Unix Timestamp: 1031788800
Thursday, September 12. 2002, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe rules that Germany's participation in the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is, conditionally, within the German Constitution's limits, allowing President Gauck to approve the Bundestag's previous agreement with the mechanism. //www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19567867 (BBC)

Approximately 100 people die after a petrol pipeline explodes in Nairobi.

At least 240 bodies have been recovered off the coast of Zanzibar following Saturday's ferry sinking. //news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-09/12/c_131133707.htm (Xinhua)

At least 75 people are killed by a petrol pipeline explosion in Nairobi, Kenya. //www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14879401 (BBC)

Aeroflot Flight 821 crashes near the city of Perm, Russia, killing all 88 on board.

Churches are attacked in Mangalore and southern Karnataka, India, leading to Christian protests and strong police suppression.ref name=AN

Following negotiations, President Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara sign a power-sharing deal, making Tsvangirai the new Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.

Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, laying the catalyst for the Global financial crisis.

A Metrolink train collides head-on into a freight train in Los Angeles, California, killing 25 and injuring 130.

Panic buying of petrol and diesel is in full swing across Britain, with long queues outside service stations in a worrying echo of the 2000 Fuel Protest. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4236676.stm (BBC)

Hong Kong Disneyland Resort in Penny\'s Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong opens.

Libya: The United Nations today ends 15-year old sanctions against Libya. The sanctions were imposed following the Lockerbie disaster. The sanctions are lifted following payment by Libya (following an admission of responsibility) of to the families of those who died in the bombing.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Arab and Non-Aligned nations call on the United Nations Security Council to stop Israel carrying out its threat to expel the head of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, from the West Bank. Elsewhere the European Union and Russia describe the Israeli proposal as a 'terrible mistake'. UN General Secretary Kofi Annan calls the Israel's proposed action dangerous and unwise. The Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, who takes over as President of the European Council in January, tells journalists after a summit meeting with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris that he is shocked by the Israeli plan and said his government is totally opposed to the Israeli plan. The United States Ambassador to Israel meets the Israeli Defence Minister to outline American hostility to the plan. //www.rte.ie/news/2003/0912/mideast.html//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3105180.stm//www.rte.ie/news/2003/0912/annank.html

Israel sends tanks into Jericho, West Bank, starting a new military operation.

Under international pressure to allow an international peacekeeping force, Indonesian president BJ Habibie announced on 12 September that he would do so.

Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica it turns towards Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula 2 days later, causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.

Kenan Evren stages a military coup in Turkey. It stops political gang violence, but begins stronger state violence leading to the execution of many young activists.

After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established.

Former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is killed in Asunción, Paraguay.

Hurricane Frederic makes landfall at 10:00 p.m. on Alabama's Gulf Coast.

South African activist Steve Biko dies after suffering a massive head injury in police custody in Pretoria, South Africa.

Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is deposed by the Derg.

President John F. Kennedy, at a speech at Rice University, reaffirms that the U.S. will put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

Jack Kilby invents the first integrated circuit.

Communist riots erupt in Berlin.

The State of Hyderabad is invaded by the Indian Army on the day after Pakistani leader Jinnah's death, to assist damage control. Operation Polo leads to the independence of Hyderabad state and its amalgamation into the Indian union.

The Japanese Army formally surrenders to the British in Singapore.

WWII: Northern and Southern France invasion forces link up near Dijon.

WWII: German paratroopers rescue Mussolini from imprisonment, in Operation Oak.

The RMS "Laconia", carrying civilians, Allied soldiers and Italian POWs, is torpedoed off the coast of West Africa and sinks.

WWII: The first snowfall is reported on the Russian front.

Hitler makes his much-anticipated closing address at Nuremberg, in which he vehemently attacks the Czech people and President Beneš. American news commentator Hans von Kaltenborn begins his famous marathon of broadcast bulletins over the CBS Radio Network with a summation of Hitler's address.

Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southton Row in Bloomsbury, conceives the idea of the nuclear chain reaction.

Cricket player Wilfred Rhodes ends his 1,110-game first-class career by taking 5 for 95 for H.D.G. Leveson Gower's XI against the Australians.

The Battle of Saragarhi: Twenty-one Sikhs of the 36th Sikh of the Sikh Regiment of British India, defend an army post against 10,000 Afghan and Orakzai tribesmen. The battle occurs in the North-West Frontier Province Afghanistan, now a part of Pakistan, which then formed part of British India.

Arbroath 36-0 Bon Accord, the highest score ever in professional soccer.

Francis Howell High School (Howell Institute) in St. Charles, Missouri, and Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas open on the same day, putting them in a tie for the title of the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi River.

King Leopold II of Belgium hosts the Brussels Geographic Conference on the subject of colonizing and exploring central Africa. By the event's conclusion a new international body named the International African Association is established.

13 ndash The PO's runs aground and sinks in the Red Sea 31 drowned.

The sinks off the coast of North Carolina, killing 425 people.

One of the successes of the Revolutions of 1848, the Swiss Federal Constitution, patterned on the US Constitution, enters into force, creating a federal republic and one of the first modern democratic states in Europe.

Francis I is elected Holy Roman Emperor with the support of his wife, Maria Theresia of Austria. He is the successor of Charles VII Albert of Bavaria, an enemy of Habsburg, who died on January 20 of this year.

October ndash A whirlwind blows down the tower of the Gan Takal in Gondar, capital of Ethiopia, killing 30.

War of the Spanish Succession ndash Habsburg Archduke Charles is proclaimed King of Spain.

Battle of Vienna: The Ottoman siege of the city is broken with the arrival of a force of 70,000 Polish, Austrians and Germans under Polish-Lithuanian king Jan III Sobieski, whose cavalry turns their flank (considered to be the turning point in the Ottoman Empire's fortunes).

English colonists abandon Deerfield, Squakeag, and Brookfield due to a coalition of Indian attacks.

Prince Willem III occupies Naarden.

Oliver Cromwell orders the exclusion of the members of Parliament who are hostile to him.

Battle of Stirling takes place in Scotland: Engagers achieve victory over the Kirk Party.

The Treaty of Sztumska Wieś is signed between Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Eighty Years\\\\' War: A Spanish fleet under the command of admiral Antonio de Oquendo defeats a Dutch fleet off the coast of Brazil in the Battle of Albrolhos.

nd 13 ndash Eighty Years\' War: A Spanish fleet carrying an invasion force is intercepted and almost completely destroyed by a Dutch fleet in the Battle of the Slaak.

Henry Hudson discovers the Hudson River aboard the "Halve Maen".

Andrea Doria defeats his former allies, the French, and establishes the independence of Genoa.

Muscovian forces take hold of Tver.

The first historical records or village Lukáčovce, Slovakia.

Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, is bought by the Percy family, later Earls of Northumberland.

Ferdinand IV of Castilecaptures the town of Gibraltar in his caign against the Emirate of Granada.

King Denis of Portugal and King Ferdinand IV of Castile sign the Treaty of Alcanizes. The geographic limits of Portugal are fixed permanently, with the exception of São Félix de Galegos, lost in 1640 and Olivenza, lost in 1801.

A Portuguese Water Dog is first described in a monk’s report of a drowning sailor who had been pulled from the sea by a dog.History of the Portuguese Water Dog, Kathryn Braund and Deyanne Farrell Miller, The Complete Portuguese Water Dog, 1986, //www.deleao.com/UserArea/StaticPages/HistoryofPWD.asp DeLeao.

King Louis IX of France is canonized.

As part of the treaty of Anagni, the king of Aragon is recognized as ruler of the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica by the pope but both islands remain in practice under Pisan and Genoese control.

According to the followers of Nichiren Buddhism, the sect's founder, Nichiren, reaches a turning point known as "hosshaku kempon", as he discards his identity as a mortal priest and begins to reveal himself as a reincarnation of the Buddha.

The Catalan-Aragonese army under the command of James I of Aragon disembarks at Santa Ponça, Majorca, with the purpose of conquering the island.

First Barons' War in England ended by the Treaty of Kingston upon Thames: French and Scots are to leave England, and an amnesty is granted to rebels.ref name=CBH/

Mukhali seizes Mizhou and orders all the inhabitants massacred.

Pope Innocent III issues a charter, calling for the Fifth Crusade to recapture Jerusalem.

Battle of Muret: The Toulousain and Aragonese forces of Raymond VI of Toulouse and Peter II of Aragon are defeated by the Albigensian Crusade under Simon de Montfort.

JinChina is overrun by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, who plunder the countryside and cities, until only Beijing remains free, despite two bloody palace coups and a lengthy siege.

The first diplomatic ties are established between the Korean kingdom of Baekje and the Chinese court of the Jin Dynasty.

The national academy of Chinese learning, called Taehak, is established in the kingdom of Goguryeo (Korea).

Saint Augustine adopts Manichaeism.

Gregory of Nyssa becomes bishop.

Valentinian I bans Manichaean meetings.

Jin Xiaowudi, age 10, succeeds his father Jin Jianwendi. Empress Chu Suanzi serves as regent, but decisions are made by the high officials Xie An and Wang Tanzhi.

Buddhism is adopted as the official religion of Gorguryeo.