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2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
Events
- U.S. newscast Nightline is taken off the air by several stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group because of its planned airing of a list of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. Sinclair claims it is a political ploy, while network ABC says it is meant as "an expression of respect which simply seeks to honor those who have laid down their lives for this country.
- President George W. Bush expresses his "disgust" at images of Iraqi prisoners being mistreated by U.S. soldiers: "Their treatment does not reflect the nature of the American people." [1]
- Macedonian officials admit that they staged a bogus gun-battle with "terrorists" in March 2002 and that they knew the seven men slain had no terrorist connections. Four members of the security forces face murder charges for their staged killing. [2]
- Diego Maradona leaves hospital after 12 days of treatment for heart and breathing problems.
- After 25 years, Bob Edwards hosts NPR's Morning Edition for the last time.
- In heavy fighting outside Najaf, Iraq, U.S. forces kill 64 insurgents and destroy an anti-aircraft weapon. [4]
- A bomb explosion and gun battle occur in Damascus, Syria between security forces and a "terrorist group," in which four people are killed and a vacant United Nations building badly damaged. The identity and motives of the attackers is unclear but Islamist militants are the prime suspects. (BBC).
- South African president Thabo Mbeki is sworn in for a second term after being overwhelmingly reelected on April 14. The event is marred by controversy over the attendance of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe. [5]
- In an open letter to Tony Blair, 52 former high ranking British diplomats, including former ambassadors to Iraq and Israel, condemn the Prime Minister's foreign policy stance in the Middle East as "doomed to failure" and also condemn George W. Bush's recent endorsement of Ariel Sharon's offer to withdraw settlers from the Gaza Strip while leaving some in the West Bank as "one-sided and illegal and which will cost yet more Israeli and Palestinian blood." [6]
- Indian general election, 2004: The second phase of elections in the world's largest democracy takes place. Many key states such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar vote; exit polls favour the opposition (BBC)
- The design of the new United States fifty-dollar bill is announced. (U.S. Treasury) (IHT) (CNN)
- Authorities in Jordan announce that they have broken up an attempt to set off massive explosions in Amman, possibly including the release of toxic chemicals. Alleged targets include the office of the Prime Minister, Jordanian intelligence headquarters, and the US embassy. The plot is attributed to Al Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. (CNN)
- Three Irishmen arrested in Colombia in August 2001 on charges of training FARC rebels are acquitted. (BBC)
- The Hong Kong democracy movement suffers a setback as the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress declares Hong Kong will not have direct elections for Chief Executive in 2007 nor for all its Legislative Councillers in 2008.
- A landslide buries a village in southern Kyrgyzstan, and emergency officials state that up to 33 people are missing and feared dead.
- Nick Holonyak Jr., inventor of the light-emitting diode (LED), receives the 10th annual Lemelson-MIT Prize, awarded to prominent inventors by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (AP)
- Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen (13) becomes the world's youngest international Grandmaster (GM), and the second youngest ever, after four wins and four draws out of nine games in the 6th Dubai Open Chess Championship. (Aftenposten)
- At the International Space Station, the second of four stabilizing gyroscopes fails, hours after a new crew arrives. A spacewalk to do the repair will be scheduled in a few weeks. (Reuters)
- Volkswagen buys LeasePlan from ABN AMRO.
- The US Army states that the insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq, have "days, not weeks" to fulfill a clause in the ceasefire that requires them to turn over heavy weapons. To date, only rocket-propelled grenade rounds marked "inert", rusted mortar shells, dud rockets and unusable guns have been surrendered. (AP) (Defenselink)
- The Evangelical Lutheran Church is ordered to pay the largest per capita settlement in a church sexual abuse case in the United States by a jury in Marshall, Texas. (AP) (ABC/US)
- The United Nations Security Council passes a unanimous resolution endorsing the inquiry into corruption in the United Nations Oil for food program for Iraq calling upon all 191 member states to cooperate. (NYT)
- Ryongchon disaster: at least 154 people are killed and over 1200 are injured, according to the Red Cross, in a massive explosion after a train carrying explosives came in contact with live electrical wires in Ryongchon, North Korea. 1850 homes were destroyed and thousands more damaged. (BBC) (BBC) (NYT)
- Yasser Arafat orders 21 members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades section of Fatah, who are wanted by Israel and have been seeking sanctuary within the Mukata for many months, to leave his Mukata headquarters in Ramallah. (INN)
- A grand jury indicts Michael Jackson on charges of child molestation. (FoxNews)
- Mordechai Vanunu, who leaked Israeli nuclear-weapons secrets in 1986, is released from prison after 18 years. (Guardian) (BBC)
- Two car bombs explode outside the General Security headquarters of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, killing nine and wounding 125. (AP) (CNN)
- Iraq Occupation and Insurgency:
- Three car bombs explode outside police stations in Basra, killing 68 people and wounding over 100 more. Iraqi officials blame suicide bombers for the terrorism. 23 of the casualties are school children. A fourth car bomb explodes in Zubeir, south of Basra, killing three and wounding four. British soldiers assisting the wounded are pelted with stones, injuring four, two seriously. (BBC) (NYT)
- The Iraqi Governing Council chooses a tribunal of judges and prosecutors to try Saddam Hussein. Salem Chalabi, nephew of Ahmed Chalabi, will chair the tribunal. (Toronto Star)
- The People's Republic of China praises the United Nations Commission on Human Rights' decision to block a U.S. motion to condemn Beijing's human rights record. (VOA)
- 1000 more demonstrators, including former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, are arrested in Kathmandu. They are calling on the King of Nepal to restore democracy. (Morning Star)
- 2004 South Korean parliamentary elections: The Uri Party, backed by suspended President Roh Moo-hyun, more than triples its representation, winning 152 of 299 seats.
- Iraq Occupation and Insurgency:
- Mexico - Economy of Mexico: Mexico's Foreign Affairs Secretary, Luis Ernesto Derbez, announces that his country is seeking admission to South America's Mercosur trade bloc, the third largest in the world. (Reuters)
- Seeking legal recognition as a news organization, the National Rifle Association begins NRANews, a website dedicated to presenting its view of the right to bear arms. (NRANews)
- Mark Chen replaces Eugene Chien as foreign minister of Taiwan. Chien resigned to take responsibility for American Institute in Taiwan Director Therese Shaheen's resignation. (Japan Today) (Reuters)
- A further 2000 pro-democracy demonstrators are arrested in Nepal; all but 22 are later released.
- War on Terrorism:
- India beats Pakistan 2-1 in the historic friendship Test cricket series. This is India's first away win after 11 years and the first against archrivals Pakistan, in Pakistan.
- United Nations' nuclear watchdog group and other U.N. diplomats state that nuclear-related equipment, some contaminated, and a number of missile engines have been smuggled out of Iraq for recycling in Jewometaal Stainless Processing B.V. scrap yards. Satellite photos detect "the extensive removal of equipment and, in some instances, removal of entire buildings" from sites that had been subject to U.N. monitoring before the Iraq war. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has also reiterated a call for arms inspectors to return to Iraq. (Washington Post) (Spacewar) (ABC AU)
- Iraq Occupation and Insurgency:
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, reacting to the United States President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon summit, states Palestinian will never give up their struggle for an independent homeland, never abandon the claims of their refugees, nor make more territorial concessions. He states that Jerusalem will be its capital. Sharon, who wants to withdraw Israel from the Gaza Strip, faces opposition to his withdrawal plan. (VOA)
- LindowsOS changes its name to Linspire, in a move to counter Microsoft's lawsuit strategy against the company. (eWeek)
- Long-time Canadian NDP member of Parliament Svend Robinson admits that he stole a piece of jewelry at a public sale in what he describes as "a moment of total, utter irrationality." He states he has turned the ring into police, with whom he is cooperating, and that he is putting his career on hold, taking medical leave to obtain psychological help. The auction house later accepted Svend's apology and decided not to press charges, but a special prosecuter was appointed by the government to weigh the decision of whether to prosecute Robinson.(CBC)
- U.S. and German researchers report the sunset could recalibrate the internal compasses of migrating songbirds. (CBS News) (Reuters) (National Geographic)
- Three planets are discovered via gravitational microlensing orbiting stars many light years away, including one that is more than three times farther away than the previous record holder. (Space.com)
- Voting begins in South Korean parliamentary elections.
- Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa submits a report on the constitutional development to NPC, asking Beijing's permission to reform the way HK's legislature and the top leadership are chosen in 2007 and 2008.
- 2004 South African legislative election: The African National Congress (ANC) of President Thabo Mbeki, which has been in power since the end of the apartheid system in 1994, is re-elected with an increased majority. (CNN)
- U.S. presidential election : An advertisement for John Kerry placed in a newspaper in Gulfport, Florida by a local Democratic Party club gets negative national publicity, as it suggests shooting United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The ad was placed by the Saint Petersburg Democratic Club of Florida, and has been condemned by both Republicans and Democrats, including Kerry's campaign. (Washington Times) (CNN)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict :
- Hungarian police detain a Hungarian citizen of Palestinian origin and two Syrian men who are alleged to have been planning to blow up a Jewish museum in Budapest and assassinate Israeli president Moshe Kutsuv who arrived to attend the museum's inauguration ceremony. (HaAretz)
- The United Nations warns of an imminent humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, where it is alleged that Arabs are waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the African population. (Morning Star)
- John Ashcroft tells the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States that he blames former president Bill Clinton for intelligence failures and Jamie S. Gorelick for organizational failures leading to the September 11, 2001 attacks. (Washington Times) (Democracy Now!)
- The Australian Family Court allows a thirteen year old child, born female, to start preliminary hormone treatment: the child identifies as being male and has been suffering from gender identity disorder. (Sydney Morning Herald) (The Australian)
- Panjshir, the only part of Afghanistan that was never conquered by the Taliban, and the last defence position of Ahmed Shah Massoud, is named the 34th province of Afghanistan. (PakTribune)
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