Unix Timestamp: 1063411200
Saturday, September 13. 2003, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The US consulate in the suburbs of Berlin, Germany, is briefly evacuated due to suspicions over the contents of an envelope. //www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/13/us-germany-usa-consulate-idUSBRE88C0KG20120913 (Reuters)

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva heavily criticises the rich countries, the G8 and other international bodies over the global economic crisis. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8253318.stm (BBC)

Teeth and bones from a range of animals, including hyenas, deer and rhinos, are discovered by archaeologists inside a cave in Devon, England. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/8253091.stm (BBC)

Google sponsors a US$30 million spaceflight contest to land a robotic lander on the moon and beam back a gigabyte of images and videos to earth. //www.topix.net/content/ap/2007/09/google-sponsors-30-million-moon-contest-2 (AP via Topix)

A second major earthquake off the coast of Sumatra prompts tsunami warnings for Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands. //www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/13/2031753.htm (ABC News Australia) //in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-29500420070913 (Reuters)

Many petrol stations across the United Kingdom experienced increased demand ahead of the 2005 fuel protests. //today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNewsstoryID=2005-09-13T174007Z_01_KWA340726_RTRUKOC_0_UK-EUROPE-FUEL-BRITAIN.xml (Reuters)

Davíð Oddsson, Prime Minister of Iceland, steps down after serving as prime minister since April 30, 1991. Oddson trades posts with his foreign minister Halldór Ásgrímsson, who then becomes Prime Minister.

Security at the Palace of Westminster is compromised, when the House of Commons is stormed by a small group of protestors during a debate about fox hunting.

The U.S. Assault Weapons Ban expires.

Girl A, who committed the Sasebo slashing, is sentenced to be institutionalized.

Iraq disarmament crisis: An Iraqi military officer attacks an UNSCOM weapons inspector on board an UNSCOM helicopter, while the inspector attempts to take photographs of unauthorized movement of Iraqi vehicles inside a site designated for inspection.

Alija Izetbegović is elected president of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the country's first election since the Bosnian War.

President Bill Clinton signs the Assault Weapons Ban, which bans the manufacture of new weapons with certain features for a period of 10 years.

Scavengers open an old radiation source abandoned in a hospital in Goiânia, causing the worst radiation accident ever in an urban area.

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake rocks the city of Kalamata in southern Greece, killing 20 people, injuring 80 and completely destroying one-fifth of the city.

The Big Mac Index is introduced in "The Economist" newspaper as a semi-humorous international measure of purchasing power parity.

Japanese Red Army members seize the French Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands.

The first New York City Marathon begins.

The first-ever episode of "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" is broadcast on CBS: What a Night for a Knight.

TASS reports on clashes between the Chinese Communist Party and the Red Guards.

The Metropolitan Opera House opens at Lincoln Center in New York City to the world premiere of Samuel Barber's opera, "Antony and Cleopatra".

In South Vietnam, Thich Tri Quang ends a 100-day hunger strike.

The Congress of Arab Countries begins in CasablancaHabib Bourguiba of Tunisia boycotts the meeting.

The hard disk drive is invented by an IBM team led by Reynold B. Johnson.

The Soviet Union vetoes United Nations membership for Ceylon, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Jordan and Portugal.

Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru suggests the exchange of four million Hindus and Muslims between India and Pakistan.

The followers of Konrad Henlein begin an armed revolt against the Czechoslovak government in Sudetenland. Martial law is declared and after much bloodshed on both sides order is temporarily restored. Neville Chamberlain personally sends a telegram to Hitler urgently requesting that they both meet.

Howard Hughes, flying the Hughes H-1 Racer, sets an airspeed record of 352 mph (566 km/h).

Military coup in Spain: Miguel Primo de Rivera takes over, setting up a dictatorship. Trade unions are banned for 10 years.

15 ndash Fire, probably started by Greek troops, destroys most of Smyrna

Mary, a circus elephant, is hanged in the town of Erwin, Tennessee for killing her handler, Walter Red Eldridge.

South African troops open hostilities in German South-West Africa (today Namibia) with an assault on the Ramansdrift police station.

September 28 ndash The First Battle of the Aisne ends indecisively.

Philippine-American War: Filipino resistance fighters defeat a large American column in the Battle of Pulang Lupa.

Mackinder, Ollier and Brocherel make the first ascent of Batian (5,199m ndash 17,058 ft), the highest peak of Mount Kenya.

1882 Anglo-Egyptian War: British troops occupy Cairo, and Egypt becomes a British protectorate.

First ascent of Piz Bernina, the highest summit of the eastern Alps.

Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage survives a 3-foot-plus iron rod being driven through his head.

With his crew and 29 convicts aboard the "Amity", John Oxley arrives at and founds the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement at what is now Redcliffe in Queensland, Australia, after leaving Sydney.

War of 1812: The British bombard Fort McHenry at Baltimore. The British failure at the Battle of Baltimore is a turning point in the war, and the American defense of the fort inspires Francis Scott Key to compose the poem later set to music as "The Star-Spangled Banner".

Louis XVI of France accepts the final version of the completed constitution.

Prussian troops enter the Netherlands. Within a few weeks 40,000 Patriots (out of a population of 2,000,000) go into exile in France (and learn from observation the ideals of the French Revolution).

Seven Years\\\\\' War (French and Indian War): Quebec falls to British forces following General Wolfe's victory in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham just outside the city. Both the French Commander (the Marquis de Montcalm) and the British General James Wolfe are fatally wounded.

Seven Years' War (French and Indian War): Quebec falls to British forces following General Wolfe's victory in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham just outside the city. Both the French Commander (the Marquis de Montcalm) and the British General James Wolfe are fatally wounded.

The Treaty of Worms is signed between Great Britain, Austria, and Sardinia.

Battle of Philiphaugh: Covenanters defeat Montrose at Selkirk.

A total of 16 rabbis (including Isaiah Horowitz) are imprisoned in Jerusalem.

Philip III of Spain starts to rule.

September 14 ndash Battle of Marignano: The army of Francis I of France defeats the Swiss, thanks to the timely arrival of a Venetian army. Francis restores French control of Milan.

Gilles de Rais is taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by the Bishop of Nantes.

Eric of Pomerania, King of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, loses direct control of Sweden. Karl Knutsson Bonde is elected Regent of Sweden.

Afonso V becomes King of Portugal.

Council of Florence is moved to Ferrara.

Just two years after the Ming Dynasty court of China allowed landowners paying the grain tax to pay their tax in silver instead, the Ming court now decides to close all silver mines and to ban all private silver mining in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. This is a concerted effort to halt the increase of silver circulating into the market. Illegally mining silver is now an offense punishable by death although illegal mining became a dangerous affair, the high demand for illegal mining also made it very lucrative, and so many chose to defy the government and continued to mine silver.

In Italy, the siege of Brescia by the condottieri troops of Niccolò Piccinino is raised after the arrival of Scaramuccia da Forlì.

Pachacuti (who will later create Tahuantinsuyu, or the Inca Empire) becomes the ruler of Cuzco.

All Souls College, University of Oxford is founded.

Pope John XXI succeeds Pope Adrian V as the 187th pope, becoming the fourth man this calendar year to hold the office of pope.

The foundation stone of the Minoritenkirche in Vienna is laid by King Otakar II of Bohemia.

Saint Laurence becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.

Mellitus becomes Bishop of London and founds the first St. Paul's Cathedral.

Justus founds a cathedral in Rochester, England.

Pope Sabinian succeeds Pope Gregory I as the 65th pope.

Battle of Ad Decimum: Gelimer attempts to ambush the Byzantines in a defile at the 10th milestone from Carthage, due to inadequate coordination and the alertness of Belisarius, the attack is repulsed and the Vandals are scattered into the desert. Belisarius enters the capital and orders his soldiers not to kill or enslave the population. The fleet is stationed in the Lake of Tunis.

Gregory Nazianzus becomes Patriarch of Constantinople, and is wounded when he is attacked by a mob of heretics.

John Chrysostom writes a book on the Christian education of children.

Yax Nuun Ayiin (I) becomes ruler of Tikal.

Emperor Constantine I consecrated the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

The building of Hadrian's Wall begins.

Change of era name from "Jianguang" (2nd year) to "Yanguang" of the Chinese Eastern Han Dynasty.

Hadrian gives up the territories conquered in Scotland.