Portal:Current events/2003 March 16

March 16, 2003 (2003-03-16) (Sunday)

• The United States Department of State ordered non-essential diplomats and embassy dependents out of Kuwait, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Damascus.
• U.S. President George W. Bush, U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar meet in the Azores, Portugal for a summit on the Iraq disarmament crisis. One British official describes the meeting as the "last chance for diplomacy." In a press conference at the end of the meeting, President Bush states that "We concluded that tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world".
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Rachel Corrie, a college student from Olympia, Washington and member of the Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, is killed by an Israeli bulldozer when she tries to prevent it as a human shield from demolishing the house of the Palestinian Dr. Samir Masri.
• Zoran Živkovic, a former Interior Minister, was elected by the Democratic Party to succeed the assassinated Prime Minister of Serbia, Zoran Ðindic. He is expected to be elected for Prime Minister in few days at parliament.
• Wen Jiabao was elected Premier of the People's Republic of China by the National People's Congress. He replaced Zhu Rongji.
• Sponsored by the World Water Council, a Water forum began in Kyoto, Japan.
• 64% of voters in Liechtenstein approved a measure to give Prince Hans-Adam II the power to dismiss governments, approve judicial nominees and veto laws. It is the most power of any monarch in Europe. Hans-Adam had threatened to leave the country if the measure was not approved.
• General François Bozizé dissolved the national legislature of the Central African Republic and declared himself President, one day after his rebel forces took Bangui, the capital.

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March 2003

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