December 5, 2002 (Thursday)
- Today is the Islamic festival of Eid ul-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan for Muslims worldwide.
- United Airlines, the world's second-biggest carrier, appears headed for the largest bankruptcy filing in airline industry history. The company's efforts to avoid a Chapter 11 filing apparently ended Wednesday when a government board rejected its bid for $1.8 billion in federal loan guarantees.
- The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Harvard mouse, designed for its usefulness in cancer research, is not patentable. In its view such a higher life form does not fall within the definition of invention.
- At Arusha, Tanzania, President Pierre Buyoya of Burundi and Pierre Nkurunziza, leader of the Hutu insurgents Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), signed a cease-fire accord. The goal is to end a nine-year civil war.