Unix Timestamp: 1070409600
Wednesday, December 3. 2003, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The governing Australian Labor Party changes its platform in support of gay marriage at its conference in Sydney, paving the way for legislation. //www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/alp-platform-changes-to-support-gay-marriage/story-fnba0rxe-1226212916021 ("The Australian")

The Convention on Cluster Munitions opens for signature in Oslo.ref name=cluster/

14 ndash The United Nations Climate Change Conference is held at Nusa Dua in Bali, Indonesia.

The Colombian government extradites Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, one of the most powerful drug dealers in the world, arrested in 1995 and 2003, to the United States.

Hamid Karzai is sworn in as head of the interim government in Afghanistan.

The People\'s Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade status with the United States.

U.S. President George W. Bush announces the United States' withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

The Parliament of India is attacked 12 are killed. This brings India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

Typhoon Vamei forms within 1.5 degrees of the equator. No other tropical cyclone in recorded history has come as close to the equator.

A Paris–Miami, Florida flight is diverted to Boston, Massachusetts after passenger Richard Reid attempts to set his shoe, filled with explosives, on fire.

Officials announce that one of the Taliban prisoners captured after the prison uprising at Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan is John Walker Lindh, an American citizen.

The United States government indicts Zacarias Moussaoui for involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Law enforcement raid members of DrinkOrDie in Operation Buccaneer.

In Ottawa, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign a treaty prohibiting the manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel land mines. However, the United States, the People's Republic of China, and Russia do not sign the treaty.

Strikes paralyze France's public sector.

A final soil sle is taken from the site of Times Beach, Missouri. It is found to contain 300 times the safe level of dioxin.

The wreck of the "HMHS Britannic" is found in the Kea Channel by Jacques Cousteau.

Pioneer program: "Pioneer 10" sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.

December 4 ndash The Pakistani submarine PNS "Ghazi" (former USS "Diablo") sinks mysteriously near Indian coast while laying mines.

The McGurk's Bar bombing by the UVF in Belfast kills 15.

The McGurk\'s Bar bombing by the UVF in Belfast kills 15.

The Montreux Casino burns down during a Frank Zappa concert. The event is memorialized in the Deep Purple song Smoke on the Water. The casino is rebuilt in 1975.

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 begins as Pakistan launches preemptive attacks 9 Indian airbases. The next day India launches a massive invasion of East Pakistan.

December 4 ndash The Pakistani submarinePNS ''Ghazi'' (former USS "Diablo") sinks mysteriously near Indian coast while laying mines.

Burgos Trial: In Burgos, Spain, the trial of 16 Basque terrorism suspects begins.

Giovanni Enrico Bucher, the Swiss ambassador to Brazil, is kidnapped in Rio de Janeiro kidnappers demand the release of 70 political prisoners.

October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross is released by the Front de libération du Québec terrorist group after being held hostage for 60 days. Police negotiate his release and in return the Government of Canada grants 5 terrorists from the FLQ's Chenier Cell their request for safe passage to Cuba.

The U.N. General Assembly supports the isolation of South Africa for its apartheid policies.

During his visit to the Polish capital, German Chancellor Willy Brandt goes down on his knees in front of a monument to the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto.

The Asian and Australian tour of Pope Paul VI ends.

The U.N. announces that Portuguese navy and army units were responsible for the attempted invasion of Guinea.

The Spanish government declares a 3-month martial law in the Basque county of Guipuzco, over strikes and demonstrations.

Fluminense wins the Brazil Football Chionship.

The '68 Comeback Special marks the concert return of Elvis Presley.

Vietnam War: U.S. and South Vietnamese forces engage Viet Cong troops in the Mekong Delta (235 of the 300-strong Viet Cong battalion are killed).

Christiaan Barnard carries out the world's first heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.

At 6:50 PM, a volcano erupts on Deception Island in Antarctica.

Anti-Portuguese demonstrations occur in Macau a curfew is declared the next day.

Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Police arrest about 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, following their takeover of and massive sit-in at the Sproul Hall administration building. The sit-in most directly protested the U.C. Regents' decision to punish student activists for what many thought had been justified civil disobedience earlier in the conflict.

The Warren Commission begins its investigation.

The Lebanese University is founded in Lebanon.

Communist demonstrations in Athens presage the Greek Civil War.

WWII: Fighting breaks out between Communists and royalists in newly liberated Greece, eventually leading to a full-scale Greek Civil War.

Edward R. Murrow delivers his classic Orchestrated Hell broadcast over CBS Radio, describing a Royal Air Force nighttime bombing raid on Berlin.

World War II: In Yugoslavia, resistance leader Marshal Josip Broz Tito proclaims a provisional democratic Yugoslav government in-exile.

The Great Depression officially ends in the United States: With unemployment figures falling fast due to WWII-related employment, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes the Works Progress Administration

Radio station WQXR is officially founded in New York City.

In Rio de Janeiro, a seaplane sent to greet Alberto Santos-Dumont crashes near Cap Arcona, killing all on board.

Agatha Christie disappears from her home in Surrey on December 14 she is found at the Harrogate Hotel.

Halifax Explosion: Two freighters collide in Halifax Harbour at Halifax, Nova Scotia and cause a huge explosion that kills at least 1,963 people, injures 9,000 and destroys part of the city (until the Trinitynuclear test, the biggest manmade explosion in recorded history).

After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic (the bridge partially collapsed on August 29, 1907 and September 11, 1916).

Finland officially declares independence from Russia.

Charles Dillon Perrine discovers Jupiter's largest irregular satellite, Himalia.

George Smith presents the first translation of the "Epic of Gilgamesh" to a meeting of the Society of Biblical Archaeology in London.

The Eureka Stockade Miner's Rebellion breaks out in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

U.S. presidential election, 1832: Andrew Jackson is re-elected president.

32,000 Angolans are sold in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

U.S. presidential election: Andrew Jackson is elected President of the United States.

Ányos Jedlik creates the world's first electric motor.

A typhoon kills approximately 10,000 people in Kyūshū, Japan.

Friedrich Wöhler synthesizes Urea, possibly discrediting a cornerstone of vitalism.

U.S. presidential election, 1824: None of the four candidates for U.S. President gain a majority of the electoral votes, so the election is thrown into the U.S. House of Representatives.

U.S. presidential election: James Monroe is re-elected, virtually unopposed.

Illinois is admitted as the 21st U.S. state.

Thomas Jefferson defeats Charles C. Pinckney in the U.S. presidential election.

Battle of Hohenlinden: the French army defeats German troops.

Pierre Coudrin and Henriette Aymer de la Chevalerie found the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Paris.

An assault on Napoleon Bonaparte fails in Paris.

George Washington is re-elected President of the United States.

James Rumsey demonstrates a water-jet propelled boat on the Potomac.

Baron Jacob Hop is appointed as the treasurer-general of The Hague.

The Parliament of England passes the Triennial Act requiring general elections every three years.

In Ireland, the Diocese of Kildare is united with Leighlin to form the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin.

About 1,200 Irish families sail from Barbados to Virginia and the Carolinas.

Roman Catholics banned from English parliament

Rebellion breaks out in Southern China.

The first chrysanthemums are planted in Europe.

December 21 (Feast of St Thomas the Apostle) ndash They discover "Isla Santo Tomé", probably Socorro Island.

Ivan IV succeeds his father Vasili III as Grand Prince of Muscovy at three years old.

Pechenga Monastery is founded in the far north of Russia.

December 28 ndash They discover "Isla de los Inocentes", probably San Benedicto Island.American Geographical Society (1967). "//books.google.com/books?id=eUcsAAAAMAAJq=hernando+de+grijalva+inocentesdq=hernando+de+grijalva+inocenteshl=csei=rEmGTfuXCIeDgAfPg_nUCAsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=9ved=0CEoQ6AEwCA Special publication" "'38"' p. 370. New York. ISSN 0065-843X

Paracelsus interprets the Bible in Appenzell.

The Statute in Restraint of Appeals declares the king to be the supreme sovereign in England and forbids judicial appeals to the papacy.

December ndash Hernando de Grijalva and his crew discover the uninhabited Revillagigedo Islands off the Pacific coast of Mexico

1533–1534 ndash Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent makes the Ruthenian harem girl Roxelana his legal wife.

Metz Cathedral is completed./onlyinclude

The Great Council of the Republic of Venice attempts to curb the power of the Council of Ten through legislation restricting them to acting on emergency matters.

Lorenzo de\' Medici and his brother Giuliano de' Medici succeed their father, Piero di Cosimo de' Medici.

The Lancastrians surrender Harlech Castle to King Edward IV of England after a seven-year siege.

Orkney is pledged by Christian I, in his capacity as King of Norway, as security against the payment of the dowry of his daughter Margaret, betrothed to James III of Scotland. As the money is never paid, the connection with the crown of Scotland becomes perpetual.

Jin Huaidi, emperor of the Jin Dynasty, is captured at Luoyang. The capital city is pillaged by Liu Cong, ruler of the Xiongnu state (Huns), the invaders slaughter 30.000 citizens.

Diocletianus dies at his palace in Split (Croatia). Possible he commits suicide.