Portal:Current events/2003 October 14

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October 14, 2003 (2003-10-14) (Tuesday)
  • RTÉ's Prime Time current affairs programme reports that Cahal Daly, Bishop of Down and Conor, refused to accept allegations passed on to him by students of improper sexual conduct by Monsignor Micheal Ledwith, then head of St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Ireland's major seminary. According to the programme Daly became aggressive, telling students "go back and say your prayers". The TV programme confirms that Daly, and his predecessor, Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich, were centrally involved in efforts to silence critics of Ledwith, including forcing the resignation of one dean of students who informed them of allegations that Ledwith was making sexual advances against student priests. Ledwith subsequently left the college after paying damages to an under-age teenager to whom he allegedly made sexual advances. Ledwith, once an internationally famous Roman Catholic theologian tipped to become Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, is now associated with an American New Age organization. Having been tracked down by the programme, Ledwith refuses to comment 'for legal reasons'.
  • Liberia: The Inauguration of a new government takes place. The rebels are expected to disarm.
  • Sniper – Terrorism: Trial of John Allen Muhammad, who is suspected of being the Washington DC serial sniper, begins. He pleads not guilty.[1]
  • The BBC reports that dissident IRA groups are supplying the weapons that have led to a recent surge in UK gun crime.[2]
  • Microsoft chatrooms close today. Free unmoderated chatrooms outside the US are closed in what Microsoft claim is an attempt to safeguard children.[3]
  • Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel orders the expulsion of 15 Palestinian detainees from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip.[4]
  • British Conservative Party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, is being investigated by Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Sir Philip Mawer over allegations that he paid a secretarial salary to his wife without her doing sufficient work to warrant the payments.[5]
  • A British HIV carrier is found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm after infecting two lovers.[6]
  1. ^ "BBC NEWS - Americas - US sniper suspect denies charges". Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  2. ^ "BBC NEWS - UK - Irish guns 'fuel British crime'". Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  3. ^ "BBC NEWS - Technology - Microsoft chatrooms close". Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  4. ^ "BBC NEWS - Middle East - Israel to expel West Bank detainees". Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  5. ^ Matthew Tempest. "Watchdog to investigate Betsy salary". the Guardian. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  6. ^ "HIV carrier convicted in landmark ruling". the Guardian. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
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