The first Abu Ghraib torture pictures are published. The images aired in a 60 Minutes II report showed gross human rights violations, including torture and murder, committed by U.S. soldiers and CIA personnel in the Baghdad prison.

Dennis Tito becomes the first space tourist in history. A Russian rocket transported the Californian billionaire to the International Space Station (ISS).

Former CIA officerAldrich Ames admits he forwarded U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union. Ames was sentenced to life imprisonment for his activities which amounted to one of the most damaging spy cases in U.S. history.

Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France. De Gaulle founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and became its first President a year later.

Thor Heyerdahl begins his legendary journey on Kon-Tiki. The Norwegian explorer and his crew set out on the 101-day journey on the self-built raft to prove that South Americans could have reached and settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.