October 14, 2003
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- Religion: RTÉ's Prime Time current affairs programme reports that Cahal Cardinal Daly, then Bishop of Down and Conor, refused to accept allegations passed on to him by students of improper sexual conduct by Monsignor Micheal Ledwith, then head of St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Ireland's major seminary. According to the programme Daly became aggressive, telling students "go back and say your prayers". The TV programme confirms that Daly, and his predecessor, Tómas Cardinal Ó Fiaich, were centrally involved in efforts to silence critics of Ledwith, including forcing the resignation of one dean of students who informed them of allegations that Ledwith was making sexual advances against student priests. Ledwith subsequently left the college after paying damages to an under-age teenager to whom he allegedly made sexual advances. Ledwith, once an internationally famous Roman Catholic theologian tipped to become Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, is now associated with an American New Age cult. Having been tracked down by the programme, Ledwith refuses to comment 'for legal reasons'.
- Liberia: The Inauguration of a new government takes place. The rebels are expected to disarm.
- Sniper - Terrorism: Trial of John Allen Muhammad, who is suspected of being the Washington DC serial sniper, begins. He pleads not guilty.[1]
- Weapons: The BBC reports that dissident IRA groups are supplying the weapons that have led to a recent surge in UK gun crime. [2]
- Instant Messaging: Microsoft chatrooms close today. Free unmoderated chatrooms outside the US are close in what Microsoft claim is an attempt to safeguard children. [3]
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel orders the expulsion of 15 Palestinian detainees from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip. [4]
- British Politics: Conservative Party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, is being investigated by Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Sir Philip Mawer over allegations that he paid a secretarial salary to his wife without her doing sufficient work to warrant the payments. [5]
- Law - A British HIV carrier is found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm after infecting two lovers. [6]
