Square and Enix, two Japanese video game companies, announce their merger into Square Enix. Because of the timing, many people thought this was a mutually planned hoax.
football club Rangers announced the signing of seventeen-year-old Turkish player Yardis Alpolfo in a £5 million deal. The name is in fact an anagram of "April Fool's Day" but many news sources, including Reuters, reported the story.[3]
Iraqi military forces light oil wells on fire while retreating in the face of overwhelming US military might. This was considered an act of environmental terrorism.
U.S. Brigadier General
Iraqi Republican Guard was "destroyed". Iraq information minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf responded that this was another American "lie".[4]
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.[8]
British forces step up their presence in the southern
UPI's Chief International Correspondent Martin Walker claimed that he had witnessed at least one Basra citizen kiss a British tank.[9]
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.
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 spokesman reported Police gave two minutes to disperse, then did not 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.
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 warehouse 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.",[14][15]
severe acute respiratory syndrome may mean it is going to be around for a while. World Health Organization officials are cautiously optimistic that it can be contained.,[17][18]
The Iraqi ambassador to the Arab League, Mohsen Khalil, announces that "Iraq has now already achieved victory – apart from some technicalities."[19]
Arab satellite channel Abu Dhabi is also hit by air strikes. Al Jazeera accuses the U.S. of attacking Arab media to hide facts. On the same day a U.S. tank fires into the 15th floor of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, where almost all remaining foreign journalists are based, and kills two cameramen and wounds three. In the Abu Dhabi case the station airs the picture of Iraqi fire from beneath of the camera. In the hotel case, however, other journalists on the scene deny any fire from or around the hotel.,[20][21][22]
Baseball Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey cancels a planned celebration for the 15th anniversary of "Bull Durham." Petroskey cites recent comments made by film co-stars Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon as potential dangers to U.S. troops in Iraq. The celebration was to take place April 26 and 27.[23]
Dolly the sheep are for the first time displayed.[24]
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 Firdos 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.[25][26][27][28][29]
The fate of
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 Saddam left the targeted building just minutes before it was destroyed, and that he probably survived the attack.[30][31][32][33]
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.,[36][37]
Virgin Atlantic Airlines. BA dismisses the offer as a stunt and indicates that the planes will go to air museums.[39]
A fire destroys a boarding school for the deaf in Makhachkala, Russia, killing 28 children, aged eight to 14. About 100 other children suffer burns and smoke inhalation, 39 of which are in serious condition.[40]
The northern Iraqi city of Mosul falls to coalition forces as the Iraqi army's fifth 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.[41]
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 three years to complete.
hijacking a passenger ferry on April 2. Another four men receive life sentences.[42]
: 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
Laci Peterson, who had been missing from her home in Modesto
10 Iraqis are reported killed and 16 injured in the city of Mosul. Marines insist they were fired at, survivors say demonstrators only threw stones.[55]
nuclear weapons program. The United States had refused bilateral discussions with North Korea since October 2002, insisting on multinational talks. The United States will be represented by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly.[56]
The
radioactive nuclear material into the Gulf of Finland, 100 km south of Finland.[57]
Michael Jordan plays his final game in the NBA prior to his retirement.
Arbil, Iraq to deliver medical supplies and emergency feeding kits. U.S. officials contend that the area is not yet safe, while the United Nations has already declared Arbil a "safe and secure" area.[59]
La Jolla, California, and returned to their home town of Modesto
, California, for trial.
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
A bench clearing brawl happens in a baseball game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the St. Louis Cardinals. Tino Martinez was hit by a 1–0 pitch from Miguel Batista, and took first base. He was then forced out at second base during the next batter's at-bat. When heading back to the dugout, Martinez charged Batista from behind. Batista turned and threw the ball at him, and players from both teams joined the altercation. The Diamondbacks ultimately won the game, 1–0, and the MLB suspends Martinez for four games, and Batista for ten.
British pop group S Club announce that they are splitting up after four years. The announcement was made in the London Arena by the six remaining members of the group.
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.[64]
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.
New Jersey re-ratifies the 14th Amendment, having ratified and subsequently rescinded support for the amendment in the late 19th century.[65]
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.[68]
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.[69]
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. U.S Army 3rd Infantry Division the 11th Engineer Battalion Charlie Co. ASP(Ammo Security Point)89 tons of confiscated munitions exploded after an enemy attack.[71]
Winnie Mandela is sentenced to four years in prison (five years, less one-year suspended) for theft and fraud.[72]
Hiker and mountain climber
Blue John Canyon
after an 800-pound rock falls on his right arm, pinning it to the canyon wall.
, 50 km from Baghdad, American soldiers from the 82nd Airborne opened fire on a group of protesters, killing between six and 17 and leaving others injured. The incident occurred during a demonstration outside a local school were American forces were stationed. The day before two soldiers were wounded in Ramadi when a hand grenade was thrown from a crowd. Different versions of the incident exist. two days later on April 30, 2003, another shooting incident occurred in which three people died. After the incidents relations with the populus of Falluja soured, and tensions would continue to build until the November 2004 Battle of Falluja.