November 2002

A timeline of events in the news for November, 2002.

See also:

• Israeli-Palestinian conflict - War on Terrorism - U.S. plan to invade Iraq - terrorist incidents
• Stock market downturn of 2002 - Corporate accounting scandals - South American economic crisis of 2002 - debate over US steel tariffs
• UK Firefighter strike 2002
• Afghanistan timeline November 2002

November 30, 2002

• It is reported that the Provisional IRA may be about to make substantial concessions in order to re-start the stalled Northern Ireland peace process[?].

November 28, 2002

• Kenyan hotel bombing: Three suicide bombers detonated themselves at a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, killing a number of people, including Israeli tourists who have been presumed to be the targets of the attack. At the same time two anti-aircraft missiles were fired at a passenger aircraft, which only narrowly missed. The two attacks are suspected to be connected, and it is suspected that al-Qaeda may be involved in the attacks.
• Henry Kissinger has been appointed as the chairman of the supposedly independent panel investigating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America. This has made many people on the political left suspicious of the motives for appointing such a controversial figure as Kissinger to such a sensitive position, given his past association with political intrigue.

November 27, 2002

• 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 scepticism 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 26, 2002

• US President George W. Bush signs into law the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act[?] which creates a federal backstop for insurance claims related to acts of terrorism.

November 25, 2002

• US President George W. Bush signs into law the creation of a new Dept. of Homeland Security which is said to be the largest government reorganization in 50 years.
• 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 24, 2002

• General elections in Austria result in a landslide victory[?] (42.27% of the vote) of the conservative Austrian People's Party led by Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel[?]. The right-wing Austrian Freedom Party, formerly led by the Governor of Carinthia, Jörg Haider, which in 1999 was stronger than Schüssel's party, is reduced to 10.16% of the vote. After a spat, Haider announces his departure from politics (later revoked).

• David McRae, a conservation worker from Guthrie, Angus, Scotland, has died from rabies. He was the first person to contract rabies in Great Britain since 1902.

November 23, 2002

• In the Netherlands, Volkert van der Graaf has 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
• Ecuador: Former coup leader and left-leaning soldier Lucio Gutierrez[?] received 54.4% of the vote to win the election for President of Ecuador.

November 22, 2002

• 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.
• Because of continuing violence in Nigeria, in which more than 100 people died, the Miss World competition was decided to be moved to London.

November 20, 2002

• 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.

November 19, 2002

• 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 : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2488229.stm
• Recent celebrity deaths: James Coburn, actor, age 74, of a heart attack.

November 18, 2002

• The first team of UN arms inspectors[?] have now arrived 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 17, 2002

• 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 Prevention of Terrorism Act[?].
• Recent celebrity deaths: Abba Eban, former Israeli foreign affairs minister
• An Italian court sentenced former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti[?] to 24 years in prison for complicity in the 1979 contract killing[?] murder of journalist Mino Pecorelli[?].

November 16, 2002

• 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 15, 2002

• The Communist Party of China names former Vice-President Hu Jintao as its general secretary, replacing Jiang Zemin. Jiang will remain President until Spring 2003.

November 13, 2002

• US President George W Bush says that an audio tape thought to carry the voice of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has put the "world on notice". The tape is considered to be authentic.
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives chose California Representative Nancy Pelosi as their minority leader, making her the first woman to lead a major American party.
• Medicine: A new HIV vaccine developed by researchers at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases[?] has started clinical trials on humans.

November 12, 2002

• 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. Paulin, whilst outspoken, is a prominent supporter of many liberal causes.

November 11, 2002

• 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] (http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?gid=21&id=96515) 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.

November 10, 2002

• 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 magenetic field over the next few hundred years.

November 8, 2002

• 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.
• President of the People's Republic of China Jiang Zemin announced several key policies at 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 Valery 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 7, 2002

• An unofficial referendum in Gibraltar showed that 99% of those who voted wanted to retain the colony's governmental status quo and rejected a United Kingdom proposal to grant Spain a share of sovereignty over the colony. The turnout for the referendum was 88%.
• Colombian drug kingpin Gilberto Rodriguez 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.

November 6, 2002

• The United States of America has added its signature to 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.
• Federal Reserve: The US Federal Reserve lowered 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 statments accompanying the rate cut that concern about a war with Iraq and the thread of terrorism may be slowing consumer and business spending.

November 5, 2002

• Embattled Securities and Exchange Commissioner Harvey Pitt[?] tenders his resignation.
• In mid-term elections in the United States, Republicans retake control of the closely divided Senate and maintain control of the House. Democrats make some gains in the governor's races.
• Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister dissolved parliament and called for elections early next year. [2] (http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/ISRAEL_POLITICS?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME), [3] (http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=worldnews&StoryID=1679417)
• British 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". Many observers believe that this marks the start of a new leadership struggle for the Conservative Party.

November 4, 2002

• Yemen: A 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: The Islamist Turkish Justice and Development Party[?] (AKP) has won the Turkish general election. The AKP campaigned on economic and social issues, and downplayed its Islamist origins. The AKP's chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan[?] is banned from holding political office, so someone else will become Turkish prime minister[?]. Opponents of the AKP have expressed concerns that the AKP's victory may threaten the secular nature of the Turkish state.
• Human rights: Amnesty International has released a 74-page report accusing the Israel Defence Force 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 3, 2002

• Recent celebrity deaths: Lonnie Donegan, musician known as the "King of Skiffle" dies at 71.
• Magnitude 7.9 earthquake strikes Denali fault in Denali National Park[?] in Alaska. Largest earthquake on this fault since at least 1912

November 2, 2002

• Recent celebrity deaths: Charles Sheffield, science fiction author and physicist, dies of brain cancer at age 67
• Gay Games open in Sydney, Australia.

November 1, 2002

• An earthquake has killed 29 in the town of San Giuliano di Puglia, in Campobasso, Molise, Italy. Most victims (26) are children, they were in a school of which the roof collapsed. Est. 5,500 homeless.
• Antitrust: Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly[?] announced her findings in the Microsoft antitrust case after the close of the financial markets.