January 7, 2003

• Jon Johansen was acquitted of all charges in the Norwegian DeCSS trial, in an important test case for copyright law.
• War on Terrorism: British police announced details of the discovery of traces of the toxin ricin in a flat in Wood Green in North London in the wake of the arrest of 6 terrorist suspects. The timing of this news coincided with a major speech by Prime Minister Tony Blair dealing with the threat of terrorism and Britain's relationship with the U.S.A.
• British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced details of the call-up of reservists in the military build-up calculated to increase pressure on Iraq.
• French President Jacques Chirac, in a New Year's message to French forces, stated that French forces should be prepare to be activated if the United Nations decides on military action in Iraq.
• Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told an educational conference in Mumbai: "Our scientists are now talking of going to the Moon."
• Astronomers at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton University have found the most distant extrasolar planet, OGLE-TR-56b, by a new technique of observing the intensity of light as a planet transits its sun, rather than by gravitational perturbation.