To the streets


Millions of protesters against war in Iraq took part in scores of demonstrations around the globe—notably in Rome, London and Sydney. Both President George Bush and Tony Blair respectfully disagreed and began preparing a new resolution to submit to the United Nations Security Council.

See article: Does public opposition to the war matter?

Opponents of war also took heart from Hans Blix's most recent presentation to the UN. The chief weapons inspector said that Saddam Hussein's regime had become slightly more helpful, and he also cast doubt on some of America's claims that Iraq was hiding weapons from his inspectors. But he added that Iraq was still not complying fully, and time was running out.

See article: The United Nations and Iraq

European Union leaders agreed on a line toward Iraq: yes, give the inspectors more time, but no, that process could not be drawn out indefinitely. France went along with it. But Jacques Chirac told would-be EU members they were “not well brought up” to voice pro-American sentiments before they were inside the club—and hinted that France might call a referendum on their admission that would bar them.

See article: Europe's disarray over Iraq

The row in NATO over planning for Turkey's defence was sorted out, in a committee that does not include France, one of the two big objectors. But Turkey's government did not, as previously planned, put to its parliament a motion to admit American combat troops: it still wants a bigger compensation package, and written assurances against possible future independence for Kurds in northern Iraq.

See article: Caught in the crossfire

Terror on trial

The first person to stand trial for the September 11th terrorist attacks, Mounir al-Motassadeq, was found guilty in a German court of being an accessory to murder. The Moroccan was also convicted of attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and membership of a terrorist organisation. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

See article: One down, many more to go

Twenty-one people died in a stampede in a Chicago nightclub after security officers used pepper spray to break up a fight. Clubbers believed they were in a terrorist attack.

See article: Crushed in a nightclub


The worst snowstorms for a decade killed more than 50 people in the north-eastern United States. The mayor of New York claimed that each inch of snow cost the city $1m.

See article: Blizzard

A new leader

Tasos Papadopoulos was elected president of the internationally recognised Greek part of Cyprus, beating 83-year-old Glafkos Clerides, who has held the job since 1993. The new man has taken a harder line over a settlement with the Turkish-Cypriots.

See article: Cyprus's new president

NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo arrested three ethnic-Albanian former guerrillas indicted by the UN's war-crimes tribunal in The Hague, the first ethnic Albanians to be nabbed on those grounds.

Over cries of anguish and “It'll never work” from media and motoring organisations, Europe's biggest city, London, brought in a £5 ($8) a day “congestion charge” on cars driving into the city centre. It (and the technology) did work: traffic was down by a third or so, and average speeds considerably up inside the zone.

See article: Avoiding gridlock

Dolly, a sheep famed as the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell nucleus, was “put down” by her owner, the Roslin Institute in Scotland. She was suffering from lung disease.

Fighting, as usual

Fighting intensified in Gaza. After Hamas guerrillas blew up a tank with four Israeli soldiers inside, the Israeli army raided deep into Gaza City. Eight prominent Hamas militants were killed, as well as other Palestinian fighters and civilians. Rockets were shot over the border into Israel.

See article: Palestinian reform

Yasser Arafat said that he would be prepared to devolve power by appointing a prime minister if the Palestinian Authority's parliament, and the PLO's Central Council, agreed to change the draft constitution. The two bodies have been prevented by Israel from meeting.

See article: Hopes pinned on Palestinian reform

An Iranian military transport plane, with 302 people on board, crashed in south-east Iran, killing everyone.

In Zambia, after the supreme court turned down ex-President Frederick Chiluba's appeal against the removal of his immunity from prosecution, he was picked up by the police for questioning. His successor, Levy Mwanawasa, accuses him of corruption.

Robert Mugabe arrived in Paris for a Franco-African summit, having won an exemption from an EU travel ban. A British gay activist, Peter Tatchell, urged the French police to arrest the Zimbabwean president on torture charges.

See article: Zimbabwe's split politics

The battle against taxes

Further serious rioting in Bolivia's capital, La Paz, caused 27 deaths and forced the government of President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada to abandon its plans to raise taxes in order to secure new loans from the IMF.

See article: Behind Bolivia's violence

After long delays, Peru's former spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, at last went on public trial on 57 corruption charges.

See article: Montesinos goes on trial at last

War of words

In the latest exchange in its war of words with the United States, North Korea threatened to pull out of the armistice agreement that ended the Korean war in 1953. A North Korean plane briefly violated South Korean airspace.

See article: North Korea steps up its threats

The chief of Pakistan's air force and other senior officers were killed in a plane crash in the country's north-west. Bad weather was blamed.

Nearly 600 suspected drug dealers have been killed in the first three weeks of a “war on drugs” in Thailand, according to government figures.

See article: Drugs in Thailand


Two underground trains caught fire in the South Korean city of Daegu, killing at least 125 people. Police said a man with a history of mental illness had confessed to starting the fires.

See article: South Korea's new president

Seven members of Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim terrorist group, were killed by Filipino soldiers on Jolo island, in the southern Philippines. Three soldiers died. American special forces are training Filipinos on the island.

In a move to stop the production of counterfeit copies of Hollywood movies in Asia, America's Motion Picture Association said it had allocated $150,000 to reward informants whose tip-offs lead to raids on pirate factories.