Wednesday December 17, 2003

Historical Events

• Ian Huntley was found guilty of two murder charges in the Soham murder trial. Maxine Carr, his girlfriend, is found guilty for perverting justice.
• SpaceShipOne Flight 11P, piloted and controlled by Brian Binnie makes its first supersonic flight.
• Linus Torvalds releases Linux kernel 2.6.0
• Capture of Saddam Hussein : Mowaffaq Al-Rubaie claims that Saddam Hussein would be tried in Iraq by an Iraqi Court. Mowaffaq is a member the Iraqi Governing Council and denies that the prisoner was taken from Baghdad. Donald Rumsfeld, United States Secretary for Defense confirms that Saddam Hussein is not going to be considered a prisoner-of-war subject to the Geneva Conventions.
• Mowaffaq Al-Rubaie claims that Saddam Hussein would be tried in Iraq by an Iraqi Court. Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, a member the Iraqi Governing Council denies that Saddam Hussein has been expelled from Baghdad.
• Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense of the United States confirms that Saddam Hussein is not being treated as a prisoner-of-war subject to the Geneva Conventions.
• Stephen Kenny was the first civilian lawyer in Guantanamo to visit former Afghan war suspects. He claims that prisoners are not treated equally, and that there is an order in which Americans are treated the best.
• Occupation in Iraq: In downtown Baghdad, a fuel tanker explodes, killing 10 people and injuring 15. Initial thought was that the explosion was caused by a bomb. Officials later determined that it was caused by a traffic accident.
• Terrorism: The leader of the terrorist group Revolutionary Organization 17 Nov in Greece and their chief hitman were sentenced to life imprisonment along with four other members. Thomas Kean, the chairman of an independent commission that investigated the September 11th attacks 2001, claims that the attacks could have prevented them and that it was public officials' fault for failing to anticipate and prevent the threat. The report of the commission is due May 2004.
• Along with four other members, the head of Revolutionary Organization 17 Nov in Greece and their chief hitman were sentenced to life imprisonment.
• Thomas Kean, the chairman of the independent investigation into the September 11th attacks 2001, claims that the attacks could not have been prevented. Public officials are to be blamed for failing to anticipate and prevent the threat. The report of the commission is due May 2004.
• Maxine Carr and Ian Huntley were convicted of their roles in the August 2002 murders in Soham, England of Holly Wells, 10 year old, and Jessica Chapman at the age of 10.
• Taiwan has reported the first confirmed case of SARS in five months. This was the result of a medical researcher who had previously studied the virus. [10]
• The United States National Weather Service warns about "excessive heat" following the Earth's alleged break from its orbit and falling into the sun. It turns out that it was a mispublished test message. [11]
• The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King is the final part of Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of J. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. It will be released in the United States and most of Europe. It could have been the second film to surpass US$1billion in box office revenue, as industry pundits predicted. [12]
• Republic of Congo: In Brazzaville, a gunbattle breaksout. [13]
• Health: A case of variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease could have been caused by blood transfusion, according to the UK government. [14]
• Former Governor of Illinois George H. Ryan was indicted for corruption for accepting payoffs and gifts in return for leases and government contracts. [15]
• John G. Rowland, Governor of Connecticut, announces that he will not step down despite corruption allegations involving free modifications to a vacation home and indictments against several of his top aides. [16]
• Islam in France: The hidjab issue. President of France Jacques Chirac announced that he would support a ban on Muslim headscarves, Jewish yarmulkes, and large Christian crosses being worn in schools and government offices. The law, if passed, will take effect in September 2004. Muslim clerics claim that the ban is an attack upon their faith. [17] [18]
• Space exploration: Space tourism pioneers celebrate the 100th anniversary for the Wright Brothers' first flight. SpaceShipOne is a private-funded suborbital passenger-ferrying space plane that can fly at supersonic speeds up to 68,000 feet. Space Adventures announces that two additional tickets are now available to fly to the International Space Station. Each ticket costs US$20million. [20] [21]
• Space tourism pioneers celebrate the 100th anniversary Wright Brothers' first flight. SpaceShipOne was demonstrated by Space Tourism Magnates. It is a private-funded suborbital passenger-ferrying space plane that can fly at supersonic speeds up to 68,000 feet. [19]
• Space Adventures has announced that two additional tickets are now available to fly to the International Space Station for US$20 million each. [20] [21]
• See more

See also

What happened on December 17 in history? Find out the list of December 17th major events

What was 2003 famous for? Discover everything about 2003

Who died on December 17, 2003?

• Ed Devereaux

Other December 17th famous deaths

• Captain Beefheart

  American musician (Born 1941).

• Tom Wesselmann

  American artist associated with the Pop Art movement who worked in painting, collage and sculpture.

• Harold Holt

  Australian politician, Prime Minister of Australia 1966-1967.

• Dana Andrews

  American actor (Laura, The Best Years of Our Lives, I was a Communist for the FBI), dies in Los Alamitos, California, of congestive heart...

See all famous people who died on December 17th

Western Zodiac - Astrological Sign

Sagittarius

Sagittarius personality

Who should a Sagittarius marry?

Babies born in December are either Sagittarius or Capricorn. People born before December 21st are Sagittarius, while people born from December 22nd have the sign of Capricorn

Personality of December born

Chinese Zodiac

Goat

The day of the week was Wednesday.

December 17th marks the 350th day of the Gregorian calendar for the year 2003.

There are 14 days remaining until the end of the year. Calculate the number of days between two dates.

December 2003 calendar

Top #5 songs in the USA

1. OutKast - Hey Ya!
2. OutKast - The Way You Move
3. Ludacris - Stand Up
4. Kelis - Milkshake
5. 3 Doors Down - Here Without You

Top #5 songs in the UK

1. Will Young - Leave Right Now
2. Shane Richie - I'm Your Man
3. Ozzy & Kelly Osbourne - Changes
4. The Black Eyed Peas - Shut Up
5. Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules - Mad World

Top #5 R&B songs

1. Alicia Keys - You Don't Know My Name
2. R. Kelly - Step In The Name Of Love
3. Jagged Edge - Walked Outta Heaven
4. OutKast Featuring Sleepy Brown - The Way You Move
5. YoungBloodZ Featuring Lil Jon - Damn!

Top #5 Latin songs

1. Sin Bandera - Mientes Tan Bien
2. Los Huracanes del Norte - Nomas Por Tu Culpa
3. Obie Bermudez - Antes
4. Gloria Estefan - Hoy
5. Luis Miguel - Te Necesito

Bundesliga 1

• Dortmund - Kaiserslautern : 1 - 1
• Hannover - Bochum : 2 - 2
• Munich 1860 - M'gladbach : 1 - 2
• Schalke 04 - Wolfsburg : 1 - 1
• Stuttgart - Leverkusen : 2 - 3

Bundesliga 2

• Aachen - Karlsruhe : 0 - 0
• Ein Trier - Mainz : 1 - 0
• Lubeck - Greuther Furth : 1 - 0
• Union Berlin - Burghausen : 1 - 2
• Unterhaching - Erzgebirge Aue : 1 - 2

Division 2

• Valence - Grenoble : 1 - 2

Stock Markets

• ExxonMobil XOM: opens at $38.63
• Apple AAPL: opens at $20.08
• Microsoft MSFT: opens at $27.04
• General Electric GE: opens at $30.65
• International Business Machines IBM: opens at $93.85

Exchange Rates

• 1 USD = 107.4 JPY
• 1 USD = 1.3265 CAD
• 1 USD = 1.2532 CHF
• 1 EUR = 133.24 JPY
• 1 EUR = 0.7023 GBP