July 2003
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A timeline of events in the news for July, 2003.
- Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shi'ite Muslim and chief spokesman for the Islamic Dawa Party, which was banned during Saddam's rule, is picked to be the first of nine men who will serve one-month stints leading postwar Iraq. He will hold the presidency in August.
- A Canadian concert, Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto, attended by 450,000 people, takes place to show that SARS is no longer in Toronto and to raise money for health care and hospitality workers affected by the outbreak.
- The United Nations Security Council appoints Harri Holkeri to head the temporary civilian administration UNMIK in Kosovo.
- Ambassador Ole Wøhlers Olsen, the Muslim Danish coordinator for the U.S.-led provisional authority in southern Iraq resigns unexpectingly, to be replaced by Sir Hilary Synnott, currently the British High Commissioner to Pakistan. Ambassador Olsen, who has been critical of the lack of support for his reconstruction efforts, declared the British and Danish foreign services have chosen to replace him now instead of in October, as earlier planned, stating that he himself had been prepared to continue his work in Basra.
- Comedian Bob Hope dies in his sleep
- A group of approximately 50 rogue soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines seizes a portion of a shopping mall and the adjacent hotel in Makati City, Metro Manila in the Philippines demanding President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's resignation. They claim to have surrounded the occupied zones with explosives and have temporarily held several people in the hotel, including Australian Ambassador Ruth Pierce. The group is said by some officials to be connected to ousted President Joseph Estrada and oppositionist Senator Gregorio Honasan, who staged several coup attempts in the late 1980s.
- The BBC reports that an extensive investigation of Loch Ness by a BBC team, using 600 separate sonar beams, found no trace of any "sea monster" in the loch. Loch Ness is a popular tourist attraction because of the rumors surrounding an alleged monster or plesiosaur populating the lake (see Loch Ness Monster). The BBC team stated that it is now conclusively proven that "Nessie" does not exist.
- 2003 Tour de France: Lance Armstrong wins his 5th consecutive Tour de France.
- John Manley, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, drops out of the race to succeed Jean Chrétien as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Prime Minister after conceding he cannot catch front-runner Paul Martin, Jr..
- One of the top floors of the Eiffel Tower catches fire. No-one is injured.
- Fighting continues and the death toll rises in Liberia as rebels move into Monrovia to depose President Charles Taylor.
- U.S.-led occupation of Iraq: In Iraq, "four key figures" in the former Iraqi regime die in a large operation by US troops. The dead included Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay.
- A severe storm strikes Memphis, Tennessee, leaving several dead and as many as 300,000 without power, including extremely severe damage to the power grid in some areas.
- Geographers announce that, with respect to its relative size, Kansas is flatter than a pancake.
- Seán Ó Muireagáin, a Northern Irish journalist, arrested by Israel and held for five days without legal representation in a case of mistaken identity, is released and leaves Israel. The affair causes considerable embarrassment to the Israeli and British secret services, the former having arrested Ó Mureagáin on the advice of the latter, who claimed incorrectly that he was a Real IRA man with the same name. In the confused aftermath, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman suggests that Ó Muireagáin may have been guilty, while Prime Minister Sharon's spokesman states categorically that he was innocent and the entire affair an error. He claims that Ó Muireagáin is a former convicted Provisional IRA terrorist.
- A coup d'état takes place in São Tomé and Príncipe; the prime minister Maria das Neves is arrested.
- Following the 500,000-people protest on July 1, the government of Hong Kong is hit by two resignations of high-ranking officials in one day. One is the Financial Secretary Antony Leung and the other is the Security Secretary Regina Ip who was in charge of the controversial Article 23.
- Noor Fatima, a two-and-a-half-year-old Pakistani girl was successfully operated on in an Indian hospital today to plug holes in her heart, making her father term it, "the resumption of a new era of friendship betweIen India and Pakistan".
- Phil Fontaine is elected Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Canada.
- An 86-year-old man accidentally hits the accelerator instead of the brake at a farmer's market in Santa Monica, California, driving his car through a closed-off street and killing at least 10 people (including a 3-year-old girl and a 7-month-old boy) and injuring over 50 others. One of the dead is the daughter-in-law of actor Dennis Weaver.
- An Australian research team led by Graham Giles of The Cancer Council published a medical study which concluded that frequent masturbation by males may help prevent the development of prostate cancer.
- A national governing council meets for the first time in Baghdad, as US troops launch a new assault on anti-coalition elements.
- Yahoo! announces that it will buy Internet search listing service Overture Services for $1.63 billion in cash and stock.
- The United Kingdom media, following tip-offs from the Israeli and British Intelligence Services, state that a Real IRA terrorist Seán Ó Muireagáin, has been captured in Israel. The arrest his triumphed as an example of the successful relationship between both country's intelligence services, and comes after a meeting between prime ministers Tony Blair and Ariel Sharon in Downing Street.
- Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-born Canadian journalist, dies of injuries received from a beating while in Iranian custody. She had been arrested on June 23 while taking photographs outside an Iranian prison. Her death sparks a furor between Canada and Iran over the disposition of her body and the punishment of her killers, and among international free speech groups concerned with freedom of the press in Iran.
- The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund announces that on legal advice it has frozen its funds as it faces a demand for £15 million ($25 million) damages for alleged malicious prosecution from the Franklin Mint in the US. The Mint had won a courtcase over its right to manufacture a Diana, Princess of Wales lookalike doll. Hundreds of charities are expected face financial difficulties as a result of the freeze. Arc Charity Chief Executive James Churchill says "I hope that the Franklin Mint Corporation is aware of the damage that their action is causing to groups of vulnerable young people all over the world."
- Former International Development Secretary Clare Short urges that British Prime Minister Tony Blair voluntarily leave the premiership. Blair, dining with Bill Clinton in London's Guildhall, makes no comment.
- Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell claims the second most senior Church of England cleric, Archbishop Hope of York, is gay. The Archbishop had previously described his sexuality as a "grey area". The claim follows the row over a nomination of a openly homosexual canon to a bishopric in England and his withdrawal after attacks from conservative groups within the Anglican communion.
- NASA reports the discovery of Methuselah, the oldest extrasolar planet yet discovered. The planet, which is estimated to be 12.7 billion years old, is orbiting the pulsar PSR B1620-26 in the core of the ancient globular star cluster M4, located 5,600 light-years away in the summer constellation Scorpius.
- The ferry MV Nasrin-1 capsizes and sinks near Chandpore in Bangladesh. The whereabouts of most of the approximately 700 passengers is unknown.
- The U.S. government announces that two more officials of the defeated Iraqi government on the U.S. list of most-wanted Iraqis were taken into custody on Tuesday. Mizban Khadr al-Hadi was a high-ranking member of Iraq's Baath Party Regional Command and Revolutionary Command Council, and Mahmud Dhiyab al-Ahmad was a former Interior Minister.
- Nike announces an agreement to purchase Converse; for $305M.
- A worker at a Lockheed Martin aircraft parts factory in Meridian, Mississippi shoots 13 co-workers, killing five, before committing suicide. Investigators are unsure of the motive.
- Ladan and Laleh Bijani die during their unsuccessful separation operation in Singapore.
- During a visit to the former slave-trading station on Goree Island, off the coast of Dakar, Senegal, U.S. President George W. Bush calls slavery "one of the greatest crimes of history", but stops short of an official apology.
- Same-sex marriage in Canada: A British Columbia court rules that same-sex couples may get married in that province, effective immediately. BC becomes the second Canadian province, and second political division in the Western Hemisphere, to legalize same-sex marriage. This decision is [Asimilar to the Ontario decision on June 10, 2003.
- A Sudan Airways Boeing 737 jetliner crashes in Port Sudan, killing 116 passengers. A toddler of two or three years is the sole survivor. ,
- Roger Federer makes history, becoming the first Swiss male ever to win the Wimbledon final, defeating Mark Philippoussis, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)
- Martina Navratilova equals her idol, Billie Jean King's record of 20 Wimbledon titles after winning the mixed doubles final with Leander Paes against Andy Ram Todd Woodbridge also equals a record, winning with Jonas Bjorkman his 8th men's doubles title by beating Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3.
- Kim Clijsters and Ai Sugiyama win the women's doubles final, and so their first Wimbledon title, 6-4, 6-4, against first seeds Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez, as they did in this year's French Open final.
- At least 16 people are killed and 40 injured by two female suicide bombers in an attack at Krylya, a popular music festival, at the Tushino airfield near Moscow. The Russian authorities blame an on-going terrorism campaign by Chechen rebels; the Chechen government denies any connection to the attacks.
- 2003 occupation of Iraq: 7 newly US-trained Iraqi policemen are killed and at least 13 are wounded by an explosion while they are marching from training school in Ramadi. The American forces overseeing the rebuilding of Iraq's infrastructure, who gave their blessing to the march taking place, blames loyalists to Saddam Hussein; some people on the scene blame U.S. forces. It is the first attack on Iraqis collaborating with the invading coalition forces, as opposed to on the forces themselves.
- In response to 500,000-strong protests earlier in the week, Tung Chee-hwa, leader of Hong Kong, announces that controversial provisions limiting civil liberties in Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 will be rewritten.
- Taiwan is the last territory to be declared free of SARS by the World Health Organization, after 20 days with no new cases reported.
- Premier John Hamm of Nova Scotia, Canada, calls a provincial election for August 5.
- The 2003 Tour de France begins in Paris.
- Wimbledon championships: Serena Williams repeats as women's champion by beating her sister Venus, by scores of 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
