Portal:Current events/October 2003

See also

Ongoing events Afghanistan timeline California recall Dodgy Dossier EU enlargement Hong Kong Basic Law Liberian crisis Monkeypox Northeast blackout North Korea crisis Occupation of Iraq Road map for peace Same-sex marriage SARS: Timeline SCO v. IBM Linux lawsuit US v. EU on GM food War on Terrorism Related pages Recent deaths Wikipedia Announcements About this page Selected Articles

Northeast Blackout

• Major power outages are reported in major U.S. and Canadian cities, including New York City, New Jersey, Cleveland, Ottawa, Toronto and Detroit.
• Smoke spotted in New Jersey, Brooklyn.
• ABC News

Politics

• Liberian crisis: News services are reporting that Moses Blah met with Sekou Conneh of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) group and Thomas Nimley of a smaller faction known as Model. Meanwhile, the Pentagon expandes the United States ' military presence by adding a "quick reaction" force of 150 combat troops to back up Nigerian peacekeepers. [1] [2]

August 13, 2003

Terrorism

• Ivan Jovovic and Bogdan Bukomiric, 16 years old, from Gorazdevac near Pec have died after two attackers fired from AK-47 on group of children from Gorazdevac who were bathing in river Bistrica. Four children got injured in the attack, two of which are in critical condition.
  UNMIK and KFOR claimed that they transfered one of them, Marko Bogicevic, to Belgrade, but he is actually in German military hospital at Prizren, against his parents' wishes.
  Italian KFOR patrol refused to borrow fuel to car which was transporting wounded children to hospital in Pec, when it ran out of fuel, and took no action when car was stoned by local Albanians. After finally arriving to Pec, doctors there refused to treat the children.
  KFOR claims that it researches the location of the incident with 300 men.

• Discovery of a Saudi Arabia airplane plot. Intelligence agencies producing alerts and relaying them to Washington, D. C., and London of a specific threat to airlines flying around Riyadh international airport. The plan to shoot down a British Airways plane was discovered after a member of the plot drove his car through a checkpoint in Riyadh. In response to the threat BA cancels all flights to Saudi Arabia until further notice. The United States issues a travel alert for Saudi Arabia citing the threat of terrorism including potential attacks against civil aviation. [3] [4] [5]

Politics

• Iraq's northern oil fields resumes exports. [6]
• Arnold Schwarzenegger names Warren Buffett as his economic adviser on Wednesday. Mr Buffett will help the actor build a team to that leads the state out of its fiscal crisis. [7]
• Disgraced Irish former Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey sells his historic home and estate, Kinsealy, in north Dublin to a property developer for 30 million euro. The former taoiseach, whose financial dealings and tax-evasion is the subject of a judicial inquiry and which have largely destroyed his reputation, bought the palatial mansion, which was once the summer residence of the British Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, for £200,000 in the 1960s. Haughey, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, will not be allowed to remain in the house as a sitting tenant for the rest of his life, a demand of his which scuppered past attempts to sell. [8]
• Same-sex marriage in Canada: At its convention in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, the United Church of Canada votes overwhelmingly to ask the federal government to pass same-sex marriage.

Science

• A National Geographic team releases the discovery of a new species of large dinosaur, Rajasaurus Narmadensis, native to the Indian subcontinent. The research effort was made by a joint Indo-American group, including members from the University of Michigan, University of Chicago, and the Punjab University of Northern India. [9]

August 12, 2003

Politics

• War on Terrorism: An exclusive BBC report says a joint United States, Russia and United Kingdom "sting" halted a plot to shoot down Air Force One using an Igla surface to air missile. According to the BBC, the plot, initially unearthed by the Russians, led President Vladimir Putin to request that an FBI agent go to St. Petersburg, where the agent posed as an Islamic extremist and met the British arms dealer supplying the missile. The missile was shipped from St. Peterburg to Baltimore in the United States. The British arms dealer "arranging" the deal was arrested when he arrived in Newark in the United States today. The White House has publicly denied that Air Force One was to be the target of the missile. However Tom Mangold, the BBC veteran investigative reporter who broke the story, claims the British dealer supplying the missile recommended to the undercover FBI agent that the President's jet, rather than a commerical jet, be the target, saying that he could get another 60 Ingla missiles which could then be used to launch a co-ordinated attack on Air Force One. [10]
• Occupation of Iraq: The Associated Press is reporting that troops in Iraq should expect to serve for at least a year according to the commander of United States forces. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]
• George W. Bush nominates former NGA chairman and current governor of Utah, Michael O. Leavitt for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. [17]
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Two Israelis killed and about a dozen wounded in two separate suicide bombings by Palestinian terrorists in the towns of Rosh-Ha'ayin and Ariel. Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the attacks. The IDF retaliated on Wednesday by demolishing the house in Nablus where the bomber in the Rosh Ha-Ayin attack lived with his family, an activity which is specifically outlawed as a war crime by the Fourth Geneva Convention.[18]
• The Serbian government has indicated that it wants to retake control of the province of Kosovo, arguing that the United Nations, which currently has control, has failed to reestablish the rule of law. [19] [20]

Culture

• Sir Jocelyn Gore-Booth announces the sale of the historic Lissadell estate in County Sligo in Ireland, the childhood home of early twentieth century Irish republican Constance Gore-Booth (Countess Markievicz) and which had major associations with the poet W.B. Yeats. Critics condemn the Irish government for failing to buy the estate; Sir Jocelyn had offered it first refusal. The identity of the buyer has not yet been revealed but rock singer Bono had shown major interest in the property. [21]
• The remains of a viking warrior are found at a building site in Dublin. The warrior had been stabbed to death during a ninth century viking raid on Dubhlinn monastery. The dagger was still attached to his body when his remains were found. The archaeological dig is expected to continue at the site for six months.
• The Rev. Peter Short is elected Moderator of the United Church of Canada, the country's largest Protestant denomination, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. [22]

Business

• Microsoft has decided to appeal a verdict to pay $520.6 million from a Chicago federal jury that affirms the Internet Explorer browser violated Intellectual Property rights of Eolas Technologies (concerning Patent US 5838906). [23] [24]

August 11, 2003

• Liberian president Charles Taylor resigns. He is replaced by vice-president Moses Blah. [25]
• 2003 California recall: New California voter survey finds nearly two-thirds of the state's voters want a new governor. [26] [27] [28] [29]
• Herb Brooks, the coach of the 1980 US gold medal ice hockey team that beat the Soviet Union in a game that was called The Miracle on Ice, dies in a car accident.[30]
• African church leader, Archbishop Bernard Malango, states that the leaders of 600,000 Anglicans in Malawi, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe informed him they would could cut ties with the United States organization unless the appointment of an openly gay bishop is overturned. The Anglican Church in Kenya also demanded a reversal. [31] [32] [33]
• European heat wave: Parisian health authorities charge that fifty people have died in Paris owing to the heat wave, particularly elderly people, and that the government is ignoring the crisis. [34] In Catalonia, five people from one family are killed by a wildfire that encircles their home. Four villages are evacuated in the Algarve. [35]
• Doctors in Montreal successfully deliver by Caesarean section a healthy baby who grew in an ectopic pregnancy. Such a pregnancy, which begins outside the womb, is all but invariably fatal to the fetus and is extremely dangerous to the mother. The woman and her doctors were unaware of the ectopic pregnancy until she went into labour. [36]
• Lord Hutton's inquiry into the death of British scientist Dr. David Kelly begins in London. [37]
• The Spirit of Butts Farm becomes the first radio-controlled model aeroplane to cross the Atlantic.

August 10, 2003

• 100,000 attend a rally in the French countryside to condemn next month's round of trade liberalisation talks being held under auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Cancun in Mexico. [38]
• British police in London are given 'shoot-on-sight' orders to deal with possible suicide bombers by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens as expectations rise of an Al-Qaeda attack on the British capital. [39]
• War on Terrorism: The Sunday Times reports that Al-Qaeda terrorists have infiltrated Iraq from surrounding Arab countries and have aligned themselves with former intelligence agents of Saddam Hussein to fight the Coalition forces. Their attacks have killed Coalition soliders and Iraqi police officers, among others. [40]
• Pope John Paul II urges Catholics to pray for rain in Europe as the heat wave continues. The heatwave in Britain reaches 100° Fahrenheit (just under 38° celsius) at Heathrow, for the first time in history. [41] Warnings of avalanches are issued in the Alps, as mountain glaciers melt.
• Liberian President and convicted war criminal Charles Taylor, who is to step down tomorrow, has appealed to rebels to 'submit to the democratic process'. He also accuses the United States of funding the rebels who have besieged the capital, Monrovia for a week. [42]
• The Russian space program has the been the first to send a man, a dog, a woman, and a tourist into space. And it may be the first to marry a couple in space. Yuri Malenchenko (41), aboard the international space station, and his bride, Yekaterina Dmitriyeva (26) in Texas, are making preparations for what seems to be the first cosmic wedding. [43] [44] [45] [46]
• The British Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith demands that Prime Minister Tony Blair apologise for the comments of his press secretary, Tom Kelly, in which Kelly compared Dr. David Kelly, the BBC source who took his own life after his identity was revealed by the Ministry of Defence, to the fictional Walter Mitty character. [47]
• 16-year-old Israeli killed and five other injured in Hizbollah shelling on the northern Israeli town of Shlomi. Israeli planes attacked Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in response to the shelling. Some sources claim Hezbollah's attack was a response to Israel's car bomb assassination of Hezbollah member Ali Saleh in Beirut on August 3 which also seriously injured 2 passers-by. [48]
• While Retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his successor, Archbishop Njongonkulu Winston Ndungane, fails to see what "all the fuss" is over the ordination of a gay bishop, other African Anglicans suggest that their churches may sever relations with the American dioceses which supported the election of a gay priest as bishop if what they called the "path of deviation" is not changed. [49] [50]

August 9, 2003

• A historic heat wave continues to afflict Europe and is expected to continue for another week. Spain and Portugal are particularly hard hit; forest fires in Portugal are declared a national disaster, with damages estimated at €1 billion. Other fires are reported on Majorca and in the Canary Islands. Temperatures of 49°C are recorded in Andalusia. London records its highest temperature in history. The cause of the heat wave is believed to be a stagnant air mass over the Sahara sending hot air as far north as Sweden. [51]
• Occupation of Iraq: United States Central Command military officials confirm that Mahmoud Diyab al-Ahmed, the Iraqi Minister of Interior was in its custody. He occupies the number 29 position on the U.S. list of most wanted Iraqis. The Iraqi Minister of Interior surrendered to coalition forces yesterday. He was the seven of spades on the deck of cards distributed to U.S. troops. [52] [53] [54]
• SCO v. IBM Linux lawsuit: Aduva, Inc., a Linux developing company, releases this week a tool to allow companies to replace any offending Linux code, if it exists, with code that does not infringe on SCO's intellectual property rights. [55] [56] [57] It is unknown how this tool will work, as SCO has not disclosed which code it considers infringing.
• The city of Vyborg commence the 600-years anniversary of King Eric of Pomerania establishing the town's trading privileges in a Royal Charter.[58]

August 8, 2003

• Hezbollah, a militant Lebanese group backed by Syria and Iran, fires artillery toward Israeli border posts, drawing return fire. It was the first such exchange in eight months. AP story]
• A Ma'ariv opinion poll shows 37% of his supporters think Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is involved in corruption, with 52% saving he will have to resign if he behaved illegally. The controversy is over a $1.5 million loan given in January 2002 to Sharon's son, Gilad that was the loan originated from Cyril Kern, a friend of Ariel Sharon. [59]
• Occupation of Iraq: At his ranch in Crawford, Texas, President Bush noted the 100th day since overt military action in Iraq ended, saying that the United States has made "good progress" in helping Iraq's democratic processes, overall security, and economy. [60] [61] [62]
• US v. EU on GM food: The European Union expresses their disapproval over the American, Canadian and Argentinian effort to launch a World Trade Organization formal challenge against its decision to keep the policy of banning genetically modified crops. [63] [64] [65]
• SCO v. IBM Linux lawsuit: IBM furnishes more information on their SCO countersuit and states that they have Novell support. [66] [67] [68]
• War on Terrorism: According to the latest disclosed analysis of the cockpit recordings by the United States investigators, the September 11th terrorist-pilot Ziad Jarrah got instructions to crash the United Airlines flight 93 into the Pennsylvania farmland because of the passenger uprising in the cabin trying to seize the plane's controls. [69] [70] [71] [72]
• Michael Johnston, a prominent "ex-gay" Christian, is said to have engaged in unprotected gay sex, despite his own opposition to homosexuality. [73], [74], [75]
• It is reported that the Canadian Grand Prix is dropped from the 2004 Formula 1 calendar as a result of its anti-tobacco laws. The Montreal race was given a grace of 7 years before the introduction of the new law, announced in 1997. This comes a week after it was announced that the Belgian GP will be re-introduced in the 2004 season. [76] However, Formula One director general Bernie Ecclestone says that no such decision has been made. [77]
• The draft EU constitution could lead to the establishment of foreign-owned private health care and educational services. [78]

August 7, 2003

• 2003 California recall: Republican Darrell Issa, the person behind the effort of recall election of Gray Davis, quickly and without warning dropped out of the gubernatorial race. [79] [80]
• Convicted terrorist, Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt, found guilty yesterday by the Republic of Ireland's Special Criminal Court of "membership of an illegal organisation" and "directing terrorism", is sentenced to twenty years in prison. [81]
• An Indonesian court sentences Amrozi bin Nurhasyim to death for his role in the 2002 Bali terrorist bombing. The court found Amrozi guilty of planning and carrying out the attack. The verdict comes two days after another attack outside Marriott Hotel in Jakarta. Jemaah Islamiyah is linked with both of the attacks. [82]
• Occupation of Iraq: A car bomb explodes near the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. At least 10 people are killed and more than 30 are injured. The bomb, hidden in a minibus, is believed to be detonated remotely. [83]
• Liberian crisis: President Charles Taylor resigns as Nigerian peacekeepers entered Liberia. Taylor names his vice president, Moses Blah, as his successor. Peacekeepers intercepted an arms shipment to Liberia from Libya. Taylor, who is indicted for war crimes, indicates that he will seek asylum in Nigeria. [84]

August 6, 2003

• 2003 California recall: Arnold Schwarzenegger announces he will run for Governor of California in the recall election of Gray Davis. [85] [86] [87]
• Florida is set to begin paying $1.6 million in fees to pilot/database guru and alleged former drug smuggler turned government informant Hank Asher in payment for his Matrix system, a rapidly searchable database combining existing police records and several large commercially available computer databases. Civil libertarians are outraged at the system, claiming it is Orwellian and reminiscent of the Federal Total Information Awareness program. The United States Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security are providing funds to expand Matrix coverage to the entire country. [88] [89] [90]
• An Italian laboratory announces the birth of the world's first cloned horse, Prometea. [91]
• The United States Pentagon establishes that a unit of military personnel has arrived in Liberia, coordinating support for the West African peacekeepers in the country. [92] [93]
• North Korea and Iran are planning to form an alliance to develop long-range ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. Under the plan, North Korea will transport missile parts to Iran for assembly at a plant near Tehran, Iran. [94] [95] [96]
• Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt is convicted in the Republic of Ireland's Special Criminal Court of two terrorist offences, "directing terrorism" and "membership of an illegal organisation". One of the key witnesses was David Rupert, an FBI agent who posed as a member of the Real IRA to get close to McKevitt. The three judges of the SCC will sentence McKevitt later. [97]

August 5, 2003

• A powerful car bomb explodes outside the Marriott Hotel[98], killing at least fourteen people and injuring about 150 in downtown Jakarta, a popular district for foreigners. It is believed to be a suicide bombing. The blast comes two days before a Bali court was due to deliver the verdict of the first suspect of the 2002 Bali terrorist bombing and four days after President Megawati Sukarnoputri vowed to wipe out terrorist networks in Indonesia. Jemaah Islamiyah claimed responsibility for the attack through a Singapore newspaper. [99][100]
• A planned meeting between Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas is cancelled by Abbas. He accuses Israel of not doing enough in a US-backed road map for peace. Israel had said that 540 Palestinian prisoners would be freed but only released 342 names in a prisoner list. Israel accuses the Palestinians of not curbing terrorist attacks on Israel. [101]
• A further twist to the British David Kelly scandal occurs, as Tony Blair's official spokesman, Tom Kelly, apologizes to David Kelly's family for having compared the late and still un-buried Dr. Kelly to a "Walter Mitty" character in a "private" conversation with a journalist. [102][103]
• The father of two teenage French tennis players is arrested in France and accused of drugging their opponents to ensure his children win their games. The issue arose when a tennis player, having played against one of the man's daughters, was killed in a car crash having fallen asleep while driving. Tests showed he had been drugged some hours earlier. [104]
• 2003 Nova Scotia election: the Progressive Conservative Party of Premier John Hamm is reelected with a minority government. They receive 25 seats, the New Democratic Party 15, and the Liberals 12.
• The Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion, approves its first openly gay bishop as the final vote was cast to confirm Gene Robinson as the Diocese of New Hampshire. Robinson was cleared of allegations of misconduct before the vote. The action incites protests, a declaration of a "pastoral emergency", and calls for intervention by the Anglican Communion chief bishops. [105] [106] [107]

August 4, 2003

• The clergy and lay people of the Episcopal Church in the United States, by a comfortable margin, vote in favor of the appointment of an openly gay bishop. The vote is thought likely to get confirmation from the bishops' collegium, which however is delayed due to last minute independent allegations of misconduct and intense conservative opposition. [108][109]

• SCO v. IBM Linux lawsuit: Reuters have reported that Red Hat intends to start legal action against SCO to establish that SCO's claims against the Linux operating system are invalid.

August 2, 2003

• The Daily Telegraph in the United Kingdom claims attempts by the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) to destroy allegedly important documents about its treatment of BBC source Dr. David Kelly in the weeks before his suicide were foiled by a security guard, who found the documents scheduled for destruction and called the police. The MoD insists the documents were not that important but will now be preserved and supplied to the Hutton Inquiry into the Kelly case.
• The United Nations authorizes an international peacekeeping force for Liberia. The United States is criticized by members of the Security Council for insisting that U.N. peacekeepers serving in Liberia be granted immunity from war crimes prosecution. The US demand is described by its critics as a breach of international law.
• A huge condominium complex under construction in San Diego, California is destroyed, supposedly by the Earth Liberation Front. [110]
• José Bové, a radical French activist against genetically modified food, is released from prison after serving only five weeks of a 10-month jail sentence.
• Israeli Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein publicly rebukes Ariel Sharon's son Gilad for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into graft and influence peddling. [111]
• Scientists announce that the ozone layer may be showing signs of recovery due to an international ban on chlorofluorocarbons. [112]

August 1, 2003

• A truck bomb destroys a military hospital in Mozdok in Southern Russia, near Chechnya, killing 41 and wounding at least 76. The Russian government blames the attack on Chechen separatists. A media spokesman for rebel political leader, Aslan Maskhadov, denied any connection with the incident. [113]

• North Korea agrees to multilateral talks in its nuclear standoff with Japan, South Korea, Russia, The United States, and the People's Republic of China. [114]
• The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health plans to propose an amendment to Finnish tobacco legislation which would make retail sales of tobacco products subject to a licence. [115]

Past events by month

2003: January February March April May June July August
2002: January February March April May June July August September October November December

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