September 2003 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
Events
- War on Terrorism: Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden says that his organization is working on "serious projects," and that his priority is to use biological weapons against the United States. Al Qaeda may already have such weapons, and be seeking means to transport and launch them. [1] [2]
- Indonesia: An Indonesian court sentences Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir to four years in prison for treason against the Indonesian government. However, the court found insufficient proof that Bashir was the leader of the militant Islamic organization Jemaah Islamiyah. [3]
- Iraq: A car bomb explodes near the headquarters of Coalition trained police in Baghdad, killing an Iraqi police officer and wounding up to 10 bystanders. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Observers saw the incident as an attempt to destabilize the new Iraqi governing body. (See 2003 occupation of Iraq timeline)
- The Iraqi police handling the investigation say they have arrested 19 men in connection with the blast, many of them foreigners and all with admitted links to al-Qaeda. [10]
- Astronomy: Astronomers announce the discovery of an asteroid (2003 QQ47) whose orbit has a remote chance of striking earth. Meteorite researchers are not worried; all such previous discoveries have been followed by later observations which reduced the chance of collision from highly improbable to utterly impossible, but announcements like that of 2003 QQ47 help maintain sufficient public interest to attract funding for skywatch projects. [11]
- SCO vs Linux: SCO Germany is ordered to pay fine of 10,000 Euro because they were ordered to cease their allegations that Linux contains stolen intellectual property of SCO. [12] [ German ]
- Road map for peace: Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz states he favors expelling Palestinian President Yasser Arafat by the end of the year,because Arafat is obstructing the United States led peace plan. Arafat denies the statement and says he backs the peace plan (though he refuses to release control of Palestinian security services to reformer Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to stop militant group attacks as mandated by the plan). Palestinian leaders call Defense Minister's remarks inflammatory. [13]
- Ontario premier Ernie Eves calls a provincial election for October 2. The incumbent Tories, Dalton McGuinty's Liberals, and Howard Hampton's NDP are in the race. [14]
- Prince Edward Island premier Pat Binns calls a provincial election for September 29. The incumbent Tories, Robert Ghiz's Liberals, and Gary Robichaud's NDP are in the race. [15]
- Natural disaster: A forest fire erupts in the Gorge of the Columbia River to the east of Cascade Locks, Oregon, forcing the closure of a 47-mile section of Interstate 84 and the evacuation of Cascade Locks for at least one full day. [16]
- Occupation of Iraq: Poland assumes a position in postwar Iraq. The coalition in Iraq hands over the south-central part of the country to a force led by Poland. The force of Polish troops leads a multinational peacekeeping brigade that will relieve Coalition forces (in particular the United States Marine expeditionary force). This is Poland's biggest military operation since World War II. This is also the first sign of the global community's commitment to a postwar Iraq. [17] [18] Secretary of State Colin Powell seeks support from Britain, France, Germany, and Russia on a proposed United Nations resolution that would give the United Nations a role in Iraq's economic and political future.[19] [20] Coalition soldiers strongly desire to see more troops from other nations share the work of occupation. [21]
- Palestinian Authority: Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas threatens to quit if the Palestinian legislature does not endorse his government and its policies at a session scheduled for Thursday. [22]
- Iraq: Iraqi Governing Council swears in the first ministerial cabinet since Saddam Hussein's removal. They urge the cabinet to help restore stability to the country. [23]
- Iran: Iranian Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi states that President Mohammad Khatami rejects compromise with hard-line opponents over key reform bills. The bills seek to curb the conservatives' power. [24]
- Diplomacy: British Embassy in Tehran closes temporarily after shots are fired at it from the street. [25]
- United States: Former Presbyterian minister Paul J. Hill is executed for his 1994 murder in Pensacola, Florida of an abortion doctor and his bodyguard. [26] [27]
- Irish minister Frank Fahy accuses US Immigration authorities at Shannon Airport of acting 'disgracefully' in turning back a group of 13 Irish musicians travelling to attend New York benefit concert to raise money for an Irish cancer victim in the United States for treatment. Ireland's 2003 Eurovision Song Contest singer Mickey Joe Harte, one of the singers refused entry, said they were told they needed no visas in their case. However, at Shannon, the musicians were suddenly told they needed work visas, though the event was for charity and they were providing their services 'free of charge'. Irish people travelling to the United States do not normally need visas except to get paid employment. The concert is scheduled for Friday. [28]
- Miss Justice Mary Laffoy dramatically resigns as chairperson of the Laffoy Commission on Child Abuse, which is investigating evidence of child sex abuse in schools, orphanages and Catholic Church-run institutions over decades in Ireland. Her resignation followed one day after the Minister for Education, Noel Dempsey told RTÉ Radio that the Irish Government, worried by suggestions that the investigation would last more than a decade and cost hundreds of millions of euro, wanted to restructure the investigation to examine only a sample of the 1800 cases being investigated. The government has delayed publishing Justice Laffoy's resignation letter. Abuse victim and crusader against abuse Christine Buckey calls for Dempsey's resignation. Colm O'Gorman, of the child abuse charity One in Four, and himself a prominent survivor of abuse, calls on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to publish all correspondence relating to the resignation. [29]
- California recall: Five candidates (Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante, California state senator Tom McClintock, Peter Camejo, Peter Ueberroth and Arianna Huffington) attended the first debate held for the recall election. Arnold Schwarzenegger was criticized for not turning up at the debate. Issues such as tax and campaign finance were brought up. [30]
- North Korea announces re-election of dictator Kim Jong-il as chairman of the National Defense Commission by a unanimous vote of the Supreme People's Assembly, a move dismissed as a propaganda stunt by Western observers, who nearly all regard the Supreme People's Assembly as a rubber stamp body. [31]
- California legislature passes expanded domestic partnership bill. The state assembly approved a measure to extend nearly all the legal rights of married couples to people in same-sex partnerships. If signed by the governor, the bill will become law in 2005.[32]
- The right wing British National Party (BNP) candidate Nicholas Geri, who is of Italian descent, wins a surprise victory in a local government by-election to Thurrock Borough Council in Essex. The Labour Party, which has a 21 seat majority on the Council, sees its candidate pushed into third place, behind the BNP and the Conservative Party. Turnout in the by-election was 22%. [33]
- Singapore drops its 21-year ban on Cosmopolitan magazine and slightly relaxes its film censorship policy. Despite this move, the censorship board's surveyors found the Singaporean public largely does not want the country's tough censorship rules liberalized. [34]
- Natural disaster: The Booth and Bear Butte forest fires in the Cascade Mountains, which had been 45% contained, explodes to burn an additional 20,000 acres (80 km²). Estimates of the size of this fire vary between 62,000 and 80,000 acres (250 and 320 km²). The resort community of Camp Sherman, where authorities allowed residents to return, is once again evacuated. [35]
- A Dutch court rules that Karin Spaink's publication of the Fishman Affidavit on her website is legal in the Netherlands. [36]
- Hong Kong's leader Tung Chee-hwa announces that he will indefinitely postpone plans for an extremely unpopular security bill which sparked massive public protests and would have granted the government broad powers to prosecute vaguely defined threats to national security. [37]
- Palestinian Authority: Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas tells the Palestinian parliament to either support him or fire him, a move seen as making public for the first time his quarrel with Yasser Arafat. [38] VOA characterizes Mr. Abbas' ultimatum as the latest twist in a power struggle between him and Arafat, who is the President of the Palestinian Authority. [39]
- A car explodes in Vaasa, Finland. One man was killed in this suicide bombing in the corner of a city centre square. This was the second bombing in Finland in a short time: in Jyväskylä an apartment building was bombed on Thursday and is in danger of collapsing. Next bombing was on Friday in Keuruu, where a summer cottage exploded. [40] [41] [42]
- David Blaine begins a new stunt. He will stay in a small transparent capsule suspended 30 feet above the ground near Tower Bridge on London's River Thames without food for 44 days.[43]
- A train goes off the rails at a roller coaster at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, killing one. [44]
- Johns Hopkins researchers retract all results of a frequently-cited study which claimed that extensive and permanent brain damage occurred after just a single dose of Ecstasy. Due to a labelling mistake on the experimental drug vials, all but one of the animals involved in the study were not actually given Ecstasy at all, but were instead given the drug d-methamphetamine. [45]
- War on Terrorism: European Union foreign ministers denounce the political wing of Hamas as a terrorist organization following the group's claim of responsibility for a truce-shattering bomb attack in Jerusalem. [46]
- War on Terrorism: An Israeli warplane drops a relatively small bomb on a house in Gaza City (in an effort to avoid killing innocents, according to military sources who spoke to AP), lightly wounding Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin and 15 other people in an airstrike that Israeli officials confirm was an attempt to wipe out the Islamic group's top leaders as they assemble for a meeting. [47]
- Natural disaster: Hurricane Fabian lashes Bermuda, causing heavy damage. It is the most powerful storm to hit the island in fifty years. [48]
- Palestinian Authority: Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas submits his resignation to the President of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat. According to Palestinian sources, he will play a "caretaker" role of the position until a new prime minister is sworn in. [49]
- Tennis: Justine Henin-Hardenne defeated fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters 7-5, 6-1 to win her first U.S. Open title. She had defeated Clijsters earlier this year to take the French Open as well.
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declares that Hamas leaders are "marked for death" and won't have a moment's rest, after Israel failed in an attempt to kill the top-ranking members of Hamas with a 550-pound bomb dropped on a Gaza City apartment.
- Violence surges sharply in Indian-controlled Kashmir with a series of separatist attacks across the Himalayan region. This follows a bomb explosion on Saturday in the main wholesale market for fruit in the region, which killed six people and wounded 25.
- Tennis: Andy Roddick defeated Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets (6-3, 7-6, 6-3) in the Men's Singles Final at the U.S. Open. This marks the first Grand Slam victory for the 21-years-old American.
- The Governor of Indiana, USA Frank O'Bannon is in a coma following an operation after the Governor suffered a stroke in a hotel room in Chicago, Illinois. Lieutenant Governor Joe Kernan took over as acting Governor. [52]
- Iraq: The Iraqi Governing Council gains the seat at the Arab League left open since Saddam Hussein's ouster by the US-led coalition earlier this year. The council, which was formed under US auspices, seems to have taken a step toward sovereign legitimacy in the eyes of the international community. [53]
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills at least 8 Israelis and seriously wounds 15 others at a bus stop near Rishon LeZion. [54] [55] [56]. Several hours later this is followed by a second suicide bombing at a Jerusalem café, in which 7 more people are killed and dozens are wounded. [57] [58]
- SARS: A Singaporean man is confirmed to have SARS, which is the first case of the illness since June 2003. Home quarantine have been imposed on those who had direct contact with the 27-year-old man, who is a post-doctoral student working with the West Nile virus. The man did not travel to Hong Kong or Mainland China recently. [59] [60] [61] [62] [63] [64] [65]
- 2004 U.S. Presidential Election: The nine Democrats competing for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States clashed in a live televised debate, which was co-sponsed by the Congressional Black Caucus and the FOX News Channel. The debate was held at the historic Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. [66]
- The United States Department of the Treasury revamps its $20 bill as part of its never-ending quest to foil counterfeiters, including the addition of a peach-hued background to the denomination. (Many non-US citizens regard the US dollar as "hard currency" and keep much of their wealth in it as a hedge against inflation.) [67]
- The name of Montreal Dorval International Airport is officially changed to Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. The Montreal airport becomes the first major Canadian site to be renamed in honour of Prime Minister Trudeau. The move sparks controversy among many in Quebec owing to Trudeau's political history, such as his decision to invoke the War Measures Act and send troops into Montreal during the October Crisis in 1970, and his construction of Montréal-Mirabel International Airport, which they regard as a white elephant. The renaming will take effect on January 1, 2004. [68]
- The Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh is stabbed while shopping for clothes at a mall without bodyguards. [69]
- Terrorism: Al-Qaida sued over September 11 attacks. Major insurance companies are sueing al-Qaida and Middle Eastern governments in a bid to recover billions of dollars in losses related to the September 11 attacks. [70]
- Terrorism: On the eve of the second anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Arabic-language television channel Al Jazeera airs a videotape, purportedly from Osama bin Laden. The videotape shows two men, including one meant to be bin Laden, walking down an (unidentified) rocky hillside. Al Jazeera said the other man seen on the tape, carrying an automatic rifle, was Ayman al-Zawahri, the Egyptian physician who merged his Islamic Jihad organization with Al Qaeda. The tape was claimed to have been made in late April or early May. An accompanying audiotape, attributed to the deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, called on Iraqis to "bury" American troops in Iraq. [71] [72] [73] [74] [75] [76]
- Japan is to freeze and confiscate assets linked to the removed Iraqi regime based on a United Nations resolution. The assets belong to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, his two sons, and 52 other former top officials of the removed regime. [77]
- Terrorism: Imam Samudra became the second Bali bomber to be sentenced to death by firing squad for his role in the October 12 atrocity which killed 202 people. Samudra greeted the sentence with chants of "Allahu Akbar" (God is great). [78] [79]
- War on Terrorism : An Israeli warplane targeted the apartment building which is home of the senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud al-Zahar, in Gaza. Al-Zahar is lightly wounded; his adult son and a bodyguard are killed in the attack. A half-ton bomb destroys the building, marking the first time a Hamas leader has been attacked in his home, an escalation of Israel's campaign against the group. Twenty-five people were wounded, including Zahar's wife and a daughter. [80] [81]
- Terrorism: The leader of Hamas, says that its jihad will continue, and that the group may now attack Israeli homes. The military wing of the group has threatened to change tactics by attacking Israeli houses and buildings after Israel tried to kill Hamas political leader. [82] [83]
- War on Terrorism: Israel states that an "unwritten and abstract" axis with India and the United States has been created to combat international terrorism and make the world a more secure place for all. [84]
- War on Terrorism: APEC: Indonesia and Malaysia have submitted lists of 20 suspected terrorists with links to two militant groups, asking for Thailand to help monitor their movements on the southern border. [85]
- War on Terrorism: Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia will amend its Penal Code to punish not just terrorists but also those who provide financial services or facilities to them. Changes will penalize those who help terrorists. [86]
- Dewey Decimal Classification: The Online Computer Library Center sues the Library Hotel for trademark infringement.
- War on Terrorism : As the United States remembers the deadliest terrorist attack ever on its shores, the State Department warns that it is seeing "increasing indications that al-Qaida is preparing to strike United States interests abroad." The State Department issues a worldwide warning of possible al-Qaida attacks against United States interests. The United States State Department urges U.S. citizens and employees overseas to take special caution on the second anniversary of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks amid growing indications that al-Qaida is planning bigger attacks, "possibly involving nonconventional weapons such as chemical or biological agents." [87] [88] [89]
- Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh has died in hospital from stab wounds inflicted while she was shopping in a department store in the centre of Stockholm. In the wake of the incident, both the Yes and No Euro campaigns suspended their activities. [90]
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The Israeli Security Cabinet votes in principle to expel Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, from the West Bank. According to one source, the cabinet decided to ask the Israeli Defense Force to draw up a plan to expel Arafat. No timeline was specified, and Israeli government sources say that the decision was not to expel him immediately. The United States State Department criticises such a move as "unhelpful". Thousands of Palestinians travel to the presidential compound in Ramallah to protest at the Israeli decision. The Palestinian prime minister-designate, Ahmed Qurei, announces in response to the Israeli decision that he is halting efforts to form a government. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov states an international force may be needed to end spiraling violence in the Palestinian territories. [91] [92] [93]
- Scientists at MIT achieved the lowest temperature ever recorded, half a billionth of a kelvin (0.5 nanokelvin) above absolute zero, in sodium gas. At that speed, atoms move about 12 cm/second.[94]
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Arab and Non-Aligned nations call on the United Nations Security Council to stop Israel carrying out its threat to expel the head of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, from the West Bank. Elsewhere the European Union and Russia describe the Israeli proposal as a 'terrible mistake'. UN General Secretary Kofi Annan calls the Israel's proposed action "dangerous" and "unwise". The Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, who takes over as President of the European Council in January, tells journalists after a summit meeting with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris that he is "shocked" by the Israeli plan and said his government is "totally opposed" to the Israeli plan. The United States Ambassador to Israel meets the Israeli Defence Minister to outline American hostility to the plan. [95] [96] [97]
- Zimbabwe's only opposition newspaper, the Daily News ceases publication following a court order that it breached the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act introduced by President Robert Mugabe in 2002. The closure follows an armed raid on the paper's offices by police. One reporter told Reuters that the action was an "unprecedented attack on press freedom". [98]
- Libya : The United Nations today ends 15-year old sanctions against Libya. The sanctions were imposed following the Lockerbie disaster. The sanctions are lifted following payment by Libya (following an admission of responsibility) of $2.7 billion to the families of those who died in the bombing.
- Johnny Cash died at the age of 71 due to complications from diabetes, which resulted in respiratory failure, while hospitalized at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. He was interred next to his wife in Hendersonville Memory Gardens near his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
- Peace: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan rings the Japanese Peace Bell, marking International Day of Peace at United Nations Headquarters in New York, cautioning that for some, the direst threat to peace was terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, while for others it was poverty, disease, deprivation, and civil war. [115]
- Occupation of Iraq: Iraq's former defense minister, Sultan Hashim Ahmed, surrenders to Coalition troops. He was seen at Saddam Hussein's side in what is thought to have been the ousted dictator's last public appearance as Baghdad fell. He is number 27 on the most-wanted list of former top officials under Saddam Hussein (also eight of hearts). The ex-minister surrendered at a house in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and was being taken to Baghdad. [116] [117]
- Hurricane Isabel: Isabel, now a tropical storm, moves through western Pennsylvania before heading to Ontario, Canada. The storm leaves more than 4.3 million residents along the East Coast of the United States without power.
- Canadian Liberal Leadership Race: Balloting begins in delegate-selection meetings across Canada which will determine the outcome of the Liberal leadership convention this November. Paul Martin is expected to easily secure enough votes to beat opponent Sheila Copps. This all-but guarantees Martin will replace his longtime rival Jean Chrétien as the next Prime Minister of Canada.[118]
- Email virus: Email users are swamped by a new fast-spreading computer virus circulating through email that purports to be security software from Microsoft, but actually tries to disable security programs that are already running. The worm, dubbed "Swen" or "Gibe," takes advantage of a two-year-old hole in Internet Explorer and affects systems that have not installed a patch for that security hole.
- Nuclear Weapons: Secretary of the Guardians Council Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a leading hardline Iranian cleric, calls for Iran to withdrawal from Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty because of the compliance protocols referred to by the International Atomic Energy Agency and not consent to unfettered inspections of its nuclear facilities. "The treaty has been denounced by a number of countries. Although Iran has inked the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it is free to withdraw from it anytime". "North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Many countries have not even signed it. It would have been better if Iran had not signed it." [119] [120]
- Galileo probe: After 14 years of flight time and 8 years of service in the Jovian system, Galileo's mission was terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's crushing atmosphere at a speed of nearly 50 kilometres per second to avoid any chance of it contaminating local moons.
- Espionage: The Washington Times reveals the arrest of U.S. Army Captain James Yee, an Islamic chaplain at the Guantanamo Bay naval base, for espionage. Law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, state that FBI agents discovered classified documents carried by Yee and were questioning him before handing him over to the military. [131] [132]
- Terrorism - 9/11: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, mastermind of the September 11 attacks, tells interrogators he first discussed the plot with Osama bin Laden in 1996. The original plan, and its evolution, are told to an interrogator, along with the answers to several questions over the attacks. [133] [134]
- United Nations: Leaders of the United Nations are concerned if change can give it the freedom it needs to survive. Kofi Annan will outline plans for reform at the United Nations General Assembly next week. Annan states that only "radical" revisions will likely preserve it. [135]
- Iraq: To open up its economy, the Iraq leadership council unveils sweeping free market reforms permitting foreign investment and imposes income taxes - but keeps oil under government control. [136]
- Embargo: China voices opposition to United States sanctions over the alleged sale of advanced missile technology to an unnamed country. [137]
- Germany: State elections in the state of Bavaria show a great success for the governing CSU of Edmund Stoiber, scoring over 60%. The nationally governing SPD is down to 19%, a historic low point.
- California recall: A federal appeals court overturns a three-judge panel's ruling and reinstates the original date for the recall election, October 7, 2003. The ACLU, whose suit was responsible for the original decision, will not appeal to the United States Supreme Court. [141]
- United Nations: World Heads of State and Government convened at United Nations Headquarters in New York City for the start of the General Assembly's annual high-level debate. President of the United States George W. Bush urges the international community to help Iraq rebuild itself into a democracy with the "great power to inspire the Middle East." President Bush states a transformed Middle East would also benefit the entire world "by undermining the ideologies that export violence to other lands." President Bush also calls on the Security Council to adopt new anti-proliferation resolution "calling on all members of the UN to criminalize the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," enacting strict export controls, and securing all sensitive material. [142]
- Iraq: A new Gallup poll shows majority of Iraqis expect better life in 5 years. After foreign military occupation and the removal of Saddam Hussein, around two-thirds of Baghdad residents state the Iraqi dictator removal was worth the hardships they've been forced to endure. [143]
- Iraq: A US-led coalition backed Iraqi Governing Council member, Iyad Allawi, announces restrictions of the operations of TV networks al Jazeera and al-Arabiya. The networks are barred from reporting on official activities and news conferences and from entering ministries and office buildings for the next two weeks. The council claims they incited anti-occupation violence (by airing statements from resistance leaders; specifically broadcasting a video of "terrorists terrorizing Iraqis"), increased ethnic and sectarian tensions and were supportive of the lawless resistance. Allawi hopes the ban sends a "very clear message" to other stations. Al Jazeera responds that it is trying to give a balanced view of the current situation in Iraq and that it considers its ethical standards to be similar to western ones. The Coalition Provisional Authority has not responded to inquiries about the announcement. [144], [145], [146], [147]
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