Portal:Current events/2003 March 17

March 17, 2003 (2003-03-17) (Monday)

• US invasion of Iraq: President George W. Bush announces in a televised speech that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his sons have 48 hours to leave Iraq, or the United States will initiate preemptive military action against Iraq.
• France announces that it had deployed 300 soldiers to seize the Bangui, Central African Republic airport.
• Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, orders all UN personnel to leave Iraq.
• Peter Goldsmith, Attorney General of the UK set out the legal justification for an invasion of Iraq;
• Robin Cook, Leader of the British House of Commons, resigned from the UK cabinet over the plan to invade Iraq;,
• The UK and the US have withdrawn a proposed UN Security Council resolution on Iraq;
• The United States advised UNMOVIC and the International Atomic Energy Agency to withdraw all weapon inspectors out of Iraq;
• Iraq disarmament crisis: Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi said that he supports the U.S., U.K., and Spain for ending diplomatic efforts against Iraq. He also indicates no further UN resolution is necessary to invade Iraq.
• Accounting scandals: Merrill Lynch, its four former executives and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission agree to settle the Enron security fraud case for $80 million. It is one of the five largest penalties imposed on security-related civil cases.

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