The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence bans any more of the 15 Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines held captive by Iran from selling their stories to the media reversing a previous decision following widespread criticism. //www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1892963.htm (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
Wednesday, April 9, 2003
U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein.
A South Atlantic tropical cyclone develops in the Southern Hemisphere off the coast of Angola (the first of its kind to be documented by weather satellites).
The Italian ferry "Moby Prince" collides with an oil tanker in dense fog off Livorno, Italy killing 140.
Monday, April 9, 1990
Comet Austin, the brightest comet visible from Earth since 1975, makes its closest approach to the sun.
Somali military officers stage an unsuccessful coup against the government of Siad Barre security forces thwart the attempt within hours, and several conspirators are arrested.
Friday, April 9, 1971
Charles Manson is sentenced to death in 1972, the sentence for all California Death Row inmates is commuted to life imprisonment.
Sunday, April 9, 1967
The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) takes its maiden flight.
The AFTRA strike is settled just in time for the 39th Academy Awards ceremony to be held, hosted by Bob Hope. Best Picture goes to "A Man for All Seasons".
Oral arguments begin in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967), challenging the State of Virginia's statutory scheme to prevent marriages between persons solely on the basis of racial classifications.
Saturday, April 9, 1966
Norwich City F.C. captain Barry Butler is killed in a car accident.
Thursday, April 9, 1964
The United Nations Security Council adopts by a 9–0 vote a resolution deploring a British air attack on a fort in Yemen 12 days earlier, in which 25 persons were reported killed.
The U.S. acquires full military defense rights in Greenland.
Tuesday, April 9, 1940
The Faroe Islands are occupied by British troops, following the taking over of Denmark by Nazi Germany. This action is taken to avert a possible German occupation of the islands, which would have had very grave consequences for the course of the Battle of the Atlantic
Opening day at Jamaica Racetrack features the use of pari-mutuel betting equipment, a departure from bookmaking heretofore used exclusively throughout New York state. Other NY tracks follow suit later in 1940.
Sunday, April 9, 1939
African-American singer Marian Anderson performs before 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after having been denied the use both of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and of a public high school by the federally controlled District of Columbia.
The Tico Affair results in the occupation of the Mexican port city of Veracruz for over 6 months.
Canadian Margaret C. MacDonald is appointed Matron-in-Chief of the Canadian Nursing service band and becomes the first woman in the British Empire to reach the rank of major.
Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia massacres at least 197 of his own people at Magdala. These are prisoners incarcerated, for the most part, for very trivial offenses, and are killed for requesting bread and water.
U. S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth. Doctors attend to the President in the theater then move him to a house across the street. He goes into a coma upon being laid diagonally on a bed.
French typesetter Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville sings the French folk song Au Clair de la Lune to his phonautograph producing the world's earliest known sound recording (however, it is not rediscovered until 2008).
The Scottish Jacobite Lord Lovat is beheaded by axe on Tower Hill, London, for high treason (the last man to be executed in this way in Britain).
Monday, April 9, 1691
A fire at the Palace of Whitehall in London destroys its Stone Gallery.
Thursday, April 9, 1682
At the mouth of the Mississippi River, near modern Venice, Louisiana, Robert de La Salle buries an engraved plate and a cross, claiming the territory as "La Louisiane" for France.
Battle of Näfels: Glarus in alliance with the Old Swiss Confederation decisively defeat the Habsburgs, despite being outnumbered sixteen to one.
Thursday, April 1, 1378 (Julianian calendar)
July ndash Revolt of the Ciompi ndash discontent wool carders briefly take over the government of Florence. For the first time, a European government represents all social classes.
Following the death of Pope Gregory XI and riots in Rome calling for a Roman pope, the cardinals, who are mostly French, elect Pope Urban VI (Bartolomeo Prignano, Archbishop of Bari) as the 202nd Pope.
After a bizarre weather phenomena of yellowish clouds and dust chokes the air around Hangzhou, Song Dynasty, China, obscuring the sky and sun, a fire breaks out at night in the southeast of the city, which continues into the next day. Fighting the flames is difficult due to limited visibility. When the fires are extinguished, it is discovered that an entire district of some 10,000 houses in the southeast of the city were consumed by the flames.
Italy: Emperor Frederick II promulgates the Constitutions of Melfi (also known as "Liber Augustalis"), a collection of laws for Sicily.
Emperor Zeno, age 66, dies of dysentery after a 17-year reign. He has no sons to succeed him and the Albanian-born Anastasius, palace official ("silentiarius") and favoured friend of empress Ariadne, is elevated to the throne.
Tuesday, April 8, 475 (Julianian calendar)
Summer ndash Emperor Julius Nepos grants the Visigoth king Euric legal tenure of his conquests, which include Provence (region of Gaul) in exchange for full independence.
Basiliscus issues a circular letter ("Enkyklikon") to the bishops of his empire, promoting the Miaphysite christological position. The religious views will make him highly unpopular.