Unix Timestamp: 1071619200
Wednesday, December 17. 2003, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Flash floods triggered by Tropical Storm Washi kill at least 400 people in the Philippines with hundreds more missing. //hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_PHILIPPINES_STORM?SITE=WVECSECTION=HOMETEMPLATE=DEFAULT (AP via WVEC) //www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-16229394 (BBC) //www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-18/hundreds-killed-in-massive-philippines-storm/3736782 (AFP via ABC News Australia)

The death toll from the Christmas Island wreck rises to 30 with many still missing. //news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101217/ap_on_re_as/as_australia_boat_sinks (AP via Yahoo! News)

Ruins of an entire ancient city belonging to the Wari culture are discovered in northern Peru. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7787053.stm (BBC)

President of Russia Vladimir Putin agrees to become Prime Minister after his term as president ends. //edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/12/17/putin.russia.ap/index.html (CNN)

The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement takes 72 hostages in the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru.

Gustáv Husák resigns as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.

The Perlprogramming language is created by Larry Wall.

Square Co., Ltd. releases "Final Fantasy" in Japan for the Famicom.

American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is kidnapped in Verona by the Italian Red Brigades.

WIPO becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.

Harold Holt, Australian prime minister, disappears when swimming at a beach 60 km from Melbourne.

South Africa does not join the trade embargo against Rhodesia.

The British government begins an oil embargo against Rhodesia the United States joins the effort.

A circus tent fire in Niterói, Brazil kills 323.

Troops loyal to EmperorHaile Selassie I in Ethiopia overcome the coup that began on December 13, returning the reins to the Emperor upon his return from a trip to Brazil. The Emperor absolves his own son of any guilt.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approves color television.

Burma recognizes the People's Republic of China.

WWII: German troops carry out the Malmedy massacre.

The Allies issue the Joint Declaration by Members of the United Nations, the first time they publicly acknowledge the Holocaust.

An airplane carrying prominent Ustashe general Jure Francetić crashes. Francetić dies as result of the injuries on December 27.

An avalanche in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania kills 26, including Vulcan Crucible Steel Co heir-apparent Samuel A. Stafford Sr., when two 100 ton boulders fall on a bus filled with wartime steel workers on their way home.

President Roosevelt, at his regular press conference, first sets forth the outline of his plan to send aid to Great Britain that will become known as Lend-Lease.

Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of Uranium, the scientific and tecnological basis of nuclear energy, which marks the beginning of the Atomic age.

The socialist party of Sri Lanka, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, is founded.

Douglas DST, prototype of the Douglas DC-3 airliner, first flies, in the United States. More than 16,000 of the model will eventually be produced.

Samuel Hoare resigns as British foreign secretary and is replaced by Anthony Eden.

The "U.S. submarine S-4" is accidentally rammed and sunk by the United States Coast Guard cutter "John Paulding" off Provincetown, Massachusetts, killing everyone aboard despite several unsuccessful attempts to raise the submarine.

A democratically elected government is overthrown during the 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania.

A democratically elected government is overthrown during the 1926 Lithuanian coup d\'étatAntanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania.

Grigori Rasputin is murdered.

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act (initially introduced by Francis Burton Harrison).

King Albert I of Belgium succeeds his uncle, Leopold II, on the throne.

Ottoman Empire slaughters thousands of Armenian Christians.

Karl Landsteiner develops a system of blood grouping.

Orville Wright flies an aircraft with a petrol engine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in the first documented, successful, controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight.

English adventurer Thomas Stevens concludes the first circumnavigation by bicycle in Yokohama, having set out on his penny-farthing from San Francisco in 1884.

"General Order No. 11", which expelled all Jews from his military district, is issued by General Ulysses S. Grant. This order is rescinded a just few weeks later.

At Le Mans, France, Father Basil Moreau, CSC, founds the Congregation of Holy Cross by joining the Brothers of St. Joseph and the Auxiliary Priests of Le Mans.

Louis Daguerre develops the daguerreotype.

Fire in the Winter Palace, Saint Petersburg.

The 5th century BC Berlin Foundry Cup is acquired for the Antikensammlung Berlin in Germany.

Joseph Haydn composes the music to "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser," the tune of which also became the music to the German national anthem, "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles".

Napoleon leads a successful French charge against Fort l'Aiguilette to secure Toulon.

The XYZ Affair inflames tensions between France and the United States.

Foundation of the Lautaro Lodge by Francisco de Miranda, membership will include many independence leaders such as Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín.

Austria, Great Britain, and France declare war on Spain, launching the War of the Quadruple Alliance.

The white potato reaches New England from England.

Austria completes its conquest of Hungary, formerly a part of the Ottoman Empire.

The Funj warrior aristocracy deposes the reigning "mek" and places one of their own ranks on the throne of Sennar (History of Sudan).

The first opera house, "Teatro San Cassiano", opens in Venice.

Second Manchu invasion of Korea: The Joseon court reluctantly submits to the Manchu's demands of vassalhood while continuing to pledge loyalty to the Chinese Ming Dynasty.

Six European ships dock at a port in China, bringing 38,421 pairs of eyeglasses to China during the late Ming Dynasty, the first recorded European-made eyeglasses to enter China. Now the Daoist unconcern with sight will change, along with their favorable attitude towards lack of intricate detail in painting (although those with good eyesight often favor intricate details in their painting). Refer to page 57 of Timothy Brook's book "The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China". However, the historian Kaiming Chiu argues in his "The Introduction of Spectacles Into China" that spectacles were introduced into China as far back as the late 13th century.

The Blessed Virgin is proclaimed Queen of Genoa.

The Kingdom of England wages war against the Mashantucket Pes.

The Shimabara Rebellion erupts in Japan.

France places a few missionaries in the Côte d'Ivoire, a country it will rule more than 200 years later.

René Descartes writes his "Discours de la Méthode".

Elizabeth Poole becomes the first woman to have founded a town (Taunton, Massachusetts) in the Americas.

Pierre de Fermat makes a notation, in a document margin, claiming to have proof of what would become known as Fermat's last theorem.

30,000 peasants in the heavily Catholic area of northern Kyūshū revolt.

English explorer Thomas Cavendish begins his circumnavigation of the globe.

The cities of Voronezh, Samara, and Tyumen in Russia are founded.

Simon Stevin, a Flemishmathematician, demonstrates that two objects of different weight fall with the same speed.

The first HMS "Vanguard" is launched in England.

St. Augustine, Florida, and Santo Domingo in the modern day Dominican Republic are plundered and burned by Englishsea captainSirFrancis Drake.

William Harrison becomes canon of Windsor.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi becomes grand minister of Japan.

The reign of Emperor Ogimachi of Japan ends and Emperor Go-Yozei ascends to the throne of Japan.

Jacobus Gallus composes his motet "O magnum mysterium".

The Ostrogoths under Totila retake Rome, bribing the Byzantine garrison.

Audoin succeeds Waltari as king of the Lombards

c. 545ndash546 (approximate date) ndash The Diocese of Bangor is established in the WelshKingdom of Gwynedd with Deiniol consecrated as first Bishop

The Byzantines ally with the Lombards against the Gepids.

Pope Vigilius arrives in Constantinople to meet with Justinian I future pope Pelagius is sent by Totila to negotiate with Justinian.

c. 546ndash548 (approximate date) ndash Mosaics of Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, are made

Pope Siricius succeeds Damasus I as the 38th pope. He takes the title "Pontifex Maximus", after it is relinquished by late emperor Gratian.

Ambrosius refuses the request of empress Justina for a church in Milan, where she can worship according to her Arian belief.

A synod is held in Bordeaux (France).

Pope Caius succeeds Pope Eutychian as the 28th pope.