December 27, 2003

The estimate of the number of dead in the Bam earthquake increases to 40,000, according to the provincial governor. Iran has refused earthquake aid from Israel.[1]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announces that it believes the BSE infected cow detected in Washington state was imported from Canada in 2001. The location of the other 73 cows imported with it is unknown. [2]
Romano Prodi, the President of the European Commission, survives a letter bomb attack. [3] [4]
British scientists are continuing their efforts to make contact with the Mars probe Beagle 2, which was designed to perform advanced studies of the Martian soil in an effort to find microbial life. [5]