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2004 (MMIV) was a leap year
starting on Thursday in the Gregorian calendar. Contents ·
1Events o 1.3March o 1.4April o 1.5May o 1.6June o 1.7July ·
3Births ·
4Deaths Events[change | change source] January[change | change source] ·
January 1 - Deiss becomes President
of the Confederation in Switzerland. ·
January 2 - Several British Airways flights
from London Heathrow
Airport to Washington D.C. and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia are cancelled due to
security fears. ·
January 3 - Flash Airlines
Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt. All 148 aboard are killed. ·
January 3 - NASA's MER-A (Spirit)
lands on Mars. ·
January 3 - Blair goes to Basra, Iraq and talks to the British soldiers there. Very few people
are told before he comes. ·
January 4 - Dr. Mikhail Saakashvili wins
Presidential Elections in the Republic of Georgia. ·
January
4 - A NASA rover lands
on Mars and
starts sending back photos of Mars. ·
January 5 - Britney Spears's marriage to childhood
sweetheart Jason Allen
Alexander is annulled (declared invalid) by a Las Vegas court following a surprise
55-hour marriage. ·
January
5 - China has confirmed that a sick man in
southern China has the SARS virus. ·
January 6 - An official look into the
death of Diana, Princess
of Wales begins in London. It is held by Michael
Burgess, the coroner of The Queen's Household. ·
January 12 - More than 100 000 people
come together in Tel Aviv against
their Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from parts
of Gaza and the West Bank. ·
January 13 - An Uzbekistan
Airways plane crashes in Uzbekistan's capital of Tashkent. 37 are killed. ·
January 14 - The shock site Goatse.cx is placed on registry lock
for violating the AUP. ·
January 15 - The South Korean Foreign Minister, Yoon
Young-kwan resigns after he says he supports American policy towards North Korea. ·
January 20 - India signs a $1.5 billion deal
with Russia to buy the 45,000 tonne aircraft carrier Admiral
Gorshkov along with 28 MiG-29k fighter
planes. ·
January 22 - The European Union bans the import of poultry from Thailand, as bird flu spreads throughout Southeast Asia. ·
January 24 - NASA's MER-B (Opportunity)
lands on Mars. ·
January 28 - The findings of the Hutton
Inquiry are published in London. The British Government is
found not to have falsified information in the "sexed up dossier".
The report criticises the BBC's role in the death
of David Kelly, a
weapons expert on Iraq. ·
January 28 - At a hearing of the Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States,
it is revealed that the September 11,
2001 terrorists used mace (a
brand of tear gas) or pepper spray to overpower the flight
crew of American
Airlines Flight 11. ·
January 31 - Mystery
Science Theatre 3000 ends its run on the Sci-Fi Channel. February[change | change source] ·
February 1 - A Hajj stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia kills 251 pilgrims. ·
February 2 - An apartment building
falls apart in Konya, Turkey, killing 92. ·
February 3 - The CIA admits
that there was no immediate threat from weapons of
mass destruction before the 2003 invasion of
Iraq. ·
February 6 - A suicide bomber kills 41 people on
a subway train in Moscow. ·
February 7 - His Royal Highness The Prince of
Wales begins a tour of the Middle East, visiting troops in Iraq, the Iranian earthquake zone at Bam and Saudi Arabia. ·
February 10 - At least 50 people are
killed in a car bomb attack at a center for hiring police officers south
of Baghdad. ·
February 10 - The French National
Assembly votes to pass a law banning religious items and
clothing from schools. ·
February 11 - Up to 47 people are
killed in a car bomb attack on an army recruiting center in Baghdad. ·
February 12 - Same sex marriage in the United States:
The City and County
of San Francisco begins giving out marriage licenses to
homosexual couples as an act of civil disobedience. ·
February 13 - Scientists in South Korea announce the cloning of 30
human embryos. ·
February 17 - 90482 Orcus is discovered (found) ·
February 18 - A train carrying a convoy
of gas, fertiliser and sulphur derails and explodes in Iran, killing 320 people. ·
February 20 - Iranian
parliament election is held. Many reformist candidates are not allowed to
run, resulting in a win by conservatives. ·
February 22 - A suicide bomber kills eight bus
passengers in Jerusalem. ·
February 22 - Rebels capture Haiti's second-largest city, Cap-Haοtien. ·
February 24 - An earthquake in Morocco kills 571 people. ·
February 26 - Former British cabinet
minister, Clare Short reveals
that British Intelligence bugged the phone
calls of United Nations officials,
including Kofi Annan. ·
February 26 - The United States lifts a ban on travel
to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the
nation that had lasted for 23 years. ·
February 29 - 2004
Haiti Rebellion: Jean-Bertrand
Aristide resigns as president of Haiti. The chief justice of
the Haitian Supreme Court, Boniface
Alexandre, is sworn in as interim (short-term) president. Aristide
later says he was made to resign, and that he was taken from the country
by U.S. soldiers. March[change | change source] ·
March 1 - Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie blasted
ongoing Israeli extrajudicial executions
of Palestinian activists, which claimed two more lives on
Sunday, and blamed Israel for the weekend of violence, whilst accusing his
Israeli counterparts government of trying "to kill any possibility for
(achieving a) mutual cease-fire".[1] ·
March 1 - Jean-Bertrand
Aristide claims that his resignation as President of Haiti was
forced and that he was kidnapped by American forces and forced to leave the
country against his will. United
States Vice President Dick Cheney rejects the accusation.[2][3][4] ·
March 1 - President of Russia Vladimir Putin names Mikhail Fradkov as
his new prime minister.[5] ·
March 1 - Several hundred United States, French and Canadian troops are sent to Haiti.[6] ·
March 2 - The Palestinian
Authority's prisoners' affairs ministry states in its monthly
statistical report that the number of Palestinian prisoners has risen to
around 7,500. Of those 336 are children, 75 female and 943 in need of medical
treatment. Of the 166 prisoners who died, 41% died as a result of medical
negligence, while 18% died as a result of torture.[7][8] ·
March 2 - Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics
reports 1,850 new housing units in the Jewish settlements Israel built in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2003, up by 35 percent
from the previous year.[9] ·
March 2 - John Kerry wins the Super Tuesday primaries in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Rhode Island and caucus in Minnesota, effectively winning the
nomination. Howard Dean wins
in his home state of Vermont even though
he is no longer actively campaigning. John Edwards is reported to be
withdrawing from the race three hours before polls close in California and
just as the caucuses begin in Minnesota.[10] ·
March 2 - Jason West,
mayor of New Paltz, New York is charged with 19 criminal
counts of solemnizing marriages without a license. If convicted, he faces up
to a $500 fine and a year in jail on each count.[11] ·
March 2 - Exploration of Mars: NASA announces that Mars rover Opportunity landed
in an area where "liquid water once drenched the surface".[12] ·
March 2 - Bernard Ebbers, ex-CEO of Worldcom,
is indicted on three counts of conspiracy
for his alleged role in that company's $11 billion accounting
scandal in 2002. Worldcom's CFO Scott
Sullivan pleads guilty and is expected to cooperate with
prosecutors against Ebbers.[13] ·
March 2 - Multiple explosions hit
Shiite shrines in Baghdad and Karbala on the Shia festival of Ashura. Over 180 people are reported killed.
A three-day long period of national mourning is announced.[14] ·
March 2 - Iraq gets a Bill of Rights, including guarantees of
freedom of religion and press, in the form of the Law of Administering the Iraqi State for the
Transitional Period.[15] ·
March 2 - The U.S. declares its
2,000-man force to have leadership over all foreign military forces in Haiti. President Bush chose not to wait for
the UN Security Council but,
instead, to intervene immediately to "restore order" in the western
hemisphere's poorest country.[16] ·
March 2 - The European Union imposes additional
5% tariffs on a wide range of goods
imported from the United States, such as Honey, paper, and nuclear reactors.
The tariffs were sanctioned by the World Trade
Organization in 2002 as punitive measures after a
ruling declaring that United States tax law unfairly favors U.S.-based
companies.[17] ·
March 2 - The European Space
Agency's Rosetta
space probe is successfully launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket
on a mission to investigate the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.[18] ·
March 3 - At the Walt Disney Company's Annual General
Meeting, about 43% of Walt Disney stockholders, including several
prominent pension funds, vote to oppose the re-election of Chairman and
CEO Michael Eisner.
The board of directors replaces him as Chairman with George J. Mitchell.[19][20] ·
March 3 - Researchers at Harvard University announce
that they will give scientists free access to 17 human embryonic stem cell lines created without U.S.
federal funding. This move is expected to boost stem cell research in the
face of federal funding restrictions announced in 2001 by the Bush administration.[21] ·
March 3 - A new government of Serbia, headed by Vojislav
Kostunica, is approved by parliament.[22] ·
March 3 - March 3 - Israeli aircraft destroy a car in
the Gaza strip with
missile fire, killing three people acknowledged by Palestinian officials as
members of the militant group Hamas.[23] ·
March 3 - March 3 - A group of Israelis join a court challenge against
the Israeli West
Bank barrier out of concern it could turn their good
Palestinian neighbors into deadly enemies.[24] ·
March 3 - New claims of bubble
fusion are made, claiming that the results of previous
experiments have been replicated under more stringent experimental
conditions.[25][26] ·
March 4 - bomb blasts in Iraq threaten to de-stabilise the
country. ·
March 4 - The guilty verdict for Moroccan al-Qaeda suspect Mounir
el Motassadeq's involvement in the September 11,
2001 attacks is overturned by the German appeals court, which orders a
retrial.[27] ·
March 4 - Three American Muslims accused of using paintball games to train for a jihad holy war are found guilty
of conspiracy charges.[28] ·
March 4 - Chinese authorities
release Wang Youcai,
a day after Rabiya
Kadeer's release [29] ·
March 4 - Israeli tanks around 15 armoured
vehicles escorted by several bulldozers enter the town of Rafah in
the southern Gaza Strip,
exchanging gunfire with resistance and later demolishing a four-storey
building, claiming "anti-terrorist operations".[30] ·
March 4 - The Prime Minister of Malaysia dissolves the national
parliament and all state assemblies except Sarawak's, paving the way for the general election to be held within 60
days as dictated by the constitution.[31] ·
March 5 - CBS broadcasts tape recordings of Diana, Princess
of Wales as she describes suicide attempts while pregnant
with Prince
William, Duke of Cambridge. ·
March 5 - The National
People's Congress convenes in Beijing. Premier Wen Jiabao makes his first state
address, saying that "solving the problems of agriculture, villages and
farmers is one of the most crucial parts of our entire work".[32] ·
March 5 - Last minute disagreement
delays signing of Iraq's interim constitution.[33][34] ·
March 5 - The Russian polar station will be
evacuated. Russia launches rescue operation to evacuate 12 of its scientists stranded on a research
station which partially sank near the North Pole.[35][36] ·
March 5 - Tony Blair defends the war in Iraq,
stating that "global threat we face in Britain and
round the world is real and existential and it is
the task of leadership to
expose it and fight it, whatever the political cost." [37][38] ·
March 5 - Police hold a Haifa man, Eliran Golan, and his
54-year-old father in custody on suspicion of involvement in making and
planting bombs over the last three years. Haifa
Magistrate court extends for five days the remand of Yivgeny Grossman.
Grossman denies any connection.[39][40] ·
March 5 - Martha Stewart is found guilty by a
jury on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of
justice, and two counts of making false statements regarding
alleged insider trading in
December 2001. She faces up to 20 years in prison, though it is considered
unlikely that she would be sentenced to that maximum. Sentencing is set
for June 17.[41] ·
March 5 - Nunavut general election, 2004: the new
legislature returns Paul Okalik to office as
premier of Nunavut, the
largest territory of Canada.[42] ·
March 5 - Key Tokyo stock indexes Nikkei 225 and Topix hit
21-month highs. ·
March 5 - The trial of former Finnish Prime Minister Anneli Jδδtteenmδki ends.
She has been accused of leaking secret foreign ministry documents referring
to her predecessor Paavo
Lipponen's meetings with George W. Bush.[43] ·
March 6 - Tens of thousands demonstrate
in Caracas, Venezuela, against what they see as the
government's fraud committed by the Consejo
Nacional Electoral related to the realization of a
presidential referendum in mid-2004. ·
March 6 - The United States puts forth a UN Security Council resolution
seeking to freeze the assets of Charles
Taylor, the exiled former president of Liberia. The U.S. also announces that it is
pledging $35 million to help rebuild Liberia's armed forces and that it
supports the cancellation of Liberia's international debt, providing that
economic reforms are implemented.[44] ·
March 6 - Palestinians are killed and wounded in attack
on the main crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Israel. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades claim responsibility.[45] ·
March 6 - Up to 80,000 people march
through the Turkish capital Ankara against plans to reform the
country's civil service.
The marchers fear that the reforms could lead to the civil service becoming
politicised or losing its secular status.[46] ·
March 6 - The scientists of the Russian polar research station near
the North Pole are
evacuated from their shifting and cracking ice floe by two Russian
helicopters via Norway's Spitzbergen island.[47] ·
March 7 - The New York City medical examiner reveals
that a body pulled from the East River is that of
actor/writer Spalding
Gray, who had been missing since January.[48] ·
March
7 - Greek legislative election, 2004: New
Democracy, led by Costas
Karamanlis, wins over the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, led by George Papandreou.[49][49] ·
March
7 - An explosion rocks a Moscow apartment block. Initial reports
from police suggest that the explosion was
caused by a bomb, in spite of increased security in the
run-up to the presidential election on March 14. Later reports state that the
explosion was due to a gas leak.[50] ·
March
7 - The White House reports
that all of Libya's remaining nuclear
weapons-related equipment has been sent to the United States.[51] ·
March
7 - Palestinian sources
say that 14 people died after an Israeli raid into the refugee camps of
al-Bureij and Nusseirat. Israeli sources say it was a "pinpoint"
operation against the "terrorist infrastructure".[52] ·
March
7 - The 2004 Formula One championship
gets under way with the Australian Grand
Prix in Melbourne. Michael Schumacher wins.[53] ·
March
7 - In Sweden some 15,500 skiers compete in
the 80th installment of Vasaloppet, the oldest and longest cross-country ski
race in the world. Norwegian Anders
Aukland wins.[54][55] ·
March
7 - In Austria there are
elections in the states of Salzburg and Carinthia.
In Salzburg, the SPΦ earns a majority
for the first time. In Carinthia, the election is an unexpected success
for Jφrg Haider FPΦ. ·
March
7 - It is announced that Peter Maxwell Davies is
to be the United Kingdom's next Master of the
Queen's Music.[56] ·
March
7 - The headquarters of the United States-led coalition in Baghdad come under rocket attack
from Iraqi
guerillas, the day before the new Iraqi temporary constitution is due to
be signed.[57] ·
March 8 - Dr. Jiang
Yanyong, who exposed the SARS coverup in the People's
Republic of China, sends a letter to the National
People's Congress calling the forceful suppression of
the Tiananmen
Square protests of 1989 a "mistake." [58] ·
March 8 - Iraq's governing council unanimously
approves the country's new constitution.[59] ·
March 8 - On International
Women's Day, Afghan President Hamid Karzai encourages men to allow
their female relatives to vote in the upcoming election, but also
suggests that they control those votes.[60] ·
March 9 - March 9, 2004 attack of Istanbul restaurant in Turkey by two Islamic suicide bombers killing one,
injuring five.[61][62] ·
March 9 - New hubble Space
Telescope images show deepest view of the universe yet.[63] ·
March 9 - Opposition members of South Korea's parliament undertake the first
steps in impeachment proceedings
against President Roh Moo-hyun.[64] ·
March 9 - John Allen Muhammad is
sentenced to death by a Virginia judge because he was part of
the Beltway sniper
attacks.[65][66] ·
March 9 - A genetically
modified crop, Bayer's Chardon LL maize, is approved for growing in England for animal feed from 2005 until
October 2006. The Scottish
Executive also approves the move, but asks Scottish farmers
to hold off. MPs and farmers protest in anger as the science is questioned.
The Welsh
National Assembly's Environment Minister announces he is still
opposed to approving the crop.[67] ·
March 9 - Pakistan announces a successful first
flight test of its Hatf VI /
Shaheen II long-range nuclear-capable ballistic
missile. The missile has a range of 2,000 km 1,250 mi
and can carry a payload of 1,000 kg 2,200 lb.[72] ·
March 9 - Five of the nine Britons held
by American authorities at Guantanamo Bay under suspicion of
having links to terrorist organisations are returned to Britain. They are to
be questioned by British anti-terrorism police on arrival.[74][75] ·
March 9 - The FBI arrests William
Cottrell, a Caltech student and alleged member of
the Earth
Liberation Front, in connection with last summer's spate of arson attacks at a car dealerships
which destroyed or damaged over one hundred vehicles, including many Hummer H2 luxury SUVs.[76][77] ·
March 10 - Five British men released
from detention at Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay land at RAF
Brize Norton. Four are immediately arrested by the Metropolitan Police and
taken to Paddington
Green high security police station in Central London for questioning. ·
March 10 - Lee Boyd
Malvo is sentenced to life in prison without parole by
a Virginia judge for his role in
the Beltway
Sniper Attacks.[78] ·
March 11 - The Spirit rover takes first picture of Earth ever made from the surface of
another planet.[79] ·
March 11 - March 11,
2004 Madrid attacks: 10 bombs on Madrid commuter
trains kill at least 180 people and hurt more than 1400, the
most people ever hurt in any bombing in Europe the 1988 Lockerbie
bombing killed more but wounded fewer.[80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89] ·
March 11 - Four British prisoners
who had been arrested on their return from Guantanamo Bay are released without
charge. A fifth was not arrested on arrival. A further four remain in
the Cuban camp. British newspapers vie
for the rights to their stories, with offers in the range of
£300,000. These five people are expected to sue the United States and UK
governments.[91][92][93] ·
March 11 - Same-sex
marriage in the United States: The California
Supreme Court issues an rule ordering San Francisco officials to stop issuing
marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The court said it would hear oral
arguments regarding the controversy in May or June. The state says it did not
register any of the thousands of recent gay marriages.[94][95][96] ·
March 11 - UN inspectors find weapons-grade uranium in Iran. Iran objects to UN and United States policy, considering it
"unrealistic." [97][98][99] ·
March 11 - A Maryland woman and former Democratic congressional
aide, Susan
Lindauer, is arrested on charges of conspiracy against the United States, acting as an Iraqi spy before and during last year's invasion.[100][101] ·
March 11 - An Australian Senate report
on poverty is immediately dismissed
by Prime
Minister John Howard. The report shows between 2 and
3.5 million Australians, or up to
19 per cent of the population, are living in poverty.[102][103][104][105] ·
March 12 - A Utah woman is charged with murder when her child is stillborn because she did not want to
have a Caesarean section.[106][107][108] ·
March 12 - Millions of people pack
rainy streets across Spain in protest
against the recent Madrid
bombings.[109] ·
March 12 - The parliament of South Korea votes to impeach President Roh Moo-hyun, saying he "breached
election rules" by calling for support for the Uri party. Prime
Minister Goh Kun will run
the country until the Constitutional Court rules on the issue. Roh's
supporters dismiss the move as a power play to influence the upcoming April
elections. Thousands protest in support of Roh.[110][111][112] ·
March 12 - Guantanamo Bay: Recently released British Camp X-Ray inmate Jamal
al-Harith is interviewed by the Daily Mirror, alleging physical assaults and
psychological torture.[113][114] ·
March 13- His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester and the Spanish
Ambassador to the United Kingdom attend the Changing of
the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace where
the Spanish national anthem is played to honour the victims of the Madrid
train bombings. The death toll in the bombings rises to 200; investigators
continue search for perpetrators, with suspicions against ETA complemented
by the apprehension of five foreign citizens connected to terror attacks
in Morocco.[115][116] ·
March 13 - Fifteen teams that qualified
for the DARPA
Grand Challenge start on a 150200 mile robotic race to Las Vegas, Nevada,
for a $1
million prize. All of the teams break down within seven miles of the start
line; none collect the prize.[117][118] ·
March 13 - Nine people, including
eight children, are found dead in Fresno, California.
One of their family members is arrested for the deaths. The police speculate
that the deaths may have been part of a ritual.[119][120] ·
March 14 - The Spanish parliamentary elections of 2004 take
place. The incumbent government led by Jose Maria Aznar is
defeated by the Socialist Josι Luis
Rodrνguez Zapatero.[121][122][123][124] ·
March 14 - Two suicide bombers kill 10 people in Ashdod, Israel.[125][126] ·
March 14 - Madrid
bombings: Spanish police
receives a videotape where a
man identifying himself as an al-Qaeda spokesman says the
organisation claims responsibility for the attack, according to an
announcement from the country's interior minister. The authenticity of the
video has not been verified. The al-Qaeda claim overshadows voting in
the general election.[127][128][129] ·
March 14 - Occupation
of Iraq: Six United States soldiers are killed over
the weekend in three separate insurgent roadside
bomb attacks, two in Baghdad and one
in Tikrit. This occurs amidst the largest U.S.
troop rotation since World War II. ·
March 14 - The people of Russia have
a presidential election. Current
president Vladimir Putin wins
by a lot of votes. The election is widely criticised by external observers
who said Russian state television was very biased towards Putin during the
campaign.[130][131] ·
March 14 - Pope John Paul II becomes
the third-longest reigning pope in history, the
other two being Saint Peter and Pope Pius IX.[132] ·
March 14 - Several Kurds storm the Syrian embassy in Brussels protesting about violence and
deaths in north-east Syria over the weekend.[133] ·
March 14 - Presidential elections in Russia are
held. Vladimir Putin easily
wins a second term. ·
March 15 - Four U.S. Baptist missionaries working on a water purification project
are killed in a drive-by shooting in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.[134] ·
March 15 - The city of Aliso
Viejo, California, nearly bans foam cups
when they learn they are produced from a substance known as Dihydrogen monoxide (water), a substance that could
"threaten human health and safety." [135] ·
March 15 - Pavlo
Lazarenko, former prime minister of Ukraine, stands trial in a U.S. federal
court in San Francisco for money laundering.[136] ·
March 15 - Same-sex
marriage in the United States: Commissioners of Multnomah
County, Oregon dismiss state attorney general Hardy Myers'
non-binding opinion that same-sex marriages are
illegal and vow to continue issuing marriage
licenses to same-sex couples.[137] ·
March 15 - Newly elected Spanish Prime Minister Josι Luis
Rodrνguez Zapatero announces his government's opposition to
the invasion and continued occupation of Iraq and his intention to withdraw
Spanish troops from Iraq by June 30,
unless they are part of a U.N. force.[138] ·
March 15 - Astronomers announce the
discovery of Sedna,
a Pluto-like
planetoid which is the most distant individual object known to orbit
the Sun.[139][140][141] ·
March 15 - Exiled Syrian Kurds storm the Syrian consulate
in Geneva and
other Kurds protest in Turkey and Germany at weekend violence in northeast
Syria.[142] ·
March 16 - Spanish police identify six Moroccans suspected
to have carried out the March 11 Madrid attacks. Five of the suspects are
still at large but one is in custody.[143][144] ·
March 16 - An explosion at an apartment building in Arkhangelsk, Russia, kills 32.[145] ·
March 16 - The Federal Reserve votes
to keep interest rates the same, primarily since there are not many new jobs
in the United States.[146] ·
March 17 - Unrest
in Kosovo: After two Albanian children are found drowned in
the Ibar river in Kosovo
and Metohia, with a third still missing, riots erupt in the town
of Kosovska Mitrovica and
later spread to the entire province. Mitrovica Serbs are blamed by Albanian media for
forcing the children into the river, but this is later denied by United Nations officials.
At least 22 people are killed by the end of the day with hundreds injured in
clashes between Serbs and Albanians; enclaves
of Kosovo Serbs elsewhere in the province experience attacks
by Kosovo Albanians as well as offices of UN officials which were abandoned.
In reaction to the violence in Kosovo, demonstrators in Serbia march in Belgrade and set ablaze mosques in Belgrade and Nish.[147][148][149][150][151][152][153][154] ·
March 17 - Occupation of Iraq: A car bomb flattens the Mount Lebanon
Hotel in central Baghdad, killing at
least 17 people and hurting 45 more people.[155][156][157] ·
March 17 - Utah bans execution by firing squad.[158] ·
March 18 - Howard Dean announces plans to
form Democracy for
America, a political organization intended to help progressive
candidates holding similar views.[159] ·
March 18 - Unrest
in Kosovo: The North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) announces that it will
reinforce its Kosovo
peacekeeping force, following ethnic fighting there that has
killed at least 31 people over the past two days. More Serbian
Orthodox Churches have been set on fire by Albanians and violence has continued in
and around Kosovo
Serb enclaves. Russia and Serbia-Montenegro call
for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council. United Nations officials
attempt to restore order in the province and blame the unrest on nationalist
extremists on both sides. More demonstrations have taken place across Serbia, so far without the violence seen the
previous day.[160][161][162] ·
March 18 - Near-Earth asteroid 2004 FH is
making the closest approach of an asteroid ever recorded. At 22:08 UTC it
will pass 43,000 km above Earth's surface.[163] ·
March 18 - Cleanup work at Love Canal has been completed, federal
officials said. The EPA says it should be taken off the Superfund list. ·
March 18 - The United
States House of Representatives all agree to double the
reward for Osama bin Laden's
capture to US$50 million.[164] ·
March 19 - ICANN announces that a Toronto, Canada organization,
the International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR),
has applied to sponsor the .xxx top-level domain.
IFFOR claims that a special domain would help stop children from seeing pornography. However, in February the Internet
Engineering Task Force released RFC 3675,
".sex Considered Dangerous", detailing technical and administrative
concerns with such proposals.[165][166][167] ·
March 19 - The U.S. military drops all
charges of alleged mishandling of classified
information against Muslim Army chaplain Yousef Yee at Guantanamo Bay.[168] ·
March 19 - Same-sex marriage in Canada: The Quebec
Court of Appeal upholds a Quebec superior
court ruling that same-sex marriages are
valid under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.[169] It joins Ontario and British Columbia in
permitting same-sex marriage. The couple which brought the suit is scheduled
to be wed on April 10, after a
required 20-day waiting period. ·
March 19 - Δδnekoski
bus disaster: At least 24 young people are killed and 15 hurt,
several of them seriously, in a collision on an icy road between a coach and
a lorry carrying rolls of paper on
Highway 4 near Δδnekoski in Central Finland.
The accident happened at around 2 a.m. local time (UTC +2).[170][171] ·
March 19 - The newspaper USA Today admits that a former
reporter, Jack Kelley,
invented or distorted important parts of at least eight major stories. He
was, for example, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 on the basis of
an eyewitness account of a suicide bombing that,
could not have happened as he described it.[172] ·
March 20 - ROC presidential election: Chen Shui-bian is declared the winner
over Lien Chan by
fewer than 30,000 votes of nearly 13,000,000 cast (0.25%). Lien calls the
result unfair and demands it be voided. A controversial
referendum is invalidated by low turnout.[173][174] ·
March 20 - Former Queen Juliana
of the Netherlands dies aged 94.[175][176] ·
March 20 - On the first anniversary of
the 2003 invasion of
Iraq, millions join protests in cities across the world to
demonstrate against the war and the continued occupation. In London two Greenpeace protesters evade newly
tightened security and
scale the Houses of Parliament's Clock Tower to
unfurl a banner calling for the truth to be told by the UK government.[177][178][179][180][181] ·
March 20 - Stephen Harper is elected as leader of the Conservative
Party of Canada, winning 56% of the possible points on the first
ballot.[182][183][184] ·
March 20 - A Methodist church jury in Bothell, Washington acquits
a lesbian minister of violation of church
rules.[185] ·
March 21 - Malaysian general election: Secular ruling
coalition Barisan
Nasional wins a two-thirds majority and wrests back the state
of Terengganu from
Islamist party PAS. A
recount is pending for the closely contested state of Kelantan.[186] ·
March 21 - Measurements taken at Mauna Loa Observatory show carbon dioxide readings of 379 parts
per million, up by 3 ppm in one year; average increase for the past decade
has been 1.8 ppm. The reason for this accelerated buildup in a greenhouse gas requires further
analysis.[187] ·
March 21 - Al-Qaeda claims to have purchased
"smart briefcase bombs" with nuclear capabilities on the black market.[188] ·
March 21 - Salvadoran presidential election: Voting
takes place to elect a new president of El Salvador.[189] ·
March 21 - ROC presidential election: Taiwan's High
Court has ordered all ballot boxes to be sealed, in order to preserve
evidence. However, a recount of votes was not ordered. Various protests are
held throughout the island.[190] ·
March 22 - Palestinians protest in the streets
after an Israeli helicopter
gunship fires a missile at the entourage of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza City,
killing Yassin and 7 others. ·
March 22 - ROC presidential election, 2004: Chen Shui-bian's Democratic
Progressive Party submits a bill to the Legislative Yuan to
allow an immediate recount, per Lien Chan's
demand, but the majority Pan-Blue
Coalition says it is not necessary, because the President
could issue an executive order instead.[191][192] ·
March 22 - Salvadoran presidential election: Tony Saca of
the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA)
declares victory over a former Communist Party guerrilla leader, with
60% of the votes.[193][194][195] ·
March 22 - Israel assassinates Sheikh Ahmed Yassin,
the spiritual head of Hamas, in the Gaza Strip. It then seals off both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.[197][198] Kofi Annan, and the British, French, and
German governments, amongst others, condemn the killing.[199][200] ·
March 22 - The former chief
counter-terrorism aide to United States President Bush, Richard
A. Clarke, claims that Bush diverted attention towards Iraq, ignoring the main threat of Al-Qaeda. Clarke was the administration's
senior counter-terrorism official when 9/11 took
place.[201][202][203][204] ·
March 22 - Mijailo
Mijailovic is sentenced to life imprisonment for
the equivalent of First-degree
murder, found guilty of assassination of Sweden's Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, September 10, 2003. ·
March 22 - Same-sex
marriage in the U.S.: Benton County,
Oregon commissioners, after receiving a letter from state
attorney general Hardy Myers,
reverse their earlier vote to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex
couples this Wednesday. But, stating they will observe the principal of equal
treatment under the law, the commissioners decide that the county will stop
issuing any marriage licenses until the Oregon
Supreme Court has ruled on the constitutionality of the law.[205][206] ·
March 23 - Unrest
in Kosovo: an UNMIK police patrol is attacked on the
road Pristina-Podujevo.
A UN police officer from Ghana is killed, a local police officer
later dies of his wounds, and their translator is also wounded but in
stable condition.[207] ·
March 23 - United
States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary
of State Colin Powell defend their pre-September 11th actions,
saying that even if Osama Bin Laden had
been killed, the attacks on the World
Trade Center and The Pentagon would have still happened.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and
former Secretary of Defense William Cohen also testify before
the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the
United States.[208] ·
March 23 - Abdel
Aziz al-Rantissi is chosen to lead Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and the movement's exiled politburo chief Khaled
Meshaal is chosen as its overall leader.[209][210] ·
March 24 - The World Trade
Organization makes a preliminary ruling that United States laws prohibiting Internet gambling violate international trade agreements, in response to a complaint
by Antigua and Barbuda.
The Bush administration
vows to appeal, while some members of the United States
Congress say they would rather allow a trade war or
withdraw from future WTO talks than undo laws against online gambling.[211][212] ·
March 24 - Danish artist Marco
Evaristti paints an iceberg in Greenland red, using 780 gallons of
paint.[213] ·
March 24 - Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow:
The United States Supreme
Court hears oral arguments over the constitutionality of the "under
God" clause of the Pledge of Allegiance.[214] ·
March 24 - The British explorer David
Hempleman-Adams sets an altitude record for a flight in a wicker basket balloon.[215] ·
March 24 - The leader of Hamas states that the group has no
plans to attack United States targets,
retreating from earlier threats by its armed wing. However, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is announced as a new
target, instead.[216] ·
March 24 - Sharon states that Israel has a "natural
right" to pursue those who would destroy it.[217] ·
March 24 - Hussam Abdo,
a 14-year-old Palestinian suicide bomber fails to detonate his
bomb-vest at an Israeli checkpoint
outside Nablus. The child was paid $23 and promised
sex in heaven as his reward. An armed wing of Fatah takes responsibility for sending
the boy.[218] ·
March 25 - The 2004 Abel Prize in mathematics is announced to be awarded
to Michael
F. Atiyah and Isadore M. Singer for their index theorem.[219] ·
March 25 - The terrorist group AZF suspends
its bombing campaign in France but continues to demand money
from the government.
News agencies report that the government placed notices in Libιration newspaper to contact the
terrorists.[220] ·
March 25 - Novelist and movie
maker Alain
Robbe-Grillet is elected to the Acadιmie franηaise.[221] ·
March 25 - Five planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter,
and Saturn) array
across the evening sky in a night show that will not happen again for another
three decades.[222] ·
March 25 - A prototype of a mechanized
five-ton disaster-rescue robot, the T-52 Enryu,
is unveiled in Japan.[223] ·
March 26 - United Nations electoral expert and security support arrive in Baghdad.[224] ·
March 26 - The first South Atlantic hurricane ever
recorded forms 275 miles off the coast of Brazil.[225] ·
March 26 - ROC presidential election, 2004: The
controversial victory of Chen Shui-bian is confirmed by the
state electoral commission, with a margin of only 29,518 votes 0.2% of the
total separating the candidates. Pan-Blue protestors
storm and hurl eggs at the Central Electoral Commission building.[226] ·
March 26 - Israeli-Palestinian
conflict: The United States vetoes a United
Nations Security Council resolution (sponsored by Algeria and Libya) condemning the killing by Israel of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin along with six other Palestinians outside a mosque in Gaza City and
calling for the end of executions.
The veto is publicly motivated by the resolution making no mention of suicide bombings committed
by Hamas and attributed to Yassin. 11
votes are recorded in favour, with three (United Kingdom, Germany, and Romania) abstaining and one (the United States) against.[227][228] ·
March 27 - John F.
Kerry joins other Democrats calling for National
Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to
testify before the September 11 commission and states the White House should learn from President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt's openness during an inquiry after Pearl Harbor.[229] ·
March 27 - ROC presidential election, 2004:
500,000 Pan-Blue protesters
take to the streets in Taipei to demand a
recount.[230] ·
March 27 - NASA succeeds in a second attempt to
fly its X-43A experimental
airplane from the Hyper-X project,
attaining speeds in excess of Mach 7, the fastest ever
air-breathing Hypersonic flight.[231] ·
March 27 - A powerful cyclone hits the coast of southern Brazil. Brazilian and United States meteorologists disagree over
whether Cyclone
Catarina is a Hurricane, the first ever recorded in
the South
Atlantic.[232] ·
March 28 - Abdel
Aziz al-Rantissi, leader of Hamas, states that God has declared war on the United States.[233][234][235][236] ·
March 28 - The University of
Cambridge wins a controversial victory in the 150th Boat Race by
6 lengths, with a total time of 18:47 minutes.[237] ·
March 28 - The Arab League summit is postponed. The meeting was
put off indefinitely because people disagreed about ways to change things in
the region, including democratization.[238][239] ·
March 28 - Israeli State Attorney Edna Arbel recommends
that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon be indicted for taking
bribes.[240] ·
March 28 - The French regional elections result in
massive losses for the governing conservative parties and victories for
socialist-green alliances in at least 20 of 22 regions, leading to Raffarin's
resignation on March 30.[241][242][243] ·
March 28 - A coup attempt in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo fails.[244] ·
March 29 - Dominica switches diplomatic recognition from the Republic of China to
the People's
Republic of China.[245] ·
March 29 - An explosion occurs close to the
main bazaar in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, killing two and injuring around
twenty. Also in the capital, three police officers are shot dead. In the city
of Bukhara, another explosion at a
suspected terrorist bomb
factory kills ten people. (Reuters) (BBC) ·
March 29 - The Republic of Ireland becomes
the first country to ban smoking in
all enclosed workplaces (including bars and restaurants). People who break
this law risk a large fine.[246] ·
March 29 - The North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) welcomes seven new
members: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. ·
March 29 - Beauty company Dove is to use "real women"
in advertising after
a survey finds
two-thirds of UK women feel depressed about
their figures and
have low body confidence as
a result of beauty
advertising.[247] ·
March 29 - Scientists discover methane in the Martian atmosphere and believe it could mean
there is life on the Red Planet.[248] ·
March 30 - New Jersey physicist Greg Olsen pays $20
million to conduct environmental research for eight days aboard
the International
Space Station.[249] ·
March 30 - Police in Uzbekistan raid a Hideout south
of the capital, Tashkent. Fighting has
caused 23 deaths in the area.[250] ·
March 30 - The Philippines police stop a big bomb attack after arresting four
members of the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group.[251] ·
March 30 - The White House allows Condoleezza Rice,
the president's national
security advisor, testify under oath about the September
11, 2001 terrorist attacks.[252] ·
March 30 - Eight men are arrested after
a series of raids in the UK under the Terrorism
Act 2000. Half a ton of ammonium nitrate fertilizer
was found during the raids.[253] ·
March 31 - Nine Americans are killed during the war in Iraq. ·
March 31 - The International
Court of Justice rules that the USA was wrong to sentence 51 Mexicans to death for murder and says their trials must
be reviewed. ·
March 31 - A Canadian court rules that the Canadian
Recording Industry Association did not prove that downloading music from the Internet breaks the rules of copyright.[254] April[change | change source] ·
April 2 - A bomb found on the Madrid to Seville train line is defused by
Spanish police. ·
April 3 - A bomb explosion in a Madrid
flat kills five suspected terrorists responsible for the Madrid train
bombings on March 11, and a Spanish policeman. ·
April 5 - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth
II of the United Kingdom begins a state visit to France to celebrate the 100th
anniversary of the Entente
Cordiale ·
April 8 - Three Japanese citizens are taken Hostage in Iraq. ·
April 16 - India defeats Pakistan in their historic first cricket tour
in 14 years. ·
April 17 - Israeli helicopters fire missiles at a
convoy of vechiles in the Gaza Strip, killing the leader of Hamas, Abdel
Aziz al-Rantissi ·
April 20 - Tony Blair announces that the UK will
hold a referendum on
the European
constitution. ·
April 21 - Mordechai
Vanunu is released from prison in Israel after an 18-year term for treason. ·
April 21 - The American TV network, CBS broadcasts pictures of Diana, Princess
of Wales as she lay dying moments after the fatal car crash
that killed her. ·
April 22 - Two trains carrying
explosives and fuel collide in the North Korean town of Ryongchon,
killing 161 people, injuring 1,300 and destroying thousands of homes. ·
April 22 - The last coal mine in France closes, ending nearly 300 years
of coal mining. ·
April 24 - The christening of Lady Louise Windsor takes
place at Windsor Castle. ·
April 25 - Greek Cypriots reject a United
Nations plan to unite the island of Cyprus in a referendum. May[change | change source] ·
May 1 - An enlargement of the European Union takes place, expanding
the Union by 10 member-states: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Malta, and Cyprus. ·
May 2 - After 3 weeks of captivity,
American contractor Thomas Hamill escapes from his captors in Iraq with just
a gunshot wound to the arm and makes it to US Military personnel. ·
May 5 - Parliament grounds in New Zealand host 15,000 people
protesting about the proposed law that would change the ownership of
foreshore and seabed. ·
May 6 - The president of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili,
announces that Adzharian leader Aslan
Abashidze has left the country, ending a political crisis
there. ·
May 6 - The final episode of Friends airs on NBC. Advertisers pay $2 million for 30
second ads. ·
May 9 - Chechen president Akhmad
Kadyrov is killed by landmine placed under a VIP stage during
a World War II memorial
victory parade in Grozny, Chechnya. ·
May 10 - Canadian Sponsorship Scandal -
The RCMP arrest Chuck Guite and Jean Brault in connection with the scandal. ·
May 10 - Final phase of elections to the Lok Sabha in India ·
May 10 - National election takes place
in the Philippines for
the presidency and
almost all other elective positions. ·
May 11 - Explosion destroys a plastics
factory in Glasgow, UK, killing nine people and injuring over a
hundred. ·
May 11 - A bomb explodes in a crowded market
in Iraq. It kills three people and wounds at
least 23. ·
May 11 - Chechen President Akhmad
Kadyrov is buried in his home village. ·
May 12 - An American civilian
contractor in Iraq, Nick Berg,
is shown being decapitated by a group with links to al-Qaida on a web-distributed video.
They state it is retaliation for the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. ·
May 12 - Semi final takes place in
the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in Turkey. ·
May 13 - In India, the Congress
Party wins a shock victory in the elections to the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament). ·
May 13 - The season finale for Frasier is aired. ·
May 14 - The editor of the Daily Mirror newspaper in the UK, Piers Morgan, is sacked after the British
army proves photographs in the newspaper, allegedly showing British soldiers
abusing Iraqi detainees, to be fake. ·
May 14 - Danish Crown Prince Frederik has
married Australian Mary
Konadson in Copenhagen, Denmark. ·
May 15 - FIFA announces that South Africa will host the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament, making it the first
African nation to do so. ·
May 20 - A 6.5-magnitude earthquake hits Taiwan. There is no immediate reports of
damage or injuries. June[change | change source] ·
June 5 - Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan dies of pneumonia at the age of 93. ·
June 11 - state
funeral of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan is held. ·
June 12 - Former U.S. President Bush celebrates
his 80th birthday by skydiving. July[change | change source] ·
July 1 The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft
arrives at Saturn. ·
July 4 Groundbreaking for the Freedom
Tower begins at Ground Zero in New York City. ·
July 4 In football, Greece wins the European Championships, after being
rated as an 80-1 rank outsider. August[change | change source] ·
August 13August 29 The 2004 Summer Olympics are
held in Athens, Greece. ·
August 16 The village of Boscastle in Cornwall is hit by a flash flood. September[change | change source] ·
September 1 Many schoolchildren are
taken hostage at a school in Beslan,
southern Russia. Many of them are
massacred on September 3. ·
September 23 Mount St. Helens becomes
active again. October[change | change source] ·
October 29 King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia abdicates in favour of his
son, Norodom Sihamoni. November[change | change source] ·
November 2 George W. Bush is reelected as President
of the United States. ·
November 21 The Orange Revolution begins
in Ukraine. December[change | change source] ·
December 26 - A strong earthquake
from the Indian Ocean kills at least 140,000 people. ·
December 26 In the wake of the Orange Revolution, Viktor Yushchenko is
elected President of Ukraine. ·
December 31 The Taipei 101 tower is opened in Taipei, Taiwan. Nobel prize winners[change | change
source] ·
Chemistry Aaron Ciechanover ·
Chemistry Avram Hershko ·
Chemistry Irwin Rose ·
Economics Finn E. Kydland ·
Economics Edward C. Prescott ·
Literature Elfriede Jelinek ·
Medicine Richard Axel ·
Medicine Linda B. Buck ·
Peace Wangari Maathai ·
Physics David J. Gross ·
Physics H. David Politzer ·
Physics Frank Wilczek Births[change | change source] ·
January 21 Princess
Ingrid Alexandra of Norway ·
February 6 Princess
Louise of Belgium, granddaughter of King
Albert II of Belgium. ·
March 21 Count Claus-Casimir of Orange-Nassau,
Jonkheer van Amsberg ·
November 9 Sahil Saeed,
British kidnap victim Deaths[change | change source] ·
January 5 Dorota
Terakowska, Polish writer ·
January 5 Tug McGraw,
major league pitcher, father of Tim McGraw ·
January 6 Charles
Dumas, American high jumper ·
January 7 Ingrid
Thulin, Swedish actress ·
January 10 Spalding
Gray, actor, screenwriter, and monologue artist (born 1941) ·
January 13 Harold Shipman, the United Kingdom's most prolific serial killer (by suicide) ·
January 16 Kalevi Sorsa, Finnish politician ·
January 27 Jack Paar, television show host ·
January 29 Janet Frame, New Zealand writer ·
January 29 Mary
Margaret Kaye, British writer ·
February 14 Marco Pantani, Italian bicyclist and Giro
d'Italia and Tour de France winner ·
February 15 Jan Miner,
American actress ·
February 26 Boris Trajkovski, president of the Macedonia ·
March 2 Marge
Schott, former owner of the Cincinnati Reds ·
March 7 Nicolae
Cajal, member of the Romanian
Academy, president of the Jewish Communities Federation of Romania ·
March 9 Abu Abbas,
terrorist ·
March 18 Harrison
McCain, Canadian billionaire ·
March 20 Juliana of the
Netherlands, ·
March 23 Rupert
Hamer, Australian politician ·
March 28 Robert
Merle, novelist ·
March 29 Alistair Cooke, television and radio broadcaster ·
March 30 Michael
King, New Zealand historian (born 1945) ·
April 4 George
Bamberger, former major league manager and player, aged 80 ·
April 8 Bruce
Edwards, longtime caddie for golfer Tom
Watson, aged 49 ·
April 23 Pat Tillman, American football player
(born 1976) ·
April 24 Estιe Lauder, cosmetics pioneer (born 1906) ·
April 30 Kioumars
Saberi Foumani, aka Gol-Agha, Iranian satirist,
(born 1941) ·
May 9 Akhmad
Kadyrov, Chechen president ·
May 9 Alan King, American comedian ·
June 5 Ronald Reagan, 40th President
of the United States ·
June 10 Ray Charles, American musician ·
July 1 Marlon Brando, American actor ·
July 6 Thomas Klestil, President of Austria. ·
July 28 Francis Crick, scientist ·
September 20 Brian Clough, English football manager ·
September 22 Ray Traylor, American professional wrestler ·
September 29 Christer
Pettersson, suspect in the murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme ·
October 10 Christopher Reeve,
American actor ·
October 25 John Peel,
British DJ ·
November 2 Theo van Gogh, Dutch movie maker ·
November 9 Emlyn
Hughes, English footballer ·
November 9 Stieg
Larsson, Swedish writer ·
November 11 Yasser Arafat, Palestinian political leader ·
December 1 Prince
Bernhard of the Netherlands ·
December 4 - Elizabeth
Azcona Cranwell, Argentine poet ·
December 28 Jerry Orbach, American actor ·
December 28 Susan Sontag, American writer ·
December 30 Artie Shaw, American musician New books[change | change source] ·
Eragon Christopher Paolini Movies released[change | change
source] ·
Cellular ·
I Robot ·
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events ·
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ·
Twisted ·
Troy Hit Songs[change | change source] ·
Rumors - Lindsay Lohan ·
What You Waiting
For? - Gwen Stefani ·
Angels
Jessica Simpson ·
My Happy Ending Avril Lavigne ·
Mexican
Wine - Fountains
Of Wayne ·
Redneck
Woman Gretchen Wilson |
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