Portal:Current events/October 2003: Difference between revisions

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Latest revision as of 03:41, 29 April 2023

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{{Events by month|2003|prefix=Portal:Current events/}}

[[fr:Actualités]][[da:Aktuelle begivenheder]][[de:Nachrichten des Tages]][[nl:In het nieuws]]

'''[[October]]''' '''[[2003]]''' was the tenth month of that common year. The month, which began on a [[Wednesday]], ended on a [[Friday]] after 31 days.

'''Every day''', news articles appear that mention new, unfamiliar, but (now) important people, places, things, and concepts.

Wikipedia can and should become a resource for background information on the [[background articles for ongoing events|topics behind these current events]].

== [[Portal:Current events]] ==

For more information on contributing to this page, see

''This is an [[Portal:Current events/How to archive the portal|archived version]] of Wikipedia's [[Portal:Current events|Current events Portal]] from October 2003.''

[[Wikipedia:Current events article development|current events article development]]. For information on contributing to the ''In the news'' / ''Recent deaths'' / ''Ongoing events'' / ''Historical anniversaries'' section on the [[Main Page]], see [[Wikipedia:Entries of timely interest on the Main Page]].

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==References==

See '''[[Wikipedia:Announcements]]''' for project-specific news.

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|October 2003}}

== Ongoing events and developing stories ==

{{events by month links|year=2003|prefix=Portal:Current events/}}

[[Category:October|2003]]

* [[Israeli-Palestinian conflict]] - [[War on Terrorism]] - [[U.S. plan to invade Iraq]] - [[terrorist incidents]]

[[Category:2003|*2003-10]]

* ongoing [[Venezuela]] general strike

[[Category:Months in the 2000s|*2003-10]]

* [[stock market downturn of 2002]] - [[Corporate accounting scandals]] - [[South American economic crisis of 2002]] - debate over [[US steel tariffs]]

[[Category:Current events archives]]

* [[UK Firefighter strike 2002]]

* [[background articles for ongoing events|more . . .]]

These are entries which cover current events, that is, events that are ongoing and may have historical significance. These entries should be edited with an eye to historicity, while including timely information in a way not possible with paper encyclopedias.

== Current events ==

=== [[January 2]], [[2003]] ===

=== [[January 1]], [[2003]] ===

* Users of the [[Gregorian calendar]] around the world celebrate the [[New Year]]. Happy New Year!

*[[Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva]] ("Lula") becomes the 37th president of the Federative Republic of [[Brazil]] for the period ([[2003]]-[[2007]]). Da Silva was elected representing the Worker's Party with 61% percent of the vote. His inaugural speech includes vows to wipe out poverty, hunger, and corruption, but da Silva promised during the campaign to abide by an agreement with the [[International Monetary Fund]] to maintain a budget surplus of 3.75% and has filled key economic posts with men considered friendly to foreign investment. Among guests at the inauguration were Venezuelan President [[Hugo Chavez]], Cuban President [[Fidel Castro]], and [[U.S. Trade Representative]] [[Robert Zoellick]].

* The Turkish-registered tanker ''Vicky'', with 70,000 [[Metric ton|tonnes]] of [[gasoline]] cargo, struck the wreck of the sunken auto carrier ''Tricolor'' off the coast of [[Dunkirk, France]]. The [[Ships|double-hulled]] tanker freed itself from the wreck with the rising tide and sailed a mile off to check for leakage. The ''Vicky'' is the second ship to strike the wreck of the ''Tricolor'' since the carrier sank on [[December 14]], [[2002]].

* A [[Royal Australian Air Force]] [[C-130 Hercules]] overflew the islands of [[Tikopia]] and [[Anuta]] in the [[Solomon Islands]] to inspect damage by [[Cyclone]] Zoe. The overflight carried officials of the Australian government agency [[AusAid]]. Reports show that there has been damage to crops and traditional homes, but may be no casualties among the islands' 3,700 inhabitants.

=== [[December 31]], [[2002]] ===

*[[United States]] troops get into a brief gun battle with paramilitary forces from [[Pakistan]], in a remote tribal area along the undefined [[Afghanistan|Afghan]]/Pakistani border. One US soldier is wounded by gunfire, and several Pakistani soldiers are killed when US air support arrives. The border in this region is poorly demarcated. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60833-2002Dec31.html]

*The first trial of a member of the [[Russia]]n military for [[human rights]] violations in [[Chechnya]] concludes controversially, with Col. Yuri Budanov found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a [[psychiatry|psychiatric]] hospital for further evaluation and treatment. Budanov was charged with murder and abduction after being accused of raping and strangling Heda Kungayeva, an 18 year old Chechen girl whom Budanov contends was a rebel [[sniper]]. [http://europe.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/12/31/russia.colonel/]

=== [[December 30]], [[2002]] ===

* The [[Israel|Israeli]] Supreme Court rules that reservists may not refuse to serve in the [[West Bank]] or [[Gaza]] because of their objection to Israeli government policies. The Court ruled "the recognition of selective conscientious objection might loosen the links that hold us together as a people."

* Four Americans (the director, a doctor, the administrator and the pharmacist) at the Baptist hospital in [[Jibla]], [[Yemen]], were killed by Abed Abdul-Razzak Kamal. Kamal was captured and claims he was linked to the extremist [[Islamic Reform Party]]. Another member of his alleged cell, Ali al-Jarallah, was arrested for shooting a Yemeni left-wing politician on Sunday.

* The United Nations Security Council voted 13-0, with two abstentions, to revise the list of goods [[Iraq]] is allowed to purchase under the "food-for-oil" program. The list includes [[flight simulator]]s, communications equipment, high-speed [[motorboat]]s, and [[rocket]] cases, which the United States noted are dual-use technologies. The Security Council also agreed to ask the UN for standards to evaluate the quantities of [[medicine]] and [[antibiotics]] Iraq is allowed to import under this program.

* A tanker, the ''Amazonian Explorer'', arrived in [[Puerto La Cruz]], [[Venezuela]], 200 kilometers east of [[Caracas]], the capital. President [[Hugo Chavez]] traveled to the port to supervise the unloading of 525,000 [[barrels]] of gasoline. Gasoline is restricted due to a strike at [[Petroleos de Venezuela, SA]] (PdVSA), the state-owned oil company, which is aimed at forcing President Chavez to call early elections.

* Crude oil futures on the New York market rose to $33 a barrel because of the Venezuelan oil strike and fears of war with Iraq.

=== [[December 29]], [[2002]] ===

*The [[Kenya]]n electoral commission confirms that the opposition [[National Rainbow Coalition]] (NARC) has won landslide victories over the ruling [[KANU]] party in Friday's elections, ending 40 years of single party rule and 24 years of rule by [[Daniel arap Moi]]. The NARC's presidential candidate, [[Mwai Kibaki]], led by more than 30 percentage points over the KANU's official candidate. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2612427.stm]

*[[Brighton]]'s West Pier collapsed. It had served from the [[Victorian era]] until it was closed in [[1975]]. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,866543,00.html][http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/world/1718590]

=== [[December 27]], [[2002]] ===

*[[Chechen]] rebels detonate two car bombs at the [[Grozny]] headquarters of Chechnya's [[Russia]]n-backed government in an apparent suicide attack, killing more than 80 people. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2609289.stm]

*[[North Korea]] expels UN weapons inspectors, and announces plans to reactivate a dormant nuclear fuel processing laboratory. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42920-2002Dec27.html]

*[[Clonaid]], the medical arm of a cult called [[Raelism]], who believe that aliens introduced human life on Earth, claims to have successfully [[clone]]d a human being. They claim that aliens taught them how to perform cloning, even though the company has no record of having successfully cloned any previous animal. A spokesperson said an independent agency would prove that the baby, named Eve, is in fact an exact copy of her mother. [http://apnews.excite.com/article/20021228/D7O6OBAO0.html]

*Presidential elections in [[Kenya]] between [[Uhuru Kenyatta]], candidate for ruling party [[KANU]], and [[Mwai Kibaki]], candidate for opposition party [[NARC]]. Early reports say the latter wins a [[landslide victory]].

=== [[December 26]], [[2002]] ===

*[[North Korea]] is reactivating a [[plutonium]] producing [[nuclear power]] plant north of [[Pyongyang]] after removing [[United Nations]] seals on the reactor and degrading the capability of surveillance cameras. This same reactor is thought by U.S. officials as the source for plutonium for two previously produced [[atomic bomb]]s. North Korea has been named by the [[George W. Bush]] Administration as part of the so-called "[[axis of evil]]."[http://apnews.excite.com/article/20021227/D7O5SKEG0.html]

*[[War on Terrorism]]: A [[Washington Post]] article quotes numerous anonymous CIA agents who confirm that the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] of the United States uses so-called "stress and duress" interrogation techniques, which are claimed by human rights activists to be acts of [[torture]]. The actions include beatings as a prelude to interrogation in order to break their will, followed by sleep deprivation, denial of pain medication, and enclosure in cramped rooms. The CIA frequently turns suspects over to Middle Eastern intelligence services for what is undisputablely torture and intensive interrogation. The anonymous agents defend the practice as necessary in light of the [[September 11th]] terrorist attacks; publicly, US government officials deny the charges, while declining to address specifics. Privately, however, one official justified human rights violations as being a necessary part of the job. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37943-2002Dec25.html]

* [[Israeli-Palestinian conflict]]: [[Israel]] announces it will begin with temporarily providing social services such as education, healthcare, and licenses in the [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza]]. The Israeli government claims the move is necessary to provide badly needed services to the Palestinian people in light of the Palestinian Authority's inability to do so. Palestinian officials claim the move is an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the [[Palestinian Authority]] and tantamount to the reinstatement of the Israeli occupation that existed before the [[1993]] [[Oslo Accords]].

*A 55-year-old contractor from [[West Virginia]] named Andrew "Jack" Whittaker Jr won the $314.9 million Christmas Day [[Powerball]] jackpot which is the biggest undivided [[lottery]] prize in American history. [http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20021226/ap_on_re_us/powerball_christmas_39]

=== [[December 25]], [[2002]] ===

*The [[Christmas]] [[holiday]] is celebrated in Western [[Christianity]].

*Kicker [[Katie Hnida]] of the [[University of New Mexico]] makes history by becoming the first woman to participate in a [[NCAA]] division 1 [[American football|football]] game, missing a kick for her team during the Las Vegas Bowl game.

=== [[December 24]], [[2002]] ===

*A number of US [[Muslim]] groups have initiated a class action lawsuit against the US Attorney General, [[John Ashcroft]] and the US immigration services over the arrest and detention of large numbers (believed to be in the hundreds) of Muslim men.

*A bomb believed planted by a [[Muslim]] separatist organisation killed 13 people, including a town mayor, and wounded 12 in a [[Christmas Eve]] attack in the southern Philippines town of Datu Piang.

*Iran's state radio reported quoted a statement by airport officials, saying that pilot "carelessness" caused a plane carrying [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]] and [[Russia|Russian]] aerospace scientists to crash in central [[Iran]], killing all 46 people on board.

*[[Sun Microsystems]] won a major antitrust victory against [[Microsoft]] when a federal judge ordered Microsoft to distribute Sun's [[Java programming language]] in its [[Microsoft Windows]] operating system.

=== [[December 23]], [[2002]] ===

*[[Bill Frist]] was voted to succeed [[Trent Lott]] as United States [[Senate Majority Leader]].

*Scientists at [[California]] company VaxGen Inc., have finished the first human trial of an [[AIDS]] [[vaccine]], a mammoth $200 million, 5,400-patient effort more than a decade in the making. The [[Food and Drug Administration]] has granted the vaccine "fast-track" status that would speed it through the approval process, if it proves effective, for public availability. The test results are expected to be made public within approximately three months.

* The British musician [[Joe Strummer]] has died of a heart attack, aged 50. His death made the top news story in a number of British news sources.

*[[Victor Emmanuel (IV)]], the heir of the last King of [[Italy]], visited the country for the first time since the Italian Royal Family was banned. A constitutional amendment passed in November allowed the royal family to return as ordinary citizens.

=== [[December 22]], [[2002]] ===

*[[Palestine|Palestinian]] leader [[Yasser Arafat]] announced that he has called off presidential and legislative elections scheduled for next month, as he feels that continued [[Israel]]i occupation of Palestinian territory will make a free election impossible.

*[[North Korea]] announced that it is physically removing monitoring devices placed on the Yongbyon nuclear reactor. The devices were placed by the United Nations following the [[1994 nuclear agreement]] to shut down Yongbyon, which is capable of making weapons-grade material, in exchange for deliveries of oil. In November 2002, Korea admitted that it is working on a [[weapons of mass destruction]] program in response to "imperialist threats." The United States states it does not trust the North Koreans.

*Demonstrators estimated in the tens of thousands supported proposed national security laws for [[Hong Kong]], following last week's demonstrations with similar numbers against these proposed laws. The Government Consultation Exercise for the proposed laws received 18,000 comments. Article 23 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong, negotiated by Britain and China before the 1997 handover to China, stated that Hong Kong must enact national security legislation by itself banning treason, turning over state secrets, and urging separation from China.

*A senior member of [[ETA]], Ibon Femandez de Iradi, escaped from French custody yesterday. He and a woman companion was arrested Wednesday after their car was found to have false number plates. Ibon Femandez de Iradi was the logistics chief for ETA, a [[Basque]] separatist group which has been implicated in terrorist activities.

*''[[Time Magazine]]'' announced that its "Persons of the Year" are three female whistle blowers -- Coleen Rowley, [[FBI]] agent who wrote a memorandum to FBI Director [[Robert Mueller]] claiming that the [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]] office had been remiss in its investigation of suspected [[terrorism|terrorist]] [[Zacarias Moussaoui]]; [[Cynthia Cooper]], former [[WorldCom]] [[audit]]or, who alerted the company's Board of Directors of accounting irregularities; and [[Sherron Watkins]], former [[Enron]] Vice President, who reported to the company's former Chairman [[Kenneth Lay]] in [[2001]] that the company was about to collapse as a result of false accounting.

*The city of [[Baltimore, Maryland]] passed an ordinance making the giving of a [[BB gun]] to a minor a misdemeanor punished by a $500 fine and two months in jail.

*Singer Kristyn Osbourne of the [[country music]] group [[SHeDAISY]] filed a $3.5 million lawsuit against [[karaoke]] companies for failure to pay songwriters.

=== [[December 21]], [[2002]] ===

*In the [[Cote d'Ivoire]], units of the [[French Foreign Legion]], based at the city of [[Duekoue, Cote d'Ivoire|Duekoue]] on [[Sassandra River]] have come into contact with rebels advancing southward from the city of [[Man, Cote d'Ivoire|Man]]. Colonel Emmanuel Maurin, commander of the French force, states "Between what we have here and the river, [[they shall not pass]]."

*South Korean President-elect [[Roh Mooh-hyun]] states that he will visit Washington after receiving an invitation from President [[George W. Bush]]. During his campaign, Roh stated he would not visit simply for a White House "photo op."

=== [[December 20]], [[2002]] ===

*Barbara Joyce Williams Ferrell, daughter of the late [[baseball]] player [[Ted Williams]], has dropped her lawsuit to have the body of her father removed from a [[cryonics]] storage facility and cremated.

*Maoist guerrillas ambushed a police van in Jharkhand, a state in eastern [[India]], killing 18 people, mostly police officers. At least 20 policemen were wounded in the ambush and the gunbattle that followed.

*[[United States Senate|Senator]] [[Trent Lott]] resigned as [[Senate Majority Leader]], concluding that his approving statements of fellow Senator [[Strom Thurmond]]'s [[segregation]]ist run for [[President of the United States]] in [[1948]] had limited his effectiveness and that of his fellow [[United States Republican Party|Republicans]].

*[[Portland Trailblazers]] players, [[Golden State Warriors]] players and Warriors' fans get involved in a melee after the Trail Blazers beat the Warriors, 113-111 in [[Oakland]]. It might be the first time in [[NBA]] history that a home team's fans attack the visiting team during or after a game.

*[[skating|Speed skater]] [[Catriona Le May Doan]] won the [[Lou Marsh Trophy]], given annually to [[Canada]]'s outstanding athlete. She edgted out [[Dallas Mavericks]] guard [[Steve Nash]].

*The [[magazine]] ''[[Science (magazine)|Science]]'' chose the discovery of [[small interfering RNAs]] (siRNAs) as the top science story of the year. The molecular switches have the potential to treat such diseases as [[HIV]] and cancer.

*Scientists at [[California Institute of Technology]] announced the discovery of clouds of [[methane]] on [[Titan (moon)|Titan]], the largest [[moon]] of [[Saturn (planet)|Saturn]].

*[[Governor of Alaska|Governor]] [[Frank H. Murkowski]] of [[Alaska]] announced that he had chosen his daughter, state Representative and House Majority Leader [[Lisa Murkowski]], to succeed him in the [[United States Senate]]. The elder Murkowski, in winning the recent election as governor, was forced to leave his Senate position.

=== [[December 19]], [[2002]] ===

* [[U.S. plan to invade Iraq]]: After reviewing a 12,000 page Iraqi weapons declaration document, U.S. officials state that Iraq has failed to account for all its chemical and biological agents and that Iraq is in material breach of an [[United Nations Security Council]] resolution.

* Hundreds of Middle Eastern immigrants in [[Southern California]] who came to [[INS]] officials to register, as per new regulations, are arrested and imprisoned for various INS violations, many of them due to official delays in processing necessary forms. Critics compare the action to the [[Japanese internment]] in the same region during [[World War II]]. Others claim that the people are in violation of [[United States]] immigration law, and the arrests are valid.

*Ruling party candidate [[Roh Moo-hyun]] won [[South Korea]]'s presidential election, a result that could complicate ties with the [[United States]] as the allies grapple with [[North Korea]]'s nuclear programme.

*[[Pope John Paul II]] will approve the [[miracle]] needed to [[beatify]] [[Mother Teresa]], whose dedication to the destitute earned her a special place in the pontiff's heart. A second miracle then will be needed to declare Mother Teresa a [[saint]].

*[[AOL Time Warner]] announced that they had been issued a patent for [[instant messaging]]. AOL said that they have no plans to enforce the patent, but it could cause major problems for the purveyors of other instant messaging systems, in partcular [[Microsoft]] and [[Yahoo]].

*Rebels in the [[Cote d'Ivoire]] seized the key western city of [[Man]] from government forces.

=== [[December 18]], [[2002]] ===

*[[Insurance]] and finance company [[Conseco Inc.]], deep in debt and facing a federal investigation of its accounting practices, filed for [[Chapter 11]] protection in the third-largest [[bankruptcy]] in U.S. history.

*An [[India|Indian]] court sentenced three men to death for [[treason]], for their assistance in helping five gunmen prepare for the [[December 13]], [[2001]] attack on the national Parliament which killed nine people and nearly triggered a war with nuclear rival [[Pakistan]]. [[Death penalty|Death sentence]]s, which are carried out by [[hanging]], are rare in India.

* [[Matsushita]] and [[Sony]] have announced that they are collaborating on the development of a "[[Linux]] platform for [[digital]] [[home electronics|home electronic device]]s"

=== [[December 17]], [[2002]] ===

*[[Democratic Republic of Congo|Congo]]'s government, rebels and opposition parties signed a peace accord to end four years of [[civil war]] and set up a transitional government to lead Africa's third-largest nation to its first democratic elections since independence in [[1960]].

*The [[George W. Bush|Bush]] administration announced it will begin begin deploying a limited system to defend the [[United States]] against [[ballistic missile]]s by [[2004]].

*[[ElcomSoft]] is found not guilty on 4 counts of [[DMCA]] violations, in the first important test case involving the controversial law.

=== [[December 16]], [[2002]] ===

*Former [[Bosnia|Bosnian]] [[Serb]] President [[Biljana Plavsic]] pled guilty to one count of crimes against humanity at the [[The Hague|Hague]] tribunal for her part in persecuting Bosnian Muslims and Croats during the 1992-95 conflict, which left 200,000 dead or missing.

*Protesters blockaded highways in and around Caracas as the opposition, angered by [[Venezuela|Venezuelan]] President [[Hugo Chavez]]'s resolve to hang on to power, called for an escalation in its campaign to remove him.

* Former US Vice President and [[2000]] Presidential candidate [[Al Gore]] announces on the [[CBS]] program [[60 Minutes]] that he will not seek election to the Presidency in [[2004]].

=== [[December 13]], [[2002]] ===

*The [[Vatican]] announces that [[Pope]] [[John Paul II]] has accepted the resignation of Boston's [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]] [[Bernard Law]] due to widespread outcry among Boston [[Catholic]]s over Law's role in covering up [[pedophilia]]-related and other sex crimes among [[priest]]s in his [[diocese]].

*[[US Senate]] majority leader [[Trent Lott]] apologizes on television amid growing outcry for his resignation from both ends of the political spectrum for comments made at Senator [[Strom Thurmond]]'s 100th birthday party which seemed to support Thurmond's [[1948]] [[racial segregation|segregation]]ist presidential campaign platform.

*The [[Geminids|Geminid]] meteor shower peaks tonight. Best viewing is between midnight and dawn.

*[[Henry Kissinger]] stepped down as the chairman of a panel investigating the [[September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack|September 11 attacks]], citing conflict of interest with his clients. The choice of Kissinger by [[President of the United States|President]] [[George W. Bush]] had been severely criticized in some quarters because of claims that Kissinger is a [[war crime|war criminal]] and a master of covering up past events.

*The [[European Union]] invited [[Poland]], [[Hungary]], the [[Czech Republic]], [[Slovakia]], [[Slovenia]], [[Latvia]], [[Estonia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Cyprus]] and [[Malta]] to join. Expansion is scheduled for May of [[2004]].

=== [[December 11]], [[2002]] ===

*First flight of the ESC-A variant of the [[Ariane 5]] is a failure, with the [[rocket]] and the two [[communications satellite]]s it was carrying destroyed a few minutes after lift-off from [[Kourou]], [[French Guiana]].

*[[South Africa]]n police seize 384kg of [[explosive]]s found in a truck belonging to [[Tom Vorster]], alleged leader of the right-wing terrorist group the [[Boeremag]].

=== [[December 10]], [[2002]] ===

*The government of [[Indonesia]] and rebel leaders from the province of [[Aceh]] (in the north of [[Sumatra]]) have signed a peace accord which negotiators hope will bring an end to fighting in the province.

*[[Venezuela]]'s Supreme Court announced it was suspending its services, citing political harassment and condemning deadly violence during a general strike by opponents of President [[Hugo Chavez]].

*The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, located in [[New York]], reversed a lower court ruling that found the federal [[death penalty]] unconstitutional because it amounted to the "state-sponsored murder" of innocent people.

*A paper published in [[The Lancet]] by a team led by [[Christos Pantelis]] from the [[University of Melbourne]] suggests that it may be possible to predict the onset of [[schizophrenia]] using [[magnetic resonance imaging]] of the [[brain]]. If so, this will be the first time that brain scans have been used to predict the onset of a [[mental illness]], offering the possibility of preventative treatment before a major psychotic episode.

* [[Nobel prize]] awards in [[Stockholm]], [[Sweden]] and [[Oslo]], [[Norway]].

*The Southern Associaton of Colleges and Schools revoked the accreditation of [[Morris Brown College]] in [[Atlanta, Georgia]] for financial irregularities.

=== [[December 9]], [[2002]] ===

*''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' magazine announces that [[bicycle|cyclist]] [[Lance Armstrong]] is their Sportsman of the Year.

=== [[December 7]], [[2002]] ===

* Two paintings by [[Vincent van Gogh]] were stolen from the [[Van Gogh Museum]] in [[Amsterdam]] overnight. Coming shortly after a large [[diamond]] theft from an exhibition at the [[Museon]] in [[The Hague]], it casts doubt on the high-tech security systems.

*Miss [[Turkey]], [[Azra Akin]] from [[Almelo]], won the [[Miss World]] competition which had been moved from [[Nigeria]] to [[London]] because of religious violence.

* A [[Edinburgh/Cowgate fire|massive fire]] destroys the pioneering [[Informatics]] department of the [[University of Edinburgh]] and a major venue for the [[Edinburgh Fringe]] in the Old Town.

=== [[December 6]], [[2002]] ===

* The [[Chechen]] separatist [[Akhmed Zakayev]] has returned to [[London]], where he is expected to seek asylum. He was arrested but released soon afterwards on bail paid by [[Vanessa Redgrave]].

*[[Israeli-Palestinian conflict]]: [[Israeli]] troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships swept into the Bureij refugee camp in the [[Gaza Strip]] on Friday, provoking a gunbattle and killing 10 people, Palestinian witnesses and medics said.

*[[Venezuela]]'s oil exports ground to a halt, negotiations stalled and protesters faced off on the streets as prospects dimmed for a peaceful resolution to a [[strike]] designed to unseat President [[Hugo Chavez]].

* In continuing legal action against [[Exxon]] over the [[Exxon Valdez]] oil spill in [[1989]], [[punitive damage]]s against the company have been reduced from $5000 to $4000 million. The company is expected to appeal.

*Archeologists digging near the Gulf Coast of [[Mexico]] have discovered an inscribed seal and fragments of a plaque which contain writing, pushing back the date for the first appearance of writing in [[Mesoamerica]] to about [[650 BC]]. It also suggests that the [[Olmec]] culture developed writing, not the [[Zapotec]]s.

*[[Pi]] has been calculated to 1.24 trillion digits. Professor Yasumasa Kanada and nine other researchers at the Information Technology Center at [[Tokyo University]] have set the new world record.

=== [[December 5]], [[2002]] ===

* Today is the [[Islamic]] [[festival]] of [[Eid ul-Fitr]], marking the end of [[Ramadan]] for [[Muslim]]s worldwide.

* [[United Airlines]], the world's second-biggest carrier, appears headed for the largest bankruptcy filing in airline industry history. The company's efforts to avoid a [[Chapter 11]] filing apparently ended Wednesday when a government board rejected its bid for $1.8 billion in federal loan guarantees.

* The [[Supreme Court of Canada]] ruled that the [[Harvard mouse]], designed for its usefulness in [[cancer]] research, is not [[patent]]able. In its view such a higher life form does not fall within the definition of [[invention]].

* At [[Arusha, Tanzania]], President [[Pierre Buyoya]] of [[Burundi]] and [[Pierre Nkurunziza]], leader of the Hutu insurgents [[Forces for the Defense of Democracy]] (FDD), signed a cease-fire accord. The goal is to end a nine-year civil war.

=== [[December 3]], [[2002]] ===

* [[Football]] (soccer): [[Real Madrid]] has defeated [[Olimpia Paraguay]] to win the [[Intercontinental Cup]].

=== [[December 1]], [[2002]] ===

* Today is [[World AIDS Day]], a day dedicated to raising awareness of the global [[AIDS]] [[epidemic]] caused by the spread of [[HIV]] infection.

----

Past events:

* [[November 2002]]

* [[October 2002]]

* [[September 2002]]

* [[August 2002]]

* [[July 2002]]

* [[June 2002]]

* [[May 2002]]

* [[April 2002]]

* [[March 2002]]

* [[February 2002]]

* [[Background articles for ongoing events]]

== News pages ==

External links to news pages that can be used to gather new topics for the above list:

* [http://www.HavenWorks.com/news/search News Search Engines:] http://www.HavenWorks.com/news/search

* [http://news.google.com/ Google News]

* http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/ts/

* http://news.bbc.co.uk - Coverage split in to science/health etc... for UK and international news

* http://www.cnn.com.

* [http://www.HavenWorks.com/news/browse News Sources]

* [http://www.cbc.ca Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)]

* [http://www.globeandmail.ca The Globe and Mail]