Unix Timestamp: 1056067200
Friday, June 20. 2003, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The death of Neda Agha-Soltan, an Iranian student shot during a protest, is captured on what soon becomes a viral video that helps to turn Neda into an international symbol of the civil unrest following the presidential election.

The government of Dubai announces that it has purchased the RMS "Queen Elizabeth 2" from Cunard Line for US$100-million. It intends to turn her into a floating hotel at the Palm Jumeirah when she leaves service in late 2008. //news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070618/bs_afp/uaebritaintourismqe2_070618114642 (AFP via Yahoo! News)

Technology – Toshiba clones Apple Computer's iPod.

Andrea Yates drowns her five children in a bathtub and confesses to her crimes.

Pervez Musharraf becomes President of Pakistan after the resignation of Muhammad Rafiq Tarar.

The Nintendo 64 video game system is released in Japan.

Thousands of Megawati Sukarnoputri supporters clash with police in Jakarta.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is given an official farewell at his retirement service.

Oil multinational Royal Dutch Shell caves in to international pressure and abandons plans to dump the Brent Spar oil rig at sea.

Dean Mellberg, an ex-U.S. Air Force member, entered the hospital at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, shot and killed five people, and wounded nineteen.//www.nytimes.com/1994/06/21/us/gunman-kills-2-and-hurts-19-on-air-force-base.html Note: headline not updated to four killedsee body of article.

In Estonia, the kroon replaces the Soviet ruble.

The first Sonic the Hedgehog game is published by Sega. First of the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

Mesut Yılmaz, of ANAP forms the new government of Turkey (48th government)

In Germany, the Bundestag votes to move the capital from Bonn to Berlin.

The official name of the Turkish city Urfa is changed into Şanlıurfa.

Virgin Atlantic Airways makes its inaugural flight.

The biggest exam shake-up in the British education system in over 10 years is announced, with O-level and CSE exams to be replaced by a new exam, the GCSE.

Augusta AVA becomes the first federally recognized American Viticultural Area.

A Nicaraguan National Guard soldier kills ABC TV news correspondent Bill Stewart and his interpreter Juan Espinosa. Other members of the news crew capture the killing on tape.

A shootout between Provisional IRA members and the British Army leaves 1 civilian and 3 IRA men dead.

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake hits Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, killing 45 people, injuring hundreds and damaging some of the city's Byzantine landmarks.

1978 Iranian Chinook shootdown: Iranian helicopters stray into Soviet airspace and are shot down.

Charon, a satellite of Pluto, is discovered.

São Tomé and Príncipe recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

The Ezeiza massacre occurs in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Snipers shoot on left-wing Peronists, killing at least 13 and injuring more than 300.

Britain announces that Soviet space scientist Anatoli Fedoseyev has been granted asylum.

The Cuyahoga River fire helps spur an avalanche of water pollution control activities resulting in the Clean Water Act, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency

Georges Pompidou is elected President of France.

Judy Garland dies of drug overdose in her London home

Austin Currie, Member of Parliament (MP) at Stormont in Northern Ireland, along with others, squats a house in Caledon to protest discrimination in housing allocations.

French President Charles De Gaulle starts his visit to the Soviet Union.

Police in Algiersbreak up demonstrations by people who have taken to the streets chanting slogans in support of deposed President Ben Bella.

The short-lived Mali Federation, consisting of the Sudanese Republic (now the Republic of Mali) and Senegal, gains independence from France.

The iron barque "Omega" of Callao, Peru (built in Scotland, 1887), sinks on passage carrying guano from the Pachacamac Islands for Huacho, the world’s last full rigged ship trading under sail alone.

The U.S. Congress recesses for the remainder of 1948, after an overtime session closes at 7:00 a.m. D.C. time (to be shortly interrupted by Truman's recall from Congressional recess for July 20, 1948).

Puniša Račić shoots 3 opposition representatives in the Yugoslavian Parliament, and injures 3 others.

Boxer Rebellion: Boxers gather about 20,000 people near Peking and kill hundreds of European citizens, including the German ambassador.

The Wengernalpbahn railway in Wengen, Switzerland (Canton of Bern) is opened.

Lizzie Borden acquitted of murdering her parents.

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde published by Philadelphia-based "Lippincott's Monthly Magazine".

The current Cincinnati Reds baseball team plays its first game.

U.S. Coastal Survey renamed U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.

Fort Fred Steele is established to protect what is at this time the western terminus of the Union Pacific Railway, near the present-day Sinclair, Wyoming .

The Kingdom of Italy declares war on Austria.

West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.

The last rebels of the Indian Mutiny surrender in Gwalior.

Anselmo de Andrade, Portuguese economist and politician, is born in Vila Real de Santo António.

June ndash James Nasmyth patents the steam hammer in the United Kingdom.

July ndash Charles W. King sets sail on the American merchant ship "Morrison". In the Morrison Incident, he is turned away from Japanese ports with cannon fire.

18-year-old Queen Victoria accedes to the throne of the United Kingdom on the death of her uncle William IV without legitimate heirs. She will reign for more than 63 years. Under Salic law, the Kingdom of Hanover passes to William's brother, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, ending the personal union of Britain and Hanover which has persisted since 1714.

The French Royal Family is captured when they try to flee in disguise.

Compromise of 1790: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton come to an agreement: Madison agrees to not be strenuous in opposition for the assumption of state debts by the federal government Hamilton agrees to support the capital site being above the Potomac.

Tennis Court Oath is made in Versailles.

Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention that the government be called the United States.

July ndash Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, receives a visit from Pope Pius VI.

The bald eagle is chosen as the emblem of the United States of America.

Austrians are defeated in the Battle of Francavilla.

Monmouth Rebellion: James, Duke of Monmouth declares himself at Taunton to be King and heir to his father's Kingdoms as James II of England and Ireland and James VII of Scotland.ref name=ODNB Monmouth/

Pope Clement IX succeeds Pope Alexander VII, becoming the 238th pope.

Spanish troops under Ferdinand of Austria defeat a much larger Dutch force near Antwerp at the Battle of Kallo during the Eighty Years War.

Charles I of England issues a charter for the colony of Maryland (named in honor of Henrietta Maria), under the control of Lord Baltimore.

Algerian pirates sackBaltimore, County Cork in Ireland.

Pretender Dmitri and his supporters march to Moscow he is crowned the next month.

The Synod of Dier is convened.

The powerful Fernando II, Duke of Braganza is executed in Portugal, followed by more than 80 other noblemen, for his plot against the Royal crown.

The Regency period of Sweden ends with the election of Karl Knutsson Bonde as King Charles VIII of Sweden.

The Oei Invasion of Tsushima Island in Japan by JoseonKorea begins.

English win small victory at La Roche-Derrien in Brittanny.ref name = crecy/

The Pope proposes the Treaty of Anagni seeks to bring peace to between the house of Anjou and Sicily, in vain.

The University of Oxford receives its charter.

Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy, lands in Portsmouth to try to take the throne from his brother, Henry. Later that year (July), he signs the Treaty of Alton, giving up his claim to the Anglo-Norman throne and establishing Henry I as King of England.

Battle of Châlons: Attila avoids a pitched battle near Orléans and withdraws to the Catalaunian Plains (Chagne-Ardenne). The Roman coalition defeat the Huns, but Theodoric I is killed in the encounter. This is the last military victory of the Western Roman Empire.

Thorismund succeeds his father Theodoric I as king of the Visigoths. He is crowned in the capital at Toulouse and extends the Visigothic Kingdom in Hispania.