Occupation of Iraq: A car bomb detonates outside an upmarket Baghdad restaurant much favoured by foreign journalists, killing five New Year revellers. [2] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3359687.stm)
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences mails nomination ballots in which it qualifies 254 films released in 2003 as eligible for Oscar consideration. [3] (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=4059933)
U.S. Attorney GeneralJohn Ashcroft recuses himself and his office from the CIA leak scandal, in which the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA operative, was leaked by Washington insiders. Democratic political leaders had been calling for Ashcroft's recusal. [6] (http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/12/30/ashcroft.cia.leaks.reut/index.html)
The Cuban officials are investigating who is responsible for altering a photograph of Fidel Castro on the front page of the official government newspaper, Granma, to make him look like Adolf Hitler. [10] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/cuba/story/0,11983,1113857,00.html)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation issues a memo instructing police to be alert of people carrying almanacs, stating that information in these reference works could be used to aid in the planning of terrorist attacks. [11] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,_3564366,00.html)
The estimate of the number of dead in the Bam earthquake increases to 40,000, according to the provincial governor. Iran has refused earthquake aid from Israel.[13] (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=476263)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announces that it believes the BSE infected cow detected in WashingtonState was imported from Canada in 2001. The location of the other 73 cows imported with it is unknown. [14] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3351547.stm)
British scientists are continuing their efforts to make contact with the Mars probe Beagle 2, which was designed to perform advanced studies of the Martian soil in an effort to find microbial life. [17] (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2003/12/24/ecnubeagle.xml)
A powerful earthquake occurs near the southern Iranian city of Bam at 0156 GMT (5.26am local time). The USGS estimates its magnitude as 6.7 on the Richter scale. The BBC reports that "70% of the modern city of Bam" is destroyed. Iranian government officials estimate the death toll at over 20,000 with a further 50,000 injured. Bam Citadel the largest adobe structure of the world is destroyed. The area of the citadel is about 180,000 square meters and the construction date of parts of it goes back for about 2500 years. [18] (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/uscvad.htm)[19] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3348613.stm)[20] (http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/12/26/iran.quake/index.html)
The death toll in the Chinese gas-leak rises to 191. [21] (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/26/international/asia/26CHIN.html?hp)
Fearing the state's BSE outbreak may extend beyond a single farm, the U.S. Department of Agriculture quarantines a second cattle farm in WashingtonState. [22] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3350227.stm)
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf survives a suicide bomber attack on his motorcade, the second attempt to assassinate him in two weeks. [23] (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/26/international/asia/26STAN.html)
Following Beagle 2's expected landing, US probe Mars Odyssey (already in Martian orbit) listens for the lander's distinctive musical callsign. A further scan for the lander is conducted using the Jodrell Bankradio telescope. No signal is detected. [24] (http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994518)[25] (http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/12/25/mars.beagle.nosignal/index.html)
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
An Israeli helicopter gunship attacks a car in Gaza City, killing Islamic Jihad commander Mekled Hameid and two fellow militants, together with two bystanders. [26] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3348535.stm)
A suicide-bomber strikes a bus stop Tel Aviv, killing four civilians and himself. [27] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3348159.stm)
Israel announces closure of the West Bank and Gaza. [28] (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/26/international/middleeast/26MIDE.html?hp)
A UK lab confirms the presence of BSE in samples taken from a cow in Washington State [29] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3348969.stm). Mexico joins the list of countries which have banned imports of US beef.
Reports emerge of a major leak of natural gas in a gas field near the south-western Chinese city of Chongqing. Over 100 people are believed dead and up to 40,000 people have been evacuated from the area surrounding the leak. [30] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3347769.stm)
An explosion occurs at Baghdad's Sheraton hotel, probably caused by a rocket_propelled grenade. [32] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle-east/3347243.stm)
Following the detection of BSE in a Washington State cow, several countries (including Japan, Russia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) announce a ban on the importation of U.S.beef. [33] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3345929.stm)[34] (http://edition.cnn.com/2003/BUSINESS/12/24/madcow.reax/index.html)
Three Air France flights from Paris to Los Angeles are canceled due to security concerns expressed by the US embassy in France. [35] (http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/24flight.html)
Bolivian President Carlos Mesa declares a state of emergency because of flooding in central Bolivia, which killed at least 19 people and collapsed a bridge crucial to Bolivian exports. [36] (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=589&ncid=721&e=8&u=/ap/20031224/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/bolivia_flood)
The Supreme Court of Canada announces (in a 6-3 decision) that the criminalization of marijuana was not unconstitutional. [37] (http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/12/23/pot031223)
The United States Department of Agriculture confirms the first case of United States, detected at a small slaughter house. The USDA has found no evidence that the infected materials made it into the food supply. Specimens have been sent to the United Kingdom for further analysis. Authorities quarantined a ranch near Yakima where the animal was raised. [38] (http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=428006§ion=news) [39] (http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/1072270696315300.xml)
The People's Republic of China plans to peg its currency, the yuan, to a basket of ten currencies instead of only the U.S. dollar, according to its state press. [43] (http://money.inq7.net/breakingnews/view_breakingnews.php?yyyy=2003&mon=12&dd=22&file=9)
Parmalat is likely to declare "controlled administration" as Italian Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi said the EgyptianForeign MinisterAhmed Maher is assaulted by Palestinians during prayer at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Mr. Maher was taken to an Israeli hospital for observation as a result of the incident after being treated at the scene by the Magen David Adom. After several hours care in the hospital, he was escorted to his airplane by an Israeli cardiologist and paramedic. [45] (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/23/international/middleeast/23MIDE.html)[46] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3341435.stm)
The Gulf Cooperation Council announces that they will revise school textbooks and remove from them material describing followers of other religions as infidels and enemies of Islam. [50] (http://english.aljzeera.net/NR/exeres/B97096D6-41FB-416A-9980-818FF4E26AAC.htm)
SCO claims in a press release to be sending DMCA notication letters alleging copyright infringement [51] (http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031222/lam046-1.html)[52] (http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20031222084145237)
Linus Torvalds says, in a post to the Linux kernelmailing list, "... I think we can totally _demolish_ the SCO claim that these 65 files were somehow "copied". They clearly are not."[53] (http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0312.2/1241.html)
Novell has also registered their claim to the copyright of original UNIX source code, effectively challenging SCO's registration of the same code [54] (http://www.novell.com/news/press/archive/2003/12/pr03080.html)[55] (http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20031222051806656)
An earthquake strikes near San Simeon, California, at 19:15 UTC (11:15 PST). The quake registers a 6.5 magnitude on the Richter Magnitude Scale, and causes two deaths from the collapse of a building in the town of Paso Robles. [56] (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/12/22/ca.earthquake/index.html),[57] (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsUS/Quakes/nc40148755.htm)
The Philippines declares a calamity in a southern province after floods killed up to 209 people. [58] (http://asia.news.yahoo.com/031223/3/19vvc.html)
"The American Soldier" is named as TIMEmagazine's "Person of the Year". The periodical's editors chose the anonymoussoldier to represent the 1.4 million men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces. [59] (http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2003/)[60] (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=/ap/20031221/ap_on_re_us/time_person_of_the_year) [61] (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-12-21-time-person_x.html)[62] (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,106330,00.html) [63] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3533323,00.html)[64] (http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=22&art_id=qw1072012685498B211&set_id=1) [65] (http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_503640,00050001.htm)
Citing increased "chatter" regarding potential terrorist attacks over the holiday period, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security raises its terrorism alert level from "elevated" (yellow) to "high" (orange). [66] (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=4028248)
A senior French police source claims Diana, Princess of Wales was pregnant when she was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997. A Clarence House spokesperson for The Prince of Wales refuses to comment on the issue. Mohamed Al_Fayed, the father of Diana's partner Dodi Al-Fayed had long insisted that Diana was pregnant with Dodi's baby and that she was murdered to stop her from giving birth. [67] (http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=475166)[68] (http://www.itv.com/news/1839342.html)
Quoting an unnamed senior British military intelligence officer, a report in the Sunday Express (Britain) claims that before Saddam Hussein was captured by US troops, he had already been discovered by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Kurdish forces had been alerted to his location by a member of the al-Jabour tribe whose daughter had been raped by Saddam's son Uday Hussein. [69] (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/12/21/1071941609659.html)
Retired Gen. Wesley Clark presented 4,000 petition signatures to qualify for South Carolina's Democratic presidential primary ballot today. He's the second of the nine candidates for the Democratic nomination to file for the February 3 ballot. Campaign workers for Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts gave the state Democratic Party a check for $2,500 last week to qualify.
The Holy See announces plans to beatify the last Austro-HungarianemperorKarl. Karl, who was overthrown in 1918 and died in exile in 1922, is expected to be beatified, a step to sainthood, in the next year. Karl's widow, Zita of Bourbon-Parma died in 1989. His son, former Crown PrinceOtto von Habsburg was until recently a GermanMEP. [70] (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20031220/en_afp/vatican_pope_austria_031220185645) [71] (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031220/od_uk_nm/oukoe_pope_emperor_1)
CCTV footage at Hampton Court Palace near London, once home of King Henry VIII of England, is released, and claimed to show a "ghost". The footage, taken in October 2003, shows a man in 16th century clothes closing a firedoor that had blown open. The palace markets itself as one of Britain's most haunted locations. [72] (http://www.itv.com/news/1720815.html) [73] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3336299.stm)
Celebrations marking the Bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase culminate in New Orleans, Louisiana. [74] (http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/1203/20louisiana.html)
Irish charity fundraiser John O'Shea attacks Manchester United football manager Sir Alex Ferguson as "greedy" for demanding £90,000 to attend a cancer charity function in Ireland in 1999. According to O'Shea, a sports celebrity demanding 'appearance money' from a charity is unheard of in his experience. Ferguson's appearance fee amounted to half the money raised. The fundraisers, until now unaware that Ferguson had taken half the proceeds, denounce his behaviour and say if they had known about it at the time they would have cancelled the event.
Former Argentinian president Carlos Menem is charged with tax fraud for failing to declare a Swiss bank account containing $600,000. If convicted he could be debarred from public office. [75] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3336367.stm)
Massive landslides in The Philippines caused by heavy rain result in the deaths of up to 90 people. [78] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3336327.stm)
A Malaysian opposition website is shut down by its British web-hosting company amid claims of "political censorship" from the opposition. [79] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3337019.stm)
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai tells his supporters to "fight fear" as they campaign against President Robert Mugabe. His comments follow the decision of Zimbabwe's police to occupy the offices of Zimbabwe's only privately owned newspaper in defiance of a court order that the newspaper could resume publication. [80] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3337147.stm)
Eleven people, mainly young people from Germany, die in a bus crash in Belgium. [81] (http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-12955762,00.html)
In Comoros, leaders signed an agreement clearing the way for legislative elections in April. [82] (http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38549&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=COMOROS)
Italian dairy company Parmalat declared a 3.96 billion euro hole in its accounts when the amount held by Cayman Islands-based unit, Bonlat Financing Corporation, was declared false by Bank of America. [83] (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=4022497)
A revised plan is unveiled for the new Freedom Tower which will be erected on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City. At a symbolic height of 1,776 feet (541 m) (1776 is significant as the year of the United States Declaration of Independence) the projected edifice will be among the tallest buildings in the world. [85] (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,106206,00.html) [86] (http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/12/19/tower_freedom031219)
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