The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Madrid - From London's Victoria Station to the Vatican, mourners across Europe paid tribute Monday to the victims of last week's bombings in Madrid. The noontime memorial services brought quiet to many of the region's capitals for three minutes. A Vatican spokesperson said Pope John Paul II knelt and bowed his head "for a moment of meditation, uniting himself spiritually to all those suffering because of this attack." The memorials came a day after Spain's socialist party won an upset election victory that was credited largely to their opposition to the war in Iraq. Singapore - As of Thursday, people chewing gum in Singapore will no longer be arrested Ð as long as they're blowing bubbles obtained with a doctor's prescription. Those include Nicorette, the nicotine substitute used by smokers trying to quit, and certain types of sugar-free gum recommended by dentists and oral surgeons. Singapore banned chewing gum in 1992, saying discarded wads were littering its streets, its buildings and its public transit systems. The penalty for smuggling illicit chewing gum, or even buying it by mail-order catalogue, is up to a year in jail plus a fine of about $7,800. Beijing - China made historic changes to its constitution on Sunday, amending it to protect human and property rights for the first time since the country's Communist revolution in 1949.
