Portal:Current events/2003 December 17

December 17, 2003 (Wednesday)

Linux kernel 2.6.0 is released by Linus Torvalds.
Capture of Saddam Hussein:
- Mowaffaq al-Rubaie says that Saddam Hussein will be tried in Iraq by an Iraqi court. Mowaffaq, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, denies reports that the prisoner has been taken out of Baghdad. [1]
- United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld confirms that Saddam Hussein will not be treated as a prisoner of war subject to the Geneva Conventions. [2]
Stephen Kenny, the first civilian lawyer to visit any of the former Afghan war suspects in Guantanamo Bay, describes it as a physical and moral black hole. He says prisoners are not treated equally and that there is a pecking order with Americans being treated best. (In fact there are no Americans being held at Guantanamo Bay.) [3] [4] Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
Occupation of Iraq: A fuel tanker explodes in downtown Baghdad, killing 10 and wounding 15. Initially believed to be caused by a bomb, officials later conclude that a traffic accident was responsible. [5]
Terrorism:
- The head of the Greek terrorist group Revolutionary Organization 17 November and their chief hitman are jailed for life, along with four other members of the organisation. [6]
- Thomas Kean, chairman of the independent commission investigating the September 11, 2001 attacks, says that the attacks could have been prevented and that public officials were to blame for not anticipating and pre-empting the threat. The commission's report is due in May, 2004. [7] [8]
Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr are convicted for their roles in the August 2002 murders of 10-year-old Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in the English village of Soham. [9]
Taiwan reports the first confirmed SARS case in 5 months, a medical researcher who had studied the virus. [10]
The United States National Weather Service warns of "excessive heat" after the Earth reportedly breaks out of its orbit and begins falling into the sun. Fortunately, it turns out to be a mistakenly published test message. [11]
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the final part of Peter Jackson's film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, goes on broad public release in the United States and much of Europe. Industry pundits predicted that it could have become the second film, after Titanic, to earn over US$1 billion at the box office. [12]
Republic of Congo: A gunbattle breaks out in Brazzaville.[13]
Health: The UK government says that a case of variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease may have occurred through blood transfusion. [14]
Former Governor of Illinois George H. Ryan is indicted on corruption charges for receiving payoffs, gifts and vacations in return for government contracts and leases while he served as the Governor and Secretary of State of Illinois. [15]
Governor of Connecticut John G. Rowland announces that he will not resign, despite allegations of corruption involving the receipt of free modifications to a vacation cottage, and the indictments of several of his top aides. [16]
Islam in France: the hidjab issue: President of France Jacques Chirac announces that he will support a ban on the wearing of Muslim headscarves, Jewish yarmulkes and large Christian crosses in schools and government offices. If passed, the law will come into effect in September 2004. Muslim clerics counter that the ban is an attack on their religion. [17] [18]
Space exploration:
- Space tourism magnates celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight by demonstrating SpaceShipOne, a privately-funded passenger-ferrying suborbital space plane, flying at supersonic speeds to an altitude of 68,000 feet. [19]
- Space Adventures announces the availability of two more tickets to fly to the International Space Station at a cost of US$20 million each. [20] [21]