broadcasting music and said he has invited foreign fighters to the
Horn of Africa nation.
(AP, 4/3/10)(AP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 3, In South Africa
Eugene Terreblanche (69), the leader of a white supremacist group,
was attacked and killed by a 21-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy
who worked for him on his farm outside Ventersdorp, about 110 km (68
miles) northwest of Johannesburg, following a dispute over pay. The
alleged attackers were arrested and charged with murder.
(AP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 3, In Thailand tens of
thousands of protesters swarmed Bangkok's tourist heartland, defying
a warning to leave or face arrest.
(AFP, 4/3/10)
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