September 18, 2003

• International Atomic Energy Agency: Iranian officials gave signals that they do not intend to comply with a resolution passed by the United Nations's nuclear watchdog giving Tehran until the end of next month to come clean on its atomic programme. Parliamenetary speaker Mehdi Karrubi, a close ally of President Mohammad Khatami, said the IAEA resolution was "political" and that "the Iranian people will not accept giving in to the logic of force." [1]
• Hurricane Isabel makes landfall on the east coast of the United States near Kill Devil Hill, North Carolina.
• Canadian gay couple's marriage is not recognized in border crossing: Kevin Bourassa and Joe Varnell, two men married in Ontario, are prevented from using a family customs declaration form when attempting to board a plane at Toronto Pearson International Airport. The two gay men, on their way to a human rights conference in Georgia, abandoned their trip rather than use two separate forms for unmarried people. It is one of the first cases of practical discord between the same-sex marriage laws in Canada and the lack of same in the United States, and possibilities for legal or diplomatic action are being examined. [2] (See gay rights, same-sex marriage).
• A passenger aboard a South African Airways jet tries to break into the cockpit during a flight from Cape Town to Atlanta. The passenger, James Drake, is arrested upon arrival. He had also been arrested in 1987 after trying to break into another airplane's cockpit.