Portal:Current events/October 2003

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Breaking news--Daily events

January 20, 2002

Speed skating: world championships sprint, Hamar, Norway. Katriona Lemay-Doan of Canada wins in the women's event (2. Andrea Nuyt, Neth., 3. Anzhela Kotyuaga, Bel.), Jeremy Wotherspoon, also of Canada becomes the champion in the men's competition (2. Casey Fitzrandolph, USA, 3. Michael Ireland, Can.).

American football: the divisional round of playoffs concludes. Four teams remain in contention for Super Bowl XXXVI. The Super Bowl is the most-watched sporting event in the United States.

January 8, 2002

Fast-food restaurant chain Wendy's founder Dave Thomas dies at 69.

Ozzie Smith is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

Michael Jordan's wife files for divorce. Can't believe she took so long to do it.

January 4, 2002

U.S. officials announce they have custody of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi.

January 4, 2002

The Israeli Army seizes the Karine A on the Red Sea, claiming the arms on the ship were bound for the Palestinian Authority.

Tom Daschle accuses President Bush and the Republicans have caused the "most dramatic fiscal deterioration in our nation's history."

The U.S. Labor Department announces that the United States unemployment rate rose to 5.8% in December.

U2, India Arie, and Alicia Keys lead the nominations for the 44th annual Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

The movies Impostor, Eisenstein, Black Hawk Down, and Gosford Park are released in the U.S. - several are actually worth seeing.

January 3, 2002

Beer brewer Freddy Heineken (grandson of the brewery's founder) died in his home at the age of 78.

January 1, 2002

Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in 12 member states of the European Union.

December 13, 2001

US releases some Videos of bin Laden

December 10, 2001

Nobel Prize Award: Alfred Nobel

November 29, 2001

Topics in the news

If updated, the list of topics should reflect topics that have recently come to the forefront of recent news events. Older topics, also essential to understanding current events, can be found below.

Ethnicity: Israeli - Jew - Palestinian

Geography:

- Re Colin Powell's speech: Gaza - Gaza Strip - Golan Heights - Israel - Judea - Palestine - Syria - West Bank

- Re airport security bill: Reagan National Airport

- Re germ warfare: Iraq - North Korea

Law: anti-terrorism legislation

Organizations, governmental and professional: Air Transport Association - American Automobile Association - House of Lords - U.S. Department of Transportation

People: Yasser Arafat - Caroline Dickinson - Saddam Hussein - Shimon Peres - Colin Powell - Condoleezza Rice - Nabil Shaath - Ariel Sharon

Religion: Islam - Judaism

Concepts:

- Military and defense: biological weapons program - sniffer dog (better term for this?) - weapon of mass destruction - x-ray searching

- Other: airline baggage - bounty - bounty hunter - sniffer dog - x-ray searching

Background for ongoing current events

The War in Afghanistan: Background

Developing stories: 2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan - individual cases of anthrax

Ethnicity: People of Afghanistan - Azerbaijan - Pashtun - Tajik

Geography: Afghanistan - Baghlan, Afghanistan - Israel - Kabul - Kandahar - Kunduz, Afghanistan - New York City - Pakistan - Palestine - United States of America - Washington, D.C.

History: September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack/Back history

People: Osama Bin Laden - Tony Blair - George W. Bush - Abdul Rashid Dostum - Pervez Musharraf - Mullah Mohammed Omar - Burhanuddin Rabbani - Donald H. Rumsfeld - Abdul Sattar

Organizations: al Qaeda - CDC - Northern Alliance - Taliban - United Nations - United Nations Security Council - U.S. Special Operations

Concepts

- Geographical: airport - airspace - pipeline

- Military/guerilla/defense technology and strategy: aircraft carrier - airport security - anthrax - antibiotic resistance - baggage screening - biological warfare - biological weapon - car bomb - ciprofloxacin - domestic security - gas mask - germ warfare - aircraft hijacking - smallpox - terrorist cell - vaccine

- Political: anti-Americanism - domestic terrorism - foreign aid - foreign aid worker - humanitarian aid - peace - risk analysis - terrorism - terrorist groups - war

- Religious: Islamism

- Psychological: collective trauma

U.S. Domestic Response to Terrorism: Background

Geography: New York City - Reno, Nevada - Washington, D.C.

People: John Ashcroft - George W. Bush - Colin Powell -

Organizations: Air Transport Association - Central Intelligence Agency - U.S. Department of Defense - Federal Bureau of Investigation - Office of Homeland Security

Concepts: bipartisanship - electronic surveillance - encryption - wiretap - tax cut

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Background

Ethnicity: Israeli - Jew - Palestinian

Geography: Gaza - Gaza Strip - Golan Heights - Israel - Judea - Palestine - Syria - West Bank

People: Yasser Arafat - Shimon Peres - Colin Powell - Nabil Shaath - Ariel Sharon

Religion: Islam - Judaism

October 23 2001 Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein calls for Provisional Irish Republican Army to start disarmament after pressure from America, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Other: 2001 crash of American Airlines Flight 587 - Airbus A300 - Queens, New York City - Dominican Republic

November 3 2001 At 2230 GMT after a late warning that contained a known terrorist code word from a bomb exploded in Birmingham, England on the site of one of the Provisional Irish Republican Army explosions that killed the most people. This comes after the PIRA disarmed a portion of their weapons, David Trimble sought to regain his position as First Minster of the Northern Ireland assembly and as Tony Blair is still involved in the consequences of the "War against Terrorism". This action could open a second front in this war, if only for the United Kingdom.