Unix Timestamp: 1049760000
Tuesday, April 8. 2003, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Chinese and Russian cyber-spies allegedly infiltrate the United States' electrical grid. //www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gTamvV9J8BmeVmQift2odbmBigD97EDNPO1 (AP) //online.wsj.com/article/SB123914805204099085.html "(Wall Street Journal)"

Somali pirates hijack the Danish container ship MV "Maersk Alabama" in the Indian Ocean. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7989474.stm (BBC)

Thousands of people in Pyongyang, North Korea, celebrate the “successful” launch of the Bright Star-2 communications satellite into Earth's orbit. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7988939.stm (BBC)

The Privy Council of Sark dismantles its feudal system to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker BowlesThe Prince of Wales marries Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony at Windsor's Guildhall. Camilla acquires her title "The Duchess of Cornwall".

Tens of thousands of demonstrators, many of them supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, march through Baghdad denouncing the U.S. occupation of Iraq, 2 years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and rally in the square where his statue was toppled in 2003.

A referendum is held in Curaçao on independence vs. integration with the Netherlands.

Darfur conflict: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and 2 rebel groups.

Bill Gates personal fortune exceeds 100 Billion U.S. dollars, due to the increased value of Microsoft stock.

The Republic of Macedonia is admitted to the United Nations.

Regular radio broadcasts of British Parliament proceedings start.

The punk band The Clash's debut album "The Clash" is released in the UK on CBS Records.

April 8 ndash Hank Aaron became the all-time MLB home run leader with his 715th at Atlanta in front of a national television audience.

A right-wing coup attempt is exposed in Laos.

Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (under Department of Justice) (BNDD) created.

"Puppet On A String" by Sandie Shaw (music and text by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 for United Kingdom.

Buddhists in South Vietnam protest against the fact that the new government has not set a date for free elections.

The 35th Academy Awards ceremony was held. "Lawrence of Arabia" won Best Picture.

The British passenger ship "Dara" blows up and sinks off Dubai. 238 passengers and crew are killed.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) is established.

A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Air LinesCanadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.

Jomo Kenyatta is sentenced to seven years in prison for the alleged organization of the Mau Mau Rebellion.

"Youngstown Sheet Tube Co. v. Sawyer": The U.S. Supreme Court limits the power of the President to seize private business, after President Harry S. Truman nationalizes all steel mills in the United States, just before the 1952 steel strike begins.

Kathy Fiscus, 3½ years old, dies from falling down an abandoned well in San Marino, California.

The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed, dictating the direct election of senators.

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers Superconductivityvan Delft, D., and Kes, P. The discovery of superconductivity. Physics Today (September 2010), 38–43.

The first recorded college basketball game occurs in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania between the Geneva College Covenanters and the New BrightonYMCA.

April 23 ndash Isambard Kingdom Brunel's paddle steamer SS "Great Western" (1838) makes the Transatlantic Crossing to New York from Avonmouth, England, in fifteen days, inaugurating a regular steamship service.

April 23 ndash Isambard Kingdom Brunel's paddle steamer SS \'\'Great Western\'\' (1838) makes the Transatlantic Crossing to New York from Avonmouth, England, in fifteen days, inaugurating a regular steamship service.

The statue of the Venus de Milo (Aphrodite of Milos, c.150 BC-125 BC) is discovered on the Greek island of Milos by a peasant named Yorgos Kentrotas.

Colonel James Ball arrives at Fort Meigs with 200 dragoons.

Stephanie de Beauharnais, adopted daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte, marries Prince Karl Ludwig Friedrich of Baden.

George, Prince of Wales, marries Caroline of Brunswick.

The Kingdom of France declares war on the Dutch Republic.

Flensburg Disputation, a debate, attended by Stadtholder Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (later King Christian III of Denmark) between Lutherans (led by Hermann Fast) and the more radical Anabaptists (led by Melchior Hoffman). Johannes Bugenhagen, a close associate of Martin Luther, presides. The Disputation marks the rejection of radical ideas by the Danish Reformation.Collins, WE (1903) "The Scandinavian North", "in" AW Ward, GW Prothero Stanley Leathes (eds.) "The Cambridge Modern History". Cambridge Univ. Press, pp. 599-638.

Pope Calixtus III succeeds Pope Nicholas V as the 209th pope.

Spring ndash The Wars of the Roses begin.

Charles V becomes King of France.

The Merinid galleys under the command of Muhammad ibn Ali al-Azafi rout the Castellan fleet off the coast of Algesiras.

Mamluk sultan Baibars continues his territorial expansion, capturing the strategically important castle Krak des Chevaliers from the Knights Hospitaller in present-day Syria.

Edward I of England and Charles of Anjou arrive in Acre, starting the Ninth Crusade against Baibars however, they are unable to capture any territory and a peace is quickly negotiated.

Mamluk sultan Baibars conducts an unsuccessful siege of the city of Tripoli, and also fails in an attempted naval invasion of Cyprus.

The Temple of Nataraja is completed at Chidambaram in India.

Congress of Bilino Polje: Ban Kulin officially declares his allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church and denounces heresy.

Summer ndash Battle of Nisibis: The Roman army under command of Macrinus, is defeated in a three days battle by the Parthians at Nisibis (southern Turkey).

Empress Julia, wife of Septimius Severus and mother of Caracalla and Geta, commits suicide.

The Colosseum is badly damaged by fire (lightning) which destroys the wooden upper levels of the hitheater.

Macrinus, of Mauritania, becomes the first equestrian Roman emperor.

Caracalla is assassinated by his legionaries near Edessa. Marcus Opellius Macrinus head of the Praetorian Guard, declares himself Roman emperor.

King Artabanus IV signs a peace treaty with Rome after he received 200 million sesterces, for the rebuilding of towns destroyed during the war in Parthia.