Portal:Current events/October 2003

Time: 13:27 UTC | Date: Tuesday, November 19, 2024

October 10, 2003

Shirin Ebadi, Iranian human rights lawyer, awarded Nobel Peace Prize. [1]

October 9, 2003

Palestinians: Time magazine reports that Yassir Arafat, whose health has led to confused reporting over the past days, with him variously reported as having had flu and having had a heart attack, in actuality has stomach cancer. [2]
Nuclear Weapons: Pakistan successfully test fires a medium-range, nuclear-capable missile, the second such test in less than a week, the Pakistan army states. The Hatf-4 missile, also known as the Shaheen 1, was fired off, according to the army. The missile has a range of 435 miles, meaning it can hit most major targets in India. The test followed a similar launching on Friday of the short-range Hatf-2 Ghaznavi after which Pakistan said it was in the middle of a series of such tests. Pakistani army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said India had been told of each of the launches beforehand and he states the tests should not affect the international relations between the two neighbors. [3]
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz ordered dispatches of Israeli troop reinforcements to the Palestinian Areas, West Bank and Gaza Strip, and weighed a call-up of reserves, citing new warnings about planned attacks by Palestinian militants. The Israeli military also extended a two-week lockdown on Palestinians' travel within the West Bank and Gaza in what it states as a bid to prevent further attacks. [4] Meanwhile, prime minister Ahmed Qurei is reported to have declined to form a government and told President Yasser Arafat he wants to quit his post.[5]
Iraq timeline: Twin attacks in Baghdad killed a Spanish diplomat (by gunshot) and, in the other, at least ten people following an attack on a police station in Baghdad's main Shi'ite neighbourhood, exactly half a year since Coalition troops occupied the Iraqi city. [6] [7]
Safe sex: A BBC report claims that the Roman Catholic Church is incorrectly claiming that condoms are ineffective to prevent the spread of AIDS for ideological reasons, and hence putting lives at risk in high-risk countries. [8] [9]
Stereotyping: Ghettopoly board game upsets black leaders and clergymen in Philadelphia and they are outraged by this new unofficial version of Monopoly. The board game has "playas" acting like pimps, cards reading "You got yo whole neighbourhood addicted to crack. Collect $50" and squares labelled "Smitty's XXX Peep Show" and "Tyron's Gun Shop". Opponents state the game should be banned and have called for a boycott of Pennsylvania company, Urban Outfitters, unless they stop selling it. [10]
Cell phones: A Dutch teenager suffered burns to his leg when his Nokia mobile phone explodes in his pants pocket. Nokia had stated previous such incidents on non-Nokia replacement battery being used. [11]

October 8, 2003

Nobel Prize: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded jointly to Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon for discoveries concerning aquaporins and ion channels in cell membranes. [12]
California recall: Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger wins the election with 48.1% after voters decide to recall California governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger's closest rival was the Democrat Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, with 32.2%. [13]
Surveillance: The FBI admits that hidden listening devices planted in the office of the Mayor of Philadelphia were placed there by FBI agents. It is currently not known if the Mayor of Philadelphia is a target of an investigation nor is there any details provided about the nature of the probe that the device was part of. A law enforcement official cautions that the presence of the listening devices does not necessarily mean that the mayor, himself, is under investigation. [14] [15]
Palestinians: Yasser Arafat has suffered a mild heart attack. Palestinian leadership officials tried to hide condition of the president. "Although he has had a slight heart attack, the doctors say he will make a full recovery. He is in full control. There is nothing to worry about," states close aide to Arafat. Officials state that it would "have created panic at a critical time when the Israelis are threatening Arafat's life". [16] [17]
Saskatchewan general election, 2003: NDP Premier Lorne Calvert calls an election for November 5.

October 7, 2003

California recall: The state of California held a special election to decide whether to recall Governor Gray Davis, and, if so, who to replace him with. Also on the ballot: California Proposition 53, the "California Twenty-First Century Infrastructure Investment Fund," and California Proposition 54, the "Racial Privacy Initiative."
Nobel Prize: The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded jointly to Alexei Abrikosov, Vitaly Ginzburg and Anthony Leggett for their work on the theory of superconductors and superfluids. [18]
Middle East: United Nations envoy and Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed-Larsen, condemns attack from Lebanese territory that killed an Israeli soldier across the southern withdrawal line and urges Beirut to control the use of force everywhere in its jurisdiction. Roed-Larsen, states the attack "constitutes a clear violation of the Blue Line and Security Council resolutions and could escalate tension between Israel and its northern neighbours" and he calls on all sides to use diplomacy and take no action that "could increase the already high level of tension in the region". [19]
Congo: UN spokesman states that a United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has discovered 65 bodies, mostly children, apparently massacred. [20]
Iraq timeline: The Turkish Parliament votes (358-to-183) to approve the dispatch of peacekeepers to Iraq, in a major victory for United States efforts to broaden foreign involvement in Iraq. In Baghdad, Iraqi Governing Council officials state that they would oppose any new foreign troop deployment to Iraq. No formal decision had been made by the Council and leaders of the council have stated they would support this if the United States requested this. [21]
Death Penalty: Some legal and medical professionals are stating warnings about the apparent tranquillity of a lethal injection, declaring this may be deceptive. According to these professional the standard chemical combination used to execute people may lead to paralysis that masks intense distress, leaving a wide-awake inmate unable to speak or cry out as he slowly suffocates. [22]
Genetic engineering: Small group of protesters brave chilly winds and strip off outside New Zealand Parliament to lobby against lifting the Genetically modified food moratorium. [23]
Surveillance: Vancouver bar patrons will soon have to produce identification and have their photograph taken every time they enter clubs or bars connected to an electronic network, the Barwatch system, designed to red-flag troublesome individuals. Once the system is in place, patrons will be asked to stand in front of a camera to have their picture taken and will then swipe their drivers licence, or possibly show some other form of identification, that will automatically give the establishment the patron's information. Some are likening the system to Big Brother [24] [25]
The South African government announce they would not prosecute the five policemen accused of killing Steve Biko in 1977, citing insufficient evidence to support a murder charge. [26]

October 6, 2003

2004 U.S. Democratic Primaries: Senator Bob Graham announces on Larry King Live that he is ending his 2004 presidential campaign. [27]

Chechen Election: Moscow's choice, the Kremlin-backed Akhmad Kadyrov swept presidential election in the Russian republic of Chechnya, winning 81 percent of the votes. [28]
SCO v. IBM: In an open letter to the Linux community published by Silicon Graphics, SGI states it conducted a comprehensive comparison of the Linux kernel and the Unix System V source code owned by The SCO Group. According to the letter (authored by SGI Vice President of Software Rich Altmaier), SGI's "exhaustive comparison" of the source codes turned up only "trivial" code segments that "may arguably be related" to SCO's software. The letter also disputed SCO's claims that SGI inappropriately contributed its XFS (eXtensible File System). [29]
Middle East: Facing renewed threats from Israel, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, declares a state of emergency in Palestinian areas and installs a new government by decree. Ahmed Qurei is appointed prime minister and head of the eight-member emergency cabinet. [30]
Israel: In his first public comments since the Israeli attack on Syria, President Bush says that Israel has the right to defend its homeland; at the same time Mr. Bush asks Prime Minister Sharon to avoid any further actions that might destabilize the region.
Paul Lauterbur and Sir Peter Mansfield are jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning Magnetic Resonance Imaging. [31]
Iraq timeline: Some in the international community have rejected a revised United States draft UN resolution concerning Iraq (calling for a multinational force of peacekeeping troops in Iraq under American command; transfering power gradually to elected civilian rule [though there is no handover timetable for sovereignty]). The resolution is being supported by the United Kingdom. France, Germany, and Russia (which opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq) have joined Kofi Annan in opposing the resolution. Annan states that the United Nations itself will not become heavily involved unless there are early moves toward passing sovereignty to the Iraqi people. Annan's stance is similar to that of Pope John Paul II and some members of the European Union. [32] [33] [34] [35] [36]
Irish political magazine Magill is closed down by its publishers, blaming poor readership numbers. The magazine, which played a central part in Irish politics in the 1970s and 1980s, has never regained the readership it attracted under its founder, maverick journalist and political commentator Vincent Browne, who, after an earlier closure, relaunched the title and sold it to its current owners. [37]
Attempts by the Republic of Ireland's government to ban smoking in pubs, restaurants and hotels run into more trouble as a government minister who will have responsibility for enforcing the ban, Frank Fahey, refuses to deny that he is critical of the plan and wants a compromise that would allow smoking in some areas to continue. A former Mayor of Galway and Fianna Fáil councillor who has links with the pub industry resigns from a health authority in protest at the refusal of the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat government to compromise on the proposed ban. This follows an earlier announcement that publicans in County Kerry will refuse to obey the new law and indications of growing popular opposition to the ban. [38]
Former Sky News correspondent James Furlong, who resigned over allegations that he had faked a report during the Iraq War, is found dead. Furlong, aged 44, had served as Sky News' Defence and Royal Correspondent. He had previously worked for ITN. [39]
A United Nations report says that almost 1 billion people worldwide are living in slums. By 2050 3 billion, out of a world urban population of 6 billion, may be living in slums, unless radical policies are implemented, according to the UN. Dr Anna Tibaijuka of the UN says the persistence of the slums should shame the whole world. [40]

October 5, 2003

Maher Arar is reported to have been freed from a Syrian jail. The Canadian engineer was deported to Syria by the United States as he changed planes in New York, over a year ago. [41] He will arrive in Montreal the following afternoon. [42]
Israeli warplanes attack an alleged Islamic Jihad training base deep in Syria in retaliation for a suicide bombing at a Haifa restaurant that killed 19 people, the army said Sunday. Israeli media state this is the first Israeli attack on Syrian soil in more than two decades. An emergency session of the UN Security Council is scheduled to debate the action. France and Germany condemn the attack. The international community calls for restraint by all parties involved. [43]
Pope John Paul II canonizes Daniele Comboni (1831-1881), Arnold Janssen (1837-1909) and Josef Freinademetz (1852-1908).
Ireland on Sunday claims that Pope John Paul II is suffering from terminal stomach cancer which has spread to his colon. The newspaper reports that the Pope has dictated a living will which gives instructions as to how the Catholic Church is to be administered when the medical treatment he is receiving makes it impossible for him to function as pope. According to the paper, Cardinals have been told to be ready at a moment's notice to fly to Rome for a Papal funeral and Papal conclave.
The band Hell On Earth reports that an Internet broadcast of a concert that was to feature a suicide of a terminally ill person did not happen on Saturday evening, because the Web site was attacked. Band members state that the concert still went on, but they are unsure whether the suicide took place.

October 4, 2003

Israeli-Palestinian conflict: A Palestinian suicide bomber blows herself up in a crowded beach restaurant in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, killing at least 19 people and wounding about two dozen, at least six seriously. [44]. Hours later Israeli helicopter gunships retaliate by attacking targets in Gaza City and Central Gaza.
Robin Cook, former United Kingdom Foreign Secretary who resigned from the British Government in protest prior the Iraq war, publishes his personal diaries. In them he alleges inter alia that Tony Blair knew before the Iraq war began that the 45 minutes to launch claim was false.
Roy Horn, of the magic team Siegfried & Roy, is hospitalized with critical injuries after being mauled on-stage in Las Vegas by a 600-pound seven-year-old male white tiger.
Poland apologizes to France for its claims that it had found newly-produced Roland surface-to-air missiles in Iraq. It is believed that the Polish soldiers misinterpreted a "use-by" date or installation date marked on the missiles as a date of production. [45]

October 3, 2003

Near-Earth asteroid: Confirmation on the closest near-miss of a natural object ever recorded. The asteroid (designated 2003 SQ222), about the size of a small house, flew past Earth at a distance of around 88,000 kilometres. It would have made a fireball had it entered the atmosphere. [46]
Iraq and weapons of mass destruction: The world continues to digest David Kay's report that finds very little evidence of WMD in Iraq, although the regime did intend to develop more weapons with additional capabilities. Such plans and programs appear to have been dormant, the existance of these were also concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in 2002. Weapons inspectors in Iraq do find clandestine "network of biological laboratories" and a deadly strain of botulinum. The US-sponsored search for WMD has so far cost $300 million and is projected to cost around $600 million more. [47] [48]
California recall: Arnold Schwarzenegger denies admiring Hitler. Arnold Schwarzenegger's denial comes days before the vote for the next governor of California. [49]
General Wesley Clark has made a bold political move and arguably a risky one by suggesting that members of the Bush administration may be liable to criminal charges in connection with the Iraq war. Mr. Clark alleges that the plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and other interventions in the Middle East (possibly including Lebanon and Syria), pre-dated the inauguration of the President and that the reasons for the war were misleadingly presented to the US people.
Evo Morales has said that Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, president of Bolivia, may be preparing a coup. [50] (in Spanish)
Polish soldiers of the United States-led Coalition have discovered four advanced missiles around central Iraq in the Hilla region near a highway. The Roland-type French-made missiles (which are fired from a mobile launcher vehicle against low flying aircraft) are believed to have been manufactured earlier this year. Arms exports to Iraq had been barred by the United Nations after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. France says it last shipped Roland missiles to Iraq in 1986. The Polish soldiers are later found to have misinterpreted dates marked on the missiles. [51] [52] [53]

October 2, 2003

North Korea crisis: North Korea claims to "have already processed" 8,000 fuel rods from its Yongbyon nuclear reactor (north of Pyongyang) and are using the plutonium extracted during the process to make atomic bombs to boost its nuclear capabilities for nuclear deterrent force. Citing a "hostile policy" by the United States, Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon states this is a means to safeguard the country's territory. [54] [55]
Iraq occupation: UN Security Council discusses a new United States draft resolution on Iraq, which to enhance the United Nations role in Iraq, Secretary General Kofi Annan states draft did not go in the direction he recommended. A quicker transfer of sovereignty "may change the dynamics on the ground, in terms of the security situation, and send a message". [56]
Technology - Genome : The genome chip arrived with several companies rushing to sell the known human genes. The products will allow scientists to scan all genes in a human tissue sample at once to determine which are active, with lower the cost and increased speed. [57]
Sino-American relations: US Navy blames the People's Republic of China for '01 collision. A report released to Jane's Defense Weekly under the FOIA said that the pilot of the Chinese jet fighter made 3 passes at the US propeller-driven reconaissance plane over international waters. On the third pass, the Chinese fighter hit a propeller on the US plane. [58]
Ontario general election, 2003: Dalton McGuinty becomes the new premier of Ontario when his party defeats Ernie Eves's incumbent Tories and Howard Hampton's NDP.
J. M. Coetzee wins Nobel Prize for literature. [59]
European Union: United States draft legislation which urges The Pentagon to buy defence parts from American manufacturers has turned heads in Brussels, with some warning of yet another trade dispute at the WTO. [60]
European Union: The first bilateral meeting between France and Austria since 1998 is marked by disagreements over the European Constitution. Austria heads the group of small countries seeking to make changes to the text, but France wants to leave the draft by Valery Giscard d'Estaing broadly untouched. [61]
Media: A Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) study (conducted with California-based Knowledge Networks), titled "Misperceptions, the Media, and the Iraq War", is released. According to this study, misperceptions about the 2003 invasion of Iraq are most common among consumers of Fox News Channel and least common among consumers of PBS and NPR; common among supporters of US President George W. Bush and uncommon among supporters of Democratic presidential candidates. The study also found that frequent viewers of Fox News are more likely to believe in the misconceptions than less frequent ones. One example misconception is the belief that weapons of mass destruction have already been found in Iraq. [62], [63]

October 1, 2003

Iraq occupation - North Korea crisis: South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun reiterates offer to the United States to consider a request for South Korean soldiers in Iraq in exchange for "positive" movement to resolve the standoff over North Korea nuclear weapons program. [64]
Anti-Americanism: A panel chosen by the administration of President George W. Bush concludes that the United States must drastically increase and overhaul its public relations efforts to recast its image among Muslims and Arabs abroad. "Hostility toward America has reached shocking levels [ ... ] What is required is not merely tactical adaptation but strategic, and radical, transformation." The panel adds that "spin" and manipulation "are not the answer," nor is avoiding the debate. [65]
European Commission President Romano Prodi unveils a proposal to boost flagging economic growth in Europe. The plan has two main parts: increasing spending on European transport networks and promoting research and development. [66]
European Union Constitution: Following talks with Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla on the draft EU Constitution and the Czech Republic's position on the document, the Czech President Vaclav Klaus decides not to travel to Rome and attend the forthcoming intergovernmental conference. [67]
Canada: Northwest Territories premier Stephen Kakfwi announces he will not seek re-election in the election scheduled for November.

Past events by month

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

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