April 14, 2003

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." [1]
In Quebec, Canada, the governing sovereigntist Parti Québécois is defeated in the 2003 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 determined the body is that of Laci Peterson, the Modesto, California woman missing from her home since December 24, 2002.