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

November 30, 2003

• Syria hands over 22 suspects to Turkey on Sunday in connection with four deadly suicide bombings in Istanbul, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported. [1] (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=3&u=/ap/20031130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/turkey_bombings)
• According to the People's Republic of China has freed three people detained on charges of posting information critical of the government on the Internet. [2] (http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/ap11-30-021719.asp?reg=PACRIM)
• The Observer newspaper reports that a deal is imminent to repatriate British men being held in Guantanamo Bay. [3] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3250282.stm)
• Israeli army chief Moshe Yaalon and former heads of Shin Bet criticise Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for his unwillingness to consider the Geneva plan. [4] (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1096286,00.html) [5] (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3108B828-DBFE-49CA-AEF4-E9157E07FABD.htm) [6] (http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031127023604.alueor56.html)
• The Japanese government announces its intention to temporarily nationalize regional bank Ashikaga Bank after inspections show that it is insolvent; the cost may exceed $9 billion. [7] (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=XWMRLQXUW0REOCRBAEOCFFA?type=businessNews&storyID=3910239)
• Iribnews.com reports that Georgia's parliament has elected Tedo Dzhaparidze as the new foreign minister. [8] (http://www.iribnews.com/Full_en.asp?news_id=193462&n=32)
• Occupation of Iraq: Two South Korean civilians working for a US firm are killed on a highway near Tikrit.
• There is evidence that the tuberculosis drug D-cycloserine may be the first effective agent for the treatment of phobias. [9] (http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/23e54e.htm)
• Pakistan is to end a ban on Indian flights over its territory, in another sign of improving relations between the neighbours [10] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3250516.stm)
• Nathaniel Jones, a 41 year old, 350 lb (159 kg) unarmed black man dies after being clubbed by police with metal truncheons in Cincinnati, Ohio. [11] (http://www.bet.com/articles/0,,c1gb8125-8971,00.html) Six police officers are suspended from duty afterwards. A video of the beating, captured by the video camera mounted in an officer's cruiser, is released to the public, stoking racial tensions in Cincinnati nearly three years after the city was rocked by riots. Preliminary autopsy results show that Jones had an enlarged heart, and his blood contained cocaine and PCP, Hamilton County Coroner Carl Parrott says.[12] (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/02/1070127386206.html)[13] (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/12/02/wbeat02.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/12/02/ixworld.html)
• The draw is made for the 2004 European Football Championship. England are drawn with holders France, and hosts Portugal are drawn with neighbours Spain. [14] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/euro_2004_draw/default.stm)
• In tennis, Australia wins the Davis Cup by three rubbers to one when Mark Philippoussis defeats Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain in the first reverse singles match, played in Melbourne. It is the 28th time Australia has won the trophy, the most prestigious title in men's team tennis. [15] (http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/s1000318.htm)

November 29, 2003

• In Norfolk, Virginia, the USS Cole leaves port on the destroyer's first overseas deployment since it was bombed is the year 2000 in Yemen's port at Aden. [16] (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/11/29/cole.deploys.ap/index.html)
• Police in Turkey announce the arrest of a yet-unnamed man they state has admitted giving the order to suicide bombers to attack Beth Israel synagogue in Istanbul on November 15. [17] (http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/11/29/turkey.arrest/index.html)
• Luan Enjie, director of the National Aerospace Bureau of the People's Republic of China states that "By 2020, we will achieve visiting the moon." [18] (http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/11/29/china.moon.ap/index.html)
• Occupation of Iraq: A team of 8 Spanish intelligence agents is attacked south of Baghdad; 7 are killed and 1 wounded. [19] (http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-attack,0,878878.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines) Two Japanese diplomats are killed near Tikrit. Two U.S. soldiers and a Colombian civilian contractor are killed in Baghdad.
• In Australia, the opposition Labor Party's finance spokesperson, Mark Latham, announces that he will contest the party leadership ballot on 2 December against the former leader Kim Beazley. Press reports place the two candidates at about 40 votes each, with about ten undecided. [20] (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s999859.htm)
• French and German university students continue to hold protests, including strikes, over controversial policies such as tuition fees. German students also occupied the central offices of the PDS in Berlin, following a similar protest earlier in the week in which 30 to 40 students occupied the office of Thomas Flierl for more than 24 hours. Protests in both countries have been continuing to spread for the last two weeks.[21] (http://print.indymedia.org/news/2003/11/1699.php?theme=default) [22] (http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2003/11/282025.html) [23] (http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,3772-2852181,00.html) German press: [24] (http://www.rhein-main.net/sixcms/list.php?page=fnp2_news_article&id=1387077), [25] (http://morgenpost.berlin1.de/inhalt/berlin/story644038.html)

November 28, 2003

• The November 28 issue of the journal Science reports that the United States is not sufficiently prepared to respond to an influenza pandemic. [26] (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/11/031128082159.htm)
• The United States is about to back down over its restrictions on steel imports that had caused such alarm in Europe and Asia. [27] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3246976.stm)
• War on Terrorism: A terrorism expert with access to intelligence on Al-Qaeda says the group wants to launch a catastrophic attack in the United States. [28] (http://www.news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2235560)
• The anti-Good Friday Agreement Democratic Unionist Party with 30 seats becomes the biggest party in Northern Ireland in the Northern Ireland Assembly Election, 2003, replacing the Ulster Unionist Party (27 seats), while Sinn Féin at 24 seats replaces the SDLP (18 seats) as the major Irish nationalist party.
• John Manley, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, announces he will not take a position in the new cabinet of leadership rival Paul Martin that will take office on December 12, and will not run again in his riding of Ottawa South in the forthcoming 2004 Canadian election. Martin praises Manley's past accomplishments and takes the unusual step of publicly offering Manley the posting of Ambassador to the Italy, Alessandra Mussolini, grand_daughter of Benito Mussolini and niece of Sophia Loren, resigns from the right wing National Alliance party after she considers that party leader and deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini "dishonoured her family's history" when apologising in Israel for Italy's actions before and during the Second World War and describing fascism as "an absolute evil". [30] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3243420.stm)
• Simon Crean announces his resignation as leader of the Australian Labor Party, the main opposition party in Australia. Crean has led the party since November 2001, but has consistently trailed Prime Minister John Howard in opinion polls. Crean becomes the first Labor leader to resign without having fought an election. His successor will be elected at a meeting of the Labor Caucus on 2 December. The candidates will probably be former leader Kim Beazley and finance spokesman Mark Latham. Foreign Affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd may also stand. [31] (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s999345.htm)
• ROC referendum, 2004: In Taiwan, a referendum bill written by majority pro-Chinese reunification People's Republic of China as it is seen as a possible route for declaring Taiwan independence, even though the bill blocks referendums on sovereignty issue and changing the official name of the Republic of China. [32] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3242210.stm)[33] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3245428.stm)
• In Russia, the planned merger between YUKOS and Sibneft has reportedly been suspended by Sibneft. It is unclear whether the two oil firms will carry on with the merger.[34] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3245884.stm)[35] (http://www.news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2234640)
• Global warming: In a new report, the WWF warned that billions of people may suffer severe water shortages if glaciers, which contain 70 percent of the world's fresh water reserves, continue to melt. [36] (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1128_04.htm) [37] (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story-page/0,5744,7997921%255E30417,00.html)

November 27, 2003

• Scientists warn that a devastating influenza People's Republic of China angrily rejects US anti-dumping measures on imports of televisions from China, saying that the US measures breach WTO agreements and discriminate against Chinese firms; Premier Wen Jiabao is due to visit Washington, DC next month. [39] (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=516&ncid=731&e=10&u=/ap/20031126/ap_on_re_as/china_us_trade)
• British police say that explosives have been found in the Gloucester home of a 24 year old man being held on suspicion of terrorist activity and links to Al-Qaeda; the suspect is British born of Asian origin. [40] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/gloucestershire/3242812.stm)[41] (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=RO5Q3NYJ11RZKCRBAELCFEY?type=worldNews&storyID=3903550)
• Kofi Annan says that the global war against AIDS is being lost. [42] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3244564.stm)
• War on Drugs: European Union justice ministers agree to tougher anti-drug laws, but the Netherlands say its "coffee shops" -- where cannabis is openly sold and smoked -- would survive. [43] (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=757&e=6&u=/nm/20031127/od_nm/crime_eu_drugs_dc)
• Peruvian police clash with campesinos in the town of Carhuamayo (department of Junín), leaving two dead and more than 20 people injured, during a protest against mining pollution. Strikers are demanding the government hand over $58 million from the privatization of a state electricity company for the cleanup. [44] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,_3438753,00.html)
• At the end of the First Count of elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly, and reflecting the early tallies the Democratic Unionist Party attracts the highest popular vote, with Sinn Féin coming second, the Ulster Unionist Party third and the SDLP fourth. Minor parties like the Progressive Unionist Party, the Alliance Party and the UK Unionist Party suffer major collapse, with the Women's Coalition losing all its seats. Later counts are expected to boost the middle ground UUP and SDLP, who show greater possibilities of picking up inter-party transfers than the more extreme DUP and Sinn Féin. Nevertheless, Sinn Féin is widely expected to have more MLAs than the SDLP, a reversal of the results in the 1998 Assembly elections. It is too close to call whether the previous larger UUP or the Rev. Ian Paisley's DUP will have more seats after all counts. The final results will not be known until late on Friday, when all six seats in each constituency are filled. The election was held under Iraq have to be revised after senior Shiites object to indirect elections. [46] (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/27/international/middleeast/27IRAQ.html?th)
• President George W. Bush makes a surprise visit to American troops on Thanksgiving Day. The visit is not announced publicly until after Bush has left. [47] (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031127/ap_on_re_mi_ea/bush_iraq&cid=540&ncid=716)
• Larry Spencer of the Canadian Alliance Party makes public statements stating his desire to recriminalize homosexual behaviour in Canada to combat what he claimed was a conspiracy by the homosexual community to infiltrate social institutions to recruit children into the "homosexual lifestyle". He was quickly denounced by numerous public figures including his own party leader, Stephen Harper, who also made him resign his position as Family Issue Critic in the House of Commons with an apology. However, commentators have noted that these inflamatory homophobic statements have placed the pending vote on the proposed merger with the Progressive Conservative Party on December 6 in jeopardy by illustrating fundamental differences between the parties concerning social attitudes.

November 26, 2003

• Action movie star FPJ (Fernando Poe, Jr.) announces he will seek the presidency of the Philippines. His popularity has caused political observers to suggest he'll have a major impact on the campaign to choose an opposition candidate for next May's race. [48] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3238814.stm)
• Australian Test cricket captain Steve Waugh announces his retirement from international cricket. [49] (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s997612.htm)
• The People's Republic of China dismantles its satellite tracking station in Kiribati following the Pacific atoll nation's recognition of the Republic of China (Taiwan) on November 7.[50] (http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/australasia/view/59177/1/.html)
• ROC Presidential Election 2004: The Kuomintang drops its opposition to holding a referendum on Taiwan independence, a position that has been advocated by President Chen Shui-bian.[51] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3240026.stm)
• Chairman Choe Byung-yul of the Grand National Party in South Korea has begun a hunger strike after President India and Pakistan announce a ceasefire in the Kashmir region. [53] (http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=1377).

November 25, 2003

• Annualized Q3 growth rate in the US gross domestic product exceeds 8%, the highest rate of growth since the Reagan administration. [54] (http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=71000001&refer=home&sid=aXuXEm5y10Uo)
• In a speech to lawyers in London, one of the United Kingdom's most senior Law Lords, Lord Steyn, condemns the detentions at Australia reaches a deal concerning 2 men detained at Guantanamo Bay. [58] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3238302.stm)
• Occupation of Iraq: At least two rockets are reported fired near the US compound in central Baghdad. [59] (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=5BGQ4WT5KXZIWCRBAE0CFEY?type=topNews&storyID=3891326)
• Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, is not invited to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference to be held in Nigeria. [60] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3236948.stm)
• UNAids and the World Health Organization report record numbers of new AIDS cases. [61] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3236200.stm)
• Canadian National Railway buys British Columbia Railway from the British Columbia provincial government. [62] (http://www.cn.ca/news/newsreleases/2003/en_News20031125.shtml)

November 24, 2003

• Radical Muslim cleric Sheik Nasser al-Fahd denounces suicide bombings, declaring on Saudi TV that "blowing oneself up in such operations is not martyrdom; it is suicide". Some consider this a response to pressure from the Saudi government to recant previous statements.[63] (http://www.washtimes.com/world/20031123-111636-4783r.htm)
• The High Court in Glasgow rules that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, convicted in 1999 of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988, must serve a minimum of 27 years before being considered for parole. [64] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3233156.stm)
• A former ANC intelligence operative appears in a South African Court on Monday in connection with an alleged plot to oust or kill President Thabo Mbeki. [65] (http://allafrica.com/stories/200311250399.html) [66] (http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=24016)
• A fire in a student hostel at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba University kills 32 and injures about 150 people, all foreign students. The fire services blame an electrical fault. [67] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3232090.stm)
• Pro-democracy groups gain in the Hong Kong District Council elections, as the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong loses 21 of its previous 83 elected seats. DAB chairman Tsang Yok-sing offers to resign. [68] (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/24/international/asia/24HONG.html?ex=1070254800&en=e51df8e3b9b09716&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE)
• Canada, United States, telephone number portability as mandated by the FCC takes effect in major metropolitan areas. [70] (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2003/11/24/cellphone-number-portability-era-begins/)
• HIV_positive muppet Kami is appointed UN mascot for juvenile AIDS victims. [71] (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=553&ncid=751&e=9&u=/ap/20031124/ap_wo_en_he/un_gen_un_aids_puppet)

November 23, 2003

• A BBC Correspondent programme, based on computer-generated images, suggests that the Warren Commission's controversial magic bullet theory, in which is was claimed that the same bullet hit President John F. Kennedy and Governor John Connally during Kennedy's assassination in 1963, was correct. Using state of the art computer generated images based on the Zapruder film, the programme concludes that a lone gunman could have shot Kennedy. ABC News and Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze resigns. Elections will be in 45 days, but until then, Nino Burdzhanadze will be the acting president. [73] (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=2&u=/ap/20031123/ap_on_re_eu/georgia_protests) [74] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3231534.stm)
• Nationalist party HDZ appears set to beat the ruling centre-left coaltion in Croatia's general election. [75] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3230260.stm) [76] (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/031123/325/eeqic.html)
• EADS, the largest European aircraft company, is doing preliminary work on a hypersonic passenger aircraft that would take the place of the recently-retired Concorde; the planning includes collaboration with Japanese firms and METI. [77] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3231354.stm) However, its subsidiary Airbus' A380 'super-jumbo' sub-sonic vehicle is the product expected to become the dominant commercial aircraft in the near-future. [78] (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=3877882)
• The New York Times reports that the FBI is actively monitoring and gathering intelligence on anti_war protest movements' activities, ostensibly to detect possible terrorist activity. Opponents such as the ACLU criticize the practice as regressionary to the days of J. Edgar Hoover's intense monitoring of private organizations for potential People's Republic of China plans to start tests of a SARS vaccine on humans by the end of December; trials with monkeys show that the vaccine was effective. [81] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3230418.stm)
• 10,000 trade unionists, environmentalists, and farmworkers march in Miami to protest against the Free Trade Area of the Americas expansion meeting. Other street protests erupt into violent confronations with police several times throughout the day. Protester sources indicate upwards of 250 protesters incarcerated, along with reports of physical and sexual assault while in custody. [82] (http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/11/15/8771331) [83] (http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/22/0011213) [84] (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1122-03.htm) [85] (http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/03-11-19/story3.htm) [86] (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/7266885.htm) Other demonstrations take place in cities throughout the Americas.
• Occupation of Iraq:
  • Three US troops are killed in Iraq, two of them in a civilian vehicle in Mosul and the third in a roadside bombing in Baquba. A mob desecrates the bodies of the Mosul victims and loots their gear. [87] (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=540&u=/ap/20031123/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_630&printer=1) [88] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3230690.stm)
  • A female acting ambassador to the USA is chosen by Iraq's Governing Council: Rend al-Rahim Francke, an Iraqi/American educated in Britain, France and Lebanon. [89] (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=4PU2ESEZODN0ECRBAE0CFFA?type=topNews&storyID=3877806)
• A US military helicopter crashes near Bagram, Pakistan says that about 75% of Pakistanis are completely dissatisfied with President Pervez Musharraf. [91] (http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=26297)

November 22, 2003

• In Tbilisi, Georgia, opponents of President Eduard Shevardnadze seize the parliament building and demand the president's resignation. Opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili vows to "trample" the country's leadership following unrest over disputed election results. Shevardnadze denounces what he calls an attempted coup and declares a United States tests the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb or (MOAB), the world's largest non-nuclear bomb, in Florida. [93] (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=296312) [94] (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3873668)
• Occupation of Iraq:
  • Car bombs outside police stations in the towns of Khan Bani Saad and Baquba, north of Baghdad, detonate around 08h local time (0500