Unix Timestamp: 1050364800
Tuesday, April 15. 2003, 12:00:00 AM UTC

A plane from Hewa Bora Airways crashes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 44. //www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/17/news/Congo-Plane-Crash.php (Associated Press) //www.radiookapi.net/index.php?i=53a=18225 (Radio Okapi)

A Hewa Bora AirwaysDC-9crashes into a residential area of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A five-year ban preventing prominent Malaysian Opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim from running for office in Malaysia effectively expires midnight (MST). //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7345790.stm (BBC News) //www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSSP20752520080414 (Reuters)

Anti-Putin protesters in St. Petersburg, a part of the Dissenters March coalition, are beaten by Russian police. //news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070415/ts_nm/russia_protest_dc_ylt=Ai2QBil_1HbAncfw7L5bEAxvaA8F (Reuters) //www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=a618e695-5f19-4446-bc72-27798b6562ffk=38389p=1 (National Post)

An Air ChinaBoeing 767-200 crashes into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Busan, South Korea, killing 128.

The National Assembly of Vietnam adopts the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

President of ZaireMobutu Sese Seko lifts a 20-year ban on opposition parties.

Cold War: West Germany and East Germany agree to merge currency and economies on July 1.

Earth Day 20 is celebrated by millions worldwide.

Lebanon hostage crisis: Lebanese kidnappers release American educator Robert Polhill, who had been held hostage since January 1987.

Food poisoning kills 450 guests at an engagement party in Uttar Pradesh.

"STS-31": The Hubble Space Telescope is launched aboard Space Shuttle "Discovery".//www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-31.html

A treaty ends the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years\' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly.

A treaty ends the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly.

Operation El Dorado Canyon: At least 15 people die after United States planes bomb targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Benghazi region

John McCarthy is kidnapped in Beirut (released in August 1991) ndash 3 others are found dead Revolutionary Cells (RZ) claims responsibility in retaliation for the U.S. bombing of Libya.

The Hindawi Affair begins when an Irishwoman is found unknowingly carrying explosives onto an El Al flight from London to Tel Aviv.

South Africa ends its ban on interracial marriages.

British comedian Tommy Cooper suffers a massive heart attack and dies while live on TV.

Tokyo Disneyland opens.

Libya and Syria recognize the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

1979 Montenegro Earthquake: A major earthquake (7.0 on the Richter scale) strikes Montenegro (then part of Yugoslavia) and parts of Albania, causing extensive damage to coastal areas and taking 136 lives the old town of Budva is devastated.

Federal Express officially begins operations, with the launch of 14 small aircraft from Memphis International Airport. On that night, Federal Express delivers 186 packages to 25 U.S. cities from Rochester, New York, to Miami, Florida.

The German counter-terrorist force GSG 9! confirmed here is officially formed.

Naim Talu, a former civil servant forms the new government of Turkey (36th government)

The Morganza Spillway on the Mississippi River is opened for the first time to prevent catastrophic flooding of New Orleans.

British troops arrive in Northern Ireland to reinforce the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

A grassroots movement of Berkeley community members seizes an empty lot owned by the University of California to begin the formation of People's Park.

The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down the aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board.

Surveyor 3probe lands on the Moon.

An outbreak of tornadoes strikes the upper Midwest section of the United States (in particular the Chicago area, including the suburbs of Belvidere and Oak Lawn, Illinois, where 33 people are killed and 500 injured).

Greece is taken over by a military dictatorship led by George Papadopoulos future-Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou political prisoner to December 25.

Large demonstrations are held against the Vietnam War in New York City and San Francisco.

A Globe Air Bristol Britannia turboprop crashes at Nicosia, Cyprus, killing 126 people.

The 38th Academy Awards ceremony is held.

An anti-Nasser conspiracy is exposed in Egypt.

China declares that it will stop economic aid to Indonesia.

70,000 marchers arrive in London from Aldermaston, to demonstrate against nuclear weapons.

The San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8–0 at San Francisco's Seals Stadium, in the first Major League Baseball regular season game ever played in California.

White Rock secedes from Surrey, British Columbia, following a referendum.

Middle East Treaty Organization (MENTO).

The United States B-52 Stratofortress flies for the first time.

West Germany and Japan form diplomatic relations.

Bolivia National Revolution: A universal vote enables indigenous peoples and women to vote, nationalizes mines and enacts agrarian reform.

Belgian King Leopold III announces that he is ready to abdicate in favor of his son Baudouin.

Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to play modern Major League Baseball.!recall Moses Welday Walker in 1884

April 15 ndash WWII: The Canadian First Army reaches the coast in northern Holland and captures Arnhem.

The Bergen-Belsen concentration c is liberated.

WWII: King George VI awards the George Cross to Malta to mark the Siege of Malta, saying, To honour her brave people I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta, to bear witness to a heroism and a devotion that will long be famous in history (from January 1 to July 24, there is only one 24-hour period during which no bombs fall on this tiny island).

WWII: Axis forces reach Halfaya Pass on the Libyan-Egyptian frontier.

Roerich Pact signed in Washington D.C.

The Castellemmarese War ends with the assassination of Joe The Boss Masseria, briefly leaving Salvatore Maranzano as "capo di tutti i capi" (boss of all bosses) and undisputed ruler of the AmericanMafia. Maranzano is himself assassinated less than 6 months later, leading to the establishment of the Five Families.

Fritz Haarmann, a serial killer convicted of the murder of 24 boys and young men, is beheaded in Germany.

The United Kingdom's Prince of Wales visits the Japanese paramilitary youth group "Seinendan" in annexed Korea.

Save the Children Fund set up in the UK to raise money for the relief of German and Austrian children.

Students at the University of California, Berkeley steal the Stanford Axe from Stanford University yelling at leaders following a baseball game, thus establishing the Axe as a symbol of the rivalry between the schools.

The General Electric Company is established through the merger of the Thomson-Houston Company and the Edison General Electric Company.

Temuco, Chile is founded.

Anti-Semitic pogroms in Southern Russia start.

May 15 ndash First exhibition of the group of young painters, "Société Anonyme Coopérative des Artistes, Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs", at the studio of the photographer Nadar in Paris. Louis Leroy's critical review of it published on 25 April gives rise to the term Impressionism for the movement, with reference to Claude Monet's "Impression, Sunrise".

C. Laan brings order to the chaos created by the dockworker riots of Tripoli, Lebanon.

The city of Khiva falls to Imperial Russian forces, under the command of General Konstantin Petrovich Von Kaufman.

Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received United States patent#139121 for using copperrivets to strengthen the pockets of denim work pants. Levi Strauss Co. began manufacturing the famous Levi's brand of jeans, using fabric from the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, New Hshire.

The Preakness Stakes horse race is run for the first time in Baltimore, Maryland.

Battle of Montejurra: Navarra, Spain was fought during the Third Carlist War.

May ndash Henry Rose exhibits barbed wire at an Illinois county fair, which is taken up by Joseph Glidden and Jacob Haish, who invent a machine to mass-produce it.

"Der Krach": The Vienna stock market crash heralds the Long Depression.

April 17 ndash American Indian Wars: The Second Battle of the Stronghold is fought.

The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police (which is renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920).

Battle of Eraul-Carlists (General Dorregaray) defeat Republicans at Eraul, near Estella during the Third Carlist War.

In Chipping Norton, England rioters attempt to free the Ascott Martyrs – sixteen women sentenced to imprisonment for attempting to dissuade strikebreakers.

Abraham Lincoln dies from his gunshot wound and Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes the 17th President of the United States.

American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln issues a Proclamation calling for 75,000 men to confront in the South, combinations too powerful to be suppressed in the ordinary way.

San Francisco, California is incorporated as a city.

The Lawrence School, Sanawar is established.

King's College Hospital opens in London.

King's College Hospital opens in London.

King William I of Württemberg marries his cousin, Pauline Therese, in Stuttgart.

The American School for the Deaf opens in Hartford, Connecticut.

Preliminary articles of peace ending the American Revolutionary War are ratified.

"A Dictionary of the English Language" is published by Samuel Johnson (he had begun the work 9 years earlier, in 1746).

"Serse", an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, premieres in London.

epeat performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion BWV 244b at the St. Thomas Church, Leipzig

Isaac Newton tells William Stukeley the story of how he developed his theory of gravity.

Shogunate forces defeat the last remnants of the Shimabara Rebellion in the fortress of Hara.

Thirty Years\\' War ndash Gustavus Adolphus defeats Tilly for the second time within a year at the Battle of Rain. Tilly is severely wounded during the battle.

Denmark buys the Estonian island of Saaremaa from its last prince bishop.

Battle of Formigny: French troops under the Comte de Clermont defeat an English army under Sir Thomas Kyriel and Sir Matthew Gough which was attempting to relieve Caen.

Tokhtamysh–Timur war: Battle of the Terek River: Timur defeats Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde at the Volga. The Golden Horde capital city, Sarai, is razed to the ground and Timur installs a puppet ruler on the Golden Horde throne. Tokhtamysh escapes to Lithuania.

Battle of Rovine: With the help of the Hungarians, Wallachia resists an invasion by the Ottomans and their Serb and Bulgarian vassals.

Mary of Hungary dies, ending of the reign of Hungary by the Capet-Anjou family. Her co-reigning estranged husband, King Sigismund, becomes sole ruler of Hungary.

Llywelyn ap Gruffyd is subdued by King Edward I of England in the First Welsh War.

St George\'s cross is first used as the flag of England.

Battle of Elbistan: Mamluk sultan Baibars invades the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm and defeats a Mongol army.

A number of philosophical doctrines such as Averroism are banned from Paris at a condemnation at the University of Paris.

In Japan, a 20 kilometer stone wall defending the coast of Hakata Bay in Fukuoka is completed it is built in response to the attempted invasion by the Yuan Dynasty in 1274.

A fire breaks out in the Song Chinese capital city of Hangzhou, raging for 4 days and nights, destroying 58,097 houses over an area of more than 3 miles, killing 59 people, and an unrecorded amount of other people who are trled while attempting to flee. The government provides temporary lodging for 5,345 people in nearby Buddhist and Taoist monasteries. The collective victims of the disaster are given 160,000 strings of cash, along with 400 tons of rice. Some of the government officials who lost their homes take up residence in rented boathouses on the nearby West Lake.

The last Byzantine-controlled city in southern Italy, Bari, is captured by Robert Guiscard.ref name=encyclopedia