On this day
Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
In 2002, the world population was approximately 6,337,730,342 people[†]
2002Alexander Prokhorov, Australian-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916)[†]
Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov was an Australian-born Russian physicist and researcher on lasers and masers, in the former Soviet Union. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1964 with Charles Hard Townes and Nikolay Basov.
2002Dave Thomas, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Wendy's (born 1932)[†]
Rex David Thomas was an American businessman, philanthropist, and fast-food tycoon who was the founder and chief executive officer of Wendy's, a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in hamburgers. In this role, Thomas appeared in more than 800 commercial advertisements for the chain from 1989 to 2002, more than any other company founder in television history.
2002President of the United States George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.[†]
George Walker Bush is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party, he is the eldest son of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush, and was the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.
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OUR new mayor has called for all New Yorkers to make sacrifices during these lean times, but the message doesn't seem to have gotten to the union whistle-blowers on my street. These are not the kind of whistle-blowers who report on union scandals. They are literal whistle-blowers. Since November, they have been congregating on the sidewalk to blow a chorus of whistles. Sometimes they've awakened the block at 8 a.m. and blown the whistles all day; sometimes they go for an hour around noon. The unpredictability may be part of the torment.
Footlights column reports on new exhibitions at International Center of Photography, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's fifth annual Winter Festival, exhibition at Getty Museum in Los Angeles on grand tours to Italy taken by wealthy young Britons in 18th century and Fifth Annual Contemporary Dance Showcase at Japan Society; photos (M)
Yves Saint Laurent announced his retirement in Paris yesterday after more than 40 years in which he helped revolutionize the way modern women dress, outfitting them in pants and broad-shouldered suits after the social upheavals of the 1960's. The designer did not give a reason for his retirement, though he did acknowledge that he had been battling poor health and depression for years. Friends of Mr. Saint Laurent -- a star of fashion since 1958, when he took over the house of Christian Dior at age 21 -- said he made the decision to retire on his own, free of pressure from Gucci, which two years ago acquired the ready-to-wear and cosmetics divisions of Yves Saint Laurent. It was through ready-to-wear that he amassed his fortune and exerted his influence, especially after the late 60's.
Dr Lawrence A Donehower reports p53, protein present in every cell that forces cell to destroy itself or stop growing at slightest sign of abnormality rather than become cancerous, has side effect of making body's tissues age faster; inadvertently created mice with unusually large amounts of p53 in cells and found they aged rapidly, indicating aging may be side effect of natural safeguards against cancer; biologists hoping to increase human longevity weigh steps to keep p53's cancer-fighting potency but curb its promotion of aging; diagram (M)
Prime Minis ter Thaksin Shinawatra cast new doubt over the future of a proposed $500 million natural gas pipeline across Southern Thailand during a visit to the area Saturday when he said he would personally review the project. Last month, environmental authorities approved the pipeline, a joint venture between the state-controlled Thai oil company PTT and Petroliam Nasional of Malaysia, over the objections of neighbors and the government's expert review panel. One panel member later publicly called the approval illegal. Wayne Arnold (NYT)
Consumer prices in São Paulo, Brazil's largest city, rose only 0.25 percent in December, the smallest monthly change since May, as high interest rates and a strong dollar continued to keep a lid on spending through the holidays. São Paulo ended the year with inflation of 7.13 percent, up from 4.28 percent last year, mostly because of increases in public services like utilities and transportation. Business leaders hope the moderate inflation figures will lead the central bank to cut interest rates in the coming months. Jennifer Rich (NYT)
General Motors and Daewoo Motor say they are on course for G.M. to take over Daewoo despite reports that G.M. is concerned about labor problems and hidden Daewoo debts. The G.M. chairman, Jack Smith, told Korean reporters in Detroit that negotiations were progressing on the memorandum of understanding between G.M. and Daewoo's creditors. Alan Perriton, above, the G.M. executive in charge of the talks, acknowledged that the sides had yet to come to terms with the company's labor union, which opposes any deal that risks layoffs. Daewoo said reports of the discovery of debts of more than $1 billion in overseas operations were exaggerated and would not jeopardize a deal. Don Kirk (NYT)
The war on terrorism after Afghanistan could focus on denying terrorist groups sanctuary in places like Somalia, Yemen, Indonesia and the Philippines, countries where they have sometimes operated freely, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz said today. Mr. Wolfowitz's remarks, in an interview, provided one of the clearest outlines of the military's strategy for destroying terrorist networks.
Prosecutors decided to close investigation into financing of Sen Robert G Torricelli's 1996 campaign in New Jersey without bringing criminal charges because they found too many credibility problems and eccentricities in David Chang, their key witness, because there were questions about other witnesses and because federal prosecutors have had hard time proving charges of bribery and illegal gratuities; people involved in inquiry suggest that some of weaknesses in case against Torricelli stemmed from decision by Manhattan prosecutors to take direct aim at him (M)
San Antonio Spurs defeat New York Knickerbockers, 90-79; photo (M)
When the Argentine government decided over the weekend to devalue the peso, it also decided on several measures to spare its citizens some of the pain of devaluation. The brunt of the costs of those measures will be borne in Spain. Banks in Argentina have been told they must allow loans of less than $100,000 to be paid off in pesos at the predevaluation exchange rate, rather than the dollars they were promised. Two of Argentina's biggest banks, with one-fifth of the market, are Spanish-owned.
The Internet stock bubble may have burst, but the dream of getting rich quick lives on. How else to explain the success of Cole Bartiromo, a California teenager who raised more than $1 million from investors late last fall by guaranteeing returns of up to 2,500 percent? In less than two months, Mr. Bartiromo, 17, persuaded more than 1,000 people to send him money by promising to make risk-free bets on sporting events, according to a complaint yesterday from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Then he transferred much of the money to an account he held at a casino in Costa Rica.