October 8, 2003

• Nobel Prize: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded jointly to Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon for discoveries concerning aquaporins and ion channels in cell membranes. [1]
• California recall: Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger wins the election with 48.6% after voters decide to recall California governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger's closest rival was the Democrat Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, with 31.7%. [2][3]
• Surveillance: The FBI admits that hidden listening devices planted in the office of the Mayor of Philadelphia were placed there by FBI agents. It is currently not known if the Mayor of Philadelphia is a target of an investigation nor is there any details provided about the nature of the probe that the device was part of. A law enforcement official cautions that the presence of the listening devices does not necessarily mean that the mayor, himself, is under investigation. [4] [5]
• Palestinians: Yasser Arafat has suffered a mild heart attack. Palestinian leadership officials tried to hide condition of the president. "Although he has had a slight heart attack, the doctors say he will make a full recovery. He is in full control. There is nothing to worry about," states close aide to Arafat. Officials state that it would "have created panic at a critical time when the Israelis are threatening Arafat's life". [6] [7]
• Saskatchewan general election, 2003: NDP Premier Lorne Calvert calls an election for November 5.