Portal:Current events/2003 August 22

August 22, 2003 (2003-08-22) (Friday)

• A Brazilian Space Agency VLS-1 space rocket explodes on its launch-pad at Alcântara space base, killing at least 21 people. It is thought that one of the rocket's four motors caught fire; the subsequent explosion destroyed the rocket, its cargo of two satellites, and the launch-pad, as well as the deaths of many of Brazil's space-specialists, causing an estimated US$12 million worth of damage. This ends Brazil's third attempt since 1997 at becoming a space power.
• Natural disaster: Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano sends a column of smoke and ash three kilometres into the air.
• Natural disaster: Wildfire forces around 10,000 people from their homes in Kelowna, British Columbia. This is Western Canada's worst fire season in decades.
• Occupation of Iraq: United Nations Security council members are split on the issue of Iraq. France, Russia, People's Republic of China, and Germany are proposing differing ways to expand the United Nations mandate in Iraq beyond humanitarian aid and reconstruction. Secretary of State of the United States Colin Powell states that there is no plan to cede authority to the United Nations from the Coalition forces. Powell also sought a new Security Council resolution that would involve other nations to contribute troops and aid in securing and rebuilding Iraq.
• War on Terrorism – Canal Hotel: Investigators focus on the possibility that former Iraqi intelligence agents working as security guards may have assisted the attack.
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Palestinian militants and the Israeli Government vow to continue attacks on each other after the terrorist attacks and bloodshed. Hamas and Islamic Jihad release an official joint statement on their participation ending in the peace plan. They urge militant cells in Palestine to strike. Israeli security officials state this is "only the beginning" of responses to Palestinian attacks.
• War on Terrorism: President of the United States George W. Bush announces a freeze on the assets of the Palestinian militant leaders of Hamas and organizations financially supporting the "terrorist organization". The action is taken because Hamas officially claims responsibility for the act of terror on August 19.
• Separation of church and state: Alabama's Chief Justice Roy Moore is suspended by a Judicial Ethics Panel over his refusal to remove a monument listing the Ten Commandments which he had installed in the state Supreme Court building. Moore had been ordered to remove the controversial monument by U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson, who in a judgment in 2002 said the monument "violates the constitution's ban on government promotion of a religious doctrine". Thompson's judgment was upheld by eight Associate Justices. Their ruling was criticised by Moore and the Christian Defense Coalition, who have threatened to block the court building to prevent the monument's removal.

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