April 3rd

Panama Papers published - 11.5 million confidential documents from offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca expose widespread illegal activities including fraud, kleptocracy, tax evasion and the violation of international sanctions by the world's elite in the world's largest ever data leak.

A Vietnamese immigrant opened fire in an immigrant community center in Binghamton, N.Y., killing 13 people before taking his own life.

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor pleaded not guilty before an international war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone.

Surrounded by police, five suspects in the Madrid railway bombings blew themselves up in a building outside the Spanish capital, also killing a special forces agent.

A federal judge ruled that Microsoft Corp. had violated U.S. antitrust laws.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed above 9,000 for the first time.

Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was arrested.

The first portable cell phone call is made in New York City, United States.

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "mountaintop" speech to a rally of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn., less than 24 hours before he was assassinated.

US President Harry Truman signs Marshall Plan ($5B aid to 16 European countries).

Soviet troops massacre about 22,000 Polish nationals. The Katyn massacre is considered the worst massacre of prisoners of war in history. The order to execute all captive members of the Polish Officer Corps was signed by Joseph Stalin.

Bruno Hauptmann was electrocuted in Trenton, N.J., for the kidnap-murder of the Lindbergh baby.

Actor Marlon Brando was born in Omaha, Neb.

Joseph Stalin appointed General Secretary of the Russian Communist Party by Vladimir Lenin.

Gottlieb Daimler patents his engine design. The German engineer's so-called “grandfather clock engine” was lighter than previous four-stroke engines and is considered a milestone for the invention of the automobile.

Outlaw Jesse James was shot to death in St. Joseph, Mo., by Robert Ford, a member of his gang.

Union forces occupied the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va.

The Pony Express began service between St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento, Calif.

Author Washington Irving was born in New York City.

English Long Parliament passes the Self-Denying Ordinance, limiting regional armies, significant step toward New Model Army.