Portal:Current events/October 2003
- North Korea announces re-election of dictator Kim Jong Il as chairman of the National Defense Commission by a unanimous vote of the Supreme People's Assembly, a move dismissed as a propaganda stunt by Western observers, who nearly all regard the Supreme People's Assembly as a rubber-stamp body. [1]
- California legislature passes expanded domestic partnership bill. The state assembly approved a measure to extend nearly all the legal rights of married couples to people in same-sex partnerships. If signed by the governor, the bill will become law in 2005.[2]
- The neo-fascist British National Party (BNP) wins a surprise victory in a local government by-election to to Thurrock Borough Council in Essex the United Kingdom, The BNP victory, by building maintenance manager Nicholas Geri, a 47 year old grandfather of Italian descent, marks a major swing from the British Labour Party. Labour, which has a 21 seat majority on the Council, saw its candidate pushed into an embarrassing third place, behind the BNP and the British Conservative Party. Turnout in the by-election was 22%. [3]
- Singapore has decided to drop its 21-year ban on Cosmopolitan magazine, as well is slightly liberalizing its film censorship rules. Dispite this move, the censorship board's surveyors found the Singaporean public largely does not want the country's tough censorship rules liberalized. [4]
- Occupation of Iraq: Poland assumes a position in postwar Iraq. The coalition in Iraq hands over the south-central part of the country to a force led by Poland. The force of Polish troops leads a multinational peacekeeping brigade that will relieve Coalition forces (in particular the United States Marine expeditionary force). This is Poland's biggest military operation since World War II. This is also the first sign of the global community's commitment to a postwar Iraq. [5] [6] Secretary of State Colin Powell seeks support from Britain, France, Germany, and Russia on a proposed United Nations resolution that would give the United Nations a role in Iraq's economic and political future.[7] [8] Coalition soldiers strongly desire to see more troops from other nations share the work of occupation. [9]
- Palestinian Authority: Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas threatens to quit if the Palestinian legislature does not endorse his government and its policies at a session scheduled for Thursday. [10]
- Iraq: Iraqi Governing Council swears in the first ministerial cabinet since Saddam Hussein's removal. They urge the cabinet to help restore stability to the country. [11]
- Iran: Iranian Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi states that President Mohammad Khatami rejects compromise with hard-line opponents over key reform bills. The bills seek to curb the conservatives' power. [12]
- Diplomacy: British Embassy in Tehran closes temporarily after shots are fired at it from the street. [13]
- United States: Former Presbyterian minister Paul J. Hill is executed for his 1994 murder in Pensacola, Florida of an abortion doctor and his bodyguard. [14] [15]
- Irish minister Frank Fahy accuses US Immigration authorities at Shannon Airport of acting 'disgracefully' in turning back a group of 13 Irish musicians travelling to attend New York benefit concert to raise money for a Irish cancer victim in the United States for treatment. Ireland's 2003 Eurovision Song Contest singer Mickey Joe Harte, one of the singers refused entry, said they were told they needed no visas in their case. However at Shannon, the musicans were suddenly told they needed work visas, though the event was for charity and they were providing their services 'free of charge'. Irish people travelling to the United States do not normally need visas except to get paid employment. The concert is scheduled for Friday. [16]
- Miss Justice Mary Laffoy dramatically resigns as chairperson of the Laffoy Commission on Child Abuse, which is investigating evidence of child sex abuse in schools, orphanages and Catholic Church-run institutions over decades in Ireland. Her resignation followed one day after the the Minister for Education, Noel Dempsey told RTÉ Radio that the Irish Government, worried by suggestions that the investigation would last more than a decade and cost hundreds of millions of euro, wanted to restructure the investigation to examine only a sample of the 1800 cases being investigated. The government has delayed publishing Justice Laffoy's resignation letter. Abuse victim and crusader against abuse Christine Buckey calls for Dempsey's resignation. Colm O'Gorman, of the child abuse charity One in Four, and himself a prominent survivor of abuse, calls on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to publish all correspondence relating to the resignation. [17]
- California recall: Five candidates (Lt. Governer Cruz Bustamante, California state senator Tom McClintock, Peter Camejo, Peter Ueberroth and Arianna Huffington) attended the first debate held for the recall election. Arnold Schwarzenegger was criticized for not turning up at the debate. Issues such as tax and campaign finance were brought up. [18]
- War on Terrorism: Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden says that his organization is working on "serious projects," and that his priority is to use biological weapons against the United States. Al Qaeda may already have such weapons, and be seeking means to transport and launch them. [19] [20]
- Indonesia: An Indonesian court sentences Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir to four years in prison for treason against the Indonesian government. However, the court found insufficient proof that Bashir was the leader of the militant Islamic organization Jemaah Islamiyah. [21]
- Iraq: A car bomb explodes near the headquarters of Coalition trained police in Baghdad, killing an Iraqi police officer and wounding up to 10 bystanders. [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] Observers saw the incident as an attempt to destabilize the new Iraqi governing body. (See 2003 occupation of Iraq timeline)
- The Iraqi police handling the investigation say they have arrested 19 men in connection with the blast, many of them foreigners and all with admitted links to al-Qaeda. [28]
- Astronomy: Astronomers announce the discovery of an asteroid (2003 QQ47) whose orbit has a remote chance of striking earth. Meteorite researchers are not worried; all such previous discoveries have been followed by later observations which reduced the chance of collision from highly improbable to utterly impossible, but announcements like that of QQ47 help maintain sufficient public interest to attract funding for skywatch projects. [29]
- SCO vs Linux: SCO Germany is ordered to pay fine of 10,000 Euro because they were ordered to cease their allegations that Linux contains stolen intellectual property of SCO. [30] [ German ]
- Road map for peace: Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz states he favors expelling Palestinian President Yasser Arafat by the end of the year,because Arafat is obstructing the United States led peace plan. Arafat denies the statement and says he backs the peace plan (though he refuses to release control of Palestinian security services to reformer Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to stop militant group attacks as mandated by the plan). Palestinian leaders call Defense Minister's remarks inflammatory. [31]
- Ontario premier Ernie Eves calls a provincial election for October 2. The incumbent Tories, Dalton McGuinty's Liberals, and Howard Hampton's NDP are in the race. [32]
- Prince Edward Island premier Pat Binns calls a provincial election for September 29. The incumbent Tories, Robert Ghiz's Liberals, and Gary Robichaud's NDP are in the race. [33]
- Natural disaster: A forest fire erupts in the Gorge of the Columbia River to the east of Cascade Locks, Oregon, forcing the closure of a 47-mile section of highway I-84 and the evacuation of Cascade Locks for at least one full day.
Past events by month
2003: January February March April May June July August September
2002: January February March April May June July August September October November December
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