01|Pakistani authorities transfer custody of senior al-Qa'ida leader Abu Zubaydah to U.S. authorities in Pakistan. American intelligence officials believe that the Saudi-born Palestinian was in charge of planning terrorist operations and may have been the network's second in command after Osama bin Laden. Zubaydah was captured on March 28 in Pakistan, where he appeared to be setting up a new base of operations.|
01|The Israeli Army deploys tanks and helicopter gunships to tighten control around key West Bank cities, where as many 700 Palestinian militants have been arrested since the Israeli offense began on March 29.|
01|The University of Maryland beats Indiana University 64-52 to win the National College Athletic Association men's basketball championship.|
01|Euthanasia becomes legal in the Netherlands one year after the Dutch parliament voted to make the country the world's first to legalize mercy killing.|
02|Firefights between Israeli troops and Palestinian snipers rage around the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, as Israeli forces attempt to flush armed militants into the open. According to Israeli officials, at least 200 armed men are holed up in the church, which many Christians regard as the birthplace of Jesus.|
03|Hundreds of Israeli tanks, backed by helicopter gunships, advance from all directions to encircle the Palestinian stronghold of Nabulus on the West Bank. Israeli officials describe the operation as an attempt to dissolve Palestinian militias and put an end to suicide bombing attacks.|
04|U.S. President George W. Bush demands that Israel withdraw its troops from Palestinian territories in the West Bank and announces that he intends to send Secretary of State Colin Powell to the Middle East to negotiate a cease-fire.|
05|Israeli soldiers smash through street blockades set up by Palestinian militants around residential neighborhoods in the West Bank city of Nabulus to begin house-by-house search for terrorists and weapons.|
06|Israel temporarily lifts its siege of Yasir Arafat's headquarters in Ram Allah to allow U.S. envoy Anthony Zini to meet with the Palestinian leader.|
07|The Israeli Army steps up its offensive in the West Bank as Israeli troops continue to battle Palestinian militants in Nabulus and Jenin. The Israeli government launched the offensive in response to the suicide bombing of a hotel dining room on Passover that resulted in the deaths of 29 Israelis.|
08|Shareholders of the failed energy trading company Enron file a lawsuit against some of the world's top financial institutions, including J. P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and Bank of America. In the complaint, the shareholders accuse banks and brokerage houses of knowingly participating in schemes to defraud the public. The complaint alleges that the executives of financial institutions realized enormous personal profits by crafting deals that funneled millions of dollars in loans to Enron, which were used to disguise that company's lack of profits.|
08|Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein suspends oil exports for 30 days to protest Israel's offensive on the West Bank. The move sends oil prices up by 4 percent on world markets.|
09|Business and schools throughout the United Kingdom close to honor the passing of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (1900-2002), during her funeral at Westminster Abbey in London. Officials estimate that at least 1 million people line a 23-mile (37-kilometer) route to view the hearse carrying the coffin to Windsor Castle, where the queen mother is interred beside her husband, King George VI, in St. George's Chapel.|
09|Much of Venezuela's work force goes on strike in support of the management of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. The managers are protesting President Hugo Chavez's removal of much of the company's board and top-level executives. Chavez replaced executives with individuals who share his goal to redistribute oil profits to help the country's poor. Oil company employees demand that he put experienced business leaders back in charge, noting that production is already declining.|
10|Palestinian militants shoot and kill 2 monks from among the 40 priests, monks, and nuns that the militants are holding hostage inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. A third monk is seriously wounded. The approximately 200 militants inside the complex have been in a tense stand off with the Israeli Army since April 2.|
11|The United Nations (UN) ratifies the world's first permanent court for the prosecution of war criminals and dictators. UN officials expect the court to be established in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2003.|
11|U.S. Congressman James Traficant (D., Ohio) is convicted on 10 counts of bribery and tax fraud in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. He faces up to 63 years in prison and expulsion from the House of Representatives, where he represented the Youngstown area for nine terms.|
12|Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez resigns under pressure from the Venezuelan military after three years in office. The country's military leaders turned against Chavez after a massive demonstration against his government ended in a massacre in the streets of Caracas, the capital. Officials estimated that as many as 150,000 people marched through downtown Caracas on April 11, demanding the president's resignation. Chavez responded by ordering National Guard troops and civilian gunmen to stop the crowd from reaching the presidential palace. At least 16 people were killed and 350 others were injured in the confrontation.|
13|A 22-year-old woman falls 150 feet (45 meters) to her death from a tree platform in a stand of old-growth trees in the Mt. Hood National Forest in Oregon. Beth O'Brien was one of four tree sitters who occupied the tree platform 24 hours a day for three years to protest the federal government's sale of timber from the forest.|
14|Hugo Chavez regains the presidency of Venezuela two days after being forced from office in a military coup (overthrow). The reversal in Chavez's political fortunes was driven by divisions between the leaders of Venezuela's military and rank-and-file soldiers and by the enormous support Chavez enjoys among Venezuela's poor. Chavez was elected president in 1998 on the promise that he would remake Venezuela's economy to benefit the poor, who constitute a majority in a nation that is rich in oil.|
14|U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell meets with Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat at his headquarters in Ram Allah. Powell is the first high-level U.S. official to meet with Arafat since late 2001. U.S. officials describe the meeting as helpful, though Arafat does not commit to any course of action.|
14|American golfer Tiger Woods wins the 66th Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Course in Georgia, defeating runner-up Retief Goosen by three strokes for a 12-under-par 276 total. The victory is Woods's third Masters championship since 1997.|
15|An Air China Boeing 767-200 crashes into a mountain as it attempts to land in heavy fog in Pusan, South Korea, killing at least 124 of the 166 passengers and crew members.|
16|Prime Minister Wim Kok of the Netherlands and his entire government resign in response to a report about a Dutch peacekeeping force in Bosnia-Herzegovina during that country's 1992-1996 civil war. According to the report, Dutch soldiers assigned to protect Bosnian Muslims stepped aside and allowed Bosnian Serbs to massacre more than 7,000 Muslim residents of Srebrenica. The report, which was commissioned by the government of the Netherlands, also condemns the other peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina under a United Nations (UN) mandate.|
17|Much of Italy comes to a standstill when trade unions call the country's first one-day general strike in 20 years. The strike is to protest Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's attempt to reform Italy's labor laws, which make it virtually impossible for Italian companies to dismiss or lay off any employee.|
17|A U.S. District Court judge in Portland, Oregon, rejects an attempt by the U.S. Department of Justice to overturn an Oregon law that allows assisted suicide to the terminally ill. In November 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft issued an order that physicians who dispensed controlled substances to terminally ill patients risked having their licenses revoked because such prescriptions were not for a "legitimate purpose." The U.S. District Court judge, Robert Jones, issues an injunction that prevents the justice department from enforcing the attorney general's order, noting that the Ashcroft lacks the authority to decide what constitutes the legitimate practice of medicine.|
17|A new group, or order, of insects has been discovered in Africa, announces entomologists (insect specialists) at the Max Planck Institute for Limnology in Germany. Insects in the new group, named Mantophasmatodea, are 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) in length, wingless, and have features similar to praying mantises and walking sticks. According to Joachim Adis and his colleagues at the Planck Institute, Mantophasmatodeas live in the mountains of Namibia. Scientists last discovered a new order of insect in 1914.|
18|An American fighter pilot flying an F-16 jet accidentally attacks allied forces in Afghanistan. The pilot drops a 500-pound (226-kilomter), laser-guided bomb on Canadian soldiers conducting a training mission south of Kandahar. Four Canadians are killed, and eight others are wounded.|
18|Members of the U.S. Senate vote 54 to 46 to block President George W. Bush's proposal to drill for oil and natural gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Under Senate rules, the Republicans needed 60 votes to end debate on the issue before the proposal could be brought to the floor for an actual vote. Eight Republicans join 46 Democrats against the procedural motion, effectively killing the possibility that the protected wilderness will be opened for development in the near future.|
18|A small, single-engine plane flies into the 25th floor of the 30-story Pirelli Building in Milan, Italy, killing the Swiss pilot and three other people. The crash leaves gaping holes in the building's front and back and heavily damages two floors.|
19|The U.S.S. Cole, the U.S. Navy destroyer that was attacked by terrorists in 2000 while docked in Aden, Yemen, returns to active duty after 14 months of repairs at a shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The bombing, which U.S. intelligence agents believe may have been carried out by al-Qa'ida terrorists under the direction of Osama bin Laden, ripped a hole 40 by 40 feet (12 by 12 meters) in the side of the vessel, killing 17 American sailors.|
19|The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issues a warning that U.S. banks and other financial institutions in the Northeast could be the targets of al-Qa'ida terrorist attacks. The warning is based on information given to FBI interrogators by Abu Zubaydah, the only top al-Qa'ida leader who has been captured since the U.S. war on terrorism began in October 2001. The FBI also reports that U.S. intelligence agencies have intercepted conversations between suspected al-Qa'ida members who discussed various operations that could result in the deaths of large numbers of Americans.|
20|An earthquake shakes the northeastern United States and areas of eastern Canada, causing some damage to area roads and houses but no injuries. The quake is centered in northeastern New York State, about 15 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of Plattsburgh, but is felt as far east as Boston, as far west as Buffalo, New York, and as far south as Baltimore. Officials at the U.S. Geological Survey estimate the magnitude at 5.1.|
21|Israeli troops pull out of the West Bank city of Nabulus and out of much of Ram Allah after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declares that the first phase of the army's offensive in the West Bank is over. Troops remain stationed around Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat's headquarters in Ram Allah and in other Palestinian strongholds.|
21|French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin receives 16 percent of the vote in a preliminary election for the French presidency, coming in third after the incumbent, Jacques Chirac, and an extreme right-wing candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Political experts describe the election results as a "political earthquake" that will likely force Jospin, the leader of French Socialists, to retire from politics. Le Pen campaigned on an anticrime, anti-immigration, anti-European Union platform.|
21|Bombs explode outside a department store, near a radio station, and inside a bus station in General Santos, a largely Christian city in the southern Philippines approximately 600 miles (965 kilometers) south of Manila, the capital. An Islamic extremist group attempting to establish an independent homeland in the area takes credit for the explosions, which leave 14 people dead.|
22|Banks in Argentina close for an indefinite period, virtually shutting down all financial systems, including the stock market in Buenos Aires, the capital. Argentine President Eduardo Duhalde ordered the bank holiday in an effort to save the nation's banks from failing. Economists estimate that depositors were withdrawing as much as $100 million a day to convert what was left of their savings into a safer currency, such as the U.S. dollar. The value of the Argentine peso has plummeted on international markets since early January, when the Argentine government attempted to break out of four years of economic recession by abandoning a policy that linked its currency to the U.S. dollar on a one-to-one basis.|
23|The U.S. Supreme Court rules that landowners are not entitled to compensation when government temporarily blocks development of private property. The 6-to-3 decision involved a case in which property owners around Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada sought millions of dollars in damages in compensation for a 32-month suspension of development. A regional planning commission ordered the suspension to stop pollution of the lake.|
24|Commerce in Argentina grinds to a virtual standstill as Argentines run out of cash on the third day of a bank holiday of indefinite length. Automatic teller machines are empty, and businesses generally refuse to honor credit and debit cards. Most businesses, including groceries and bakeries, demand cash, even exact change, for purchases. Argentina's finance minister resigned on April 23 after lawmakers in Buenos Aires, the capital, refused to pass legislation that would have converted all bank deposits into bonds.|
24|A gas explosion in a coal mine at Panzhihua in Sichuan Province in southwest China kills 23 miners. A similar explosion in neighboring Congqing on April 22 left at least 11 coal miners dead.|
25|Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia informs U.S. President George W. Bush, during a visit to the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas, that the United States must moderate its support for Israel in the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict or face increasing hostility from the Arab nations of the Middle East. Stability in the region, according to the prince, depends on the ability of U.S. officials to bring pressure to bear on Israel to refrain from future military strikes in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Abdullah also tells the president that Saudi Arabia will not attempt to influence U.S. foreign policy by threatening to cut oil exports.|
26|A 19-year-old boy armed with two guns enters the Gutenberg secondary school in Erfurt, Germany, where he was expelled earlier in 2002, and kills 16 people, including 13 teachers, 2 students, and a policeman. At least 10 others are injured before the attacker kills himself.|
27|As many as 200,000 people carrying placards reading "I'm ashamed" march through Paris to protest the candidacy of far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen for president of France. Le Pen faces the incumbent, President Jacques Chirac, in the second round of voting on May 5.|
28|Leaders of the Israeli government and the Palestinian authority agree to terms proposed by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to end the Israeli siege of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat's headquarters in Ram Allah on the West Bank. Israel is to free Arafat from house arrest in Ram Allah and to allow the Palestinian leader complete freedom of travel without fear of being barred from reentering the country. Arafat is to surrender to U.S. and British authorities six Palestinians alleged to be terrorists and political assassins.|
28|An unusually wide and powerful series of thunderstorms cut across the eastern half of the United States, leaving at least six people dead and several dozen people injured in four states. Tornadoes touch down in southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois, and western Kentucky, where a number of houses are destroyed and 46 fully loaded freight cars are blown off railroad tracks. In two Maryland counties south of Washington, D.C., a tornado of F5 force, the highest level on the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's scale, kills at least three people and flattens 20 square blocks of houses in the town of La Plata.|
29|The first of 150 to 200 U.S Special Forces arrive in the former Soviet republic of Georgia to begin training local security organizations in counter-terrorism tactics. American Green Berets are to train and equip the Georgian Army to combat Islamic militants along border areas. U.S. intelligence agents believe that militants with links to the al-Qa'ida terrorist network are hiding in the Pankisi Gorge near Georgia's border with the Russian republic of Chechnya. Officials in Georgia also fear that the war for independence that Islamic militants in Chechnya have waged against Russia since 1991 may spread to Georgia.|
30|Pakistanis overwhelmingly vote yes in a referendum to give President Pervez Musharraf five additional years in office. The country's election commission report that 98 percent of all voters favor retaining the former head of the Pakistan Army as president. Musharraf seized power in a coup in 1999 and declared himself president in June 2001. According to political experts, the president campaigned hard for the landslide victory in order to silence critics of his close cooperation with the United States in the U.S.-led war on terrorism and his crackdown on Islamic militancy in Pakistan.|
30|President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe declares a national state of emergency due to food shortages, which he attributes to drought. Local authorities also site a breakdown in the country's agricultural system due to government seizure of farms owned by white citizens. Representatives of relief agencies in Zimbabwe fear widespread starvation among the nation's poor, who make up more than half of the country's population of nearly 13 million people.|
