Today in History - April 3
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33CE Apr 3,
Christ was crucified (according to astronomers Humphreys and
Waddington). The date is highly debated. [see Apr 30, 30CE]
(MC, 4/3/02)
628 Apr 3, In Persia Kavadh sued
for peace with the Byzantines. He handed back Armenia, Byzantine
Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt.
(HN, 4/3/99)(AP, 4/3/99)
628 Apr 3, Chosroes II, emperor of
Persia (579-628), was murdered by his son.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1043 Apr 3, Edward the Confessor
was crowned king of England.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1367 Apr 3, Henry Bolingbroke, aka
Henry of Lancaster and later Henry IV, King of England (1399-1413), was
born in Lincolnshire.
(MWH, 1994)
1367 Apr 3, John of Gaunt and
Edward the Black Prince won the Battle of Najara, in Spain.
(HN, 4/3/99)
1559 Apr 3, Philip II of Spain and
Henry II of France signed the peace of Cateau-Cambresis, ending a long
series of wars between the Hapsburg and Valois dynasties.
(HN,
4/3/99)(www.comune.cumiana.to.it/storia/history.html)
1569 Apr 3, Giovanni Battista
Massarengo, composer, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1593 Apr 3, George Herbert
(d.1633), English metaphysical poet (5 Mystical Songs), was born. "The
best mirror is an old friend."
(AP, 4/16/98)(MC, 4/3/02)
1603 Apr 3, William Smith,
composer, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1649 Apr 3, Joseph-Francois
Salomon, composer, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1657 Apr 3, English Lord Protector
Cromwell refused the crown.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1679 Apr 3, Edmund Halley met
Johannes Hevelius in Danzig.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1680 Apr 3, Shivaji Raje Bhosle
(b.1627), warrior king and founder of the Maratha empire of western
India, died.
(Econ, 7/12/08,
p.73)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivaji)
1682 Apr 3, Esteban Murillo
(b.1617), Spanish painter, died. Some of his mid-century work in
Seville portrayed the effects of the Plague that killed 50% of the
population in 4 months.
(WSJ, 4/9/02, p.D19)(MC, 4/3/02)
1751 Apr 3, Jean-Baptiste Lamoyne,
composer, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1764 Apr 3, John Abernethy,
surgeon, was born in London.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1764 Apr 3, Austrian arch duke
Jozef crowned himself Roman Catholic king.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1776 Apr 3, George Washington
received an honorary doctor of law degree from Harvard College.
(AP, 4/3/97)
1783 Apr 3, Washington Irving
(d.Nov 28, 1859), essayist, author, historian, biographer,
attorney/lawyer, American writer (Legend of Sleepy Hollow & Rip Van
Winkle), was born in New York City. "No man is so methodical as a
complete idler, and none so scrupulous in measuring out his time as he
whose time is worth nothing."
(DTnet, 11/28/97)(HN, 4/3/98)(AP, 9/10/98)
1790 Apr 3, Revenue Marine Service
(US Coast Guard) was created.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1796 Apr 3, The 1st elephant was
shipped to the US from Bengal, India, by Broadway showman Jacob
Croninshield.
(SFC, 11/18/00, p.B3)
1822 Apr 3, Edward Everett Hale,
American clergyman and author (Man without a Country) , was born.
(HN, 4/3/98)
1823 Apr 3, William Macy "Boss"
Tweed, New York City political boss, was born.
(HN, 4/3/98)
1837 Apr 3, John Burroughs
(d.1921), American author and naturalist, was born. “Time does not
become sacred to us until we have lived it, until it has passed over us
and taken with it a part of ourselves.”
(HN, 4/3/01)(AP, 5/28/98)
1838 Apr 3, Leon Michel Gambetta,
French attorney, premier (1881-82), was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1838 Apr 3, Francesco Antommarchi
(57), Napoleon's physician on St Helena, died.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1841 Apr 3, From Nassau, Bahamas,
a British magistrate wrote that 193 shipwrecked African slaves from the
ship Trouvadore were found naked on the shores of the East Caicos
Island. The slaves were then quarantined in a jail and given food and
clothing.
(AP, 8/21/04)
1842 Apr 3, Hermann Karl Vogel,
German astronomer, was born.
(HN, 4/3/01)
1854 Apr 3, The SF Mint opened at
608 Commercial St. It issued $4 million in gold coins this year. An
Indian princess appeared on gold dollars.
(SFC, 8/21/01, p.A12)(SSFC, 1/28/03, p.E1)(WSJ,
12/12/03, p.W15)(SFC, 4/2/04, p.F3)
1856 Apr 3, Gunpowder in church
exploded killing 4,000 in Rhodes.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1859 Apr 3, Reginald De Koven,
composer (Robin Hood), was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1860 Apr 3, The US Pony Express
mail system began when one horse and rider carrying a bulging mail
pouch began the 10 1/2-day run from San Francisco, Calif., to St.
Joseph, Mo. Riders left St. Joseph, Missouri and SF, Ca., at the same
time. They averaged 12 mph over 75-100 mile segments between 153 (190)
change stations. The SF freight company of Russell, Majors and Waddell
began the service. The ride from SF was a publicity stunt and never
repeated. Sacramento was made the western terminus. The enterprise
failed after only 18 months, however, due to mounting financial losses
and competition from the ever-expanding telegraph network. Donald C.
Biggs (d.2000 at 72), prof. of history at SF State, later authored ”The
Pony Express: Creation of the Legend.”
(SFC, 2/15/97, p.D4)(AP, 4/3/97)(HN, 4/3/98)(SFC,
6/12/00, p.A24)(AH, 10/01, p.12)(SSFC, 1/3/10, DB p.46)
1862 Apr 3, A bill was passed to
abolish slavery in Washington, D.C. [see Apr 16]
(HN, 4/3/98)
1865 Apr 3, Union forces captured
the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va.
(HFA, '96, p.28)(AP, 4/3/97)(HN, 4/3/98)
1865 Apr 3, Battle at Namozine
Church, Virginia (Appomattox Campaign).
(MC, 4/3/02)
1868 Apr 3, An earthquake
estimated at magnitude 7.9 hit the Big Island of Hawaii. 46 people were
killed in the resulting tsunami at Keauhou and 31 died in a landslide
at Kapapala.
(http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/events/1868_04_03.php)
1868 Apr 3, Franz Adolf Berwald
(71), Swedish composer, died.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1874 Apr 3, Eduardo Sanchez de
Fuentes, composer, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1882 Apr 3, Wood block alarm was
invented. When alarm rang it dropped 20 wood blocks.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1882 Apr 3, Outlaw Jesse James
(34) was shot in the back and killed at his home in St. Joseph, Mo., by
Robert Ford, a cousin and member of his own gang for a $5,000 reward.
Jesse and Frank James, the bank robbing James brothers, were born as
Woodson and Alexander. In 1995 the body of Jesse James was exhumed for
DNA testing. The test proved that it was James, who was killed in 1882.
In 2000 Desmond Barry authored the novel “The Chivalry of Crime” based
on the story of Jesse James. In 2000 the body of a man, J. Frank Dalton
(d.1951), who claimed to be Jesse James was exhumed for DNA analysis.
(AP, 4/3/97)(SFC,12/26/97, p.C22)(SFEC, 4/23/00, BR
p.5)(SFC, 5/31/00, p.A4)(HNQ, 6/21/00)(HN, 4/3/02)
1885 Apr 3, Harry St. John Philby,
[sheik Abdullah], British explorer, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1888 Apr 3, Gertrude Bridget "Ma"
Rainey, American singer, "the mother of the blues,” was born. [see Apr
26, 1886]
(HN, 4/3/01)
1893 Apr 3, Leslie Howard,
[Stainer], actor (Gone With the Wind), was born in London.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1895 Apr 3, Mario
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, composer, was born in Firenze (Florence), Italy.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1897 Apr 3,
Johannes Brahms (63), German composer, conductor (Hungarian Dances),
died.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, p.B11)(MC, 4/3/02)
1898 Apr 3, Henry R. Luce
(d.1967), magazine publisher, founder of Time, Fortune and Life, was
born. “Show me a man who claims he is objective and I’ll show you a man
with illusions.”
(HN, 4/3/01)(AP, 3/9/98)
1901 Apr 3, Richard D'Oyly Carte,
promoter (Gilbert & Sullivan operas), died.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1904 Apr 3, Iron Eyes Cody, actor
(Black Gold, Ernest Goes to Camp), was born in Tulsa, OK.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1910 Apr 3, Alaska's Mt. McKinley,
the highest mountain in North America, was climbed.
(HN, 4/3/98)
1911 Apr 3, The US Supreme Court
ruled against Dr. Miles Medical Co., which had sued a distributor for
selling at cut rate prices. In 1937 Congress passed the Free Trade Law
letting states selectively allow price fixing to protect small
retailers.
(http://supreme.justia.com/us/220/373/)(WSJ,
8/18/08, p.A12)
1913 Apr 3, British suffragette
Emily Pankhurst was sentenced to 3 years in jail.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1915 Apr 3, Paul Touvier, war
criminal, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1916 Apr 3, Herb Caen (d.1997),
columnist (SF Chronicle), was born in Sacramento, Calif.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1917 Apr 3, Lenin left Switzerland
for Petrograd.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1918 Apr 3, Sixten Ehrling,
conductor (Royal Opera of Stockholm), was born in Malmo, Sweden.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1919 Apr 3, Austria expelled all
Habsburgs.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1920 Apr 3, F. Scott Fitzgerald
and Zelda Sayre were married at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York
City.
(HN, 4/3/02)
1922 Apr 3, Stalin was appointed
General Secretary of Communist Party.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1924 Apr 3, Marlon Brando, actor
(On the Waterfront, The Godfather), was born in Omaha, Neb.
(HN, 4/3/01)(MC, 4/3/02)
1924 Apr 3, Murray Dickie, opera
singer, director, was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1924 Apr 3, Doris Von Kappelhoff
[Doris Day], American singer and actress, was born in Cincinnati, Oh.
(HN, 4/3/01)(MC, 4/3/02)
1925 Apr 3, Tony Benn, British
minister of technology (1968), was born.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1926 Apr 3, Virgil Grissom
(d.1967), Lt. Col. USAF, astronaut (Mercury 4, Gemini 3), was born in
Mitchell, Ind. He was the Mercury and Gemini astronaut who was killed
in a fire while preparing for the first Apollo flight.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollo204/grissom.html
(MC, 4/3/02)
1926 Apr 3, 1st performance of
Jean Sibelius' 7th Symphony in C.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1926 Apr 3, Robert Goddard
launched his 2nd flight of a liquid-fueled rocket.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1926 Apr 3, Italy established
corps of force in order to break powerful unions.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1930 Apr 3, The first of two
Academy Awards banquets this year was held in Los Angeles at the Fiesta
Room of the Ambassador Hotel. The awards were given for films released
between 2 August 1928 and 31 July 1929.
(SFC, 3/13/02,
p.D5)(www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Academy_Awards_USA/1930-1)
1930 Apr 3, Helmut Kohl, German
statesman and chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, was born.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)(HN, 4/3/99)
1930 Apr 3, Ras Tafari became
Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
(MC, 4/3/02)
1933 Apr 3, The dirigible Akron
crashed into the Atlantic off of New Jersey and killed 73 0f the 76 men
aboard.
(SFC, 9/20/97, p.A21)
1933 Apr 3, Royal Air Force
Lieutenant David McIntyre and the Scottish Marquess of Clydesdale,
flying two open-cockpit Westland aircraft, completed the first
overflight and aerial photographic survey of Mount Everest. The British
Mount Everest team, battled extreme cold and high winds as they
photographed the previously unknown crest of the 29,028-foot peak.
(HNPD, 4/3/99)
1934 Apr 3, Jane van
Lawick-Goodall, ethologist (studied African chimps, 1974 Walker Prize),
was born in London, England. She was a British anthropologist, known
for her work with African chimpanzees. In 2000 her autobiography
“Africa in My Blood: An Autobiography in Letters, The Early Years,
1934-1966,” was edited by Dale Peterson.
(HN, 3/4/99)(SFEC, 6/18/00, BR p.6)(SC, 3/4/02)(MC,
4/3/02)
1936 Apr 3,
Bruno Hauptmann was electrocuted in Trenton, N.J. Hauptmann was
convicted for the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby and claimed his
innocence until he died. In 1976 NBC aired a show titled The Lindbergh
Kidnapping Case and Anthony Scaduto published “Scapegoat.” In 1982 PBS
made the documentary Who Killed the Lindbergh Baby and in 1985 Ludovic
Kennedy published “The Airman and the Carpenter.” In 1996 a docudrama
was aired by HBO based on the Kennedy book.
(WSJ, 9/9/96, p.A16)(AP, 4/3/97)(HN, 4/3/98)
1941 Apr 3, Walton's overture
"Scapino," premiered in Chicago.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1941 Apr 3, Churchill warned
Stalin of German invasion.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1941 Apr 3, Andre Michelin (88),
French tire manufacturer, died. In 2004 Herbert Lottman authored "The
Michelin Men: Driving an Empire," the story of Andre and Edouard
Michelin.
(MC, 4/3/02)(WSJ, 2/20/04, p.W5)
1941 Apr 3, Pal Teleki-von Szek
(61), PM Hungary (1920-21, 39-41), committed suicide.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1942 Apr 3, Marsha Mason, actress
(Blume in Love, Cinderella Liberty), was born in St Louis, Mo.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1942 Apr 3, The Japanese began
their all-out assault on the U.S. and Filipino troops at Bataan.
(HN, 4/3/99)
1944 Apr 3, Tony Orlando, singer
(& Dawn-Tie a Yellow Ribbon), was born in NYC.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1944 Apr 3, The U.S. Supreme Court
ruled that black citizens are eligible to vote in all elections,
including primaries. The Smith vs. Allwright decision ruled "white
primaries" unconstitutional.
(HN, 4/3/01)(MC, 4/3/02)
1944 Apr 3, British dive bombers
attacked the battle cruiser Tirpitz.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1945 Apr 3, Nazis began evacuation
of camp Buchenwald. [see Apr 20]
(MC, 4/3/02)
1946 Apr 3, Lt. General Masaharu
Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the Bataan Death March,
was executed outside Manila in the Philippines.
(AP, 4/3/97)
1948 Apr 3, Garrick Ohlsson,
pianist (Intl Busoni winner 1969), was born in Bronxville, NY.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1948 Apr 3, The 1st US figure
skating championships were held.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1948 Apr 3, Congress adopted and
President Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which allocated more than $5
billion in aid for 16 European countries. The Marshall Plan was begun
to aid the European nations in their economic recovery following WW II.
It provided $13.15 billion over 4 years to 17 European nations.
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A20)(AP, 4/3/97)(SFEC, 5/25/97,
p.A10)(HN, 4/3/98)
1949 Apr 3, Israel signed a
ceasefire agreement with Transjordan.
(www.wikipedia.org)
1950 Apr 3, Kurt Julian Weill
(50), German composer (Dreigroschenoper), died. His best known work is
the music for "The Threepenny Opera." His work also included "Der
Jasager." He was married to the singer Lotte Lenya. Letters between the
two over a period of 26 years have been edited and translated in a book
by Lys Symonette and Kim H Kowalke: "Speak Low (When You Speak Love)."
His work also included the theater piece "Der Weg der Verheissung" (The
Eternal Road). In 2002 Foster Hirsch authored "Kurt Weill on Stage:
From Berlin to Broadway."
(SFC, 5/26/96, BR p.6)(WSJ, 5/4/99, p.A20)(SSFC,
3/17/02, p.M3)
1950 Apr 3, Carter G. Woodson
(b.1875), black historian, died. Woodson is best known for is the
creation of what became "Black History Month," begun in 1926 as "Negro
History Week." The idea of learning more about black history caught on
in schools all over the country. Many scholars recognize him as the
“Father of Black History.” His work included “The Negro in Our History”
(1922).
(WSJ, 5/19/05,
p.D8)(www.biography.com/articles/Carter-G.-Woodson-9536515)
1951 Apr 3, Christopher Fry's
"Sleep of Prisoners," premiered in Oxford.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1952 Apr 3, Dutch Queen Juliana
spoke to the US Congress.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1953 Apr 3, Walter Annenberg of
Philadelphia began a national TV Guide. His father had published Radio
Guide and he bought TV Forecast in Chicago and local television guides
in New York , Philadelphia and Washington to begin his operation. A
picture of the first cover featured Lucy and Desi Arnaz’ baby (I Love
Lucy).
(www.tvhistory.tv/tv_guide1.htm)(WSJ, 5/8/98,
p.W10)(www.fiftiesweb.com/pop/tv-guide.htm)
1954 Apr 3, Aristides de Sousa
Mendes (b.1885), former Portuguese consul general in Bordeaux, France,
died in poverty. He is credited with defying his government’s ordes and
saving 10,000 European Jews and some 20,000 other nationals by issuing
transit visas to “undesirables” fleeing the Nazis during WW II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristides_de_Sousa_Mendes)(SFC, 2/19/09,
p.B5)
1955 Apr 3, In Guadalajara,
Mexico, a night train plunged into a canyon and some 300 people were
killed.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)(AP, 2/18/04)
1956 Apr 3, "Silk Stockings"
closed at Imperial Theater in NYC after 461 performances.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1956 Apr 3, German war criminals
Hinrichsen, Ruhl, Siebens and Viebahn were freed.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1957 Apr 3, Samuel Beckett's
"Endgame," premiered in London.
(V.D.-H.K.p.369)(MC, 4/3/02)
1958 Apr 3, "Say, Darling" opened
at ANTA Theater NYC for 332 performances.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1958 Apr 3, Fidel Castro's rebels
attacked Havana.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1959 Apr 3, David Hyde Pierce,
actor (Niles Crane-Fraiser), was born in NY.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1959 Apr 3, "Charlie Brown" by The
Coasters was banned by the BBC because it contained the word "spitball."
(AP, 4/3/03)
1961 Apr 3, Eddie Murphy, actor
(SNL, 48 Hours, Beverly Hill Cop, Raw), was born in Brooklyn, NY.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1962 Apr 3, Manolis Kalomiris
(78), Greek opera composer, died.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1966 Apr 3, Three-thousand South
Vietnamese Army troops led a protest against the Ky regime in Saigon.
(HN, 4/3/98)
1968 Apr 3, Less than 24 hours
before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., civil rights leader
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "mountaintop" speech to a rally of
striking sanitation workers, "It really doesn't matter with me now,
because I've been to the mountain top, and I don't mind."
(AP, 4/3/98)
1968 Apr 3, North Vietnam agreed
to meet with US representatives to set up preliminary peace talks.
(AP, 4/3/97)
1971 Apr 3, Manfred Bennington Lee
(65), detective writer, died. Brooklyn cousins Daniel Nathan,
alias Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manford Lepofsky, alias Manfred
Bennington Lee (b.1905), used Ellery Queen as both a fictional
character and a pseudonym.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellery_Queen)
1971 Apr 3, Joseph Valachi
(b.1903), US gangster, died at La Tuna Federal Correctional Institution
in Texas. A biography heavily influenced by Valachi’s memoirs and by
interviews with Valachi was written by journalist Peter Maas and
published in 1968 as The Valachi Papers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Valachi)
1972 Apr 3, Charlie Chaplin
(1889-1977) returned to the US after a twenty-year absence.
(HN,
4/3/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin)
1972 Apr 3, Ferde Grofe (b.1892),
US pianist and composer (Grand Canyon Suite), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferde_Grof%C3%A9)
1974 Apr 3, A tape from the SLA
announced Patty Hearst’s decision to “stay and fight” with the SLA.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22,23)
1974 Apr 3, The Joint Committee on
Internal Revenue Taxation of the Congress reported that $476,531 in
back taxes and interest was owed by President Richard Nixon. Responding
to charges of fraud, Nixon requested the committee investigation of his
taxes and, upon its report, agreed to pay. The report made no
conclusion regarding fraud.
(HNQ,
6/1/98)(www.house.gov/jct/aboutjct_mandate.html)
1974 Apr 3, A series of 148 deadly
tornadoes struck wide parts of the South and Midwest before jumping
across the border into Canada; some 330 people were killed in 13
states: Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan,
Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia,
and West Virginia. Total property damage was estimated at $600 million.
In 2007 Mark Levine authored “F5: Devastation, Survival, and the Most
Violent Tornado Outbreak of the 20th Century.”
(AP, 4/3/99)(WSJ, 9/13/01, p.B11)(SSFC, 9/4/05,
p.A7)(WSJ, 6/16/07, p.P10)
1975 Apr 3, Bobby Fischer
(1943-2008) was stripped of the world chess title for refusing to
defend it.
(www.bobby-fischer.net/)
1975 Apr 3, Mary Ure (b.1933),
Scottish actress (Sons & Lovers, Where Eagles Dare), died.
{Scotland, Film Star, Theater}
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ure)
1978 Apr 3, In the 50th Academy
Awards "Annie Hall" won as film. Richard Dreyfuss won as best actor
(The Goodbye Girl) and Diane Keaton won as best actress (Annie
Hall).
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271340/)
1979 Apr 3, Jane M. Byrne (D) was
elected as the 1st woman mayor of Chicago, defeating Republican Wallace
D. Johnson.
(AP, 4/3/97)(MC, 4/3/02)
1979 Apr 3, In Belgium Wilfried
Achiel Emma Martens (b.1936) became prime minister for the 1st of 9
times.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfried_Martens)
1982 Apr 3, Britain dispatched a
naval task force to the south Atlantic to reclaim the disputed Falkland
Islands from Argentina. The UN Security Council demanded Argentina
withdraw from Falkland Islands.
(AP, 4/3/02)
1983 Apr 3, Martin Cooper,
Motorola project manager, demonstrated the 1st mobile phone, the
DynaTAC 8000x. It was designed by Rudy Krolopp.
(SFC, 4/12/00, p.D3)(SFC, 4/3/03, p.B1)(NW, 3/17/03,
p.14)
1984 Apr 3, Coach John Thompson of
Georgetown University became the first African-American coach to win an
NCAA basketball tournament.
(HN, 4/3/99)
1985 Apr 3, The landmark Brown
Derby restaurant in Hollywood closed after 56 years in business.
(AP, 4/3/97)
1986 Apr 3, US national debt hit
$2,000,000,000,000 (2 trillion).
(http://tinyurl.com/ftr8g)
1986 Apr 3, Peter Pears (b.1910),
English tenor (Death in Venice), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pears)
1987 Apr 3, Stock prices rocketed
on Wall Street as the Dow Jones industrial average soared 69.89 points,
ending the day at a record 2,390.34.
(AP, 4/3/97)
1987 Apr 3, Duchess of Windsor's
jewels were auctioned for 31,380,197 pounds ($50 million).
(http://tinyurl.com/l4o9h)
1988 Apr 3, Secretary of State
George P. Shultz arrived in Israel to launch a fresh U.S. peace
initiative, telling the Israelis that the Palestinians must be included
in negotiations.
(AP, 4/3/98)
1989 Apr 3, The University of
Michigan Wolverines won the NCAA championship by defeating Seton Hall
in overtime, 80-79.
(AP, 4/3/99)
1990 Apr 3, Sarah Vaughan (66),
Jazz singer, died in suburban Los Angeles.
(AP, 4/3/00)
1990 Apr 3, A delegation from the
rebellious republic of Lithuania met with an adviser to Soviet
President Mikhail Gorbachev.
(AP, 4/3/00)
1991 Apr 3, "Penn & Teller
Refrigerator Tour" opened at Eugene O'Neill in NYC.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4636)
1991 Apr 3, The UN Security
Council (Resolution 687) adopted a Gulf War truce resolution demanding
that Iraq abolish weapons of mass destruction, renounce terrorism and
pay reparations.
(AP, 4/3/01)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1991 Apr 3, English novelist
Graham Greene died at age 86. His wife, Vivien Dayrell-Browning, died
in 2003 at age 98. Greene had told his wife that he had had 32 other
women. His books included “The Quiet American” (1955). In his so-called
“Catholic” novels he challenged the idea that God is a cruel,
unstinting Rules Keeper. In 2004 Norman Sherry completed “The Life of
Graham Greene, Vol. III, 1955-1991.”
(AP, 4/3/01)(SFC, 8/25/03, p.B4)(SFC, 10/2/04,
p.E2)(WSJ, 10/6/04, p.D14)
1992 Apr 3, President Bush,
speaking in Philadelphia, said members of Congress should shorten their
annual sessions and retire after 12 years, calling for changes in "a
failed status quo"; Democratic leaders accused Bush of "scapegoating."
(AP, 4/3/97)
1993 Apr 3, The Norman Rockwell
Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., opened. it replaced the Old Corner House
Museum on Main St. that had housed the artist’s nearly 600 works.
1993 Apr 3, President Clinton and
Russian President Boris Yeltsin opened a weekend summit in Vancouver,
B.C., beginning talks after a luncheon with Canadian Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney.
(AP, 4/3/98)
1993 Apr 3, Pinky Lee (85), former
children's TV show host, died of a heart attack at his California home.
(AP, 4/3/03)
1994 Apr 3, Frank Wells, president
of the Walt Disney Co., died in helicopter crash while returning from a
ski trip in Nevada’s Ruby Mountains.
(www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Frank_Wells)
1994 Apr 3, In his Easter Sunday
address, Pope John Paul II expressed hope that the joy of Christianity
would overwhelm the din of violence and hate.
(AP, 4/3/99)
1995 Apr 3, UCLA defeated
Arkansas, 89-78, to win the NCAA basketball championship.
(AP, 4/3/00)
1995 Apr 3, Former United Way of
America President William Aramony was convicted in Alexandria, Va., of
25 counts of fraud for stealing nearly $600,000 dollars from the
nation's biggest charity.
(AP, 4/3/00)
1996 Apr 3, Much of North America
was treated to a total lunar eclipse.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.62)
1996 Apr 3, FBI agents arrested a
suspect thought to be the Unabomber. Theodore John Kaczynski was
arrested near Lincoln, Montana on a tip from his brother. His mail
bombs had killed 3 and injured 23 over the last 17 years. An original
draft of his manifesto “Industrial Society and Its Future” was found
some days later.
(WSJ, 4/4/96, A-1)(SFC, 4/13/96, p.A-1)(AP, 4/3/97)
1996 Apr 3, A US Air Force
jetliner crashed near Dubrovnik, Croatia, and 35 people on board were
killed including Ron Brown, Sec. of Commerce. Brown had been leading a
delegation of business executives to the former Yugoslavia to explore
business opportunities that might help rebuild the war-torn region.
(WSJ, 4/4/96, A-1)(WSJ, 4/5/96, p.A-1)(AP, 4/3/97)
1996 Apr 3, Carl Stokes died of
cancer AT 68. He was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1967, the first
black mayor of a major US city. He had been on medical leave from his
post since 1994 as ambassador to the Seychelles.
(WSJ, 4/4/96, A-1)(AP, 4/3/97)
1997 Apr 3, About 2,000 youngsters
in California and Georgia lined up for shots to protect them against
hepatitis from a contaminated shipment of frozen strawberries.
(AP, 4/3/98)
1997 Apr 3, In Tennessee 6 chained
prisoners burned to death when their transport vehicle caught fire.
(WSJ, 4/4/97, p.A1)
1998 Apr 3, Pres. Clinton warned
that Japanese officials “have to make a break” with their past
policies. Moody’s Investor’s Services changed its outlook on Japan’s
government debt to “negative” from “stable.”
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 3, Douglas Fred Groat, a
disgruntled spy fired by the CIA, was charged with espionage and
extortion. Groat later pleaded guilty to extortion, and was sentenced
to five years in prison.
(AP, 4/3/03)
1998 Apr 3, The Dow Jones
industrial average climbed above 9,000 for the first time, but finished
with a 3.23 point drop at 8,983.41.
(AP, 4/3/03)
1998 cApr 3, A 2-day meeting
called by the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers was attended
by 18 African nations, over a dozen European countries and Japan,
Canada and Argentina. They endorsed measures to control the spread of
light weapons.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A13)
1999 Apr 3, In Louisiana a tornado
hit north of Shreveport and 10 people sere reported killed with some
100 injured.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A2)
1999 Apr 3, Pres. Clinton
authorized $50 million in emergency funds for Kosovo refugees and urged
Americans to make donations.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A11)
1999 Apr 3, A small plane crashed
in a snowstorm San Diego County and 4 people on board were killed.
(SFC, 4/5/99, p.A5)
1999 Apr 3, NATO missiles struck
downtown Belgrade for the first time, destroying the headquarters of
security forces accused of waging a campaign against Kosovo Albanians.
NATO bombs struck the Serbian Internal Ministry buildings near the Sava
River.
(SFC, 4/3/99, p.A1)(AP, 4/3/00)
1999 Apr 3, Melaim Bellanica, a
villager from Velike Krusa, handed to international media a 5-day-old,
smuggled video clip of Serb atrocities from his home.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A12)
1999 Apr 3, Montenegro announced
that over 31,000 Kosovar Albanians had entered the country since NATO
assaults began and that it was facing a humanitarian catastrophe.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 3, Macedonia, overwhelmed
by some 70,000 Kosovar Albanians, declared that it won't accept any
more refugees unless they are sent on to other European countries.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 3, Montenegro announced
that over 31,000 Kosovar Albanians had entered the country since NATO
assaults began and that it was facing a humanitarian catastrophe.
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 3, It was reported that
North Korea would run out of food this month and that some 2 million
people would be packed off to the countryside to farm in the 4th year
of famine.
(SFC, 4/3/99, p.A3)
1999 Apr 3, Lionel Bart, born as
Lionel Beglieter, died at age 68 in London. He wrote and composed the
1960 musical "Oliver" based on the Dickens novel "Oliver Twist."
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.B12)
1999 Apr 3, In Sri Lanka 15 rebels
were killed at Janakapurna village and 4 soldiers were killed by a land
mine in Tanmakeny village. 5 other rebels were killed in the north.
(SFC, 4/5/99, p.A9)
2000 Apr 3, In Indianapolis
Michigan State beat the Florida Gators for the NCAA basketball
championship, 89-to-76.
(WSJ, 4/5/00, p.A24)(AP, 4/3/01)
2000 Apr 3, Judge Thomas Penfield
Jackson ruled that Microsoft violated the Sherman Act by tying its
Internet browser to its operating system, and by keeping “an oppressive
thumb” on competitors during the race to link Americans to the Internet.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A1)(AP, 4/3/01)
2000 Apr 3, The US granted visas
to the immediate family of Elian Gonzalez along with a cousin, doctor,
and teacher. 22 other visas were under review.
(WSJ, 4/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, US defense chief Cohen
said that the US would join an int’l. force in south Lebanon when
Israel pulls out.
(WSJ, 4/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, A regional director of
the National Labor Relations Board ruled that graduate students who
work as teaching and research assistants at New York Univ. may organize
a union.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A3)
2000 Apr 3, The Nasdaq plunged 349
points while the Dow rose 300.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, In Massachusetts the
nation’s most comprehensive gun safety laws went into effect.
(SFC, 4/3/00, p.A11)
2000 Apr 3, It was reported that 6
prestigious int’l. universities and cultural institutions planned to
sell knowledge and education over the Internet via the Fathom Web site.
(SFC, 4/3/00, p.A5)
2000 Apr 3, In Bosnia NATO troops
arrested Momcilo Krajisnik, former speaker of the Bosnian Serb
assembly, for war crimes and flew him to the Netherlands to stand trial.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A10)
2000 Apr 3, In Colombia leftist
rebels of the national Liberation Army kidnapped 23 motorists in
northern Cesar state after calling for a transportation strike.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A12)
2000 Apr 3, Jean Dominique (69),
radio journalist, was killed by 2 gunmen as he drove in for a morning
newscast in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In 2004 Jonathan Demme debuted his
documentary film "The Agronomist," a paean to Dominique.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A12)(WSJ, 1/29/02, p.A1)(SFC,
4/30/04, p.E6)
2000 Apr 3, In Madagascar a
cyclone left 2 people dead and nearly flattened the town of Antalaha.
(WSJ, 4/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, In Russia 2 cosmonauts
were scheduled to lift off for the Mir space station.
(WSJ, 4/3/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 3, Turkish warplanes
struck Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A12)
2001 Apr 3, President Bush warned
China it risked damaging relations with the United States unless it
quickly released the American crew of a damaged Navy spy plane. The
plane had made an emergency landing in China after colliding with a
Chinese fighter.
(AP, 4/3/02)
2001 Apr 3, The DJIA fell 292 to
9,485. The Nasdaq fell almost 110 to 1,673.
(SFC, 4/4/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 3, US agents seized over
7 tons of marijuana from a tractor-trailer at the Tijuana border. It
was believed to be the largest seizure along the US-Mexican border and
was valued at $12.1 million.
(SFC, 4/5/01, p.A4)
2001 Apr 3, A US fishing boat, the
Arctic Rose out of Seattle, sank in the Bering Sea and all 15 aboard
were feared dead.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 3, Israel fired rockets
at 4 Gaza Strip targets after a 10-year-old boy was injured in a mortar
assault on a Jewish settlement.
(SFC, 4/4/01, p.A10)
2001 Apr 3, In Russia Pres. Putin
in his state-of-the-nation address promised a government-wide shakeup
to reverse capital flight and sustain new economic growth.
(SFC, 4/4/01, p.A11)(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 3, In Russia the NTV
leadership was ousted by Gazprom, a large stake holder. Protesting
journalists barred access to the Ostankino studios.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 3, Sri Lanka agreed to
open peace talks with Tamil rebels following diplomatic initiative by
Norway.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A1)
2002 Apr 3, Cincinnati, Ohio,
agreed to restrictions on the use of force and announced plans to
establish an independent agency to investigate police brutality
complaints.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A4)
2002 Apr 3, Roy Huggins,
novelists, TV writer and producer, died at age 87. His shows included
“Cheyenne,” “The Fugitive” and “The Rockford Files.”
(SFC, 4/15/02, p.B5)
2002 Apr 3, The US-financed Radio
Free Europe / Radio Liberty began broadcasting in the North Caucasus
region that included Chechnya. The Kremlin viewed the broadcasts as
interference with internal affairs.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A6)
2002 Apr 3, Afghan security
officials reported the arrests of hundreds of political opponents who
planned a conspiracy and bombing campaign that was linked to Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar. 140 men were released the next day, while 160 remained under
detention.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A8)(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A9)
2002 Apr 3, In Argentina Domingo
Cavallo, former economy minister (1991-1996), was arrested for illegal
arms sales to Croatia and Ecuador in the 1990s, diverting 6,500 tons of
weapons worth over $100 million. He was indicted Apr 10 for “aggravated
contraband.”
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A7)(SFC, 4/11/02, p.A10)
2002 Apr 3, In Ambon, Indonesia, a
car bomb killed 4 people and wounded 43.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A8)
2002 Apr 3, Israeli tanks entered
the West Bank cities of Jenin, Salfeet and Nablus. At least 1 Israeli
soldier and 12 Palestinians were killed. Gunners from Lebanon’s
Hezbollah exchanged artillery and mortar fire with Israeli troops.
Scores of Palestinian gunmen were holed up in the Church of the
Nativity in Bethlehem. The Egyptian government announced a cutoff of
official contacts with Israel. Syria shifted 20,000 troops in Lebanon
toward the Lebanese-Syrian border reportedly in accord with the 1989
Taif agreement.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A1)(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A1,13)(WSJ,
4/4/02, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/7/02, p.A4)
2002 Apr 3, Pakistan’s Gen.
Musharraf visited Afghanistan and presented Hamid Karzai with a $10
million donation.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A8)
2003 Apr 3, Moving with a sense of
wartime urgency, the House and Senate separately agreed to give
President Bush nearly $80 billion to carry out the battle against Iraq
and meet the threat of terrorism.
(AP, 4/3/04)
2003 Apr 3, In the 16th day of
Operation Iraqi Freedom US Marines and infantry moved with surprising
speed toward Baghdad. Central Command said there was "increasing
evidence" that Saddam Hussein's regime had lost control of its fighting
forces. US troop casualty totaled: 51 dead, 16 missing and 7 captured.
A power blackout in Baghdad coincided with heavy artillery fire. US
forces attacked Saddam Int'l. Airport.
(AP, 4/3/03)(SFC, 4/4/03, p.W1)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)
2003 Apr 3, A car exploded at a US
checkpoint in western Iraq, killing three coalition soldiers, a
pregnant woman and the car's driver. Atlantic magazine editor Michael
Kelly, 46, became the first American journalist to be killed while
covering the Iraq war when his Army Humvee came under fire and rolled
into a canal.
(AP, 4/4/03)(AP, 4/3/08)
2003 Apr 3, US Sec. of State Colin
Powell assured NATO allies and the EU that the Bush administration
seeks a partnership with the United Nations for the reconstruction of
post-war Iraq.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, The International
Monetary Fund warned that the US housing market, after two years of
record sales over and strong increases in home prices, could be headed
for a fall.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, It was reported that
Alzheimer's symptoms were slowed by the drug memantine.
(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 3, Afghan militia
soldiers and 2-day blistering airstrikes by US-led coalition planes
killed eight suspected Taliban fighters in the southern mountains.
(AP, 4/4/03)
2003 Apr 3, In Chechnya a bus was
blown apart by a remote-controlled mine, killing at least six people.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, The Colombia
government said it is handing over about 14,000 acres of farmland
seized from drug traffickers to poor farmers, marking Pres. Alvaro
Uribe's first effort at agrarian reform. Efforts to cancel the property
rights of drug traffickers were to be stepped up along with the
transfer of some 750,000 acres of their property to peasants.
(AP, 4/3/03)(WSJ, 4/4/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 3, Cuban security forces
arrested the hijackers of a passenger ferry, rescuing nearly 50
hostages.
(AP, 4/3/04)
2003 Apr 3, French air traffic
controllers, postal workers and other public employees brought much of
the country to a halt with a one-day strike over government plans to
overhaul the pension system.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroder said he hoped for a quick victory by US and British
forces in Iraq.
(WSJ, 4/4/03, p.A7)
2003 Apr 3, Haiti's government
officially sanctioned voodoo as a religion, allowing practitioners to
begin performing ceremonies from baptisms to marriages with legal
authority.
(AP, 4/10/03)(AP, 2/11/04)
2003 Apr 3, A car exploded at a US
checkpoint in western Iraq, killing 3 coalition soldiers, a pregnant
woman and the car's driver. Banditry and plundering were reported
across the countryside. Atlantic magazine editor Michael Kelly (46),
became the first American journalist to be killed while covering the
war when his Army Humvee came under fire and rolled into a canal.
(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.A1)(AP, 4/4/03)(AP, 4/3/08)
2003 Apr 3, In northeastern Congo
966 people were killed in attacks by armed militants on villages in
Ituri province. UN investigators later discovered some 20 mass graves
in the region.
(AP, 4/6/03)
2003 Apr 3, Israeli forces evicted
some 1,500-3,000 Palestinian men from their homes in the Tulkarem
Refugee Camp and told them to stay out for 3 days. Several Palestinians
were killed in Gaza and West Bank raids.
(SFC, 4/4/03, p.A8)(WSJ, 4/4/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 3, Ivory Coast's
insurgents ended their boycott of a new unity government and urged the
international community to help make it work.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, Peru's Congress voted
to create a Senate and return to a bicameral legislature, a decade
after former Pres. Fujimori shut down the two houses in his so-called
self coup.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, Serbia and Montenegro
became a member of the Council of Europe.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, In Spain a female
doctor described as mentally unbalanced stabbed several people at a
Madrid hospital, killing a colleague and a patient and wounding six
others.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 3, Venezuela’s government
fired 828 more employees from Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state
oil monopoly, for participating in a two-month strike to oust Pres.
Chavez. PDVSA lost many of its most experienced and best-qualified
employees.
(AP, 4/4/03)(Econ, 8/12/06, p.56)
2004 Apr 3, Soccer player Freddy
Adu (14), became the youngest athlete in a major American professional
sport in well over a century as he entered a game between his team,
D.C. United, and the San Jose Earthquakes (D.C. United won, 2-1).
(AP, 4/3/05)
2004 Apr 3, The US Postal Service
unveiled a new John Wayne commemorative postage stamp for its annual
"Legends of Hollywood" issue at a private fund-raiser.
(AP, 4/5/04)
2004 Apr 3, Hundreds of thousands
of Germans protested against Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's unpopular
drive to trim the welfare state.
(AP, 4/3/04)
2004 Apr 3, A U.S.-led
multinational force trying to bring stability to Haiti helped detain
Jean Robert, a rebel sympathizer and gang leader accused of terrorizing
supporters of Aristide.
(AP, 4/9/04)
2004 Apr 3, In Iraq 2 attacks on
Iraqi police south of Baghdad killed four people. Col. Wissam Hussein,
the police chief of Mahmudiyah, was shot to death by gunmen dressed as
police.
(AP, 4/3/04)(SSFC, 4/4/04, p.A3)
2004 Apr 3, Israeli troops
arrested 23 wanted Palestinians early in a large-scale raid in the West
Bank city of Nablus. Zohair Arda, a Palestinian gunman, broke into an
Israeli settlement early, killing an Israeli man and wounding his
12-year-old daughter in their home. Israeli troops entered the Tulkarem
refugee camp overnight and demolished the home of Arda (18), who was
shot dead during the attack.
(AP, 4/3/04)(AP, 4/4/04)
2004 Apr 3, Slovaks voted for a
new president. Former authoritarian PM Meciar led after the first round
of Slovakia's presidential election. Low turnout set up an Apr 17
runoff against a former political ally.
(AP, 4/4/04)(WSJ, 4/5/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 3, In Spain Sarhane
Abdelmajid Fakhet (35), a Tunisian national and the alleged ringleader
of last month's train bombings in Madrid, was among 5 suspects who blew
themselves up as police raided their apartment.
(AP, 4/4/04)(SFC, 4/5/04, p.A3)(WSJ, 4/6/04, p.A1)
2005 Apr 3, Daylight Savings Time
(DST) began on this 1st Sunday in April.
(SFC, 4/2/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 3, In Arizona Minuteman
anti-immigrant activists began showing up to guard the border against
illegal crossings. Grupo Beta, a Mexican government-sponsored
organization that tries to discourage people from crossing illegally
and aids those stranded in the desert, began patrolling that area along
with state police officers.
(AP, 4/6/05)
2005 Apr 3, Residents in China’s
Zhejiang province clashed with police officers and workers sent in to
quell their protests over pollution from chemical factories. As many as
60 cars were destroyed and some people were reported killed.
(SSFC, 10/2/05,
p.C1)(www.christusrex.org/www1/news/nyt-4-14-05b.html)
2005 Apr 3, Iraqi lawmakers
elected Sunni Arab Hachem Hassani as parliament speaker and Shiite and
Kurdish leaders as his deputies, ending days of deadlock.
(AP, 4/3/05)(WSJ, 4/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 3, In eastern Pakistan
hundreds of Islamic radicals protesting against the participation of
women in a road race hurled stones and bricks at competitors, and
clashed with police, leaving at least 18 people injured.
(AP, 4/3/05)
2005 Apr 3, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas announced plans for a jobs program aimed at militants.
(SFC, 4/12/05, p.A6)(http://tinyurl.com/6ldnx)
2005 Apr 3, In central Saudi
Arabia a gun battle began that left 7 suspected al-Qaida militants
killed in a shootout with Saudi security forces in ar-Rass.
(AP, 4/4/05)
2005 Apr 3, In southern Thailand 2
near-simultaneous bombs exploded, including one at the airport in Hat
Yai city killing one person and wounding a dozen.
(AFP, 4/3/05)
2005 Apr 3, A day after the death
of Pope John Paul II, the body of the pontiff lay in state. Millions
prayed and wept at services across the globe, as the Vatican prepared
for the ritual-filled funeral and conclave that would choose a
successor.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, The Pentagon released
2,733 pages of declassified transcripts of Guantanamo Bay detainee
hearings.
(SFC, 4/4/06, p.A4)
2006 Apr 3, In Boston a 10-ton
construction platform collapsed and fell 13 stories killing 3 people on
Boylston St.
(SFC, 4/4/06, p.A3)
2006 Apr 3, Denver area transit
workers went on strike for the 1st time in 24 years. A tentative
contract was reached on April 5.
(SFC, 4/4/06, p.A3)(SFC, 4/6/06, p.A18)
2006 Apr 3, David Wittig, former
chairman and CEO of Westar Energy, was sentenced in Kansas to 18 years
in prison for defrauding the company. Former VP David Lake was
sentenced to 15 years. Both men were ordered to pay fines of $5 million
each.
(WSJ, 4/4/06, p.C3)
2006 Apr 3, Florida beat UCLA,
73-57, to win its first NCAA title in men's basketball.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2006 Apr 3, Charles Barkley,
Dominique Wilkins and Joe Dumars were among six people elected to the
Basketball Hall of Fame.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2006 Apr 3, Constellation Brands
and Vincor Int’l., Canada’s largest wine company announced plans for a
$1.3 billion merger.
(SFC, 4/6/06, p.F2)
2006 Apr 3, Australia agreed to
sell China uranium for nuclear power stations despite concerns that
Beijing could divert the material to atomic weapons.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Czech officials
declared a state of emergency in seven flood-hit regions while rivers
continued to rise in neighboring European countries, forcing
evacuations in some areas. Flooding was also reported in Germany,
Poland, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, The National Bank of
Greece paid $2.8 billion for 46% of Finansbank, Turkey’s 3rd largest
bank. It planned a public offer for a controlling stake.
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.74)
2006 Apr 3, In western Guatemala 4
young men accused of trying to rob a school were whipped by their
parents in a sentence dictated by Mayan elders.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, A suicide truck bomb
exploded near a Shiite mosque in northeastern Baghdad as worshippers
were leaving after evening prayers, killing at least 10 people and
wounding 30. A car bombing in Baghdad's eastern Shiite slum of Sadr
City killed at least two civilians and wounded six others, including a
9-year-old boy. 4 people were wounded when a car bomb struck the
central district of Karradah in Baghdad. Six people, a navy officer,
two policemen, two workers at an electrical plant and a boy, were
killed by drive-by shooters in a market area of the southern city of
Basra.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, PM Bertie Ahern
pledged that Ireland will legalize civil partnerships for gay couples,
as he opened new offices for the country's main gay rights group.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, In Jordan a bomb
exploded at a shop selling Iraqi scrap metal, killing two people and
wounding four.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Dozens of Mexican
newspapers, frustrated by fruitless police probes of slain and missing
journalists, simultaneously published the first in a series of reports
on the cases.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Morocco’s state news
agency MAP said security forces were holding nine suspected al Qaeda
activists. Local newspapers said they were part of a ring that plotted
bomb attacks in France, Italy and Morocco.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, The chief of Nepal's
communist rebels promised to suspend attacks on the capital ahead of a
planned nationwide strike, a first sign of easing tensions in a battle
of nerves between the king's government and its opponents.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, In Pakistan a roadside
bomb killed five people riding a minibus and security forces shot dead
two suspected militants in North Waziristan province.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Negotiations in Vienna
on the future of Kosovo appeared to founder as UN mediators struggled
to overcome Serb demands for autonomy within the majority Albanian
territory.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Former Liberian
President Charles Taylor pleaded not guilty before an international war
crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, denying he'd helped destabilize West
Africa through killings, sexual slavery and sending children into
combat.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2006 Apr 3, A senior South African
policeman went on a shooting rampage in Johannesburg, killing eight
people, including a 2-year-old baby, before being shot dead by
colleagues. A pedestrian was killed during a police chase of the
suspect.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 3, Jan Egeland, the
U.N.'s top humanitarian official in Sudan, said the government barred
him from visiting Darfur to prevent him seeing poor conditions there.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Mohammed al-Maghout
(72), a Syrian poet and playwright known for his satirical depictions
of authoritarian Arab regimes, died of a stroke at his home in Damascus.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, PM Thaksin claimed
victory in Thailand's general election that followed weeks of
anti-government protests, saying his party won more than half of the
popular vote, the threshold he had set for staying in office.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 3, Venezuela seized
control of oil fields from France's Total SA and Italy's Eni SPA in a
show of force against those resisting President Hugo Chavez's efforts
to pry more profits from the industry at a time of high oil prices.
(AP, 4/4/06)
2006 Apr 3, Dao Dinh Binh (61)
Vietnam's transport minister resigned and his deputy was arrested in a
major corruption scandal in which public officials embezzled millions
of dollars in government funds. The reformist newspapers Thanh Nien
(Young people) and Tuoi Tre (Youth Daily) had published a joint expose
of the transport ministry’s road building unit. In 2009 the government
refused to renew the contracts for the papers.
(AFP, 4/4/06)(Econ, 1/17/09, p.43)
2007 Apr 3, President Bush
denounced Democrats for going on spring break without approving money
for the Iraq war; he also criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip
to Syria.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, An AP investigation
said CIA and FBI agents hunting for al-Qaida militants in the Horn of
Africa have been interrogating terrorism suspects from 19 countries
held at secret prisons in Ethiopia, which is notorious for torture and
abuse.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, An ex-con shot and
killed his ex-girlfriend at the CNN headquarters complex in Atlanta
before being wounded by a security guard. Arthur Mann was later
convicted of murdering Clara Riddles and sentenced to life without
parole.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, After a nine-year
title drought, Tennessee's Lady Vols basketball team captured a seventh
national title, beating Rutgers 59-46.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, Eddie Robinson
(b.1919), 56-year head football coach at Grambling College, died in
Ruston, La.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Robinson_(football_coach))
2007 Apr 3, UN officials in
Afghanistan said avalanches and floods triggered by heavy rains and
spring snow melt have killed about 150 people in recent days in the
mountains of central Asia. The toll in Afghanistan reached 88 with over
50 killed in Pakistan. In southwest Afghanistan 2 French aid workers
and their three Afghan staff went missing between Nimroz and
neighboring Farah province.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, A state news agency
said China's government has ordered newspapers to stamp out the common
practice of demanding money from people they cover.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Colombian authorities
captured Ever Veloza, a fugitive right-wing warlord accused in
massacres and of running a murderous criminal band involved in drug
trafficking and extortion. He was arrested in the banana-growing Uraba
region on the Caribbean coast. Veloza already faces charges in the
April 11, 2001, massacre of 26 peasants in the southwestern town of
Naya.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Interpol issued an
international arrest warrant for three Israelis accused of training
private armies of Colombian drug cartels and right-wing death squads.
Yair Klein, Melnik Ferri and Tzedaka Abraham were being sought on
charges of criminal conspiracy and instruction in terrorism.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Official figures said
the number of Egyptians inside and outside the country has risen to
more than 76 million, meaning an Egyptian baby is born every 23 seconds.
(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, A French train with a
25,000-horsepower engine and special wheels broke the world speed
record for conventional rail trains, reaching 357.2 mph as it zipped
through the countryside to the applause of spectators. It surpassed the
record of 320.2 mph set in 1990 by another French train. It fell short
of beating the ultimate record set by Japan's magnetically levitated
train, which hit 361 mph in 2003.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Nina Wang (69), Asia's
richest woman, died in Hong Kong after reports she had been battling
cancer, leaving unanswered questions over her estimated $4.2 billion
(2.1 billion pound) fortune. Wang successfully battled her
father-in-law for a multi-billion dollar estate left by her late
husband Teddy Wang, a property tycoon who vanished in 1990. Wang left
her $4 billion fortune to Chan Chun-chuen, a master of feng shui in a
will dated Oct. 16, 2006. On Feb 2, 2010, a Hong Kong court deemed the
will a forgery.
(Reuters, 4/4/07)(AP, 4/20/07)(Econ, 4/21/07,
p.78)(AP, 2/2/10)
2007 Apr 3, Activists said
traffickers are selling children in India for amounts that are often
lower than the cost of animals and most of them end up working as
laborers or commercial sex workers.
(Reuters, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Indonesian President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told a meeting of Islamic clerics that Muslim
nations should ultimately replace coalition forces in Iraq after a
period of national reconciliation. Cliff Muntu (21), a student at
Indonesia’s Institute of Public Administration (IPDN), died from wounds
due to hazing by his seniors. This was the 35th death in the school
since 1993.
(AP,
4/3/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Muntu)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.49)
2007 Apr 3, Iran reported that an
Iranian diplomat in Iraq seized two months ago by uniformed gunmen has
been released.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In Baghdad a senior
foreign ministry official said his government was "intensively" seeking
the release of five Iranians detained there by the US. Two US soldiers
were killed by small-arms fire, one in eastern Baghdad and another on
foot patrol in the southern outskirts of the capital. Iraqi and US
troops found a huge stash of weapons in a raid on the home of Sunni
legislator Khalaf al-Ilyan. They detained at least a dozen men for
questioning. Khalaf al-Ilyan, in Jordan for surgery, later denied the
charges and accused the Iraqi government and Iran of trying to
discredit him because of his criticism of state policies.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/6/07)(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 3, Japan and Thailand
signed a free trade agreement that will cut tariffs on a wide range of
traded goods, from seafood to automobiles.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Nigerian Vice
President Atiku Abubakar lost an appeal against a decision by the
electoral commission to bar him from this month's presidential
election. Two courts issued competing rulings on the disqualification,
setting up a legal showdown just weeks before an election meant to
solidify civilian rule in the country.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Thousands of
flag-waving protesters rallied at Pakistan's Supreme Court to urge
President Pervez Musharraf to step down for controversially dismissing
the country's top judge.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In the Philippines
Pete Amurin, a local election board official in the city of Puerto
Rincesa, capital of Palawan island west of Manila, was shot dead at
close range near his office.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, Qatar's PM Sheik
Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani resigned and the country's emir appointed
the foreign minister as replacement.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Taiwan Presidential
front-runner Ma Ying-jeou pleaded not guilty at his corruption trial in
Taipei, saying that his use of a special municipal fund was in keeping
with government standards. A helicopter crashed into a radio tower near
Kaohsiung and killed 8 crew members.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, Thousands of Ukrainian
protesters streamed into the capital in the most serious confrontation
between the prime minister and the president since the two men faced
off during the Orange Revolution.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In Zimbabwe trucks of
riot police drove through Harare and military helicopters flew overhead
on the first day of a national strike to protest deepening economic
hardships blamed on the government of President Robert Mugabe. The
strike received a cool response from workers worried about forfeiting
vital wages. A UN study said Zimbabwe was Africa's worst economic
performer in 2006.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AFP, 4/3/07)
2008 Apr 3, President Bush won
NATO's endorsement for his plan to build a missile defense system in
Europe over Russian objections. The proposal also advanced with Czech
officials announcing an agreement to install a missile tracking site
for the system in their country. NATO decided not to put Georgia and
Ukraine on track to join the alliance after vehement Russian
opposition, but the alliance pledged that the strategically important
Black Sea nations will become members one day.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, The whistleblowers who
exposed maintenance and inspection problems at Southwest Airlines told
Congress their jobs were threatened and their reports of noncompliance
were ignored for years by their superiors.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Corn prices jumped to
a record $6 a bushel, driven up by an expected supply shortfall that
will only add to Americans' growing grocery bill and further squeeze
struggling ethanol producers.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, ATA Airlines
discontinued all flights and filed for bankruptcy.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, It was reported that
Nikolai Shaposhnikov and Lev Titarchuk had discovered a small black
hole in the Milky Way with the aid of NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing
Explorer satellite. They presented the findings earlier this week at an
American Astronomical Society conference. It was discovered alongside a
normal star in a binary system called XTE J1650-500, named for its
coordinates in the constellation Ara. The system was discovered in 2001.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Wayne "Frosty Freeze"
Frost (44), a hip-hop pioneer, died. His acrobatic performance with the
legendary Rock Steady Crew in the 1983 movie "Flashdance" helped set
off a worldwide breakdancing craze.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In eastern Kunar
province, a truck supplying fuel to NATO troops hit a roadside bomb
that killed the Afghan driver.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In Chile Yasna
Provoste, Chile’s education minister, was impeached following the
discovery of $560 million shortfall in the ministry for 2004-2006.
(Econ, 5/17/08,
p.48)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasna_Provoste)
2008 Apr 3, Hu Jia, a Buddhist
Chinese dissident outspoken on Tibet and other sensitive topics, was
jailed for three-and-a-half years, a conviction likely to become a
focus of rights campaigns ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
(Reuters, 4/3/08)(WSJ, 4/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 3, Ivan Korade (44), a
retired Croatian army general suspected in a grisly quadruple murder,
died during a shootout with police that also killed one officer. On
April 1 Korade was charged with the March 27 killing of four people in
his village of Velika Veternicka: a 16-year-old boy, his 62-year-old
grandmother and two men, including a former Korade aide.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Ledra Street, a main
shopping street in Cyprus' divided capital that had come to symbolize
the island's ethnic partition, reopened for the first time in 44 years,
boosting hopes for a renewed drive to reunify Cyprus. Authorities were
forced to close it for nearly two hours following a dispute over how to
police the street.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, French protesters
hurled bottles and stones at riot police who responded with tear gas
during a march by high school students in Paris over teacher job cuts.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Iraqi troops killed 7
militants and detained 16 in three separate incidents in the Basra
area. A coalition air strike there killed two militants. A parked car
bomb targeting a police patrol in western Baghdad killed at least one
civilian and wounded 10 other people, including three officers. A
roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol elsewhere in the
predominantly Sunni Yarmouk neighborhood in the capital, killing one
soldier and wounding three others. The office of Muqtada al-Sadr called
for a "million-strong" turnout for an anti-American demonstration next
week to mark the fifth anniversary of the capture of Baghdad by
invading US troops. A US airman was killed by a roadside bomb in
Baghdad.
(AP, 4/3/08)(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, Alitalia edged closer
to bankruptcy protection after Air France-KLM abruptly broke off talks
to buy the struggling national airline and Alitalia's chairman of seven
months resigned in frustration.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Japanese police
arrested Olatunbosun Ugbogu (22), a Nigerian national serving in the US
Navy, in the March 19 stabbing death of a taxi driver near an American
naval base outside Tokyo. He was handed over to Japanese authorities
just before the arrest under a bilateral security pact.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Kenya’s president and
opposition leader agreed on a cabinet as part of their power-sharing
deal to end violence.
(WSJ, 4/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 3, The UN tribunal in The
Hague, Netherlands, ruled that there was not enough evidence to convict
former Kosovo PM Ramush Haradinaj of murder, torture and rape of Serbs
and non-Albanians during the Kosovo war.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In Sri Lanka battles
along the northern front lines left 21 rebels and five soldiers dead.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In Suriname a
twin-engine Antonov-AN28, operated by Surinamese carrier Blue Wing
airlines, crashed on approach to an airstrip in the Benzdorp mining
region, near the country's border with French Guiana. All 19 aboard
were killed. Blue Wing, which has operated since 2002, was barred from
landing at European airports in June 2006 after French aviation
officials found safety deficiencies during an inspection of planes. The
airline was removed from the blacklist in 2007 after a commission said
the company had resolved the issues.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, In Tibet Wang
Xiangming, the deputy Communist Party secretary of Lhasa, said 800 had
been arrested in local violence, while another 280 had surrendered to
take advantage of a police offer of leniency. New violence broke out in
a volatile Tibetan region of western China, leaving eight people dead.
Chinese police opened fire during a "riot" in a Tibetan populated area
of southwest China.
(AP, 4/3/08)(AP, 4/4/08)(AFP, 4/4/08)
2008 Apr 3, A group of about 200
Uighur Muslims demonstrated against China before the Olympic torch
ceremony near Istanbul's Blue Mosque, one of Turkey's most famous
tourist destinations.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, Zimbabwe's ruling
party geared up for a final battle to keep Robert Mugabe in power,
saying it was ready for a presidential election run-off with opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
(AFP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 3, President Hugo Chavez
ordered the nationalization of Venezuela's cement industry, saying his
government cannot allow businesses to continue exporting raw materials
needed to help tackle a domestic housing shortage.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2009 Apr 3, US administration
officials said Pres. Obama planned to lift some curbs on travel to
Cuba, including a ban on family travel and remittances to Cuba.
(WSJ, 4/4/09, p.A1)
2009 Apr 3, The regulator of
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released a letter disclosing bonus awards of
more than $210 million through next year to more than 7,600 employees.
(SFC, 4/4/09, p.C1)
2009 Apr 3, Hassan Abu-Jihaad, a
former US Navy sailor, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for giving
details of ship movements in 2001 to operators of a Web site in London
that openly espoused violent jihad against the US.
(SFC, 4/4/09, p.A6)
2009 Apr 3, The Iowa Supreme Court
issued a unanimous ruling finding that the state's same-sex marriage
ban violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples,
making Iowa the third state where gay marriage is legal.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, In Binghampton, NY,
Jiverly Wong (41) barricaded the back door of a community center with
his car and then opened fire on a room full of immigrants taking a
citizenship class, killing 13 people before apparently committing
suicide. Officials the next day said the man, believed to be Vietnamese
immigrant, was depressed and angry over losing his job and about his
poor English skills.
(AP, 4/3/09)(AP, 4/4/09)(SSFC, 4/5/09, p.A15)
2009 Apr 3, Australia endorsed a
UN declaration that recognizes indigenous rights, reversing years of
opposition and promising a new era in relations between white
Australians and the nation's impoverished Aborigines. Australia was one
of four nations that voted against the declaration when it was adopted
by the General Assembly in 2007.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, Cambodian and Thai
soldiers traded fire with machine guns and rocket launchers along a
disputed border, killing as many as four people in an escalation of
tensions in a long-standing feud over an 11th century temple.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, NATO began its 2-day
60th anniversary summit in France and Germany.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, In France US Pres.
Obama won enthusiastic support for his new Afghan war strategy from
French Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy, who pledged more police trainers and
civilian aid.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, In Iraq an American
soldier died of noncombat-related causes in Anbar province.
(AP, 4/4/09)
2009 Apr 3, Israeli police
interrogated the country's new hard-line foreign minister for the 2nd
straight day in an ongoing bribery investigation that could make his
tenure short-lived. Avigdor Lieberman was questioned for five hours
about an investigation involving suspicions of receiving bribes, money
laundering and breach of trust.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, A Malawi judge
rejected Madonna's request to adopt a second child from Malawi even
though the country's child welfare minister had supported Madonna's
application to raise the 3-year-old girl.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, Malaysian PM Najib
Razak, in his first act after talking office, freed 13 people being
held under a law that allows indefinite detention and lifted a ban on
two opposition newspapers.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, In Mexico Alberto
Rayas Rodriguez (37), the chief homicide detective in western Jalisco
state, was killed while on his way to a government event when gunmen on
a motorcycle opened fire on his car.
(AP, 4/5/09)
2009 Apr 3, In Nigeria a source
close to negotiations said Pfizer has agreed to pay $75 million
compensation over a 1996 drug trial that caused the death of 11
children in northern Nigeria. Kano state confirmed the settlement on
May 14.
(AFP, 4/3/09)(AP, 5/14/09)
2009 Apr 3, The Philippines said
it will take needed steps to be stricken from a list of four nations
blacklisted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development as uncooperative tax havens.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, Sri Lankan troops
captured Anandapuram, a key village from the Tamil Tigers, after heavy
fighting that left at least 44 guerrillas dead. Police commandos killed
13 Tiger rebels in the eastern district of Ampara.
(AFP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, The Swiss central bank
said UBS has transferred its final installment of toxic assets to a
special state aid fund, bringing the total to 38.7 billion dollars.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, A Thai citizen was
sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of insulting the king and
his family by posting edited photos of the monarchy on the Internet.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 3, The UN appointed
Richard Goldstone, former chief prosecutor for war crimes in Yugoslavia
and Rwanda, to lead a mission to investigate alleged war crimes
committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
(SFC, 4/4/09, p.A2)
2009 Apr 3, In Venezuela 3 of the
capital’s former police chiefs were sentenced to 30 years in prison.
They were accused without evidence of complicity in the murder of
several supporters of Pres. Chavez, who died during a coup attempt in
2002.
(Econ, 4/11/09, p.36)
2009 Apr 3, The global diamond
certification body ordered a ban on trade in diamonds from eastern
Zimbabwe over concerns about human rights violations.
(AP, 4/3/09)
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