Portal:Current events/June 2003

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June 2003 was the sixth month of that common year. The month, which began on a Sunday, ended on a Monday after 30 days.

Portal:Current events

This is an archived version of Wikipedia's Current events Portal from June 2003.

June 1, 2003 (2003-06-01) (Sunday) The Group of Eight summit opens in Évian, France, to tight security and tens of thousands of protestors. The sluice-gates on the Three Gorges Dam in China are closed, starting the filling of the reservoir of the world's largest hydroelectric project. The Railroad Museum of the Niagara Frontier opens. June 2, 2003 (2003-06-02) (Monday) President George W. Bush begins his Middle East trip today, beginning with Egypt. He is in talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He promises to work for the goal of Israel and a Palestinian state being able to live side by side without any bloodshed. Thousands of Iraqi soldiers threaten to begin suicide attacks against U.S. troops as leaders of Iraq's tribes tell the Americans that they could face war if they do not leave. Israel says it will dismantle only some of the more than 100 West Bank settlement outposts since violence began in that area 32 months ago. In Zimbabwe, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is first arrested, then released. This coincides with the start of a week of protests against the government, who have put Tsvangirai on trial for treason. He is due to appear in court later today. Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission announces sweeping changes to the concentration of media ownership protections in the U.S, allowing a single owner to own up to 45% of media in a given city. A US Department of Justice internal audit is released which asserts that the government systematically abused the civil rights of individuals detained after the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, engaging in "a pattern of physical and verbal abuse". June 3, 2003 (2003-06-03) (Tuesday) A British Parliamentary committee announces it will hold an inquiry into the government's decision to go to war with Iraq. Israel frees about 100 Palestinian prisoners before the Mideast peace summit with President of the United States George W. Bush in a sign of goodwill. U.S. President George W. Bush meets with Arab leaders, and says that their summit is making progress on the US-backed "road-map" to Israeli-Palestinian peace. The Arab leaders announce their support for the "road map" and promise to work on cutting off funding to "terrorist groups". Mathematician Jean-Pierre Serre is awarded the first Abel Prize at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway. Amelia Vega of the Dominican Republic wins the Miss Universe contest in Panama City, Panama. She is the first Miss Universe from the Dominican Republic. Sammy Sosa of baseball's Chicago Cubs is ejected from a game after he is found to have used a corked bat. The Cubs went on to beat the Devil Rays, 3 to 2. Major League Baseball Officials confiscated 76 of Sosa's spare bats after his ejection, and all were found to be clean, with no cork. June 4, 2003 (2003-06-04) (Wednesday) Road map for peace: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promises to dismantle illegal settlements in the West Bank, while new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas renounces all terrorism against Israel. Martha Stewart is indicted by a federal grand jury on nine criminal counts including securities fraud, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy in the U.S. government's investigation of her possible insider trading of ImClone Systems stock in December 2001. Just hours after this, she announces that she will quit as chairman and CEO of her company. Scientists have used genetic engineering techniques to make chickens grow teeth. The United States House of Representatives votes 282 to 139 to ban Intact dilation and extraction, a process commonly referred to as partial-birth abortion. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 9,000 for the first time since August 22, 2002. June 5, 2003 (2003-06-05) (Thursday) German politician Jürgen Möllemann dies while parachuting. Computer virus Bugbear.b spreads worldwide on computer systems running Microsoft Windows by infecting email attachments. The United States agrees to dismantle its bases and withdraw American forces from positions they have occupied near the DMZ, which separates North and South Korea, for decades. Pope John Paul II marks his 100th foreign voyage in a trip to Croatia, where the pontiff is expected to meet with Serbian Orthodox Christians as a sign of goodwill between the centuries-long feuding sister churches. For the first time in more than two months, no new deaths were reported yesterday from SARS, the latest indication that the epidemic is subsiding, the World Health Organization said. A United Nations war crimes tribunal charges President Charles Taylor of Liberia with war crimes for masterminding atrocities in the Sierra Leone civil war. Metallica's St. Anger album released. June 6, 2003 (2003-06-06) (Friday) NASA investigators cracked a reinforced carbon fiber wing by shooting it with a piece of insulation, providing more evidence that falling insulation may have caused the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. June 7, 2003 (2003-06-07) (Saturday) Foreign affairs minister of Finland, Erkki Tuomioja, says that NATO could be a good option for the Scandinavian country. Finland has been previously very conservative about military alliances and known for its neutrality. (In Finnish) A more balanced view is given in an interview in Helsingin Sanomat's English edition of June 10. Empire Maker wins the Belmont Stakes horse race, stopping the bid of Funny Cide to win the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. Funny Cide is third, behind Ten Most Wanted (horse). June 8, 2003 (2003-06-08) (Sunday) After several days of violence and confusion in Mauritania, Pro-Israeli President Maaouiya Ould Taya appears to have defeated the uprising against him. The Polish referendum on EU enlargement entrance finishes today; 78% of the voters voted to join the EU, with approximately 59% turnout. The presence of the monkeypox virus in the United States is confirmed with four cases in Wisconsin, sparking the first discovery of the virus in the Western Hemisphere. Dozens of suspected cases have appeared across three Midwest states, where pet enthusiasts came into contact with infected domestic prairie dogs, which caught the disease from the Gambian giant rat. June 9, 2003 (2003-06-09) (Monday) Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition is routed in the Italian local elections. Archaeologists announce that the mummy of Queen Nefertiti may have been found in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. The FBI begins to drain a Frederick, Maryland, pond hoping to uncover more evidence in the 2001 anthrax attacks. North American ice hockey: The New Jersey Devils win the Stanley Cup, beating the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 3-0, in Game Seven of their championship series. In New Brunswick, Canada, Bernard Lord's Progressive Conservatives edge out Shawn Graham's Liberals in the general election. Lord's party takes 28 seats, Graham's 26 and the New Democratic Party takes 1. June 10, 2003 (2003-06-10) (Tuesday) Donald Regan, Secretary of the Treasury under U.S. President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1985 and White House Chief of Staff from 1985 to 1987, dies at 84 of cancer. Same-sex marriage in Canada: The Ontario Appeals Court rules that the law restricting marriage to heterosexual couples contravenes the equality provisions in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court does not permit the province any grace time to bring its law in conformity with the ruling. This appears to mean that Ontario has become the first jurisdiction in North America to recognize same-sex marriages. Toronto announces that its city clerk will begin to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples, and two same-sex couples who filed suit have their marriages retroactively recognized. June 11, 2003 (2003-06-11) (Wednesday) Three 160,000-year-old human skulls unearthed in Ethiopia bridge an important gap in the human fossil record and lend support to the "out of Africa" single origin theory of human evolution. Masquerading as an Orthodox Jew, a suicide bomber blows up a bus in Jerusalem, Israel, killing at least sixteen people. An Israeli helicopter attack in the Gaza Strip kills at least seven. Same-sex marriage in Canada: The attorney general of Ontario announces that his government will conform to yesterday's court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in that province. US baseball: Six Houston Astros pitchers combine to pitch a no-hitter against the New York Yankees. The game sets several records, including the most pitchers to combine for a no-hitter in Major League Baseball history, and a record for the Yankees for the most sequential games without being no-hit. June 12, 2003 (2003-06-12) (Thursday) Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council for Antiquities, dismisses claim that archaeologists discovered Nefertiti's mummy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says 54 people in the US may be infected with monkeypox. British Prime Minister Tony Blair reshuffles his Cabinet: the Lord Chancellor is to be replaced by a new Department for Constitutional Affairs, and Peter Hain and John Reid have new jobs, while Alan Milburn unexpectedly resigns. The government also plans to replace the House of Lords' judicial functions with a new Supreme Court. A mass grave in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, dating back to the Stalinist purges in the 1930s, is discovered containing at least 575 victims. Ninety percent of the dead were found with the remains of yellow and red garments and religious items usually worn by Buddhist monks. The number could top 1,000, investigators said. June 13, 2003 (2003-06-13) (Friday) The Iraqi oil pipeline near Baiji catches fire, following two explosions The United States occupation forces north of Baghdad kill 27 Iraqis in a pitched battle. Israel announces intention to kill high-ranking Hamas members, including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin despite an opinion poll showing that more than two-thirds of Israelis want the campaign of assassinations to stop. Abud Sarhan, a shepherd, sues US Army General Franks and Secretary Rumsfeld following the deaths of 17 family members during the invasion of Iraq US Baseball: Pitching against the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankee Roger Clemens notches his 4,000th strikeout and his 300th win. June 14, 2003 (2003-06-14) (Saturday) Czech citizens vote "yes" to joining the European Union by 77% with 55% turnout. June 15, 2003 (2003-06-15) (Sunday) The German Green Party backs Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Agenda 2010 with more than 90% of all votes at an extraordinary party convention. The San Antonio Spurs become NBA basketball champions by defeating the New Jersey Nets in game six of the 2003 NBA Finals, 88–77. It is the Spurs second franchise title. American and Canadian researchers publish a paper that uses gene linkage techniques to identify a mutation in the GRK3 gene as a possible cause of up to 10% of cases of bipolar disorder, one of the major mental illnesses. June 16, 2003 (2003-06-16) (Monday) The Church of All Saints, Yekaterinburg is consecrated to commemorate the spot where the Ipatiev House used to stand. June 17, 2003 (2003-06-17) (Tuesday) United States troops shoot dead two former Iraqi soldiers who were protesting that they had not been paid since their country was occupied. Following an international outrcy, the Romanian government retracts an official statement that no holocaust occurred on its territory during the Second World War. Linus Torvalds announces that he will take a leave of absence from his job at Transmeta to work full-time at OSDL on the Linux kernel. Same-sex marriage in Canada: The Canadian government announces that it will not appeal the Ontario appeals court ruling that permitted same-sex marriage. Instead, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien indicates that his government will introduce legislation to change the definition of marriage but protect the rights of churches to decide which marriages they will solemnize. The New York Times reports about allegations of severe child abuse within the Tranquility Bay correctional facility for unruly children, run by the Utah-based World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools. Kyodo reports that United States Armed Forces arrest the Japanese journalist Rei Shiba and two Iraqi guides on around June 8 in Ar Ramadi, 100 km west of Baghdad, while covering a university. The American forces reportedly put a bag on their heads during the arrest and gagged them in custody. June 18, 2003 (2003-06-18) (Wednesday) Two months after becoming Finland's first female prime minister, Anneli Jäätteenmäki resigns amid accusations she lied about the leak of sensitive political information about Iraq discussions with George W. Bush during the election campaign. Bounty hunters (including, reportedly, Duane "Dog" Chapman) aid in the capture of Andrew Luster, the fugitive Max Factor heir and a convicted rapist, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The Angolan government announces a Boeing 727 has been stolen from Luanda's International Airport. The FAA asks all control towers in the United States to watch for any unscheduled aircraft as a consequence. June 19, 2003 (2003-06-19) (Thursday) The widely syndicated comic strip Garfield celebrates its 25th anniversary. June 20, 2003 (2003-06-20) (Friday) The Christian Science Monitor apologises to George Galloway for falsely alleging that he received ten million dollars from Saddam Hussein. Galloway refuses to accept the apology. The Houston Chronicle reports that Bill Sikora, who advised NASA in 1989 on how to evade Freedom of Information Act requests, is now working as legal counsel on the agency's Space Shuttle Columbia disaster investigation board. The North East MRT line in Singapore began operations, with 14 stations of the MRT line from HarbourFront to Punggol (except Woodleigh and Buangkok) being opened at the same time operated by SBS Transit Ltd using Alstom Metropolis C751As. June 21, 2003 (2003-06-21) (Saturday) June 22, 2003 (2003-06-22) (Sunday) Real Madrid clinches the Primera división, the top football league in Spain, beating Real Sociedad by two points. The very next day, Real Madrid fires its manager, Vicente del Bosque. Hundreds of US troops raid Iraqi homes in the town of Ramadi, fired up by the Ride of the Valkyries coming through loudspeakers, in a scene which Reuters reporter Alistair Lyon describes as "a bizarre musical reprise from Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now." Meanwhile, a group identifying itself as the Iraqi National Front of Fedayeen announces to increase attacks on US troops if they refuse to leave the occupied country. The largest hailstone ever recorded falls in Aurora, Nebraska. June 23, 2003 (2003-06-23) (Monday) The U.S. Supreme Court issues opinions in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz and Hamacher v. Bollinger, challenges to the affirmative action admissions policies at the University of Michigan. In Grutter, the Court held that the University of Michigan Law School's admissions policy, which considered race as one of a number of "soft" admissions factors on a case-by-case basis, was constitutional. In Gratz, the Court held that the undergraduate affirmative action admissions policy, which was based on a point system and was more rigid than the Law School's, was unconstitutional. In Peekskill, New York, a 10-month-old baby girl survives a seven story fall. Her father, Willie Williams, takes her to the hospital, where she was treated for bruises and cuts, but Mr. Williams is later arrested on charges of attempted murder. Human Rights Watch calls for a criminal investigation into Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's alleged role in the massacre of civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites, in Sabra and the Shatila refugee camp. June 24, 2003 (2003-06-24) (Tuesday) Six members of the British Royal Military Police are killed, in an attack in Majar al-Kabir, a village near the town of Amarah in Iraq. Eight others are wounded in two separate ambushes. A violent tornado, rated F4 on the Fujita scale, annihilates the tiny town of Manchester, South Dakota. Manchester was never rebuilt and is now a "ghost town". June 25, 2003 (2003-06-25) (Wednesday) June 26, 2003 (2003-06-26) (Thursday) Cameroonian soccer player Marc-Vivien Foé collapsed during a Confederations Cup semi-final between Cameroon and Colombia in Lyon, France. He subsequently died after doctors failed to resuscitate him. He played for Olympique Lyonnais and was loaned to Manchester City F.C. in the 2002/03 season. The U.S. Supreme Court issues opinions in Lawrence v. Texas, ruling 6–3 that a ban on gay sex is an unconstitutional violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision reverses the court's ruling 17 years ago which upheld the anti-sodomy laws. Under pressure from members of Congress and human rights activists, officials in the administration of United States President George W. Bush publicly pledge for the first time that the United States will not torture terrorism suspects. June 27, 2003 (2003-06-27) (Friday) The United States Federal Trade Commission opens the National Do Not Call Registry. This registry gives consumers an opportunity to limit the telemarketing calls they receive. On October 1, 2003, when the National Do Not Call Registry became enforced, most telemarketers were required to remove the numbers on the registry from their call lists. See http://donotcall.gov/ or call 1-888 382-1222 for registration., The Boston Red Sox establish a new Major League Baseball record by scoring 10 runs before recording their first out of the game against the Florida Marlins in Boston. Marlins pitcher Kevin Olsen was injured by a line-drive hit and taken to a local hospital, where he was admitted in good condition. The Red Sox beat the Marlins, 25–8. June 28, 2003 (2003-06-28) (Saturday) The FBI finishes its investigation of a pond in Frederick, Maryland, for clues in the 2001 anthrax attacks. Items found in the pond include a bicycle, some logs, a street sign, coins, fishing lures, and a handgun. The FBI took soil samples from the bottom of the pond for testing. June 29, 2003 (2003-06-29) (Sunday) Actress Katharine Hepburn dies of natural causes at the age of 96 at her family home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. June 30, 2003 (2003-06-30) (Monday) Comedian and actor Buddy Hackett dies at his home in Malibu at the age of 78.

June 2003 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Deaths Ongoing events Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 Same-sex marriage in Canada SARS: Timeline Monkeypox "Road map" for peace EU enlargement North Korea crisis Ongoing armed conflicts Timeline of the War in Afghanistan (June 2003) Israeli-Palestinian conflict War in Iraq: Timeline US v. EU on GM food Elections Ongoing trials