April 2003
2003 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
A timeline of events in the news for April 2003.
- Unknown assailants fire incendiary devices on an ammunition dump in suburban Baghdad, triggering hours of explosions. American sources put the casualties at six dead and four wounded; Iraqi sources state 25 wounded.
- Winnie Mandela is sentenced to four years in prison (five years, less one year suspended) for theft and fraud.
- Tennis player Andre Agassi, at age 33, becomes the oldest man ever to be ranked number one in the world in the World Tennis Association rankings
- 2003 Iraq war: Iraqi former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz surrenders himself to U.S. forces
- The Dixie Chicks pose nude on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, with political slogans on their bodies, in response to their critics' reaction to lead singer Natalie Maines' derogatory remark against President Bush.
- In the Red Lion Area Junior High School cafeteria (Red Lion, Pennsylvania), eighth-grader James Sheets, carrying multiple weapons, fatally shoots the principal, Eugene Segro, and then fatally shoots himself. Two years earlier, the same school district was the site of a machete attack that injured another principal, two teachers and 11 pupils.
- Winnie Mandela is found guilty of theft and fraud involving funds of the African National Congress and faces up to fifteen years in prison.
- The Canadian federal fisheries minister, Robert Thibault, announces the complete closure of the Atlantic cod fishery, in order to prevent the commercial extinction of cod.
- An article in Nature states that the chemical pyrroloquinoline quinone should be classed as one of the B vitamins.
- A U.S. commanding officer in Baghdad announces that five U.S. soldiers are under investigation for the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars from caches of money found in Iraq.
- The British and Irish governments publicly ask three questions of the IRA. Depending on clarification offered, the Northern Ireland Executive may be reinstated or the Assembly elections postponed.
- Nigeria holds a presidential election.
- Iraqi Police arrest Saddam Hussein's former finance minister, Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim al-Azzawi in Baghdad, and turn him over to U.S. Marines.
- United States forces announce that a "disease control" plant in Baghdad has been raided by unknown persons, and strains of cholera, black fever, HIV, polio and hepatitis may have been lost.
- DNA testing proved that the bodies found on the shores of San Francisco Bay were those of the missing Laci Peterson and her unborn son. Peterson's husband, Scott, was arrested in La Jolla, California and returned to their home town of Modesto, California for trial.
- United States Army troops found over $656 million dollars in United States and Iraqi currency in sealed metal boxes in several bricked up cottages on the grounds of the homes of members of the Iraqi elite in Baghdad. Preliminary indications were that the money was real uncirculated bills, and not counterfeit.
- Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former United Nations Secretary General, reports that the United Nations is increasingly "being marginalised" and that preparation is needed for a new organisation to succeed the UN.
- U.S. President George W. Bush says that U.S.-led coalition victory in the 2003 Iraq war is "certain, but not complete."
- In Quebec, the governing sovereigntist Parti Québécois is defeated in the 2003 Quebec general election. The Liberals are returned to power after nine years and Jean Charest becomes the new premier.
- The Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the Vatican, in the presence of Pope John Paul II, promulgates a decree declaring that Emperor-King Karl of Austria-Hungary (r: 1916-1918) possessed "heroic virtues". This decree marks a significant step towards canonisation in the Roman Catholic Church for the last Austrian emperor and king of Hungary.
- The bodies of a headless woman and a newborn fetus with the umbilical cord still attached washed up separately on the shore of San Francisco Bay near Richmond, California. DNA testing is being performed to determine if the body is that of Laci Peterson, the Modesto, California woman missing from her home since December 24, 2002.
- The northern Iraqi city of Mosul falls to coalition forces as the Iraqi army's 5th Corps offers a letter of surrender. The only remaining major city left to fall is Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, where some expect the remaining regime loyalists to make their final stand.
- Europe's largest civil engineering project, and the world's largest single metro expansion project, is officially opened in Madrid. MetroSur, a 40-kilometre loop of the Madrid Metro in the southern suburbs of the city, took under 3 years to complete.
- Microsoft announces that its will port its Windows Media Player to Linux, in a remarkable step that acknowledges Linux as a significant competing platform on the desktop
- Der Spiegel reports that Apple Computer is planning to buy Universal Music, one of the giants of the record industry, from Vivendi
- Cuba executes three men charged with terrorism for hijacking a passenger ferry on April 2. Another four men receive life sentences.
- In response to Baseball Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey's April 8 decision to cancel a 15th anniversary celebration of "Bull Durham, sportswriter Roger Kahn cancels a planned appearance at the baseball museum.
- Tom Hurndall, a British photojournalist is shot in the head by an Israeli sniper in Rafah, Gaza strip.
- United States Green Berets and Kurdish fighters enter the city of Kirkuk in Iraq with little resistance. Turkey and U.S., in separate statements, say they will not allow the Kurds to occupy the city. ,
- British Airways and Air France simultaneously announce that they will retire the supersonic Concorde aircraft later this year. Passenger numbers had never recovered following a crash that killed 113 in 2000. In response, Sir Richard Branson offers to buy British Airways' Concordes for £1 for the use of his Virgin Atlantic Airlines. BA dismisses the offer as a stunt and indicates that the planes will go to air museums.
- A fire destroys a boarding school for the deaf in Makhachkala, Russia, killing 28 children, aged 8 to 14. About 100 other children suffer burns and smoke inhalation, 39 of which are in serious condition.
- At the International Science Festival at Edinburgh's Royal Museum, the stuffed remains of Dolly the sheep are for the first time displayed.
- Baghdad falls to coalition forces. American infantrymen seize deserted Ba'ath Party ministries and pull down a huge iron statue of Saddam Hussein at the Fardus square in front of the Palestine Hotel, as a symbolic ending his autocratic rule of Iraq. Baghdad citizens then dragged the severed head of the statue through the streets of the city. Dozens of people there cheer U.S. soldiers, according to BBC. Much looting of cars and buildings is seen in Baghdad and other cities as the government and police lost control. , , , ,
- The fate of Saddam Hussein remains unknown after a U.S. B-1B bomber dropped four 2,000-pound bunker-busting bombs on a building where Hussein was thought to be meeting with his sons and senior aides on April 7. The bombs blew a 60-foot-deep crater in a residential neighborhood that is not under coalition control, refueling speculation about the possible death of Saddam Hussein. British intelligence officials said that they believed Hussein left the targeted building just minutes before it was destroyed, and that he probably survived the attack.
- Iraq's ambassador to the U.N. U.S. Undersecretary of State, John Bolton, warns Iran, Syria, and North Korea that they should "draw the appropriate lesson from Iraq".
- As part of a plea bargain, alleged Mafia boss Vincent "the Chin" Gigante admits in court that he has been feigning insanity for more than 30 years.
- In Oakland, California, police fired rubber bullets and beanbags at anti-war protesters and dockworkers outside the Port, injuring at least a dozen demonstrators and six longshoremen standing nearby. Most of the 500 demonstrators were dispersed peacefully, but a crowd of demonstrators was blocking traffic on private property near the port and fail to disperse after police warnings. Oakland Police Chief said demonstrators also threw objects and bolts at them, and said the use of weapons was necessary to disperse the crowd. He indicated non-lethal projectiles were used to respond to direct illegal action. The longshoremen were caught in the crossfire. A dockworker spokeman reported Police gave two minutes to disperse, then didnot move to arrest people, instead they opened fire. Demonstrators also claim though the rubber bullets were supposed to be shot at the ground, the Police took direct aim at them. Oakland police said 31 people were arrested at the port.
- U.S. Secretary of State Powell says that war in Iraq is "drawing to a close".
- United States troops push into the centre of Baghdad and enter at least one abandoned Presidential Palace. (see Invasion of Baghdad).
- Embedded NPR journalists relay reports from a top official with the 1st Marine Division that U.S. forces near Baghdad have discovered 20 medium range BM-21 missiles armed with warheads containing deadly sarin and mustard gas that are "ready to fire." ,
- More than a dozen Coalition soldiers, a Knight Ridder reporter, a CNN cameraman and two Iraqi prisoners of war are sent for chemical weapons decontamination after exhibiting symptoms of possible exposure to Tabun and Sarin nerve agents and lewisite blistering agents while searching an Iraqi agricultural warehouse and a nearby military compound on the Euphrates river between the cities of Kerbala and Hilla. U.S. soldiers found eleven 25-gallon barrels and three 55-gallon chemical drums, hundreds of gas masks and chemical suits, along with large numbers of mortar and artillery rounds. Initial tests of the chemicals were positive, then a second test was done which came back negative. A third test, conducted by a mobile testing unit provided by Germany confirmed the existence of sarin. Some reports indicate that the chemicals found at the agricultural werehouse may turn out to be pesticides. Further tests are planned in the United States. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said later in a Pentagon briefing that "almost all first reports we get, turn out to be wrong. We don't do first reports and we don't speculate." ,
- Syracuse University defeats the University of Kansas to win the NCAA's college basketball championship
- British forces step up their presence in the southern city of Basra. According to embedded journalists, the citizens of Basra braved gunfire to dance in the streets and cheer for the British troops. UPI's Chief International Correspondent Martin Walker claimed that he had witnessed at least one Basra citizen kiss a British tank.
- In a friendly fire incident, U.S. warplanes struck a convoy of allied Kurdish fighters and U.S. Special Forces during a battle in northern Afghanistan. At least 18 people are killed and more than 45 wounded, including senior Kurdish commanders.
- The Senate of Belgium approves a change in the nation's war crimes law so that it will no longer apply to citizens of nations with sufficient human rights laws. The House of Representatives had already approved the change. The law had been used in the past to charge such people as George H. W. Bush, Colin Powell and Ariel Sharon with war crimes, and had interfered with Belgium's international relations.
- Monty's Pass wins the Grand National
- Hong Kong movie and Cantopop star Leslie Cheung commits suicide at the age of 46.
- In Japan, The Postal Services Agency becomes Japan Post, a public corporation.
- In Japan, Hyosuke Kujiraoka, a former vice speaker of the House of Representatives, dies in Adachi Ward, Tokyo. He was 87.
- Air Canada, the main airline company of Canada asks for bankruptcy protection.
- The US Supreme Court hears oral arguments for Grutter v. Bollinger, (regarding the University of Michigan Law Schools' affirmative action admissions policy), and Gratz and Hamacher v. Bollinger, (examining the university's undergraduate admissions policy.)
- Cubana de Aviacion AN-24 airplane on a flight from the Isle of Youth in Cuba to Havana with 46 passengers on board is hijacked and directed towards the United States. After refueling in Havana the plane flew to Key West, under escort by two US jet fighters. The plane landed safely in Key West.
- Prisoner of war United States Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch is rescued by U.S. forces from Nasiriya, Iraq.
