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Portal:Current events/November 2003

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Reddi (talk | contribs) at 15:04, 7 November 2003 (Occupation of Iraq; another Black Hawk down). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.



Time: 06:56 UTC   |   Date: Saturday, May 31, 2025

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Liberian crisis
North Korea crisis
Hutton Inquiry
Bloody Sunday Inquiry
Road map for peace
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SCO v. IBM
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November 7, 2003

November 6, 2003

  • Linux : Attempted attack on Linux kernel. Intruder attempts to insert a Trojan horse program into the code of the next version of the Linux kernel, stored at a publicly accessible source-code repository database. Security features of BitKeeper detects the illicit change within 24 hours. The changes, which would have introduced a security flaw to the kernel, never became a part of the Linux code though. [3]
  • Middle East - Democracy : America will focus its foreign policy on bringing democracy to all peoples of the Middle East. In a major policy speech, US President George W. Bush states that some states people of the region should have responsible democratic leaders, announcing a new American "forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East." Bush states a failure to establish democracy in Iraq would embolden terrorists around the world, increase the danger to America, and extinguish the hopes of millions in the region. "Our commitment to democracy is being tested in the Middle East," Bush states. He describes democratic reforms in the region as the next great turning point and blames decades of post-colonial Western foreign policy for allowing the many dictatorships and violent theocracies to develop. "As long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish," Bush states, "it will remain a place of stagnation, resentment and violence ready for export. And with the spread of weapons that can bring catastrophic harm to our country and to our friends, it would be reckless to accept the status quo." [4] [5] [6]
  • Terrorism - September 11 : Suspected al Qaeda memeber tried unsuccessfully to enter the country around the same time as the September 11 hijackers may have been part of a plan to launch other attacks on targets in the United States. Identities of the suspects were discovered after a comparison of visa applications received before September 11 with names recovered from documents seized in caves in Afghanistan. Roger Cressey, former director for counterterrorism for the National Security Council, states the attack may have been "not on 9/11 but certainly afterward. [Osama] bin Laden and his people think strategically." [7]
  • In the United States, Democratic candidate Howard Dean issues an apology for his remarks. He stated previously he wanted to be a candidate for "guys with Confederate flags on their pickup trucks." [8]
  • Also in the United States, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is reported ready to take further action in widening mutual fund investigations. [9]
  • SCO v. IBM: Lawyers representing SCO Group in intellectual property litigation stand to benefit significantly if the company settles lawsuits or is sold. [10]
  • In the United Kingdom, the Prince of Wales issues a denial of an unspecified allegation whose publication has been prohibited by court injunction granted against the Mail on Sunday tabloid newspaper. The injunction had been granted to one former Royal Aide, but earlier today The Guardian newspaper had been granted permission to name a person who had sought an injunction. Sir Michael Peat, the Prince's Private Secretary who issues the Prince's statement, attacks the person who had made the original allegation now subject to a court injunction, describing him as someone "who, unfortunately, has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and has previously suffered from alcoholism following active service in the Falklands" and who has a history of making wild allegations which when investigated by police were found to be untrue. Peat says the country has been awash with rumours on the issue for the last week and that the Prince's unprecedented statement was intended to kill off the unfounded speculation. The Prince's Household was previously embroiled in allegations of homosexual rape involving a staff member, amid the allegation that the Prince failed to take appropriate action against the person who allegedly committed the offence. Though details of the incident are not clear, they appear to involved the alledged witnessing of a male royal in bed with a male servant. [11] [12] [13] [14]
  • A book reveals the details of the capture and captivity of Jessica Lynch. She was treated brutally (resulting in Lynch's shattered body) and, says medical records, confirm she was anally raped. The book says some Iraqi doctors said Lynch was virtually dead. [15]
  • The U.S. nickel design changes for the first time since 1938. [16]
  • US President Bush signs ban on "partial-birth abortion". New law, supported by 70% of Americans, takes effect in all states but Nebraska. [17]
  • In the United States, NPR is given $200 million, bequeathed by the widow of Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonalds. [18]
  • In the United Kingdom, Michael Howard is confirmed as the new leader of the Conservative Party. [19]
  • The Bank of England increases base interest rate 0.25% to 3.75% in an attempt to damp down rising consumer borrowing. This is the first increase in base rate for four years. [20]
  • In Rwanda, four former government ministers go on trial on charges of masterminding genocide in 1994. [21]
  • Occupation of Iraq:
    • Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld unveils a troop replacement plan for Iraq. Overall number of American soldiers in the country will decrease next year, if security conditions permit. [22]
    • One US soldier is killed and 2 injured in yet another ambush. [23]
    • The US begins informing units that will be needed in Iraq in 2004. [24]
    • The Marines will be returning. [25]
    • The US Department of Defense summarizes US casualties so far. [26]
    • The first Polish soldier is killed in Iraq. [27]
    • A CNN/USA Today Gallup poll suggests that support for President Bush's handling of Iraq is slipping; a majority of the people polled disapprove of what is being done. [28]
  • In Seattle, Washington, the text of Gary Ridgway's ("Green River Killer") confession is released. [29]
  • Free software: The People's Republic of China government has announced that it will fund Linux software development as an alternative to Microsoft's Windows operating system. [30]
  • In Brisbane, Australia, the criminal convictions of controversial right wing politicians Pauline Hanson and David Etteridge for electoral fraud, were completely overturned on appeal [31]
  • "Partial birth abortion": Federal judges in California and New York issue injunctions against the newly-signed "partial birth aborion" law, forcing the United States government to stop any legal action against doctors who work for Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation, until full hearings can be held on the law's constitutionality. [32]
  • Pornographic movies : A Seattle-based porn site reportedly will broadcast the sex video of the Los Angeles-based celebutante, Paris Hilton. Friends of hotel heiress state that new video is a "terrible invasion of her privacy". Roger Vadocz, president of the company, claims the video is Hilton and Rick Solomon having sex. [33]

November 5, 2003

  • United States - Politics : Democratic intel memo by staff disturbs the US Senate. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) states "heads should roll" over the memo of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that outlines a strategy to politicize intelligence data. [34]
  • The sun surprises astronomers by launching another solar flare, this time the largest ever recorded. [35]
  • After 26 years, and at a distance from Earth of over 8 billion miles, Voyager 1 exits the solar system. It is expected to keep on transmitting into the 2020s. [36] [37]
  • The Australian Central Bank raises interest rates by 0.25% in a bid to curb surging consumer borrowing. [38]
  • Saskatchewan general election, 2003: The NDP government of Lorne Calvert is returned to power with a majority government.
  • The third Matrix movie, The Matrix Revolutions, opens simultaneously worldwide. [39]
  • The European Union says it will press ahead with retaliation against US steel tariffs if the WTO rules in its favour next week. [40]
  • Occupation of Iraq:
    • The United States states foreign terrorists are slipping into Iraq and believes the people behind recent attacks in Iraq have come in from neighbouring countries. Iraq's Governing Council head, Jalal Talabani, urges Iraq's neighbours to crack down on "terrorists" crossing into Iraq. Talabani states terrorists had entered from Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Syria urges America to withdraw troops from Iraq. [41]
    • Soldiers recount crash horror. One soldier states that he "heard a crash and prayed". Recovering from wounds suffered when their helicopter was shot down in Iraq, the U.S. soldiers expect to be needed in action again. [42]
    • Turkey says it will not send troops to Iraq without a significant improvement in security there. [43]
    • Talabani plans visit to Turkey in bid to ease crisis over Turkey's troops to Iraq. [44]
    • An Iraqi senior judge, Muhan Jabr al-Shuwaili, investigating former officials of Saddam Hussein's regime is kidnapped and shot dead. The Najaf prosecutor-general, Aref Aziz, was also kidnapped and later released unharmed. [45]
    • A second judge, Ismail Yussef Saddek, investigating members of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime is shot dead in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. [46]
    • US intelligence-gathering in Iraq is being questioned partly as a result of disbanding the army. [47][48]
  • The ninth case of mad cow disease is confirmed in Japan. [49]
  • An article in the November issue of J. Climate argues that global warming will bring more snow to the Eastern Great Lakes region. [50]
  • The United Nations votes again and overwhelmingly in a non-binding and non-enforceable resolution for an end to sanctions against Cuba; only the USA, Israel, and the Marshall Islands vote against. [51] The US's United Nations ambassador John Negroponte avoided the forum. Washington responded to the vote through a mid-level diplomat, Sichan Siv, who tells the General Assembly delegates that the Cuban embargo was a "bilateral issue" which was really none of the UN's business. [52]
  • Arizona officials believe two rival immigrant smuggling rings are responsible for a shootout in Arizona that killed four people, and wounded several others. [53]
  • In Portland, Oregon, a local election to establish a PUD that would investigate public ownership of Portland General Electric failed when 69% of the voters voted against the measure. Both Portland General Electric, an Enron subsidiary, and PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of Scottish Power contributed $1.9 million to fight the measure. [54]
  • In Seattle, Washington, Gary Ridgway confesses to the murder of 48 women, who were the victims of the Green River Killer. In return, he will not be subject to capital punishment, but serve life inprisonment for his crimes. [55]
  • North Korea nuclear weapons program: United States allies in Asia and Europe agree to stop cooperation on nuclear power plant project. They suspend a multibillion-dollar project to build two nuclear power reactors in North Korea. Japan, South Korea, the United States, and the European Union will announce the fate of the project by November 21.[56]
  • Microsoft contributes $500,000 to fund the search of computer viruses and other malicious code writers, starting with the MSBlast computer worm and the Sobig virus orginators. Microsoft will be working with law enforcement agencies (FBI, the Secret Service, and Interpol) in the search. The initiative marks the latest move by Microsoft and law enforcement to curtail attacks that plague the Internet. [57]

November 4, 2003

November 3, 2003

  • Occupation of Iraq: US Congress allocates $87 billion for occupation and reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan. The funding bill omits a provision included in the Senate version of the bill, demanding that Iraq repay some of the $20 billion of the funds dedicated for rebuilding. U.S. President Bush had been strongly opposed to this provision.
  • At a campaign fundraiser in Birmingham, Alabama, President George W. Bush states that the tax cuts are working to help the economy. Bush also vows that the coalition forces will stay in Iraq. The president states the deaths of 15 soldiers in an attack on a helicopter will not deter the United States. Bush states, "The enemy in Iraq believes America will run. That's why they're willing to kill innocent civilians, relief workers, coalition troops. America will never run." [72] [73]
  • Occupation of Iraq: Attacks comprising of six explosions, reportedly coordinated, occur (one in Kirkuk, five in Bagdad). The series of explosions in Baghdad, which may have come from mortar shells, is in an area that is home to several coalition headquarters buildings. The Kirkuk bomb blast northeast of Baghdad kills one Iraqi and wounds 15. The target of this explosion was the deputy governor of the northern Diyala province Aqil al-Hamid, who was in a convoy driving near the city of Baquba. He escapes uninjured. Also, another blast occurs near a holy Shiite Muslim shrine in the city of Karbala kills three people and injured 12. [74] [75]
  • The European Commission comes out with another Eurobarometer, a survey of EU citizens. According to the survey, most Europeans think that the war in Iraq is not justified, that UN should supervise Iraq and provide security, and that US should pay for the rebuilding of Iraq. As to which countries pose a threat to world peace, 59% think it's Israel, and 53% that it's United States. [76]
  • The SEC finds further evidence of widespread irregularities in the mutual fund industry. [77] The head of Putnam Investments has resigned. [78]
  • Embattled energy tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has quit as CEO of Yukos. [79]
  • Terrorism: Saudi Arabian authorities have broken up, for the second time, a militant ring in Mecca amid a wide crackdown on Islamic extremists. The police combated militants in the streets of the holy city of Mecca, killing two of the suspects and uncovering a large cache of weapons. The raid on two buildings in Mecca's al-Share'a neighborhood foiled a terrorist operation "that did not respect the sanctity of holy places and the month of Ramadan". [80] [81]

November 2, 2003

  • Middle East : Select band of foreign ministers gather in Damascus, called by Syria, to confer on Iraq. Critical situation in Iraq and tries to gain assurances against the possibility that United States administration will institute regime changes beyond Iraq. [82]
  • Occupation of Iraq: In the heaviest single loss for the coalition troops since cessation of the military campaign in Iraq two US Chinook helicopters are fired on by two surface to air missiles and one crashes near Fallujah and on its way to Baghdad airport; 16 soldiers are killed and 20 wounded. [83] [84] A blast damages an oil pipeline near Kirkuk, north of Baghdad. [85]
  • Terrorism: The New York Times reports that militant Muslim recruits are "streaming into Iraq" and answering the call of Osama bin Laden and other extremists. These individuals are joining the fight against the coalition's occupation in Iraq, state counterterrorism officials. Intelligence officials (in six countries) have detected an estimate of hundreds of militant young Muslims from various countries headed for Iraq (primarily by crossing the Syrian or Iranian borders). [86]
  • The Yukos crisis continues and Dmitry Medvedev, the new Chief of Staff, warns of risks to the economy. [87] Following the appointment the siloviki (ex-KGB, ex-police, ex-security services) remain enormously more heavily represented in Putin's administration than in the Yeltsin and Gorbachev years. [88]
  • In the United Kingdom, Tony Blair faces a formal complaint that has been made to the International Criminal Court about the prosecution of the Iraq War. [89]
  • In Hawaii, a shark bites the arm off a 13 year-old girl surfing at Kauai, the fourth such amputation in Hawaiian waters in 20 years. [90]
  • In the Sudan, Locusts cause breathing difficulties and some deaths in Sudan. [91]
  • Former brokers of Prudential Securities are to be charged in Massachusetts as part of a widening investigation into abuses at mutual funds. [92]

November 1, 2003

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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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