Portal:Current events/October 2003
- Three 160,000 year old human skulls unearthed in Ethiopia bridge an important gap in the human fossil record and lend support to the "out of Africa" single origin theory of human evolution. [1]
- A suicide bomber (masquerading as an Orthodox Jew) blows up a bus in Jerusalem, Israel, killing at least sixteen people. A helicopter attack in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military kills at least seven. [2]
- Same-sex marriage: The attorney general of Ontario announces that his government will conform to yesterday's court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in that province.
- Donald Regan, Secretary of the Treasury under U.S. President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1985 and White House Chief of Staff from 1985 to 1987, dies at 84 of cancer.
- Same-sex marriage: The Ontario Appeals Court rules that the law restricting marriage to heterosexual couples contravenes the equality provisions in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court does not permit the province any grace time to bring its law in conformity with the ruling. This appears to mean that Ontario has become the first jurisdiction in North America to recognize same-sex marriages. Toronto announces that its city clerk will begin to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples, and two same-sex couples who filed suit have their marriages retroactively recognized. [3]
- Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition is routed in the Italian local elections.
- Archaeologists announce that the mummy of Queen Nefertiti may have been found in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. [4]
- The FBI begins to drain a Frederick, Maryland pond hoping to uncover more evidence in the 2001 anthrax attack.[5]
- George Foreman heads a list of 15 boxers, trainers, writers and promoters to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
- The New Jersey Devils win the Stanley Cup, beating the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 3-0, in Game Seven of their championship series.
- After several days of violence and confusion in Mauritania, Pro-Israeli President Maaouiya Ould Taya appears to have defeated the uprising against him. [6]
- The Polish referendum on EU enlargement entrance finishes today; 78% of the voters voted to join the EU, with approximately 59% turnout.[7]
- The monkeypox virus is confirmed with 4 cases in Wisconsin, sparking the first discovery of the virus in the Western Hemisphere. Dozens of suspected cases have appeared across three Midwest states, where pet enthusiasts came into contact with infected domestic prairie dogs, which caught the disease from the Gambian giant rat.
- Foreign affairs minister of Finland, Erkki Tuomioja, says that NATO could be a good option for the Scandinavian country. Finland has been previously very conservative about military alliances and known for its neutrality. In Finnish:[8]
- Empire Maker wins the Belmont Stakes horse race, stopping the bid of Funny Cide to win the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. Funny Cide is third, behind Ten Most Wanted.
- NASA investigators cracked a reinforced carbon fiber wing by shooting it with a piece of insulation, providing more evidence that falling insulation may have caused the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. [9]
- Computer virus Bugbear.b spreads worldwide on computer systems running Microsoft Windows by infecting email attachments. [10]
- The United States agrees to dismantle its bases and withdraw American forces from positions they have occupied near the DMZ, which separates North and South Korea, for decades.
- Pope John Paul II marks his 100th foreign voyage in a trip to Croatia, where the pontiff is expected to meet with Serbian Orthodox Christians as a sign of goodwill between the centuries-long feuding sister churches. [11]
- For the first time in more than two months, no new deaths were reported yesterday from SARS, the latest indication that the epidemic is subsiding, the World Health Organization said. [12]
- A United Nations war crimes tribunal charges President Charles Taylor of Liberia with war crimes for masterminding atrocities in the Sierra Leone civil war.
- "Road map" for peace: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promises to dismantle illegal settlements in the Palestine area, while new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas renounces all terrorism against Israel.
- Martha Stewart is indicted by a federal grand jury on nine criminal counts including securities fraud, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy in the U.S. government's investigation of her possible insider trading of ImClone Systems stock in December 2001. Just hours after this, she announces that she will quit as chairman and CEO of her company.
- Scientists have used genetic engineering techniques to make chickens grow teeth. [13]
- The United States House of Representatives votes 282 to 139 to ban the medical procedure known as partial-birth abortion.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 9,000 for the first time since August 22, 2002.
- A British Parliamentary committee announces it will hold an inquiry into the government's decision to go to war with Iraq.
- Israel frees about 100 Palestinian prisoners before the Mideast peace summit with President George W. Bush in a sign of goodwill.
- President George W. Bush meets with Arab leaders, and says that their summit is making progress on the US-backed "road-map" to Israeli-Palestinian peace. The Arab leaders announce their support for the "road map" and promise to work on cutting off funding to "terrorist groups".
- Mathematician Jean-Pierre Serre is awarded the first Abel Prize at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway.
- Amelia Vega of the Dominican Republic wins the Miss Universe contest in Panama City, Panama. She is the first Miss Universe from the Dominican Republic.
- Sammy Sosa of baseball's Chicago Cubs is ejected from a game after he is found to have used a corked bat. The Cubs went on to beat the Devil Rays, 3 to 2. Major League Baseball Officials confiscated 76 of Sosa's spare bats after his ejection, and all were found to be clean, with no cork.
- President George W. Bush starts his Middle East trip today, beginning with Egypt. He is in talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He promises to work for the goal of Israel and a Palestinian state being able to live side by side without any bloodshed.
- Thousands of Iraqi soldiers threaten to begin suicide attacks against U.S. troops as leaders of Iraq's tribes tell the Americans that they could face war if they don't leave.
- Israel says it will dismantle only some of the more than 100 West Bank settlement outposts since violence began in that area 32 months ago.
- In Zimbabwe, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is first arrested, then released. This coincides with the start of a week of protests against the government, who have put Tsvangirai on trial for treason. He is due to appear in court later today.
- Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan. [14]
- The U.S. Federal Communications Commission announces sweeping changes to the concentration of media ownership protections in the U.S, allowing a single owner to own up to 45% of media in a given city.
- A US Department of Justice internal audit is released which asserts that the government systematically abused the civil rights of individuals detained after the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, engaging in "a pattern of physical and verbal abuse". [15]
- The Group of Eight summit opens in Evian, France to tight security and tens of thousands of protestors.
- The sluice-gates on the Three Gorges Dam in China are closed, starting the filling of the reservoir of the world's largest hydroelectric project.
Past events by month
2003: January February March April May June
2002: January February March April May June July August September October November December
News collections
External links to news pages that can be used to gather new topics for the above list:
- Google News
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- HavenWorks News Search Engines
- HavenWorks News Sources
- Yahoo! News - Top Stories
News sources
External links to leading worldwide news organizations:
- Associated Press (US)
- British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (UK)
- Cable News Network (CNN) (US)
- Fox News Channel (US)
- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) (CA)
- The Globe and Mail (CA)
- Reuters (UK)
- The Times (UK)
- The Independent (UK)
- The New York Times (US)
- The Washington Post (US)
- The Sydney Morning Herald (AU)
- The Guardian (UK)
- Independent Media Centre