Unix Timestamp: 1113004800
Saturday, April 9. 2005, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Despite a ceasefire, ETA shoot a French policeman in Valliere, Limousin. Two more shooting incidents follow the first one. //www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_30009.shtml (Typically Spanish)

Kim Jong-il appears publicly for the first time since August 2008 for reelection as North Korea's Great Leader. //www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0409/breaking54.htm ("Irish Times") //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7991151.stm (BBC)

The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence bans any more of the 15 Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines held captive by Iran from selling their stories to the media reversing a previous decision following widespread criticism. //www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1892963.htm (Reuters via ABC News Australia)

U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein.

The funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother takes place in Westminster Abbey, London.

Ibrahim Baré Maînassara, president of Niger, is assassinated.

The Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union.

A South Atlantic tropical cyclone develops in the Southern Hemisphere off the coast of Angola (the first of its kind to be documented by weather satellites).

The Italian ferry "Moby Prince" collides with an oil tanker in dense fog off Livorno, Italy killing 140.

Comet Austin, the brightest comet visible from Earth since 1975, makes its closest approach to the sun.

The 56th Academy Awards, hosted by Johnny Carson, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Somali military officers stage an unsuccessful coup against the government of Siad Barre security forces thwart the attempt within hours, and several conspirators are arrested.

Charles Manson is sentenced to death in 1972, the sentence for all California Death Row inmates is commuted to life imprisonment.

The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) takes its maiden flight.

The AFTRA strike is settled just in time for the 39th Academy Awards ceremony to be held, hosted by Bob Hope. Best Picture goes to "A Man for All Seasons".

Oral arguments begin in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967), challenging the State of Virginia's statutory scheme to prevent marriages between persons solely on the basis of racial classifications.

Norwich City F.C. captain Barry Butler is killed in a car accident.

The United Nations Security Council adopts by a 9–0 vote a resolution deploring a British air attack on a fort in Yemen 12 days earlier, in which 25 persons were reported killed.

Sir Winston Churchill becomes honorary citizen of the United States

NASA announces its selection of seven military pilots to become the first U.S. astronauts (later known as the "Mercury Seven").

Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl", printed in England, is seized by U.S. customs officials on the grounds of obscenity.

The United Kingdom announces that Singapore will gain self-rule on January 1, 1958.

Egypt reopens the Suez Canal to all shipping.

Habib Bourguiba is elected prime minister of Tunisia.

Hugo Ballivián's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, which starts a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines.

Multiple tornadoes strike Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas killing 181 people and injuring 970.

The Japanese Navy launches an air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) the Royal Navy aircraft carrier are sunk off the country's East Coast.

The Bataan Peninsula falls and the Bataan Death March begins.

The U.S. acquires full military defense rights in Greenland.

The Faroe Islands are occupied by British troops, following the taking over of Denmark by Nazi Germany. This action is taken to avert a possible German occupation of the islands, which would have had very grave consequences for the course of the Battle of the Atlantic

WWII: Germany invades Denmark and Norway in Operation "Weserübung." The British caign in Norway is simultaneously commenced.

Opening day at Jamaica Racetrack features the use of pari-mutuel betting equipment, a departure from bookmaking heretofore used exclusively throughout New York state. Other NY tracks follow suit later in 1940.

African-American singer Marian Anderson performs before 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after having been denied the use both of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and of a public high school by the federally controlled District of Columbia.

The "Kamikaze" arrives at Croydon Airport in London it is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.

Argentinian anarchist Severino Digiovanni is executed.

April 12 ndash WWI: Canadian troops win the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

The Tico Affair results in the occupation of the Mexican port city of Veracruz for over 6 months.

Canadian Margaret C. MacDonald is appointed Matron-in-Chief of the Canadian Nursing service band and becomes the first woman in the British Empire to reach the rank of major.

Alpha Rho Chi, a professional architecture fraternity, is founded in the Hotel Sherman in Chicago.

The National Farm School (later Delaware Valley College) is chartered in Doylestown, PA.

Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia massacres at least 197 of his own people at Magdala. These are prisoners incarcerated, for the most part, for very trivial offenses, and are killed for requesting bread and water.

American Civil War: General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the American Civil War.

U. S. PresidentAbraham Lincoln is shot at Ford\\'s Theatre in Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth. Doctors attend to the President in the theater then move him to a house across the street. He goes into a coma upon being laid diagonally on a bed.

U. S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth. Doctors attend to the President in the theater then move him to a house across the street. He goes into a coma upon being laid diagonally on a bed.

U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family are attacked in his home by Lewis Powell.

French typesetter Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville sings the French folk song Au Clair de la Lune to his phonautograph producing the world's earliest known sound recording (however, it is not rediscovered until 2008).

San Luis, the oldest permanent settlement in the state of Colorado, is founded by settlers from Taos, New Mexico.

The world's first commercial electric telegraph line comes into operation alongside the Great Western Railway line, from Paddington Station to West Drayton.

Tiroleans rise under the command of Andreas Hofer against French and Bavarian occupation.

The Scottish Jacobite Lord Lovat is beheaded by axe on Tower Hill, London, for high treason (the last man to be executed in this way in Britain).

A fire at the Palace of Whitehall in London destroys its Stone Gallery.

At the mouth of the Mississippi River, near modern Venice, Louisiana, Robert de La Salle buries an engraved plate and a cross, claiming the territory as "La Louisiane" for France.

Spain recognizes Dutch independence.

Siege of Calais : Spanish troops capture Calais.

Edward V becomes King of England.

Treaty of Lodi: Francesco Sforza forms a triple alliance between the duchy of Milan, the republic of Florence and kingdom of Naples.

Battle of Näfels: Glarus in alliance with the Old Swiss Confederation decisively defeat the Habsburgs, despite being outnumbered sixteen to one.

July ndash Revolt of the Ciompi ndash discontent wool carders briefly take over the government of Florence. For the first time, a European government represents all social classes.

Following the death of Pope Gregory XI and riots in Rome calling for a Roman pope, the cardinals, who are mostly French, elect Pope Urban VI (Bartolomeo Prignano, Archbishop of Bari) as the 202nd Pope.

Emperor Go-En'yu of Japan succeeds Emperor Go-Kōgon of Japan, becoming the 5th and last of the Northern Ashikaga Pretenders.

Haakon VI of Norway marries Margaret I of Denmark.

Battle of Liegnitz: The Mongols under the command of Baidar, Kadan and Orda Khan, defeat the feudal Polish nobility, including the Knights Templar.

Llywelyn the Great launches a caign against the Norman lordships in Wales.

Mongol troops cross the Yalu River into Korea, then under the Goryeo Kingdom.

After a bizarre weather phenomena of yellowish clouds and dust chokes the air around Hangzhou, Song Dynasty, China, obscuring the sky and sun, a fire breaks out at night in the southeast of the city, which continues into the next day. Fighting the flames is difficult due to limited visibility. When the fires are extinguished, it is discovered that an entire district of some 10,000 houses in the southeast of the city were consumed by the flames.

Italy: Emperor Frederick II promulgates the Constitutions of Melfi (also known as "Liber Augustalis"), a collection of laws for Sicily.

Spain: The Castillans reconquer the city of Quesada.ref name=linehan1999

Ardengus becomes bishop of Florence.

Italy: The Pandorica is donated to the Vatican

Peter of Courtenay is crowned emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople at Rome, by Pope Honorius III.

The Treaty of Durham is signed between King Stephen of England and David I of Scotland.

Emperor Zeno, age 66, dies of dysentery after a 17-year reign. He has no sons to succeed him and the Albanian-born Anastasius, palace official ("silentiarius") and favoured friend of empress Ariadne, is elevated to the throne.

Summer ndash Emperor Julius Nepos grants the Visigoth king Euric legal tenure of his conquests, which include Provence (region of Gaul) in exchange for full independence.

Basiliscus issues a circular letter ("Enkyklikon") to the bishops of his empire, promoting the Miaphysite christological position. The religious views will make him highly unpopular.

The Roman governors Clodius Albinus (Britannia) and Pescennius Niger (Syria) claim with support of their troops the imperial throne.

Lucius Septimius Severus is proclaimed Emperor by his troops in Illyricum (Balkans). He marches with his army (16 legions) to Rome.

Abilene is granted to Agrippa I.

An earthquake destroys Antioch.

Saint Peter founds the Syrian Orthodox Church (traditional date).

Probable year of the conversion of the PhariseeSaul of Tarsus to Christianity after a vision. After 39 he is recognised as Saint Paul.