January 3, 2003

January 3, 2003

• The Immigration and Naturalization Service of the United States proposes rules that will require all Americans traveling abroad to disclose detailed personal information both before leaving the country and before being permitted to re-enter the country. [1]
• In Bourake, Côte d'Ivoire, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin met with political leaders of the Patriotic Movement of the Ivory Coast, who agreed to participate in negotiations to be held in Paris, France, the week of January 15, 2003. However, two independent rebel groups in the west of the country, assisted by fighters from Liberia, have seized villages and the cocoa crops inside those villages, forcing residents to flee to the port of San Pédro with no possessions. One-fifth of the world's cocoa crop passes through San Pédro. A French unit is guarding the port.
• U.S. plan to invade Iraq: United Nations arms inspectors from UNMOVIC have established a base of operations in Mosul, Iraq, 375 kilometers or 200 miles north of Baghdad, to speed the inspection process.
• College football: At the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, the Ohio State University Buckeyes defeated the University of Miami (Florida) Hurricanes, 31-24, to win the national championship.
• Journalist Geoff Mackley [2] reports after a helicopter mission that the Cyclone Zoe led to no casualties on the island of Tikopia, even though devastation was enormous. The 1,000 inhabitants of the island survived in caves. Reports that they had already resumed their daily occupations like fishing are misleading: they were "fishing" for their possessions that were blown out to sea. The situation on the island of Anuta with 600 inhabitants is not known yet.

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