Roh Moo Hyun reiterates offer to the United States to consider a request for South Korean participation in Multi-National Force – Iraq in exchange for "positive" movement to resolve the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons program
.
Arabs
abroad. "Hostility toward America has reached shocking levels ... What is required is not merely tactical adaptation but strategic, and radical, transformation."
President of the European CommissionRomano Prodi unveils a proposal to boost flagging economic growth in Europe. The plan has two main parts: increasing spending on European transport networks and promoting research and development.
Choe Su Hon states this is a means to safeguard the country's territory.[1]
Secretary General Kofi Annan states draft did not go in the direction he recommended. A quicker transfer of sovereignty "may change the dynamics on the ground, in terms of the security situation, and send a message".[2]
Technology – Genome: The genome chip arrived with several companies rushing to sell the known human genes. The products will allow scientists to scan all genes in a human tissue sample at once to determine which are active, with lower cost and increased speed.[3]
reconnaissance plane over international waters. On the third pass, the Chinese fighter hit a propeller on the American plane.[4]
European Union: United States draft legislation which urges The Pentagon to buy defence parts from American manufacturers has turned heads in Brussels, with some warning of yet another trade dispute at the WTO.[6]
European Constitution. Austria heads the group of small countries seeking to make changes to the text, but France wants to leave the draft by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing broadly untouched.[7]
weapons of mass destruction have already been found in Iraq.[8]
Near-Earth asteroid: Confirmation on the closest near-miss of a natural object ever recorded. The asteroid (designated 2003 SQ222), about the size of a small house, flew past Earth at a distance of around 88,000 kilometres. It would have made a fireball had it entered the atmosphere.[9]
botulinum. The US-sponsored search for WMD has so far cost $300 million and is projected to cost around $600 million more.[10][11]
Hitler. Arnold Schwarzenegger's denial comes days before the vote for the next governor of California.[12]
General Wesley Clark suggests that members of the Bush administration may be liable to criminal charges in connection with the Iraq war. Clark alleges that the plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and other interventions in the Middle East (possibly including Lebanon and Syria), pre-dated the inauguration of the President and that the reasons for the war were misleadingly presented to the US people.
Polish soldiers of the United States-led Coalition discovered four advanced
Arms exports to Iraq had been barred by the United Nations after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. France says it last shipped Roland missiles to Iraq in 1986. The Polish soldiers were later found to have misinterpreted markings that read 07-01-KND 2003 as a date on the missiles.[14][15][16]
suicide bomber blows herself up in a crowded beach restaurant in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, killing at least 19 people and wounding about two dozen, at least six seriously.[17]
Hours later Israeli helicopter gunships retaliate by attacking targets in Gaza City and Central Gaza.
Iraq war, publishes his personal diaries. In them he alleges inter alia that Tony Blair knew before the Iraq war began that the 45 minutes to launch claim
was false.
Poland apologizes to France for its claims that it had found newly produced
Roland surface-to-air missiles in Iraq. It is believed that the Polish soldiers misinterpreted a "use-by" date or installation date marked on the missiles as a date of production.[18]
Maher Arar is reported to have been freed from a Syrian jail. The Canadian engineer was deported to Syria by the United States as he changed planes in New York, over a year ago.[19] He will arrive in Montreal the following afternoon.[20]
suicide bombing at a Haifa restaurant that killed 19 people, the army said Sunday. Israeli media state this is the first Israeli attack on Syrian soil in more than two decades. An emergency session of the UN Security Council is scheduled to debate the action. France and Germany condemn the attack. The international community calls for restraint by all parties involved.[21]
republic of Chechnya, winning 81 percent of the votes.[23]
Vice President of SoftwareRich Altmaier), SGI's "exhaustive comparison" of the source codes turned up only "trivial" code segments that "may arguably be related" to SCO's software. The letter also disputed SCO's claims that SGI inappropriately contributed its XFS (eXtensible File System).[24]
Israel: In his first public comments since the Israeli attack on Syria, President Bush says that Israel has the right to defend its homeland; at the same time Mr. Bush asks Prime Minister Sharon to avoid any further actions that might destabilize the region.
Occupation of Iraq: Some in the international community have rejected a revised United States draft United Nations Security Council resolution concerning Iraq (calling for a multinational force of peacekeeping troops in Iraq under American command; transferring power gradually to elected civilian rule [though there is no handover timetable for sovereignty]). The resolution is being supported by the United Kingdom. France, Germany, and Russia (which opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq) have joined Kofi Annan in opposing the resolution. Annan states that the United Nations itself will not become heavily involved unless there are early moves toward passing sovereignty to the Iraqi people. Annan's stance is similar to that of Pope John Paul II and some members of the European Union.[27][28][29][30][31]
Attempts by the
pubs, restaurants and hotels run into more trouble as a government minister who will have responsibility for enforcing the ban, Frank Fahey, refuses to deny that he is critical of the plan and wants a compromise that would allow smoking in some areas to continue. A former Mayor of Galway and Fianna Fáil councillor who has links with the pub industry resigns from a health authority in protest at the refusal of the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat government to compromise on the proposed ban. This follows an earlier announcement that publicans in County Kerry will refuse to obey the new law and indications of growing popular opposition to the ban.[32]
Former Sky News correspondent James Furlong, who resigned over allegations that he had faked a report during the Iraq War, is found dead. Furlong, aged 44, had served as Sky News' Defence and Royal Correspondent. He had previously worked for ITN.[33]
A United Nations report says that almost 1 billion people worldwide are living in slums. By 2050 3 billion, out of a world urban population of 6 billion, may be living in slums, unless radical policies are implemented, according to the UN. Dr Anna Tibaijuka of the UN says the persistence of the slums should shame the whole world.[34]
Terje Roed-Larsen, condemns attack from Lebanese territory that killed an Israeli soldier across the southern withdrawal line and urges Beirut to control the use of force everywhere in its jurisdiction. Roed-Larsen, states the attack "constitutes a clear violation of the Blue Line and Security Council resolutions and could escalate tension between Israel and its northern neighbours" and he calls on all sides to use diplomacy and take no action that "could increase the already high level of tension in the region".[36]
Turkish Parliament votes (358-to-183) to approve the dispatch of peacekeepers to Iraq, in a major victory for United States efforts to broaden foreign involvement in Iraq. In Baghdad, Iraqi Governing Council officials state that they would oppose any new foreign troop deployment to Iraq. No formal decision had been made by the Council and leaders of the council have stated they would support this if the United States requested this.[38]
The South African government announce they would not prosecute the five policemen accused of killing Steve Biko in 1977, citing insufficient evidence to support a murder charge.[39]
The
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) announces its intention to form a single-market "Asian Community" by 2020.
FBI admits that hidden listening devices planted in the office of the Mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were placed there by FBI agents. It is currently not known if the Mayor of Philadelphia is a target of an investigation nor is there any details provided about the nature of the probe that the device was part of. A law enforcement official cautions that the presence of the listening devices does not necessarily mean that the mayor, himself, is under investigation.[43][44]
Yasser Arafat has suffered a mild heart attack. Palestinian leadership officials tried to hide condition of the president. "Although he has had a slight heart attack, the doctors say he will make a full recovery. He is in full control. There is nothing to worry about," states close aide to Arafat. Officials state that it would "have created panic at a critical time when the Israelis are threatening Arafat's life".[45][46]
Yassir Arafat, whose health has led to confused reporting over the past days, with him variously reported as having had flu and having had a heart attack, in actuality has stomach cancer.[47]
Major General Shaukat Sultan said India had been told of each of the launches beforehand and he states the tests should not affect the international relations between the two neighbors.[48]
lockdown on Palestinians' travel within the West Bank and Gaza in what it states as a bid to prevent further attacks.[49] Meanwhile, prime minister Ahmed Qurei is reported to have declined to form a government and told President Yasser Arafat he wants to quit his post.[50]
Shi'ite neighbourhood, exactly half a year since Coalition troops occupied the Iraqi city.[51][52]
In Iraq two more soldiers are killed and four wounded in an ambush in the Sadr district of Baghdad. The troops are lured into the ambush by civilians in what could be a new tactic by hostile forces in Iraq.[54]
Red Cross and a group of American former judges, diplomats and military officers who are asking the Supreme Court of the United States to review the situation. The Red Cross criticises the policy of holding detainees without legal representation and in contravention of legal conventions; it reports a worrying deterioration in the mental health of detainees.[55]
Palestinian child and four adults killed in overnight attack on Rafah refugee camp in Gaza.[56]
Rugby union: The 2003 Rugby World Cup, with 20 countries competing for the William Webb Ellis Trophy over a seven-week period, starts after a spectacular opening ceremony at the Telstra Stadium, Sydney, Australia, with Australia defeating Argentina 24–8 in the opening match.[57]
Prince Johan-Friso of the Netherlands, second son of Queen Beatrix and second in line of succession to the throne will lose his succession rights when he marries Mabel Wisse Smit without the Dutch Parliament's permission. Government assent was refused because the couple had been less than candid about the bride's interactions with gangster Klaas Bruisma in the late 1980s.[58]
Syria says that it will retaliate if attacked by Israel again. A week after Israel's attack the two countries continue to exchange insults; the United Nations Security Council is unable to agree on a resolution condemning Israel's attack.[62]
Occupation of Iraq: The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a grouping of Muslim nations meeting in Malaysia, calls on the US to quit Iraq as soon as possible and to hand over to the UN; the OIC also pledges support to Syria.[63]
Relations between Syria and the United States fall to a low point as Syria criticizes the US for its failure to censure Israel.[67]
China confirms that it will launch its first
manned space mission between October 15 and 17. The spacecraft plans to orbit Earth 14 times before landing in an undisclosed location. (See Shenzhou 5)[68][69]
The operation to separate two-year-old
Dallas; the two boys have been separated and no troublesome complications have arisen. The next steps are to reconstruct the boys' skulls including the skin.[70]
India, Thailand, and China press ahead with efforts and a study group aimed at creating a
2003 occupation of Iraq: A huge explosion occurs in the center of Baghdad, possibly caused by car bomb. A number of fatalities are reported. The blast takes place in Baghdad Hotel.[72]
[Researchers announced that they have discovered the detailed relationship between the
Liberia drops diplomatic relations with the Taiwan and re-establishes ties with China. This move was seen largely as a result of China's lobbying in the United Nations, which is planning to deploy a peacekeeping force to Liberia. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Eugene Chien offers to resign as a result.[74]
2003 occupation of Iraq: New draft resolution being circulated at the United Nations aims at getting international aid. The resolution sets a deadline for initial steps, if only for a transitional step, toward restoring Iraqisovereignty, giving the Iraqi Governing Council until December 15 to develop a timetable for writing a constitution and holding elections. The Bush administration proposes that the United Nations recognize the Iraqi Governing Council as a unit that "will embody the sovereignty" of Iraq until the country returns to self-rule.[75][76]
The BBC reports that dissident IRA groups are supplying the weapons that have led to a recent surge in UK gun crime.[82]
chatrooms close today. Free unmoderated chatrooms outside the US are closed in what Microsoft claim is an attempt to safeguard children.[83]
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel orders the expulsion of 15 Palestinian detainees from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip.[84]
British Conservative Party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, is being investigated by Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Sir Philip Mawer over allegations that he paid a secretarial salary to his wife without her doing sufficient work to warrant the payments.[85]
A British HIV carrier is found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm after infecting two lovers.[86]
Iraq Interim Governing Council. The resolution draft, legitimizing US military and political control over Iraq's political future, was already supported by United Kingdom, Spain, Cameroon, Bulgaria, Angola, Mexico, Chile and Guinea. Russia agrees to act as a mediator to achieve support for the compromise also from Germany and France.[87][88]
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Four people die in a bomb attack on a convoy of US diplomatic vehicles in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Authority head Yasser Arafat calls the bombing "dirty and shameful" in an exclusive interview on BBC News. Secretary of StateColin Powell urges Prime MinisterAhmed Qurei in a telephone call "to take action to put an end to violence and terrorism," according to a Palestinian official.[89][90]
UN Security Council unanimously approves a new US resolution on Iraq. Russia, Germany and France back the resolution but will not provide troops or money.[99] A survey indicates poor morale amongst the US troops serving in Iraq.[100]
President Bush re-affirms his intention to pressure China and Japan into fair policies re their exchange rates.[101] China's trade surplus is shrinking as imports surge.[102] At the same time India is wrestling with the implications of the sustained appreciation of the rupee against the dollar.[103]
China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei returns to earth safely aboard a Shenzhou spacecraft, Shenzhou 5. During the 21-hour trip, he circled the planet 14 times.[107]
Apple launches its iTunes Music Store, an online download music store, for the Microsoft Windows platform. The iTunes software can be downloaded from apple.com
Occupation of Iraq: Spain's government, one of the staunchest supporters of the attack on Iraq, has pledged $300 million over several years toward Iraqi reconstruction.[115]
Zimbabwe's state oil corporation is reported to have run out of fuel, aggravating the continuing acute fuel crisis.[116]
Officials declare a state of emergency due to severe flooding in Squamish, British Columbia. Parts of the town are evacuated.[117]
Lord Rosebery. According to reports, future prime minister H. H. Asquith played a key role in negotiating the deal, which led to the imprisonment of the Irish writer.[citation needed
]
Number 10 Downing Street, and is ordered by his doctors to take 24 hours complete rest.[119]
Bomb blows up a pickup truck on a dirt road in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar Province, killing four people, and two Afghan soldiers are killed in a separate land mine explosion in the country's south. The explosions come two days after the Talibanallegedly distributed pamphlets warning against working with the post-Taliban government of President Hamid Karzai.[123]
Palestinian gunmen attack an Israeli army foot patrol near a West Bank village, kills three soldiers and wounds a fourth, rescue services and security sources state. Gunfire attacks near the Palestinian village of Ein Yabrud, east of the town of Ramallah, not far from the Israeli settlement of Ofra.[124]
Occupation of Iraq: A Fallujah roadside attack on a military convoy leaves an American armored car and munitions truck burning wrecks. No one was reported killed. Iraqis nearby were reportedly cheering. Emerging series of threats.[125]
Canadian Prime MinisterJean Chrétien indicates that during an informal meeting between him and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president indicated that he was tentatively in favour of signing the Kyoto Protocol. Russia's signature is absolutely necessary for the protocol to acquire the force of law.[126]
United States deficit: The United States posts a record budget deficit of $374.2 billion in the fiscal year ending September 30. The figure broke the previous record of $290 billion, set in 1992. The number was actually better than the U.S. government's own forecast of $455 billion.[127]
United States: The publicist of Robert De Niro announces that the actor has prostate cancer.[128]
Scientists call for a total ban on fishing for cod in the North Sea to allow stocks to recover from near extinction.[133]
The commander of United Nations forces in Afghanistan warns that the security of Kabul is at risk if security is not achieved in the Afghan countryside.[134]
Occupation of Iraq: Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses US troops of using excessive force against civilians in Iraq.[135]
In a series of moves designed to bring about final implementation of the
Provisional IRA announces a further act of weapons decommissioning. Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams declares "the end to physical force republicanism". Statements from all the major parties involved are expected over the course of the day.[140][141][142]
UN General Assembly approves a resolution demanding that Israel remove a security fence in the West Bank. The resolution passes by an overwhelming majority of 144 to 4 with the US voting against the motion.[143][144]
Premier Roger Grimes, taking more than two-thirds of the seats in the House of Assembly.[145]
Ecuador – A trial opens in Lago Agrio in which US oil company ChevronTexaco is charged with polluting a once-pristine swath of the Amazon rainforest. The plaintiffs' lawyers have put a US$1 billion price tag on clean up and medical care for the region's inhabitants. [146]
Mahathir bin Mohamad, outgoing prime minister of Malaysia, accuses leading democratic nations of terrorising the world. He seemed to be referring to the US, Israel, and Australia.[148]
Occupation of Iraq: The commander of US ground forces in Iraq says that Al-Qaeda is now operating in Iraq as witnessed by increasingly sophisticated attacks on US troops.[149]
Guantanamo Bay: Leaders of the European Union parliament urge the EU to take action over 26 Europeans being held indefinitely by the US without charges, without trial, without legal representation at Guantanamo Bay. The detainees are experiencing increasing psychological problems.[150]
mentally ill inmates of United States prisons. It concludes that mentally ill offenders are frequently physically abused, punished by staff for self-destructive behavior and not given the treatment they need.[151]
Top British runner Dwain Chambers tests positive for the drug tetrahydrogestrinone (THG). The steroid was previously believed to be undetectable but an anonymous source provided a used syringe containing traces last week.[152]
Occupation of Iraq: There is every sign that the international conference in Madrid at which pledges to re-build Iraq are hoped for will disappoint and e.g. Paul Bremer seeks to lower expectations.[154][155]
United States Supreme Court: Before a conservative legal organization, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia ridicules the recent Supreme Court decision overturning anti-sodomy laws in Texas, saying that the Court had "held to be a constitutional right what had been a criminal offense at the time of the founding and for nearly 200 years thereafter." According to news reports, Scalia adopted a mocking tone to read from the court's ruling.[156]
Kuwait AL Arabi football club beat Qadsia in the Kuwait derby 2–0.
49 miners are trapped in a Russian mine as water began seeping into the mine, disabling electrical systems.[157]
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The body of the Hamas militant killed in the attack on an Israeli military camp (that killed three Israeli soldiers) is returned to his family in their refugee camp.[158]
2003 invasion of Iraq: The US Senate Committee on Intelligence finalizes its report on pre-war intelligence and is highly critical of George Tenet and the quality of US intelligence about Iraq's weapons.[159]
Heathrow International Airport around 1600 BST, marking the end of 27 years of commercial supersonic flight.[163]
Three same-sex couples in Spain, including a Madrid city councilman, apply for marriage licenses. They state that if the registry judge does not grant them the licenses, they will appeal to Spain's constitutional court, and as far as the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. They describe their actions as inspired by the recent rulings on same-sex marriage in Canada.[164]
Blackhawk helicopter is brought down near Tikrit by Iraqi militants. The Daily Star Lebanon reports that the US is effectively plundering Iraq following the occupation.[167] The daily average of attacks on US troops rises and reaches about 25–26 per day.[168] 100,000 march against the occupation of Iraq in Washington DC.[169]
Tony Blair announces that the UK will press ahead with
San Diego, California, to Tempe, Arizona, as a consequence of the fires.[171]
Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad where US deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying has been evacuated after several rockets were fired at it in the morning. one US Colonel was killed and fifteen individuals wounded (three seriously) in the attack.[172][173] Two more explosions occurred near Al Rashid hotel later towards the evening. Further investigations confirm that Iraq had no active nuclear program, but did not relinquish nuclear ambitions or technical records.[174][175]
The President of Syria says that Iran and Syria, which are increasingly close allies, are capable of neutralizing conspiracies of foreign powers (implicitly referring to the US and Israel).[176]
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia's wealthiest businessman, has been arrested and is being held in Moscow facing charges of fraud and tax evasion.[177]
Red Cross compound and several local police stations in Baghdad.[178]George W. Bush states that the bombings are a sign of desperation by the insurgents.[179]
U.S. fund group Putnam Investments fires four fund managers as scandals about improper and/or fraudulent dealings reach the mutual fund industry.[180]
The United States Federal Reserve leaves its key interest rate unchanged at today's meeting, saying that rates will be kept low for a considerable period.[181]
Halloween solar storms, 2003. The sun emits another coronal mass ejection directly toward the Earth, the third largest solar flare on record. The effects are projected to affect Earth on the 29th.[182][183]
Wildfires are largest in California history; 1,500 homes are destroyed, 16 people killed and 600,000 acres (2,400 km2) burned. Evacuations are ordered from parts of cities in Los Angeles and San Diego counties.[184] The conflagration also spreads across the border into the Mexican state of Baja California, where two deaths are reported.
vote of confidence in his leadership on the following day, after at least 25 backbenchers formally request it.[185]
The campaign for
Japan general election, 2003 starts, lasting until a voting date, Nov 9.[186]
The US FDA approves Risperdal Consta (Risperidone long-acting injection) for the treatment of schizophrenia. Although already approved in several other countries, it is the first long-acting, atypical antipsychoticmedication to be approved by the FDA.
British
vote of confidence in his parliamentary party by 90 votes to 75 and, in accordance with party rules, resigns from the leadership. A new leadership election is called. Shadow Deputy Prime Minister David Davis, previously tipped as a future leader, surprises Westminster by announcing that he will not seek the leadership and endorses former Home SecretaryMichael Howard, who is now seen as the frontrunner to assume the leadership. Other leading politicians endorse Howard, once famously described by a colleague as having "something of the night about him."[187][188]
Red Cross announces that it is to scale back its commitments to Iraq.[189] Two more GIs are killed, bringing the total killed since May 1 to 115.[190]
Vladimir Putin removes his Chief of Staff as the political battle with the "Russian oligarchs" and between hard-liners and liberals, continues.[194][195] Russian judicial authorities have seized control of Yukos, the giant oil company.[196]
Iraq War: Officials postpone awarding two contracts to repair Iraq's oil refineries and pipelines (primarily because of sabotage and dilapidated conditions).[197] An investigation has been started on the high price that the United States is paying to Kellogg Brown & Root for oil imported from Kuwait.[198] The Center for Public Integrity says that firms awarded contracts in Iraq have tended to be big donors (in the past) to the Republican Party.[199] The UN announces that it is withdrawing its remaining international staff from Baghdad, perhaps temporarily.[200]
The trial of Shoko Asahara, accused of involvement in the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, ends in Japan with final statements from lawyers. The next court session is to be held in mid-February 2004.[202]
The furor surrounding
Prime Minister expressing deep concern about the freezing of Yukos shares.[203]
