December 6, 2003

• Australian Democrats leader Andrew Bartlett stands aside after allegedly assaulting Liberal Jeannie Ferris on the floor of Parliament.
• Occupation of Iraq:
• George W. Bush asks James Baker to oversee the reconstruction of Iraq's USD $125 billion foreign debt.
• US soldiers in and returning from Iraq are affected by "Baghdad Boil" (Leishmaniasis) that can cause disfiguring skin lesions.
• Japan mourns the two Japanese diplomats killed in Iraq.
• The USA admits that at least nine children have been mistakenly killed in a bombing attack near Ghazni, Afghanistan.
• Delegates representing the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada vote 90% to 10% in favour of forming a union with the Canadian Alliance. The Alliance approved the measure even more overwhelmingly yesterday, with 96% support. The new party is to style itself the Conservative Party of Canada.
• The first major winter storm strikes the North East United States.
• Experts say that the US flu season will be worse than average, but they are not yet ready to say how bad it will be. The USA is running out of the injectable version of the vaccine and is encouraging people to use the nasal spray.
• Zimbabwe fails to find supporters at the Commonwealth Prime Minister's Conference in Nigeria.
• George Clinton, founder of P-Funk, is arrested for cocaine possession in Tallahassee, Florida.