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 current events.
As topics, new and old, become relevant to understanding today's news, please add links and work on stories about those topics. This will help make Wikipedia even more relevant and useful for visitors. For more information on contributing to this page, see current events article development.
Breaking news--Daily events
American football: Super Bowl XXXVI: New England Patriots 20, Saint Louis Rams 17 -- one of the most astonishing upsets in Super Bowl history.
Prince Willem-Alexander, heir to the Dutch throne, marries Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti in Amsterdam.
Hildegard Knef, actress, writer and singer, dies at age 76.
George W. Bush delivered his State of the Union Address to Congress.
January 24, 2002
Enron hearings begin.
Terrorist suspect John Walker's hearing begins.
January 23, 2002
Kenneth Lay, CEO of the bankrupt Enron Corporation, resigns.
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.).
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.
- The terrorist attack: September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack - World Trade Center - Pentagon - New York City - Washington, D.C. - AA Flight 11 - UA Flight 75 - AA Flight 77 - UA Flight 93 - September 11
Other Conflicts
Science and Technology
- The atmosphere of an extrasolar planet was detected
- The 3rd human chromosome has been fully sequenced as part of the Human Genome Project
Europe
Business news
- recession - depression
- stock market - stock exchange - Dow Industrial Average - NASDAQ
- Cisco Systems
- United Auto Workers
- Railtrack
Celebrity news
Sports news
- Basketball: Michael Jordan returns to the NBA, with the Washington Wizards
- American football: the National Football League playoffs are underway. They culminate in the Super Bowl, which is scheduled for Sunday, February 3, 2002, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- Winter Olympic Games scheduled for February 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah
Holidays
Topics removed from current events
News pages
External links to news pages that can be used to gather new topics for the above list.
- http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/ts/
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news - Coverage split in to science/health etc... for UK and world news
- http://www.cnn.com