August 23, 2003

In an unprecedented move, the British government submit thousands of official documents (many of which would not normally be seen by the public for 30 years) to the Hutton Inquiry, and publication on the Internet. [1][2]
Natural disaster: Wildfires sweep into the southern suburbs of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, destroying more than 200 homes. 30,000 people, or one-third of the city's population, have been evacuated.[3]
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Palestinian leaders state they will try to negotiate a new ceasefire by extremist groups and urge Israel to stop their action against top militants. [4] [5]
Power outage happens all of Southern Finland for 30 to 60 minutes, because one underground line in Central Helsinki short circuits. The lack of electricity begins at 20:20 and causes radio broadcasts, public lights, elevators, trains, trams and metro traffic to stop. Also people have to be evacuated in Linnanmäki amusement park.[6] [7]
California recall: Republican Bill Simon drops out of the California gubernatorial recall race. [8]
Iran makes protest and cuts diplomatic ties with Argentina over the arrest in Britain of its former ambassador with the United Kingdom and Argentina for the alleged bombing Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994 in which 85 people died. [9][10]
John Geoghan, a defrocked Roman Catholic priest and convicted child molester, dies following an attack in prison. Initial reports say that he was strangled to death.[11] [12] [13]