Unix Timestamp: 1049241600
Wednesday, April 2. 2003, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The Group of 20 announces a US$1-trillion agreement to combat the current financial crisis. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7979483.stm (BBC)

The second G-20summit, involving state leaders rather than the usual finance ministers, meets in London. Its main focus is an ongoing global financial crisis.

The European Union announces an investigation into the bailout of the Northern Rock bank in the United Kingdom. //uk.reuters.com/article/companyResultsNews/idUKBRU00642320080402 (Reuters)

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko dissolves the parliament during a nationally televised speech, calling for early parliamentary elections on 27 May 2007. //www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006927330 (All Headline News)

Pope John Paul II dies over 4 million people travel to the Vatican to mourn him.

Israeli forces besiege the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, when militants take shelter there.

An explosion in Gaza kills 8, including a Hamas leader.

Government-imposed price increases double or triple the prices of consumer goods in the Soviet Union.

A bomb explodes on a Trans World Airlines flight from Rome to Athens, killing 4 people.

Indian Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma is launched into space, aboard the "Soyuz T-11".

The Falklands War begins: Argentinainvades and occupies the Falkland Islands.

The St Pauls riot breaks out in Bristol.

Cambodia recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

A tornado hits Wichita Falls, Texas, killing 42 people (the most notable of 26 tornadoes that day).

Sverdlovsk Anthrax leak: A Sovietbiowarfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.

Horse Racing ndash Red Rum wins a record third Grand National at Aintree racecourse.

Norodom Sihanouk is forced to resign as Head of State of Kuchea by the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot and is placed under house arrest.

The LexisNexis computerized legal research service begins.

A United Nations delegation arrives in Aden due to approaching independence. They leave April 7, accusing British authorities of lack of cooperation. The British say the delegation did not contact them.

The Indonesian army demands that the country rejoin the United Nations.

Mrs. Malcolm Peabody, 72, mother of Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody, is released on $450 bond after spending 2 days in a St. Augustine, Florida jail, for participating in an anti-segregation demonstration there.

The Beatles hold the top 5 positions in the Billboard Top 40 singles in America, an unprecedented achievement. The top songs in America as listed on April 4, in order, are: Can\\\'t Buy Me Love, Twist and Shout, She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand, and Please Please Me.

The Beatles hold the top 5 positions in the Billboard Top 40 singles in America, an unprecedented achievement. The top songs in America as listed on April 4, in order, are: Can't Buy Me Love, Twist and Shout, She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand, and Please Please Me.

Three high school friends in Hoboken, N.J., open the first BLIMPIE on Washington Street.

The first episode of "As the World Turns" is broadcast on the CBS television network

: WWII: Ascq massacre members of the 2th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend shoot 85 people. When a train approaches the Gare d'Ascq railyway station the railway line is blown apart.

An anti-monarchist rebellion occurs in Siam (Thailand).

In a cricket test match against New Zealand, England batsman Wally Hammond scores a record 336 runs.ref name=Cassell's Chronology

First flight over Mount Everest, a British expedition, led by the Marquis of Clydesdale, and funded by Lucy, Lady Houston

The German army marches to the Ruhr to fight the Ruhr Red Army.

WWI: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.

The Simplon Tunnel is officially opened through the Alps.

"Electric Theatre," the first movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles, California.

The battle of Frog Lake, Alberta between the Cree and mounties.

American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet flee the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, which is taken by Union troops the next day.

The first Italian Parliament met at Turin. Italy was unified. The Rothschild banking empire bankrolled Italy’s independence.

The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states end and fail.

Forty merchantmen are wrecked when a convoy led by the HMS "Apollo" runs aground off Portugal.

First Battle of Copenhagen: The British fleet under Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, along with Admiral Horatio Nelson, attack Copenhagen the Armed Neutrality of the North is dissolved.

The only night of the would-be Shakespearean play "Vortigern and Rowena" (actually written by William Henry Ireland) ends in the audience's laughter.

The Coinage Act is passed, establishing the United States Mint.

A Charter of Justice is signed providing the authority for the establishment of the first New South Wales (i.e. Australian) Courts of Criminal and Civil Jurisdiction.

A naval fleet led by Commodore William James of the East India Company captures Tulaji Angre's fortress Suvarnadurg from the Marathas.

John Bevis observes the Crab Nebula for the first time.

Laura Bassi becomes the first official female university teacher on being appointed professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna at the age of 21.

English Captain Charles Gough rediscovers Gough Island in the South Atlantic.

Royal Colony of North Carolina Governor George Burrington asks the North Carolina General Assembly to pass an act establishing a town on the Cape Fear River, in what is seen as a political move to shift the power away from the powerful Cape Fear plantation class. The town is laid out in 1733 and incorporated as Wilmington in 1740.

The town of Raynham, Massachusetts in Bristol County is entered as a new town by the governor and court of Massachusetts, New England, America.

The Royal Theatre of Mantua (Italy) is built by Ferdinando Galli Bibiena.

Benjamin Franklin starts the Library Company of Philadelphia.

In Rome, Pope Clement XcanonizesRose of Lima, making her the first Catholic saint of the Americas.

April 3 ndash Peace of Cateau Cambrésis: France makes peace with England and Spain, ending the Italian War of 1551–1559. France gives up most of its gains in Italy (including Savoy), keeping only Saluzzo, but keeps the three Lorraine bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and the formerly English town of Calais.

May ndash Portuguese explorer Jorge Álvares lands on Lintin Island in the Pearl River estuary. This is followed up by Rafael Perestrello, a cousin of Christopher Columbus, who commands an expedition from Portuguese Malacca in 1516 to land on the shores of mainland southern China, in order to trade with Chinese merchants at Guangzhou.

Juan Ponce de Leon and his expedition become the first Europeans known to visit Florida, landing somewhere on the east coast.

May 29 ndash Siege and Fall of Constantinople (now Istanbul): The OttomanSultanMehmet II the Conqueror ends the Byzantine Empire by capturing the capital, Constantinople. Mortars are perhaps used in battle for the first time in this action.

Pope Honorius IV succeeds Pope Martin IV as the 190th pope.

Emperor Zhezong becomes emperor of Song Dynasty. Empress Dowager Gao cancells all the reforms packages and dismisses pro-reform Wang Anshi.

Gerbert of Aurillac becomes Pope Silvester II and succeeds Pope Gregory V as the 139th pope.

Christianity is adopted in Iceland.

Sigmundur Brestisson introduces Christianity in the Faroe Islands.