--- The Palestinian Authority 's prisoners' affairs ministry states in its monthly statistical report that the number of Palestinian prisoners has risen to around 7,500. Of those 336 are children, 75 female and 943 in need of medical treatment. Of the 166 prisoners who died, 41% died as a result of medical negligence, while 18% died as a result of Torture . (palestine-info.co.uk)(Jihad Unspun)
--- Israel 's Central Bureau of Statistics reports 1,850 new housing units in the Jewish settlements Israel built in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2003, up by 35 percent from the previous year. (BBC)
--- Jason West , mayor of New Paltz, New York is charged with 19 criminal counts of solemnizing marriages without a license. If convicted, he faces up to a $500 fine and a year in jail on each count. (Newsday)
--- Multnomah County, Oregon prepares to begin solemnizing same-sex marriages, after its attorney issues a legal opinion deeming such marriages lawful. (SF Chronicle)
Multiple explosions hit Shiite shrines in Baghdad and Karbala on the Shia festival of Ashura . Over 180 people are reported killed. A three-day long period of national mourning is announced. (BBC)
The U.S. declares its 2,000-man force to have leadership over all foreign military forces in Haiti . President Bush chose not to wait for the UN Security Council but, instead, to intervene immediately to "restore order" in the western hemisphere's poorest country. (Washington Times)