December 18, 2003

• NASA announces that the new name for the "Space Infrared Telescope Facility" will be the Spitzer Space Telescope (after the late Dr. Lyman Spitzer, Jr.). This coincides with the release of the telescope's first images, which show the glowing stars of the Elephant's Trunk nebula, the dusty arms of the Messier 81 spiral galaxy, a disc of planet-forming debris, and organic material 3.25 billion light years away. [1] [2] [3]
• Legal status of suspected terrorists:
  • A committee of the UK Parliament recommends that the power to hold terrorist suspects without trial be repealed. [4]
  • A United States federal appeals court rules that José Padilla, accused by the U.S. Government of taking part in a terrorist "dirty bomb" plot with possible links to al-Qaida, cannot be designated an illegal combatant and must be released from military custody within 30 days. [5] [6] The Bush administration announces that it will seek a stay of the Padilla decision. [7]
  • A United States federal appeals court rules that the "illegal combatants" being held at Camp X-Ray in Cuba should have access to lawyers and to US courts. [8]
  • It is alleged that, in cases where their treatment of a detainee may never come under public scrutiny, The Pentagon and CIA are using a number of controversial techniques to extract information. [9]
• Capture of Saddam Hussein: a Jordanian news source claims that Saddam Hussein was drugged and betrayed by his personal bodyguard, General Mohammed Ibrahim Omar al-Muslit, a member of his own family. [10]
• The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rules to disqualify Spanish athlete Johann Mühlegg and Russian athlete Olga Danilova from all the cross-country skiing races they participated in during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and thus withdraw their medals, due to doping by darbepoetin. [11]
• Prosecutors in California charge singer Michael Jackson with seven counts of child molestation and schedule hearings for January 16, 2004. [12]
• Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warns the Palestinian Authority that Israel will take unilateral steps to separate from the Palestinians unless there is progress on the road map peace plan and sets a deadline of "a few months" for Palestinian compliance. The speech is strongly criticised by the United States, the Israeli left, the Jewish settler movement and the Palestinians. [13]
• Red Hat, in its third quarter, buys Sistina Software. Red Hat expects that it will close the deal by early January for $31 million dollars. [14]
• Sudanese authorities close the Khartoum office of the Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera and detain its bureau chief for questioning. [15]