2003 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December

A timeline of events in the news for September, 2003.

See Also:

September 30, 2003

September 29, 2003

September 28, 2003

September 27, 2003

September 26, 2003

September 25, 2003

September 24, 2003

September 23, 2003

  • 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. [1]
  • 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. [1]
  • 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. [1]
  • 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. [1], [1], [1], [1]
  • The Methuselah Foundation launches the Methuselah mouse contest, offering a prize to the team which can extend mouse lifespan the longest. The aim is to promote research which can offer insights into human longevity.
  • Blackout: A power shortcut lays the southern part of Sweden and the eastern part of Denmark dead from midday, leaving traffic chaos and other disruptions throughout the area. About 2-3 million people are affected. From 4 PM Copenhagen has power again. A Swedish nuclear power plant abruptly stopped producing power.
  • Space Shuttle program : Entire NASA flight safety panel resigns. All nine members of a panel formed to advise on space flight safety resigned. [1]

September 22, 2003

September 21, 2003

September 20, 2003

September 19, 2003

September 18, 2003

  • International Atomic Energy Agency: Iranian officials gave signals that they do not intend to comply with a resolution passed by the United Nations's nuclear watchdog giving Tehran until the end of next month to come clean on its atomic programme. Parliamenetary speaker Mehdi Karrubi, a close ally of President Mohammad Khatami, said the IAEA resolution was "political" and that "the Iranian people will not accept giving in to the logic of force." [1]
  • Hurricane Isabel makes landfall on the east coast of the United States near Kill Devil Hill, North Carolina.
  • Canadian gay couple's marriage is not recognized in border crossing: Kevin Bourassa and Joe Varnell, two men married in Ontario, are prevented from using a family customs declaration form when attempting to board a plane at Pearson International Airport. The two gay men, on their way to a human rights conference in Georgia, abandoned their trip rather than use two separate forms for unmarried people. It is one of the first cases of practical discord between the same-sex marriage laws in Canada and the lack of same in the United States, and possibilities for legal or diplomatic action are being examined. [1] (See gay rights, same-sex marriage).
  • A passenger aboard a South African Airways jet tries to break into the cockpit during a flight from Cape Town to Atlanta. The passenger, James Drake, is arrested upon arrival. He had also been arrested in 1987 after trying to break into another airplane's cockpit.

September 17, 2003

September 16, 2003

September 15, 2003

  • China formally acknowledges that it has transferred guard duties along the Korean border from the police to the army. They did not formally report the number of troops deployed, which independent media estimate have placed at 150,000.
  • VeriSign Inc introduces a wildcard DNS entry for all non-existent .net and .com domain names which redirect users to a VeriSign website with information about VeriSign products and purchases links to "partner" sites.
  • 2003 California recall: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco rules unanimously that the California recall election be postponed because several large counties, including Los Angeles County, have not upgraded their voting machines to replace the punch card ballot systems which have consistently resulted in a significant number of uncountable votes (and thus unrepresented citizens).[1]
  • Weather: Hurricane Isabel is now predicted to hit the Mid-Eastern U.S. Coast with winds up to 110mph. [1] [1]
  • Iraq: Shiite cleric's killer held. A former Baath Party official arrested in connection with the killing of Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim last month has confessed to planning the operation that killed the senior Shiite cleric. [1]
  • Terrorism: German neo-Nazi threat 'rising'. Interior Minister Otto Schily has warned a new quality and new level of neo-Nazi terror has emerged. The discovery of a suspected plot to bomb a Munich Jewish centre during a visit by the German president has "dramatically confirmed" the danger to society. [1]
  • Terrorism: A powerful truck bomb has exploded near the local headquarters of Russia's Federal Security Service in Ingushetia, which borders separatist Chechnya. Reports say three people were killed and more than 20 injured. [1]

September 14, 2003

September 13, 2003

September 12, 2003

September 11, 2003

September 10, 2003

September 9, 2003

September 8, 2003

September 7, 2003

  • 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-year-old American.

September 6, 2003

  • Johns Hopkins researchers retract all results of a frequently-cited study which claimed that extensive and permanent brain damage occured 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. [1]
  • 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. [1]
  • 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. [1]
  • Natural disaster: Hurricane Fabian lashes Bermuda, causing heavy damage. It is the most powerful storm to hit the island in fifty years. [1]
  • 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. [1]
  • 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.

September 5, 2003

  • 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. [1]
  • 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. [1] 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. [1]
  • 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. [1] [1] [1]
  • 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.[1]
  • A train goes off the rails at a roller coaster at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, killing one. [1]

September 4, 2003

  • 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. [1]
  • 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.[1]
  • 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, saw its candidate pushed into third place, behind the BNP and the Conservative Party. Turnout in the by-election was 22%. [1]
  • 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. [1]

  • 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. Estimates of the size of this fire vary between 62,000 and 80,000 acres. The resort community of Camp Sherman, where authorities allowed residents to return, is once again evacuated. [1]
  • A Dutch court rules that Karin Spaink's publication of the Fishman affidavit on her website is legal in the Netherlands. [1]

September 3, 2003

  • 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. [1]
  • 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. [1]
  • Diplomacy: British Embassy in Tehran closes temporarily after shots are fired at it from the street. [1]

  • United States: Former Presbyterian minister Paul J. Hill is executed for his 1994 murder in Pensacola, Florida of an abortion doctor and his bodyguard. [1] [1]
  • 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 a 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 musicans 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. [1]
  • 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. [1]
  • 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. [1]

September 2, 2003