Unix Timestamp: 1060128000
Wednesday, August 6. 2003, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Florida is set to begin paying in fees to pilot/database guru and alleged former drug smuggler turned government informant Hank Asher in payment for his Matrix system, a rapidly searchable database combining existing police records and several large commercially available computer databases. Civil libertarians are outraged at the system, claiming it is Orwellian and reminiscent of the Federal Total Information Awareness program. The United States Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security are providing funds to expand Matrix coverage to the entire country. //www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21872-2003Aug5.html//www.cato.org/dispatch/08-06-03d.html//www.local6.com/news/2384241/detail.html

An Italian laboratory announces the birth of the world's first cloned horse, Prometea. //www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNewsstoryID=3232023

Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt is convicted in the Republic of Ireland's Special Criminal Court of two terrorist offences, directing terrorism and membership of an illegal organisation. One of the key witnesses was David Rupert, an FBI agent who posed as a member of the Real IRA to get close to McKevitt. The three judges of the SCC will sentence McKevitt later. //www.rte.ie/news/2003/0806/mckevittm.html

The United States Pentagon establishes that a unit of military personnel has arrived in Liberia, coordinating support for the West African peacekeepers in the country. //www.kvoa.com/stories/8/862003_20.html//www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/08/06/liberia030806