October 5, 2003

=October 5, 2003=

*Maher Arar is reported to have been freed from a Syrian jail. The Canadian engineer was deported to Syria by the United States as he changed planes in New York, over a year ago. [http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/10/05/arar031005] He will arrive in Montreal the following afternoon. [http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/10/06/arar_back03]
*Ain es Saheb airstrike: Israeli warplanes attack an alleged Islamic Jihad training base deep in Syria in retaliation for a suicide bombing at a Haifa restaurant that killed 19 people, the army said Sunday. Israeli media state this is the first Israeli attack on Syrian soil in more than two decades. An emergency session of the UN Security Council is scheduled to debate the action. France and Germany condemn the attack. The international community calls for restraint by all parties involved. [http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/01052200.htm]
* Pope John Paul II canonizes Daniele Comboni (1831-1881), Arnold Janssen (1837-1909) and Josef Freinademetz (1852-1908).
* "Ireland on Sunday" claims that Pope John Paul II is suffering from terminal stomach cancer which has spread to his colon. The newspaper reports that the Pope has dictated a living will which gives instructions as to how the Roman Catholic Church is to be administered when the medical treatment he is receiving makes it impossible for him to function as pope. According to the paper, Cardinals have been told to be ready at a moment's notice to fly to Rome for a Papal funeral and Papal conclave.
*The band Hell on Earth reports that an Internet broadcast of a concert that was to feature a suicide of a terminally ill person did not happen on Saturday evening, because the Web site was attacked. Band members state that the concert still went on, but they are unsure whether the suicide took place.