Portal:Current events/December 2003
Time: 06:23 UTC |
Date: Friday, May 30, 2025
- In Australia, Mark Latham is elected the new leader of the opposition Australian Labor Party, defeating former leader Kim Beazley by 47 votes to 45. Latham succeeds Simon Crean as leader. In 2004 Latham will face Liberal Prime Minister John Howard at a general election.
- Occupation of Iraq:
- World AIDS Day:
- U.S. Health Secretary Tommy Thompson warns that the world is losing the war against AIDS. Thompson says the amounts being spent on combating AIDS are completely dwarfed by the amounts being spent on American defense and the War on Terrorism. [3]
- Hilary Benn, the UK Minister of Health, announces that UK funding to UNAids will rise to 6 million pounds in 2004; this figure compares to the UK's projected Iraq war related costs of approximately 3 billion pounds. [4]
- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reportedly tells the BBC that the world is losing the war against AIDS because governments remain indifferent to the threat. [5]
- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao marks World AIDS Day by visiting AIDS victims in a Beijing hospital. [6]
- King Harald V of Norway is announced to be suffering from cancer of the bladder; he will be operated on next Monday, December 8. During the King's illness and two to three month convalescence, Crown Prince Haakon will be acting regent. [7]
- President Chen Shui-bian says that the hundreds of missiles the People's Republic of China has aimed at Taiwan justifies holding a referendum on Taiwan independence. The referendum bill recently passed by the Legislative Yuan only allows votes on sovereignty if the country is attacked by a foreign power. [8]
- Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Phil Condit resigns, a week after the aviation giant fires its chief financial officer in an ethics scandal. The move comes as the company faces scrutiny by the Defense Department for a government plan to acquire Boeing 767 planes for use as refueling tankers and answers questions about the ousters of two executives for ethical misconduct during the period it was being negotiated. [9]
- In Flandreau, South Dakota, jury selection begins in the manslaughter trial of former South Dakota Governor and current U.S. Congressman Bill Janklow. [10]
- Syria hands over 22 suspects to Turkey on Sunday in connection with four deadly suicide bombings in Istanbul, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported. [11]
- The draw is made for the 2004 European Football Championship. England are drawn with holders France, and hosts Portugal are drawn with neighbours Spain. [12]
- According to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, the People's Republic of China has freed three people detained on charges of posting information critical of the government on the Internet. [13]
- The Observer newspaper reports that a deal is imminent to repatriate British men being held in Guantanamo Bay. [14]
- Israeli army chief Moshe Yaalon and former heads of Shin Bet criticise Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for his unwillingness to consider the Geneva plan. [15] [16] [17]
- In tennis, Australia wins the Davis Cup by three rubbers to one when Mark Philippoussis defeats Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain in the first reverse singles match, played in Melbourne. It is the 28th time Australia has won the trophy, the most prestigious title in men's team tennis. [18]
- The Japanese government announces its intention to temporarily nationalize regional bank Ashikaga Bank after inspections show that it is insolvent; the cost may exceed $9 billion. [19]
- Iribnews.com reports that Georgia's parliament has elected Tedo Dzhaparidze as the new foreign minister. [20]
- Occupation of Iraq: Two South Korean civilians working for a U.S. firm are killed on a highway near Tikrit.
- There is evidence that the tuberculosis drug D-cycloserine may be the first effective agent for the treatment of phobias. [21]
- Pakistan is to end a ban on Indian flights over its territory, in another sign of improving relations between the neighbours [22]
- An unarmed black man dies after being clubbed by police in Cincinnati. [23]
- In Norfolk, Virginia, the USS Cole leaves port on the destroyer's first overseas deployment since it was bombed is the year 2000 in Yemen's port at Aden. [24]
- Police in Turkey announce the arrest of a yet-unnamed man they state has admitted giving the order to suicide bombers to attack Beth Israel synagogue in Istanbul on November 15. [25]
- Luan Enjie, director of the National Aerospace Bureau of the People's Republic of China states that "By 2020, we will achieve visiting the moon." [26]
- Occupation of Iraq: A team of 8 Spanish intelligence agents is attacked south of Baghdad; 7 are killed and 1 wounded. [27] Two Japanese diplomats are killed near Tikrit. Two U.S. soldiers and a Colombian civilian contractor are killed in Baghdad.
- In Australia, the opposition Labor Party's finance spokesperson, Mark Latham, announces that he will contest the party leadership ballot on 2 December against the former leader Kim Beazley. Press reports place the two candidates at about 40 votes each, with about ten undecided. [28]
- French and German university students continue to hold protests, including strikes, over controversial policies such as tuition fees. German students also occupied the central offices of the PDS in Berlin, following a similar protest earlier in the week in which 30 to 40 students occupied the office of Thomas Flierl for more than 24 hours. Protests in both countries have been continuing to spread for the last two weeks.[29] [30] [31] German press: [32], [33]
- The November 28 issue of the journal Science reports that the United States is not sufficiently prepared to respond to an influenza pandemic. [34]
- The United States is about to back down over its restrictions on steel imports that had caused such alarm in Europe and Asia. [35]
- War on Terrorism: A terrorism expert with access to intelligence on Al-Qaeda says the group wants to launch a catastrophic attack in the United States. [36]
- The anti-Good Friday Agreement Democratic Unionist Party with 30 seats becomes the biggest party in Northern Ireland in the Northern Ireland Assembly Election, 2003, replacing the Ulster Unionist Party (27 seats), while Sinn Féin at 24 seats replaces the SDLP (18 seats) as the major Irish nationalist party.
- John Manley, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, announces he will not take a position in the new cabinet of leadership rival Paul Martin that will take office on December 12, and will not run again in his riding of Ottawa South in the forthcoming 2004 Canadian election. Martin praises Manley's past accomplishments and takes the unusual step of publically offering Manley the posting of Ambassador to the U.S..[37]
- In Italy, Alessandra Mussolini, grand-daughter of Benito Mussolini and niece of Sophia Loren, resigns from the right wing National Alliance party after she considers that party leader and deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini "dishonoured her family's history" when apologising in Israel for Italy's actions before and during the Second World War and describing fascism as "an absolute evil". [38]
- Simon Crean announces his resignation as leader of the Australian Labor Party, the main opposition party in Australia. Crean has led the party since November 2001, but has consistently trailed Prime Minister John Howard in opinion polls. Crean becomes the first Labor leader to resign without having fought an election. His successor will be elected at a meeting of the Labor Caucus on 2 December. The candidates will probably be former leader Kim Beazley and finance spokesman Mark Latham. Foreign Affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd may also stand. [39]
- In Taiwan, a referendum bill written by majority pro-Chinese reunification pan-blue coalition legislators, is passed by the Legislative Yuan. The move is met by opposition from the People's Republic of China as it is seen as a possible route for declaring Taiwan independence, even though the bill blocks referendums on sovereignty issue and changing the official name of the Republic of China. [40][41]
- In Russia, the planned merger between YUKOS and Sibneft has reportedly been suspended by Sibneft. It is unclear whether the two oil firms will carry on with the merger.[42][43]
- Global warming: In a new report, the WWF warned that billions of people may suffer severe water shortages if glaciers, which contain 70 percent of the world's fresh water reserves, continue to melt. [44]] [45]
Past events by month
2003: January February March April May June July August September October November
2002: January February March April May June July August September October November December
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