Portal:Current events/October 2003
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 topics behind these current events. For more information on contributing to this page, see current events article development.
Ongoing events and developing stories
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict - War on Terrorism - U.S. plan to invade Iraq
- stock market downturn of 2002 - accounting scandals - South American economic crisis of 2002 - debate over US steel tariffs
- Earth Summit 2002 - 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
The best golfers in Europe and the USA begin competition for the 2002 Ryder cup at The Belfrey, England
- India has moved thousands of troops into the state of Gujurat after terrorists killed 32 people in an attack on a Hindu temple. The move is aimed at preventing further communal violence in the aftermath of the attack.
- Technology: Motorola has announced a single-chip satellite navigation receiver, opening the possibility of the addition of location-specific functions to low cost ubiquitous computing devices. The chip combines RF processing, analog signal processing, digital signal processing and a CPU on a single chip.
- Ivory Coast: Ivory Coast rebel soldiers, still attempting to overthrow the government, have invested a compound containing over 100 American citizens and other foreigners. 200 United States Marines have entered the country to rescue the foreigners.
- Belgium is the second European country (after the Netherlands) to legalise euthanasia.
- Stock market downturn of 2002: Global indices sink heavily today, with the Nasdaq falling 3 percent to a 6-year low of 1,184.94. The yield of the U.S. Treasury's 10-year bond sank to a 40-year low of 3.70 percent, with the 2-year bond yield falling to a record low of 1.89 percent. Meanwhile, concern of the U.S. plan to invade Iraq pushed oil prices to over $30 a barrel, not seen since February 2001.
- Spratly Islands: The Governor of the Philippine state of Palawan has sent Philippine soldiers to take possession of the uninhabited oil-rich Spratly Islands, which are claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.
- A new Bundestag (German parliament) is chosen. In a very tight election, Gerhard Schröder defeats Edmund Stoiber to remain Prime Minister. The German Green Party does very well.
- Politics of Germany, Bundestag, Bundeskanzler
- Political parties: SPD, CDU/CSU, Die Grünen, FDP, PDS
- People: Guido Westerwelle
- recent celebrity deaths: Science fiction author Robert L. Forward dies.
- U.S. plan to invade Iraq: White House and Pentagon officials announce that Gen. Tommy Franks presented detailed war plans to President Bush in early September.
- An attempted coup by disaffected former soldiers of the Ivory Coast was put down, with the death of the alleged coup leader, General Robert Guei, a former military dictator of the country. Guei was killed when his car refused to stop at a roadblock in downtown Abidjan. Rebels continue in control of the cities of Bouake and Korhogo.
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: After a suicide bomber kills 5 and wounds more than 60 on a bus next to Tel Aviv's Great Synagogue, Israeli troops, tanks, and bulldozers destroy buildings in Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters.
- U.S. plan to invade Iraq: The Bush administration pressures Congress to pass a resolution giving Bush authority to use "all means he determines to be appropriate, including force" to oust Saddam Hussein and disarm Iraq.
- Extreme weather, recent celebrity deaths: About one-third of the Maili glacier breaks off from the Cacausus Mountains and buries Karmadon, Russia under up to 500 feet of ice and debris, killing 95, including the young Russian movie star Sergei Bodrov Jr.
- After three days of negotiations in Sattahip, Thailand, the Tamil Tigers agreed to drop their demand for independence from Sri Lanka, and accepted autonomy in the north and northwest of the country.
- Archaeologists use a remote-controlled robot to access a hitherto sealed chamber within the Great Pyramid of Giza: the robot drilled a hole in a long-sealed door and poked a fiber-optic camera through. Unfortunately, all that was revealed was another closed door.
- Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon is released from jail due to health reasons.
- Recent celebrity deaths: Athlete Bob Hayes dies.
- U.S. plan to invade Iraq: Colin Powell meets with the U.N. Security Council to push for stronger resolutions against Iraq. In a surprise reversal, Iraq tells the UN it will allow weapons inspectors "immediately and without condition."
- Cryptography: A worrying theoretical cryptanalytic attack on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) has been announced in a paper by Nicolas Courtois and Josef Pieprzyk entitled "Cryptanalysis of Block Ciphers with Overdefined Systems of Equations". This appears to show a surprising potential theoretical weakness in the AES algorithm.
- Tim Montgomery of the United States broke the world record in the 100 meter dash at the IAAF Grand Prix Final, running 9.78 seconds to beat the former record of 9.79 set by Maurice Greene of the United States in 1999.
- U.S. plan to invade Iraq: In a speech before the U.N. General Assembly, George W. Bush asserts that Iraq has defied various U.N. resolutions and is "a threat to the authority of the United Nations and a threat to peace". He says that the US will work with the Security Council to draft the necessary resolutions for military action.
- The first anniversary of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack is marked by many services and memorials.
- Ramzi Binalshibh, a key al Qaeda member who supposedly helped to plan the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack was captured in Pakistan
- Johnny Unitas dies.
- Switzerland becomes a full member of the UN.
- Large deposits of methane hydrate are found off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
- Martin Strel is swimming to his final destination of the Gulf of Mexico.
- 2002 US Open: Pete Sampras defeats Andre Agassi in four sets to win his record 14th major.
- 2002 US Open: Serena Williams defeats Venus Williams.
- September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack/Memorials and Services: The US Congress convenes for a one-day joint session in Federal Hall in New York City, the original capital of the United States.
- An assassination attempt was made on President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan in Kandahar. A gunman wearing the uniform of the new Afghan Army opened fire, wounding the Governor of Kandahar and an American Special Operations officer. The gunman and one of the President's bodyguards were killed.
- Argentina defeated the United States, 87-80, at the World Basketball Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was the first loss ever in international play for a United States team containing National Basketball Association players.
- The Oakland Athletics baseball team won their 20th consecutive game, an American League record.
- Stock market downturn of 2002: The Nikkei stock average falls 3.2 percent to 9,217.04, an 18-year low.
- 2002 US Open: Lindsey Davenport defeated Yelena Bovina to advance to the semi-finals against the winner of Serena Williams vs. Daniela Hantuchova; Monica Seles defeated Martina Hingis to advance to the quarter-finals against Venus Williams.
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The Arab League disavowed the final statement made by the Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-up, claiming that they adhere to a policy of supporting Israel's right to exist within pre-1967 borders, and restating that the conflict in the Middle East is between Palestinians and Israelis, not all Jews. No comment on the September 11, 2001 claims was available.
- Current events/August 2002
- Current events/July 2002
- Current events/June 2002
- Current events/May 2002
- Topics removed from current events
- Background articles for ongoing events
News pages
External links to news pages that can be used to gather new topics for the above list:
- News Search Engines: http://www.HavenWorks.com/news/search
- 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.
- News Sources
- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)
- The Globe and Mail