Portal:Current events/2003 July 16

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July 16, 2003 (2003-07-16) (Wednesday)
  • Seán Ó Muireagáin, a Northern Irish journalist, arrested by Israel and held for five days without legal representation in a case of mistaken identity, is released and leaves Israel. The affair causes considerable embarrassment to the Israeli and British secret services, the former having arrested Ó Mureagáin on the advice of the latter, who claimed incorrectly that he was a Real IRA man with the same name. In the confused aftermath, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman suggests that Ó Muireagáin may have been guilty, while Prime Minister Sharon's spokesman states categorically that he was innocent and the entire affair an error. He claims that Ó Muireagáin is a former convicted Provisional IRA terrorist.
  • A coup d'état takes place in São Tomé and Príncipe; the prime minister Maria das Neves is arrested.[1]
  • Following the 500,000-people protest on July 1, the government of Hong Kong is hit by two resignations of high-ranking officials in one day. One is the Financial Secretary Antony Leung and the other is the Security Secretary Regina Ip, who was in charge of the controversial Article 23.[2]
  • Phil Fontaine is elected Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Canada.
  • An 86-year-old man accidentally hits the accelerator instead of the brake at a farmer's market in Santa Monica, California, driving his car through a closed-off street and killing at least 10 people (including a 3-year-old girl and a 7-month-old boy) and injuring over 50 others. One of the dead is the daughter-in-law of actor Dennis Weaver.
  • An Australian research team led by Graham Giles of The Cancer Council publishes a medical study which concludes that frequent masturbation by males may help prevent the development of prostate cancer.
  • Celia Cruz dies of a cancerous brain tumor.
  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-10-13. Retrieved 2017-09-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2017-09-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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