Template:In the news
- Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat dies in a French military hospital after a short illness. A funeral is to be held in Cairo and the burial will take place in Ramallah. Rawhi Fattuh becomes interim president of the Palestinian Authority, succeeding Arafat.
- Israeli police arrest former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu for a second time on suspicion of leaking classified information about Israel's nuclear weapons program.
- U.S. President George W. Bush announces he will nominate Alberto R. Gonzales, his White House Counsel, to succeed John Ashcroft as U.S. Attorney General.