Events in April 2003
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Apr. 1
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At least 75 Iraqis die in fighting in and around Diwaniyah, 120 km southeast of the capital, Baghdad as the war enters the 13th day. |
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Apr. 3
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French mathematician, Jean-Pierre Serre, is selected for the first Abel Prize for his role in shaping algebraic geometry and number theory. |
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At least 1,000 people are massacred in ethnic violence in Ituri, Congo, a day after warring parties signed a historic pact to end four years of brutal warfare. |
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Apr. 5
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Eightysix inmates of the El-Porvenir prison in La Ceiba, a port city in Honduras are killed in a massive riot. |
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Apr. 6
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Three thousand Iraqi troops are killed in a show-of-force foray into Baghdad by American armoured vehicles. |
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Apr. 7
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Twentyone students and a teacher are killed after fire engulfs a school in the northern Siberian republic of Yakutia. |
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Apr. 9
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U.S. troops sweep into the heart of Baghdad, as Saddam Hussein's 24-year-rule crumbles into chaos and looting. |
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Apr. 10
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INSAT-3A is successfully launched from the French Guyanese spaceport of Kourou. |
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Twentyeight children of a boarding school for the hearing impaired in southern Russia die in a fire mishap. |
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Apr. 11
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Scientists identify the coronavirus behind the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that has killed an estimated 110 people worldwide. |
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Apr. 14
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Scientists complete human genome sequencing work begun in 1990, throwing open the book of life. |
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Apr. 15
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China forms quick-response system to tackle SARS believed to have originated in Guangdong province. |
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The confessed assassin of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, animal rights activist, Volkert Vander Graaf, is jailed for 18 years. |
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Palestinian leader, Abu Abbas who masterminded the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruiseliner, Achille Lauro, is seized from his Baghdad hideout. |
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Apr. 16
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Ten more members, eight of them from the erstwhile Soviet bloc join the European Union in its most dramatic expansion in 46 years, at a summit in Athens. |
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Apr. 18
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Twelve persons die of SARS in Hong Kong taking the toll to 81. In mainland China, the toll was 67, where the disease first occurred in November 2002. |
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Apr. 19
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Olusegun Obasango, is re-elected Nigerian President by a wide margin defeating his rival, former junta leader, Muhammadu Buhari. |
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Apr. 20
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China sacks Health Minister, Zhang Wenkang, even as the toll mounts to 79 in the mainland and 88 in Hong Kong. |
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Apr. 21
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The LTTE suspends talks with the Sri Lankan Government. |
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Apr. 23
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SARS fatalities touch 100, China orders mass closure of schools to contain the spread of the disease. |
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Tripartite talks involving the U.S., North Korea and China on Pyongyang's suspected n-arms programme, begin in Beijing. |
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Apr. 24
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Greek and Turkish Cypriots cross the demarcation line of their war divided island for the first time in 29 years. |
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The high-profile former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz surrenders to the U.S. troops in Baghdad. |
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Apr. 25
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The African National Congress leader, Winnie Madikizela Mandela is sentenced to five years in jail for fraud and theft, by the Pretoria Regional Court. |
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Apr. 26
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Forty Iraqi civilians are killed in a series of huge blasts at an arms dump at Zaafaraniya, a suburb on the outskirts of Baghdad. |
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Apr. 29
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Qataris vote for their first permanent Constitution. |
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Apr. 30
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Mahmoud Abbas is sworn in Palestinian Prime Minister. |
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Events 2003
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
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