March 12, 2003

Lech Wałęsa, 1983 Nobel Peace Prize winner, urges the UN Security Council to back the US led war on Iraq.
Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated.
Vicente Fox, president of Mexico, undergoes emergency back surgery for a herniated disc.
The CAC 40 Paris index of stock exchange hits a five year low, closing at 2.403,04.
The DAX 30 index of Frankfurt stock exchange hits an eight year low, closing at 2.202,96.
The Nikkei stock average of Tokyo stock exchange hits a 20-year low, closing at 7,862.43.
An Indonesian court convicts Brig.-Gen. Noer Moeis of crimes against humanity and sentences him to five years in prison for failing to prevent massacres in East Timor. [1]
The European Court of Human Rights rules that the Turkish trial of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan was not fair.
The World Health Organization issued a rare Global Alert about a mysterious severe respiratory disease spreading in several countries.