Turkey: The Islamist Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP) has won the Turkish general election. The AKP campaigned on economic and social issues, and downplayed its Islamist origins. The AKP's chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is banned from holding political office, so someone else will become Turkish Prime Minister. Opponents of the AKP have expressed concerns that the AKP's victory may threaten the secular nature of the Turkish state.
Internet: Country code top-level domain administrators have started to talk about taking back control of their parts of the domain name system that has been controlled by ICANN since the death of Jon Postel. They have complained that ICANN is unaccountable, dictatorial and unresponsive to users' needs.
Anti-Semitism: With approval of official state censors, Egyptiantelevision broadcast the first episode of a miniseries, Horseman Without a Horse, based upon the debunked Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It airs at the hour that Egyptian families gather together to break their fast during the fasting month of Ramadan.
Federal Reserve: The US Federal Reserve lowered its overnight bank-lending rate to 1.25 percent, and this bigger-than-expected rate cut signals there may be more weakness in the economy than the market expected. The Fed indicated in its statements accompanying the rate cut that concern about a war with Iraq and the thread of terrorism may be slowing consumer and business spending.
In mid-term elections in the United States, Republicans retake control of the closely divided Senate and maintain control of the House. Democrats make some gains in the governor's races.
Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister dissolved parliament and called for elections early next year. [1], [2]
UK Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith made what was widely considered to be a disastrous speech where he demanded that his party "unite or die". Many observers believe that this marks the start of a new leadership struggle for the Conservative Party.
A referendum in Gibraltar organised by the Government of Gibraltar showed that 99% of those who voted rejected a proposal for joint sovereignty with Spain The turnout for the referendum was 88%.
Colombian drug lord Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, one of the leaders of the Calidrug cartel, was released from prison (for "good behavior") after serving less than half of his sentence, despite objections from the governments of Colombia and the United States.
Iran banned advertising of US products and an Iranian, believing a sorcerer had made him invisible, tried to rob a bank in Tehran.
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.
Former President of FranceValéry 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.
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 magenetic field over the next few hundred years.
A three day general strike begins in Nepal. According to Outlook India, "the capital Kathmandu virtually came to a standstill... Maoists have called the strike to oppose the King's appointment of Lokendra Bahadur Chand... as prime minister after dismissing the government of Sher Bahadur Deuba." [3] Also, 30 Maoistguerrillas were killed in a renewed assault on the revolutionary forces the country's government is currently fighting against. See also politics of Nepal.
The Burrell affair takes a turn for the worse as further scandalous rumours begin to circulate about the British royal family and their servants.
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. Paulin, whilst outspoken, is a prominent supporter of many liberal causes.
US President George W. Bush says that an audio tape thought to carry the voice of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has put the "world on notice". The tape is considered to be authentic.
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.
The UK government has refused to either confirm or deny the putative poison gas attack revealed on November 16, although it is known that three men are currently being held and investigated under the terms of the Terrorism Act 2000.
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 tankerPrestige, 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 : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2488229.stm
Recent celebrity deaths: James Coburn, actor, age 74, of a heart attack.
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.
David McRae, a conservation worker from Guthrie, Angus, Scotland, has died from rabies. He was the first person to contract rabies in the United Kingdom since 1902.
US President George W. Bush signs into law the creation of a new Dept. of Homeland Security which is said to be the largest government reorganization in 50 years.
The controversial physician Severino Antinori has claimed that a project to clonehuman beings has succeeded, with the first human clone due to be born in 2003. His claims were received with scepticism 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.
Kenyan hotel bombing: Three suicide bombers detonated themselves at a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, killing a number of people, including Israelitourists who have been presumed to be the targets of the attack. At the same time two anti-aircraftmissiles were fired at a passenger aircraft, which only narrowly missed. The two attacks are suspected to be connected, and it is suspected that al-Qaeda may be involved in the attacks.
