Today in History - April 4
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188 Apr 4,
Caracalla, [Marcus Aurelius Antonius], well-bathed Roman emperor
(211-217), was born.
(MC, 4/4/02)
527 Apr 4, In Constantinople,
Justin, seriously ill, crowned his nephew Justinian as his
co-emperor.
(HN, 4/4/99)
896 Apr 4, Pope Formosus died.
His body was exhumed by his successor in the Cadaver Synod. He was
then put on trial for perjury, found guilty and dumped in the Tiber
River.
(PTA, 1980, p.224)(WSJ, 6/27/01, p.A14)
1406 Apr 4, Robert III, King of
Scotland (1390-1406), died.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1460 Apr 4, University of
Basle, Switzerland, formed.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1541 Apr 4, Ignatius Loyola,
Spanish ecclesiastic, was elected 1st superior-general of the
Jesuits.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(MC, 4/4/02)
1581 Apr 4, Frances Drake
completed the circumnavigation of the world and was made a knight.
(HN, 4/4/98)(MC, 4/4/02)
1604 Apr 4, Thomas Churchyard,
poet, pamphleteer, died.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1617 Apr 4, John Napier,
Scottish mathematician, inventor (logarithms), died.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1655 Apr 4, Battle at Postage
Farina, Tunis: English fleet licked Barbarian pirates.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1664 Apr 4, Adam Willaerts,
Dutch seascape painter, died.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1686 Apr 4, English king James
II published a Declaration of Indulgence.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1687 Apr 4, King James II
ordered his Declaration of Indulgence read in church.
(http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1327117)
1716 Apr 4, John Evangelist
Schreiber, composer, was born.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1752 Apr 4, Niccolo Antonio
Zingarelli, composer (Andromeda), was born.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1774 Apr 4, Oliver Goldsmith,
Irish poet (She Stoops to Conquer), died.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1780 Apr 4, Edward Hicks
(d.1849), Quaker preacher and painter, was born. His work included
over 60 paintings that were all titled “The Peaceable Kingdom.’
(WSJ, 11/16/99, p.A28)(SFC, 9/25/00, p.F1)(HN,
4/4/01)
1788 Apr 4, Last of the
Federalist essays was published. The series of 85 letters were
written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay urging
ratification of the US Constitution. Defects in the Articles of
Confederation became apparent, such as the lack of central authority
over foreign and domestic commerce and the inability of Congress to
levy taxes, leading Congress to endorse a plan to draft a new
constitution.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1792 Apr 4, American
abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens, U.S. Radical Republican congressional
leader, was born in Danville, Vt.
(AP, 4/4/98)(HN, 4/4/98)
1802 Apr 4, Dorothea Dix,
American proponent of treatment of mental inmates, was born.
(HN, 4/4/98)
1806 Apr 4, Friedrich Gottlob
Fleischer (84), composer, died.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1807 Apr 4, Joseph Jerome Le
Francaise de Lalande, French astronomer, died.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1812 Apr 4, The territory of
Orleans became the 18th state and later became known as Louisiana.
(HN, 4/4/99)
1814 Apr 4, Napoleon Bonaparte
first abdicated at Fontainebleau. He was allowed to keep the title
of emperor. [see Apr 11]
(www.napoleonseries.org/reference/political/legislation/restoration.cfm)
1818 Apr 4, Congress decided
the flag of the United States would consist of 13 red and white
stripes and 20 stars, with a new star to be added for every new
state of the Union.
(AP, 4/4/97) (HN, 4/4/98)
1821 Apr 4, Linus Yale,
American portrait painter and inventor of the Yale lock, was born.
(HN, 4/4/01)(MC, 4/4/02)
1823 Apr 4, Karl Wilhelm
Siemens, inventor (laid undersea cables), was born.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1828 Apr 4, Casparus van Wooden
patented chocolate milk powder (Amsterdam).
(MC, 4/4/02)
1832 Apr 4, Charles Darwin
aboard HMS Beagle reached Rio de Janeiro.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1841 Apr 4, President William
Henry Harrison (68), 9th President of the US, succumbed to pneumonia
one month after his inaugural, becoming the first U.S. chief
executive to die in office. VP. Tyler assumed office.
(A&IP, ESM, p.59,96b)(AP, 4/4/97)
1843 Apr 4, Hans Richter,
composer, was born.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1844 Apr 4, Charles Bulfinch
(80), 1st US professional architect (Mass State House), died.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1850 Apr 4,
The city of Los Angeles was incorporated.
(AP, 4/4/97)
1859 Apr 4, Giacomo Meyerbeer's
Opera "Dinorah" was produced in Paris.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1859 Apr 4, Knut Hamsun
(d.1952), Norwegian writer, was born. He won the Nobel Prize in
literature in 1920.
(SFEC, 4/20/97, DB p.47-49)
1862 Apr 4, Battle of Yorktown,
Virginia, began as Union gen. George B. McClellan closed in on
Richmond. This began the Peninsular Campaign aimed at capturing
Richmond.
(HN, 4/4/99)(MC, 4/4/02)
1865 Apr 4, Lee's army arrived
at the Amelia Courthouse.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1884 Apr 4, Isoroku Yamamoto,
Japanese Naval commander, was born. He masterminded the attack on
Pearl Harbor.
(HN, 4/4/99)
1887 Apr 4,
Susanna Medora Salter became the first woman elected mayor of an
American community -- Argonia, Kan.
(AP, 4/4/97)
1896 Apr 4, Arthur Murray,
ballroom dance instructor, was born.
(HN, 4/4/01)
1896 Apr 4, Robert Sherwood,
playwright, was born.
(HN, 4/4/01)
1896 Apr 4, Tristan Tzara,
[Samuel Rosenfeld] French poet (Approximate Man), was born.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1899 Apr 4, Duke Ellington,
bandleader (Take the A Train) , was born.
(HN, 4/4/98)
1900 Apr 4, California pioneer
John Bidwell (b.1819), founder of Chico, Ca. died. In 2003 Michael
Jerome Gillis and Michael Magliari authored “John Bidwell and
California: The Life and Writings of a Pioneer, (1841-1900).”
(SFC, 4/21/07,
p.B5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bidwell)
1900 Apr 4, There was an
assassination attempt on Prince of Wales, King Edward VII.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1906 Apr 4, John Cameron
Swayze, newscaster (Timex, Hindenburg), was born in Wichita, Ks.
(AP, 4/4/06)
1912 Apr 4, A Chinese republic
was proclaimed in Tibet.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1914 Apr 4, Marguerite Duras,
French author (The Lover), was born.
(HN, 4/4/01)
1914 Apr 4, "Perils of Pauline"
was shown for 1st time in LA.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1915 Apr 4, Muddy Waters,
American blues musician, was born as McKinley Morganfield.
(HN, 4/4/01)(MC, 4/4/02)
1916 Apr 4, US Senate agreed
(82-6) to participate in WW I.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1917 Apr 4, U.S. Senate voted
90-6 to enter World War I on Allied side.
(HN, 4/4/98)
1918 Apr 4, Battle of Somme, an
offensive by the British against the German Army ended.
(HN, 4/4/99)
1919 Apr 4, Antony Tudor,
choreographer (Metropolitan Opera 1957), was born in England.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1920 Apr 4, Arabs attacked Jews
in Jerusalem.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1922 Apr 4, Elmer Bernstein,
movie music composer (Robot Monster), was born in NYC.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1924 Apr 4, Eva Marie Saint,
actress (Sandpiper, Loving, Exodus), was born in Newark, NJ.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1928 Apr 4, Maya Angelou,
American poet, was born.
(HN, 4/4/98)
1929 Apr 4, Sigmund Romberg's
"New Moon" musical opened in London.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1931 Apr 4, Andre Michelin, CEO
(Michelin Tires), died.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1931 Apr 4, George Whitefield
Chadwick (76), composer, died.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1932 Apr 4, Anthony Perkins,
actor (Psycho), was born in NYC.
(HN, 4/4/01)(MC, 4/4/02)
1932 Apr 4, George Bernard
Shaw's "Too True to be Good," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1932 Apr 4, Vitamin C was 1st
isolated by C.C. King at the Univ. of Pittsburgh.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1938 Apr 4, Bart Giamatti,
baseball commissioner, president of Yale, was born.
(HN, 4/4/01)
1940 Apr 4, Richard Rodgers'
and Lorenz Hart's "Higher & Higher," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1941 Apr 4, Field Marshal Erwin
Rommel captured the British held town of Benghazi in North Africa.
(HN, 4/4/99)
1944 Apr 4, British troops
captured Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1944 Apr 4, De Gaulle formed a
new regime in exile with communists.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1945 Apr 4,
U.S. forces liberated the Nazi death camp Ohrdruf in Germany.
(AP, 4/4/97)
1945 Apr 4, US tanks and
infantry conquered Bielefeld.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1945 Apr 4,
US troops on Okinawa encountered the first significant resistance
from Japanese forces at the Machinato Line.
(AP, 4/4/07)
1945 Apr 4, Hungary was
liberated from Nazi occupation (National Day).
(MC, 4/4/02)
1947 Apr 4, Scientists noted
the largest group of sunspots on record.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1948 Apr 4, 84-year-old Connie
Mack challenged 78-year-old Clark Griffith to a race from home to
1st base; it ended in a tie.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1949 Apr 4, The (NATO) North
Atlantic Treaty Organization pact was signed by the US, Great
Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy,
Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Canada. It provided for
mutual defense against aggression and for close military
cooperation.
(www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm)(TOH, 1982,
p.1949)
1956 Apr 4, Enid Bagnold's
"Chalk Garden," premiered in London.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1956 Apr 4, Spain relinquished
its protectorate to Morocco.
(EWH, 1968, p.1240)
1957 Apr 4, Heitor Villa-Lobos'
10th Symphony, premiered in Paris.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1958 Apr 4, The 1st march
against nuclear weapons began in London with a 4-day to the Atomic
Weapons Research Establishment close to Aldermaston, England.
(Econ, 8/16/08,
p.56)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldermaston_Marches)
1960 Apr 4, In the 32nd Academy
Awards "Ben-Hur," Charlton Heston and Simone Signoret won.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1968 Apr 4, Civil rights leader
Martin Luther King, 39, was assassinated while standing on the
balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. James Earl Ray
(d.1998) confessed and pleaded guilty in Mar, 1969, but later tried
to recant and said he was a fall guy. In 1993 Lloyd Jowers (d.2000),
a Memphis businessman, said on ABC-TV that he had hired King's
killer as a favor to an underworld figure who was a friend. Jowers
said he received $100,000 from Memphis produce merchant Frank
Liberto to arrange King’s murder. In 1997 Ray identified an arms
smuggler named "Raoul" as the real killer. In 1998 a former FBI
agent produced documents from Ray’s car with the name Raul. In 1999
a civil trial jury in Memphis ruled that the 1968 killing of Rev.
Martin Luther King was a conspiracy. The jury concluded that Lloyd
Jowers, a former café owner, had conspired with elements of
the Memphis Police Dept., the federal government and organized crime
to kill King. In 2000 a Justice Dept. report rejected allegations of
conspiracy. In 2002 Rev. Ronald Denton Wilson (61) said that his
father, Henry Clay Wilson (d.1990), had shot King. In 2003 Stewart
Burns authored "To the Mountaintop: Martin Luther King's Sacred
Mission to Save America."
(SF E&C, 1/15/1995, A-15)(WUD, 1994,
p.1687)(SFC, 12/26/96, p.A3)(AP, 4/4/97)(SFC, 4/7/97, p.A10)(SFC,
3/25/98, p.A3)(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 11/21/99, p.A12)(SFC,
11/23/99, p.A9)(SFC, 12/9/99, p.A1)(SFC, 12/10/99, p.A15)(SFC,
5/24/00, p.C5)(SFC, 6/10/00, p.A3)(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A2)(SSFC, 1/11/04,
p.M1)
1968 Apr 4, Bobby Kennedy spoke
at a black ghetto in Indianapolis just after hearing of the
assassination of Martin Luther King. His speech registered the
enormity of the event and began the work of healing. Riots over the
next few days hit 76 American cities, but Indianapolis remained
quiet.
(Econ, 4/22/06, p.79)
1968 Apr 4, Five days of race
riots erupted in Washington, D.C. following assassination of Martin
Luther King, Jr. Civil unrest affected at least 110 U.S. cities;
Washington, along with Chicago and Baltimore, were among the most
affected.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Washington,_D.C._riots)
1969 Apr 4, In Houston, Texas,
Dr. Denton Cooley implanted the 1st temporary artificial heart.
(www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/health/27docs.html)
1971 Apr 4, "Follies" opened at
Winter Garden Theater in NYC for 524 performances.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1972 Apr 4, In further response
to the North Vietnamese Easter Offensive, US President Nixon
authorized a massive bombing campaign targeting all NVA troops
invading South Vietnam along with B-52 air strikes against North
Vietnam. "The bastards have never been bombed like they're going to
be bombed this time," Nixon privately declares.
(www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1969.html)
1972 Apr 4, Adam Clayton Powell
Jr. (b.1908), American politician, died in Florida. He was elected
to the US House of Representatives from Harlem in 1945 and became
chair of the Education and Labor Committee in 1961. He was the first
black Congressman from New York.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Clayton_Powell_Jr.)
1973 Apr 4, In NYC ribbon
cutting ceremonies were held for World Trade Center, the highest
building in the world. The World Trade Center was completed at a
cost of $350 million. The twin 110-story towers housed 55,000
employees working for 350 firms. In 2000 Aric Darton authored
"Divided We Stand," the story behind the building of the Trade
Center; Angus Kress Gillespie authored "Twin Towers," a cultural
history that also covered the engineering challenges overcome by
architect Minoru Yamasaki.
{NYC, USA, World Record}
(www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/12/dayintech_1223)(WSJ,
1/18/00, p.A24)(SFC, 9/12/01, p.A6)
1974 Apr 4, Hank Aaron of the
Atlanta Braves tied Babe Ruth's home-run record by hitting his 714th
round-tripper in Cincinnati.
(HN, 4/4/98)(AP, 4/4/99)
1974 Apr 4, In England an armed
payroll robbery took place at the London Electricity Board (LEB).
George Davis (b.1941) was arrested for the robbery and his wife,
Rose Davis (d.2009, campaigned for his release. In 1976 the
conviction was overturned as unsafe. In Sep 1977 George was again
arrested for a bank robbery and Rose promptly divorced him. In 2009
she authored “The Wars of Rosie: Hard Knocks, Endurance and the
'George Davis Is Innocent' Campaign.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Davis_(armed_robber))(Econ,
2/14/09, p.98)
1975 Apr 4, The first group of
boat people from Vietnam began arriving in Malaysia. More than 1
million people fled from the close of the war to the early 1980s.
(SFC, 4/17/96, p.A-9)
1975 Apr 4, Some 155 people,
most of them children, were killed when a U.S. Air Force C-5A
transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans as part of “Operation
Babylift” crashed shortly after takeoff from Saigon.144 adults and
76 babies were killed. There were over 170 survivors.
(AP, 4/4/97)(SFC, 4/3/00, p.A8)(MC, 4/4/02)
1977 Apr 4, Egyptian Pres Anwar
Sadat held his 1st meeting with President Jimmy Carter.
(www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/diary/1977/d040477t.pdf)
1979 Apr 4, Bechtel Corp.
announced that it had won a contract to manage construction of a
115-square-mile airport for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The cost was
estimated a $3 billion.
(SFC, 4/2/04, p.F3)
1979 Apr 4, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
(51), the deposed prime minister of Pakistan, was hanged after he
was convicted of conspiring to murder a political opponent.
(AP, 4/4/99)(HN, 4/4/99)
1981 Apr 4,
Henry Cisneros became the first Mexican-American elected mayor of a
major U.S. city -- San Antonio, Texas.
(AP, 4/4/97)
1982 Apr, 4, Dalia Ratnikas was
born at San Francisco General Hospital, after wearing out 3 shifts
of nurses, to Florence Monzasch and Algis Ratnikas.
(EW, 4/4/82)
1983 Apr 4,
The space shuttle Challenger roared into orbit on its maiden voyage
and the first US female into space was Sally Ride.
(TMC, 1994, p.1983)(AP, 4/4/97)
1985 Apr 4, Gary Dotson, who
served six years of a prison sentence for rape, was freed on bail
from the Joliet Correctional Center in Illinois after his accuser,
Cathleen Crowell Webb, testified that the attack had never occurred.
(AP, 4/4/05)
1985 Apr 4, A coup in Sudan
ousted President Nimeiry and replaced him with Gen. Dahab.
(HN, 4/4/99)
1986 Apr 4, In San Francisco an
explosion in the Bayview District leveled nearly 3 square block
injuring at least 21 people and leaving up to 30 missing.
(SSFC, 4/3/11, DB p.46)
1987 Apr 4,
During a visit to Chile, Pope John Paul II denounced torture and
pleaded for reconciliation.
(AP, 4/4/97)
1988 Apr 4, The Arizona Senate
convicted Gov. Evan Mecham of two charges of official misconduct,
and removed him from office. Mecham was the first U.S. governor to
so censured in nearly six decades.
(AP, 4/4/98)
1989 Apr 4, Democrat Richard M.
Daley was elected mayor of Chicago, defeating Republican Edward R.
Vrdolyak and independent Timothy C. Evans.
(AP, 4/4/99)
1990 Apr 4, Secretary of State
James Baker met in Washington with his Soviet counterpart, Eduard
Shevardnadze, for three days of talks on the Lithuanian crisis and
arms control.
(AP, 4/4/00)
1990 Apr 4, Security law
violator Ivan Boesky was released from federal custody.
(http://www3.cnn.com/almanac/9804/04/)
1991 Apr 4, Pennsylvania
Senator John Heinz III, a leading 3-term Republican voice on health
and trade policy, and six other people, including two children, were
killed when a helicopter collided with Heinz’s plane over a
schoolyard in Merion, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Teresa Heinz took his place
as head of the family philanthropies. In 1995 she married Sen. John
Kerry.
(SFC, 9/25/99, p.A21)(AP, 4/4/01)(WSJ, 4/16/04,
p.A1)
1991 Apr 4, Max Frisch
(d.1991), Swiss architect and writer, died. His books included “I’m
Not Stiller” (1958), a look at the nature of identity.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Frisch)(WSJ,
4/25/09, p.W8)
1991 Apr 4, In Benin Nicephore
Soglo (1991-1996) took office as president. He had defeated Mathieu
Kerekou in the country’s first free presidential elections. For the
first time in mainland Africa a leader let himself be ousted
peacefully.
(http://people.africadatabase.org/en/person/3534.html)(Econ,
10/24/09, p.20)
1992 Apr 4,
His campaign acknowledged that Bill Clinton had received an
induction notice in April 1969 while attending college in Oxford,
England; Clinton said the notice arrived after he was due to report,
and that his local draft board had told him he could complete the
school term.
(AP, 4/4/97)
1993 Apr 4, President Clinton
and Russian President Boris Yeltsin wrapped up their two-day summit
in Vancouver, B.C. Clinton extended $1.6 billion in aid; Yeltsin
proclaimed the two countries "partners and future allies."
(AP, 4/4/98)
1993 Apr 4, Alfred Mosher Butts
(b.1899), US architect and inventor of the Scrabble game, died.
(WSJ, 6/28/01, p.B1)(MC, 4/4/02)
1994 Apr 4, The University of
Arkansas won the NCAA basketball championship, defeating Duke 76-72.
(AP, 4/4/99)
1994 Apr 4, On Wall Street,
stocks plummeted in violent spasms of selling that sent the Dow
industrial down more than 40 points to a six-month low.
(AP, 4/4/99)
1994 Apr 4, Jim Clark and Marc
Andreeson founded Mosaic Communications Corp., the predecessor of
Netscape Communications.
(WSJ, 11/25/98, p.B1)
1995 Apr 4, Francisco Martin
Duran, who had raked the White House with semiautomatic rifle fire
in October 1994, was convicted in Washington of trying to
assassinate President Clinton. Duran was later sentenced to 40 years
in prison.
(AP, 4/4/00)
1995 Apr 4, Sen. Alfonse
D'Amato, R-N.Y., used a mock Japanese accent to ridicule O.J.
Simpson trial judge Lance Ito on a nationally syndicated radio
program. He apologized two days later on the Senate floor.
(AP, 4/4/00)
1995 Apr 4, Fierce fighting
continues in Algeria as Muslim revolutionaries struggle against the
military regime in power. It is estimated that over 1,000 people are
being killed per month. France backs the military regime who,
stopped free elections last year when it was clear that the Muslim
fundamentalists were going to win.
(NPR)
1995 Apr 4, It was reported
that Nuclear Matrix Proteins that act as a type of scaffolding for
DNA were being used as markers for cancer. They were also thought to
help turn genes off and on.
(WSJ, 4/4/95, B-1)
1996 Apr 4, President Clinton
signed legislation severing the link between crop prices and
government subsidies.
(AP, 4/4/97)
1996 Apr 4, The former general
manager of Daiwa Bank's New York branch pleaded guilty to aiding a
$1.1 billion cover-up.
(AP, 4/4/97)
1996 Apr 4, US intelligence
indicated that Libya was building a chemical weapons plant at
Tarhunah, 40 miles southeast of Tripoli. The plant was reportedly
designed to replace a plant at Rabta, 55 miles SW of Tripoli, where
Libya insists that only pharmaceuticals are produced.
(SFC, 4/4/96, p.A-3)
1996 Apr 4, X-rays were found
coming from the Hyakutake comet by a teams of US and German
scientists.
(SFC, 4/4/96, p.A-10)
1996 Apr 4, In Afghanistan
Mohammed Omar unsealed a shrine in Kandahar that held a cloak
believed to have belonged to the prophet Mohammed. He placed the
cloak over his shoulders and declared himself the commander of the
faithful and leader of all Islam.
(SFC, 12/7/01, p.A16)
1996 Apr 4, Beijing announced
that it would prosecute 18 former officials for embezzling more than
2.2 billion. The scandal is tied to last year’s firing of Beijing’s
Communist boss.
(WSJ, 4/4/96, A-1)
1996 Apr 4, The Red Cross said
more than 55,000 people have been driven from their homes in Burundi
by ethnic fighting that intensified last month. More than 100,000
have been killed since 1993 in the conflict between majority Hutus
and minority Tutsis.
(WSJ, 4/5/96, p.A-1)
1996 Apr 4, In the capital city
of Antananarivo, Madagascar, thousands of people demonstrated
against the president amid calls for a military coup.
(SFC, 5/5/96, p.T-9)
1996 Apr 4, The average
negotiated wage in Mexico has been 19%, far below the inflation rate
of 27-30% forecast by independent economists. The government just
raised the minimum wage 12% but also implemented a 27% raise in the
cost of tortillas.
(WSJ, 4/4/96, A-10)
1997 Apr 4, It was reported
that US psychologist Edward Larson followed a 1916 procedure by
psychologist James Leuba in a random poll of selected scientists to
inquire if they believed in God. Leuba had predicted that disbelief
would spread as education expanded. Both polls produced similar
results whereby 40% said that they believed in God.
(SFC, 4/4/97, p.A12)
1997 Apr 4, Space shuttle
Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on what was supposed
to have been a 16-day mission. However, a defective power generator
forced the shuttle's return four days later.
(WSJ, 4/9/97, p.A1)(AP, 4/4/98)
1997 Apr 4, In Zaire rebel
forces captured Mbuji-Mayi, capital of Eastern Kasai province and
home of Zaire’s diamond industry. Departing government troops looted
the city and 100 people were killed in clashes between the
retreating soldiers and locals.
(SFC, 4/5/97, p.A8)
1998 Apr 4, During a visit to
Haiti, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged leaders to stop
political infighting that had paralyzed the Caribbean nation for
nearly a year.
(AP, 4/4/99)
1998 Apr 4, A new US toll-free
exchange number, 877, was launched.
(SFC, 3/31/98, p.D1)
1998 Apr 4, Larry Singleton,
rapist and murderer, was sentenced in Florida to death for the 1997
murder of Roxanne Hayes (31). He died in prison of cancer on
December 28, 2001.
(SFC, 1/1/02,
p.A13)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Singleton)
1998 Apr 4, In Georgia two
small planes collided over Marietta and at least 5 people were
killed.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 4, In Ethiopia a
locust plague was reported covering an area of 3,700 acres in the
regions of Jijiga and Dire Dawa. Aerial spraying was begun.
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A7)
1998 Apr 4, North Korea
proposed that officials at the deputy minister level meet in Beijing
for talks. South Korea accepted the following day to reopen talks on
economic aid and other issues.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 4, In the Ukraine a
gas explosion at the Skochinsky coal mine outside Donetsk killed 63
men.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.A20)(AP, 4/4/08)
1998 Apr 4-20, Richard Butler,
chief arms inspector in Iraq, refused to certify the Iraq’s weapons
of mass destruction have been destroyed.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1999 Apr 4, The Colorado
Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 8-2 in baseball's first season
opener held in Mexico.
(AP, 4/4/00)
1999 Apr 4, NATO dropped more
bombs on downtown Belgrade and said that it would send some 8,000
troops into Albania to help Kosovo refugees. The Freedom Bridge over
the Danube at Novi Sad was destroyed. The US announced that it would
send 24 Apache helicopter gunships to attack Serbian troops and
tanks in Kosovo. Some 30,000 refugees crossed into Albania in the
last 24-hour period. Shipping on the Danube was not fully restored
until 2002.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A1,12)(SFC, 4/5/99,
p.A1,10)(SSFC, 2/3/02, Par p.7)
1999 Apr 4, Bexhet Ahmeti
witnessed Serb militiamen shoot and burn 5 Kosovars.
(SFC, 4/21/99, p.A10)
1999 cApr 4, In Kyrgyzstan
Prime Minister Zhumabek Ibraimov (50) died following recent surgery
in Russia.
(WSJ, 4/5/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 4, In Malaysia Azizah
Ismail, the wife of Anwar Ibrahim, announced the formation of the
People’s Justice Party (PKR) and called on opposition forces to
topple Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
(SFC, 4/5/99, p.A9)(Econ, 12/4/10, p.54)
1999 Apr 4, Guido De Marco
(1931-2010) began serving as president of Malta and continued to
2004. He helped the island nation win European Union membership in
2004.
(AP,
8/13/10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_de_Marco)
2000 Apr 4, Ha Jin, Prof. of
English at Emory Univ. won the PEN/Faulkner Prize for His novel
“Waiting.” Jin had arrived in the US from China in 1985.
(SFC, 4/5/00, p.C3)
2000 Apr 4, In a volatile day
on the US stock market, the Nasdaq composite index and the DJIA each
plunged 554 points before but recovered with a loss of 74.79 as
buyers flooded back into the market. The Dow fell 504 but recovered
with a net loss of 57.
(SFC, 4/5/00, p.A13)(AP, 4/4/01)
2000 Apr 4, In India 532 rebels
of the United Liberation Front of Assam turned in their weapons and
gave up their struggle for independence. Some 2000 fighters still
remained in the jungles of Assam. Over 5,000 people had been killed
in the front’s campaign since 1979.
(SFC, 4/5/00, p.A11)
2000 Apr 4, In Iraq US and
British warplanes bombed military sites in the south and Iraqi news
reported 2 civilians killed and 2 wounded.
(SFC, 4/5/00, p.A11)
2000 Apr 4, In Japan the
cabinet resigned and allowed the Parliament to elect Yoshiro Mori as
the new Prime Minister. The former trade minister was elected as
president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party earlier the same
day.
(SFC, 4/5/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 4, In Pakistan Arif
Khan (45), the governor of Kunduz province in Afghanistan, was shot
and killed along with his bodyguard by 2 gunmen in Peshawar.
(SFC, 4/5/00, p.A11)
2001 Apr 4, Hideo Nomo became
the fourth pitcher in major league history to throw a no-hitter in
both leagues with Boston's 3-to-0 victory over Baltimore. Nomo, who
threw a no-hitter for Los Angeles in 1996, joined Cy Young, Jim
Bunning and Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers with no-hitters in both
leagues.
(AP, 4/4/02)
2001 Apr 4, US diplomats met
with 24 US crew members held by the Chinese military on Hainan
island. Colin Powell issued a statement of regret over the loss of
the Chinese pilot involved in the incident. Powell also sent a
letter to China’s chief foreign policy official outlining ways of
settlement.
(SFC, 4/4/01, p.A1)(SFC, 4/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 4, The US Pentagon
reportedly destroyed its last canister of napalm, a jellied gasoline
used extensively during the Vietnam war. It was developed in 1942 by
Harvard and Army chemists who combined naphthene and palmitate. It
was made by Dow Chemical from 1965-1969.
(SFC, 4/4/01, p.A3)
2001 Apr 4, Myriad Genetics
announced a plan, with partners Oracle and Hitachi, to map out how
human proteins interact.
(WSJ, 4/5/01, p.B1)
2001 Apr 4, Chinese President
Jiang Zemin demanded the United States apologize for the collision
between a U.S. Navy spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet; the Bush
administration offered a chorus of regrets, but no apology.
(AP, 4/4/02)
2001 Apr 4, In Israel an
armored personnel carrier accidentally overturned in the West Bank
and 5 soldiers were killed.
(SFC, 4/5/01, p.A11)
2001 Apr 4, In Sudan Col.
Ibrahim Shamsul-Din, deputy defense minister, and 13 other high
ranking military officers were killed as their Antonov plane crashed
on takeoff in Adaril.
(SFC, 4/5/01, p.A11)
2002 Apr 4, Pres. Bush demanded
that Israel withdraw from West Bank cities and end settlement
activity in occupied territories. He dismissed Yasser Arafat as a
failed leader who had "betrayed the hopes of his people." Bush
ordered Sec. of State Colin Powell to the region to seek a
cease-fire.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A1,14)(AP, 4/4/03)
2002 Apr 4, Pres. Bush
responded to British TV journalist Trevor McDonald’s question “Have
you made up your mind that Iraq must be attacked?” by saying: “I
made up my mind that Hussein needs to go.”
(SFC, 6/15/02, p.A13)
2002 Apr 4, Yasser Esam Hamdi
(22), a prisoner in Cuba, was reported to be a US citizen born in
Louisiana. Hamdi was transferred to a jail in Virginia Apr 5. In
2004 Hamdi, held without charge since his 2001 capture, gave up his
US citizenship and was released to Saudi Arabia.
(WSJ, 4/5/02, p.A1)(SFC, 4/6/02, p.A3)(WSJ,
9/23/04, p.A1)
2002 Apr 4, Two teen-agers were
sentenced to long prison terms in the stabbing deaths of Dartmouth
College professors Half and Susanne Zantop. Robert Tulloch pleaded
guilty to murder and received the mandatory sentence of life without
parole; James Parker was sentenced to 25 years to life as an
accomplice to murder.
(AP, 4/4/03)
2002 Apr 4, Draft rice-genome
maps were published by scientists from China and Switzerland’s
Syngenta.
(WSJ, 4/5/02, p.A1)
2002 Apr 4, Afghan officials
reported that poppy farmers would be offered $500 per acre to
destroy their crops. Refusal would still result in crop destruction.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A8)
2002 Apr 4, The Angola
government and Unita signed a cease-fire agreement.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A11)
2002 Apr 4, It was reported
that Saddam Hussein of Iraq had raised financial payments to the
relatives of suicide bombers from $10k to $25k.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A10)
2002 Apr 4, Israeli officials
made public 2 documents signed by Arafat that authorized payments to
Palestinian militants wanted for attacks on Israel.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A15)
2002 Apr 4, Israel continued
for a 7th-day its offensive titled Operation Defensive Shield. Tanks
entered Hebron house-to-house fighting with Palestinian gunmen in
the Jenin refugee camp. 3 Israeli soldiers were killed. Guerrilla
fighters fired 9 rockets into Israel.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A16)
2002 Apr 4, The UN released
$995 million in compensation to Kuwait for Iraq’s 1990 invasion.
Most went to 1,058 individuals. Saudi Arabia received $82.6 million
and Jordan got $44.9.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A12)
2003 Apr 4, Pres. Bush issued
an executive order giving federal health officials power to
quarantine anyone suspected of being infected with SARS. The disease
had spread to 17 countries killing at least 90 people and infected
some 2,300.
(SFC, 4/5/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/6/03, p.A9)
2003 Apr 4, On the 17th day of
Operation Iraqi Freedom thousands of Iraqis fled Baghdad as US
forces seized the international airport to the west and armored
convoys pressed in from the south. Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray
Smith was killed in the battle. In 2005 Pres. Bush awarded him the
1st US Medal of Honor of the Iraq campaign. A Marine unit found
concentrations of cyanide and mustard-gas agents in the Euphrates
River near Nasiriyah.
(AP, 4/4/03)(SFC, 4/5/05, p.A3)(WSJ, 4/7/03,
p.A7)
2003 Apr 4, Peter Arnett, fired
by NBC earlier this week for giving an interview to state-run Iraqi
television, began reporting for pan-Arab satellite channel
Al-Arabiya. Atlantic Monthly journalist Michael Kelley was killed in
a humvee accident near Baghdad.
(AP, 4/5/03)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)
2003 Apr 4, Six more moons were
reported to have been found orbiting Jupiter, pushing to 58 the
total number of known natural satellites of the solar system's
largest planet.
(AP, 4/5/03)
2003 Apr 4, Dr. Russell R.
Monroe (82), neurologist and authority on brain mechanisms, genius
and criminal behaviour, died. His books included "Creative
Brainstorms: The Relationship Between Madness and Genius."
(SFC, 4/9/03, p.A28)
2003 Apr 4, In Algeria 8
Austrian tourists were reported missing. Searchers using camels and
helicopters equipped with heat-seeking sensors were already scouring
the Sahara Desert for 21 tourists, mostly Germans, who vanished in
Algeria over the past six weeks.
(AP, 4/4/03)(SSFC, 4/6/03, p.A8)
2003 Apr 4, In northeastern
Bangladesh a river boat carrying more than 170 people capsized,
killing 79 people, including 49 children.
(AP, 4/4/03)(AP, 4/7/03)
2003 Apr 4, In southern Brazil
2 buses crashed head-on during heavy rains, killing 18 people and
injuring seven others.
(AP, 4/4/03)
2003 Apr 4, Chinese experts in
hard-hit Guangdong province told the scientists they have found a
rare form of airborne chlamydia in some of their SARS patients,
raising the possibility that more than one germ may be involved.
Other Chinese cases suggest the disease might be passed by touching
something tainted by a sick person's mucous or saliva.
(AP, 4/5/03)
2003 Apr 4, A standoff between
Cuban troops and the hijackers of a small ferry who had tried to
sail to Florida ended as soldiers stormed the boat and hostages
jumped overboard to safety.
(AP, 4/5/03)
2003 Apr 4, Israeli troops
uncovered an explosives lab and arrested Anwar Alian (22), a senior
Islamic Jihad militant, during a sweep of Tulkarem.
(SFC, 4/5/03, p.A9)
2003 Apr 4, Mexican police over
the last 2 days arrested 9 members of the powerful Juarez Cartel
during raids across the country.
(AP, 4/4/03)
2004 Apr 4, In India suspected
Islamic extremists stormed a police station in the city of Karachi
and killed 5 police, forcing their victims to recite Quranic verses
before shooting them.
(AP, 4/4/04)
2004 Apr 4, Muqtada al-Sadr
issued a call to his followers to "terrorize your enemy." Gunmen
opened fire on the Spanish garrison in the holy city of Najaf during
a huge demonstration by followers of al-Sadr, an anti-American
Shiite Muslim cleric. An American and Salvadoran soldier were killed
along with 22 Iraqis. More than 130 people were wounded. A car bomb
exploded in Kirkuk, killing three civilians and wounding two others.
7 US soldiers were killed in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/4/04)(SFC, 4/5/04, p.A8)(WSJ, 4/5/04,
p.A1)(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2004 Apr 4, Maoist rebels in
southern Nepal killed at least 9 police officers.
(SFC, 4/5/04, p.A2)
2004 Apr 4, In Slovenia some 95
percent of referendum voters opposed reinstating permanent residency
and other rights to more than 18,000 people, mostly Bosnians, Croats
and Serbs, whose names were stricken from state records following
independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.
(AP, 4/5/04)
2005 Apr 4, The Los Angeles
Times and The Wall Street Journal captured two Pulitzer Prizes
apiece; Marilynne Robinson received the fiction award for her novel
"Gilead," while John Patrick Shanley received the drama Pulitzer for
"Doubt."
(SFC, 4/5/05, p.A11)(AP, 4/4/06)
2005 Apr 4, The North Carolina
Tarheels won the NCAA men’s basketball championship over Illinois,
75-70.
(WSJ, 4/5/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 4, The US Supreme
Court ruled that IRAs can’t be seized in bankruptcies.
(WSJ, 4/5/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 4, The US Treasury
Dept. said all Series EE bonds sold after May 1 will pay interest
rates that are fixed for at least 20 years.
(SFC, 4/5/05, p.C1)
2005 Apr 4, US Coaches Jim
Boeheim and Jim Calhoun were elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2005 Apr 4, Oil prices hit an
interday high of $58.28 per barrel.
(SFC, 4/5/05, p.C1)
2005 Apr 4, Chevron announced
plans to purchase Unocal Corp. for $18.4 billion. Chevron’s eventual
acquisition of Unocal included a stake in the Yadana project in
Myanmar, in which Unocal invested in the 1990s along with France’s
Total, Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and the petroleum Authority of
Thailand. Total with a 31% stake operated the project. The Yadana
project brought in an estimated $969 million to the government
undercutting international sanctions to isolate the regime.
(SFC, 4/5/05, p.A1)(SFC, 10/4/07, p.A10)(SFC,
4/29/08, p.D3)
2005 Apr 4, Evergreen Int’l., a
Panamanian shipping line, pleaded guilty to over 2 dozen counts of
illegal dumping around the US. It was ordered to pay a fine of $25
million, one of the largest ever imposed for polluting the ocean.
(SFC, 4/5/05, p.B8)
2005 Apr 4, The leaders of
Australia and Indonesia signed a partnership agreement that they
said would lead to new security pact between their countries.
(AP, 4/4/05)
2005 Apr 4, In Brazil
authorities arrested 11 police suspected of participating in death
squad killings that left 30 people dead in two towns on Rio's poor
outskirts.
(AP, 4/5/05)
2005 Apr 4, In Canada Edward
Bronfman, Canadian businessman, died. Bronfman and his brother,
Peter, built Edper Investments Ltd. into a business with interests
ranging from forestry and mining to banking, beer and hockey to form
the core of what is today Brascan Corp.
(SFC, 4/6/05, p.B7)(http://tinyurl.com/6jsag)
2005 Apr 4, China's foreign
ministry called in Japan's ambassador to Beijing to express its
"indignation" at Tokyo's approval of nationalist school history
textbooks.
(AP, 4/5/05)
2005 Apr 4, Shanghai, China's
largest city, enacted a new rule requiring home owners to pay off
their mortgages before selling property, the boldest measure yet in
new efforts to cool surging real estate prices.
(AP, 4/7/05)
2005 Apr 4, About 300
university students staged a rowdy protest in downtown Cairo calling
for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down and further
democratic reforms.
(AP, 4/5/05)
2005 Apr 4, Maoist rebel
leaders in southern India said they had given up on efforts to make
peace, blaming local police for mounting violence since a truce
collapsed more than three months ago.
(AP, 4/4/05)
2005 Apr 4, A joint US-Iraqi
attack on dozens of insurgents in eastern Diyala province left two
American soldiers and one Iraqi soldier dead. A suicide bomber blew
himself up near the gates of Abu Ghraib prison.
(AP, 4/5/05)(SFC, 4/5/05, p.A3)
2005 Apr 4, PM Junichiro
Koizumi proposed privatizing Japan's postal service by 2017, a step
that would create the world's biggest bank out of the mammoth pile
of cash deposited at post offices by conscientious Japanese savers.
(AP, 4/4/05)
2005 Apr 4, Kyrgyz President
Askar Akayev, who fled the country last month after demonstrators
stormed his offices, signed a resignation agreement.
(AP, 4/4/05)
2005 Apr 4, A minister said
Malaysia plans to hire 169,000 foreign workers to overcome an acute
labor shortage after a crackdown on illegal migrants.
(AP, 4/4/05)
2005 Apr 4, Nepal's King
Gyanendra, in his first address to the military since he seized
power, urged the security forces to crush a long-running revolt by
Maoist rebels, accusing the militants of "terrorism."
(AP, 4/4/05)
2005 Apr 4, A Palestinian
official immediately denounced Israeli plans to dispose of garbage
on Palestinian land in the West Bank, as violating international
law, saying, "We are not a dumping ground."
(AP, 4/4/05)
2005 Apr 4, Tens of thousands
of pilgrims paid their final respects to Pope John Paul II after his
body was carried on a crimson platform to St. Peter's Basilica.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 4, Republican Rep. Tom
DeLay of Texas, the House of Representatives' fallen majority
leader, announced the end of a re-election fight he was in jeopardy
of losing and said he would soon step down from the US Congress.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 4, In Massachusetts
legislators passed a bill requiring all citizens to have health
insurance. Gov. Romney signed it on April 12. The cost of the plan
was estimated at $1 billion, about as much as the state spends on
the uninsured. A dearth of primary-care physicians threatened to
undermine the program.
(WSJ, 4/5/06, p.A1)(Econ, 4/8/06, p.35)(SFC,
4/12/06, p.A4)(WSJ, 1/25/07, p.B1)
2006 Apr 4, Maryland beat Duke,
78-75, in overtime to win its first NCAA women's basketball title.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2006 Apr 4, Computer Sciences
Corp. said it plans to cut about 5,000 jobs, or about 6 percent of
its work force, over two years and is considering selling the
company.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 4, Arab diplomats said
top intelligence officers from several Arab countries and Turkey
have been meeting secretly to coordinate their governments'
strategies in case civil war erupts in Iraq and in an attempt to
block Iran's interference in the war-torn nation.
(AP, 4/5/06)
2006 Apr 4, A boatload of 52
dazed and exhausted African men arrived at the Canary Islands, the
latest of a stream of desperate migrants risking everything on the
open sea for a slim chance at life in Europe.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 4, In Colombia
authorities announced the arrests of 7 active and retired police and
army officers working for one of Colombia's largest cocaine cartels,
who used commercial cargo planes to ship drugs to the US.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 4, Wen Jiabao arrived
in Fiji as the first Chinese premier to visit the Pacific islands,
seeking to deepen China's influence in the region and contain
Taiwan's diplomatic clout.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 4, Human Rights Watch
said tens of thousands of street children across Congo risk being
recruited by political parties to create chaos, intimidate voters
and contest the results of up-coming elections.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 4, In France a
nationwide strike shut down the Eiffel Tower and snarled air and
rail travel for the second time in a week while students barricaded
themselves in schools to protest a jobs measure that has riven the
country and put the government in crisis mode.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 4, Mphasis BFL Ltd.,
an Indian software services company, welcomed a $380 million bid by
Electronic Data Systems for a 52% stake.
(WSJ, 4/5/06, p.B3)
2006 Apr 4, Foreign Minister
Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran is prepared to negotiate on the
large-scale enrichment of uranium but will never abandon its right
to enrich uranium.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 4, The Iraq tribunal
announced new criminal charges against Saddam Hussein and six
others, accusing them of genocide and crimes against humanity
stemming from a 1980s crackdown against Kurds. A car bomb exploded
in a mostly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, killing at least 10 and
wounding 28. Another blast in Baghdad killed a woman and two of her
young sons.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 4, Denis Donaldson
(55), former British agent inside Sinn Fein, was killed by shotgun
blasts in northwest Ireland.
(AP, 4/5/06)
2006 Apr 4, Israeli warplanes
fired three missiles into the presidential compound of Palestinian
leader Mahmoud Abbas, wounding 2 people and leaving deep craters in
the ground.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 4, Kuwaiti women voted
and ran as candidates for the first time in a municipal election in
the conservative country's capital, but initial reports indicated
not many women were casting ballots.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 4, Charles Taylor
appeared in a UN-backed court in Sierra Leone with 11 counts of
crimes against humanity and other violations of int’l. law.
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.46)
2006 Apr 4, The South Korean
ship 628 Dongwon was seized by eight armed assailants, who
approached in two speed boats firing guns off the coast of Somalia.
25 crew members were reported safe and officials sought their
release. The sailors were released July 30 after more than $800,000
in ransom was paid.
(AP, 4/5/06)(AP, 7/30/06)
2006 Apr 4, Thailand’s
Embattled PM Thaksin Shinawatra abruptly announced he will step down
from office, bowing to a mounting opposition campaign seeking his
ouster over allegations of corruption and abuse of power.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 4, Venezuelan
authorities found the bullet-ridden bodies of three Canadian boys
who had been kidnapped more than a month ago. John Faddoul (17),
along with his brothers Kevin (13) and Jason (12) were abducted Feb.
23 when unidentified men dressed as police stopped their car at a
checkpoint in Caracas as the boys were on their way to school.
(AP, 4/5/06)
2007 Apr 4, Apple updated its
desktop Mac Pro computers adding two new 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
processors, bringing 8-core processing to the Mac. The new machines
can run the 3.0GHz Intel Xeon processors and are available as build
to order options.
(www.macworld.com/news/2007/04/04/eightcore/index.php)
2007 Apr 4, Radio host Don Imus
made offensive on-air remarks about the Rutgers University women's
basketball team. Despite a subsequent apology, Imus was fired by CBS
Radio and cable network MSNBC; he was hired elsewhere by year's end.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2007 Apr 4, Jon and Karen
Huntsman, the billionaire parents of Utah’s Gov. Jon Huntsman,
announced that they would pay $1 million for a public education
campaign in Utah about the risks of cervical cancer and a new
vaccine that can prevent it.
(SFC, 4/5/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 4, NYSE Euronext
shares slipped in their first day of trading following the
completion of the $14 billion deal that created the first
trans-Atlantic stock exchange. Jan-Michiel Hessels served as
chairman of the NYSE following the merger with Euronext.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070404/ap_on_bi_ge/nyse_euronext)(WSJ,
4/14/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 4, Film director
Robert Clark (67), best known for the holiday classic "A Christmas
Story" (1983), was killed in southern California with his son in a
head-on crash with a vehicle steered into the wrong lane by a
drunken driver.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Algeria an
international desertification conference closed with a call (dubbed
the Algiers Appeal) to all African countries to ratify the Kyoto
Protocol, to help slow the rapid expansion of deserts on the
continent.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Argentina's main
teachers' union called for a one-day national strike next week after
protesting colleagues seeking higher pay clashed with riot police in
two provinces.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, The United Nations
children's agency called for urgent action to tackle a "humanitarian
disaster" in the Central African Republic (CAR), affected by
conflict for the past ten years.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Chile police
used tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of protesting
students in the capital of Santiago, and detained nearly 100 people.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Ecuador's
constitutional court upheld a decision by the country's electoral
tribunal to fire more than half of the politically unstable nation's
legislature.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 4, In India South
Asian leaders (SAARC) wrapped up a two-day summit predicting a new
dawn for the region but offering little in terms of concrete action.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Iran’s President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad freed the 15 detained British sailors and
marines as an Easter holiday "gift" to the British people. Syria
said it played a key role in resolving the standoff over the 15
British sailors and marines held by Iran. Turkey brokered the
release of the British sailors.
(AP, 4/4/07)(Econ, 8/21/10, p.42)
2007 Apr 4, Iraq's top
corruption fighter said that $8 billion in government money was
wasted or stolen over the past three years and claimed he was
threatened with death after opening an investigation into scores of
Oil Ministry employees. Gunmen opened fire on a minibus carrying
power plant workers in a predominantly Sunni area west of Kirkuk,
killing six men. Gunmen also attacked a police patrol near Baqouba,
killing four officers. 6 of the gunmen were killed in a subsequent
gunbattle. Two mortar rounds also slammed into a house in the
predominantly Shiite town of Khalis, just after midnight, killing a
woman and wounding two other women and a 4-year-old boy. Gunmen
wearing police uniforms seized 22 shepherds and their sheep in
southern Iraq in the latest mass abduction of Shiite workers by
presumed Sunni insurgents. A roadside bomb killed two US soldiers
and wounded three others in southern Baghdad. Another blast north of
the capital killed two soldiers and wounded one.
(AP, 4/4/07)(AFP, 4/4/07)(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 4, New Ivory Coast PM
Guillaume Soro, a rebel leader who has controlled the north for four
years, took office, a key step in an accord aimed at bringing a
lasting peace.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Kuwait a medical
source said preliminary tests for bird flu were positive on four
Bangladeshi workers who had been culling infected chickens.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi urged Africa to form a unified continental army to
defend its interests. He said former colonial powers should pay
compensation for the raw materials they had extracted.
(Reuters, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Hostage takers in
southern Nigeria released four foreign workers held captive in the
oil-rich region. The British High Commission and an industry source
said a Briton and a Dutch national held hostage in volatile oil-rich
southern Nigeria have been released. Gordon Gray was kidnapped March
31 from an offshore rig in the Niger delta. The Dutch man was
kidnapped March 23 from Port Harcourt. 2 Lebanese nationals working
for a construction firm, Setraco, were also released.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Northern Ireland
protestant leader Ian Paisley shook hands with Irish PM Bertie Ahern
in public for the first time, marking another small step on the path
to peace.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Heavy fighting
between Pakistani tribesmen and foreign militants allegedly linked
to al-Qaida killed 60 people near the Afghan border. About 50 of
those killed in the past 24 hours in the South Waziristan region
were Uzbeks. The main commander of the tribal militia battling the
foreign militants is Maulvi Nazir, a known Taliban sympathizer who
the government says has come over to its side. Nazir recently
established Islamic courts throughout South Waziristan, a
10,000-square-mile area with some 500,000 inhabitants.
(AP, 4/4/07)(SFC, 6/1/07, p.A9)
2007 Apr 4, A Palestinian
gunman was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops in an
area where militants frequently fire rockets toward Israel.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In the Philippines
police said they found the bodies of two missing members of the
militant Peasant Movement of the Philippines, or KMP, near a river
in the northern town of Lailo in Cagayan province.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Sri Lanka’s defense
ministry said its warplanes "bombed and completely destroyed" a key
Tamil Tiger naval base.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Damascus US
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held talks with Syria's leader despite
White House objections, saying she pressed President Bashar Assad
over his country's support for militant groups and passed him a
peace message from Israel.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Thousands of
supporters of Ukraine's Russian-leaning prime minister marched to
the office of the pro-Western president, protesting a presidential
order to hold early elections.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Offices and
factories in Zimbabwe's two main cities were operating as normal on
the second day of a 48-hour strike called by the main labor
organization over the deepening economic crisis. Many workers
appeared to have shunned the call on the second day of the stoppage
organized by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2008 Apr 4, The US labor Dept.
reported that employers slashed 80,000 jobs in march, the most in
five years, as the national unemployment rate climbed to 5.1
percent.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2008 Apr 4, Child welfare
officials scrambled to find foster homes for dozens of girls removed
from a secretive West Texas religious retreat built by polygamist
leader Warren Jeffs after a 16-year-old living there complained of
physical abuse. By April 8 Texas had taken 416 children into
protective custody. Some 140 women came along voluntarily. It was
later reported that over half of the teenage girls from the Yearning
for Zion Ranch had children or were pregnant. The number of 14-17
year old girls with children was later reduced as ages became
confirmed. On May 22 a state appeals court ruled that authorities
had no right to take children from the polygamist compound. In 2009
jurors convicted sect member Raymond Jessop (38) of sexually
assaulting a girl, who became pregnant at age 16.
(AP, 4/5/08)(Econ, 4/12/08, p.36)(WSJ, 4/29/08,
p.A1)(SFC, 5/17/08, p.A2)(SFC, 5/23/08, p.A2)(SFC, 11/6/09, p.A6)
2008 Apr 4, In SF cyclist Tammy
Thomas, Univ. of Oklahoma law student, was found guilty of lying to
a federal grand jury about her use of banned drugs.
(SFC, 4/5/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 4, In southern
Afghanistan a roadside bomb killed a Canadian soldier, while a
suicide attack in the same region left three policemen and a
civilian dead.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2008 Apr 4, In Argentina a
court sentenced the adoptive parents of a baby born to a missing
political prisoner to up to eight years in prison for concealing the
child's identity, in a landmark case with roots in Argentina's
dictatorship.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 4, In Brazil officials
said floods triggered by two weeks of torrential downpours have
killed at least 10 people and forced more than 30,000 people to flee
their homes in the normally arid northeast.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2008 Apr 4, In London a
prosecutor told a court that Assad Sarwar (27), a man accused of
plotting to down trans-Atlantic airliners, was also developing plans
to cripple nuclear power stations, a European gas pipeline and
Britain's electricity grid.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2008 Apr 4, A Bulgarian
official revealed that the country's communist-era border troops
killed East Germans and others who tried to get to the West by
sneaking across this Balkan country's borders during the Cold War.
Documents detailed at least two cases in which citizens of then
communist East Germany were killed, one in 1974 and one in 1988.
Archives also showed that 22 Bulgarians were shot while trying to
escape to Greece or Turkey between 1964 and 1967.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2008 Apr 4, Chile's
Constitutional Court halted a government program that provided the
contraceptive known as the "morning-after" pill free to women and
girls as young as 14.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 4, In China the
traditional Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day), was celebrated as
an official holiday for the first time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qingming_Festival)
2008 Apr 4, Interpol issued a
"red notice" for the capture of Colombian rebel leader Rodrigo
Granda, wanted in connection with the 2004 high-profile kidnapping
and killing of Cecilia Cubas (31), the daughter of former Paraguay
Pres. Raul Cubas.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2008 Apr 4, US President George
W. Bush arrived in Croatia after a NATO summit at which leaders
invited the former Yugoslav republic to join the 26-nation western
alliance.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 4, At least three
Haitians were killed and 25 others injured amid food riots and
clashes with UN peacekeepers.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 4, Indonesia's Supreme
Court overturned the conviction of a notorious militia leader
accused in attacks that left about 1,000 people dead following East
Timor's 1999 independence vote. With Eurico Guterres' upcoming
release, all 18 suspects originally indicted will have been
acquitted or set free.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2008 Apr 4, Iraq's prime
minister ordered a nationwide freeze on raids against suspected
Shiite militants after the leader of the biggest militia complained
that arrests were continuing even after he ordered fighters off the
streets. A suicide bomber killed at least 15 people and wounded 8
when he blew himself up during a policeman's funeral in Sadiyah.
Military and police officials in Basra said a number of Iraqi
soldiers and police were reported to have mutinied or refused to
engage al-Sadr's militants during last week's fighting. A roadside
bomb killed four policeman and wounded one in Hillah. In the
Hayaniyah area of Basra a house was destroyed in an airstrike.
Police said five people were killed, acknowledging they included an
unspecified number of militants who had fired a mortar at Iraqi
security forces.
(AP, 4/4/08)(AP, 4/5/08)
2008 Apr 4, An executive for a
prominent Tuscan wine producer said authorities confiscated some
600,000 bottles of his company's 2003 Brunello di Montalcino,
alleging too many bottles were produced for it to be entirely
authentic.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 4, In Mexico two
soldiers deserted and were later killed during a gunbattle with
police in the state of Nuevo Leon. 3 state police officers and a
civilian also died in the violence. The Mexican army said soldiers
looking for drug traffickers found $6 million in cash inside a truck
near the US border and arrested five men at the scene. The daily El
Universal reported that five soldiers had been arrested for passing
information to the Sinaloa alliance of Pacific Coast smugglers.
(AP, 4/5/08)(Reuters, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 4, In the West Bank 12
members of the members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades fled the
Palestinian-run Jneid Prison in Nablus, complaining that guards had
pummeled them with clubs following a fight among the detainees.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2008 Apr 4, In Panama Cecilio
Padron (66), a Cuban-American businessman tied to an influential
anti-Castro organization, was kidnapped. He was released on Feb 23,
2009 following a $3 million ransom. Three national police officers
and two civilians were later detained in connection with the
kidnapping. The police were accused of handing Padron over to his
kidnappers in exchange for $500 each.
(AP, 3/4/09)
2008 Apr 4, President Gloria
Arroyo announced major investments to overhaul the Philippine
agriculture sector, as the country grapples with soaring rice prices
that have raised fears of social unrest.
(AFP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 4, Russian President
Vladimir Putin strongly criticized NATO's eastward expansion plans
but ruled out chances of a new Cold War, insisting that Moscow wants
to be friends with the Western military alliance.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 4, In Russia an
explosion, apparently caused by an accident with gas-powered welding
equipment in an apartment, ripped through a Moscow apartment tower,
blowing out exterior walls, sparking a fire and killing at least
three people.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 4, Pirate attackers
off Somalia’s coast stormed the 288-foot Le Ponant as it returned
without passengers from the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean. French
officials hoped to avoid using force to free the 30 crew members.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2008 Apr 4, Lee Kun-Hee (66),
the head of South Korea's biggest business group, Samsung, appeared
for questioning as part of a high-profile probe into an alleged
multi-million dollar bribery slush fund.
(AFP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 4, A South Korean
official said quarantine workers have destroyed more than 100,000
chickens following the first outbreak of a deadly strain of bird flu
in the country in more than a year.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 4, Sri Lanka's air
force bombed and destroyed a Tamil separatist training camp in the
island's north.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 4, In Thailand climate
negotiators ended 5 days of talks. More than 160 nations agreed to
consider how to reduce rapidly growing emissions from air and sea
travel as they worked toward drafting an ambitious new treaty on
global warming.
(AFP, 4/4/08)(WSJ, 4/5/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 4, In Zimbabwe the
ruling ZANU-PF party decided President Robert Mugabe should contest
a runoff vote against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai if neither
wins a majority in a presidential election. Hundreds of guerrilla
war veterans who support President Robert Mugabe marched through the
capital, raising fears he might turn to violence to prolong his
rule. Authorities introduced a new 50 million bank note, state media
reported. The new Zimbabwe dollar note is worth $1 in black market
trading and can buy just three loaves of bread.
(Reuters, 4/4/08)(AP, 4/4/08)
2009 Apr 4, In Pittsburgh, Pa.,
Richard Poplawski (23) shot and killed 3 police officers, who were
responding to a domestic violence disturbance. Poplawski received
gunshot wounds in his legs and was charged with 3 counts of murder.
The shooting began following an argument between Poplawski and his
mother over a dog urinating in their house. On June 28, 2011, a jury
sentenced Poplawski to death.
(SSFC, 4/5/09, p.A12)(SFC, 4/6/09, p.A5)(SFC,
6/28/11, p.A6)
2009 Apr 4, In Texas Jorge
Alberto Mendez (42) was arrested while trying to cross into Mexico
from El Paso, where he lived. He was arrested for allegedly raping
19 women across the border in the northern Mexican city of Ciudad
Juarez.
(AP, 4/7/09)
2009 Apr 4, In Washington state
Pierce County deputies 15 miles southeast of Tacoma found four
children murdered in their beds and the fifth slain in the bathroom.
The four girls and the youngest child, a 7-year-old boy, apparently
had been shot. Earlier in the day police found there father, James
Harrison (34) dead in his still-running car near the Muckleshoot
Casino in Auburn, about 30 miles south of Seattle. Harrison had just
discovered that his wife was leaving him for another man.
(AP, 4/5/09)(SFC, 4/6/09, p.A4)
2009 Apr 4, A pair of British
brothers (10 & 11) lured two young boys (9 & 10) into a
clearing to see some animals, and then tortured them in an attack so
violent it left one of the victims pleading to be left alone to die.
On Sep 3 the brothers admitted charges of robbery, intentionally
causing grievous bodily harm and causing a child to engage in sexual
activity.
(AP, 9/4/09)
2009 Apr 4, Egyptian police
beat and detained at least 18 members of an anti-government protest
group during a demonstration to demand the release of two activists,
Sarah Rezk and Amina Taha. The two 19-year-olds detained April 2 for
allegedly distributing leaflets calling for a national day of
protest on April 6.
(AP, 4/4/09)
2009 Apr 4, France and Germany
fully endorsed President Barack Obama's new Afghan war strategy but
firmly resisted sending more combat troops in a rift that
overshadowed symbols of unity at NATO 60th-anniversary summit.
NATO's European leaders pledged a significant increase in troops for
the US-led war in Afghanistan at their summit, but the alliance
seemed sure to arouse hostility in the Muslim world by choosing the
controversial Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the alliance's new
secretary general. All 28 NATO leaders unanimously approved
Rasmussen as the new civilian leader of the alliance. Black-clad
protesters attacked police and set a hotel and a customs station
ablaze near a bridge linking France and Germany that served hours
earlier as the backdrop for a show of unity by NATO leaders.
(AP, 4/4/09)
2009 Apr 4, In southern Israel
a woman opened fire on a police station Beersheba before officers
shot back and killed her, in an apparent Palestinian militant
attack. Israeli forces shot and killed two militants who were
approaching the Gaza border. Elsewhere in Gaza, militants fired at
least two mortar shells toward Israel. There were no reports of
damage.
(AP, 4/4/09)
2009 Apr 4, In Mexico 11 people
were found shot to death in 5 different places, some bearing signs
of torture and left with threatening messages emblematic of drug
violence.
(AP, 4/5/09)
2009 Apr 4, In northwestern
Pakistan a suspected US drone fired two missiles at an alleged
militant hide-out in North Waziristan, leaving 13 people dead
including women and children. A suicide bomber killed 8 people in
Islamabad. At least 62 illegal migrants were found suffocated to
death inside a shipping container found near the border with
Afghanistan.
(AP, 4/4/09)(SSFC, 4/5/09, p.A7)
2009 Apr 4, In the Philippines
two homemade bombs exploded hours apart in the same bus, wounding
the conductor and five passengers in an attack police said may have
been the work of an extortion gang led by former Muslim rebels.
(AP, 4/4/09)
2009 Apr 4, In Slovakia Pres.
Ovan Gasparovic was re-elected for a 2nd 5-year term with 55% of the
vote over Iveta Radicova, who had hoped to become Slovakia’s 1st
female president.
(WSJ, 4/6/09, p.A8)
2009 Apr 4, Somali pirates
seized a 20,000-ton German container vessel, the Hansa Stavanger and
its 24-member crew, in their latest attack on the Indian Ocean's
busy commercial shipping lanes. The ship and crew were released on
August 3 as pirates boasted $2.75 million in ransom.
(AP, 4/5/09)(AP, 4/6/09)(AP, 7/18/09)(Econ,
8/22/09, p.53)
2009 Apr 4, In Sudan armed men
in the Darfur kidnapped two aid workers Claire Dubois of France and
Canadian Stephanie Jodoin, of Aid Medicale International (AMI). They
were seized from their compound in the south Darfur settlement of Ed
el Fursan. Both women were released on April 29.
(AFP, 4/5/09)(Reuters, 4/12/09)(AP, 4/30/09)
2009 Apr 4, In Turkey several
thousand leftists staged anti-U.S. and anti-NATO protests, with
shouts of "Yankee Go Home!" the day before President Barack Obama's
visit.
(AP, 4/4/09)
2009 Apr 4, Off the coast of
Yemen a smuggling boat carrying 40 Somalis capsized as passengers
were disembarking. Twenty people made it to shore, the rest were
missing.
(AP, 4/7/09)
2010 Apr 4, In Bolivia allies
of leftist President Evo Morales made modest advances in state and
local elections, according to independent exit polls.
(AP, 4/5/10)
2010 Apr 4, In northern Congo
some 100-150 Enyele rebels attacked Mbandaka, capital of Congo's
northern Equateur province. A UN peacekeeper from Ghana was fatally
shot while in a car. A UN civilian and a South African pilot died
during the fighting. At least 36 people, including policemen, an
army officer and militiamen, died in the clashes between the Enyele
and Munzale tribesmen reportedly over farming and fishing rights.
(AP, 4/5/10)(AP, 4/6/10)(Econ, 4/17/10, p.51)
2010 Apr 4, In Dagestan 2
powerful explosions derailed a cargo train but no one was injured.
(AP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 4, A Dubai appeals
court upheld a one-month prison sentence for a British couple
convicted of kissing in a restaurant. They were arrested in November
and convicted of inappropriate behavior and illegal drinking. Ayman
Najafi and Charlotte Adams, both in their 20s, were arrested after
an Emirati woman claimed they exchanged a passionate kiss in a
restaurant where she and her daughter were having dinner.
(AP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 4, In France masked
men brandishing assault rifles burst into a crowded casino in Lyon,
fired shots at the ceiling and made off with about euro28,000
($37,800).
(AP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 4, In Iraq suicide
attackers detonated three car bombs near embassies in Baghdad,
killing over 40 people and wounding more than 200 in back-to-back
attacks. Security forces shot and killed a man wearing a suicide
belt before he could detonate a fourth bomb-rigged car near the
former Germany Embassy, which is now a bank. An earlier blast,
believed to be caused by a bomb underneath a parked car killed one
civilian and injured nine others.
(AP, 4/4/10)(AFP, 4/7/10)(AP, 4/9/10)
2010 Apr 4, Israel allowed the
first commercial shipment of clothes and shoes into the Gaza Strip
since 2008 but said its policy towards the territory's Hamas rulers
had not changed.
(AP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 4, A 7.3 magnitude
earthquake centered just south of the US border near Mexicali killed
two people in Mexico and injured at least 100.
(AP, 4/5/10)
2010 Apr 4, Pakistani security
forces killed 38 militants in two separate operations in the Orakzai
tribal area near the Afghan border where the army recently launched
an offensive targeting the Pakistani Taliban.
(AP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 4, In the Philippines
Carl Rieth (72), a Filipino businessman of Swiss descent, was
kidnapped from his beach-front home on the southern Zamboanga
peninsula. On June 16 Philippine troops rescued Reith.
(AFP, 4/6/10)(AP, 6/16/10)
2010 Apr 4, The South Korean
Samho Dream oil supertanker was bound for the US with 24 crew
members when was hijacked off the coast of Somalia by Somali
pirates. On Nov 6 South a Korean news agency said the ship was freed
following a ransom payment.
(AFP, 4/4/10)(AP, 4/5/10)(AP, 11/6/10)
2010 Apr 4, A US-Russian space
team sent their Easter greetings down to Earth after their Soyuz
spacecraft docked flawlessly at the International Space Station. The
rotating calendars of the Christian West and the Christian East
agreed on the same date for Easter.
(AP, 4/4/10)(Econ, 4/3/10, p.85)
2010 Apr 4, In Uzbekistan UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the drying up of the Aral Sea
one of the planet's most shocking disasters and urged Central Asian
leaders to step up efforts to solve the problem.
(AP, 4/4/10)
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