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[†]
2002Melih Cevdet Anday, Turkish poet and author (born 1915)[†]
Melih Cevdet Anday was a Turkish writer whose poetry stands outside the traditional literary movements. He also wrote in many other genres which, over six and a half decades, included eleven collections of poems, eight plays, eight novels, fifteen collections of essays, several of which won major literary awards. He also translated several books from diverse languages into Turkish.
2002Suicide bombers blow up an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya; their colleagues fail in their attempt to bring down Arkia Israel Airlines Flight 582 with surface-to-air missiles.[†]
The 2002 Mombasa attacks were two coordinated terrorist attacks on 28 November 2002 in Mombasa, Kenya, against an Israeli-owned hotel and a plane belonging to Arkia Airlines. An all-terrain vehicle crashed through a barrier outside the Paradise Hotel and blew up, killing 13 and injuring 80. At the same time, attackers fired two surface-to-air missiles at an Israeli charter plane. The Paradise Hotel was the only Israeli-owned hotel in the Mombasa area.
Weblogs, commonly called blogs, personal Web sites where people spout their thoughts for all to read, are fairly evenly divided between men and women, but subject matter is vastly different; men's blogs generally comment on news and politics and women's tend to be more inwardly focused; cursory inspection can lead surfer to think men are more prolific because they are linked more to each other's blogs, while women's blogs can be found in directories like Blog Sisters; there are signs that tables are turning, as more men's blogs contain personal tidbits and women are surveying the body politic; drawing; photos (M)
Gov James McGreevey apologizes for charging New Jersey taxpayers $70,000 for trip to Ireland last summer that combined business and vacation; will ask state Democratic party to repay most of money; photo; Star-Ledger reported he spent over $105,000, including $3,178 charged to state for family reunion dinner; $20,000 was estimated cost of trade mission (M)
Philadelphia Phillies increase offer to Tom Glavine to outbid New York Mets' second offer at early stage of counter proposals (M)
Bush administration proposes to give managers of 155 national forests more discretion to approve logging and commercial activities with less evaluation of potential damage to environment; proposal would thoroughly rewrite rules issued by Pres Bill Clinton in November 2000; Clinton rules and Bush administration's proposals reviewed (M)
Analysis of whether Vivendi Universal is considering selling its American entertainment assets; says there are plenty of reasons to believe that selling them could be difficult, not only because of big egos involved but because of uncertainties in determining what they are worth; Marvin Davis's unsolicited $20 billion bid for Universal Entertainment could change dynamic for Barry Diller, chief of Universal Entertainment, who is known to have his own big plans for unit, most likely including effort to spin off at least part of its equity in public stock offering; Vivendi's management in Paris has publicly rejected Davis's offer; photo (M)
Broadway National Bank pleads guilty before Federal Judge Thomas P Griesa to three felony charges of failing to file suspicious-activity reports on $123 million in cash deposits and failing to establish program to curb money laundering; will pay $4 million fine under plea agreement; prosecutors say case is first instance of bank's being prosecuted for violating those laws; prosecutors say from 1996 to 1998, bank failed to report hundreds of bulk cash deposits totaling more than $46 million and thousands of transfers structured to avoid federal disclosure laws; add once cash was deposited, sometimes in large duffel bags dropped off in teller area, it was quickly wired to bank accounts in Latin America and Middle East; Customs Service spokesman Dean Boyd says bank became bank of choice of criminal organizations because it did not ask questions and did not want to know where money came from; Broadway National lawyer William B Pollard III says at no time did bank know, believe or suspect that any of suspicious deposits were derived from illegal activity or consciously avoid learning source of money (M)
Allergy Drug Is Approved For Sale Over the Counter Regulators approved the nation's top-selling allergy drug, Claritin, as an over-the-counter medicine, a decision that will bring substantial savings for the uninsured. Schering-Plough, the maker of Claritin, said that the nonprescription drug would be available in mid-December. With prescription costs rising, insurers are pressing regulators to make more brand name drugs available over the counter. WellPoint, the insurer that initiated the reappraisal of Claritin, has also asked regulators to make Clarinex, Schering-Plough's newest allergy drug, available over the counter. [Page A1.]
Russian oil industry says it has settled on plan for 1,550-mile pipeline to new oil terminal at Murmansk; chief executives from Lukoil, Yukos, Tyumen Oil and Sibneft sign memorandum of understanding to puruse project, which could connect with Russia's existing pipeline network; project will not deliver oil until at least 2007; map; photos (M)
Planned sale of Czech government's controlling stake in main telephone company Cesky Telecom apparently falls apart, leaving huge hole in state budget; sale to group of investors led by Deutsche Bank for 1.82 billion euros ($1.8 billion) was announced on Aug 8; sale's failure costs job of company's chief executive Premysl Klima, who is dimissed from board; buyers wanted more of company than just state's 51 percent stake; group also wanted to acquire 27 percent stake held by TelSource, joint venture that is running company; group is unable to agree on price with partners in TelSource venture, Royal KPN of Netherlands and Swisscom of Switzerland; photo (M)
Profile of husband and wife design team Constantin and Laurene Leon Boym of New York City; their projects include furniture, household tools, museum exhibition design and most notoriously Buildings of Disaster, nickel miniatures that replicate sites like Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City where terrible events have taken place; photos (L)
Car rental industry is in midst of major upheaval, with prices for rental car resales falling and competition intensifying; Enterprise, which built its lead primarily through local rentals, is pushing harder into airports; other companies, suffering from drop in business travel, are trying different strategies to attract vacationers; Avis and Hertz, which once focused primarily on business travelers, are pushing for more vacation business; not only have rental companies cut back on number of vehicles on their lots to match weaker demand, they are also trying to avoid losing money on used-car sales, where prices have plunged; graph (M)
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving has always been advertised as one of the busiest travel days of the year. But from Boston to Atlanta to Los Angeles, travelers found something quite unexpected: a pleasant experience. Despite peak periods in the morning, midday and late afternoon, when waits extended to more than a few minutes, pilgrims everywhere said they found ample parking and shorter lines.