Portal:Current events/November 2002

An earthquake has killed 29 in the town of San Giuliano di Puglia, in Campobasso, Molise, in Italy. Twenty-six of the victims were children killed then the roof of their school collapsed. An estimated 5,500 Italians are left homeless.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly announced her findings in the United States v. Microsoft antitrust case after the close of the financial markets.

November 2, 2002 (Saturday)

Recent celebrity deaths: Charles Sheffield, science fiction author and physicist, dies of brain cancer at age 67
Gay Games open in Sydney, Australia.
The Godless Americans March on Washington brings together 2,000 atheists, freethinkers, and humanists in a mile-long parade down the National Mall.

November 3, 2002 (Sunday)

2002 Denali earthquake: An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the moment magnitude scale occurs near Denali National Park in Alaska. The earthquake was the largest recorded in the interior of the United States for more than 150 years and was the strongest ever recorded in the interior of Alaska. No fatalities and only a few injuries were reported.

November 4, 2002 (Monday)

Yemen: An AGM-114 Hellfire missile launched by an American drone airplane destroyed a car carrying what the United States claims were six members of al-Qaeda, including the mastermind of the USS Cole attack, Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi.
Turkey: Turkish Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has won the Turkish general election. The AK Party campaigned on economic and social issues, and downplayed its Islamist origins. The AK Party's chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is banned from holding political office, so someone else will become Turkish Prime Minister. Opponents of the AK Party have expressed concerns that the AK Party's victory may threaten the secular nature of the Turkish state.
Human rights: Amnesty International has released a 74-page report accusing the Israel Defense Forces of war crimes and human rights violations.
Internet: Country code top-level domain administrators have started to talk about taking back control of their parts of the domain name system that has been controlled by ICANN since the death of Jon Postel. They have complained that ICANN is unaccountable, dictatorial and unresponsive to users' needs.

November 5, 2002 (Tuesday)

Embattled U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Harvey Pitt tenders his resignation.
Election Day: In the 2002 midterm elections, Republicans receive a net gain of two seats of the closely divided U.S. Senate, retaking control of the body. The Republicans also retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives, with a net gain of eight House seats. Democrats make some gains in the state governors' races, with a net gain of three governorships.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dissolves the Knesset and calls for elections early the next year.
UK Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith made what was widely considered to be a disastrous speech where he demanded that his party "unite or die"; observers believe that this marks the start of a new leadership struggle within the Conservative Party.

November 6, 2002 (Wednesday)

The United States signs the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
Anti-Semitism: With approval of official state censors, Egyptian television broadcast the first episode of a miniseries, Horseman Without a Horse, based upon the debunked Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It airs at the hour that Egyptian families gather together to break their fast during the fasting month of Ramadan.
The Federal Reserve Board of Governors lowers its overnight bank-lending rate to 1.25 percent, and this bigger-than-expected rate cut signals there may be more weakness in the economy than the market expected. The Fed indicated in its statements accompanying the rate cut that concern about a war with Iraq and the threat of terrorism may be slowing consumer and business spending.
Two Mig-29s of the Slovak Air Force crashed following a mid-air collision near Hnilec in central-eastern Slovakia. One pilot ejected safely, while the other, Major Marián Katuška, was killed in the accident.

November 7, 2002 (Thursday)

A referendum in Gibraltar organised by the Government of Gibraltar showed that 99% of those who voted rejected a proposal for joint sovereignty with Spain The turnout for the referendum was 88%.
Colombian drug lord Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, one of the leaders of the Cali drug cartel, was released from prison (for "good behavior") after serving less than half of his sentence, despite objections from the governments of Colombia and the United States.
Iran banned advertising of US products and an Iranian, believing a sorcerer had made him invisible, tried to rob a bank in Tehran.
In Northampton, England, four men stand trial accused of the racist murder of Ross Parker which occurred shortly after the September 11 attacks.

November 8, 2002 (Friday)

A team of Italian researchers has produced an analysis of their experimental results that may be indirect evidence of the existence of gravitational waves. Their paper, entitled "Study of the coincidences between the gravitational wave detectors EXPLORER and NAUTILUS in 2001" is based on a statistical analysis of the results from their detectors.
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Jiang Zemin announced several key policies at the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing. Although Marxism-Leninism would remain the official ideology of China, entrepreneurs and people in unconventional occupations, who are building "socialism with Chinese characteristics", would have a voice in establishing Communist Party ideology. Mr. Jiang is preparing to yield the position of General Secretary of the Party to Hu Jintao, but will maintain the presidency.
Former President of France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, head of the Convention on the Future of Europe, told the newspaper Le Monde that Turkey should not become a member of the European Union, even though Turkey is a very important country with a true elite. He particularly mentioned that the capital and 95% of the population were not located on the European continent. He also mentioned that one cannot discuss, as we do it, the national legislation of the Union, on very important points of everyday European issues and pretend that some discussions could be extended to countries which, for perfectly estimable reasons, have another culture, another approach, another way of life.

November 10, 2002 (Sunday)

According to the Guardian newspaper, Gauthier Hulot of the Paris Geophysical Institute has discovered evidence of a reduction of the Earth's magnetic field over the last two hundred years. It is possible that this may be a prelude to a reversal of polarity of the Earth's magnetic field over the next few hundred years.

November 11, 2002 (Monday)

A three-day general strike begins in Nepal. According to Outlook India, "the capital Kathmandu virtually came to a standstill ... Maoists have called the strike to oppose the King's appointment of Lokendra Bahadur Chand... as prime minister after dismissing the government of Sher Bahadur Deuba."^[1] Also, 30 Maoist guerrillas were killed in a renewed assault on the revolutionary forces the country's government is currently fighting against. See also politics of Nepal.
The Burrell affair takes a turn for the worse as further scandalous rumours begin to circulate about the British royal family and their servants.
Grigori Perelman uploads an article to arxiv.org with the proof the Poincaré conjecture: Perelman, Grisha (November 11, 2002). "The entropy formula for the Ricci flow and its geometric applications".

November 12, 2002 (Tuesday)

Ethiopian famine: Meles Zenawi, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia is reported as saying that the famine that threatens his country could be worse than the 1984 famine. He is reported as saying that "if that was a nightmare, this will be too ghastly to contemplate", and has appealed for famine relief for Ethiopia.
Antibiotic resistance: A woman in the US city of Detroit who was infected in July by a strain of Staphylococcus aureus that is resistant to vancomycin, the antibiotic often viewed by doctors as the "antibiotic of last resort", is now reported to have tested to be clear of the infection. She is still being kept in isolation to prevent the infection from being spread to others.
Anti-Semitism: Harvard University canceled an invitation to Irish poet and Oxford University lecturer Tom Paulin after some statements attributed to him in an article in an Egyptian newspaper, al-Ahram, were labelled anti-Jewish by university officials. Paulin is quoted (amongst other things) as saying that American Jewish settlers in Israel should be "shot dead. ... I think they are Nazis, racists. I feel nothing but hatred for them." He is also quoted as saying that he understands "how suicide bombers feel", and recommends that Palestinians take up guerrilla warfare against civilians in order to create a sense of solidarity.
R&B Super Group, TLC released their fourth studio album, 3D (TLC album), seven months after the tragic death of their band member, rapper Lisa Lopes, resulting from a deadly car accident in the Honduras.

November 13, 2002 (Wednesday)

U.S. President George W. Bush says that an audio tape thought to carry the voice of Osama bin Laden, believed to be authentic, has put the "world on notice."
The Democratic Caucus of the United States House of Representatives selects California Representative Nancy Pelosi as their minority leader, making her the first woman to lead a major American party.
A new HIV vaccine developed by researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases begins clinical trials on humans.

November 15, 2002 (Friday)

The Communist Party of China names former Secretary of the Secretariat Hu Jintao as its General Secretary, replacing Jiang Zemin. Jiang will remain President until Spring 2003.

November 16, 2002 (Saturday)

A plot by a group of terrorists believed to be a part of or affiliated to the al-Qaeda network was revealed as having been uncovered by MI5. The plot involved a plan to release poison gas in the London Underground railway network.
Abdullah Gül becomes the new prime minister of Turkey.

November 17, 2002 (Sunday)

The UK government has refused to either confirm or deny the putative poison gas attack revealed on November 16, although it is known that three men are currently being held and investigated under the terms of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Abba Eban, former Israeli foreign affairs minister, dies.
An Italian court sentences former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti to 24 years in prison for complicity in the 1979 contract killing murder of journalist Mino Pecorelli.

November 18, 2002 (Monday)

The first team of United Nations weapons inspectors arrive in Iraq, where they will prepare for inspections for evidence of the development or possession of weapons of mass destruction by Saddam Hussein's regime.

November 19, 2002 (Tuesday)

José Bové, member of the anti-globalization movement, will have to carry out a fourteen months time in prison for destruction of the transgenic rice seedlings in France.
The tanker Prestige, which has been leaking oil off the north-west coast of Spain for several days, split into two at 8 o'clock in the morning (0700 GMT). The vessel was reported to be about 250 km away from the Spanish coast at that time. The entire load of oil is 70,000 ton; most of it is still in the two parts of the ship; if all leaks out the resulting damage could be twice that of the Exxon Valdez disaster off the coast of Alaska in 1989. Despite efforts, the oil reached the coast. See: [1].
James Coburn, actor, dies of a heart attack, aged 74.

November 20, 2002 (Wednesday)

Professor Gunther von Hagens carried out the first public dissection in London for over a century. This was an illegal act, but was not prevented by the authorities.
Pop star Michael Jackson dangles his baby off his hotel balcony with people telling him to be family.

November 22, 2002 (Friday)

Cosmology: The BBC has reported that a group of researchers at Southern Methodist University has reported the possibility that strange matter may have been responsible for unexplained seismic events recorded in 1993.
At least 100 people were killed at the Miss World Beauty Pageant in Nigeria. At least 200 of others were reported missing. The Miss World Beauty Pageant was meant to be a significant international event, and all the world was looking forward to it. It had been planned for weeks. Instead, the entire event was violently interrupted by Muslim and Christian mobs. The Miss World competition was decided to be moved to London.

November 23, 2002 (Saturday)

In the Netherlands, Volkert van der Graaf confessed to the murder of Pim Fortuyn. He said he acted alone and did it to protect vulnerable groups in society.
Following riots and killings in Nigeria, Miss World contest organizers leave and reconvene in London
2002 Ecuadorian elections: In the presidential runoff election, former coup leader and left-leaning soldier Lucio Gutiérrez of the January 21 Patriotic Society Party/Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement – New Country receives 54.4% of the vote to become the next president of Ecuador, defeating Álvaro Noboa of the Institutional Renewal Party of National Action, who receives 45.2% of the vote.

November 24, 2002 (Sunday)

2002 Austrian legislative elections: The conservative Austrian People's Party (OVP), led by Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel wins a landslide victory (42.27% of the vote), picking up 27 seats and becoming the largest party in the National Council for the first time since 1966. The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) is reduced to 10.16% of the vote and loses 34 seats.
David McRae, a conservation worker from Guthrie, Angus, Scotland, dies from rabies. He was the first person to contract rabies in the United Kingdom since 1902.
Philosopher John Rawls dies.

November 25, 2002 (Monday)

President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Act into law. The act creates a new Department of Homeland Security and is the largest government reorganization since the National Security Act of 1947 more than 50 years before.
A group of European scientists has announced that they intend to use the Very Large Telescope to take pictures of the lunar module bases remaining on the Moon, in order to debunk the Apollo moon landing conspiracy theory that states that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax.

November 26, 2002 (Tuesday)

U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act into law, creating a federal backstop for insurance claims related to acts of terrorism.

November 27, 2002 (Wednesday)

The controversial physician Severino Antinori has claimed that a project to clone human beings has succeeded, with the first human clone due to be born in 2003. His claims were received with skepticism from many observers. The even more controversial organization Clonaid then announced that they had five clones waiting to be born, one of whom, they claimed, would be born in December 2002.

November 28, 2002 (Thursday)