October 24, 2003

• Mining : 49 miners are trapped in a Russian mine as water began seeping into the mine, disabling electrical systems [1].
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The body of the Hamas militant killed in the attack on an Israeli military camp (that killed 3 Israeli soldiers) returns to his family in their refugee camp. [2]
• 2003 invasion of Iraq: The US Senate Committee on Intelligence finalizes its report on pre-war intelligence and is highly critical e.g. of George Tenet and the quality of US intelligence about Iraq's weapons. [3]
• Space weather: Earth is expected to be hit by a solar ion storm, potentially disrupting satellite communications and posing a threat to electric power transmission grids. Canada, the northern US northern Europe are expected to be treated to an exceptional display of aurora borealis. [4][5]
• Aircraft: The final flights of Concorde, from New York, Edinburgh, and a loop around the Bay of Biscay, touch down at Heathrow International Airport around 1600 BST, marking the end of 27 years of commercial supersonic flight. [6]
• Same-sex marriage: Three same-sex couples in Spain, including a Madrid city councilman, apply for marriage licenses. They state that if the registry judge does not grant them the licenses, they will appeal to Spain's constitutional court, and as far as the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. They describe their actions as inspired by the recent rulings on same-sex marriage in Canada. [7]
• Computing: Mac OS X v. 10.3 (Panther) is released.