Portal:Current events/November 2002

November 2002 was the eleventh month of that common year. The month, which began on a Friday, ended on a Saturday after 30 days.

This is an archived version of Wikipedia's Current events Portal from November 2002.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.
  • General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Jiang Zemin announced several key policies at the 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 Valéry 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.
  • The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves UN Security Council Resolution 1441 on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences".
  • 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 magnetic field over the next few hundred years.
  • 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.
  • R&B Super Group, TLC released their fourth studio album, 3D (TLC album), seven months after the tragic death of their band member, rapper Lisa Lopes, resulting from a deadly car accident in the Honduras.
  • 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.
  • 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: [1].
  • James Coburn, actor, dies of a heart attack, aged 74.
  • 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.
  • Pop star Michael Jackson dangles his baby off his hotel balcony with people telling him to be family.
  • 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.
  • At least 100 people were killed at the Miss World Beauty Pageant in Nigeria. At least 200 of others were reported missing. The Miss World Beauty Pageant was meant to be a significant international event, and all the world was looking forward to it. It had been planned for weeks. Instead, the entire event was violently interrupted by Muslim and Christian mobs. The Miss World competition was decided to be moved to London.
  • 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 skepticism 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 2002
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Deaths

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Ongoing events

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Ongoing armed conflicts

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Elections

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References

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  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2005-11-21. Retrieved 2015-06-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)