Portal:Current events/2003 July 18

July 18, 2003 (Friday)

U.S. Basketball: Eagle County, Colorado District Attorney Mark Hurlbert announces that Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant has been charged with one count of felony sexual assault, stemming from a June 30 incident at a gated resort involving a 19-year-old woman.
The corpse of Dr. David Kelly is discovered, it appears that he committed suicide. Kelly was a British government advisor involved in the September Dossier investigation relating to the 2003 war on Iraq. Former Labour Junior Minister Glenda Jackson calls for Prime Minister Blair's resignation and a Mail on Sunday reporter asks, "Do you have blood on your hands. Prime Minister?" Blair refuses to comment, as does Communications Director Campbell.^[1]
The United States Senate passes a defense appropriations bill which explicitly forbids the Department of Defense from spending any money on Terrorist Information Awareness research, effectively putting an end to the Information Awareness Office.^[2]
Convention on the Future of Europe finished its work and proposed the first European constitution.