On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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Ben Brantley reviews Public Theater production in Central Park of Shakespeare's Henry V, directed by Mark Wing-Davey and starring Liev Schreiber; photos (M)
Economists say Japan's economy remains shackled by structural problems that have been only partly confronted; case for betting on turnaround has been, and remains, tenuous; country's biggest manufacturers are leading way, but they remain dependent on overseas markets for sales and profits; Japan's consumers, whose spending makes up about 55 percent of economy, have learned to live with what are high unemployment rates by Japan's standards and falling wages; purchases of big-ticket items like homes and cars are muted, and rock-bottom interest rates and falling land prices are chipping into household savings accounts; department store sales in Tokyo fell 2.8 percent in June from year earlier; Prime Min Junichiro Koizumi continues to push for higher taxes and smaller budgets at time when economy needs to be stimulated; Bank of Japan's leaves monetary policy unchanged; short-term interest rates are already slightly above zero; photo (M)
Volkswagen AG, which sells two out of every five cars in China, plans to invest 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) in country over next five years to raise production capacity there to 1.6 million units a year from 800,000 (S)
About New York column on grotto of religious folk art created over the years by Italian-Americans of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society in Rosebank section of Staten Island; Dr Joseph Sciorra, scholar of Italian-American culture at Queens College, helped list shrine on National Register of Historic Places (M)
Alan Greenspan tells Congress that Federal Reserve is prepared to hold interest rates low as long as necessary to spur economic growth, discounting speculation that rate cannot be lowered much beyond current 1 percent; offers unexpectedly upbeat forecast that ignites bond market selloff; presents sunny indicators and praises Pres Bush's tax cuts for increasing household income and spending, but assures lawmakers that interest rates will not be raised during 'fragile' recovery; photo; irritated Democrats demand he reconcile outlook with reality of growing unemployment (M)
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of July 16, 2003, covering July 16, 2003.
Ashanti
Beyonce
Luther Vandross
Michelle Branch
50 Cent
2003Celia Cruz, Cuban-American singer and actress (born 1925)[†]
Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso, known as Celia Cruz, was a Cuban singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during the 1950s as a singer of guarachas, earning the nickname "La Guarachera de Cuba". In the following decades, she became known internationally as the "Queen of Salsa" due to her contributions to Latin music. She had sold over 10 million records, making her one of the best-selling Latin music artists.
2003Carol Shields, American-Canadian novelist and short story writer (born 1935)[†]
Carol Ann Shields was an American-born Canadian novelist and short story writer. She is best known for her 1993 novel The Stone Diaries, which won the U.S. Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well as the Governor General's Award in Canada.
In 2003, the world population was approximately 6,420,361,634 people[†]