Timelines 2004
October - December
Return to home
2004
Oct 1, G7 ministers met in Washington DC. Chinese
officials were invited to attend for the 1st time.
(Econ, 10/2/04, p.11)
2004 Oct 1, The U.S. Postal
Service canceled a brief experiment that allowed ordinary people to
make postage stamps using images of their dogs, babies and even, it
turned out, outlaws such as the Unabomber.
(AP, 10/4/04)
2004 Oct 1, The Utah state medical
examiner's office used dental records to identify Lori Hacking's
remains about six hours after they were discovered in a landfill.
(AP, 10/2/04)(SFC, 10/2/04, p.A2)
2004 Oct 1, Mount St. Helens
quieted down after spewing a plume of steam and ash, but only briefly.
Within hours of the eruption, seismic readings suggested pressure was
building again inside the volcano, which had been dormant for 18 years.
(AP, 10/2/04)
2004 Oct 1, Richard Avedon (81),
US fashion photographer, died in San Antonio, Tx.
(SFC, 10/2/04, p.A1)(Econ, 10/9/04, p.81)
2004 Oct 1, Australia’s PM John
Howard promised new legislation if it was needed to fight child
pornography following more than 200 arrests in a major country-wide
crackdown on Internet pornography.
(AFP, 10/1/04)
2004 Oct 1, British PM Tony Blair
reportedly underwent a procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat.
(AP, 10/1/04)
2004 Oct 1, US aid to Egypt for
fiscal 2005 began. The budget request of $535 million was down $40
million from 2004.
(WSJ, 7/14/04, p.A13)
2004 Oct 1, India's Border
Security Force (BSF) asked Bangladeshi authorities to hand over 126
Indian insurgents, including top leaders of guerrilla groups it says
are based in the neighboring country.
(Reuters, 10/1/04)
2004 Oct 1, A violent Maoist rebel
group proposed a seven-point peace agreement to the government of a
southern Indian state at their first-ever talks to end an insurgency in
which thousands of people have been killed.
(AP, 10/1/04)
2004 Oct 1, U.S. and Iraqi forces
launched a major assault to regain control of the insurgent stronghold
of Samarra, trading gunfire with rebel fighters as they pushed toward
the city center. The US said over 100 insurgents were killed.
(AP, 10/1/04)(SFC, 10/2/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 1, In Iraq hospital
officials said at least seven civilians were killed and 13 wounded
during a US bombing attack in Falluja.
(AP, 10/2/04)
2004 Oct 1, Israel's security
Cabinet approved a large-scale military operation, dubbed "Days of
Penitence," to stop Palestinian rocket fire. Two Palestinians were
killed and three wounded when an Israeli tank fired a shell in the
Jebaliya refugee camp. 8 Palestinians were killed in the northern Gaza
Strip.
(AP, 10/1/04)(SFC, 10/2/04, p.A9)
2004 Oct 1, In Lebanon a car bomb
exploded in central Beirut, wounding a former Lebanese Cabinet minister
in an assassination attempt. The explosion killed the politician's
driver and seriously wounded his bodyguard.
(AP, 10/1/04)
2004 Oct 1, In eastern Pakistan a
suicide attacker detonated a huge bomb inside a crowded Shiite Muslim
mosque during prayers, killing at least 23 people and wounding dozens
more.
(AP, 10/1/04)(SFC, 10/2/04, p.A9)
2004 Oct 1, Spain's Socialist
government approved a controversial law that would give gay and lesbian
couples the same right to marry, divorce and adopt children as
heterosexuals.
(Reuters, 10/1/04)
2004 Oct 1, The United Nations
launched a massive voluntary repatriation program to return an
estimated 340,000 Liberian refugees still scattered across West Africa.
(AP, 10/1/04)
2004 Oct 2, The Loveparade, which
originated in Berlin in 1989, came to San Francisco for its 1st annual
bash. Matthias Roeingh, founder, was on hand.
(SSFC, 10/3/04, p.B1)
2004 Oct 2, IMF and World Bank
officials in Washington DC failed to resolve their differences over
debt relief for the world's poorest countries and Iraq while expressing
concern about the impact high oil prices would have on a strengthening
global economy.
(AP, 10/3/04)
2004 Oct 2, Afghan intelligence
agents backed by international peacekeepers arrested 25 people
allegedly linked to the Taliban and al-Qaida in an early morning raid
in eastern Kabul.
(AP, 10/2/04)
2004 Oct 2, In Ontario, Canada, a
record 1,446 pound pumpkin was unveiled.
(SFC, 10/12/04, p.B1)
2004 Oct 2, Two US ships carrying
300 pounds of plutonium were scheduled to dock in Cherbourg, France. A
French nuclear factory planned to transform it into fuel assemblies and
return it next year to Charleston, SC.
(SFC, 10/1/04, p.A15)
2004 Oct 2, In Haiti authorities
recovered the decapitated bodies of three policemen, among at least
seven people killed in a 2nd day of violence. Aristide supporters
demanded his return from exile in South Africa, launching what they
called "Operation Baghdad."
(AP, 10/2/04)(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 2, In northeast India a
spate of bombings and gun attacks in crowded public places killed 73
people in markets and a railroad station across Assam and Nagaland
states.
(SSFC, 10/3/04, p.A8)(AP, 10/2/05)
2004 Oct 2, A militant group in
Iraq claimed in an Internet statement that it abducted and beheaded an
Iraqi construction contractor who worked on a U.S. military base.
(AP, 10/3/04)
2004 Oct 2, About 100,000 Kurds
demonstrated outside provincial government offices, demanding that the
turbulent, oil hub of Kirkuk be made part of the autonomous Kurdish
region in northern Iraq.
(AP, 10/2/04)
2004 Oct 2, Israeli troops killed
10 Palestinian militants, as the military expanded one of its largest
offensives against Palestinian militants in four years of fighting.
(AP, 10/2/04)(SSFC, 10/3/04, p.A11)
2004 Oct 2, In Lebanon a military
prosecutor has charged 35 Arab nationals and alleged members of an
al-Qaida-linked terror group with plotting to bomb foreign targets,
including the Italian and Ukrainian diplomatic missions.
(AP, 10/2/04)
2004 Oct 2, In eastern Pakistan
thousands of minority Shiite Muslims rampaged through the city of
Sialkot in a riot sparked by a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque that
killed 31 people.
(AP, 10/2/04)
2004 Oct 2, Turkish troops and
Kurdish rebels clashed in southeastern Turkey in fighting that killed
two soldiers and a guerrilla.
(AP, 10/3/04)
2004 Oct 3, National security
adviser Condoleezza Rice, interviewed on ABC's "This Week" program,
defended her characterization of Saddam Hussein's nuclear capabilities
in the months before the Iraq invasion.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2004 Oct 3, Janet Leigh (77),
actress in Alfred Hitchcock thriller "Psycho," died in Beverly Hills,
Ca.
(AP, 10/4/04)
2004 Oct 3, The party of Brazil's
left-leaning president emerged stronger from nationwide municipal
elections but did not come in first in the Sao Paulo.
(AP, 10/4/04)
2004 Oct 3, In southwest Colombia
suspected drug dealers opened fire on a rival gang at a ranch, killing
at least 10 people, including a toddler and a pregnant woman.
(AP, 10/4/04)
2004 Oct 3, In northeast India
suspected separatists in Assam state bombed a crowded market, a tea
plantation and other sites, killing seven people in a second day of
explosions and gun attacks that have left at least 57 dead and more
than 100 wounded.
(AP, 10/3/04)
2004 Oct 3, Iraqi security forces
and U.S. troops claimed success in wresting control of Samarra from
Sunni insurgents in fierce fighting.
(AP, 10/3/04)
2004 Oct 3, An Israeli aircraft
fired two missiles at a group of Palestinians who launched a homemade
rocket at Israel, killing two militants.
(AP, 10/3/04)
2004 Oct 3, Serbs voted for mayors
and other municipal posts in runoff elections.
(AP, 10/3/04)
2004 Oct 3, Slovenians voted in
parliamentary elections. Janez Jansa’s right-leaning party won weekend
elections and promised to maintain Slovenia's pro-Western course after
taking power from the Liberal Democrats.
(AP, 10/4/04)(WSJ, 10/4/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 3, Two of Spain's most
wanted alleged terrorists and at least 16 other suspected members of
the armed Basque separatist group ETA were captured in a vast
French-Spanish police operation. Mikel “Antza” Albizu Iriarte was
arrested with his girlfriend Soledad Genetxea.
(AP, 10/3/04)(Econ, 10/9/04, p.48)
2004 Oct 3, In central Thailand a
huge explosion at a fireworks factory killed eight workers and injured
three others.
(AP, 10/3/04)
2004 Oct 3, Twenty-two would-be
immigrants drowned and 42 were missing after a boat that was to have
carried them across the Mediterranean broke up and sank off the
Tunisian coast.
(AFP, 10/4/04)
2004 Oct 4, Americans Dr. Richard
Axel (58) of Columbia Univ. and Linda Buck (57) of the Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Center in Seattle won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their 1991
discovery of how people recognize odors. In 2008 Linda Buck and her
co-authors retracted their 2001 paper on smell due to inconsistencies
on data.
(SFC, 10/5/04, p.A5)(SFC, 3/7/08, p.A6)
2004 Oct 4, Pres. Bush signed an
extension of middle-class tax cuts.
(WSJ, 10/5/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 4, Mike Melvill piloted
SpaceShipOne, designed by Burt Rutan, climbed to 367,442 feet in a 2nd
leg and captured the $10 million Ansari X Prize. The single pilot was
accompanied by the weight of 2 others to meet a 3-person requirement.
(SFC, 10/5/04, p.A1)(Econ, 10/9/04, p.75)
2004 Oct 4, Gordon Cooper
(b.1927), US astronaut in the Mercury program, died in Ventura, Ca. He
piloted Faith 7 around Earth on May 15-16, 1963.
(SFC, 10/5/04, p.B7)
2004 Oct 4, Cambodia's legislature
approved a long-delayed agreement to put surviving Khmer Rouge leaders
on trial for atrocities that claimed nearly two million lives during
their murderous rule in the late 1970s.
(AP, 10/4/04)
2004 Oct 4, The Denmark Science
Ministry said it aims to show the North Pole belongs to Denmark and is
sending an expedition to try to prove that the seabed there is a
natural continuation of Danish territory.
(AP, 10/4/04)
2004 Oct 4, Officials in Haiti
said they have found hundreds more bodies, raising the death toll from
Tropical Storm Jeanne to nearly 2,000 people. Later estimates put the
death toll at 3,000.
(AP, 10/4/04)(AP, 11/1/07)
2004 Oct 4, Suspected separatist
rebels attacked sleeping villagers in northeastern India, killing six
in a third day of explosions and gun attacks that have left at least 63
people dead.
(AP, 10/4/04)
2004 Oct 4, Retired general Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono was confirmed as Indonesia's next leader as final
counting from the country's first direct presidential polls gave him a
landslide victory over his predecessor.
(AFP, 10/4/04)
2004 Oct 4, Iranian President
Mohammad Khatami arrived in Khartoum to start a three-day visit to
Sudan.
(AP, 10/4/04)
2004 Oct 4, Insurgents unleashed a
pair of powerful car bombs near the symbol of U.S. authority in Iraq,
the Green Zone, where the U.S. Embassy and key government offices are
located as well as hotels occupied by hundreds of foreigners. Two other
explosions brought the day's bombing toll to at least 26 dead and more
than 100 wounded.
(AP, 10/4/04)(SFC, 10/5/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 4, Six separatist rebels
were killed in a clash between separatist rebels and security forces in
a thickly forested area in Jammu and Kashmir.
(AP, 10/4/04)
2004 Oct 4, Palestinian militants
fired off two more rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot, lightly
wounding one person, according to rescue workers. Ongoing violence in
northern Gaza killed at least seven Palestinians, including a teenager.
(AP, 10/4/04)
2004 Oct 4, Syrian President
Bashar Assad replaced about one-third of his Cabinet, bringing new
faces to the key interior and information ministries.
(AP, 10/4/04)
2004 Oct 4, It was reported that
Vietnam had embarked on a major overhaul of its debt-laden companies as
it opens up its economy.
(WSJ, 10/4/04, p.A15)
2004 Oct 5, Americans David J.
Gross, H. David Politzer and Frank Wilczek won the 2004 Nobel Prize in
physics for their explanation of the force that binds particles inside
the atomic nucleus. Their theory of quantum chromodynamics explained
who quarks behave.
(AP, 10/5/04)(SFC, 10/6/04, p.A2)
2004 Oct 5, The US vetoed an
Arab-backed UN Security Council resolution demanding that the Jewish
state immediately end military operations and called the resolution
"lopsided and unbalanced." 11 of 15 voted in favor with 3 abstentions.
(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 5, US Vice Pres. Dick
Cheney and Sen. John Edwards slugged it out over jobs, judgment and
Iraq in a hard-hitting debate.
(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 5, A Louisiana state
judge threw out the new constitutional amendment banning gay marriage
because it also banned civil unions.
(SFC, 10/6/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 4, Tiger Woods married
Swedish model Elin Nordegren in Barbados.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2004 Oct 5, Supermarket janitors
in California won a $22.4 million settlement against 3 grocery chains
and a cleaning contractor in a class-action suit over failure to pay
for overtime.
(SFC, 10/6/04, p.B3)
2004 Oct 5, The first Web 2.0
Conference opened for a 3-day session at the Hotel Nikko in San
Francisco.
(Econ, 3/21/09,
p.71)(http://conferences.oreillynet.com/web2con/)
2004 Oct 5, Light crude oil for
November closed at a record $51.09 per barrel.
(SFC, 10/6/04, p.C1)
2004 Oct 5, Rodney Dangerfield
(82), comedian and film actor, died in LA. He was best known for his
line: "I don't get no respect."
(AP, 10/6/04)(SFC, 10/6/04, p.A2)
2004 Oct 5, Texas executed Edward
Green despite pleas by Houston’s police chief for a moratorium because
of suspect work by the city’s crime lab.
(WSJ, 10/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 5, Britain pulled the
license of a Liverpool factory responsible for manufacturing half of
Chiron Corp.’s US flu vaccine supply due to contamination by the
bacteria serratia.
(SFC, 10/6/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 10/7/04, p.B6)
2004 Oct 5, The Canadian submarine
HMCS Chicoutimi went adrift in the Atlantic off the northwestern coast
of Ireland since a blaze onboard caused a loss of power. Lieutenant
Chris Saunders, one of nine crew members hurt in the fire, died after a
British helicopter flew him to a hospital in Ireland.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 5, In Chechnya Maj. Gen.
Alu Alkhanov was sworn in as president.
(AP, 10/5/04)
2004 Oct 5, New data showed
unemployment in Germany, the eurozone's biggest economy, is continuing
to rise and could even reach five million by the winter.
(AP, 10/5/04)
2004 Oct 5, In India at least 10
people were killed and seven wounded in a fresh bout of militant
violence in the restive northeastern state of Assam.
(AFP, 10/5/04)
2004 Oct 5, Iran said its missiles
now have a range of more than 1,200 miles, a substantial extension of
their previously declared range.
(AP, 10/5/04)
2004 Oct 5, Interim Prime Minister
Ayad Allawi said negotiators hammered out the basis for an agreement to
end fighting with followers of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr. 2 car bombs exploded in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi,
killing four Iraqis and prompting clashes between U.S. troops and
gunmen. 10 Iraqi policemen, including a lieutenant colonel, were killed
in two separate attacks south of Baghdad.
(AP, 10/5/04)
2004 Oct 5, An Israeli aircraft
launched a missile at a car in Gaza City, killing at least 2 militants
and wounding three others. A helicopter strike in Gaza killed Bashir Al
Dabash (42), a senior Islamic Jihad leader, as well as his bodyguard.
Iyman Hams, a 13-year-old Palestinian girl, was shot and killed by
Israeli forces, which soon prompted an investigation. In 2005 an
Israeli military court acquitted an army captain who was charged with
intentionally killing the Palestinian girl, saying she was already dead
when he shot her.
(AP, 10/5/04)(SFC, 10/6/04, p.A17)(SFC, 10/13/04,
p.A14)(AP, 11/16/05)
2004 Oct 5, A Russian cargo plane
crashed in war-ravaged southern Sudan, killing all four people onboard.
(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 5, In Belgrade, Serbia, 2
soldiers were killed guarding the entrance to a secret complex. It was
soon revealed that a 2-square-mile complex, dubbed a "concrete
underground city" by the local media, had been built deep inside a
rocky hill in a residential area in the 1960s on the orders of
communist strongman Josip Broz Tito.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Oct 6, American Irwin Rose
and Israelis Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko won the 2004 Nobel
Prize in chemistry for discovering a key way cells destroy unwanted
proteins, the ubiquitin proteasome system, in the late 1970s and early
1980s.
(AP, 10/6/04)(SFC, 10/7/04,
p.A2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteasome)
2004 Oct 6, The US Senate approved
an intelligence reorganization bill endorsed by the Sept. 11 commission.
(AP, 10/6/05)
2004 Oct 6, Charles Duelfer, the
chief U.S. weapons hunter, reported that Saddam Hussein's weapons of
mass destruction programs had deteriorated into only hopes and dreams
by the time of the U.S.-led invasion last year.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 6, Sirius Satellite Radio
planned to spend $500 million to sign “shock jock” Howard Stern for 5
years beginning in 2006.
(SFC, 10/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 6, Light crude oil for
November closed in NYC at a record $52.02 per barrel.
(SFC, 10/6/04, p.C1)
2004 Oct 6, The EU recommended
Turkey be put on the path to full membership.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 6, In Guinea-Bissau
soldiers recently back from a U.N. peacekeeping mission and angry over
unpaid wages staged a revolt, surrounding a main military building in
the West African nation's capital.
(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 6, Followers of renegade
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have agreed to a cease-fire with Iraq's
interim government aimed at ending weeks of fighting in the vast
Baghdad slum of Sadr City.
(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 6, A car bomb exploded at
an Iraqi military camp northwest of Baghdad, killing 10 Iraqis and
wounding more than 20.
(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 6, In Peru villagers in
the country's remote Lake Titicaca region doused Alejandro Noalca
Mamani (54), an accused thief, with gasoline and setting him ablaze.
State-run television station broadcast images the next day.
(AP, 10/8/04)
2004 Oct 6, The Interfax news
agency reported that the key production unit of beleaguered Russian oil
giant Yukos was handed a back taxes bill for $951 million.
(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 6, In Spain a judge
ordered the top banker to stand trial on charges of tax fraud.
(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 6, Sudan's U.N.
ambassador challenged the US to send troops to the Darfur region if it
really believes a genocide is taking place.
(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 7, Austria's Elfriede
Jelinek won the Nobel Prize for Literature for novels and plays that
depict violence against women, explore sexuality and condemn far-right
politics in Europe. Her books included “The Piano Teacher” (1988),
which was adopted for a 2001 film.
(AP, 10/7/04)(SFC, 10/8/04, p.A4)
2004 Oct 7, Pres. Bush and VP Dick
Cheney conceded that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction,
even as they tried to shift the Iraq war debate to a new issue, whether
the invasion was justified because Saddam was abusing a UN oil-for-food
program.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2004 Oct 7, US President George W.
Bush told Chinese President Hu Jintao in a phone conversation that he
supports reunifying Taiwan with the mainland but warned against "any
unilateral attempt" to do so.
(AFP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 7, It was reported that
municipal tax shelters would cost the US government an estimated $4.4
billion in uncollected taxes for fiscal year 2004.
(WSJ, 10/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 7, US House Democratic
leader Nancy Pelosi called on Texas Rep. Tom DeLay to step down or be
ousted after his 3rd rebuke from the ethics committee in a week.
(SFC, 10/8/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 7, Light crude oil for
November closed in NYC at a record $52.67 per barrel.
(WSJ, 10/8/04, p.C1)
2004 Oct 7, An Asia-Europe forum
accepted Myanmar and 12 other new members ahead of a summit strained by
Yangon's human rights record. ASEM comprises 39 members: 25 from
Europe, 13 from Asia and the European Commission.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 7, Cambodia’s King
Norodom Sihanouk (81) abdicated due to poor health.
(SFC, 10/7/04, p.A9)
2004 Oct 7, A car bomb at Egypt’s
Taba Hilton killed at least 35 people on the last day of the Jewish
holiday of Sukkot. The attack was quickly followed by two more car
bombings outside beach-bungalow camps south of Taba. The next day
Israeli officials said they believe al-Qaida was probably behind 3
suicide car bomb attacks targeting Red Sea resorts filled with Israeli
tourists. It was later reported that all 4 bombers who attacked the
resorts escaped on foot minutes before their vehicles exploded.
(AP, 10/8/04)(SFC, 10/8/04, p.A1)(AP, 10/13/04)
2004 Oct 7, In Ethiopia British PM
Tony Blair spoke before the Africa Commission and warned that poverty
and instability in Africa is providing a fertile breeding ground for
terror and criminal organizations.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 7, In Haiti 2 beheaded
bodies, one wrapped in tires and set ablaze, turned up Port-au-Prince.
(AP, 10/8/04)
2004 Oct 7, US authorities,
meanwhile, raised the security alert in the heavily guarded Green Zone
after an improvised bomb was found in front of a restaurant there. 2
American soldiers were killed and two others were wounded in separate
attacks involving roadside bombs.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 7, In Kashmir 4 Islamic
militants were killed by Indian forces while rebels killed a
paramilitary soldier and critically wounded a pro-India political
activist.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 7, In Pakistan 2 bombs
planted in a car and motorcycle exploded at a gathering of Sunni Muslim
radicals in Multan, killing at least 39 people and wounding about 100
others. Authorities in response banned all political and religious
meetings except Friday Prayer. In 2006 Irfan Ali Shah was found guilty
of masterminding the bombing in Multan.
(AP, 10/7/04)(WSJ, 10/7/04, p.A1)(NYT, 10/8/04,
p.A5)(AP, 9/1/06)
2004 Oct 7, Two Palestinian boys,
ages 15 and 14, were killed in an Israeli missile strike.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 7, In Poland organizers
of the 5th annual erotic fair in Warsaw said they would defy an order
from the mayor's office and go ahead and stage a "test" for the woman
who can carry out a sex act with as many men as possible.
(AP, 10/8/04)
2004 Oct 8, Wangari Maathai (64)
of Kenya won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. During the 1980s and 1990s,
she also campaigned against government oppression and founded Kenya's
Green Party in 1987. She was repeatedly arrested and beaten for
protesting former President Daniel arap Moi's environmental policies
and human rights record. In 1991 Maathai won the Goldman Environmental
Prize.
(AP, 10/8/04)(SFC, 10/9/04, p.A14)
2004 Oct 8, In a testy 2nd debate,
President Bush and Sen. John Kerry quarreled over the war in Iraq,
jobs, education, health care, abortion, the environment, cheaper drugs
and tort reform at a town-hall session in St. Louis.
(SFC, 10/9/04, p.A1)(AP, 10/8/05)
2004 Oct 8, The US September job
report showed a disappointing 96,000 new jobs.
(SFC, 10/9/04, p.C1)
2004 Oct 8, Martha Stewart
reported to the Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia to begin
serving her sentence for lying about a stock sale.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2004 Oct 8, Jacques Derrida (74),
one of France's best-known philosophers and the founder of the
deconstructionist school, died of cancer in Paris.
(SSFC, 10/10/04, p.A14)(Econ, 10/23/04, p.89)
2004 Oct 8, In Iraq kidnappers
displayed a video of the beheading of British hostage Kenneth Bigley
(62) following an unsuccessful escape attempt.
(AP, 10/8/04)(SFC, 10/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 8, American warplanes
struck a building where the U.S. command said leaders of al-Zarqawi's
network were meeting. Residents said the house was full of people who
had gathered for a wedding. The attack killed 13 people, including the
groom.
(AP, 10/8/04)
2004 Oct 8, Israeli Soldiers shot
and killed a 10-year-old Palestinian girl and three other Palestinians
died in missile strikes during a massive offensive into the northern
Gaza Strip.
(AP, 10/8/04)
2004 Oct 8, In northeast Nigeria
Islamist rebels attacked a major police patrol taking a number of
hostages in a remote area near the Cameroonian border.
(AFP, 10/9/04)
2004 Oct 8, A Puerto Rican
attorney asked a federal appeals court to end "the state of servitude"
that island residents find themselves in and allow them to vote in the
Nov. 2 presidential election.
(AP, 10/9/04)
2004 Oct 9, A bus carrying
Chicago-area tourists to a Mississippi casino crashed and overturned on
I-55 in northeastern Arkansas, killing 15 people.
(SSFC, 10/10/04, p.A6)(AP, 10/9/05)
2004 Oct 9, Afghanistan's first
direct presidential election was thrust into turmoil hours after it
started when all 15 candidates challenging interim leader Hamid Karzai
alleged fraud over the ink meant to ensure people voted only once and
vowed to boycott the results.
(AP, 10/9/04)(SSFC, 10/10/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 9, An exit poll conducted
by an American non-profit group found that interim Afghan president
Hamid Karzai won the first-ever presidential election with the outright
majority needed to avoid a second round.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 9, US forces in
Afghanistan fought militants on the ground and aircraft bombed them in
a clash that left 25 rebels dead before the nation's landmark elections.
(AP, 10/9/04)
2004 Oct 9, Prime Minister John
Howard scored a convincing victory in Australia's federal election,
winning a historic fourth term.
(AP, 10/9/04)
2004 Oct 9, In Brazil a member of
a government task force working to stop illegal diamond mining on
Indian reservations in the Amazon was shot dead at an ATM.
(AP, 10/10/04)
2004 Oct 9, In Nottingham, central
England, a teenage girl was gunned down near her home in an apparently
random attack. Danielle Beccan (14) was shot as many as six times from
a passing car while walking back from a funfair with friends.
(AP, 10/10/04)
2004 Oct 9, French President
Jacques Chirac declared that France was a natural trade partner to
China and, amid a flurry of air, rail and energy deals.
(AP, 10/9/04)
2004 Oct 9, Followers of radical
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said they will begin handing weapons over
to Iraqi police next week.
(AP, 10/9/04)
2004 Oct 9, Israeli troops shot at
Hamas militants about to fire an anti-tank missile, setting off an
explosion that killed one man and wounded three. Israeli soldiers in
northern Gaza killed 5 Palestinians including Hamas militant Abed
Nabham (25).
(AP, 10/9/04)(SSFC, 10/10/04, p.A16)
2004 Oct 9, Typhoon Ma-on hit
Japan. It was the most powerful typhoon to hit Japan's Pacific
coastline in a decade and left 2 dead with 5 missing.
(AP, 10/9/04)(WSJ, 10/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 9, In Karachi, Pakistan,
gunmen killed Mufti Muhammad Jamil Ahmed, a leading pro-Taliban Sunni
Muslim cleric and an associate.
(AP, 10/9/04)(SFC, 10/11/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 9, In Serbia Ljubisa
Beara, former colonel and the security chief for the Bosnian Serb
army's main staff, was arrested. He was accused of genocide for the
1995 mass killing of Muslims in the U.N.-protected zone of Srebrenica.
(AP, 10/10/04)
2004 Oct 10, Christopher Reeve
(52), "Superman" actor who turned personal tragedy into a public
crusade, died in Mount Kisco, NY, of complications from an infection.
Reeve became a quadriplegic after a May 1995 horse riding accident.
(Econ, 10/16/04, p.83)(AP, 10/10/05)
2004 Oct 10, Ken Caminiti (41),
the National League's 1996 most valuable player who later admitted
using steroids during his major league baseball career, died in New
York.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2004 Oct 10, PM Paul Martin of
Canada arrived in Russia for two days of talks with Russian leaders.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 10, In eastern Congo 2
boat accidents on Lake Kivu killed 68 people.
(AP, 10/12/04)
2004 Oct 10, Gerard Pierre-Charles
(b.1935), a prominent Haitian intellectual and politician, died of
heart failure in Cuba, where he was receiving emergency treatment for a
lung infection. Pierre-Charles was an economist, who wrote at least 16
books, and a longtime communist whose ideology shifted toward the
center after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
(AP, 10/12/04)
2004 Oct 10, In India at least 62
bodies were recovered after flash floods in Assam state, taking the
death toll from fresh flooding in the past three days to 88.
(AP, 10/10/04)
2004 Oct 10, Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld visited Iraq. In Baghdad 2 car bombs shook the
capital in quick succession, killing at least 11 people, including an
American soldier, and wounding 16.
(AP, 10/10/04)(WSJ, 10/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 10, Iraq's Ministry of
Science and Technology told the UN nuclear agency that 377 tons of
explosives had disappeared from the Al-Qaqaa facility. The Iraqis say
the materials were stolen after the April 9, 2003, fall of Baghdad
because of a lack of security.
(AP, 10/27/04)
2004 Oct 10, An Israeli aircraft
fired a missile at a home near a Hamas stronghold in the Jebaliya
refugee camp, killing one civilian and wounding 8 other Palestinians.
(AP, 10/10/04)
2004 Oct 10, Libyan officials said
police have arrested 17 non-Libyans suspected of being al-Qaida members
who entered this North African country illegally.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 10, In Pakistan a suicide
attacker detonated a bomb at a Shiite mosque in the eastern city of
Lahore, leaving at least four people dead.
(AP, 10/10/04)
2004 Oct 10, In
Karachayevo-Cherkessia, a Russian republic north of Abkhazia, 7
businessmen were killed and their bodies thrown down a mine. The men
disappeared after being summoned to a meeting at a cottage belonging to
Ali Kaitov, son-in-law of regional Pres. Mustafa Batdyev. On Nov 9 a
crowd stormed the local government building in Cherkessk.
(AP, 11/9/04)(Econ, 2/12/05, p.21)
2004 Oct 10, Members of Somalia’s
transitional parliament elected Col. Abdullahi Yusuf (70) as interim
president.
(SFC, 10/11/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 11, Pres. Bush proclaimed
Oct 11 as Columbus Day. In 1968 Pres. Johnson had set Columbus Day,
previously celebrated on Oct. 12, to be held on the 2nd Monday of
October.
(www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/10/20041011-8.html)
2004 Oct 11, Edward C. Prescott
(63), an American, and Finn E. Kydland (60), a Norwegian, won the 2004
Nobel Memorial Prize in economics for shedding light on how government
policies and actions affect economies around the world. In a 1977 paper
they demonstrated the importance of credibility in economic policy.
(AP, 10/11/04)(Econ, 10/16/04, p.74)
2004 Oct 11, Light crude oil for
November closed in NYC at a record $53.64 per barrel.
(SFC, 10/12/04, p.E12)
2004 Oct 11, The main opposition
candidate in Afghanistan's first-ever presidential election backed off
a boycott of the vote, saying he would accept the formation of an
independent commission to look into alleged cheating.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 11, Voters in Cameroon
elected Pres. Paul Biya (71) to another 7-year term amid allegations of
fraud.
(http://4newz.net/nov2004/Cameroon.html)
2004 Oct 11, The European Union
ended 11 years of sanctions against Libya and eased an arms embargo to
reward the North African country for giving up plans to develop weapons
of mass destruction.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 11-12, Records at Haiti’s
Port-au-Prince hospital showed 17 people with gunshot wounds died,
eight of them in the Cite Soleil seaside slum.
(AP, 10/13/04)
2004 Oct 11, In Iraq followers of
radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr trickled in to police stations in
Baghdad's Sadr City district to hand in weapons. Two soldiers from Task
Force Baghdad were killed and five wounded in a rocket attack in
southern Baghdad.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 11, An Arabic language
television station broadcast video showing three hooded gunmen
threatening to behead a Turkish hostage within three days unless the
Americans release all Iraqi prisoners and all Turks leave Iraq.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 11, An Israeli aircraft
fired a missile at a house in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, wounding
five people, including a top Islamic Jihad leader.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 11, In Nigeria a
nationwide strike to protest fuel price hikes shut down Lagos.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 11, A Swiss
paleontologist said hundreds of dinosaur prints dating back 152 million
years have been discovered in the Jura mountains in the northwest of
Switzerland.
(AFP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 12, The Seattle Storm won
their first WNBA title with a 74-60 victory over the Connecticut Sun.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2004 Oct 12, A jury in Baton
Rouge, La., took 80 minutes to find suspected serial killer Derrick
Todd Lee guilty of first-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old
Charlotte Murray Pace. Lee was later sentenced to death for Pace's
killing.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2004 Oct 12, In Canada tens of
thousands of public servants were on strike across the country as
negotiators for the federal government and their union continued
marathon talks.
(AP, 10/12/04)
2004 Oct 12, Iranian vice
president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who was a close ally of reformist
President Mohammad Khatami, resigned, saying he could not work with the
conservative-dominated parliament.
(AP, 10/12/04)
2004 Oct 12, A videotape surfaced
on the Internet showing what was said to be the confession and
beheading of an Arab Shiite Muslim, presumably Iraqi, who was accused
of serving the U.S. Army by "assassinating Sunni leaders." US warplanes
hit Fallujah and knocked out the celebrated Haji Hussein kebab
restaurant killing the owner’s son and nephew.
(AP, 10/12/04)(SFC, 10/13/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 12, Police found 7 young
people slumped over dead in a parked van outside Tokyo in what was
believed to be Japan's biggest-ever group suicide. Another 2 people
were found dead in a rented car parked in Yokosuka.
(AP, 10/12/04)(SFC, 10/13/04, p.A2)
2004 Oct 12, Pakistan successfully
test-fired a medium-range, nuclear-capable missile that would be able
to hit most cities in neighboring India.
(AP, 10/12/04)
2004 Oct 12, in northwest Pakistan
an attacker tossed a grenade into a wedding ceremony at the home of an
Afghan refugee, killing four people and injuring 35.
(AP, 10/13/04)
2004 Oct 13, In Tempe, Ariz.,
Pres. Bush and Sen John Kerry held their 3rd and final debate trading
blows on taxes, gun control, abortion and jobs, striving to cement
impressions in voters' minds in the run-up to Election Day.
(SFC, 10/14/04, p.A1)(AP, 10/13/05)
2004 Oct 13, National Hockey
League games failed to begin as a lockout entered day 27.
(SFC, 10/12/04, p.A16)
2004 Oct 13, The US government
approved a microchip that can be implanted under the skin to provide
doctors with patient data. Two weeks after the device's approval took
effect on Jan. 10, 2005, Tommy Thompson left his Cabinet post, and
within five months was a board member of VeriChip Corp. and Applied
Digital Solutions. He was compensated in cash and stock options. In
2007 it was reported that a series of veterinary and toxicology
studies, dating to the mid-1990s, stated that chip implants had
"induced" malignant tumors in some lab mice and rats.
(SFC, 10/14/04, p.A1)(AP, 9/9/07)
2004 Oct 13, Bernice Rubens (76),
author, died in London. She won the 1970 Booker Prize for “The Elected
Member.” Her book "Madame Sousatzka" was turned into a 1988 film.
(SFC, 12/28/04, p.D12)
2004 Oct 13, The Canadian federal
government confirmed that its tax intake massively outweighed spending
in the past fiscal year - producing a budget surplus of $9.1 billion.
(AP, 10/13/04)
2004 Oct 13, In Shanghai, China,
the Houston Rockets, featuring Yao Ming, played an exhibition
basketball game against the Sacramento Kings. Advertisers paid some $10
million to sponsor the game and another in Beijing.
(WSJ, 10/15/04, p.B1)
2004 Oct 13, In Iraq roadside
bombings killed 4 American soldiers in Baghdad.
(AP, 10/13/04)
2004 Oct 13, The Israeli military
killed 4 Palestinian militants as troops extended a 2-week operation in
the Gaza Strip to silence Palestinian rocket fire.
(SFC, 10/14/04, p.A8)
2004 Oct 13, A Mexican judge found
bus driver Victor Garcia Uribe, guilty of eight slayings, giving
prosecutors their second conviction in the decade-long series of
murders of women in the border city of Ciudad Juarez.
(AP, 10/13/04)
2004 Oct 13, In Pakistan talks
aimed at freeing two Chinese engineers taken hostage by al-Qaida-linked
militants in a lawless region near the Afghanistan border have broken
down and tribal elders said they would support the military using force
to free the pair.
(AP, 10/13/04)
2004 Oct 13, Russia and China
settled a dispute over their 2,700-mile border during a visit by Pres.
Putin.
(WSJ, 10/14/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 13, A Russian rocket
lifted off in Kazakhstan carrying 2 Russians and an American to replace
the crew of the int’l. space station.
(SFC, 10/14/04, p.A2)
2004 Oct 14, The US Treasury
reported that the federal deficit surged to $413 billion in 2004.
(SFC, 10/15/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 14, NY Attorney General
Eliot Spitzer in a civil suit accused insurance broker Marsh &
McLennan of cheating corporate clients. Marsh faces $500 million in
penalties.
(WSJ, 10/27/04, p.C1)(WSJ, 10/28/04, p.C1)
2004 Oct 14, General Motors Europe
said it plans to shed 12,000 jobs, almost 20 percent of its work force,
in order to halt chronic losses.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 14, Google Inc.
introduced a program that quickly scours hard drives for documents,
e-mails, instant messages and past Web searches.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 14, Light crude oil for
November closed in NYC at a record $54.76 per barrel.
(SFC, 10/15/04, p.C1)
2004 Oct 14, The US Army announced
that up to 28 U.S. soldiers face possible criminal charges in
connection with the deaths of two prisoners at an American-run prison
in Afghanistan two years ago.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 14, In southern
Afghanistan a homemade bomb killed 2 American soldiers and wounded 3
others.
(AP, 10/16/04)
2004 Oct 14, In Brazil Pres. da
Silva signed an executive order permitting farmers to plant genetically
modified soybeans.
(SFC, 10/16/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 14, A Boeing 747-200
cargo jet owned by British-based MK Airlines crashed upon take off at
the Halifax International Airport. The Ghanaian-registered Boeing,
which was taking off for Spain with a cargo of seafood, crashed and
burned killing all seven crew on board.
(http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20041014-0)
2004 Oct 14, In Cambodia Prince
Norodom Sihamoni, retiring King Norodom Sihanouk's son, a former ballet
dancer and U.N. cultural ambassador, was officially confirmed to
succeed his father on the throne.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 14, In Chile Cardinal
Juan Francisco Fresno (90) died. He played a key role in efforts to
restore democracy in Chile during the military dictatorship of Gen.
Augusto Pinochet.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 14, German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder arrived in Libya for an official visit during which
he is to hold talks with Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 14, Insurgents struck
deep inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, setting off bombs
at a market and a popular cafe that killed at least 10 people,
including four Americans.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 14, In Iraq up to 19
members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company were detained for refusing
to deliver fuel under conditions that they deemed unsafe.
(SFC, 10/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 14, A video that appeared
on an Islamic Web site showed militants in Iraq beheading a man
identified as a kidnapped Turkish driver.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 14, Israel’s PM Ariel
Sharon said all 8,200 Jewish settlers will be pulled out of the Gaza
Strip starting next summer.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 14, The Muslim fasting
month of Ramadan began.
(SFC, 10/14/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 14, Nigerian unions
called off a general strike which had jeopardized oil supplies from the
world's seventh largest exporter for four days.
(Reuters, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 14, Pakistan's lower
house of parliament passed a bill to allow President Pervez Musharraf
to stay on as army chief despite his pledge to give up the job by the
end of the year.
(Reuters, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 14, Pakistani special
forces attacked kidnappers holding two Chinese engineers near the
Afghan border, killing all five of the al-Qaida-linked militants. One
of the hostages was killed in the raid, while the other survived.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 14, Thousands of
Paraguayans took to the streets to protest increasing crime, spurred on
the two high-profile kidnappings.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 15, Former President
Jimmy Carter urged the US and other international lenders to forgive
part of Grenada's debt, saying the Caribbean country needs the money to
recover from the devastation of Hurricane Ivan.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 15, The US State
Department said "restrictions on arms exports" to Haiti remained in
place but promised to "consider requests from the interim government."
(AP, 10/20/04)
2004 Oct 15, A federal judge
struck down a ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton
national parks.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2004 Oct 15, A federal bankruptcy
judge allowed U.S. Airways to cut union workers' pay immediately by 21
percent.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2004 Oct 15, The Food and Drug
Administration ordered that all antidepressants carry strong warnings
that they "increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior" in
children who take them.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2004 Oct 15, Several thousand
people opposed to gay marriage gathered on the National Mall in
Washington to call for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as
being between a man and a woman.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2004 Oct 15, The journal Science
published a report that said 1,856 of 5,743 species of amphibians are
“globally threatened.”
(SFC, 10/15/04, p.A4)
2004 Oct 15, Authorities said the
Northern Snakehead has invaded the Great Lakes. The voracious predator
dubbed the "Frankenfish" can breathe out of water and wriggle across
land.
(Reuters, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 15, In an eastern Afghan
province killed at least three children and a policeman on the first
day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 10/16/04)
2004 Oct 15, Craig Murray,
Britain's former ambassador to Uzbekistan, said he is a "victim of
conscience" for having dared to speak out against human rights
outrages. Murray had highlighted the allegedly systematic use of
torture, including the alleged boiling to death of two prisoners, by
Uzbek authorities.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 15, Canada’s Bombardier
Transportation and two joint-venture partners won a $424-million order
to supply 20 high-speed trains to China's Ministry of Railways.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 15, German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder and Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi clashed over Iraq
during their first-ever meeting in Tripoli while German business
leaders touted for business in the oil-rich former pariah state.
Schroeder praised the reforms of Muammar Gaddafi and invited the Libyan
leader to visit Germany.
(AP, 10/15/04)(Reuters, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 15, Indonesian
prosecutors formally charged militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir with
ordering his followers to launch a suicide attack on the J.W. Marriott
hotel in Jakarta last year.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 15, US Marines launched
air and ground attacks on the insurgent bastion Fallujah after city
representatives suspended peace talks with the government over PM Ayad
Allawi's demand to hand over terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. US
officials said 10 people, including a family of four, were killed when
a car bomb exploded near a Baghdad police station.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 15, Car bombs killed five
US troops in Iraq.
(AP, 10/16/04)
2004 Oct 15, Japan won a two-year
term on the U.N. Security Council along with Argentina, Denmark, Greece
and Tanzania.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 15, The World Trade
Organization (WTO) ruled that the European Union had broken
international trade rules by subsidizing sugar producers.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 15, Zimbabwe opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai was acquitted on treason charges following a
yearlong trial that his party had said was orchestrated by the
government of President Robert Mugabe.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 16, In Arizona a stolen
truck filled with suspected illegal immigrants sped away from deputies
and rolled over at a busy intersection near an Army post, causing an
11-car crash that killed six people and seriously injured 15.
(AP, 10/17/04)
2004 Oct 16, Pierre Salinger (79),
who served as press secretary to US presidents Kennedy and Johnson,
died of a heart attack near his home in Le Thon, France.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2004 Oct 16, Congo Pres. Joseph
Kabila visited northeastern territory formerly held by rebels. The army
claimed to have retaken a village near Zambia and killed at least 20
militiamen.
(AP, 10/16/04)
2004 Oct 16, In India the ruling
Congress party won power in Maharashtra, a victory that will boost the
fortunes of Italian-born Sonia Gandhi's party and strengthen PM
Manmohan Singh's minority national coalition.
(AP, 10/16/04)
2004 Oct 16, In Iraq a Fallujah
delegation offered to resume peace talks with the government if the US
ceases attacks against the city and releases the chief negotiator. 2 US
Army helicopters crashed in Baghdad and 2 soldiers were killed.
(AP, 10/16/04)(SSFC, 10/17/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 16, Russia’s Soyuz
spacecraft was forced to manually dock with the international space
station after it closed in on the station at a dangerously high speed.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2004 Oct 16, Saudi security forces
captured four suspected militants in the Khaleej neighborhood of Riyadh.
(AP, 10/17/04)
2004 Oct 17, Betty Hill (85), who
claimed that she and her husband, Barney, had been abducted, examined
and released by extraterrestrials in 1961, died in Portsmouth, N.H.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2004 Oct 17, Organizers of a
campaign by French non-government organizations said African chicken
farmers risk ruin from massive imports of European frozen poultry at
less than a third of their prices.
(AP, 10/17/04)
2004 Oct 17, Belarus voters went
to the polls to decide whether to abolish presidential term limits and
allow the authoritarian president to run for a third term in 2006.
Opposition leaders accused the government of arresting exit-poll takers
and turning away election observers.
(AP, 10/17/04)
2004 Oct 17, Effective as of today
Brazil's air force will be allowed to shoot down small planes suspected
of carrying drugs under a law meant to stem the flow of cocaine.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 17, US forces battled
insurgents around Fallujah. Militants ambushed and killed nine Iraqi
policemen returning from training in Jordan. A suicide driver in
Baghdad killed at least 7 people. More than 200 detainees were released
from Abu Ghraib prison after a security review deemed them no longer a
threat.
(AP, 10/17/04)(SFC, 10/18/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 17, Jordan's military
prosecutor indicted Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the most wanted
insurgents in Iraq, and 12 other alleged Muslim militants for an
alleged al-Qaida linked plot to attack the U.S. Embassy in Amman and
Jordanian government targets.
(AP, 10/17/04)
2004 Oct 17, The Tawhid and Jihad
group, a militant group led by terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
declared its allegiance to Osama bin Laden.
(AP, 10/18/04)
2004 Oct 17, Military helicopters
doused a 730-foot office tower in Caracas' Parque Central complex, one
of Venezuela's tallest buildings, bringing under control a blaze that
many feared would cause the tower to collapse.
(AP, 10/17/04)
2004 Oct 18, President Bush and
Democratic rival John Kerry traded biting accusations over the war in
Iraq, with Bush saying his Democratic challenger stood for "protest and
defeatism" while Kerry accused the president of "arrogant boasting."
(AP, 10/18/05)
2004 Oct 18, The US FDA approved
the 1st partially implantable artificial heart intended to keep
patients alive while they wait for a heart transplant.
(WSJ, 10/19/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 18, An Anglican church
commission urged the U.S. Episcopal Church not to elect any more gay
bishops and called on conservative African bishops to stop meddling in
the affairs of other dioceses.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2004 Oct 18, The Dover, Pa.,
school district voted 6-3 to mandate the teaching of “intelligent
design” in public schools along with the theory of evolution. A number
of parents soon filed suit. In 2007 Edward Humes authored “Monkey Girl:
Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America’s Soul.”
(SFC, 11/30/04, p.A1)(SFC, 12/15/04, p.A4)(WSJ,
2/8/07, p.D7)
2004 Oct 18, In southeastern
Afghanistan 5 people were killed when an explosive device hit a vehicle
being used by election staff. Hamid Karzai’s chief rival Yunus Qanooni
accused organizers of "robbing the people's vote."
(AP, 10/18/04)
2004 Oct 18, In Belarus Elections
Chairwoman Lidiya Ermoshina announced that the preliminary tally of all
the ballots showed that more than 77 percent of registered voters
approved dropping the two-term limit and that nationwide turnout was
nearly 90 percent. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe said that the elections "fell significantly short" of democratic
norms. Thousands of people took to the streets to protest the results.
(AP, 10/18/04)(SFC, 10/19/04, p.A6)
2004 Oct 18, In Bolivia thousands
of peasants and workers demonstrated in La Paz, demanding that former
President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada be tried for the deaths of more
than 50 people in the suppression of protests that toppled his
government one year ago.
(AP, 10/18/04)
2004 Oct 18, In India Koose
Muniswamy Veerappan (52), the country’s most-wanted bandit, was shot to
death in Tamil Nadu state.
(SFC, 10/19/04, p.A3)(Econ, 10/30/04, p.88)
2004 Oct 18, Iraqi PM Allawi said
that an exchange of weapons for cash will be extended across the
country. A militant group in Iraq said it had executed two Macedonian
men accused of spying for the US. Macedonia has 32 soldiers stationed
in Taji, north of Baghdad. Saboteurs attacked a key oil pipeline in
northern Iraq, setting it on fire.
(AP, 10/18/04)(AP, 10/19/04)(SFC, 10/19/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 19, Paul H. Nitze (97),
US Cold War strategist, died. In 2009 Nicholas Thompson authored “The
Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the
Cold War.”
(SFC, 10/21/04, p.B7)(Econ, 10/17/09, p.98)
2004 Oct 19, Thirteen people were
killed when a Corporate Airlines commuter turboprop crashed near
Kirksville, Missouri. 2 survived with only broken bones.
(www.airsafe.com/events/fatal04.htm)
2004 Oct 19, Britain’s Man Booker
Prize and a $90,000 check was awarded to Alan Hollinghurst for his
novel “The Line of Beauty.”
(SFC, 10/20/04, p.E2)(SSFC, 10/31/04, p.M1)
2004 Oct 19, British prosecutors
charged radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri with incitement to
murder for allegedly urging followers to kill Jews and other
non-Muslims. The indictment pre-empted a U.S. bid to extradite him on
terror charges.
(AP, 10/19/04)
2004 Oct 19, Canada raised its
interest rates .025% from 2.25 to 2.50%.
(WSJ, 10/20/04, p.A15)
2004 Oct 19, UN officials warned
that the spread of AIDS in Ecuador's most populated province is
reaching levels comparable to Africa and the Caribbean a decade ago and
could mushroom into a national epidemic if left unchecked.
(AP, 10/20/04)
2004 Oct 19, More than 40,000
people took to the streets in Europe to protest against plans by US
auto giant General Motors to axe about one-fifth of its workforce in
the region and possibly even close a plant.
(AP, 10/19/04)
2004 Oct 19, In France 2 Muslim
girls who refused to remove their head scarves in class were expelled
from their schools, and two more risked the same fate.
(AP, 10/19/04)
2004 Oct 19, Margaret Hassan, the
director of CARE International's operations in Iraq, was abducted from
her car in Baghdad. In 2005 Iraqi forces arrested 5 suspects who
confessed to kidnapping and murdering Margaret Hassan. In 2006 Mustafa
Mohammed Jubouri (Mustafa Salman) was found guilty of kidnapping Hassan
and sentenced to life in prison. In 2009 The a judge sentenced Ali
Lutfi al-Rawi (36) to life in prison after a one-day trial in Baghdad.
He faced charges of kidnapping, murder and extortion.
(AP, 10/19/04)(AFP, 5/1/05)(AP, 6/5/06)(AP, 6/2/09)
2004 Oct 19, A mortar attack on an
Iraqi National Guard headquarters north of Baghdad killed four
guardsmen and wounded 80 others.
(AP, 10/19/04)
2004 Oct 19, Typhoon Tokage
(Lizard), the biggest typhoon to hit Japan in more than a decade,
roared over the country's main island with heavy rain and fierce winds
leaving at least 16 people dead and 12 others missing.
(AFP, 10/20/04)(SFC, 10/21/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 19, Thousands of sex
workers from across South Korea rallied, protested a crackdown on
prostitution and called for the resignation of the minister of gender
equality. South Korea's sex industry accounts for more than four
percent of gross domestic product, with its annual sales estimated at
24 trillion won (21 billion dollars) last year.
(AFP, 10/19/04)
2004 Oct 19, Myanmar's state radio
and television announced that PM Gen. Khin Nyunt was replaced by a top
member of the country's ruling junta, Lt. Gen. Soe Win.
(AP, 10/19/04)
2004 Oct 19, In Peru police fired
on coca growers protesting government eradication of their cocaine
producing crop, killing two of the farmers after they attacked a police
station near the southern border.
(AP, 10/19/04)
2004 Oct 19, The International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said villages throughout Sudan's
Darfur region face an "unprecedented food crisis," worse than the
threat of famine in recent decades.
(Reuters, 10/19/04)
2004 Oct 19, A Thailand tiger zoo
housing hundreds of the big cats was shut down as bird flu tests
confirmed 23 tigers had died of the virus since Oct 14, and another 30
had fallen ill. They caught the flu from feeding on chicken carcasses.
(AFP, 10/20/04)(Econ, 4/16/05, p.36)
2004 Oct 20, Boston Red Sox fans
poured into the streets outside Fenway Park to celebrate their team's
victory over the New York Yankees. Victoria Snellgrove (21) died the
next day after a crowd control pellet hit her in the eye.
(AP, 10/21/04)(WSJ, 10/22/04, p.A1)(SFC, 10/23/04,
p.A2)
2004 Oct 20, Reservist Staff Sgt.
Ivan Frederick (38), the highest-ranking soldier charged in the Abu
Ghraib scandal pleaded guilty to 5 charges of abusing Iraqi detainees,
as a 2-day court-martial opened in Baghdad.
(SFC, 10/21/04, p.A1)(AP, 10/20/05)
2004 Oct 20, ABC announced it was
dropping the Miss America beauty pageant. It was later picked up by
cable country musical network CMT.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2004 Oct 20, Scientists of the
Human Genome Project reported a new estimate of human genes at 20k to
25k.
(SFC, 10/21/04, p.A12)
2004 Oct 20, China formally
arrested Zhao Yan, a New York Times researcher, who was detained Sep 16
for allegedly leaking state secrets. The crime could be punishable by
death.
(AFP, 10/21/04)
2004 Oct 20, In central China a
gas explosion ripped through a coal shaft at the Daping Mine in Henan
province killing at least 77 miners. Dozens miners were missing.
(AP, 10/21/04)(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 20, The EU revamped its
trade rules. Nations with more than 15% of European market share of any
goods were set to lose their discounted tariffs. China and India were
expected to be the main losers.
(WSJ, 10/20/04, p.A15)
2004 Oct 20, Workers at a General
Motors plant in Bochum, Germany, swallowed their anger over job cuts
and voted to end a seven-day stoppage that has disrupted output at
three other GM car factories.
(AP, 10/20/04)
2004 Oct 20, Senior Indian and
Chinese officials met in New Delhi, India, to discuss a long-running
border dispute between the two countries.
(AFP, 10/20/04)
2004 Oct 20, US forces fired
rockets in central Fallujah early, hitting a teacher's college and
leveling a house, killing six people.
(AP, 10/20/04)
2004 Oct 20, Terra Madre, an
international meeting of food communities, held its first meeting in
Turin, Italy. It formed as a part of the Slow Food movement. The group
followed with meetings every 2 years.
(SSFC, 10/26/08,
p.A18)(www.worldchanging.com/archives/005321.html)
2004 Oct 20, Fiat SpA's auto unit
said that it will temporarily reduce production at three factories next
month, a move that will affect thousands of workers.
(AP, 10/20/04)
2004 Oct 20, Lebanon’s PM Rafik
Hariri resigned, dissolved his Cabinet and made the surprise
announcement that he would not try to form the next government.
(AP, 10/20/04)(Econ, 10/23/04, p.47)
2004 Oct 21, The St. Louis
Cardinals won the National League pennant with a 7th game win over the
Houston Astros.
(SFC, 10/22/04, p.D1)
2004 Oct 21, An Associated Press
poll found President Bush and Sen. John Kerry locked in a tie for the
popular vote.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2004 Oct 21, It was reported that
the US government had begun identifying prisoners held at the
Guantanamo Bay interrogation Center.
(WSJ, 10/21/04, p.A6)
2004 Oct 21, Staff Sgt. Ivan
Frederick, the highest-ranking U.S. soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib
prison case, was sentenced to eight years in prison.
(AP, 10/21/04)
2004 Oct 21, American
International Group (AIG) reported that it was the target of a grand
jury investigation.
(WSJ, 10/22/04, p.C1)
2004 Oct 21, WWF Int’l. said
humanity is consuming 20% more natural resources each year than the
Earth produces.
(WSJ, 10/22/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 21, Anthony Hecht (81),
American poet, died in Washington DC.
(WSJ, 10/26/04, p.D8)
2004 Oct 21, Australian police
arrested 3 Chinese men in Sydney after they uncovered $74 million worth
of crystal methamphetamine hidden in hollowed-out candles from China.
(AP, 10/22/04)
2004 Oct 21, China and Japan
planned emergency talks over energy rights in the disputed waters
between them.
(WSJ, 10/21/04, p.A17)
2004 Oct 21, Fu Hegong sneaked
into a Beijing kindergarten to rob it. When he was discovered, he
smothered a teacher with a quilt and killed a 5-year-old boy by hitting
him with a fire extinguisher. In 2005 Hegong (31) was sentenced to
death.
(AP, 9/10/05)
2004 Oct 21, Former Costa Rica
Pres. Rafael Angel Calderon was detained in connection with a
corruption investigation. He was charged with distributing and taking a
share of a commission of some $9 million connected to the supply of
medical equipment. He was under investigation for allegedly receiving
nearly $500,000 from a Finnish government loan to Costa Rica for the
purchase of medicines.
(AP, 10/21/04)(Econ, 11/27/04, p.38)(AP, 2/5/06)
2004 Oct 21, An Ethiopian court
sentenced three former rebels to death for killing dozens of people
while rebel factions jockeyed for power in 1992. Iman Kelil Oumar was
convicted for participating in the killings of 207 people; Beyan Ahmed
Ousman was convicted of involvement in the murder of 205 people and
Asli Ahmed, was found guilty of killing 89 people.
(AP, 10/22/04)
2004 Oct 21, French health
officials announced that a donor whose blood was used to transfuse 10
people and to manufacture medicines has been identified as France's
eighth known victim of the human equivalent of mad cow disease.
(AP, 10/21/04)
2004 Oct 21, An Israeli aircraft
fired two missiles at a car traveling in the Gaza Strip killing Adnan
al-Ghoul, a senior Hamas commander.
(AP, 10/21/04)
2004 Oct 21, Japan's deadliest
typhoon in more than two decades left at least 66 people dead as
rescuers searched frantically for 22 still missing in floods and
landslides.
(AP, 10/21/04)
2004 Oct 21, Lebanon's Pres. Emil
Lahoud appointed staunchly pro-Syrian politician Omar Karami as prime
minister, asking him to form the next government.
(AP, 10/21/04)
2004 Oct 21, Four gunmen abducted
three U.S. citizens on a rural highway in southern Mexico, shot and
killed two of them and left the third, a pregnant woman, bound and
gagged. Her testimony led to arrests the next day of Isidro Diaz
Pineda, Reynaldo Hernandez Ramirez, Francisco Velazquez Paredes and
David Gaona Mondragon, all of Tierra Caliente.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 21, Negotiations between
the Sudanese government and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), an
umbrella organization for opposition groups from around Sudan, opened
in Cairo under the auspices of Egypt.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 22, Pres. Bush signed a
$136 billion corporate tax cut bill. It offered a one-time tax holiday
in 2005 when corporations could repatriate their foreign income at a
massively reduced tax rate.
(SFC, 10/23/04,
p.A1)(www.slate.com/id/2139782)(Econ, 2/24/07, SR p.9)
2004 Oct 22, The Sinclair
Broadcast Group planned to air “A POW Story,” with excerpts from the
“documentary” film “Stolen Honor.” The program questioned John Kerry’s
antiwar activities during the Vietnam conflict.
(WSJ, 10/22/04, p.B1)
2004 Oct 22, It was reported that
engineers in Arizona, in an effort to stave off global warming, were
building a prototype machine that would remove carbon dioxide from the
air and store it in rocks or under the Earth.
(WSJ, 10/22/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 22, Suspected Algerian
Islamic militants killed 16 people near Medea in the first attack on
civilians since the start of the holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 22, Figures approved for
public release by the British House of Commons, showed its 659 members
claimed an average of 118,437 pounds in 2003, on top of their basic
salary of 57,000 pounds.
(AP, 10/22/04)
2004 Oct 22, Rosa Elena Simeon
(61), Cuba's minister of science, technology and environment, died.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 22, The EU said its
member states will contribute $125 million to an African Union (AU)
force in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 22, A videotape of
Margaret Hassan, the kidnapped director of CARE International in Iraq,
appeared on Al-Jazeera, weeping and pleading with British PM Tony Blair
to withdraw troops from Iraq "and not bring them to Baghdad" because
"this might be my last hours."
(AP, 10/22/04)
2004 Oct 22, A UN aid agency
reported that Israel's recent 17-day military offensive in the northern
Gaza Strip killed 107 Palestinians, left nearly 700 homeless and caused
more than $3 million dollars in property damage.
(AP, 10/22/04)
2004 Oct 22, Defiant Palestinian
militants pounded Jewish settlements in the southern Gaza Strip with
mortar fire, following the killing of a top Hamas militant in an
Israeli airstrike.
(AP, 10/22/04)
2004 Oct 22, Russia's lower house
of parliament ratified the Kyoto Protocol on combating global warming.
(AP, 10/22/04)
2004 Oct 23, The Boston Red Sox
took Game 1 of the World Series, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 11-9.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2004 Oct 23, Robert Merrill (87),
NY Metropolitan Opera star, died in NYC.
(SFC, 10/26/04, p.A2)
2004 Oct 23, A purported Taliban
militant set off grenades strapped to his body on a bustling Kabul
street, killing Jamie Michalsky (23), an American woman, and an Afghan
girl.
(AP, 10/24/04)(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 23, The U.S. military
arrested a "senior leader" in the network run by Jordanian terror
mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, along with five others during
overnight raids in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 23, A suicide car bomber
set off an explosion at a police station near Khan al-Baghdadi in
western Iraq, killing at least 16 policemen and wounding 40 other
people. A 2nd car bomb killed 4 Iraqi guardsmen at Ishaqi near Samarra.
2 foreign truck drivers were fatally shot in Mosul.
(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 23, Some 50 unarmed Iraqi
soldiers were killed in eastern Iraq as they headed home on leave after
basic training. Many were shot execution style with gunshots to the
back of the head.
(AP, 10/24/04)
2004 Oct 23, Gunmen opened fire on
a convoy of Turkish trucks in Mosul, killing two Turkish drivers and
wounding two others.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 23, Several earthquakes,
the largest measuring 6.8, hit northwestern Japan, toppling homes,
causing blackouts, cutting water and gas and derailing a bullet train.
40 people were killed and as many as 1,900 injured.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A12)(Econ, 10/30/04, p.50)(AP,
10/23/05)
2004 Oct 23, Kosovo's Serb
minority largely boycotted general elections, dealing a blow to
international efforts to create multiethnic harmony in the province.
About 1.3 million voters in Kosovo and some 108,000 Kosovo Serbs living
in Serbia after fleeing the conflict were eligible to elect
representatives to a 120-seat assembly, which will choose a president
and a government that holds limited authority. 10 assembly seats are
reserved for the Serb minority.
(AP, 10/24/04)
2004 Oct 23, The bullet-riddled
body of a Palestinian was found near a trash bin on a Gaza City. Hamas
said it killed the man on suspicion he passed along information that
helped Israel assassinate the group's founder and nine others.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 23, Tunisia’s Pres. Ben
Ali (68) won elections with 94.5% of the vote.
(WSJ, 10/26/04, p.A1)(Econ, 10/23/04, p.46)
2004 Oct 23, In Ukraine tens of
thousands of people supporting opposition presidential candidate Viktor
Yushchenko rallied in Kiev demanding that next week's presidential
election be free and fair.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 24, The Boston Red Sox
beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 for a 2-0 World Series lead.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2004 Oct 24, Arizona's Emmitt
Smith broke Walter Payton's NFL record for 100-yard games rushing with
his 78th.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2004 Oct 24, A plane owned by
Hendrick Motorsports crashed in thick fog en route to a NASCAR race in
Martinsville, Va., killing all 10 people aboard, including the son,
brother and two nieces of owner Rick Hendrick.
(AP, 10/25/04)
2004 Oct 24, A fire in Toledo,
Ohio, killed 7 children.
(USAT, 10/27/04, p.3A)
2004 Oct 24, A medical air
ambulance returning to Albuquerque crashed near San Diego. All 5 people
aboard were killed.
(SFC, 10/25/04, p.B5)
2004 Oct 24, Cardinal James A.
Hickey (84), former archbishop of Washington, D.C., died.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2004 Oct 24, Brazil launched its
1st rocket into space.
(WSJ, 10/25/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 24, In China the Golden
Resources Shopping Mall, the largest in the world, opened in the Haidan
district of Beijing.
(www.csmonitor.com/2004/1124/p01s03-woap.html)
2004 Oct 24, Colombia blew up its
remaining 6,800 stockpiled land mines, winning the praise of Jordan's
visiting Queen Noor who said the move took courage given that the
nation is still fighting an internal conflict.
(AP, 10/25/04)
2004 Oct 24, A US Marine warplane
bombed suspected militants trying to rebuild a command post in the
insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, and witnesses said six people were
killed.
(AP, 10/24/04)
2004 Oct 24, The Israeli Cabinet
approved legislation to pay compensation to settlers uprooted by Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan.
(AP, 10/24/04)
2004 Oct 24, Militants bombed
mourners arriving at a Kashmir graveyard for the funeral of a murdered
opposition party leader, killing one and wounding six.
(AP, 10/24/04)
2004 Oct 24, Lithuania's
traditional parties teamed up in a bid to prevent a Russian-born tycoon
from winning more support in a second round of parliamentary elections.
The pro-Moscow Labor Party, led by Russian-born businessman Viktor
Uspaskich, won 23 seats, more than any other party, in the first round
of voting on Oct. 10 after pledging lower taxes and higher pay.
(AP, 10/24/04)
2004 Oct 24, Six men on Pitcairn
Island were convicted of charges ranging from rape to indecent assault
following trials that exposed a culture of sexual abuse. They received
up to 6 years with suspensions pending appeal.
(AP, 10/25/04)(SFC, 10/30/04, p.A2)
2004 Oct 24, A Soyuz capsule,
carrying 2 Russians and an American, landed in Kazakhstan. The crew had
spent 6 months at the int’l. space station.
(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.A7)
2004 Oct 25, The Georgia Supreme
Court unanimously threw out the state's hate crimes law, calling it
overbroad and "unconstitutionally vague."
(AP, 10/25/04)
2004 Oct 25, Hamid Karzai was
assured of a majority in Afghanistan's election to become its first
democratically chosen president. A close to final tally soon gave
Karzai 55.4% of the vote.
(AP, 10/25/04)(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A12)
2004 Oct 25, Suspected Islamic
militants decapitated three soldiers in Algeria in an upsurge of
violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 10/27/04)
2004 Oct 25, Alberta’s Premier
Ralph Klein called for a provincial election on Nov 22. His
Conservative government held 73 of 83 legislature seats. Oil income
stood to make it Canada’s 1st debt-free province.
(Econ, 10/30/04, p.46)
2004 Oct 25, China’s state press
reported that the population will grow to nearly 1.5 billion over the
next 20 to 30 years.
(AFP, 10/25/04)
2004 Oct 25, Cuba said that
dollars will no longer be accepted at island businesses and stores in a
dramatic change in how commercial transactions have been done here in
more than a decade.
(AP, 10/26/04)
2004 Oct 25, Egyptian authorities
said a Palestinian refugee plotted the co-ordinated bombings targeting
Israeli tourists at resorts in the Sinai and accidentally killed
himself while carrying out the deadliest blast. Egypt announced it had
arrested five of the nine men who bombed Red Sea resorts almost three
weeks ago, saying the attackers used stolen cars packed with old
war-time explosives and a washing-machine timer.
(AP, 10/25/04)
2004 Oct 25, Hundreds of angry
French farmers mounted blockades around the country to hold up fuel
shipments in protest at soaring diesel and gasoline prices and to press
their demands for government aid.
(AP, 10/25/04)
2004 Oct 25, The UN nuclear agency
warned that insurgents in Iraq may have obtained nearly 400 tons of
missing explosives that can be used in the kind of car bomb attacks
that have targeted U.S.-led coalition forces for months.
(AP, 10/26/04)
2004 Oct 25, In Iraq bombs hit 4
coalition and Iraqi convoys killing at least 12 including an American
and Estonian. Saboteurs blew up a pipeline feeding Iraq’s biggest
refinery.
(WSJ, 10/26/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 25, Israeli troops killed
14 Palestinians in a Gaza raid.
(WSJ, 10/26/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 25, The Norwegian
Shipowners Association threatened to lock out more oil and gas rig
workers, a move analysts said could result in a near shutdown of the
third-largest petroleum exporter's production and drive world oil
prices even higher.
(AP, 10/25/04)
2004 Oct 25, Typhoon Nock-ten hit
Taiwan and at least 3 people were killed.
(WSJ, 10/26/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 25, In southern Thailand
78 people were suffocated or crushed to death after being arrested and
packed into police trucks following a riot over the detentions of
Muslims suspected of giving weapons to Islamic separatists. Over 1,300
people were packed in 6-wheeled trucks and taken on a 5-hour journey to
barracks in Pattani province.
(SFC, 10/27/04, p.A7)(AP, 10/25/05)(Econ, 10/28/06,
p.52)
2004 Oct 26, The Boston Red Sox
won game three of the World Series in St. Louis, defeating the
Cardinals 4-1.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2004 Oct 26, The Federal
Communications Commission gave its approval to Cingular Wireless LLC's
$41 billion acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc., completing
the federal regulatory blessing necessary for creation of the country's
largest cell phone company.
(AP, 10/26/04)
2004 Oct 26, The SEC voted to
require hedge funds with over $25 million to register with the agency,
providing access to auditors in an effort to reduce fraud.
(USAT, 10/27/04, p.1B)
2004 Oct 26, Low cost No. 10
airline ATA filed for bankruptcy.
(USAT, 10/27/04, p.1B)
2004 Oct 26, Spacecraft Cassini
flew within 745 miles of Titan providing scientists with new images of
the Saturn largest moon.
(SFC, 10/27/04, p.A4)
2004 Oct 26, The final vote count
in the Afghan presidential election gave a sounding victory to interim
leader Hamid Karzai.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2004 Oct 26, In Haiti residents of
Port-au-Prince said 13 people were executed by police.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 26, A US airstrike in
Fallujah killed an aide to Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. An
Iraqi insurgent group, meanwhile, said on a Web site it had taken 11
Iraqi National Guard soldiers hostage.
(AP, 10/26/04)
2004 Oct 26, India’s central bank
announced it was raising its overnight repo rate for the first time in
more than four years, citing concerns about a sharp rise in inflation
in Asia's fourth-largest economy. The rate went up .25% to 4.75%.
(AP, 10/26/04)(WSJ, 10/27/04, p.A15)
2004 Oct 26, Israel's parliament
approved Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for withdrawing from the
Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2004 Oct 26, In Nigeria a 2nd day
of peace talks on the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region broke off after
rebels called for more time to prepare proposals for a long-term
political resolution to the conflict.
(AP, 10/26/04)
2004 Oct 27, The Boston Red Sox
won the World Series over the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 in game 4. It was
Boston's sixth championship, but the first after 86 years of
frustration.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Oct 27, It was reported that
Stefan Jaronski, a Montana researcher, had found that canola oil
combined with a fungus can be used to get rid of grasshoppers.
(USAT, 10/27/04, p.6D)
2005 Oct 27, New York City's
subway system marked its 100th anniversary.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, Bandleader Lester
Lanin died in New York at age 97.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2004 Oct 27-31, Violent clashes in
a village in central China killed 7 people and injured 42. Police
imposed martial law in Langchenggang, Zhongmou County, in Henan
province after the fighting between hundreds of rioters that pitted
Muslim Chinese against non-Muslims.
(AP, 11/1/04)(WSJ, 11/2/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 27, It was reported that
a coalition of small leftist political groups in Chile has sued Pres.
Bush and other US government officials for the abuses against prisoners
at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
(AP, 10/27/04)
2004 Oct 27, The Egyptian
government approved the creation of a political party headed by a young
ambitious lawyer, in only the third time that a new party was
authorized there in almost three decades. Al-Ghad became Egypt's 18th
party.
(AFP, 10/27/04)
2004 Oct 27, Nigeria's state-owned
news agency reported that an outbreak of measles in a remote Nigerian
village had killed a dozen people. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for
500,000 deaths from measles every year.
(AP, 10/27/04)
2004 Oct 27, An ailing Yasser
Arafat collapsed, was unconscious for about 10 minutes and remained in
a serious condition.
(AP, 10/27/04)
2004 Oct 27, In Russia the Kyoto
Protocol overcame its final legislative hurdle when the upper house of
parliament ratified the global climate pact and sent it on to Pres.
Vladimir Putin to sign.
(AP, 10/27/04)
2004 Oct 28, Fox News Channel's
Bill O'Reilly (55) settled a harassment lawsuit brought by Andrea
Mackris (33), a former Fox producer, who accused him of graphically
discussing sex with her.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 28, The US law Check 21,
that allowed banks to transfer facsimiles of checks electronically, was
scheduled to take effect.
(WSJ, 1/26/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 28, Boston Red Sox fans
turned out by the tens of thousands near historic Fenway Park to
celebrate their World Series champion team, the city's first since 1918.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2004 Oct 28, AMD released its new
$185 personal Internet Communicator for consumers in developing
countries.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.C3)
2004 Oct 28, A breakaway Taliban
group abducted three foreign UN workers from Kabul because they
assisted Afghanistan's "fake election" and threatened to kill them if a
rescue mission was launched.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 28, Amar Saifi, one of
North Africa's most wanted Islamic militant leaders, was taken into
custody in Algeria. The No. 2 leader of the Salafists is accused in the
kidnapping of 32 European tourists last year.
(Reuters, 10/29/04)(WSJ, 10/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 28, Cambodia's King
Norodom Sihamoni, the 51-year-old son of former king Norodom Sihanouk,
was formally sworn in as monarch.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 28, China's central bank
raised interest rates for the first time in 9 years in a surprise move
that was aimed at guiding a heated economy onto a path of slower
growth. The rate increase .25% to 5.6%.
(Reuters, 10/28/04)(Econ, 11/6/04, p.12)
2004 Oct 28, China and Iran signed
a memorandum of understanding for an oil and gas agreement worth tens
of billions of dollars.
(WSJ, 11/1/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 28, For the 13th straight
year, the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly urged the United States
to end its more than four decade trade embargo against Cuba.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Oct 28, An armed group
claimed in a video to have obtained a large amount of explosives
missing from a munitions depot facility in Iraq and threatened to use
them against foreign troops.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Oct 28, Militants released a
grisly video that showed the killing of 11 Iraqi troops held hostage
for days, beheading one, then shooting the others execution-style.
Another group released a video of a kidnapped Polish woman, demanding
Warsaw pull its troops from Iraq.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Oct 28, A survey of deaths in
Iraqi households estimates that as many as 100,000 more people may have
died throughout the country in the 18 months after the U.S. invasion
than would be expected based on the death rate before the war.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Oct 28, Latvia's government
resigned after lawmakers refused to pass the 2005 budget that had been
proposed by PM Indulis Emsis.
(AP, 10/28/04)(WSJ, 10/29/04, p.A13)
2004 Oct 28, Five policemen
working for Nigeria's anti-drug enforcement agency were among 7 people
killed by a mob that mistook them for armed robbers in a remote
northern village.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 28, In western Siberia 13
coal miners died after an explosion ripped through a coal mine.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Oct 28, A contingent of 50
Nigerian soldiers arrived in Darfur, Sudan, aboard a US military plane,
the first of 3,000 extra African Union troops deployed to monitor a
shaky cease-fire.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 28, In southern Thailand
a bomb exploded outside a bar, killing two people and injuring 21.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Oct 29, It was reported that
US teen fashions had veered away from grunge and hip-hop looks toward a
more preppy attire and that Axe, a deodorant body spray, was becoming
popular among young boys.
(WSJ, 10/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 29, Pres. Bush signed a
Defense Department authorization bill that included a provision for up
to $25 million to support foreign forces aiding US efforts against
terrorists.
(SSFC, 10/31/04, p.A4)
2004 Oct 29, Osama bin Laden
appeared in a new video, dropped off at the Pakistan offices of
Al-Jazeera television. He claimed responsibility for the Sept. 11
attacks and claimed more violence is possible regardless of who wins
the US elections. Bin Laden vowed to bleed America to bankruptcy,
according to a full transcript of the unaired portions.
(AP, 10/30/04)(SFC, 10/30/04, p.A1)(AP, 11/2/04)
2004 Oct 29, Chief Justice William
H. Rehnquist was sent home after a week in the hospital for treatment
of thyroid cancer.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2004 Oct 29, Comedian Vaughn
Meader (68), who'd gained fame satirizing President Kennedy, died in
Auburn, Maine.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2004 Oct 29, Edward Oliver Leblanc
(81), former Dominica Premier, died. He was described by some as a
founding father of the Caribbean island in its transition to
independence.
(AP, 10/30/04)
2004 Oct 29, European leaders
signed the EU's first constitution.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 29, Hundreds of British
soldiers arrived at their base near Baghdad in a deployment aimed at
provide cover for U.S. troops considering a new assault on Iraqi
insurgents.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 29, Iraqi civilian deaths
from the current war were estimated at almost 100,000 by the British
medical journal Lancet. The study claimed 90% certainty for at least
40,000 deaths.
(Econ, 11/6/04, p.81)
2004 Oct 29, In Liberia mobs
brandishing machetes, sticks and Kalashnikov rifles rampaged through
Monrovia, prompting interim head of state Gyude Bryant to order an
immediate daylight curfew to stem the rare Muslim-Christian violence. A
UN armored vehicle trying to disperse a crowd inadvertently crushed
three people to death.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 29, Mexican police and
federal agents alleged Zetas leader Rogelio Gonzalez Pizana, alias "El
Kelin," a top drug hit man during a fierce shootout in the border city
of Matamoros. Scores of suspected assassins and drug smugglers used
hand grenades and assault rifles to fire back at authorities.
(AP, 10/30/04)
2004 Oct 29, Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat (75), suffering from a serious but mystery illness, was
flown to France and rushed to a military hospital for treatment.
Arafat’s secret assets have been estimated at $200 million to $6
billion. Details were only known by his financial advisor Mohammed
Rashid.
(AP, 10/29/04)(SSFC, 11/7/04, p.A10)
2004 Oct 29, In Peru a passenger
bus plunged more than 650 feet off an isolated mountain highway in the
Andes, killing at least 28 people and injuring 28 others.
(AP, 10/31/04)
2004 Oct 29, The Russian State
Duma approved President Vladimir Putin's plan to replace direct popular
election of regional leaders with a system under which they would be
nominated by the president.
(AFP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 29, Sudanese rebel
leaders demanded that Islam be kept out of government in the war torn
region of Darfur.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 30, The US Army extended
Iraq tours by 2 months for some 6,500 soldiers.
(SSFC, 10/31/04, p.A10)
2004 Oct 30, Peggy Ryan (80),
actress-dancer died in Las Vegas.
(AP, 10/30/05)
2004 Oct 30, A burst of poisonous
gas in a coal mine in northeast China killed 15 miners at the Xilutian
Mine in Fushun, a city in Liaoning province.
(AP, 10/31/04)
2004 Oct 30, Eight American
Marines were killed in fighting west of Baghdad. A car bomb killed at
least seven people in attack on an Arab television network in Baghdad.
Iraqi troops fired wildly on civilian vehicles, killing at least 14
people.
(AP, 10/30/04)
2004 Oct 30, The decapitated body
of a Japanese backpacker (Shosei Koda) was found wrapped in an American
flag in northwestern Baghdad; the militant group led by Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi later claimed responsibility. In 2006 Hussein Fahmi (28), an
operative for al-Qaida in Iraq, confessed to carrying out 116
beheadings, including that of 24-year-old Japanese backpacker Shosei
Koda.
(WSJ, 11/1/04, p.A1)(AP, 10/30/05)(AP, 3/2/06)
2004 Oct 30, Liberians ventured
back onto the streets of Monrovia during a temporary lifting of a
round-the-clock curfew imposed after at least 7 people were killed in
religious riots.
(AP, 10/30/04)
2004 Oct 30, Rwandan troops
arrived in Sudan's remote Darfur region to join Nigerian soldiers
monitoring a shaky cease-fire in the country's troubled west.
(AP, 10/31/04)
2005 Oct 31, In the closing hours
of their bitter campaign, President Bush and challenger Sen. John Kerry
charged through the critical battlegrounds of Florida and Ohio, with
promises to keep America safe.
(AP, 10/31/05)
2004 Oct 31, In Brazil Pres. Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva suffered major defeats in an electoral test of his
ruling party's influence. Silva’s PT Party won in 11 of the 23 cities
where it fielded candidates. Jose Serra won the mayoral election in Sao
Paulo over Marta Suplicy.
(AP, 11/1/04)(Econ, 1/29/05, p.35)
2004 Oct 31, In Chechnya a car
bomb exploded outside Grozny’s main hospital, injuring 17 people.
(AP, 10/31/04)
2004 Oct 31, In Chile voters gave
strong support to the center-left government of President Ricardo Lagos
in nationwide municipal elections.
(AP, 11/1/04)
2004 Oct 31, Iran's parliament
unanimously approved the outline of a bill that would require the
government to resume uranium enrichment.
(AP, 10/31/04)
2004 Oct 31, In Iraq a rocket
attack in Tikrit killed 15 Iraqis and wounded 8.
(SFC, 11/1/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 31, In Italy unusually
high tides sent sea water sweeping through Venice, covering 80 percent
of the city by afternoon.
(AP, 11/1/04)
2004 Oct 31, Japan condemned the
beheading of a Japanese hostage in Iraq as a despicable act of
terrorism and vowed to keep its troops in the country on their
reconstruction mission.
(AP, 10/31/04)
2004 Oct 31, African and Asian
leaders opened a two-day conference in Tokyo to spur trade and
investment between the two regions. The gathering is a follow-up
meeting of the Third Tokyo International Conference on African
Development (TICAD III) held last year and is co-hosted by Japan, the
World Bank. TICAD, a Japanese initiative, was started in 1993 to raise
international support for African development and has been held every
five years.
(AP, 10/31/04)
2004 Oct 31, In Nigeria unions
declared the top oil multinational here, Royal Dutch/Shell, "an enemy
of the Nigerian people" and called a Nov. 16 nationwide strike.
(AP, 11/1/04)
2004 Oct 31, Ukrainians cast
ballots in a presidential vote. The opposition complained of violations
just hours into the polling. Key contenders included pro-Russian PM
Viktor Yanukovych and former PM Viktor Yushchenko, a reformist
candidate. Yushchenko won by .5%, but failed to get a majority setting
up a runoff vote for Nov 21. Observers from NATO and Europe said the
balloting did not meet democratic standards.
(AP, 10/31/04)(AP, 11/1/04)(WSJ, 11/19/04, p.A12)
2004 Oct 31, In Uruguay elections
socialist Tabare Vazquez (65), a cancer specialist and former mayor of
Montevideo, won Uruguay's presidential election, becoming the nation's
first leftist leader. Voters also called for all water resources to be
put under state administration. Some 20% of the country’s work force
was employed by the state.
(AP, 10/31/04)(SFC, 11/1/04, p.A2)(WSJ, 11/5/04,
p.A13)
2004 Oct 31, In Venezuela
candidates backed by President Hugo Chavez swept all but two of 23
governorships in regional elections.
(AP, 11/1/04)
2004 Oct, The US FDA approved the
1st artificial spinal disk, the Charite disc from Johnson &
Johnson. It had been successfully implanted in patients in Europe since
the 1980s.
(WSJ, 11/2/04, p.D1)(WSJ, 6/7/05, p.A1)
2004 Oct, New Orleans began
installing surveillance cameras, initially in drug-dealing hot spots.
By March 2005 about 240 of the proposed 1,000 cameras were in operation.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2004 Oct, US Pentagon auditors
found that Halliburton overcharges for postwar fuel imports to Iraq
totaled over $108 million. The report was not made public until March,
2005.
(SFC, 3/15/05, p.A3)
2004 Oct, Michael Shellenberger of
El Cerrito, Ca., and Ted Norhaus of Berkeley delivered a 36-page
treatisse titled “The Death of Environmentalism” at a national
gathering of environmentalists.
(SFC, 4/23/05, p.B1)
2004 Oct, California authorities
charged Chester D. Turner, a former pizza delivery man, for murdering
10 women between 1987 and 1998 after DNA evidence linked him to the
victims. Turner’s trial began in 2007.
(SFC, 4/4/07, p.B5)
2004 Oct, The Enhanced Analytics
Initiative (EAI) was established by a group of institutional investors.
Members agreed to use part of their budget to reward brokers that
publish research on extra-financial issues such as climate change.
(Econ, 1/20/07, p.84)
2004 Oct, US Researchers pumped
1,600 tons of carbon dioxide into the Frio formation, a disused brine
and oil reservoir, near Houston, Texas. They found that it increased
the acidity of water in the aquifer, which in turn dissolved minerals
in the sandstone.
(Econ, 7/8/06, p.75)
2004 Oct, Congo’s government
quelled an uprising near a mine owned by Australia’s Anvil Mining Ltd.
The UN later accused Anvil of providing the government with vehicles
and planes in the operation that killed scores of villagers. In 2007 a
military court jailed two Congolese army officers for life for the 2004
massacre of civilians. The verdict cleared three Canadian mining
company employees of complicity.
(WSJ, 3/20/07, p.A13)(AFP, 6/29/07)
2004 Nov 1, US Chief Justice
Rehnquist (80) disclosed that he has thyroid cancer.
(SFC, 11/2/04, p.A2)
2004 Nov 1, In Napa, Ca., Leslie
Ann Mazzara (26) and Adriane Michelle Insogna (26) were stabbed to
death as a 3rd roommate escaped and called police. In 2005 police used
DNA evidence and arrested Eric Matthew Copple (26) as a suspect. In
2007 Copple was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of
parole.
(SFC, 11/3/04, p.B2)(SFC, 9/29/05, p.B1)(SFC,
1/11/07, p.B1)
2004 Nov 1, James Edward, Baron
Hanson (b.1922), English conservative industrialist, died at his
Berkshire home. He built his businesses through the process of
leveraged buyouts through Hanson PLC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hanson,_Baron_Hanson)(Econ,
11/6/04, p.68)
2004 Nov 1, Roberto Lavagna
unveiled a plan to restructure, at about 30% the original debt, $100
million of sovereign bonds that Argentina defaulted on 3 years earlier.
(Econ, 11/6/04, p.40)
2004 Nov 1, Botswana voters gave
the ruling Botswana Democratic Party 44 of parliament’s 57 seats. Pres.
Festus Mogae promised to fight poverty and AIDS.
(Econ, 11/6/04, p.50)
2004 Nov 1, Iraqi gunmen in
Baghdad seized an American, a Nepalese and 4 Iraqi hostages working for
a Saudi supplier to the US military. American contract worker Roy
Hallums was one of several people kidnapped during an armed assault on
the Baghdad compound where he lived; Hallums was rescued by coalition
forces on Sept. 7, 2005.
(WSJ, 11/2/04, p.A1)(AP, 11/1/05)
2004 Nov 1, Gunmen killed Hatim
Kamil, deputy governor of Baghdad, on his way to work.
(AP, 11/1/04)
2004 Nov 1, Diaa Najm, an Iraqi
freelance television cameraman, was killed while filming clashes
between U.S. troops and insurgents in Ramadi.
(AP, 11/1/04)
2004 Nov 1, Libya’s PM Shukri
Ghanem said he intends to abolish some five billion dollars worth of
subsidies on electricity, fuel and basic food items in a move to
liberalize the economy.
(AFP, 11/1/04)
2004 Nov 1, A Palestinian (16)
blew himself up in a crowded outdoor market in central Tel Aviv,
killing three Israelis and wounding 32. This was the 117th suicide
bombing since Israeli-Palestinian fighting broke out in 2000. 494
Israelis have been killed in the attacks. Israeli troops killed 3
activists in Nablus and a boy (12) throwing stones in Askar.
(AP, 11/1/04)(SFC, 11/2/04, p.A5)
2004 Nov 1, Puerto Ricans long
have been U.S. citizens but cannot vote for the U.S. president, a
situation that former Gov. Pedro Rossello promises to change if elected
to return to the island's top job.
(AP, 11/1/04)
2004 Nov 1, UN nuclear agency
chief Mohamed ElBaradei urged Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and
called on North Korea to dismantle its weapons program.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2004 Nov 2, In US presidential
elections a federal appeals court cleared the way for political parties
to send in people to challenge voters' eligibility at Ohio polling
places. US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens allowed Republicans
to challenge voter qualifications at the polls in Ohio. Pres. Bush won
the elections spending an estimated $5.20 for each of his votes.
(AP, 11/2/04)(Econ, 9/27/08, p.50)
2004 Nov 2, Arizona voters passed
Prop. 200 aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. It required
proof of citizenship before receipt of public benefits or voting.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.A4)(Econ, 10/21/06, p.32)
2004 Nov 2, Mike Easley (D) was
elected governor of North Carolina. Pres. Bush carried the state with
56.3% of the vote. Voting problems plagued the state and impacted local
races. A machine in Carteret County lost 4,438 votes.
(SFC, 11/4/04, p.A18)(SFC, 11/13/04, p.A6)
2004 Nov 2, Gay marriage curbs won
in all 11 US states where they were on ballots.
(WSJ, 11/3/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 2, John Kerry carried
Wisconsin by 11,400 votes.
(Econ, 9/13/08, p.39)
2004 Nov 2, Afghan fighting killed
at least 11 as troops tried to disarm southern militias.
(WSJ, 11/3/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 2, It was reported that
some 3,000 Arab intellectuals had signed a petition calling for an
int’l. court to try Muslim clerics who encourage terrorism.
(SFC, 11/2/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 2, More than 3,000
workers walked out of 22 UPM-Kymmene forest industry plants throughout
Finland, in a 24-hour strike to protest the timber and paper products
company's planned layoffs and closures.
(AP, 11/2/04)
2004 Nov 2, State-run Indian Oil
Corp (IOC), the country's largest refiner, said it had signed an
agreement with Iran's Petropars to bid for a $3 billion project to
develop a gas field and set up a liquefaction plant in Iran.
(AP, 11/2/04)
2004 Nov 2, A car bomb exploded
near the Ministry of Education in a busy Baghdad commercial area,
killing at least eight people and wounding 29 others. A car bomb in
Mosul killed 4 civilians. Insurgents blew up a northern oil export
pipeline.
(AP, 11/2/04)(SFC, 11/3/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 2, Dutch filmmaker Theo
van Gogh (47), the great-grandnephew of the painter Vincent, was shot
and stabbed to death on an Amsterdam street after receiving death
threats over “Submission,” a movie he made criticizing the treatment of
women under Islam. A death threat to a Dutch politician was found
pinned with a knife to Gogh’s body by his Islamic attacker. Somali-born
Ayaan Hirsi Ali collaborated with Van Gogh on the film. In January
prosecutors said Mohammed Bouyeri (26), the alleged killer of Dutch
filmmaker Theo van Gogh, ignored his victim's pleas for mercy and
calmly shot him at close range before slitting his throat. In his trial
in July, 2005, Bouyeri said he killed van Gogh for insulting God. In
2006 Ian Buruma authored “Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van
Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance,” an account of the van Gogh murder.
(AP, 1/26/05)(SFC, 7/13/05, p.A10)(WSJ, 9/9/06,
p.P8)(Econ, 9/2/06, p.74)
2004 Nov 2, Puerto Rico's delegate
to the US Congress clung to an extremely narrow lead in the race for
governor against former Gov. Pedro Rossello, who promised to fight for
statehood.
(AP, 11/3/04)
2004 Nov 2, Shares in Russia's No.
1 oil producer, Yukos, plummeted on news that tax authorities had
served the company with fresh back tax bills for nearly $10 billion US,
bringing the company's total tax debt to some $17.6 billion.
(AP, 11/2/04)
2004 Nov 2, In Thailand Jaran
Torae, a local Buddhist official, was beheaded by suspected Muslim
insurgents as revenge for the deaths of 85 rioters last week.
(AP, 11/2/04)
2004 Nov 2, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan
Al Nahyan (86), United Arab Emirates President, died. Sheik Zayed
became the ruler of Abu Dhabi, the largest and wealthiest emirate, in
1966, four years after the emirate first began exporting the oil it
just discovered off its shores. He left behind 19 sons including 4
brothers known as the Bani Fatima, whose mother was a favorite wife of
Zayed. Eldest son Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed (b.1947) succeeded his
father.
(AP, 11/3/04)(Econ, 11/20/04, p.90)(Econ, 9/27/08,
p.64)
2004 Nov 3, President Bush's
campaign declared victory over Democratic Sen. John Kerry and claimed a
second term in the White House, but Kerry refused to concede until all
ballots were counted in the undecided state of Ohio. John Kerry
conceded defeat to President Bush in make-or-break Ohio rather than
launch a legal fight reminiscent of the contentious Florida recount of
four years earlier. Bush won more votes than any other president in
American history.
(Reuters, 11/3/04)(AP, 11/3/05)(Econ, 8/18/07, p.26)
2004 Nov 3, Republicans tightened
their grip on the US Senate adding 4 seats to hold 55. Democratic
Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota lost to Rep. John Thune.
(AP, 11/3/04)(WSJ, 11/4/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 3, Former U.S. Army Sgt.
Charles Jenkins (64) pleaded guilty to abandoning his unit in 1965 and
aiding the enemy by teaching English to North Korean military officer
cadets. Jenkins was convicted and sentenced to 30 days in jail for
desertion.
(AP, 11/4/04)
2004 Nov 3, A Houston jury
convicted 4 former Merrill Lynch executives and a former mid-level
Enron Corp, executive for a 1999 bogus sale of power plants off the
coast of Nigeria.
(SFC, 11/4/04, p.C3)
2004 Nov 3, Jeremy Jaynes of North
Carolina became the first person in the US to be convicted of a felony
for sending unsolicited bulk email. He was charged in Virginia because
his emails went through an AOL server there. In 2008 the Virginia
Supreme Court declared the state’s antispam law unconstitutional and
reversed Jaynes’ conviction.
(WSJ, 9/13/08,
p.A2)(www.phonebusters.com/english/legal_2004_nov3.html)
2004 Nov 3, A National Guard F-16
fighter plane mistakenly fired off 25 rounds of ammunition at the
Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School in South New Jersey on this night.
(Reuters, 11/5/04)
2004 Nov 3, Hamid Karzai was
officially declared the winner of Afghanistan's first-ever presidential
election after a 3-week probe into vote fraud found no grounds to
invalidate his triumph.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2004 Nov 3, British scientists
reported an 89% decline since the 1970s in stocks of Antarctic krill,
vital food for marine animals.
(WSJ, 11/4/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 3, Hungary said it will
withdraw its 300 non-combat troops from Iraq by March 31.
(AP, 11/3/04)
2004 Nov 3, Indian troops killed
five Islamic militants in a fierce gunbattle in insurgency-hit Kashmir
after the rebels barricaded themselves inside a mosque.
(AP, 11/3/04)
2004 Nov 3, Gunmen abducted a
Lebanese-American contractor who worked with the U.S. Army from his
Baghdad home. 4 Jordanian truck drivers were seized by assailants in a
separate kidnapping. Gunmen also killed an Oil Ministry official,
Hussein Ali al-Fattal, in a driveby shooting.
(AP, 11/3/04)
2004 Nov 3, Liberia's three former
warring factions jointly announced they had disarmed and disbanded
their forces, marking a milestone in a quest for peace in this battered
West African nation after nearly 15 years of war.
(AP, 11/4/04)
2004 Nov 3, Puerto Rico's delegate
to the U.S. Congress, who favors the island's current status as a U.S.
commonwealth, claimed victory in a gubernatorial race so close that a
recount has been ordered.
(AP, 11/4/04)
2004 Nov 4, Pres. Bush laid out
plans to revamp taxes, social security and medical malpractice awards.
The DJ jumped 177 to close at 10314.76.
(WSJ, 11/5/04, p.A1)(AP, 11/4/05)
2004 Nov 4, It was announced that
Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Democratic vice-presidential
candidate John Edwards, had been diagnosed with breast cancer the day
her husband and Senator John Kerry conceded the presidential race.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2004 Nov 4, VaxGen received an
$878 million US contract for anthrax vaccine under a $5.6 billion
federal Project Bioshield program.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.C1)
2004 Nov 4, Algerian Islamic
rebels killed two policemen in the latest attack during the holy month
of Ramadan.
(Reuters, 11/5/04)
2004 Nov 4, Greece sharply
protested a US decision to recognize the former Yugoslav state on its
northern border as "Macedonia."
(AP, 11/4/04)
2004 Nov 4, In Iraq US jets
pounded parts of Fallujah, targeting insurgents in a city where
American forces were said to be gearing up for a major offensive.
(AP, 11/4/04)
2004 Nov 4, In Iraq SCIRI (Supreme
Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq) militants dressed as police
abducted and executed 12 Iraqi National Guards traveling home to Najaf.
(AP, 11/7/04)
2004 Nov 4, In Iraq 3 British
soldiers of the Black Watch regiment, recently moved northward, were
killed in a suicide bombing.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 4, The international
medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said it was closing its
operations in Iraq because of escalating violence.
(AP, 11/4/04)
2004 Nov 4, Ivory Coast government
warplanes bombed Boauke, the largest city in rebel-held north, in what
a military commander said was the launch of a new offensive to reunite
the war-divided nation. Guillaume Soro, rebel leader of the New Forces,
said 85 civilians were killed.
(AP, 11/4/04)(Econ, 11/13/04, p.52)
2004 Nov 4, Russian President
Vladimir Putin signed a bill confirming his country's ratification of
the Kyoto Protocol.
(AP, 11/5/04)
2004 Nov 4, In southern Thailand 9
Buddhists were killed including 2 policemen.
(WSJ, 11/5/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 4, The UAR appointed
Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the eldest son of Sheik Zayed bin
Sultan Al Nahyan, as its president. Sheik Khalifa, crown prince of Abu
Dhabi since 1969, automatically became ruler of Abu Dhabi following his
father's death.
(AP, 11/4/04)
2004 Nov 5, The US government said
intelligence agencies had tripled their estimate of shoulder fired
surface-to-air missile systems to be at large worldwide. At least 4,000
of the weapons from Iraq’s pre-war arsenal could not be accounted for.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.A11)
2004 Nov 5, The DJ rose 72 to
10,387. The euro reached a new high of 1.2962 to the dollar. The US
dollar fell to an all-time low against the euro as EU political leaders
signaled they have no unified plan to stem the rise in their
five-year-old currency.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.C1)(AP, 11/5/04)
2004 Nov 5, In Afghanistan Islamic
militants holding 3 UN workers hostage set a new, fifth deadline for
their execution.
(AFP, 11/5/04)
2004 Nov 5, In Canada Saskatchewan
became the country’s 7th jurisdiction to allow homosexuals to wed.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 5, The Chilean army for
the first time assumed institutional responsibility for widespread
human rights violations during the 1973-90 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto
Pinochet.
(AP, 11/5/04)
2004 Nov 5, Abilio Jose Soares,
the only Indonesian official to be punished for violence that killed up
to 2,000 East Timorese in 1999, has been released from jail, following
a court decision that overturned his conviction. Soares was the former
governor of East Timor.
(CP, 11/6/04)
2004 Nov 5, US warplanes pounded
Fallujah in what residents called the strongest attacks in months, as
more than 10,000 American soldiers and Marines massed for an expected
assault.
(AP, 11/5/04)
2004 Nov 5, Latin American leaders
wrapped up a two-day summit in Brazil with a pledge to help rid Haiti
of political violence and grinding poverty.
(AP, 11/5/04)
2004 Nov 5, Jose Gilberto Soto
(49), a US citizen of Salvadoran origin from Cliffside Park, N.J., was
shot in the back outside his family's house in Usulutan, 70 miles
southeast of San Salvador. In December Salvadoran police arrested his
mother-in-law, along with five other suspects, describing the slaying
as a contract killing that was the result of a family dispute.
(AP, 12/5/04)
2004 Nov 6, The designers of
SpaceShipOne, the first privately manned rocket to burst into space
[see Oct 4], were handed a $10 million check and the Ansari X Prize
trophy.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2004 Nov 6, The Cassini spacecraft
was scheduled to launch its Huygens probe onto Titan. [see Dec 24]
(SFEC, 10/5/97, Z1 p.4)
2004 Nov 6, The African Union
mandated South African President Thabo Mbeki to launch an urgent
mission to resolve the crisis in Ivory Coast.
(AFP, 11/7/04)
2004 Nov 6, In Baku, Azerbaijan, a
gas explosion tore through a two-story apartment building, trapping
residents under the debris. At least 4 people were killed.
(AP, 11/6/04)
2004 Nov 6, China's central bank
said it would take a "gradual and safe" approach to loosening the
yuan-dollar peg.
(AP, 11/6/04)
2004 Nov 6, In England 7 people
were killed and 150 injured when a Eurostar high-speed train crashed
into a vehicle that was stopped on a level crossing near Ufton Nervet
in Berkshire. A motorist's suicide was suspected.
(AP, 11/8/04)
2004 Nov 6, In northwestern Haiti
an armed group fired on a police station, prompting officers to flee
while prisoners escaped and more than 100 people started a flurry of
looting.
(AP, 11/6/04)
2004 Nov 6, Insurgents set off at
least two car bombs and attacked a police station in the central Iraqi
town of Samarra, killing at least 29 people and wounding 40. Over 50
people were killed across central Iraq including nearly 2 dozen
Americans.
(AP, 11/6/04)(SSFC, 11/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 6, Israeli troops killed
5 Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, in West Bank and Gaza
Strip.
(AP, 11/6/04)
2004 Nov 6, Ivory Coast warplanes
bombed French peacekeepers, killing 8 French soldiers and wounding 23.
French forces responded by destroying the entire Ivory Coast air
force, 2 Russian-made jets and 5 helicopter gunships.
(AP, 11/6/04)(SSFC, 11/7/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 6, In western Nepal 9
Maoist rebels, five of them women, and a policeman were killed in a
series of clashes and an accidental explosion.
(AP, 11/7/04)
2004 Nov 6, In an open letter to
the Iraqi people and posted on the Internet, 26 Saudi scholars and
religious preachers stressed that armed attacks launched by militant
Iraqi groups on U.S. troops and their allies in Iraq were "legitimate"
resistance.
(AP, 11/6/04)
2004 Nov 6, In Ukraine tens of
thousands of supporters of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko
filled Kiev's main square, joining nationwide protests over alleged
election fraud.
(AP, 11/6/04)
2004 Nov 6, Atonazar Arifov, head
of the Uzbek unregistered opposition Erk party, announced that Erk
would boycott next month's parliamentary vote, saying the government
has failed to embrace democracy and calling on the international
community to ignore the election.
(AP, 11/6/04)
2004 Nov 7, The NYC Marathon was
won by Hendrik Ramaala of South Africa in 2:09:28; Britain’s Paula
Radcliffe won the women's title in 2:23:10.
(WSJ, 11/8/04, p.A1)(AP, 11/7/05)
2004 Nov 7, Howard Keel (85), star
of MGM musicals, died.
(SFC, 11/8/04, p.A2)
2004 Nov 7, In Egypt a passenger
bus returning from Saudi Arabia collided with a truck, killing 33
people.
(AP, 11/8/04)
2004 Nov 7, Iran and European
nations reached a preliminary agreement about Iran's nuclear program at
talks hoped to avoid a U.N. showdown. The UK, France and Germany
persuaded Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program.
(AP, 11/7/04)(WSJ, 2/8/05, p.A1)
2004 Nov 7, The Iraqi government
declared a 60-day state of emergency throughout most of the country, as
US and Iraqi forces prepared for an all-out assault on rebels in
Fallujah.
(AP, 11/7/04)
2004 Nov 7, Israeli undercover
forces shot and killed 4 Palestinians in Jenin.
(AP, 11/7/04)
2004 Nov 7, Hezbollah sent an
aerial drone over northern Israel on a 1st test flight.
(WSJ, 11/8/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 7, Machete-waving mobs
looted and burned in Ivory Coast's largest cities, laying siege to a
French military base and searching house to house for French families
after a day of sudden clashes between forces of France and its former
colony. France seized strategic control of Abidjan and deployed new
forces to stop the rampage.
(AP, 11/7/04)(SFC, 11/8/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 7, Kashmiri separatists
gave a cautious welcome on to India's offer to allow them to visit
Pakistan. Thousands of people in Indian Kashmir staged a protest,
alleging that soldiers had raped a 10-year-old girl and her mother.
(Reuters, 11/7/04)
2004 Nov 7, In Macedonia voters
cast ballots on a referendum that would repeal a Western-brokered law
that effectively grants local autonomy to the country's ethnic
Albanians. The referendum fell short of a required 50% turnout.
(AP, 11/7/04)(WSJ, 11/8/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 7, In central Mexico
gunmen, identified as local police officers, opened fire on a group of
revelers returning from a weekend dance, killing 7 people, including 2
children.
(AP, 11/9/04)
2004 Nov 7, Nicaragua held
municipal elections. The leftist Sandinista Front sought to capitalize
on the recent fracturing of a rival party amid ongoing attempts to
remove the country's president from office. Dionisio Marenco (58) led
the mayoral elections in Managua.
(AP, 11/8/04)(AP, 11/9/04)
2004 Nov 8, Jason Bay became the
first Pittsburgh Pirates player to win the National League Rookie of
the Year award, while Oakland shortstop Bobby Crosby took the American
League honor.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2004 Nov 8, A US judge ruled that
military commission proceedings at Guantanamo violate federal law and
Geneva Conventions. The proceedings were halted. An appeals court
reversed the decision on July 15, 2005. The proceedings resumed on
January 9, 2006. On June 29 the Supreme Court rejected the commissions.
(WSJ, 6/30/06, p.A1)
2004 Nov 8, It was reported that a
new polyester mesh stocking pulled over a weak heart was effective in
reducing heart failure.
(SFC, 11/8/04, p.A2)
2004 Nov 8, A comprehensive
scientific study of the Arctic climate was released and confirmed that
the North is melting, and faster all the time.
(CP, 11/8/04)
2004 Nov 8, China’s state media
reported that China will selectively reduce spending to help trim its
ballooning fiscal deficit.
(AP, 11/8/04)
2004 Nov 8, The U.S. dollar was
eliminated from circulation in Cuba.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2004 Nov 8, In Iraq some 10,000 US
and Iraqi troops fought their way into the western outskirts of
Fallujah. A car bomb hit a civilian convoy belonging to coalition
forces on the main highway to Baghdad's airport.
(AP, 11/8/04)(SFC, 11/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 8, Israeli police
arrested Zeev Rosenstein on an int’l. warrant for smuggling drugs
(ecstasy) from the EU to the US. The warrant called for extradition to
the US.
(SFC, 11/9/04, p.A7)
2004 Nov 8, In Ivory Coast clashes
with French troops left another 5 people dead and some 250 wounded.
(SFC, 11/9/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 8, Pitcairn Island
selected its 1st female mayor, Brenda Christian, to fill the post until
a Dec 15 election. Former Mayor Steve Christian was among the 6 men
convicted of 5 rape charges.
(SFC, 11/9/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 8, Saudi Arabia's Crown
Prince Abdullah launched $8 billion in development projects in Mecca.
(WSJ, 11/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 9, Kenny Chesney won the
US Country Music Association album of the year award for "When The Sun
Goes Down" as well as entertainer of the year.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2004 Nov 9, Baseball star Roger
Clemens won his record seventh Cy Young Award.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2004 Nov 9, US Attorney Gen’l.
John Ashcroft and Commerce Sec. Don Evans resigned their posts with the
Bush administration.
(SFC, 11/10/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 9, It was reported that
repeated injections of paromomycin, a low cost antibiotic, could cure
the parasitic disease black fever, also known as visceral leishmaniasis.
(SFC, 11/9/04, p.A6)
2004 Nov 9, Iris Chang (b.1968),
author of the 1997 book "The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust
of WW II," died by suicide in California. In 2007 Paula Kamen authored
“Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition and the Loss of an
Extraordinary Mind.”
(Econ, 11/27/04, p.91)(SFCM, 4/17/05, p.5)(SSFC,
11/11/07, p.M1)
2004 Nov 9, Ed Kemmer (b.1921), TV
star, died at Roosevelt Hospital in NYC. He played the heroic Cmdr.
Buzz Corry on the 1950s children's science-fiction television program
“Space Patrol.”. After “Space Patrol,” Kemmer broke the heroic mold by
playing villains in episodes of “Perry Mason,” “Gunsmoke,” and
“Maverick.” He spent 19 years as a regular on “The Edge of Night,” “As
the World Turns,” “All My Children,” “Guiding Light,” and other soaps.
(SFC, 11/17/04, p.B8)
2004 Nov 9, Iraqi authorities
imposed the first nighttime curfew in more than a year on Baghdad and
surrounding areas. US Army and Marine units thrust through the center
of the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, fighting bands of guerrillas
in the streets and conducting house-to-house searches on the 2nd day of
a major offensive. Some US artillery used white phosphorous rounds that
melted skin. At least 10 American and 2 Iraqi soldiers were killed in
the assault. In 2008 a civilian jury acquitted former Marine Jose Luis
Nazario Jr. of voluntary manslaughter in the killings of 4 unarmed
Iraqi detainees during the Fallujah battle. In 2009 Marine Sgt. Ryan
Weemer was acquitted of murder charges in the killing of an unarmed
detainee in Fallujah.
(AP, 11/9/04)(SFC, 11/10/04, p.A1,14)(AP,
8/29/08)(SFC, 4/10/09, p.A6)
2004 Nov 9, In a backlash over the
Fallujah assault the Iraqi Islamic Party withdrew from the interim
government and a leading group of Sunni clerics called for Iraqis to
boycott nationwide elections.
(SFC, 11/10/04, p.A15)
2004 Nov 9, Israeli troops shot
and killed two Palestinians who entered an unauthorized area in the
Gaza Strip. Israeli troops in Nablus clashed with stone throwing
youths, shooting dead a 22-year-old man and seriously wounding another.
(AP, 11/9/04)
2004 Nov 9, In Ivory Coast French
soldiers killed at least 7 Gbagbo loyalists in a presidential palace
standoff.
(WSJ, 11/10/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 9, In Slovenia Janez
Jansa (b.1956) took office as prime minister. He continued in office
until 2008.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janez_Jan%C5%A1a)
2004 Nov 9, Sudan's government and
rebels agreed to sign fresh accords meant to stop hostilities in Darfur.
(AP, 11/9/04)
2004 Nov 9, Stieg Larsson
(b.1954), Swedish novelist, died of a heart attack. By 2009 his “The
Millennium Trilogy,” published posthumously, had sold more than 12
million copies around the world. The books centered on the heroine
Lisbeth Salander, a tattooed bisexual waif with autistic tendencies, a
profound distrust of authority, as well as astonishing computer skills
and physical courage.
(Econ, 10/31/09,
p.98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stieg_Larsson)
2004 Nov 10, Bush named Alberto
Gonzales, White House Counsel, to be attorney general. In 2006 Bill
Minutaglio authored “The President’s Counselor: The Rise to Power of
Alberto Gonzales.” In 2006 Bill Minutaglio authored “The President’s
Counselor: The Rise to Power of Alberto Gonzales.”
(WSJ, 11/11/04, p.A1)(SSFC, 7/2/06, p.M1)
2004 Nov 10, The US Federal
Reserve raised the overnight federal-funds interest rate a quarter
point. Another raise was expected Dec 14.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.C1)
2004 Nov 10, In North Oakland,
Ca., postal employee Harjit Singh Surajbansi was robbed of his cell
phone, $3-12 and shot in the leg by 4 men. All 4 were later caught,
convicted and sentenced from 2-14 years in prison.
(SFC, 10/14/06, p.B3)
2004 Nov 10, Microsoft unveiled a
preview of its new Internet search engine.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.C1)
2004 Nov 10, A gas station in
Washington DC became the first in North America to have a hydrogen
dispensing pump.
(AP, 11/10/04)
2004 Nov 10, Bosnian Serb
authorities apologized for the first time to relatives of around 8,000
Muslims killed by Serb forces in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, Europe's
worst atrocity since World War II.
(AP, 11/10/04)
2004 Nov 10, Chile confronted the
grim legacy of abuses under the 1973-90 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto
Pinochet completing a lengthy report on torture and political
imprisonment with testimonies from some 35,000 victims. The commission
concluded that torture was a habitual practice of the armed forces and
police throughout Pinochet’s dictatorship.
(AP, 11/10/04)(Econ, 12/4/04, p.38)
2004 Nov 10, Dutch police mounted
a major anti-terror raid against suspects holed up in an apartment in
The Hague. 2 North African men were arrested following a daylong siege.
(AP, 11/10/04)(SFC, 11/11/04, p.A12)
2004 Nov 10, France and the UN
began evacuating thousands of French and other expatriates in Ivory
Coast.
(AP, 11/10/04)
2004 Nov 10, Kidnappers abducted
two members of PM Ayad Allawi's family in Baghdad and said they would
be beheaded in two days if militant’s demands were not met. US forces
bottled up insurgents in a narrow strip of Fallujah after a stunningly
swift advance that seized control of 70 percent of the militant
stronghold. Insurgents said 20 Iraqi soldiers were captured. Explosions
shook the center of Ramadi and US troops clashed with insurgents.
(AP, 11/10/04)(WSJ, 11/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 10, An Islamic court in
northern Nigeria threw out a death by stoning sentence against a
pregnant 18-year-old girl who had been condemned for adultery.
(AP, 11/10/04)
2004 Nov 10, Japan's navy went on
alert when a submarine was detected in Japanese waters between the
southern island of Okinawa and Taiwan. Japan soon determined that it
was Chinese nuclear submarine and incident strained relations between
two of Asia's biggest economic and military powers.
(AP, 11/13/04)
2004 Nov 10, The Scottish cabinet
voted to ban smoking in public.
(Econ, 11/13/04, p.61)
2004 Nov 10, In Siberia a fire in
a wooden apartment building left at least 26 dead in the Tuva region
capital, Kyzyl.
(AP, 11/13/04)
2004 Nov 10, Sudanese police
raided a camp in Darfur for the second time this month, destroying
makeshift homes, firing into the air and shouting at terrified
villagers.
(AP, 11/11/04)
2004 Nov 10, Taiwan's leader,
making a new appeal to China to hold talks, urged the communist giant
to ban the development and use of weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 11/10/04)
2004 Nov 10, After a delayed final
tally Reformist opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko edged the prime
minister in the first round of Ukraine's presidential vote.
(AP, 11/10/04)
2004 Nov 10, The Pacific island of
Vanuatu withdrew a Nov 3 communique signed in Taipei to establish ties
with Taiwan, handing Beijing a diplomatic victory over its arch rival.
(AP, 11/11/04)
2004 Nov 10, A WTO dispute panel
published its decision that old American laws prohibiting gambling over
wires that cross state lines violate global trade rules for the
services sector.
(Econ, 11/20/04, p.66)
2004 Nov 11, Delta Air Line pilots
accepted over $1 billion in annual pay cuts and agreed to forgo raises
through 2009.
(SFC, 11/12/04, p.C2)
2004 Nov 11, It was reported that
Beijing this month cancelled its bicycle registration requirements, a
move viewed by the state press as highlighting the nation's full
fledged entry into "car society" and the demise of the bicycle as a
"transportation tool."
(AFP, 11/11/04)
2004 Nov 11, It was reported that
large swathes of southern and eastern China are in the grip of their
worst drought in more than 50 years, prompting calls from the countries
top leaders for better management of water conservation.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 11, Indian PM Manmohan
Singh announced a reduction in troops in disputed Kashmir in a fresh
initiative to push forward a fraying peace process with Pakistan.
(AP, 11/11/04)
2004 Nov 11, Iraqi security
forces, backed by US troops, arrested Sheik Mahdi al-Sumaidaei, a
hardline Sunni cleric and about two dozen others, after a raid of his
Baghdad mosque uncovered weapons caches along with photographs of
recent attacks on American troops. In Mosul guerrillas attacked at
least five police stations and political party offices there in what
could be a bid to relieve pressure on their allies in Fallujah.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 11, US and Iraqi forces,
backed by an air and artillery barrage, launched a major attack into
the southern half of Fallujah squeezing Sunni fighters into a smaller
and smaller cordon. The military estimated 600 insurgents killed thus
far in the offensive. Insurgents in Mosul overwhelmed several police
stations and clashed with U.S. and Iraqi troops.
(AP, 11/11/04)
2004 Nov 11, Israeli police
commandos stormed a Jerusalem church compound and arrested nuclear
whistle blower Mordechai Vanunu for allegedly revealing classified
information, seven months after he completed an 18-year prison sentence
for treason.
(AP, 11/11/04)
2004 Nov 11, Israeli troops,
backed by tanks and helicopter gunships raided a Gaza Strip town,
killing 3 Palestinians and wounding at least 9 others.
(AP, 11/11/04)
2004 Nov 11, Lithuanian lawmakers
ratified the newly signed EU constitution, making one of the bloc's
newest members the first country to approve the historic document.
(AP, 11/11/04)
2004 Nov 11, Yasser Arafat (75),
Palestinian leader, died in Paris. He triumphantly forced his people's
plight into the world spotlight but failed to achieve his lifelong
quest for statehood. Arafat's body was flown back to the Mideast for
funeral services in Egypt. Internment was to be in Ramallah.
(AP, 11/11/04)(SFC, 11/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 11, Mahmoud Abbas, a
former PM and veteran peace negotiator, was elected chairman of the
Palestine Liberation Organization. Rauhi Fattouh, Palestinian
parliament speaker, was set to serve as president until elections in
about 60 days.
(AP, 11/11/04)(WSJ, 11/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 12, Pres. Bush met with
British PM Tony Blair and pledged to revive the deadlocked peace
process in the Middle East.
(SFC, 11/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 12, Former President
Gerald R. Ford attended groundbreaking ceremonies at the Univ. of
Michigan for the new home of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
(SFC, 12/27/06, p.A11)
2004 Nov 12, John McLaughlin,
deputy director of the CIA, resigned after a series of confrontations
over the past week between senior operations officials and Patrick
Murray, the CIA Director Porter J. Goss's new chief of staff. The riff
left the agency in turmoil.
(SFC, 11/13/04, p.A6)
2004 Nov 12, US Sec of State Colin
Powell (67) submitted a Friday letter of resignation, but it was not
made public until after the weekend.
(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 12, A jury in Redwood
City, Ca., convicted Scott Peterson (32) of 1st degree murder of his
pregnant wife and dumping her body in San Francisco Bay in Dec 2002 in
what prosecutors portrayed as a cold-blooded attempt to escape marriage
and fatherhood for the bachelor life. He was also convicted of 2nd
degree murder for the unborn child.
(AP, 11/12/04)(SFC, 11/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 12, It was reported that
Japan and China owned about a quarter of outstanding US Treasury debt.
They held $723 and $172 billion respectively.
(WSJ, 11/12/04, p.C4)
2004 Nov 12, Scientists said that
a new Glaxo vaccine could prevent most cases of cervical cancer.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 12, In southern Colombia
suspected Marxist rebels gunned down Mario Canal (43), a state
attorney, who had been prosecuting captured guerrilla commanders.
(AP, 11/13/04)
2004 Nov 12, Dutch police raided a
suspected Kurdish separatist training camp in a small village in the
southern Netherlands, arresting 29 people. 38 members of the group were
arrested nationwide. Jason Walters threw a hand grenade and injured
several police officers in a standoff at a barricaded house in The
Hague. Walters was one of 7 men later convicted for belonging to a
terrorist group associated with Mohammed Bouyeri, who killed filmmaker
Theo van Gogh on Nov 2. In 2008 Their conviction was overturned, but a
15-year sentence against Walters was upheld. The court also reduced the
sentence for Ismail Aknikh, who was with Walters during the standoff,
from 13 years to 15 months.
(AFP, 11/12/04)(SFC, 11/13/04, p.A18)(AP, 1/23/08)
2004 Nov 12, In El Salvador US
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld awarded bronze stars to six
soldiers who fought in Iraq, and he praised the tiny nation for being
the only Latin American country to have kept its troops there.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 12, It was reported that
the French government plans to merge Airbus parent EADS with Thales,
the country's largest defense company, to create a new European giant
to rival Boeing Co.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 12, A strong earthquake
rocked parts of eastern Indonesia injuring 40 and damaging hundreds of
buildings. Six people on the island of Alor were killed.
(WSJ, 11/12/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 12, In Iraq a gunbattle
broke out in Mosul between gunmen and guards at the main headquarters
of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Guards killed six attackers and
captured four others before the rest fled.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 12, Mexico and a US
environmental group agreed on a plan to protect 370,000 acres of
tropical forest on the Yucatan Peninsula. Officials said it was the
largest conservation project in the country's history.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 12, Pres. Enrique Bolanos
told US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that Nicaragua would
completely eliminate a stockpile of hundreds of surface-to-air missiles
with no expectation of compensation from the US.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 12, Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo attempted to calm labor discontent ahead of a planned
general strike, saying he would order the reduction of kerosene prices.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 12, Kings, princes and
presidents from across the world paid a last tribute to Yasser Arafat
at a military funeral in Cairo. Arafat was interned in Ramallah before
a sea of mourners.
(AP, 11/12/04)(SFC, 11/13/04, p.A17)
2004 Nov 12, In the northern
Philippines a passenger train derailed and tumbled down a ravine
killing at least 10 people and injuring nearly 120 others.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 13, At least 5,500
residents of St. Croix, the largest of the US Virgin Islands, have
signed a petition asking Congress to make the island its own U.S.
territory.
(AP, 11/13/04)
2004 Nov 13, Harry Lampert (88),
the illustrator who created the DC Comics superhero 'The Flash' (1940)
and later became known for his instructional books on bridge, died.
(AP, 11/14/04)(SFC, 11/17/04, p.B8)
2004 Nov 13, Russell Jones, better
know as rapper O.D.B. (old dirty bastard) died at age 35 inside a NYC
recording studio.
(SFC, 11/15/04, p.B3)
2004 Nov 13, Severe storms sank
one ship and drove two aground near Algiers port, killing three seamen.
About 20 sailors remained missing.
(Reuters, 11/14/04)
2004 Nov 13, Australian police
arrested two men and seized three million ecstasy tablets that the pair
is accused of importing from Poland hidden inside a bakery oven.
(AP, 11/13/04)
2004 Nov 13, The new Lord Mayor of
London, Michael Savory, paraded through the streets of the British
capital in a traditional pomp-filled pageant. The mayor's one-year term
consists mainly of acting as an ambassador for Europe's dominant
financial centre.
(AP, 11/13/04)
2004 Nov 13, Egypt released 200
Islamic militants to mark Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadean fests. Egypt
newspapers reported that some 700 members of the al-Gama'a al-Islamiya
had been released from prison in recent days. The Islamist group
fought the government in the 1990s but has since renounced violence.
(Reuters, 11/14/04)(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 13, In New Delhi, India,
a stampede at the main railway station killed at least five people and
injured seven.
(AP, 11/13/04)
2004 Nov 13, US troops launched a
major attack against insurgent holdouts in southern Fallujah. The US
Army diverted an infantry battalion from Fallujah and sent them back to
Mosul after an uprising there by insurgents. Video was recorded of a US
Marine shooting an unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a Mosque.
(AP, 11/13/04)(SFC, 11/16/04, p.A9)
2004 Nov 13, Pakistan said its
army has demolished several terrorist hideouts and killed 30 to 40
militants in South Waziristan in an effort to capture foreign fighters
and Pakistani militant leader Abdullah Mehsud.
(AP, 11/13/04)
2004 Nov 13, A 61-year-old German
engineer, Gotthard L., was arrested in Switzerland on an international
warrant on suspicion that he helped Libya's past efforts to build a
nuclear bomb.
(AP, 11/16/04)
2004 Nov 13, In Thailand's
Muslim-majority south a 60-year-old Buddhist man was killed and at
least 13 people injured in the 2 latest two bomb blasts. 5 bombs hit in
the last 24-hours.
(AP, 11/13/04)
2004 Nov 13, A Zimbabwe newspaper
reported that the annual rate of inflation last month dropped to 209%,
edging closer to a year-end target of 150% from a peak of 622.8% in Jan.
(AFP, 11/13/04)
2004 Nov 14, Usher was honored
with four trophies at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles,
including favorite male soul-R&B artist, best pop-rock album, best
pop-rock artist and best soul-R&B album.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2004 Nov 14, It was reported that
since 2002 the dollar has lost about 20% against a broad basket of
currencies and over 40% against the euro.
(SSFC, 11/14/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 14, Religious figures and
Cuban government officials in Havana laid down the first stone of what
will become the island's first-ever Russian Orthodox church.
(AP, 11/14/04)
2004 Nov 14, The US military
occupied Fallujah after six days of fighting. The military said 31
Americans have been killed in the siege. US Marines found the mutilated
body of what they believe was a Western woman during a sweep of a
street in central Fallujah.
(AP, 11/14/04)
2004 Nov 14, Israel's military
said it will stop allowing Palestinian security forces in the West Bank
to carry weapons in public within the next 24 hours.
(AP, 11/14/04)
2004 Nov 14, Gunmen in the Gaza
Strip fired weapons near Mahmoud Abbas (69) and left 2 security men
dead. Palestinian officials scheduled Jan. 9, 2005, for presidential
elections.
(AP, 11/14/04)(SFC, 11/15/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 14, A powerful South
Korean labor union said hundreds of thousands of its members will
strike from next week against a bill that aims to curb union militancy
and allow companies to hire more temporary workers.
(AP, 11/14/04)
2004 Nov 15, The Bush
administration announced that it intended to negotiate trade agreements
with Oman and the UAR.
(Econ, 11/20/04, p.78)
2004 Nov 15, Energy Sec. Spencer
Abraham announced his departure as did Agricultural Sec. Ann Veneman
and Education Sec. Rod Paige.
(SFC, 11/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 15, US Congressional
investigators said Saddam Hussein’s regime made over $21.3 billion in
illegal revenue by subverting the oil for food program. This was more
than double the previous estimates.
(SFC, 11/16/04, p.A9)
2004 Nov 15, Top CIA officials,
Stephen Kappes and Michael Sulick announced their resignations after
reported disputes with new Director Peter J. Goss.
(SFC, 11/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 15, New Jersey Gov. James
E. McGreevey stepped down from office amid rumors of that he was about
to be sued for sexual harassment. Senate Pres. Richard Codey, also a
Democrat, served out the final year of McGreevy’s term. McGreevey left
office three months after admitting that he had had an extramarital
affair with his homeland security advisor, Golan Cipel. Upon publicly
revealing his homosexuality on August 12, 2004, McGreevey became the
first and, to date, the only openly gay state governor in United States
history.
(SFC, 11/9/04, p.A2)(Econ, 7/1/06,
p.27)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McGreevey)
2004 Nov 15, In Las Vegas 43
members of “Havana Night Club” revue, a Cuban dance troupe, asked for
asylum. In 2005 the US granted asylum to 49 members of the troupe.
(SFC, 11/16/04, p.A2)(SFC, 7/22/05, p.A8)
2004 Nov 15, China’s state media
reported that shortages of coal and electricity are expected this
winter.
(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 15, The Bank of France
cut its 2004 economic growth forecast, placing further pressure on the
government's budget plans as high oil prices and a weak dollar weigh on
France's outlook.
(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 15, France concluded its
evacuation efforts in Ivory Coast, where 5,000 Westerners fled a
renewed civil war.
(WSJ, 11/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 15, The UN atomic
watchdog agency gave its support to Iran's agreement to suspend all
uranium enrichment activities.
(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 15, Fierce battles
between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi forces killed at least 16 people
in Baqouba.
(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 15, Israel offered its
first indication it was reassessing relations with the Palestinians
after Yasser Arafat's death, suggesting it might coordinate a planned
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip if the Palestinian Authority cracks down
on militant groups.
(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 15, Macedonia’s PM Hari
Kostov resigned over disagreements with ethnic Albanian coalition
partners.
(SFC, 11/16/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 15, Mexico's former
ruling party, trying to fight its way back to the presidency,
overwhelmingly won two gubernatorial elections and held razor-thin
leads in two other races.
(AP, 11/16/04)
2004 Nov 15, Nigeria ordered
immediate cuts in domestic fuel prices, trying to avert a looming
general strike.
(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 15, Nigeria's main labor
union indefinitely suspended a looming countrywide strike that had
threatened to shut down the oil industry.
(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 15, Interim Palestinian
leader, Mahmoud Abbas, has asked Palestinian militants to halt violence
during the campaign for Jan. 9 presidential elections.
(AP, 11/16/04)
2004 Nov 15, In Peru the first
public trial of Shining Path rebel leader Abimael Guzman fell apart as
the 2nd of the 3 presiding judges stepped down citing a conflict of
interest.
(AP, 11/16/04)
2004 Nov 15, The UN Security
Council imposed an immediate arms embargo on Ivory Coast's hard-line
government.
(AP, 11/16/04)
2004 Nov 16, President Bush picked
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice as Sec. of State, replacing
Colin Powell.
(AP, 11/17/04)
2004 Nov 16, US Senate Democrats
selected Harry Reid of Nevada as party whip for the 109th Congress.
(SFC, 11/17/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 16, A NASA unpiloted
X-43A jet, part of its Hyper-X program, reached a record speed of 6,500
mph, Mach 9.6. It used the new scramjet engine.
(SFC, 11/17/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 16, In northeast
Australia a speeding high-speed passenger train derailed, injuring
nearly all 163 people on board.
(AP, 11/17/04)
2004 Nov 16, In northeastern
Colombia leftist rebels ambushed a police convoy, killing at least nine
officers and wounding three others.
(AP, 11/17/04)
2004 Nov 16, India said its army
will start reducing the number of troops in revolt-hit Kashmir to
coincide with a visit to the state by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Military experts estimate that India has about 250,000 troops in
Kashmir.
(AP, 11/16/04)
2004 Nov 16, US and Iraqi troops
pushed into insurgent-heavy neighborhoods and stormed police stations
in Mosul. US forces arrested a senior member of an influential Sunni
political party after a dawn raid on his Baghdad home. The US military
said it was investigating the videotaped fatal shooting of a wounded
and apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner by a US Marine in a mosque in
Fallujah. Sunni Muslims in Iraq expressed anger over videotape showing
the fatal shooting of a wounded and apparently unarmed man in a
Fallujah mosque by a US Marine. In 2007 the marine Corps charged a
Marine sergeant with unpremeditated murder in the killing of the
unarmed Iraqi prisoner in Fallujah. Another Marine was also charged in
the same incident. In 2008 Sgt. Ryan Weemer became the 3rd person
charged in the shooting.
(AP, 11/16/04)(AP, 11/16/05)(SFC, 8/21/07,
p.A13)(SFC, 3/19/08, p.A4)
2004 Nov 16, In Iraq a blindfolded
woman, believed to be aid worker Margaret Hassan (59), was the shown
being shot in the head by a hooded militant on a video obtained but not
aired by Al-Jazeera television.
(AP, 11/17/04)
2004 Nov 16, Saudi police arrested
5 suspected militants in al-Qassim, 220 miles northwest of Riyadh,
following a shootout that killed a policeman.
(AP, 11/17/04)
2004 Nov 16, Spanish police
arrested 17 suspected members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA
in a series of pre-dawn raids in northern Spain.
(AP, 11/16/04)
2004 Nov 16, Darfur rebels from
the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) handed over 20 prisoners of war to the
African Union (AU).
(Reuters, 11/16/04)
2004 Nov 17, US House Republicans
adopted a rule change to allow majority leader Tom DeLay of Texas to
keep his post if he is indicted on state corruption charges. In 2004
the change was rescinded. The US Senate passed an $800 billion debt
limit increase.
(SFC, 11/18/04, p.A3)(WSJ, 11/18/04, p.A1)(WSJ,
1/4/05, p.A1)
2004 Nov 17, In Washington state a
recount was ordered in the governor’s race between Christine Gregoire
and Dino Rossi. The Nov 2 balloting left them separated by just a few
of 2.8 million votes cast. A hand tally looked likely after a machine
recount showed Rossi 42 votes ahead. After three counts of the ballots,
Gregoire was declared the winner by just 129 votes out of 2.9 million
cast.
(SFC, 11/18/04, p.A5)(WSJ, 11/26/04, p.A1)(AP,
11/17/05)
2004 Nov 17, In Maryland the first
US small office of the Chinese Confucius Institute opened at the Univ.
of Maryland. By 2009 there were over 60 such facilities across the
country offering Chinese culture to the American public.
(http://english.people.com.cn/200411/19/eng20041119_164443.html)(Econ,
10/24/09, SR p.10)
2004 Nov 17, Kmart Holding Corp.,
led by Edward Lampert, announced an $11.5 billion acquisition of Sears
Roebuck.
(SFC, 11/18/04, p.C1)
2004 Nov 17, In Chile top
government ministers from 21 Pacific Rim nations convened high-level
talks on free trade and global security as police battled university
students protesting the summit and a weekend visit by President Bush.
(AP, 11/18/04)
2004 Nov 17, Millions of locusts
swarmed into northern Egypt for the first time in 50 years, prompting
authorities to order emergency pesticide spraying to protect the
region's important agriculture industry.
(AP, 11/18/04)
2004 Nov 17, The EU will consider
giving Greece until the end of 2006 to cut its budget deficit below 3
percent of gross domestic product.
(AP, 11/17/04)
2004 Nov 17, India's PM Manmohan
Singh paid a rare visit to the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir,
marking the start of a partial troop withdrawal that has been hailed by
rival Pakistan as an important step in easing tensions. Pakistan's
powerful Islamic parties dismissed the partial pullout of Indian troops
from Indian-administered Kashmir as tokenistic "eyewash", saying a
plebiscite was the only solution to the half-century dispute. India
began pulling an estimated 40k of some 500k soldiers from Kashmir.
(AP, 11/17/04)(AFP, 11/17/04)(WSJ, 11/18/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 17, A car bomber rammed a
US convoy in Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, during clashes with
militants that killed 10 people.
(AP, 11/17/04)
2004 Nov 17, President Vladimir
Putin said that Russia is developing a new form of nuclear missile
unlike those held by other countries.
(AP, 11/17/04)(SFC, 11/18/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 18, In Little Rock, Ark.,
an estimated 30,000 guests attended the opening of the Clinton
Presidential Center, a 30-acre, $165 million glass-and-steel home of
artifacts and documents gathered during Clinton's eight years in the
White House.
(AP, 11/18/04)(Econ, 11/13/04, p.36)
2004 Nov 18, The US government
reported a possible case of mad cow disease.
(SFC, 11/19/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 18, US Army doctors said
some 100 soldiers wounded in the Mideast and Afghanistan had come down
with rare, treatment resistant blood infections.
(WSJ, 11/19/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 18, FDA officer David
Graham identified 5 drugs with dangerous side effects: Crestor to lower
cholesterol, Meridia for weight loss, Bextra for pain, Accutane for
acne, and Serevent for asthma.
(SFC, 11/19/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 18, Genentech and its
partners announced FDA approval of the experimental lung cancer drug,
Tarceva.
(SFC, 11/19/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 18, Former Ku Klux
Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry (74), who was convicted of killing four
black girls in a racially motivated bombing of a Birmingham, Ala.,
church in 1963, died in prison.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2004 Nov 18, Cy Coleman (75),
composer, died in NYC. His Broadway musicals included “wildcat” (1960),
“Sweet Charity” (1966) and “I Love My Wife” (1977).
(SFC, 11/20/04, p.B6)
2004 Nov 18, A UN report said
opium and heroin production in Afghanistan had rocketed to near record
levels. It accounted for over 60% of Afghan GDP and 87% of world supply.
(SFC, 11/19/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/19/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 18, Britain outlawed fox
hunting in England and Wales as elected legislators used the 1949
Parliament Act to win a dramatic standoff with the House of Lords to
ban the popular country sport.
(AP, 11/18/04)(SFC, 11/19/04, p.A2)
2004 Nov 18, A woman (48) became
the first person in Chilean history to file for divorce.
(AP, 11/18/04)
2004 Nov 18, Insurgents detonated
a car bomb near a US military convoy in Baghdad and a roadside bomb
exploded at a job recruiting center in the northern city of Kirkuk, in
attacks that killed four people.
(AP, 11/18/04)
2004 Nov 18, US troops discovered
four decapitated bodies and captured dozens of militants during
operations to purge northern Mosul of insurgents.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 18, Israeli troops killed
three Egyptian policemen mistaken for Palestinian militants along the
Gaza-Egypt border.
(AP, 11/18/04)
2004 Nov 18, The Macedonian
parliament accepted the resignation of PM Hari Kostov and his cabinet,
leaving President Branko Crvenkovski 10 days to select a new premier.
(AFP, 11/18/04)
2004 Nov 18, Myanmar's military
government said it had begun releasing thousands of prisoners who may
have been wrongly imprisoned by a recently disbanded military
intelligence unit.
(AFP, 11/18/04)
2004 Nov 18, A survey said Swiss
teenagers smoke more cannabis than their peers in every other European
country.
(Reuters, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 18, The UN Security
Council opened an extraordinary two-day session in Nairobi, the first
outside its New York headquarters in 14 years. Sudan topped the agenda.
Great Lakes regional foreign ministers approved a pact for greater
cross-border cooperation and confidence-building. It was due to be
adopted at a summit in Dar es Salaam.
(AP, 11/18/04)(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 19, Federal Reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan warned about spiraling deficits and the impact
on the declining dollar. The Dow Jones fell 115 to 10456.9.
(SFC, 11/20/04, p.C1)
2004 Nov 19, In Auburn Hills,
Mich., players and fans exchanged punches in one of the worst NBA
brawls ever. Indiana Pacers’ Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson charged
into the stands and fought with fans and forced an early end to the
Pacers' 97-82 win over the Pistons win with 45.9 seconds left.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 19, Police in Abington,
Pennsylvania, arrested Michael Cornelius Burke Jr. (38) for the assault
and rape of 2 girls ages 10 & 13. In Apr 2006 Burke pleaded guilty
but failed to show up for sentencing. In 2009 Burke was arrested in
Mexico’s in central Veracruz state.
(www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=66637)(AP,
12/9/09)
2004 Nov 19, Intel Corp., the
world's largest computer chip maker, said it would spend $40 million to
expand in the southern Indian city of Bangalore over the next two years.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 19, Martin Edward Malia,
historian and leading specialist on Russia who taught at the University
of California, Berkeley, for more than three decades, died. “History’s
Locomotives,” his last book, was published posthumously in 2006.
(www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/11/23_malia.shtml)
2004 Nov 19, Terry Melcher (62),
record producer and son of Doris Day, died. He co-wrote the Beach Boy
song “Kokomo” and produced his mother’s “The Doris Day Show”
(1968-1972).
(SSFC, 11/21/04,
p.A25)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Melcher)
2004 Nov 19, APEC, the
Asia-Pacific Economic cooperation summit, opened in Chile.
(Econ, 11/20/04, p.40)
2004 Nov 19, Cuba and Panama
agreed to restore consular relations, taking a step toward renewal of
full diplomatic ties at a meeting on the sidelines of an Ibero-American
summit.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 19, Iraqi forces, backed
by US soldiers, stormed one of the major Sunni Muslim mosques in
Baghdad after Friday prayers, opening fire and killing at least 3
people. A suicide car bomber rammed into a police patrol in Baghdad,
killing one policeman.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 19, Israel’s Yediot
Ahronot newspaper published photos of Israeli soldiers posing with dead
Palestinians. Allegations of abuse followed.
(SFC, 11/20/04, p.A16)
2004 Nov 19, Myanmar's junta freed
Student democracy leader Min Ko Naing, the nation's number two
political prisoner, as part of a release of 3,937 inmates. After 15
years in jail he became head of the “88 Generation students’ Group.”
(AFP, 11/20/04)(Econ, 8/25/07, p.39)
2004 Nov 19, Rebel officials and
the Sudanese government committed themselves to ending the 21-year
civil war in southern Sudan before January, signing an agreement at a
special meeting of the UN Security Council in Kenya.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 19, UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan urged leaders of Africa's blood-soaked Great Lakes region to
implement a peace plan that could herald a "new era" for millions of
Africans.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 19, In Caracas a truck
owned by a prosecutor pressing charges against supporters of
Venezuela's failed 2002 coup exploded. Prosecutor Danilo Anderson was
inside. In 2005 a court convicted 3 men in the murder of Anderson, who
had been investigating opponents of Pres. Chavez and sentenced them to
up to 30 years in prison. In 2008 Giovanny Vasquez, a star witness,
recanted his testimony saying he testified against suspects after
receiving $500,000 from a government official.
(AP, 11/19/04)(AP, 12/21/05)(AP, 4/9/08)
2004 Nov 20, US Republicans
whisked a $388 billion spending bill through the House.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2004 Nov 20, The new NYC MOMA
opened in midtown Manhattan. Its new tower was designed by Yoshio
Taniguchi.
(Econ, 11/20/04, p.85)
2004 Nov 20, The NBA suspended 9
players without pay over the Nov 19 Piston and Pacer brawl in Auburn
Hills, Mich.
(Econ, 11/27/04, p.34)
2004 Nov 20, Juan Rodriguez (49)
of NYC, a Colombian immigrant and parking garage worker, won the $149
million Mega Millions lottery jackpot. He chose to take a single
payment of $88.5 million before taxes.
(USAT, 11/21/04, p.3A)
2004 Nov 20, Scientist Ancel Keys
(100), died in Minneapolis. He invented the K rations eaten by soldiers
in World War II and who linked high cholesterol and fatty diets to
heart disease.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2004 Nov 20, Fifteen African
presidents and UN chief Kofi Annan signed a common declaration in Dar
es Salaam, Tanzania, to promote peace and security in the Great Lakes
region.
(AFP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, In China a fire at a
complex of iron mines in Shahe, Hebei province, left 68 dead. Most of
the miners were suffocated by smoke.
(AP, 11/26/04)
2004 Nov 20, An early morning 6.2
earthquake jolted San Jose, Costa Rica, and killed 8 people. Leaders of
21 nations were gathered there for the Ibero-American Summit.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, In Baghdad insurgents
attacked a US patrol and a police station, assassinated 4 government
employees and detonated several bombs. One American soldier was killed
and 9 were wounded during clashes that left 3 Iraqi troops and a police
officer dead.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, The bodies of nine
Iraqi soldiers, all shot execution-style and seven of them decapitated,
were discovered in the northern city of Mosul.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, Germany and the
United States agreed on a proposal to write off as much as 80 percent
of Iraq's debt.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, India pulled out
around 3,000 troops from Kashmir.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, In southern Italy 8
people from two families were killed when a gas explosion destroyed
their apartment building.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, In western Nepal at
least 26 rebel and government soldiers were killed during a clash at a
rebel training camp at Pandon.
(SFC, 11/22/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 20, In Ojobo, Nigeria, a
protest at an oil rig operated by Shell left 7 people dead.
(SFC, 12/10/04, p.A23)
2004 Nov 20, Palestinians formally
opened the campaign for a successor to Yasser Arafat.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2004 Nov 20, A Polish woman
abducted from her apartment in Baghdad reappeared in Poland after being
suddenly released.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, Puerto Rico's two
highest courts ordered election authorities in separate rulings to
immediately begin recounting votes cast in the extremely tight Nov. 2
gubernatorial elections.
(AP, 11/21/04)
2004 Nov 20, In Togo at least 13
people died and others were injured in a crush at a demonstration to
welcome an improvement in relations with the EU.
(Reuters, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, Ugur Kaymaz (12) and
his father Ahmet Kaymaz (30), a Kurdish truck driver from Kiziltepe,
Turkey, were reportedly shot dead by police officers in front of their
house. In 2007 all 4 members of the special forces implicated in the
killings were exonerated.
(www.extrajudicialexecutions.org/communications/turkey.html)(Econ,
6/23/07, p.60)
2004 Nov 21, President Bush,
trying to mend relations with Latin America, pledged during an economic
summit in Chile to make a fresh push for stalled immigration reforms.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2004 Nov 21, Donald Trump's casino
empire filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2004 Nov 21, The NBA suspended
Indiana's Ron Artest for the rest of the season following a brawl that
broke out at the end of a game against the Detroit Pistons.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2004 Nov 21, A trespassing deer
hunter in northern Wisconsin opened fire on other hunters when they
asked him to leave, killing 5 and wounding 3. Another hunter died the
next day. Police arrested Chai Soua Vang, a Hmong man of St. Paul
Minn., for killing 6 hunters. In 2005 Vang (36) was convicted of 1st
degree murder and sentenced to 6 life terms.
(AP, 11/22/04)(WSJ, 11/23/04, p.A1)(SFC, 11/9/05,
p.A3)
2004 Nov 21, Scientists began
releasing water from Glen Canyon Dam to flood the Grand Canyon in a
5-day effort to restore the Colorado river ecosystem.
(SFC, 11/22/04, p.A2)
2004 Nov 21, Noel Perrin (b.1927),
Dartmouth professor and Vermont farmer, died. In 2006 Terry S. Osborne
published “Best Person Rural,” a collection of Perrin’s best essays.
(www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2004/11/23.html)(WSJ, 11/24/06, p.W8)
2004 Nov 21, US led troops mounted
overnight raids on suspected al-Qaida compounds in eastern Afghanistan,
killing four people and detaining several others.
(AP, 11/21/04)
2004 Nov 21, In Chile Asia-Pacific
leaders wrapped up an annual summit dominated by US President George W.
Bush's core security agenda.
(AP, 11/21/04)
2004 Nov 21, In northern China a
Bombardier CRJ-200 passenger plane crashed in an ice-covered lake
seconds after takeoff, killing all 54 people aboard and one person on
the ground after an apparent midair explosion.
(AP, 11/21/04)(WSJ, 11/22/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 21, Iraq's Electoral
Commission set national elections for January 30.
(AP, 11/21/04)
2004 Nov 21, In southern Israel
swarms of locusts devoured lawns and palm trees.
(AP, 11/21/04)
2004 Nov 21, At least 66 Maoist
rebels and 10 government troopers were killed in an overnight clash in
Nepal's far-western Pandon village.
(AP, 11/21/04)
2004 Nov 21, Ukrainians cast
ballots in a presidential run-off.
(AP, 11/21/04)
2004 Nov 22, Pres. Bush traveled
to Colombia following the summit in Chile.
(WSJ, 11/22/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 22, Chinese President Hu
Jintao met with Fidel Castro in Havana for talks focusing on the
broadening ties between Cuba and China.
(AP, 11/22/04)
2004 Nov 22, In southern Colombia
army troops killed Humberto Valbuena, head of the Teofilo Forero unit
of FARC blamed for a string of high-profile attacks and kidnappings.
(AP, 11/23/04)
2004 Nov 22, A senior UN official
said the UN is investigating about 150 allegations of sexual abuse by
UN civilian staff and soldiers in the Congo, some of them recorded on
videotape. Health officials said an outbreak of a severe form of
typhoid has killed at least 16 people in Kinshasa, sickening at least
144 more.
(AP, 11/22/04)
2004 Nov 22, Stavros Dimas
(b.1941), Greek politician, succeeded Margot Walstron of Sweden as the
EU’s environment commissioner.
(Econ, 10/25/08,
p.80)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stavros_Dimas)
2004 Nov 22, Iran said it had
frozen all uranium enrichment programs; President Bush said he
hoped the statement was true but added, "there must be verification."
(AP, 11/22/05)
2004 Nov 22, The ruling Fatah
party chose Mahmoud Abbas as its candidate to replace Yasser Arafat as
head of the Palestinian Authority in Jan. 9 elections.
(AP, 11/22/04)
2004 Nov 22, A World Bank report
said nearly half the Palestinian population was living in poverty on
less than $2 a day.
(AP, 11/22/04)
2004 Nov 22, In the Philippines 29
people were confirmed dead with 84 others missing and feared dead
following tropical storm Muifa.
(AP, 11/22/04)
2004 Nov 22, Fighting near a
village in Sudan's crisis-plagued Darfur region killed at least 17
people, while helicopters rescued dozens of workers who fled into the
bush.
(AP, 11/22/04)
2004 Nov 22, Ukraine’s central
electoral commission said that with 99.38 percent of polling stations
reporting, PM Viktor Yanukovych had secured 49.42 percent of the vote
compared to 46.7 for his Western-leaning rival, Viktor Yushchenko. Tens
of thousands of demonstrators jammed downtown Kiev in freezing
temperatures, denouncing Ukraine's presidential runoff election as
fraudulent and chanting the name of their reformist candidate. The
color orange spread as the symbol of protest and the movement began to
be called the Orange Revolution.
(AP, 11/22/04)(WSJ, 11/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 23, US news host Dan
Rather announced he would step down as principal anchorman of "The CBS
Evening News" in March 2005.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2004 Nov 23, In Afghanistan 3 UN
workers kidnapped 4 weeks ago were released unharmed.
(AP, 11/23/04)
2004 Nov 23, In Brazil government
data indicated that 47% of its rainforest was now occupied by man or
logged.
(WSJ, 11/24/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 23, Some 5,000 US
Marines, British troops and Iraqi commandos launched raids and arrested
suspected insurgents aimed at clearing a swath of insurgent hotbeds
south of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/23/04)
2004 Nov 23, In Kashmir suspected
Muslim rebels shot dead five people in overnight attacks.
(AP, 11/23/04)
2004 Nov 23, In Mexico City a mob
angry about recent child abductions cornered plainclothes federal
agents taking photos of students at a school and burned the officers
alive, mistaking the agents for kidnappers.
(AP, 11/24/04)
2004 Nov 23, Pakistani Prime
Minister Shaukat Aziz arrived in India to help push forward a fragile
peace process.
(AP, 11/23/04)
2004 Nov 23, Interim Palestinian
leader Mahmoud Abbas told parliament that he would follow Arafat's
footsteps and demand that Israel recognize the "right of return" of
Palestinian refugees.
(AP, 11/23/04)
2004 Nov 23, Opposition leader
Viktor Yushchenko declared victory in Ukraine's presidential election
and took a symbolic oath of office. About 200,000 supporters gathered
in the capital to protest alleged election fraud. He won a
court-ordered revote in December 2004.
(AP, 11/23/04)(AP, 11/23/05)
2004 Nov 23, The UN Working Group
on Internet Governance (40 delegates) met in Geneva.
(Econ, 11/20/04, p.65)
2004 Nov 23, In Venezuela lawyer
Antonio Lopez, a suspect in the slaying of a top prosecutor last week,
was killed in a shootout with police.
(AP, 11/23/04)
2004 Nov 23, A UN AIDS report said
infections had risen 7.7% to 39.4 million over the last 2 years; growth
was fastest in Asia and East Europe. New infections in 2004 were
estimated at 4.9 million with 3.1 million deaths.
(WSJ, 11/24/04, p.A1)(Econ, 11/27/04, p.82)
2004 Nov 24, Arthur Hailey
(b.1920), author of the 1968 novel “Airport,” died in the Bahamas.
(SFC, 11/26/04, p.B3)
2004 Nov 24, In southern
Afghanistan a bomb exploded near a US patrol, killing two American
soldiers and wounding another.
(AP, 11/24/04)
2004 Nov 24, The US military ended
a 9-year peacekeeping role in Bosnia but kept on a small contingent to
hunt down top war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
(AP, 11/24/04)
2004 Nov 24, Canada’s PM Paul
Martin visited Burkina Faso. Canada is investing about $20 million in a
Basic Education Plan to pump $140 million into building schools across
the country.
(AP, 11/24/04)
2004 Nov 24, In Fallujah the US
military uncovered the largest arms cache yet inside the mosque of an
insurgent leader. 5 Arab foreign fighters who had escaped from Fallujah
were arrested near southern Basra. They were planning to attack
coalition bases and police stations.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 24, An Iraqi woman,
working as a translator, was shot and killed by 2 US soldiers playing
with a firearm. In 2005 Spc. Charley Hooser was convicted of
involuntary manslaughter and Spc. Rami Dajani of accessory after the
fact.
(SSFC, 1/23/05, p.A5)
2004 Nov 24, President Jacques
Chirac arrived in Libya in the first ever visit by a French head of
state.
(AP, 11/24/04)
2004 Nov 24, Paraguayan police
captured Ivan Mezquita, a leading Brazilian drug trafficking suspect,
after a gunbattle with occupants of a cocaine-laden plane near the
border with Brazil.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 24, The UN mission said
Rwanda has warned it will launch an attack "very soon" on Rwandan Hutu
rebels sheltering in eastern Congo.
(AP, 11/24/04)
2004 Nov 24, Ukraine's election
commission declared Viktor Yanukovych, the Kremlin-backed prime
minister, as winner. Ukraine's opposition called for a new round of
presidential elections to resolve the political crisis gripping the
nation. EU leaders, alleging fraud, warned of "consequences" if the
poll was not reviewed.
(AP, 11/24/04)
2004 Nov 24, Venezuela’s Congress
passed a bill that lays down strict guidelines for sex and violence in
broadcast programming and threatens multimillion dollar fines or even
closure for media outlets that disobey.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 25, Mohamed ElBaradei,
head of the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA, said a deal was reached with
Brazil on inspecting its uranium enrichment plant.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 25, The 3rd IUCN World
Conservation Congress closed in Bangkok. Its final resolutions included
a resolution urging governments to limit the use of loud noise sources
in the world’s oceans.
(SFC, 12/13/04, p.C1)
2004 Nov 25, In China Yan Yanming
(21) broke into a high school dormitory in Ruzhou with a knife and
killed 8 students. A series of knife attacks have hit Chinese schools
in recent months. Yanming was executed Jan 18, 2004.
(AP, 11/26/04)(AP, 1/20/05)
2004 Nov 25, Congo Pres. Joseph
Kabila suspended 6 cabinet ministers and 10 directors of state-run
companies. A parliamentary inquiry alleged they had embezzled
government funds.
(AP, 11/26/04)
2004 Nov 25, Eight former
pro-Jakarta militiamen were convicted in East Timor for crimes against
humanity committed in the mayhem surrounding a 1999 UN-backed vote that
led to the country's separation from Indonesia.
(AFP, 11/29/04)
2004 Nov 25, Ethiopia finally
accepted a special commission's ruling designed to resolve a border
dispute with Eritrea that sparked a devastating war between 1998 and
2000.
(AFP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 25, French President
Jacques Chirac set aside years of acrimony over the bombing of a French
passenger jet in the 1980s and declared a "new chapter" in relations
with Libya.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 25, Leading Sunni Muslim
politicians in Iraq urged postponement of the Jan. 30, 2005, national
elections. However, the elections ended up taking place as scheduled.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2004 Nov 25, A mortar attack
killed four employees of a British security firm and wounded 15 others
in the Baghdad's Green Zone. Two Marines were killed and 3 others
wounded when they came under fire during house-clearing operations in
Fallujah. 3 rebels were killed in response.
(AP, 11/26/04)
2004 Nov 25, An Iraqi official
said more than 2,000 people have been killed so far in the U.S.-Iraqi
operation against the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 25, In Mexico the bodies
of 9 people, including three federal agents, were discovered at two
sites outside Cancun, and police are blaming the killings on a drug
turf war.
(AP, 11/26/04)
2004 Nov 25, Mexican federal
investigators said that two Mexico City police and 27 other people face
homicide charges in the horrific vigilante killings of two federal
agents this week.
(AP, 11/26/04)
2004 Nov 25, Myanmar announced it
is to free more than 5,000 prisoners on top of the nearly 4,000
announced last week.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 25, Nicaragua's congress
voted to give itself the power to ratify and dismiss Cabinet ministers
and other officials in a deepening political crisis touched off by
anti-corruption efforts.
(AP, 11/26/04)
2004 Nov 25, In Singapore China
Aviation Oil, CAO Singapore, filed for bankruptcy protection following
an estimated loss of $550 million from a series of bets on oil prices.
(WSJ, 12/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 25, The UN World Food
Program said it has suspended its operations in most of the Sudanese
state of North Darfur and relocated its staff to the capital due to
renewed clashes between rebels and government forces.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 25, Ukraine's Supreme
Court prohibited making the results of the nation's disputed
presidential election official until it considers an appeal.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 26, The dollar reached a
new low against the euro at 1.3288 euros per dollar. The euro peaked at
1.3329.
(SFC, 11/27/04, p.C1)(WSJ, 11/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 26, A Cyprus-registered
tanker spilled 30,000 gallons of crude oil into the Delaware River
between Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, creating a 20-mile-long
slick that killed dozens of birds and threatened other wildlife.
(AP, 11/28/04)
2004 Nov 26, In NYC a man jumped
to his death from the 86th-floor observation deck at the Empire State
Building.
(AP, 11/27/04)
2004 Nov 26, Philippe de Broca
(71), French movie director ("King of Hearts"), died.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2004 Nov 26, Leading Iraqi
politicians called for a six-month delay in the Jan. 30 election
because of spiraling violence; President Bush said, "The Iraqi Election
Commission has scheduled elections in January, and I would hope they'd
go forward in January." The vote took place as scheduled.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2004 Nov 26, In Mosul 17 more
Iraqi bodies were found following 15 discovered a day earlier. 65
bodies were reported found over the last 8 days with 20 confirmed as
members of the new Iraqi security forces.
(SFC, 11/27/04, p.A13)
2004 Nov 26, The ruling party in
the Palestinian Authority set Aug. 4 as the date for an internal
election in an apparent attempt to persuade the head of Fatah's
restless young guard to drop out of the January presidential balloting.
(AP, 11/26/04)
2004 Nov 26, Rwanda said it was
ready to hold talks with Democratic Republic of Congo Pres. Joseph
Kabila to defuse growing tensions over Rwandan rebels based in eastern
Congo.
(Reuters, 11/27/04)
2004 Nov 26, Sudan's
pro-government Janjaweed militia killed 16 people in a western village
in the troubled Darfur region.
(AP, 11/27/04)
2004 Nov 26, A UN spokesman said
the son of Secretary-General Kofi Annan received payments from a firm
with a UN Iraqi oil-for-food contract more than four years longer than
the world body previously admitted.
(AP, 11/26/04)
2004 Nov 26, The World Trade
Organization gave final approval to the EU, Japan and others to hit the
US with an initial $150 million in trade sanctions in a row over the
2000 Byrd amendment, an illegal anti-dumping law. Penalties on US
exports ranged from apples to textiles.
(AP, 11/27/04)(SFC, 11/27/04, p.A4)
2004 Nov 27, U.S. Army deserter
Charles Jenkins was released from a military jail after serving 25 days
for abandoning his squadron and crossing the border into North Korea in
1965.
(AP, 11/27/04)
2004 Nov 27, Billy James Hargis
(79), televangelist, died. His books included “Is the Schoolhouse the
Best Place to Teach Raw Sex.” In 1974 students at his American
Christian College claimed Hargis had deflowered them.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.135)
2004 Nov 27, In Afghanistan 6
Americans died when a private plane used by the US Air Force crashed in
snow-covered mountains. Search teams later recovered the bodies.
(AP, 12/1/04)(WSJ, 12/1/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 27, In India Aga Khan,
billionaire spiritual leader of the world's 15 million Shia Ismaili
Muslims, presented the triennial Aga Khan awards for architecture.
(AP, 11/27/04)
2004 Nov 27, Saudi security forces
killed a suspected militant in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
(AP, 11/27/04)
2004 Nov 27, Sri Lanka's Tamil
Tiger rebels threatened to resume a two-decade war for self-rule if the
government does not agree to discuss their demands soon.
(AP, 11/27/04)
2004 Nov 27, Ukraine's parliament
declared invalid the disputed presidential election that triggered a
week of growing street protests and legal maneuvers, raising the
possibility that a new vote could be held.
(AP, 11/27/04)
2004 Nov 28, A private jet crashed
while taking off in Montrose, Colo., killing 2 crewmen and Edward
Ebersol (14), the son of NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol, who escaped
with his other son Charles.
(SFC, 11/30/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 28, On southern
Australia’s King Island about 80 whales and dolphins died after
beaching, and about 50 more were still at risk.
(AP, 11/29/04)
2004 Nov 28, In central China an
explosion tore through a coal mine, sending smoke from air vents and
trapping at least 166 miners in tunnels and shafts below without
communications. The death toll was later confirmed at 166.
(AP, 12/1/04)(Econ, 12/4/04, p.43)
2004 Nov 28, French Finance
Minister Nicolas Sarkozy took over the Union for a Popular Movement
(UMP), the ruling conservative party at a glitzy American-style
congress. This put him on course to launch a presidential bid and
possibly challenge Jacques Chirac in 2007.
(AP, 11/28/04)(Econ, 11/27/04, p.14)
2004 Nov 28, In central India at
least 16 people were killed when they were run over by a speeding train
after getting off another train on a parallel line.
(Reuters, 11/28/04)
2004 Nov 28, Iraq's most feared
terror group claimed responsibility for slaughtering members of the
Iraqi security forces in Mosul, where dozens of bodies had been found.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2004 Nov 28, In Kazakhstan 2
powerful blasts rocked the headquarters of President Nursultan
Nazarbayev's ruling Otan (Fatherland) party in Almaty's busy central
district.
(Reuters, 11/28/04)
2004 Nov 28, In Mexico gunmen
killed Gregorio Rodriguez, a newspaper photographer, as he and his
family ate in a restaurant the state of Sinaloa, the home turf of
nearly all of Mexico's top drug bosses.
(AP, 11/29/04)
2004 Nov 28, Romanians voted for a
president to succeed Ion Iliescu and lead the former communist country
into the European Union. A run off was scheduled for Dec 12 when
neither ruling Socialist’s Nastase nor Bucharest Mayor Basescu received
50%.
(AP, 11/28/04)(WSJ, 11/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 28, Ukraine’s outgoing
President Leonid Kuchma called on opposition supporters to end their
four-day blockade of government buildings, saying compromise is needed
to solve the political crisis.
(AP, 11/28/04)
2004 Nov 29, Pres. Bush nominated
Carlos Gutierrez, head of Kellogg Co., to serve as secretary of
commerce.
(SFC, 11/30/04, p.C1)
2004 Nov 29, The US Supreme Court
rejected a challenge to a gay-marriage law in Massachusetts.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2004 Nov 29, John Drew Barrymore
(72), the sometimes troubled heir to an acting dynasty and absent
father of movie star Drew Barrymore, died in Los Angeles.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2004 Nov 29, Butteur Metayer, a
street gang leader who led the rebellion that forced Haiti's President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide to flee, was arrested in Miami.
(AP, 12/10/04)
2004 Nov 29, A US Army Black Hawk
helicopter crashed near Fort Hood, Texas, and 7 soldiers were killed.
(SFC, 11/30/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 29, Congo said it will
send up to 10,000 soldiers to its eastern province of North Kivu to
prevent rebels and Rwandan forces from launching cross border attacks.
(AP, 11/30/04)
2004 Nov 29, Rwandan troops
attacked a town in eastern Congo. The next day a Congolese commander
said at least 19 civilians were killed.
(Reuters, 11/30/04)
2004 Nov 29, President Jacques
Chirac's office said French Agriculture Minister Herve Gaymard is to
succeed Nicolas Sarkozy as Finance Minister.
(AP, 11/29/04)
2004 Nov 29, More than a dozen
people hunting rabbits being smoked out of a Honduran sugarcane field
were engulfed by the fast-moving flames. Eleven children and four
adults died.
(AP, 12/1/04)
2004 Nov 29, In western Iraq a car
bomb exploded at a police checkpoint, killing seven government security
force members and injuring nine.
(AP, 11/29/04)
2004 Nov 29, A powerful earthquake
with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 struck Japan's northern island of
Hokkaido, injuring at least 24 people.
(AP, 11/29/04)
2004 Nov 29-Dec 3, Kenya hosted a
conference on landmines in Nairobi. An estimated 40 people per day were
killed by landmines. 144 countries had signed the 1997 Ottawa treaty
banning landmines, but China, Russia, Pakistan, India and the US still
refused to sign.
(www.reviewconference.org/)(Econ, 12/4/04, p.46)
2004 Nov 29, The annual ASEAN
summit opened in Vientiane, Laos.
(Econ, 11/27/04, p.43)(Econ, 12/4/04, p.42)
2004 Nov 29, Southeast Asian
nations and China signed an accord to create the world's biggest free
trade area by removing tariffs for their 2 billion people by decade's
end.
(AP, 11/29/04)
2004 Nov 29, The Sudanese
government declared the representatives of two British humanitarian
organizations persona non-grata and gave them 48 hours to leave the
country.
(AP, 11/29/04)
2004 Nov 30, US Pres. George W.
Bush flew to Ottawa, Canada, for a whirlwind visit designed to begin
mending international fences in the wake of the Iraq war.
(AP, 11/30/04)
2004 Nov 30, Tom Ridge, head of US
homeland security, said he will leave his job no later than Feb 1.
(SFC, 12/1/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 30, Kweisi Mfume (56),
head of the NAACP, said he is stepping down.
(SFC, 12/1/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 30, Ken Jennings ended
his 74-game winning streak on Jeopardy when he missed a question on
H&R Block. His winnings had reached $2,520,700 as he lost to real
estate agent Nancy Zerg. In 2006 Jennings authored “Brainiac,” an
account of his Jeopardy experiences.
(WSJ, 12/1/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/16/06, p.P10)
2004 Nov 30, Congo-based Rwandan
rebels, under threat of imminent attack by Rwanda, repeated an
allegation that Rwandan troops had crossed the border in recent days to
seize the vast country's mineral-rich east.
(AP, 11/30/04)
2004 Nov 30, Cuba's communist
government freed dissident writer Raul Rivero from prison. Cuba
unexpectedly released three political dissidents for health reasons:
economics writer Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who has a liver ailment, Marcelo
Lopez, who has a neurological disorder, and Margarito Broche, who
suffered a heart attack in prison.
(AP, 11/30/04)
2004 Nov 30, The 28th Cairo
International Film Festival, the biggest in the Middle East, opened
with US and British films excluded from competition for "technical"
reasons.
(AP, 11/28/04)
2004 Nov 30, A suicide bomber
detonated a car packed with explosives next to a US convoy on Baghdad's
dangerous airport road leaving several casualties.
(AP, 11/30/04)
2004 Nov 30, A Lion Air MD-82
passenger plane from Jakarta carrying nearly 150 people skidded off a
runway in Solo, Indonesia, and split into two pieces killing at least
31 people.
(AP, 11/30/04)(SFC, 12/1/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 30, Italy ground to a
halt as millions of workers observed a general strike in protest
against the economic policies of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's
centre-right government.
(AFP, 11/30/04)
2004 Nov 30, Pakistan's acting
president signed legislation that will allow Gen. Pervez Musharraf to
remain as both head of the state and army chief beyond Dec. 31.
(AP, 11/30/04)
2004 Nov 30, Clashes between
landless farmworkers and Paraguayan security forces left a police
officer dead and 20 other people injured in a resurgence of violence.
(AP, 12/1/04)
2004 Nov 30, The death toll from
landslides and flash floods in the eastern Philippines jumped to nearly
340 with 150 others missing, after a second rainstorm hit a region
still reeling from last week's deadly typhoon. Excess logging was
blamed for the landslides. Only some 70,000 sq. km. of forest remained
from an estimated 300,000 a hundred years ago.
(AP, 11/30/04)(Econ, 12/11/04, p.42)
2004 Nov 30, Opposition supporters
tried to rush through the doors of the parliament building after
Ukrainian lawmakers appeared to backslide from supporting measures that
would overturn the results of last week's disputed presidential
election.
(AP, 11/30/04)
2004 Nov, The US announced an
additional $780m for drug control efforts in Afghanistan.
(Econ, 11/20/04, p.46)
2004 Nov, Digg, an Internet-based
provider of content submitted by users, went live. Kevin Rose and Jay
Adelson founded Digg.com, a web-based news site using collaborative
editing to focus on news in technology.
(SFC, 6/23/06, p.D5)(WSJ, 2/10/07, p.P4)
2004 Nov, Tom and Jackie Hawks of
Arizona were tied to an anchor and thrown overboard from their yacht
off Southern California. In 2009 Skylar Deleon (29) of Long Beach was
convicted of their murder and sentenced to death.
(SFC, 4/11/09,
p.A4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylar_Deleon)
2004 Nov, Cameron Doomadgee died
on Australia’s Palm Island soon after he was arrested by Senior
Sergeant Chris Hurley for public drunkenness. A first autopsy put the
cause of death down to a fall, leading to a riot that saw the island's
police station, barracks and watchhouse destroyed. In 2007 officer
Hurley was charged for Doomadgee’s death.
(AFP, 1/26/07)
2004 Nov, In Ecuador former
government allies failed in an attempt to impeach Pres. Gutierrez. An
ad hoc alliance between the populist Roldosista Party and banana
magnate Alvaro Noboa sacked most of the Supreme Court.
(Econ, 4/9/05, p.30)
2004 Nov, Manuel Durao Barroso,
former PM of Portugal, took over as head of the European Commission.
(Econ, 2/19/05, p.52)
2004 Nov, Italy’s National
Magistrates Assoc. (ANM) staged their 3rd one-day strike under the
current parliament to protest a bill to reform the judicial system.
(Econ, 11/27/04, p.53)
2004 Nov, Human Rights Watch
released a report, “Hated to Death,” on homophobia, violence and AIDS
in Jamaica.
(Econ, 11/27/04, p.42)
2004 Nov, Norway adopted new rules
that barred investments in its national Petroleum Fund “which
constitute an unacceptable risk that the Fund may contribute to
unethical acts or omissions.”
(WSJ, 12/1/05, p.A11)
2004 Nov, Pakistan released from
prison Asif Zardari, husband of former PM Benazir Bhutto.
(Econ, 11/27/04, p.45)
2004 Nov, Hot seasonal winds known
as the Levante carried swarms of desert locusts to Spain’s Canary
Islands.
(SFC, 12/4/04, p.B10)
2004 Dec 1, US President George W.
Bush arrived in Halifax to thank Atlantic Canadians for helping
thousands of stranded Americans three years ago and to deliver a speech
expected to outline his foreign policy goals for the next four years.
(AP, 12/1/04)
2004 Dec 1, The Pentagon said it
will boost US troops in Iraq to 150,000.
(SFC, 12/2/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 1, Tom Brokaw signed off
as anchor of NBC News after 21 years. He was succeeded by Brian
Williams.
(SFC, 12/2/04, p.A3)(AP, 12/01/05)
2004 Dec 1, World AIDS Day was
observed around the globe. The CDC said nearly one million Americans
had the AIDS virus.
(AP, 12/1/04)(WSJ, 12/2/04, p.A1)
2005 Dec 1, Texas Gov. Rick Perry
blocked the execution of Frances Newton two hours before she was to be
lethally injected for the deaths of her husband and two young children
so her lawyers can conduct new tests on evidence in the 17-year-old
murder case. Newton was executed in September 2005.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2004 Dec 1, Andrea Labbe (26), a
Toronto woman, stabbed her husband and three-year-old daughter to death
before fatally cutting her own throat in one of the most terrible
tragedies ever encountered by the city's emergency workers.
(AP, 12/3/04)
2004 Dec 1, A French appeals court
reduced the suspended prison sentence for former Prime Minister Alain
Juppe in a party financing scandal from 18 to 14 months, and barred him
from elected office for 1 year instead of 10.
(AP, 12/1/04)
2004 Dec 1, A prison riot followed
other violence that left at least 11 people dead and scores wounded as
Secretary of State Colin Powell visited with Haitian leaders in an
effort to stop the country's bloodshed.
(AP, 12/2/04)
2004 Dec 1, Encore Software Ltd.,
one of the makers of India's cheap hand-held computer, the Simputer,
forecast a surge in orders to 50,000 units next year.
(AP, 12/1/04)
2004 Dec 1, The US military
command said multinational troops have arrested 210 suspected militants
in a weeklong crackdown against insurgents in an area south of Baghdad
known as the "triangle of death."
(AP, 12/1/04)
2004 Dec 1, Prince Bernhard (93),
father of Queen Beatrix, died in Utrecht. It was soon reported that he
had acknowledged in a series of secret interviews 2 illegitimate
children and the acceptance of bribes in 1976 from Lockheed to persuade
the Dutch government to purchase its planes. The money was reportedly
passed to charities.
(SFC, 12/15/04, p.A12)
2004 Dec 1, Unidentified gunmen in
Iraq killed 5 leading members of a Kurdish group that led a 15-year
rebellion in southern Turkey.
(WSJ, 12/2/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 1, A Hamas leader
announced that the militant group will boycott upcoming Palestinian
presidential elections.
(AP, 12/1/04)
2004 Dec 1, Ukraine's parliament
brought down the government of PM Viktor Yanukovych with a
no-confidence motion in a show of the opposition's strength. The
outgoing president called for an entirely new presidential election to
be held to resolve the spiraling political crisis.
(AP, 12/1/04)
2004 Dec 2, Pres. Bush picked
Bernard Kerik (49), a former NYC police commissioner, to take over the
Dept. of Homeland Security. Kerik recently made millions from the sale
of stock options granted when he joined the board of stun-gun maker
Taser Int’l. in 2002. On Dec 10 Kerik requested that his name be
removed from consideration saying he had not paid taxes for a recent
nanny who may have been an illegal immigrant.
(SFC, 12/3/04, p.A1)(SFC, 12/10/04, p.A8)(SFC,
12/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 2, President Bush
announced that Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns was his choice as the next
agriculture secretary, replacing Ann Veneman.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2004 Dec 2, UN ambassador John
Danforth resigned after five months representing the U.S. at the world
body.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2004 Dec 2, It was reported that
United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) has forged a $100 million agreement
with Sinotrans to take direct control of its international express
operations in China's largest and most important cities by the end of
2005.
(www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2004/11/29/daily33.html)
2004 Dec 2, Mona Van Duyn
(b.1921), US poet laureate (1992), died at her home in University City,
Missouri.
(SFC, 12/4/04, p.B7)
2004 Dec 2, In Chile an appeals
court ruled to strip former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet of immunity
from prosecution for a 1974 car bombing that killed an exiled Chilean
general and the man's wife.
(AP, 12/2/04)
2004 Dec 2, Dame Alicia Markova
(b.1910 as Alice Marks), eminent ballerina and founder of the English
National Ballet, died.
(SFC, 12/3/04, p.B6)(Econ, 12/11/04, p.85)
2004 Dec 2, The European Union
began its biggest-ever military operation, formally taking over NATO's
peacekeeping mission in Bosnia with 7,000 troops (EUFOR).
(AP, 12/2/04)(Econ, 3/19/05, p.60)
2004 Dec 2, In Iraq a mortar
barrage hammered the heavily fortified Green Zone and elsewhere in
central Baghdad, killing at least one person.
(AP, 12/2/04)
2004 Dec 2, From Italy it was
reported that a mob turf war claimed more than 20 lives in the last
month in the Naples area, prompting police to launch an emergency
security clampdown.
(AP, 12/2/04)
2004 Dec 2, Interior Secretary
Santiago Creel announced authorities had arrested 224 street gang
members during a weeklong sweep across Mexico.
(AP, 12/3/04)
2004 Dec 2, In the Philippines
back-to-back storms killed more at least 842 people and left 751
missing. 1,100 were feared dead in the wake of Typhoon Nanmadol.
(AP, 12/4/04)(SFC, 12/10/04, p.A26)
2004 Dec 3, US
Pres. George W. Bush signed a law extending normal trade relations to
Laos.
(AFP, 12/8/04)
2004 Dec 3, It was announced that
US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was staying on the job.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2004 Dec 3, Tommy G. Thompson
(63), US sec. of health and human services, announced his resignation
and expressed concern over the threat of global flu and the possibility
of a terrorist attack on the nation’s food supply.
(SFC, 12/4/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 3, It was reported that
methamphetamine initially revs up the dopamine nervous system in the
brain and that sex is the No. 1 reason people use it. The effect of an
IV hit of meth is the equivalent of 10 orgasms all on top of each other
lasting for 30 minutes to an hour, with a feeling of arousal that lasts
for another day and a half. After you have been using it a little bit
longer you can't have sex even when you're high. Nothing happens. It
doesn't work. Later hair falls out and teeth fall out. A total of 1,083
clandestine methamphetamine labs were cleaned up in Tennessee in 2003.
(AP, 12/4/04)
2004 Dec 3, A boat carrying at
least 91 Dominican migrants apparently trying to reach Puerto Rico
illegally capsized, killing eight people.
(AP, 12/4/04)
2004 Dec 3, In France Liberation's
founding CEO Serge July announced the start of exclusive negotiations
with Banker Edouard de Rothschild over a $27 million capital increase
that would let the banker acquire 37 percent of the popular daily.
(AP, 12/3/04)
2004 Dec 3, In Germany 3 Iraqi
citizens of Kurdish origin were arrested for plotting to kill Iraqi PM
Ayad Allawi. In 2008 the 3 men were convicted and sentenced to prison.
The Stuttgart state court convicted the three men of attempted
participation in murder and membership in terrorist organization Ansar
al-Islam, a radical Islamic group linked to al-Qaida.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2004 Dec 3, In western Guatemala 2
buses collided head-on along a mountain highway, and one toppled into a
nearby ravine, killing 21 people and injuring at least 20.
(AP, 12/4/04)
2004 Dec 3, India's foreign
exchange reserves vaulted $3.8 billion in the week through Dec. 3 to a
record $130.72 billion, as foreign capital poured into Asia's
fourth-biggest economy and the dollar slid against the euro.
(Reuters, 12/11/04)
2004 Dec 3, Insurgents launched
two major attacks against a Shiite mosque and a police station in
Baghdad, killing 30 people, including at least 16 police officers.
(AP, 12/3/04)
2004 Dec 3, Ramush Haradinaj (36)
was elected prime minister of Kosovo.
(http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041213-112138-1866r.htm)
2004 Dec 3, Sheikh Hassan Yousef,
a top Hamas leader, said the militant group would accept the
establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as
well as a long-term truce with Israel.
(AP, 12/3/04)(SFC, 12/4/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 3, In Russia 15 people
were killed when a fire broke out in a furniture factory warehouse in
the Moscow region.
(AP, 12/4/04)
2004 Dec 3, Ukraine’s Supreme
Court overturned the results of the disputed presidential elections and
ordered a new runoff by Dec 26.
(SFC, 12/4/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 4, President Bush
received the president of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in the Oval
Office; afterward, Bush pronounced himself "very pleased" with
Pakistan's efforts to flush out terrorists.
(AP, 12/04/05)
2004 Dec 4, The euro closed at a
record $1.3460. Over the next few years “it seems an excellent bet that
there will be a large drop in the dollar.”
(SFC, 12/7/04, p.D3)(Econ, 12/4/04, p.71)
2004 Dec 4, Miss Peru, Maria Julia
Mantilla Garcia, an aspiring high school teacher, was crowned Miss
World 2004 In Southern China.
(AP, 12/4/04)
2004 Dec 4, Colombian drug kingpin
Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela was flown to the US, becoming the most
powerful Colombian trafficker ever extradited to face US justice.
(AP, 12/4/04)
2004 Dec 4, Suicide attackers
carried out a string of car bombings against Iraqi policemen in Baghdad
and Kurdish militiamen in the north, killing 14 people and wounding at
least 59.
(AP, 12/4/04)
2004 Dec 4, Two US soldiers were
killed and four wounded when their patrol came under attack in the
northwestern city of Mosul.
(AP, 12/4/04)
2004 Dec 4, A car accident in
Bucharest killed Teofil Peter of the rock band Compact. In 2006 US
Marine Sgt Christopher VanGoethem, a US embassy guard, was acquitted of
negligent homicide by a Marine court in Virginia.
(SFC, 2/1/06, p.A3)
2004 Dec 4, Russia said India
should become a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security
Council if the top decision-making body is enlarged to reflect
post-Cold War realities.
(Reuters, 12/4/04)
2004 Dec 4, Zimbabwe's ruling
party elected longtime cabinet minister Joyce Mujuru as the country's
first woman vice-president at the end of a party congress, putting her
on course to succeed Mugabe when he eventually retires in 2008.
(AFP, 12/4/04)
2004 Dec 5, US Senator McCain
demanded that baseball players and owners take action to tighten drug
testing and threatened legislation to that end.
(WSJ, 12/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 5, In Bolivia Indian and
peasant organizations promising better access to health care and
education won every major city in local elections, trouncing
long-dominant parties.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 5, Egypt freed an Israeli
Arab businessman convicted of spying in exchange for Israel's release
of six Egyptian students.
(AP, 12/5/04)
2004 Dec 5, In Abkhazia (Georgia)
the two candidates vying for the region's presidency agreed to conduct
new elections and run on a joint ticket.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 5, Hungarians voted in a
referendum on extending citizenship to millions of ethnic Hungarians
living in the region.
(AP, 12/5/04)
2004 Dec 5, Gunmen opened fire at
the bus as it dropped off Iraqis employed by coalition forces at a
weapons dump in Tikrit. 17 people died and 13 were wounded. A suicide
car bomber drove into an Iraqi National Guard checkpoint in Beiji. 3
guardsmen, including a company commander, were killed and 18 wounded.
Guerrillas ambushed a joint Iraqi-coalition patrol in Latifiyah and
attacked Iraqi National Guardsmen patrolling near Samarra. 2 Iraqis
were killed and 10 wounded.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 5, In Kashmir a
remote-controlled roadside bomb blew up an army patrol car in a
pre-dawn attack, killing an Indian army major and 10 other soldiers.
(AP, 12/5/04)
2004 Dec 5, In Kazakhstan 23
people died and three others were injured in an explosion at a coal
mine in the Karaganda region.
(AP, 12/5/04)
2004 Dec 5, Authorities outside
Mexico City found the body of Enrique Salinas (51), the former Pres.
Salinas’ brother, with a bag tied around his head. 2 federal police
officers were arrested in 2005 for trying to extort money Salinas prior
to his murder.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2004 Dec 5, In Nigeria hundreds of
protesters besieged two oil platforms run by Royal Dutch/Shell Group
Cos. and ChevronTexaco Corp. in the southern oil region, shutting down
production of 90,000 barrels of oil a day.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 5, It was reported that
the Norwegian firm Hydro and Qatar's state energy company signed a deal
to build one of world's largest aluminium plants in the gas-rich Gulf
state at a cost of three billion dollars.
(AFP, 12/5/04)
2004 Dec 5, In Ramallah Jad
al-Hindi (19) was abducted by the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent
militant group linked to the dominant Fatah movement. Police found
al-Hindi's body the next day, saying he had been shot in the head 12
times.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 5, President Vladimir
Putin made the first official visit by a Russian leader to Turkey,
seeking to boost trade and counterterrorism cooperation between the two
countries.
(AP, 12/5/04)
2004 Dec 5, Carlos Moya beat Andy
Roddick 6-2, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5) to clinch Spain's second Davis Cup title.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2004 Dec 5, Thailand airdropped
nearly 100 million Japanese-style origami cranes over the predominantly
Muslim southern region in a psychological effort toward peace. A series
of bomb attacks followed the next day.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 6, Ohio certified
President Bush's victory over John Kerry, even as the Kerry campaign
and third-party candidates prepared to demand a statewide recount. Bush
won Ohio by 118,600 votes.
(AP, 12/06/05)(Econ, 8/2/08, p.31)
2004 Dec 6, Mediaweek reported
that 99.8% of indecency complaints to the FCC came from one group, the
Parents Television Council.
(SFC, 12/13/04, p.E1)
2004 Dec 6, Arson fires hit a new
housing development in Charles County, Md., 25 miles south of
Washington, DC. 14 homes, priced from $400-500k, were damaged. A
security guard and 5 others were later arrested on arson charges.
Damages were estimated at $10 million. On Sep 2, 2005, Patrick Walsh
(21) was found guilty of masterminding the fires.
(SFC, 12/8/04, p.A2)(SFC, 12/17/04, p.A3)(SFC,
12/21/04, p.A3)(SFC, 9/3/05, p.A3)
2004 Dec 6, China and Germany
signed contracts worth $2.1 billion for Airbus jets and other
industrial goods. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called for an end to a
15-year-old European arms embargo on China.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 6, A Beijing newspaper
reported that 9 out of 10 Chinese calling into a suicide-prevention
hotline in the capital are getting the busy tone, adding that
nationwide four people were killing themselves every minute.
(Reuters, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 6, The Dubai Int’l. Film
Festival (DIFF) opened its first season.
(www.dubaifilmfest.com/en/about-diff/diff-facts-figures.html)
2004 Dec 6, In Haiti gunfire
erupted in a stronghold of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
overnight, leaving at least three dead.
(AP, 12/7/04)
2004 Dec 6, In Iraq 5 U.S. troops
were reported killed in separate clashes in a volatile western
province. Insurgents blew up part of a domestic oil pipeline in
northern Iraq.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 6, President Vicente Fox
fired Mexico City's police chief for allegedly bungling the response to
a mob attack that killed two federal police officers.
(AP, 12/6/04)(WSJ, 12/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 6, In Saudi Arabia
Islamic militants threw explosives at the gate of the heavily guarded
US consulate in Jiddah in a bold assault, then forced their way into
the building, prompting a gunbattle that left 9 people dead and several
injured. In 2005 two AK-47 assault rifles used in the attack were later
traced to Yemen’s Ministry of Defense.
(AP, 10/12/05)(AP, 12/06/05)
2004 Dec 6, In Spain bombs injured
at least 18 people in 7 cities following warnings from callers claiming
to represent the Basque separatist group ETA.
(WSJ, 12/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 7, In Illinois after Babs
the gorilla died at age 30, keepers at Brookfield Zoo, decided to allow
surviving gorillas to mourn the most influential female in their social
family. One by one, the gorillas filed into the Tropic World building
where Babs' body lay, arms outstretched. Curator Melinda Pruett Jones
called it a "gorilla wake."
(AP, 12/8/04)
2004 Dec 7, IBM and China’s Lenovo
Group planned a joint PC venture. Lenovo was expected to pay some $2
billion for a majority share of IBM’s PC business. Lenovo announced a
$1.75 billion cash and stock deal to acquire a majority interest in
IBM’s PC business.
(WSJ, 12/7/04, p.A3)(SFC, 12/8/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 7, Jay Van Andel (80)
Amway co-founder died in Ada, Mich.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2004 Dec 7, Singer Jerry Scoggins
(93), who performed "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," the theme song to
"The Beverly Hillbillies," died.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2004 Dec 7, Hamid Karzai was sworn
in as Afghanistan's first popularly elected president.
(AP, 12/7/04)
2004 Dec 7, The mayor of Albania's
capital Tirana, painter Edi Rama (40), was elected "World Mayor 2004"
in an Internet competition organized by a London-based NGO.
(AFP, 12/7/04)
2004 Dec 7, The German-registered
MSC Ilona was punctured during a collision night with the
Panama-registered Hyundai Advance near the mouth of the Pearl River,
northwest of Hong Kong. The collision of the container ships caused a
huge oil spill and cleanup effort.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 7, A roadside bomb
exploded near an Iraqi National Guard patrol south of Baghdad, killing
three guardsmen and wounding 11.
(AP, 12/7/04)
2004 Dec 7, Hamas militants killed
an Israeli soldier and wounded four with an explosion in a
booby-trapped chicken coop. An Israeli aircraft fired a retaliatory
missile at armed Palestinians near Gaza City leaving 4 gunmen dead.
(AP, 12/7/04)(WSJ, 12/8/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 7, Libya listed three
conditions under which it is prepared to drop charges against five
Bulgarian nurses condemned to death on suspect charges of spreading
AIDS.
(AFP, 12/8/04)
2004 Dec 7, Nigerian villagers
lifted their blockade of three oil pumping stations in the volatile
Niger Delta after energy giants Shell and ChevronTexaco agreed to
discuss funding local development projects.
(AP, 12/7/04)
2004 Dec 8, The US Senate approved
an intelligence restructure bill. The legislation called for a new
director of national intelligence.
(SFC, 12/9/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 8, Disgruntled U.S.
soldiers complained to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld during a
question-and-answer session in Kuwait about long deployments and a lack
of armored vehicles and other equipment.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2004 Dec 8, Treasury Secretary
John Snow accepted President Bush's offer to remain in the Cabinet.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2004 Dec 8, In Columbus, Ohio,
Nathan Gale (25) charged on stage and opened fire on a heavy metal band
at a crowded bar, killing top heavy metal guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell
Abbott (38) and 3 others and wounding two before being killed by police.
(AP, 12/9/04)(SFC, 12/10/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 8, The 738-foot
freighter, Selendang Ayu, ran aground off Unalaska Island and began
leaking oil. 6 crew members were missing following an attempted rescue
in which a Coast Guard helicopter crashed. The ship carried some
500,000 gallons of bunker oil and diesel fuel.
(SFC, 12/11/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 8, Some 18,000 US troops
in Afghanistan began Operation Lightning Freedom, a new offensive to
hunt Taliban and al-Qaida militants through the country's harsh winter.
(AP, 12/11/04)
2004 Dec 8, British and Irish
leaders published a detailed plan for reviving a Catholic-Protestant
administration in Northern Ireland.
(AP, 12/8/04)
2004 Dec 8, Lord Scarman (93),
English lawyer and judge, died. He investigated the 1981 Brixton riots
and provided a report with ground breaking recommendations.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.68)
2004 Dec 8, China’s Premier Wen
Jiabao repeated that China will move gradually to a flexible exchange
rate.
(WSJ, 12/9/04, p.A14)
2004 Dec 8, In Quito, Ecuador,
inmates in the largest prison took 180 visitors hostage to protest what
they called overcrowding, poor conditions and long sentences.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 8, In Cairo, Egypt,
several thousand Christians who packed a cathedral compound hurled
stones at riot police to protest a woman's alleged forced conversion to
Islam. At least 30 people were injured.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 8, The European Union and
China agreed to boost relations, but the EU made clear there can be no
early lifting of its 15-year-old arms embargo until Beijing improves
its human rights record.
(AP, 12/8/04)
2004 Dec 8, In Iraq gunmen
attacked the police headquarters in Samarra, killing an Iraqi policemen
and a child who was caught in the cross fire. Insurgents detonated a
car bomb in southern Baghdad, causing an unspecified number of
casualties. 18 young Iraqi Shiites, aged 14-20, were shot and killed
while seeking work at a U.S. base near Mosul. Their bodies were
discovered Jan 5. Dale Stoffel, an American arms dealer and contractor,
was killed along with Joe Wemple. Before Stoffel was shot dead in
Baghdad, he had told of corruption and payoffs to senior military
officers in the country’s reconstruction program. Stoffel and Wemple
were reported to have been working on a $40 million dollar project in
Iraq for a military facility in Taji which involved the arming of the
1st Iraqi Armored Brigade. Insurgents from the Brigades of the Islamic
Jihad claimed they were responsible for the murder. However, the
murders remain uninvestigated and unsolved.
(AP, 12/8/04)(AP,
1/6/05)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Stoffel)(SSFC, 2/15/09, p.A10)
2004 Dec 8, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi
(30), son of leader Moammar Gadhafi, said Libya will soon pass new laws
that limit capital punishment to a small number of crimes. Saif was
currently enrolled in a doctoral program in governance at the London
School of Economics.
(SFC, 12/9/04, p.A3)(SSFC, 9/23/07, p.A22)
2004 Dec 8, Presidents and
high-ranking officials from 12 South American countries gathered at the
ancient Inca capital of Cuzco, Peru, to create a political and economic
bloc. They hoped to establish a 12-nation South American Community of
Nations.
(AP, 12/8/04)(Econ, 12/11/04, p.36)
2004 Dec 8, Russian authorities
slapped a back tax bill of almost 160 million dollars (121 million
euros) on the number two mobile phone operator Vimpelcom, in what is
widely seen as a government-linked campaign against the firm.
(AFP, 12/8/04)
2004 Dec 8, Ukraine's parliament
adopted electoral and constitutional changes in a compromise intended
to defuse the nation's political crisis.
(AP, 12/8/04)
2004 Dec 9, President Bush ruled
out raising taxes to finance a Social Security overhaul. Bush also
announced he was keeping the heads of the Transportation, Interior,
Housing and Labor departments.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2004 Dec 9, Scientists tracked an
algae bloom covering 400 square miles in the Gulf Coast that has caused
a mass fish kill and dolphin deaths near Florida.
(WSJ, 12/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 9, Canada's highest court
said the government can redefine marriage to include same-sex couples,
but it added that religious officials cannot be forced to perform
unions against their beliefs.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 9, China reported that
its monthly trade surplus widened in November for the fourth straight
month, hitting $9.9 billion as exports surged at an annual rate of
nearly 46 percent.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 9, An aid agency reported
that some 1,000 Congolese civilians a day are dying from disease and
malnutrition, due to a festering conflict that has killed 3.8 million
people.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 9, General Motors Europe
reaffirmed it will chop 12,000 jobs over two years, around a fifth of
its workforce, to lop 500 million euros ($673 million) from costs to
cut losses.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 9, The French government
sold an 18.4 percent stake in Air France-KLM, the world's largest
airline, to help reduce the state debt.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 9, Indian officials
cautioned Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that a proposed US sale of
military hardware worth $1.2 billion to Pakistan could damage a fragile
peace process between the nuclear-armed neighbors and harm India-US
relations.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 9, In Iraq insurgent
mortar fire in Baghdad left 3 people dead.
(SFC, 12/10/04, p.A20)
2004 Dec 9, The Irish Republican
Army declared for the first time that it's willing to get rid of its
entire weapons stockpile within weeks.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 9, Interfax reported that
Russian authorities have assessed a new tax claim for $114 million on
one of Yukos' smaller subsidiaries.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 9, In Kiev, Ukraine,
opposition protestors lifted their 2-week siege.
(SFC, 12/10/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 9, In Venezuela a law
that gives the government control over the content of radio and
television programs took effect.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 9, United Airlines was
scheduled to begin service to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
(SFC, 7/23/04, p.C1)
2004 Dec 9, Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe's ruling party passed a controversial new law that aims
to bar foreign rights groups from the country, as well as foreign
funding for local groups doing similar work.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 10, Pres. Bush picked
Samuel Bodman to be the new energy secretary. Bernard Kerik withdrew
his name from consideration to be Pres. Bush's homeland security
secretary.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2004 Dec 10, Staff Sgt. Johnny M.
Horne Jr. (30) of Wilson, N.C., was sentenced to three years in prison
for killing severely wounded Qasim Hassan (16) in Sadr City on Aug 18.
(AP, 12/11/04)(SFC, 12/11/04, p.A13)
2004 Dec 10, Sprinter Michelle
Collins was suspended for eight years for a doping violation linked to
the BALCO scandal. The suspension was later reduced to four years.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2004 Dec 10, A US trade panel gave
final approval to anti-dumping duties of up to 198 percent on imports
of about $1.2 billion worth of wooden bedroom furniture from China.
(AP, 12/10/04)
2004 Dec 10, In Paris a skating
rink opened on an observation deck of the Eiffel Tower, 188 feet above
the streets.
(SFC, 12/11/04, p.A2)
2004 Dec 10, President Oscar
Berger said Guatemalan academics will create a university dedicated to
rescuing and developing the ancient knowledge of the country's Mayan
cultures.
(AP, 12/10/04)
2004 Dec 10, Israeli troops shot
and killed a 7-year-old Palestinian girl after militants fired mortar
rounds at a Gaza Strip settlement, injuring four Israelis, one of them
a child.
(AP, 12/10/04)
2004 Dec 10, Italy’s Premier
Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted of corruption charges that have dogged
his government from the start.
(AP, 12/11/04)
2004 Dec 10, Japan's government
overhauled its defense guidelines, easing an arms exports ban and
singling out North Korea and China as security threats.
(AP, 12/10/04)
2004 Dec 10, OPEC agreed to reduce
output by one million barrels a day in hopes of staving off further
price declines without triggering a new buying frenzy.
(AP, 12/10/04)
2004 Dec 10, In southwestern
Pakistan a bomb strapped to a bicycle exploded next to an army truck
parked at a crowded outdoor market, killing at least 10 people and
wounding 27.
(AP, 12/10/04)
2004 Dec 10, A Venezuelan military
plane crashed in a mountainous region near Caracas on Friday, killing
16 people, including high-ranking officers.
(AP, 12/10/04)
2004 Dec 10, A US passenger jet,
United Flight 869, landed in Vietnam, the first since the Vietnam War
ended nearly 30 years ago.
(AP, 12/10/04)
2004 Dec 11, Vitali Klitschko
stopped Danny Williams in the eighth round to retain his WBC
heavyweight title.
(AP, 12/11/05)
2004 Dec 11, Southern California
quarterback Matt Leinart won the 70th Heisman Trophy.
(AP, 12/11/05)
2004 Dec 11, Said Barkat,
Algeria’s Agriculture Minister, said almost 170 million euros (225
million dollars) have been spent since 2003 dealing with locust
infestation of farmland.
(AP, 12/12/04)
2004 Dec 11, In Bangladesh
millions of opposition activists formed a 900-km "human chain" to
demonstrate no confidence in the government. Up to 100 people were
injured in clashes.
(Reuters, 12/11/04)
2004 Dec 11, Ramiro Velez,
regional leader of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, the smaller of
Colombia's two rebel groups, was arrested during an operation in
Chachaui. He is suspected of masterminding the May 30, 1999, kidnapping
of an entire church congregation from a Roman Catholic church in Cali.
(AP, 12/12/04)(SFC, 12/13/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 11, China ended
restrictions limiting foreign retailers to joint ventures.
(WSJ, 12/14/04, p.A13)
2004 Dec 11, Rival factions of
Congo's army battled in the eastern region of the vast country, killing
several people.
(AP, 12/12/04)
2004 Dec 11, In Iraq insurgents
killed 5 Iraqi police officers in Baghdad. A US Marine was killed in
Anbar province.
(SSFC, 12/12/04, p.A10)
2004 Dec 11, Marcello Dell'Utri, a
close political ally of Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, was
convicted of ties with the Sicilian Mafia and sentenced to nine years
in prison.
(AP, 12/11/04)
2004 Dec 11, Myanmar's state media
announced the military junta would release a further 5,070 prisoners.
(AP, 12/11/04)
2004 Dec 11, Somalia's parliament
passed a motion of no-confidence against the country's new prime
minister and his Cabinet, effectively sacking the government. Some 153
members of the 275-member transitional parliament voted against Prime
Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi, accusing him of failing to respect
power-sharing arrangements agreed to by warlords and the country's main
clans.
(AP, 12/11/04)
2004 Dec 11, Taiwan's
pro-independence parties were defeated in legislative elections.
(AP, 12/11/04)
2004 Dec 11, Doctors in Austria
determined that Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko had
been poisoned with dioxin, which caused the severe disfigurement and
partial paralysis of his face.
(AP, 12/11/05)
2004 Dec 12, Researchers said they
may have discovered what causes psoriasis, a common and irritating skin
ailment.
(Reuters, 12/13/04)
2004 Dec 12, A US soldier died of
wounds sustained when a roadside bomb hit his patrol in Baghdad. 8 US
Marines with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force died while conducting
"security and stabilization operations" in Fallujah and Ramadi in Anbar
province.
(AP, 12/12/04)(SFC, 12/13/04, p.A9)
2004 Dec 12, The Brazilian
Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) decided to leave the ruling coalition
of Pres. Lula da Silva. The principals included 6 state governors.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.48)
2004 Dec 12, China dropped
geographic restrictions against foreign insurers.
(WSJ, 12/13/04, p.A14)
2004 Dec 12, In southern China a
flood at a mine trapped 36 workers in Guizhou province.
(AP, 12/12/04)
2004 Dec 12, The Israeli Cabinet
agreed to release scores of Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to Egypt
and the Palestinian leadership ahead of next month's Palestinian
elections. The Israeli army fired three tank shells at the Khan Younis
refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, wounding seven
schoolchildren.
(AP, 12/12/04)
2004 Dec 12, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas apologized to Kuwaitis for the Palestinian support of
former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2004 Dec 12, Palestinians
detonated a massive bomb under an Israeli military checkpoint killing
at least 5 Israeli soldiers.
(SFC, 12/13/04, p.A6)(AP, 12/12/05)
2004 Dec 12, In the southern
Philippines a powerful explosion ripped through an outdoor market
packed with Christmas shoppers, killing at least 15 people and injuring
58 others.
(AP, 12/12/04)
2004 Dec 12, Romanians returned to
the polls for a presidential runoff between PM Adrian Nastase and
Bucharest Mayor Traian Basescu. Reformist opposition candidate Traian
Basescu won Romania's presidential runoff election.
(AP, 12/13/04)
2004 Dec 12, In Russia hundreds of
Kremlin gathered on Constitution Day to denounce a retreat from
democracy as Pres. Putin signed a bill eliminating gubernatorial
elections.
(SFC, 12/13/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 13, A jury in Redwood
City, Ca., recommended the death penalty for Scott Peterson for
murdering his wife Laci and their unborn son. Sentencing was set for
Feb 25.
(AP, 12/14/04)(SFC, 12/14/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 13, Google announced
plans to digitally scan the book collections of 5 major libraries,
including the Univ. Michigan, Stanford, Harvard, NY Public Library and
Oxford, which agreed to books published before 1900.
(SFC, 12/14/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 13, Oracle Corp. raised
its takeover bid for bitter rival PeopleSoft Inc. by 10 percent and
sealed a $10.3 billion deal that will create the world's second largest
maker of business applications software.
(AP, 12/13/04)(SFC, 12/14/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 13, NASA Administrator
Sean O'Keefe resigned.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2004 Dec 13, It was reported that
the math skills of US students were declining that some educators were
importing texts from Singapore, where students routinely scored high.
(WSJ, 12/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 13, Afghan intelligence
agents arrested two senior Taliban military commanders, including a
former security chief of the hardline regime's leader Mullah Omar.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 13, A Chilean judge
indicted former dictator General Augusto Pinochet on charges of
kidnapping nine political dissidents and killing one of them during his
17-year military regime.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2004 Dec 13, The Chinese
government said China and Russia will hold their first joint military
exercise next year.
(AP, 12/13/04)
2004 Dec 13, China said it will
impose duties on its exports of textiles and apparel in an effort to
alleviate the impact of eased restrictions effective Jan 1.
(SFC, 12/14/04, p.D3)
2004 Dec 13, In Baghdad a suicide
car bomber killed 13 people and injured at least 15 near the Harthiyah
entrance on the western edge of the Green zone. Clashes resumed in
Fallujah.
(AP, 12/13/04)(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 13, In Nigeria the first
face-to-face working meeting between Sudan government and Darfur rebel
negotiators began. Cease-fire violations were on the rise in Sudan's
bloodied Darfur region and the fighting was "poisoning" peace talks.
(AP, 12/13/04)
2004 Dec 13, The UN restricted its
humanitarian operations in Sudan's troubled South Darfur area following
a shooting that killed two aid workers. Rebels said they would boycott
peace talks until the government stops a Darfur offensive.
(AP, 12/14/04)(WSJ, 12/14/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 13, In Uganda a boat
carrying dozens of traders across Lake Albert capsized, killing at
least 22 people.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 13, In Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez's allies in Congress appointed 17 new justices to
the supreme court.
(AP, 12/13/04)
2004 Dec 13, Rodrigo Granda, the
principle international spokesperson for the most powerful
revolutionary guerrilla group in Latin America, the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC), was kidnapped in broad daylight (4pm) in the
center of Caracas.
(www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=10216)(Econ,
1/22/05, p.36)
2004 Dec 14, Pres. Bush awarded
the Presidential Medal of Honor to Gen. Tommy Franks, Paul Bremer, and
George Tenet, for their efforts in the war in Iraq.
(SFC, 12/15/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 14, The US Federal
Reserve raised its federal funds rate .25% to 2.25%. The Commerce Dept.
reported that the US trade deficit in October swelled to $55.5 billion.
By the end of the year the US trade deficit stood at a record $2.5
trillion.
(SFC, 12/15/04, p.C1,3)(Econ, 1/21/06, p.74)
2004 Dec 14, It was reported that
air cargo planes used by American subcontractors in Iraq were linked to
Victor Bout, a reputed Russian arms trafficker.
(SFC, 12/14/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 14, Chile’s Congress
passed a bill granting compensation, a monthly pension of $190, to some
28,000 former political prisoners from the dictatorship of Gen.
Pinochet.
(SFC, 12/17/04, p.A27)
2004 Dec 14, Congo's government
insisted that its forces were fighting Rwandan troops in the
mineral-rich east of the country and not dissident units of the
national army.
(Reuters, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 14, Egypt and Israel
signed a first joint trade accord with the United States since their
historic peace treaty 25 years ago.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 14, In southern France a
roadway bridge, hailed as the tallest in the world, was officially
inaugurated.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 14, Shootouts erupted
between residents of a slum outside Haiti's capital and UN troops after
hundreds of international peacekeepers stormed the stronghold of former
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in an attempt to control flashpoints
of violence. 4 people were killed.
(AP, 12/15/04)
2004 Dec 14, In northern India 2
passenger trains collided head-on, killing at least 27 people and
injuring 60 in Punjab.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 14, In India at least one
person was killed and 50 wounded in a string of grenade attacks
launched by separatist rebels across the volatile northeastern state of
Assam.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 14, In Iraq a suicide car
bomber killed seven people at a Green Zone checkpoint, the second
attack in two days near the same gate.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 14, PM Shukri Ghanem said
Libya is planning to open up its banking sector to Arab investors and
is to privatize two major government banks.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 14, Palestinian leader
Abbas called for an end to attacks on Israel as Israeli troops
destroyed 7 Palestinian houses in Gaza.
(WSJ, 12/15/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 14, Fernando Poe
(b.1939), former Philippine actor and presidential candidate, died from
a stroke in Manila. Poe, a star in over 200 films, lost the recent
elections to Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo by 1.1 million votes.
(SFC, 12/14/04, p.B7)
2004 Dec 14, In Romania
Pres.-elect Traian Basescu opened talks to form a coalition government
with a party formerly allied with his opponent and one representing
ethnic Hungarians.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 14, Russia opened talks
to buy back $10 billion in sovereign debt. This would cover some 22% of
its $45 billion debt to sovereign creditors.
(WSJ, 12/14/04, p.A12)
2004 Dec 14, In northeastern
Turkey an avalanche roared down on a town, killing six people,
including a 10-month-old baby.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 15, A US interceptor
missile failed to fire in a test flight from the Marshall Islands. It
was the 1st test flight for the missile defense system in 2 years.
(SFC, 12/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 15, Section 404 of the
2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act came into effect. It required the chief
executive and chief financial officers of public companies to appraise
internal controls and report any weaknesses within 75 days of the
company’s fiscal year.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.116)(http://tinyurl.com/q24ar)
2004 Dec 15, Time Warner Inc.
agreed to pay more than $500 million to resolve federal securities
fraud and accounting investigations of its America Online unit.
(AP, 12/16/05)
2004 Dec 15, Sprint and Nextel
announced a $35 billion merger agreement. The deal left 4 major
wireless services in the US.
(SFC, 12/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 15, Johnson & Johnson
agreed to buy Guidant for $23.9 billion in stock and cash.
(WSJ, 12/16/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 15, Pauline Gore (92),
mother of former Vice President Al Gore, died in Carthage, Tenn.
(AP, 12/16/05)
2004 Dec 15, In eastern
Afghanistan the body of a kidnapped Turkish engineer was found, a day
after he was snatched with his driver and interpreter by a band of
armed men.
(AP, 12/15/04)
2004 Dec 15, In Athens, Greece, 2
armed men, believed to be Albanians, hijacked a bus carrying 26
passengers, threatening to blow it up with explosives unless they were
taken to the airport and put on a plane to Russia. All hostages were
released after an 18-hour standoff.
(AP, 12/15/04)(SFC, 12/16/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 15, Iraqi militants said
they shot and killed an Italian citizen after he tried to break through
a guerrilla roadblock on a highway outside the insurgent stronghold of
Ramadi. A document from the Italian Embassy in Beirut seeking an Iraqi
visa for Salvatore Santoro called him an aid worker helping Iraqi
children.
(AP, 12/16/04)
2004 Dec 15, A walking, talking
child-size robot from Honda Motor Co. managed an easy, although
comical, jog in the Japanese automaker's latest quest to imitate human
movement.
(AP, 12/15/04)
2004 Dec 15, Libya said its
Central Bank has withdrawn $1 billion of assets which had been frozen
for almost two decades in the United States on Washington's orders.
(Reuters, 12/15/04)
2004 Dec 15, In western Nepal
fighting killed at least 20 soldiers and six guerrillas.
(AP, 12/15/04)
2004 Dec 16, Pres. Bush closed a
2-day economic conference that covered social security changes, tax
cuts and federal spending.
(WSJ, 12/17/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 16, Donald Trump chose
software executive Kelly Perdew (37) over SF lawyer Jennifer Massey in
the season finale of “The Apprentice.”
(SFC, 12/17/04, p.A2)
2004 Dec 16, Montana approved
issuing licenses to hunt 10 bison that roam beyond Yellowstone. The
practice was halted over a decade ago amid protests.
(WSJ, 12/17/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 16, Symantec agreed to
acquire Veritas Software.
(SFC, 12/17/04, p.D1)
2004 Dec 16, Bobbie Jo Stinnet
(23) was found strangled to death in Maryville, Mo., with her baby girl
cut from her womb. Police within days arrested Lisa M. Montgomery (36)
of Melvern, Kansas. The baby was rescued alive. Montgomery faced trial
for allegedly strangling Stinnett, performing a crude Caesarean section
on her and parading the infant around as her own. Montgomery was
convicted in Oct, 2007, and sentenced to death in April, 2008.
(SFC, 12/22/04, p.A3)(AP, 12/16/05)(SFC, 4/5/08,
p.A3)
2004 Dec 16, Agnes Martin (92),
renowned abstract painter, died in Taos, NM.
(WSJ, 12/17/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 16, Farouk Ksentini, an
Algerian government-appointed official, said security forces members
are believed responsible for the deaths of 5,200 civilians who
disappeared during a decade-long struggle with Islamic rebels and
should face justice.
(AP, 12/17/04)
2004 Dec 16, An Argentine judge
struck down an arrest warrant for former President Carlos Menem, who
was wanted for questioning in a federal court probe of
multimillion-dollar accounts in Switzerland.
(AP, 12/16/04)
2004 Dec 16, An apartment building
was inaugurated in Brazil, each of whose 11 storeys turned
independently, giving residents 360-degree views of the eco-friendly
city of Curitiba.
(AP, 12/16/04)
2004 Dec 16, Britain's highest
court dealt a huge blow to the government's anti-terrorism policy by
ruling that it cannot detain foreign suspects indefinitely without
trial.
(AP, 12/16/04)
2004 Dec 16, A Colombian court
convicted three IRA-linked men of training Colombian rebels in
terrorist tactics and sentenced them to up to 17 1/2 years in prison.
(AP, 12/16/04)
2004 Dec 16, In France 10 accused
Islamic militants were convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging
from one to 10 years for their roles in a millennium plot to blow up a
Christmas market in the eastern city of Strasbourg on New Year's Eve
2000.
(AP, 12/16/04)
2004 Dec 16, Former Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein met with a lawyer for the first time since his capture a
year earlier.
(AP, 12/16/05)
2004 Dec 16, Rebel strikes across
Baghdad killed 10 people, including three paramilitary policemen and a
government official. A US Marine was killed in Anbar province.
(AP, 12/16/04)(SFC, 12/17/04, p.A12)
2004 Dec 16, Italy’s Pres. Carlo
Azeglio Ciampi vetoed a bill that would have placed magistrates under
government oversight and forced them to choose between careers as
judges or prosecutors.
(SFC, 12/17/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 16, The Sudanese
government agreed to stop a military offensive in Darfur region.
(AP, 12/16/04)
2004 Dec 17, President Bush signed
into law the largest overhaul of US intelligence-gathering in 50 years.
(AP, 12/17/05)
2004 Dec 17, The FDA approved a
Harvard proposal to test the benefits of 3-4
methylenedioxtmethamphetamine (MDMA). In Nov. researchers in North
Carolina gained government approval to test the drug "Ecstasy" as a
treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder for the first time since
the drug was criminalized in 1985.
(www.maps.org/mdma/)(WP, 11/6/04)
2004 Dec 17, Pfizer, maker of a
popular pain reliever, admitted Celebrex appears to increase the risk
of heart attack in users, but has no plans to remove it from the market.
(AP, 12/17/04)
2004 Dec 17, Tom Wesselman (73),
NYC pop artist, died. He was known for his “bedroom still lifes.”
(SFC, 12/21/04, p.B7)
2004 Dec 17, Afghan forces retook
control of Pul-e-Charkhi, the country's largest jail, following a
day-long standoff. 4 inmates and 4 guards were killed in the violence.
(AP, 12/17/04)(SFC, 12/18/04, p.A8)
2004 Dec 17, Bhutan began to
enforce a total ban on tobacco sales and smoking in public. The royal
National Assembly passed the resolution in July.
(SFC, 11/30/04, p.A2)
2004 Dec 17, Bosnian Serb Prime
Minister Dragan Mikerevic resigned, one day after the international
community imposed sanctions against Bosnian Serb police and officials
for allegedly helping fugitive war crimes suspects evade justice.
(AFP, 12/17/04)
2004 Dec 17, It was reported that
China paid out $15 billion per month to keep the yuan fixed at 8.277 to
the US dollar.
(WSJ, 12/17/04, p.A14)
2004 Dec 17, It was reported that
China’s growing power industry was causing global concern over mercury
accumulation in the world’s water and food supply.
(WSJ, 12/17/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 17, Colombian authorities
revealed that they had lost track in June of three IRA-linked men,
convicted this week of training Marxist rebels in terrorist tactics.
(AP, 12/18/04)
2004 Dec 17, The UN said foreign
troops have crossed into Congo and called on outside forces to stop
giving weapons and reinforcements to renegade soldiers battling army
loyalists.
(AP, 12/18/04)
2004 Dec 17, Dissident forces
attacked the village of Buramba, Congo, targeting civilians suspected
of sympathizing with pro-government militiamen. At least 30 civilians
were killed in the massacre believed to have been a reprisal for the
killing of 3 renegade soldiers by a pro-government militia.
(AP, 1/7/05)
2004 Dec 17, Three days of trade
talks ended in Havana. Cuba agreed to buy about $125 million in farm
goods from attending U.S. companies.
(AP, 12/18/04)
2004 Dec 17, European Union
leaders and Turkey agreed on a compromise formula to overcome
differences over Turkish recognition of Cyprus' government as a
condition for opening EU membership talks.
(AP, 12/17/04)
2004 Dec 17, The US completely
forgave $4.1 billion in debt Iraq owed it and urged other nations not
part of an international debt relief agreement to follow suit.
(AP, 12/18/04)
2004 Dec 17, Gunmen attacked a car
in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing four male passengers, and
witnesses said three of the victims were foreigners.
(AP, 12/17/04)
2004 Dec 17, Israeli troops raided
a Gaza refugee camp in retaliation for a deadly Palestinian mortar
fire, sparking fighting that killed 8 Palestinians and wounded 24
Palestinians and an Israeli soldier.
(AP, 12/17/04)(SFC, 12/18/04, p.A14)
2004 Dec 17, Italy's interior
ministry said 181 people had been arrested in the past three months in
a crackdown on the Camorra in Naples whose turf warfare now overshadows
that of the Sicilian mafia.
(AP, 12/18/04)
2004 Dec 17, It was reported that
the AIDS drug nevirapine failed to meet int’l. standards in Uganda. The
drug was used to protect babies from HIV infection, but that infected
women could develop resistance.
(SFC, 12/17/04, p.A23)
2004 Dec 18, Former Chilean
dictator General Augusto Pinochet was hospitalized after suffering a
stroke.
(AP, 12/18/05)
2004 Dec 18, In Haiti bands of
former soldiers and armed residents looted police arsenals, set
bonfires and fired shots into the air amid escalating chaos.
(AP, 12/19/04)
2004 Dec 18, The former Iraqi
general known as “Chemical Ali,” Ali Hassan al-Majid, went before a
judge in the first investigative hearings of former members of his
regime.
(AP, 12/18/05)
2004 Dec 18, Insurgents claiming
to represent three Iraqi militant groups issued a videotape saying they
had captured 10 Iraqis working for an American security and
reconstruction company and would kill them if the firm did not leave
this turbulent country. A clash in Mosul left an Iraqi child dead. An
insurgent attack in Mosul left one Iraqi dead. National Guardsmen there
killed 3 insurgents.
(AP, 12/19/04)(SSFC, 12/19/04, p.A12)
2004 Dec 18, Israeli troops killed
three Palestinians on the second day of an Israeli raid in the Khan
Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza. Israeli forces withdrew and ended
a 2-day raid that left 11 Palestinians dead.
(AP, 12/18/04)(SSFC, 12/19/04, p.A15)
2004 Dec 18, Naples police said
they have broken up a mob protection racket focused on local bakeries
and flour makers.
(AP, 12/18/04)
2004 Dec 18, Maoist rebels
attacked a police post near Nepal's capital with crude bombs and
automatic weapons, killing five policemen.
(AP, 12/18/04)
2004 Dec 18, The African Union
said Sudan had started withdrawing troops in Darfur ahead of an evening
deadline to end fighting there, but Khartoum said the pullout was
conditional on the rebels halting attacks.
(AP, 12/18/04)
2004 Dec 18, Sudan's government
kept up attacks on rebels in Darfur, defying a deadline set by African
Union mediators for an end to active hostilities.
(AP, 12/19/04)
2004 Dec 18, UN talks on climate
change ended with few steps forward as the US, oil producers and
developing giants slammed the brakes on the European Union's drive for
deeper emissions cuts to stop global warming.
(AP, 12/18/04)
2004 Dec 19, President George Bush
for the second time was chosen as Time magazine's Person of the Year.
(AP, 12/19/04)
2004 Dec 19, Renata Tebaldi (82),
opera singer, died in San Marino.
(AP, 12/19/05)
2004 Dec 19, A vehicle carrying a
group of suspected Taliban fighters attacked a military checkpoint in
southern Afghanistan, sparking a firefight that left six dead.
(AP, 12/20/04)
2004 Dec 19, Canada’s PM Paul
Martin met Moammar Gadhafi, the latest in a string of world leaders to
visit Tripoli following the Libyan strongman's renunciation of
terrorism. Martin said Canadian construction company SNC-Lavalin has
won a $1 billion contract to help build a major water distribution
system in Libya.
(AP, 12/19/04)(Reuters, 12/19/04)
2004 Dec 19, UN officials said
about 100,000 civilians in eastern Congo have fled a week of fighting
between renegade soldiers and army loyalists, hiding deep into the
forest where humanitarian workers cannot reach them.
(AP, 12/19/04)
2004 Dec 19, Golkar, Indonesia’s
largest party in parliament, removed Akbar Tandjung as leader and
replaced him with Jusuf Kalla, the country’s new vice-president.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.29)
2004 Dec 19, The Iranian Red
Crescent Society said heavy rains have caused flash floods that killed
at least 34 people and injured 43 others in southern Iran.
(AP, 12/19/04)
2004 Dec 19, Car bombs rocked
Najaf and Karbala, Iraq's two holiest Shiite cities, killing 67 people
and wounding more than 120. In downtown Baghdad dozens of gunmen
carried out a brazen ambush that killed three Iraqi employees of the
organization running next month's elections.
(AP, 12/19/04)(WSJ, 12/21/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 19, Israel approved the
release of 170 Palestinian prisoners in a goodwill gesture toward Egypt
and the new Palestinian leadership.
(AP, 12/19/04)
2004 Dec 19, It was reported that
Pres. Vicente Fox’s administration had failed thus far to dent
corruption inside Mexico’s 445 prisons and jails.
(SSFC, 12/19/04, p.A21)
2004 Dec 19, Suspected communist
rebels ambushed an army patrol near the Nepalese capital, killing at
least 9 soldiers. 3 rebels were killed in subsequent fighting.
(AP, 12/19/04)
2004 Dec 19, A driver lost control
of a bus in a heavy rainstorm in Peru's mountains and the vehicle
plunged 165 feet into a river, killing 49 people on board and injuring
15.
(AP, 12/21/04)
2004 Dec 19, Russia's little-known
BaikalFinansGroup bought Yuganskneftegaz, the core production unit of
oil giant Yukos, at auction for $9.3 billion US.
(AP, 12/19/04)(Econ, 1/1/05, p.49)
2004 Dec 19, Polling stations were
nearly empty in elections for Turkmenistan's rubber-stamp parliament,
forcing officials to carry ballot boxes door-to-door in this nation
ruled by a former Soviet Communist boss who has been declared
president-for-life.
(AP, 12/19/04)
2004 Dec 20, In a sobering
assessment of the Iraq war, President Bush acknowledged during a news
conference that Americans’ resolve had been shaken by grisly scenes of
death and destruction, and he pointedly criticized the performance of
US-trained Iraqi troops.
(AP, 12/20/05)
2004 Dec 20, Attorneys presented
opening statements in the Robert Blake murder trial in Los Angeles.
(AP, 12/20/05)
2004 Dec 20, Researchers said
radio waves from mobile phones harm body cells and damage DNA in
laboratory conditions, according to a new study majority-funded by the
EU.
(AP, 12/20/04)
2004 Dec 20, Jack Newfield (66),
NYC reporter and columnist, died. His books included “Robert Kennedy: A
Memoir” (1969).
(SFC, 12/22/04, p.B5)
2004 Dec 20, Frank Seals (62),
Chicago blues guitarist and singer, died.
(WSJ, 12/22/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 20, A truck and a bus
collided head-on in northeastern Brazil, killing 19 people and injuring
34 others.
(AP, 12/20/04)
2004 Dec 20, A Chilean appeals
court upheld the indictment and house arrest of General Augusto
Pinochet on murder and kidnapping charges during his rule.
(AP, 12/20/05)
2004 Dec 20, Thousands of mourners
attended funerals and Iraqi authorities detained 50 suspects in
connection with an explosion in the Shiite holy city of Najaf that
killed at least 54 people and wounded 142.
(AP, 12/20/04)
2004 Dec 20, Thieves stole more
than $39 million from the Belfast headquarters of Northern Bank, the
biggest robbery in Northern Ireland history. In 2008 detectives charged
a man with laundering money from the robbery that authorities blamed on
the outlawed IRA. In 2009 a jury found Ted Cunningham, a private
financier, guilty of handling millions stolen from Northern Bank, a
raid blamed on the outlawed IRA.
(AP, 12/21/04)(SFC, 12/22/04, p.A3)(AP, 3/20/08)(AP,
3/27/09)
2004 Dec 20, The civil liberties
group Freedom House said Russia has fallen to the status of “not free”
for the 1st time since the 1991 Soviet collapse.
(WSJ, 12/21/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 20, Ten men charged with
plotting to overthrow Sierra Leone's government last year were
convicted of treason and sentenced to death by hanging.
(AP, 12/20/04)
2004 Dec 21, Federal officials
announced that naproxen, a painkiller sold by prescription and also
over the counter as Aleve, might increase people's risk of having a
heart attack or stroke.
(WaP, 12/21/04)
2004 Dec 21, The Associated Press
told the Bowl Championship Series to stop using its college football
poll to determine which teams would play for the national title and in
the most prestigious bowl games.
(AP, 12/21/05)
2004 Dec 21, The NFL fined
Jacksonville safety Donovin Darius $75,000 for a hit across the neck of
Green Bay's Robert Ferguson that left the wide receiver temporarily
paralyzed.
(AP, 12/21/05)
2004 Dec 21, Siemens CEO Heinrich
von Pierer said his German industrial conglomerate has signed a $2
billion deal to provide Russia's national railway with 60 high speed
trains. The InterCityExpress (ICE) trains would initially run between
Moscow and St. Petersburg at speeds of up to 155 miles per hour. They
also will be used between St. Petersburg and Helsinki, Finland, and
between other large cities within Russia.
(AP, 12/21/04)
2004 Dec 21, India’s parliament
tabled the Employment Guarantee Act, which planned to give one member
of every poor family at least 100 days of work at minimum wage on
public works projects.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.28)
2004 Dec 21, British PM Tony Blair
made a surprise visit to Baghdad, urging Iraqis to support national
elections and describing violence here as a "battle between democracy
and terror."
(AP, 12/21/04)
2004 Dec 21, A suicide bombing on
a base near Mosul killed 22 people and wounded 72 at Forward Operating
Base Marez as US soldiers sat down to lunch. Halliburton Co. lost four
employees in the attack at the military base. A radical Muslim group,
the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, claimed responsibility. 2 French reporters
held hostage for 4 months in Iraq were released.
(WSJ, 12/22/04, p.A1)(AP, 12/21/05)
2004 Dec 21, The U.N. Security
Council voted unanimously to maintain economic sanctions against
Liberia but promised to review a ban on diamond sales in three months
and a ban on timber exports in six months.
(AP, 12/21/04)
2004 Dec 21, Morocco tried to blot
out stains of past human rights abuses with public testimony about
tortures and disappearances in the Muslim kingdom.
(Reuters, 12/21/04)
2004 Dec 21, Pakistani police
arrested the husband of former PM Benazir Bhutto in the killing of a
former judge and his son in 1996, taking him back into custody just a
month after he'd been freed on bail.
(AP, 12/21/04)
2004 Dec 21, Janes’ Defense Weekly
said the US will assign serving military officers to its de facto
embassy in Taiwan for the first time since 1979 in a reversal of a
longstanding policy.
(AFP, 12/21/04)
2004 Dec 21, Sudan's government
and Darfur rebels agreed to formally end faltering talks. The African
Union urged both sides to stop fighting so peace efforts could resume
in January. Save the Children UK is pulling out of the Darfur region of
Sudan because four of its workers have been killed there.
(AP, 12/21/04)
2004 Dec 22, Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld, stung by criticism that he'd been insensitive to
the needs of troops and their families, offered an impassioned defense,
saying when he meets wounded soldiers or relatives of those killed in
battle, "their grief is something I feel to my core."
(AP, 12/22/05)
2004 Dec 22, Vancouver Canucks
forward Todd Bertuzzi received a conditional discharge after pleading
guilty to assault, more than nine months after slugging Colorado
forward Steve Moore from behind during a hockey game.
(AP, 12/22/05)
2004 Dec 22, A Texas woman paid
$50,000 for a cloned cat, Little Nicky, created by Genetic Savings and
Clone of Sausalito, Ca.
(SFC, 12/23/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 22, A European Union
court ruled that Microsoft Corp. must immediately divulge some trade
secrets to competitors and produce a version of its flagship Windows
operating system stripped of the program that plays music and video.
(AP, 12/22/04)
2004 Dec 22, Former Argentine
president Carlos Menem returned to Argentina following months abroad to
avoid arrest. Menem announced he would run again for the presidency
after an Argentine judge last week dismissed a warrant against him.
(AP, 12/22/04)
2004 Dec 22, In Mexico an
explosion at a pumping station near Santiago Tuxtla caused a burst of
high pressure that ruptured the oil line 70 miles away in Nanchital.
210,000 gallons of oil flowed into the Coatzacoalcos River, creating a
10-mile-long slick extending into the gulf.
(AP, 12/24/04)
2004 Dec 22, Thieves stealing fuel
from a pipeline in Nigeria set it ablaze as they fled from police, and
at least 20 people died in the fire.
(AP, 12/23/04)
2004 Dec 22, The husband of
Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was freed from house arrest,
a day after he was detained for failing to attend a court hearing.
(AP, 12/22/04)
2004 Dec 22, Poland's PM Marek
Belka and Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski arrived in Iraq for a
Christmas visit to Polish troops.
(AP, 12/22/04)
2004 Dec 22, In an apparently
secret deal, the state-owned Rosneft oil company bought
BaikalFinansGroup, the obscure company that purchased Yukos' most
important production unit at auction Dec 19. The Yuganskneftegaz
subsidiary was sold for $9.3 billion, half of what foreign auditors say
it was worth.
(AP, 12/23/04)
2004 Dec 22, Saudi Arabia
announced it was withdrawing its ambassador to Libya and ordered out
Libya's envoy in response to reports that Tripoli plotted to
assassinate the Saudi crown prince.
(AP, 12/22/04)
2004 Dec 22, The US signed a
99-year lease on a site for its new de facto embassy in Taiwan, an
event described as a milestone in relations.
(AP, 12/22/04)
2004 Dec 22, Turkey and Syria
signed a free-trade accord.
(WSJ, 12/23/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 22-2004 Dec 26,
Government troops in eastern Congo battled Rwandan militiamen in
growing violence between the former allies from the country's bloody
1998-2002 war.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 23, Former Connecticut
Gov. John G. Rowland, driven from office by a corruption scandal,
pleaded guilty to a single federal charge that carries a sentence of up
to five years in prison. He was later sentenced to a year and a day in
federal prison.
(AP, 12/23/05)
2004 Dec 23, Washington state
election officials announced that Democratic candidate Christine
Gregoire was the winner in the governor’s race by 130 votes, out of 2.9
million ballots cast, over her Republican opponent Dino Rossi.
(SFC, 12/24/04, p.A3)(AP, 12/23/05)
2004 Dec 23, The FDA said it
approved the Ampli-Chip Cytochrome P450 Genotyping test made by Roche.
The test was cleared for use with the Affymetrix GeneChip Microarray.
(WSJ, 12/24/04, p.A9)
2004 Dec 23, Two men were
convicted in Houston for their role in a smuggling attempt that
resulted in the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants crammed in a
tractor-trailer.
(AP, 12/23/05)
2004 Dec 23, Afghan Pres. Hamid
Karzai chose a new Cabinet, heeding calls to sideline warlords from top
positions, including the defense minister, and creating a new post to
oversee the fight against opium production.
(AP, 12/23/04)
2004 Dec 23, In Honduras
assailants claiming to be members of a revolutionary group opposed to
the death penalty ambushed a bus filled with people bringing home
Christmas gifts and killed at least 28 people, including six children,
in an escalation of the battle between gangs and the government. On Feb
10, 2005, US Border patrol officials arrested a Honduran gang leader
wanted in the massacre. In 2007 a three-judge tribunal found two
members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang guilty of killing 28 people in the
shooting attack, and acquitted two other men. In 2008 Juan Carlos
Miranda (22) and Darwin Alexis Ramirez (23) were accused of being among
about 10 gang members. They received sentences totaling 822 years each.
(AP, 12/24/04)(WSJ, 2/25/05, p.A1)(AP, 2/21/07)(AP,
3/13/08)
2004 Dec 23, P.V. Narasimha Rao
(b.1921), India’s former Prime Minister (1991-1996). died. His
free-market economic reforms in 1991 launched India's shift from a
bankrupt nation hobbled by socialist policies into a regional economic
power.
(AP, 12/23/04)
2004 Dec 23, An Indonesian
military helicopter crashed into mountains on Indonesia's Java island,
killing 14 soldiers on board.
(AP, 12/23/04)
2004 Dec 23, US Marines battled
insurgents in Fallujah with warplanes dropping bombs and tanks shelling
suspected guerrilla positions, causing deaths on both sides. Three U.S.
Marines were killed. 24 guerrillas, most of them non-Iraqi Arabs, were
killed in battles according to a posting on an Islamic web site the
next day. The 1st Fallujah residents were allowed to return. A bomb
killed a US soldier in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/24/04)(SFC, 12/24/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/24/04,
p.A1)
2004 Dec 23, Mexico's state-owned
oil monopoly will be fined as much as $200,000 and could face criminal
charges for spilling 5,000 barrels of crude into a river leading to the
Gulf of Mexico a day earlier.
(AP, 12/23/04)
2004 Dec 23, Nepali soldiers
killed 22 Maoist rebels in a fierce gun battle in the west of the
country.
(AP, 12/23/04)
2004 Dec 23, Thousands of
Palestinians crammed polling stations in West Bank towns to vote in
municipal elections, the first in nearly 30 years. Hamas made a strong
showing in local elections in the West Bank. Palestinian women won 51
seats in local elections defeating many of their male opponents.
(AP, 12/24/04)(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 23, Acevedo Vila, Puerto
Rico's congressional envoy, who favors the island's status as a U.S.
territory narrowly, won a recount in the governor's race.
(AP, 12/23/04)
2004 Dec 23, Russia launched an
unmanned cargo ship to the int’l. space station.
(WSJ, 12/24/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 24, US Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld, bearing gifts of praise and encouragement, paid a
surprise Christmas Eve visit to US troops in some of the most dangerous
areas of Iraq.
(AP, 12/24/05)
2004 Dec 24, The Comair computer
system crashed after it was overwhelmed by cancellations and delays due
to winter storms in the Ohio Valley. Comair was forced to cancel all of
its 1,100 flights the next day. US AIR cancelled numerous flights and
baggage problems rippled through its system for days.
(SFC, 12/27/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 24, The Huygens space
probe was fired from the international Cassini spacecraft into a
successful free fall from Saturn’s orbit to its moon, Titan.
(SFC, 12/25/04, p.A1)(AP, 12/24/05)
2004 Dec 24, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai swore in a new Cabinet.
(AP, 12/24/05)
2004 Dec 24, Armenia’s parliament
voted to send 46 noncom bat troops to Iraq.
(SFC, 12/25/04, p.A10)
2004 Dec 24, The world's biggest
earthquake in almost four years, measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale,
struck off the coast of Australia's southern island state of Tasmania,
but caused no damage or injury.
(AP, 12/24/04)
2004 Dec 24, A church official
said Marxist rebels in western Colombia had killed Javier Francisco
Montoya, a Catholic priest who disappeared earlier this month on a
pastoral mission in a rebel-controlled jungle region.
(AP, 12/24/04)
2004 Dec 24, Marxist FARC rebels
abducted at least eight Colombian tourists celebrating Christmas at a
lakeside spa in the northwest.
(AP, 12/26/04)
2004 Dec 24, A suicide bomber blew
up a gas tanker in Baghdad in an attack that killed at least nine
people.
(AP, 12/25/04)
2004 Dec 24, Suspected militants
hurled a grenade in a village market in Indian Kashmir, killing one
person and wounding eight others.
(Reuters, 12/24/04)
2004 Dec 24, A Pakistani military
spokesman said a soldier has been sentenced to death and another
soldier given 10 years imprisonment after they were convicted in the
Dec 14, 2003, attempt to assassinate President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
(AP, 12/24/04)
2004 Dec 24, Russia successfully
test-fired a mobile version of the intercontinental Topol-M ballistic
missile in the last of four test-firings before its deployment next
year.
(AP, 12/24/04)
2004 Dec 25, President Bush urged
Americans to help the neediest among them by volunteering to care for
the sick, the elderly and the poor in a Christmas Day call for
compassion.
(AP, 12/25/05)
2004 Dec 25, Algeria's Energy
Minister Chakib Khelil said exports of oil and gas will bring in over
31 billion dollars (24 billion euros) in 2004.
(AP, 12/26/04)
2004 Dec 25, In southern China
villagers of Da Lang battled police in a riot after security forces
beat a resident to death.
(SFC, 12/27/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 25, President Fidel
Castro said a 100-million-barrel crude oil deposit had been discovered
off Cuba by Canadian firms. Cuba imports about half the petroleum it
needs.
(AP, 12/25/04)
2004 Dec 25, Video footage aired
on Turkish television showed a Turkish ship owner saying he and a ship
captain were being held hostage in Iraq and that kidnappers demanded a
$25 million ransom.
(AP, 12/25/04)
2004 Dec 25, The Sudanese
government said it has readied 13 planes for fighting swarms of desert
locusts, poised to enter the country from Egypt.
(AP, 12/25/04)
2004 Dec 26, The world's most
powerful earthquake in 40 years triggered massive tidal waves that
slammed into villages and seaside resorts across southern and southeast
Asia. The initial estimated death toll of 9,000 soon rose to some
230,000 people in 14 countries. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake was the
world's fifth-largest since 1900 and the largest since a 9.2 temblor
hit Prince William Sound Alaska in 1964. The epicenter was located 155
miles south-southeast of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province on
Sumatra, and six miles under the seabed of the Indian Ocean. In
Indonesia at least 166,320 people were killed.
Bangladesh reported 2 killed; India: at least 9,691 deaths: thousands
were missing and possibly dead in India's remote Andaman and Nicobar
Islands. Indonesia: At least 101,318 people were killed on Sumatra
island and small islands off its coast. Kenya reported 1 killed.
Malaysia: At least 68 people, including an unknown number of foreign
tourists, were dead. Myanmar: At least 90 people were killed. Sri
Lanka: At least 30,680 were killed in government and rebel controlled
areas. The Maldives, an archipelago of 1,190 low-lying coral islands
and a tiny population of 280,000, at least 82 people were killed and
missing. At least 42 islands were flattened in the low-lying atoll
nation. Somalia: At least 298 were killed. Tanzania: At least 10
killed. Thailand: The confirmed death toll for Thailand reached 5,322,
but many suspected Myanmar migrants were not counted.
(SFC, 12/28/04, p.A1)(AP, 12/30/04)(SSFC, 1/2/05,
p.A12)(AP, 1/7/05)(Econ, 1/22/05, p.41)(AP, 12/25/09)
2004 Dec 26, Thousands of
Europeans died in the Asian tsunami disaster. The dead included 543
from Sweden.
(AP, 12/31/04)(Econ, 9/9/06, p.27)
2004 Dec 26, An unmanned cargo
ship docked at the international space station, ending a shortage that
forced astronauts to ration supplies.
(AP, 12/26/05)
2004 Dec 26, Peyton Manning of the
Indianapolis Colts broke Dan Marino's single-season touchdown pass
record when he threw his 48th and 49th of the season against San Diego.
The Colts defeated San Diego in overtime, 34-31.
(AP, 12/26/05)
2004 Dec 26, Reggie White (43),
NFL defensive star, died in Huntersville, NC. White played 15 seasons
with Philadelphia, Green Bay and Carolina. He retired after the 2000
season as the NFL's career sacks leader with 198. The mark has since
been passed by Bruce Smith.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 26, In eastern Algeria a
gas explosion killed 17 people and injured at least 40 others when a
residential block collapsed.
(Reuters, 12/26/04)
2004 Dec 26, In Brazil an angry
mob destroyed police stations and a courthouse in two Amazon towns
while trying to lynch murder suspects. One man was killed during the
rioting and 44 people were arrested.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 26, In eastern France a
gas explosion tore through a five-storey apartment building in
Mulhouse, killing 15 people and injuring another 14.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 26, India issued a
presidential decree to bring its patent laws into compliance with
commitments under the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement.
(AP, 12/26/04)
2004 Dec 26, Masked gunmen
assassinated a high-ranking Iraqi police officer in southwestern
Baghdad and wounded his bodyguards.
(AP, 12/26/04)
2004 Dec 26, The Independent
reported that British PM Tony Blair has ordered the military to prepare
to deploy up to 3,000 soldiers to the conflict-torn Sudanese region of
Darfur.
(AP, 12/26/04)
2004 Dec 26, The Russian unmanned
cargo ship, Progress M-51, docked at the int’l. space station with
fresh supplies.
(SFC, 12/25/04, p.A5)
2004 Dec 26, A woman doused her
body with gasoline and set herself ablaze in a busy Istanbul square to
protest Turkey's maximum security prison system.
(AP, 12/26/04)
2004 Dec 26, Ukraine re-ran its
presidential election.
(AP, 12/26/04)
2004 Dec 26, Uzbekistan held
elections and all opposition groups were barred from running for
office. Europe's top election watchdog criticized the parliamentary
vote.
(AP, 12/26/04)
2004 Dec 27, In southern Asia the
death toll from the Dec 26 earthquake-tsunami catastrophe rose to more
than 23,000.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 27, The euro reached an
intraday high of $1.364.
(WSJ, 12/28/04, p.C2)
2004 Dec 27, A massive burst of
energy from a neutron star, SGR 1806-20, was detected in the
constellation Sagittarius. It was the equivalent of what the sun emits
every 150,000 years.
(SFC, 2/19/05, p.A2)
2004 Dec 27, Honduras' security
minister pledged to eliminate violent youth gangs, nine of whose
members have been charged with homicide in connection with a Dec. 23
shooting attack on a public bus that killed 28 people.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 27, The foreign
secretaries of nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan began two-day
talks that will include their first formal dialogue on disputed Kashmir
since they launched a peace process a year ago.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 27, In an audiotape, a
man purported to be Osama bin Laden endorsed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as
his deputy in Iraq and called for a boycott of January's elections in
the country.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2004 Dec 27, A suicide bomber
detonated his car at the gate of the home of the leader of Iraq's
biggest political party and most powerful Shiite political group,
killing 15 people and injuring dozens. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the
Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country's, was
unharmed.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 27, The Iraqi Islamic
Party, the biggest Sunni political group, pulled out of the Jan. 30
elections citing the deteriorating security situation.
(AP, 12/28/04)
2004 Dec 27, Poisonous liquor sold
by an illegal alcohol bar in India's financial capital killed at least
51 people and sent nearly 100 others to hospital over two days,
prompting citywide raids on alcohol vendors.
(AP, 12/28/04)
2004 Dec 27, Israel released 159
Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to the new Palestinian leadership.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 27, Jordan's military
court on acquitted 13 Muslim militants, including three Saudi
fugitives, of conspiring to commit terror attacks against U.S. targets
in Jordan, but sentenced 11 of them to prison terms ranging from six to
15 years for possessing explosives.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 27, In western Sudan
rebel forces attacked the market town of Ghubaysh and the government
retaliated. The UN World Food Program suspended food convoys to the
Darfur region following the attacks.
(AP, 12/29/04)
2004 Dec 27, Ukraine election
officials said opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko won 51.99 percent to
44.19 percent for Moscow-backed PM Viktor Yanukovych. Supporters of the
pro-Russian PM vowed to challenge the results in court.
(AFP, 12/28/04)
2004 Dec 27, Ukrainian Transport
Minister Heorhiy Kirpa, a supporter of the trailing candidate in the
presidential election, was found dead in his house from a gunshot
wound. Opposition figures claimed that Kirpa allocated trains to ferry
Yanukovych supporters to vote at multiple polling sites in Nov. 21
presidential balloting that eventually was annulled by the Ukraine
Supreme Court.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 28, The US Agency for
International Development said it was adding 20 million dollars to an
initial 15 million-dollar contribution for Asian tsunami relief as
Secretary of State Colin Powell bristled at a UN official's suggestion
the United States was being "stingy."
(AP, 12/28/05)
2004 Dec 28, The death toll from
the Dec 26 earthquake-tsunami catastrophe rose to more than 55,000.
(AP, 12/28/04)
2004 Dec 28, The US FDA approved a
new drug for severe pain to be marketed by Elan as Prialt. It was part
of a new class known as N-type calcium channel blockers.
(SFC, 12/29/04, p.A5)
2004 Dec 28, Jerry Orbach
(b.1935), actor, died of prostate cancer. He played a sardonic,
seen-it-all cop on TV's "Law & Order" and scored on Broadway as a
song-and-dance man.
(AP, 12/29/04)(SFC, 12/30/04, p.A2)
2004 Dec 28, Susan Sontag (71),
writer, filmmaker and social critic, died of leukemia in NYC. Her 17
books included “Against Interpretation, and Other Essays.”
(SFC, 12/29/04, p.A1)(Econ, 1/8/05, p.77)
2004 Dec 28, Albania, Bulgaria and
Macedonia gave political support to a $1.2 billion private trans-Balkan
pipeline that will allow Russian and Caspian crude oil to avoid Turkish
waters.
(WSJ, 12/29/04, p.A7)
2004 Dec 28, In Colombia police
captured a reputed leader of the Norte del Valle drug cartel.
(AP, 12/28/04)
2004 Dec 28, Haiti’s government
agreed to give 10 years back pay to rebel soldiers, who helped
overthrow Aristide, in a bid to end their insurrection.
(WSJ, 12/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 28, India and Pakistan
concluded a 2-day dialogue on their dispute over Kashmir.
(SFC, 12/29/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 28, Insurgents launched
multiple attacks on Iraqi police across the dangerous Sunni Triangle,
killing at least 33 police officers and national guardsmen. 12 of the
policemen near Tikrit had their throats slit.
(AP, 12/28/04)(SFC, 12/29/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/29/04,
p.A1)
2004 Dec 28, Insurgents lured
police to a house in west Baghdad with an anonymous tip about a rebel
hideout, then set off explosives, killing at least 29 people and
wounding 18.
(AP, 12/29/04)(SFC, 12/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 28, Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip suffered a
setback after a parliamentary committee failed to approve a set of
guidelines for dealing with Jewish settlers in the evacuation.
(AP, 12/28/04)
2004 Dec 28, In Saudi Arabia
security forces killed three suspected militants in a raid on their
hideout in Riyadh.
(AP, 12/29/04)
2004 Dec 28, The Spanish
government has reached an agreement with unions and employers to raise
the minimum monthly wage by 4.5 percent to euro512.90 ($699) on Jan. 1.
(AP, 12/28/04)
2004 Dec 29, President Bush
assembled a four-nation coalition to organize humanitarian relief for
Asia and made clear the United States would help bankroll long-term
rebuilding in the region leveled by a massive earthquake and tsunamis.
(AP, 12/29/05)
2004 Dec 29, The international Red
Cross said that the death toll from the Dec 26 earthquake and tsunamis
in the Indian Ocean could rise to more than 100,000.
(AP, 12/29/04)
2004 Dec 29, In Afghanistan masked
gunmen killed Pashtun politician Shah Alam Khan, a close ally of Pres.
Karzai.
(WSJ, 12/30/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 29, The first Indonesian
military teams reached the devastated west coast of Sumatra island,
finding thousands of bodies and increasing the death toll across 12
nations to more than 76,700.
(AP, 12/29/04)
2004 Dec 29, Insurgents tried to
ram a truck with half a ton of explosives into a U.S. military post in
the northern city of Mosul then ambushed reinforcements in a huge
gunbattle in which 25 rebels and one American soldier were killed.
(AP, 12/30/04)(SFC, 12/30/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 29, In Israel 4
antiquities collectors and dealers were indicted on charges that they
ran a global forgery ring for Bible-era artifacts.
(SFC, 12/30/04, p.A2)
2004 Dec 29, About 10 Israeli
tanks moved into the Khan Younis refugee camp to stop rocket fire. 2
Palestinian gunmen were killed by tank fire.
(AP, 12/30/04)(WSJ, 12/30/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 29, Puerto Rico's
governor-elect said he opposes the war in Iraq and wants to see a
reduction in the number of U.S. troops, including islanders, posted in
the troubled country.
(AP, 12/29/04)
2004 Dec 29, Ramzan Kadyrov, a
pro-Moscow Chechen leader accused by rights groups of kidnapping and
murder, earned Russia's highest award for "valor and heroism."
(AP, 12/29/04)
2004 Dec 29, In Saudi Arabia
insurgents bombed two security headquarters in Riyadh, setting off
violence that left 10 attackers and one bystander dead.
(AP, 12/30/04)
2004 Dec 30, The death toll from
the Dec 26 earthquake-tsunami catastrophe rose to more than 114,000.
Indonesia estimated deaths in Aceh at over 80,000.
(AP, 12/30/04)(SFC, 12/31/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 30, Arkansas vowed to
appeal after a judge struck down a 1999 rule barring the state from
placing a foster child in any household with a gay member.
(WSJ, 12/31/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 30, Washington Sec. of
State Sam Reed certified Democratic candidate Christine Gregoire as
winner in the governor’s race by 129 votes over Republican opponent
Dino Rossi.
(SFC, 12/31/04, p.A2)
2004 Dec 30, In Tennessee 2
couples were charged with defrauding Wal-Mart of $1.5 million in 19
states by switching UPC bar codes.
(SFC, 12/31/04, p.C3)
2004 Dec 30, Artie Shaw (94), jazz
clarinetist, died in Thousand Oaks, Ca. His 8 wives included film stars
Lana Turner and Ava Gardner. In 1952 he authored the autobiography:
“The Trouble with Cinderella: An Outline of Identity.”
(SFC, 12/31/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 30, In Argentina a flare
lit during a rock concert ignited the foam ceiling of the Cromagnon
Republic nightclub in Buenos Aires packed with teenagers, starting an
inferno that killed 194 people. Omar Chaban, promoter and owner of the
club, later faced charges of manslaughter. In 2006 the Buenos Aires
city council sacked Mayor Anibal Ibarra for failing to root out a
culture of bribery and bureaucratic sloth. In 2009 judges convicted the
concert promoter, three city officials and a band manager in the fire.
The court absolved the Callejeros band of criminal responsibility for
the blaze caused by fans' fireworks.
(AP, 12/31/04)(AP, 12/30/05)(Econ, 3/11/06,
p.35)(AP, 8/20/09)
2004 Dec 30, Mikhail Marinich,
Belarus opposition figure and former economic affairs minister, was
sentenced to 5 years in prison for stealing computers owned by the US
Embassy. The embassy did not report any thefts and the charges were
considered spurious.
(SFC, 12/31/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 30, Bolivia’s government
under Carlos Mesa announced a 23% increase in the cost of diesel fuel
and a 10% rise for petrol. Protests soon followed.
(Econ, 1/22/05, p.35)
2004 Dec 30, Officials said Canada
has found what may be a second case of mad cow disease, just a day
after the US said it planned to reopen its border to Canadian beef.
(AP, 12/30/04)
2004 Dec 30, China accused the US
of pressuring Israel not to return armed drone aircraft that were sent
back for upgrades following their purchase in the 1990s.
(WSJ, 12/31/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 30, In Iraq all 700
employees of the electoral commission in Mosul resigned following
threats by militant groups.
(SFC, 12/31/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 30, In southern Gaza 2
Palestinians were killed in an Israeli missile strike, the 2nd day of
an army raid to stop Palestinian rocket fire from the Khan Younis
refugee camp.
(AP, 12/31/04)
2004 Dec 30, King Mohammed VI of
Morocco met with Canadian PM Paul Martin and ambassador Carmen Sylvain
for talks about cooperation between their two countries.
(AFP, 12/30/04)
2004 Dec 30, Pakistan President
Pervez Musharraf reiterated his intention to retain his dual role of
army chief and called on the opposition to accept the decision of the
majority.
(AP, 12/30/04)
2004 Dec 30, Russia said it would
form a new state oil company base on the core operations of Yukos and
that it would offer a minority stake to China.
(WSJ, 12/31/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 30, Spain approved new
guidelines on immigration, including a partial amnesty aimed at giving
papers to some of the 800,000 illegal immigrants estimated to be living
in the country.
(AP, 12/30/04)
2004 Dec 30, South Korea's
parliament approved extending the mission of its 3,600 troops in Iraq
for another year.
(AP, 12/31/04)
2004 Dec 30, Taiwan increased
interest rates by .125% pushing the discount rate to 1.75%.
(WSJ, 12/31/04, p.A6)
2004 Dec 31, The US pledged $350
million in grant aid for tsunami disaster relief. The World Bank
committed $250 million. Great Britain offered $95 million.
(AP, 1/1/05)(SFC, 1/1/05, p.A1)
2004 Dec 31, Bulgarian authorities
picked up Suleyman Demirel, one-time owner of Egebank and nephew of
former pres. Demirel, and returned him to Turkey for trial. Egebank’s
collapse had caused financial losses of $1.2 billion.
(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.10)
2004 Dec 31, Ricardo Palmera (54)
became the first leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia,
or FARC, to be sent to face prosecution in a U.S. federal court.
(AP, 1/1/05)
2004 Dec 31, In Colombia suspected
Marxist rebels massacred 16 peasants, including women and children, in
a remote area in lawless Arauca province.
(AP, 1/1/05)
2004 Dec 31, Gerard Debreu
(b.1921), winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics (1983), died in Paris.
(SFC, 1/6/05,
p.B1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9rard_Debreu)
2004 Dec 31, Spain's socialist
government approved a bill to legalize same-sex marriages.
(AP, 12/31/04)
2004 Dec 31, Sudanese government
and southern rebel officials signed landmark deals on how to implement
a series of agreements on ending a 21-year civil war in southern Sudan.
(AP, 12/31/04)
2004 Dec 31, Thai authorities said
more than 2,230 foreigners from 36 nations were confirmed dead from
Thailand's southern resorts alone.
(AP, 12/31/04)(SFC, 1/1/05, p.A1)
2004 Dec 31, Ukrainian PM Viktor
Yanukovych resigned, acknowledging that he had little hope of reversing
the election victory of his Western-leaning rival, Viktor Yushchenko.
(AP, 12/31/05)
2004 Dec, Arkansas was reported to
be infected with Asian soybean rust. 9 states were believed to be
infected with spores carried over from South America by the recent
hurricanes.
(Econ, 12/11/04, p.33)
2004 Dec, Cox Communications, a
major cable firm, went private for $8.5 billion.
(Econ, 11/4/06, p.74)(http://tinyurl.com/ygd94t)
2004 Dec, Syrian-born Mustafa
Setmarian Nasar (b.1958), a.k.a. Abu Musab, Nouradin, Blond Blond, Abu
al-Abed, Omar Abdelhakin, Abu Musab al Siri, Umar Abd al-Hakim,
authored "The International Islamic Resistance Call." His book named
enemies as "Jews, Americans, British, Russian and any and all of the
NATO countries, as well as any country that takes the position of
oppressing Islam and Muslims."
(AP, 8/4/05)
2004 Dec, Deyda Hydara, a reporter
for Gambian daily The Point, was shot and killed by unidentified
gunmen. The slaying has never been solved.
(AP, 7/31/06)
2004 Dec, Latvia’s President Vaira
Vike-Freiberga appointed Aigars Kalvitis as PM, the 9th in 11 years.
(Econ, 12/11/04, p.48)
2004 Dec, Turkey signed a $10
billion 3-year economic agreement with the IMF.
(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.12)
2004 Scott Greene, Albuquerque
artist, created his painting “Stay the Course,” a not-so-veiled
reference to the US ship of state.
(SFC, 1/15/05, p.E10)
2004 An anonymous author, a senior
CIA analyst, published “Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War
on Terror.”
(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.A16)
2004 Bruce Ackerman authored
"Deliberation Day," in which he called for a new US national holiday
for citizens to engage public discussions.
(WSJ, 3/24/04, p.D12)
2004 Alberto Alesina and Edward
Glaeser authored “Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe: A World of
Difference.”
(Econ, 3/13/04, p.78)
2004 Graham Allison, Harvard
security analyst, authored “Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable
Catastrophe.”
(SSFC, 11/21/04, p.B1)
2004 Fred Anderson and Andrew
Cayton authored “The Dominion of War: Empire and Liberty in North
America (1500-2000).”
(WSJ, 1/4/05, p.D8)
2004 Richard Arum authored
"Judging School Discipline," in which he examines the effect of
litigation on schools' moral authority.
(WSJ, 3/25/04, p.D6)
2004 Philip Ball authored
“Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another,” in which he surveys
recent attempts to apply to society certain tools developed for physics.
(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.M3)
2004 Terrence Ball and Richard
Bellamy edited "The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Political
Thought." It was the 6th volume of a 6-volume world history.
(Econ, 1/17/04, p.72)
2004 Richard Barber authored “The
Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief.”
(WSJ, 12/23/05, p.W4)
2004 Jagdish Bhagwati authored “In
Defence of Globalisation,” a general guide on global economic
integration.
(Econ, 5/1/04, p.84)
2004 James H. Billington, US
Librarian of Congress, authored "Russia In Search of Itself."
(WSJ, 4/20/04, p.D8)
2004 Hans Blix, former UN chief
weapons inspector, authored “Disarming Iraq: The Search for Weapons of
Mass Destruction.”
(Econ, 3/13/04, p.83)
2004 Lynn Brewer authored
“Confessions of an Enron Executive.”
(Econ, 3/25/06, p.67)
2004 Ian Buruma and Avishai
Margalit authored "Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies."
The title was an inversion of "Orientalism" (1978) by Prof. Edward Said.
(WSJ, 4/8/04, p.D8)
2004 Richard Clarke, former White
House counter-terrorism chief, authored "Against All Enemies: Inside
America's War on Terror," an account of his anti-terrorism work under
the Clinton and Bush administrations.
(WSJ, 4/1/04, p.D8)(SSFC, 4/25/04, p.M1)
2004 David Crystal authored “The
Stories of English,” a non-technical account of the evolution of the
English language.
(WSJ, 4/18/09, p.W8)
2004 Jared Diamond authored
“Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.”
(AM, 7/05, p.52)
2004 Slavenca Drakulic, Croatian
novelist and journalist, authored “They Would Never Hurt a Fly: War
Criminals on Trial in the Hague.”
(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.M1)
2004 Bob Dylan authored a memoir
titled “Chronicle: Volume One.”
(SFC, 10/5/04, p.E1)
2004 Umberto Eco edited his
“History of Beauty,” a collection of thoughts on the titled theme.
(WSJ, 12/1/04, p.A1)
2004 Daniel Mark Epstein authored
"Lincoln and Whitman."
(WSJ, 2/12/04, p.D12)
2004 Paul and Anne Erlich authored
“One With Nineveh,” a plan for reorganizing the world’s economy and
systems of government in order to ward off a prospective collision with
nature.
(WSJ, 5/20/04, p.D10)
2004 Joe Eszterhas (59), film
director, authored his memoir "Hollywood Animal."
(SFC, 2/12/04, p.E1)
2004 Noah Feldman authored “What
We Owe Iraq.”
(WSJ, 11/10/04, p.A1)
2004 Niall Ferguson authored
“Colossus: The Price of America’s Empire.”
(SSFC, 5/2/04, p.M1)(WSJ, 6/17/04, p.D7)
2004 Gen. Tommy Franks authored
“American Soldier.”
(SSFC, 8/1/04, Par p.5)
2004 John Lewis Gaddis, Yale
historian, authored “Surprise, Security and the American Experience.”
(Econ, 4/24/04, p.85)
2004 Gary Gensler authored “The
Great Mutual Fund Trap,” in which he warned that Wall Street is
continuously trying to rip off investors. In 2008 he was named to head
the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
(Econ, 9/5/09, p.83)
2004 Bruce Gilley authored
“China’s Democratic Future: How It Will Happen and Where It Will Lead.”
(Econ, 6/26/04, p.83)
2004 Alan Gurney authored
“Compass,” a history of the instrument that made global
navigation possible.
(WSJ, 7/23/04, p.W12)
2004 Lee Harris authored
"Civilization and its Enemies: The Next Stage of History."
(WSJ, 2/11/04, p.D10)
2004 Sam Harris authored “The End
of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason.”
(SSFC, 10/1/06, p.G1)
2004 Stephen F. Hayes authored
“The Connection,” an examination of the extensive array of contacts
between Saddam Hussein and bin Laden.
(WSJ, 6/22/04, p.D8)
2004 David V. Herlihy authored
“Bicycle: The History.”
(SSFC, 1/30/05, p.C2)
2004 Frits Hoekstra, a former
Dutch security official authored “In the Service of the BVD” (In Dienst
van de BVD), a book on Dutch secret service operations. It included an
account of “Project Mongol,” the use of a mock Maoist movement to
gather intelligence during the cold war, which the CIA called
“Operation Red herring.”
(WSJ, 12/3/04, p.A1)
2004 Eric Jackson authored “The
PayPal Wars.” It describes how PayPal launched its online payment
service and set out to revolutionize the world's currency markets. It
describes how Max Levchin and David Gausebeck developed the
Gausebeck-Levchin test to tell if a machine or a person was signing up
accounts over the Internet.
(www.worldaheadpublishing.com/titles/ppw.php)(SSFC,
2/26/06, p.D3)
2004 Jeff Hawkins and Sandra
Blakeslee authored “On Intelligence.”
(Econ, 3/8/08, TQ p.31)
2004 Adam Jaffe and Josh Lerner
authored “Innovation and Its Discontents: How our broken patent system
is endangering innovation and progress and what to do about it.”
(Econ, 11/13/04, p.71)
2004 Kay Redfield Jamison authored
“Exuberance: The Passion for Life.”
(SSFC, 10/3/04, p.M1)
2004 R.W. Johnson authored “South
Africa: The First Man, The Last Nation,” a history of South Africa.
(Econ, 10/23/04, p.84)
2004 Steven Johnson authored "Mind
Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life." He
examined how the functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) might
reveal the workings of the mind's emotional toolbox and its alleged 412
distinct emotions.
(SSFC, 2/15/04, p.M8)
2004 Gilles Kepel authored “The
War for Muslim Minds.”
(WSJ, 9/16/04, p.D12)
2004 J.L. King authored "On the
Down Low: A Journey Into the Lives of 'Straight' Black Men Who Sleep
With Men."
(AP, 7/24/09)
2004 Rob Lachenauer and George
Stalk authored “Hardball,” a business management book with advice such
as: “people who don’t deliver need to be counseled, cautioned, moved or
fired.
(WSJ, 10/15/04, p.W6)
2004 Stephen and Donna Leeb
authored “The Oil Factor” and claimed that the price of oil will soar
above $100 per barrel by the end of the decade.
(Econ, 3/20/04,
p.62)(www.financialsense.com/fsu/posts/dancy/reviews/030904.html)
2004 Amory Lovins, head of the
Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), authored “Winning the Oil Endgame.”
Lovins offered a plan for reducing US oil use by 50% by 2025, and
ending foreign oil dependency based on a study funded by the Pentagon.
(www.amazon.com/Winning-Oil-Endgame-Amory-Lovins/dp/1881071103)
2004 Geert Mak (b.1946), Dutch
journalist, authored “In Europe: Travels through the Twentieth
Century.” An updated version in English was published in 2007.
(Econ, 2/24/07, p.96)
2004 Paul W. MacAvoy and Ira M.
Millstein authored "The Recurrent Crises in Corporate Governance." They
held the position that "nothing short of separating the roles of board
leadership and management leadership will suffice" to mend boardroom
conduct.
(WSJ, 2/18/04, p.D4)
2004 Mahmood Mamdani, Prof. of
government at Columbia Univ., authored “Good Muslim, Bad Muslim:
America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror.”
(SSFC, 5/9/04, p.M6)
2004 James Mann authored "Rise of
the Vulcans," an examination of G. Bush's cabinet members: Condoleezza
Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Armitage, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld,
and Dick Cheney.
(WSJ, 3/10/04, p.D8)
2004 Cristina Marcano and Alberto
Barrera Tyszka authored the biography “Hugo Chavez.” In 2007 Kristina
Cordero translated it to English.
(Econ, 8/4/07, p.70)
2004 John McMillan (1951-2007),
economist and teacher, authored “Reinventing the Bazaar.” He had
traveled the world to discover why markets succeeded or failed.
(WSJ, 3/24/07, p.A8)
2004 Ken Midkiff authored “The
Meat You Eat: How Corporate Farming Has Endangered America’s Food
Supply.”
(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.M1)
2004 Corinne Maier authored the
French pamphlet “Bounjour Paresse” (Hello Laziness). It was sub-titled
The Art and the Importance of Doing the Least Possible in the
Workplace, and became a bestseller in France.
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.51)(www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5698558/)
2004 Forrest McDonald (b.1927),
American historian, authored his memoir “Recovering the Past.”
(WSJ, 8/12/04, p.D8)
2004 John J. Miller and Mark
Molesky authored “Our Oldest Enemy,” an examination of France’s
relations with the US over the last few hundred years.
(WSJ, 10/14/04, p.D7)
2004 Brad Miner authored “The
Compleat Gentleman,” a social history on honor and gentlemanly behavior.
(WSJ, 5/28/04, p.W3)
2004 Helen Nissenbaum presented
her theory called “contextual integrity.” It proposed an alternative
benchmark for privacy in public media.
(http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=534622)
2004 Martha Nussbaum authored
“Hiding From Humanity: Shame, Disgust and the Law,” in which she
discusses the psychology of scapegoating selected outsiders.
(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.F1)
2004 John O’Neill, former US Navy
officer, authored “Unfit for Command,” a slashing attack against
presidential candidate John Kerry.
(SFC, 9/11/04, p.A5)
2004 Barbara Peterson authored
“Blue Streak: Inside jetBlue, the Upstart That Rocked an Industry.”
(WSJ, 11/30/04, p.D10)
2004 Kevin Phillips authored
"American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in
the House of Bush."
(SSFC, 2/1/04, p.M3)
2004 C.K. Prahalad authored “The
Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through
Profits.” Prahalad was one of the first management gurus to note the
rise of the emerging-market consumer.
(Econ, 11/5/05, Survey p.10)(Econ, 9/20/08, SR p.10)
2004 Christoph Reuter authored “My
Life is a Weapon: A Modern History of Suicide bombing.”
(Econ, 5/22/04, p.76)
2004 Jim Rogers authored “Hot
Commodities: How anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World’s Best
Market.”
(WSJ, 12/28/04, p.D8)
2004 John Ross authored “Murdered
by Capitalism: A Memoir of 150 Years of Life and Death on the American
Left.”
(SFC, 6/8/04, E1)
2004 Marc Sageman authored
“Understanding Terror Networks.”
(Econ, 2/2/08, p.93)
2004 Paul Seabright, prof. of
economics at the Univ. of Toulousse, authored “The Company of
Strangers,” which examines the evolution of human cooperation.
(Econ, 8/14/04, p.69)
2004 John Searle authored “Mind: A
Brief Introduction.”
(SSFC, 12/19/04, p.E3)
2004 Natan Sharansky authored “The
Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and
Terror.” The book had a strong influence on Pres. Bush.
(Econ, 2/5/05,
p.32)(www.americandaily.com/article/5980)
2004 Sarah Harrison Smith authored
“The Fact Checker’s Bible: A Guide to Getting It Right.”
(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.M6)
2004 Hugh D.H. Soar authored “The
Crooked Stick: A History of the Longbow.”
(WSJ, 11/4/04, p.D10)
2004 George Soros authored "The
Bubble of American Supremacy: Correcting the Misuse of American Power."
(Econ, 1/31/04, p.81)
2004 Thomas Sowell authored
"Applied Economics," a primer on the "key economic issues of our time."
(WSJ, 3/19/04, p.W12)
2004 James Gustave Speth authored
“Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crises of the Global Environment—A
Citizen’s Agenda for Action.”
(Econ, 3/20/04, p.91)
2004 Gabor Steingart authored
"Decline of a Super Star," in which he argued that Germany's history
since 1945 has been a big mistake.
(Econ, 3/27/04, p.50)
2004 James Surrowiecki, columnist
for the New Yorker, authored “The Wisdom of Crowds.“
(SSFC, 7/4/04, p.M3)(Econ, 6/28/08, p.89)
2004 Richard Taruskin published
his 5-volume “Oxford History of Western Music.” It was made available
in paperback in 2009.
(Econ, 8/15/09, p.79)
2004 David Thompson authored “The
Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood.”
(WSJ, 12/8/04, p.D12)
2004 Joe Trippi, former head of
the Dean campaign for president, authored “The Revolution Will Not Be
Televised.”
(WSJ, 7/28/04, p.D10)
2004 Kevin Trudeau self-published
“Natural Cures ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.” Sales after a year
reached some 3 million. Trudeau served 2 years in the early 1990’s for
credit card fraud and in 2004 was barred by the FTC from selling
products through infomercials.
(SSFC, 8/28/05, p.A2)
2004 Siva Vaidhyananathan authored
“The Anarchist: How the Clash Between Freedom and Control is Leaving
Cyberspace and Entering the Real World.“
(SSFC, 5/2/04, p.M3)
2004 Steven Vincent authored “In
the Red Zone,” a look at Iraqi life outside the Green Zone.
(WSJ, 12/17/04, p.W8)
2004 Martin Wolf, chief economics
commentator of the Financial Times, authored “Why Globalisation Works.”
(Econ, 7/17/04, p.75)
2004 Bob Woodward authored his
book on the Iraqi war "Plan of Attack." He reported that the Saudis
promised Pres. Bush to lower oil prices before the November elections.
(SFC, 4/20/04, p.A1)
2004 Stephen Yafa authored “Big
Cotton: How a Humble Fiber Created Fortunes, Wrecked Civilizations and
Put American On the Map.
(WSJ, 12/29/04, p.D8)
2004 Canadian filmmakers Mark
Achbar, Joel Bakan, and Jennifer Abbot produced the documentary film
“The Corporation,” which asked the question: If the corporation is
treated a person under law, what kind of person is it? Conclusions
indicated a psychopath.
(Econ, 5/8/04, p.64)
2004 The film Hotel Rwanda was
directed by Terry George. It was based on the story of Paul
Rusesabagina, who managed the Hotel des Mille Collines during the 1994
Rwanda genocide. The hotel in Kigali was one of the few places where
nobody was killed. Rusesabagina later criticized the government of
Pres. Kagame for limiting opposition. Rusesabagina then faced attacks
in Rwanda for profiting from the genocide.
(WSJ, 12/5/06, p.A14)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0395169/)
2004 The documentary film “Lost
Boys of Sudan” was first broadcast on PBS. It follows two Sudanese
refugees, made homeless by civil war in 1987, on an extraordinary
journey from Africa to America.
(www.lostboysfilm.com/about.html)(SFC, 5/28/08, p.B5)
2004 The US government donated 3.4
million metric tons of commodities to use as food aid in about 80
countries.
(WSJ, 10/26/05, p.A1)
2004 A US government found that
some $700 million from Equatorial Guinea was held at Washington's Riggs
Bank, making the country the bank's biggest customer. Riggs was fined
millions of dollars in money-laundering fines. Nothing was done against
Equatorial Guinea’s Pres. Obiang. Human rights groups have accused
Obiang of using the oil wealth to make his family fabulously rich while
most of his countrymen live in squalor.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2004 The CIA hired Blackwater USA
as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of
Al-Qaida. Blackwater of North Carolina, later renamed Xe Services,
helped with planning, training and surveillance until the unsuccessful
program was cancelled.
(SFC, 8/20/09, p.A2)
2004 Sallie Mae, formed in 1972 as
a government sponsored provider of student loans, completed a
privatizing process begun in 1997.
(Econ, 7/19/08,
p.80)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallie_Mae)
2004 In California William Danser,
a Santa Clara County judge, was convicted of fixing traffic tickets for
players and employees of the San Jose Sharks hockey team and San Jose
Earthquakes soccer team. The state bar suspended his license. Los Gatos
police Detective Randy Bishop was also convicted. Their sentences
included fines and 90 days of house arrest.
(SFC, 8/16/07, p.B4)
2004 Salt Lake City rare book
dealer Ken Sanders helped San Jose, Calif., police put rare-book
swindler John Charles Gilkey in San Quentin prison for three years.
They caught Gilkey using a stolen credit card number to have a $6,000
edition of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" delivered to a Palo
Alto hotel. Sanders describes him as "a collector gone to the dark
side."
(www.scads.org/scams/tribune_article_04jun04.htm)
2004 Massachusetts changed its law
regarding a Senate vacancy and required a special election to fill
empty Senate seats within 145-160 days of a vacancy. The Democratic
legislature did not want Republican Gov. Mitt Romney to appoint a
fellow Republican to the fill John Kerry’s seat, if Kerry were to win
the presidential election.
(Econ, 9/5/09, p.34)
2004 Oklahoma became the first US
state to pass a law that made it harder to buy more than small
quantities of medicine containing pseudoephedrine, one of the
ingredients for the illegal production of methamphetamine. Other states
soon followed.
(Econ, 9/30/06, p.40)
2004 The new $480 million Gaylord
Texan Resort & Convention Center opened in Grapevine, Texas. It
covered 2.5 million square feet on 150 acres.
(WSJ, 8/11/04, p.B1)
2004 Catherine Rohr, a venture
capitalist, founded the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP) in Texas
to engage prisoners in studying business.
(Econ, 3/22/08, p.36)
2004 America exported $10.5
billion worth of film and television shows.
(SSFC, 8/6/06, p.E5)
2004 The Chicago Sun-Times
revealed a racket in which the city was apparently hiring trucks to do
nothing. The head of the program pleaded guilty to federal charges. 35
others were charged, of whom 23 pleaded guilty.
(Econ, 3/18/06, Survey p.16)
2004 Illinois under Gov.
Blagojevich began a prisoner reform program at its Sheridan Prison.
Over the next 2 years prisoners who successfully completed the program
had a 49% lower risk of returning to prison.
(SFC, 8/7/06, p.A6)
2004 InVision Tech., top US
supplier of explosive detection equipment, agreed to pay $800,000 to
resolve a Justice Dept. criminal investigation on charges of bribery to
foreign officials. This allowed General Electric to complete its $900
million acquisition of InVision.
(SFC, 2/15/05, p.D1)
2004 Downtown Martin, Ky., was
demolished and re-established on a hill to avoid regular flooding from
Beaver Creek. The town was established almost a century earlier when
Dick Osborn divided up his considerable acreage to establish the town.
In 2006 Michelle Slatalla authored “The Town on Beaver Creek.”
(WSJ, 8/5/06, p.P9)
2004 In the US the ratio of
executive pay to that of the average worker stood at 431 to 1.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.75)
2004 Puerto Rico’s annual income
per person was around $12,000 for this year.
(Econ, 5/27/06, p.25)
2004 Joe Kraus co-founded JotSpot
as the first company to provide an application wiki. JotSpot has since
launched several other products.
(http://www.jot.com/)(Econ, 4/22/06, Survey p.14)
2004 Billy Gaines and Duncan
Carrroll, graduates of Carnegie Mellon Univ., developed a Web site
called bpong.com along with a multiplayer online beer-pong game. Beer
pong had gained popularity on college campuses in the 1990s.
(WSJ, 8/29/07, p.A10)
2004 John McAfee, computer
software multi-millionaire, formed a network of runways in New Mexico
and Arizona for recreational light sport aircraft.
(WSJ, 4/21/07, p.A10)
2004 WiMax technology, a
long-range wireless standard, provided high-speed Internet access from
a maximum range of 30 miles.
(Econ, 3/13/04, p.64)
2004 Vytorin, a drug for high
cholesterol, came out. It combined Merck’s Zocor with Schering-Plough
Corp.'s Zetia, which went on sale in 2002 and attacks cholesterol in a
different way. In 2008 a study of Vytorin failed to show positive
results.
(http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/20/news/fortune500/vytorin/index.htm)(AP,
3/31/08)
2004 Scientists confirmed that the
universe is accelerating.
(SFC, 12/6/04, p.A4)
2004 Scientists using the
Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey (TrES) discovered a distant planet the
size of Jupiter, 32 times further than the Sun. They named it TrES-1b.
(Econ, 2/19/05, p.77)
2004 Zander Nosler, Seattle-based
industrial designer, invented the Clover, a high-end coffee making
machine with an inverse plunger. The first machines were sold in 2006.
(Econ, 11/17/07, p.76)
2004 Dr. Edelman and associates in
San Diego, Ca., constructed Darwin IX, a mobile physical device
equipped with artificial whiskers and a simulated nervous system based
on the neuroanatomy of the rat somatosensory system. The team built
machines run by computer programs to work the way they thought that
brains work and then studied the results.
(Econ, 12/23/06, Survey
p.11)(http://tinyurl.com/yhzf5s)
2004 Some 8.3 million households
worldwide held assets of at least $1 million. This number was up 7%
from a year earlier.
(Econ, 12/24/05, p.66)
2004 Fifty-six journalists around
the world were killed in 2004 because of their jobs.
(SFC, 3/15/05, p.A8)
2004 A $12.5 million Arctic Coring
Expedition, run by a consortium called the Int’l. Ocean Drilling
Program, drilled into layers of sediment millions of years old.
(SFC, 6/1/06, p.A5)
2004 In Afghanistan Nizar Habibi
served as Kabul’s chief price controller. Prices were limited by 5%
profits in order to ensure that the poor could afford to eat.
(WSJ, 10/8/04, p.A15)
2004 In Afghanistan Ahmed Wali
Karzai, the brother of Pres. Karzai, was implicated in an enormous
cache of heroin found hidden beneath concrete blocks in a
tractor-trailer outside Kandahar. Security forces released the vehicle
and the drugs following a call from Ahmed Wali Karzai, later chief of
the Kandahar Provincial Council.
(SSFC, 10/5/08, p.A23)
2004 In Afghanistan Radio Watanda
began broadcasting from a basement in a suburb of Kabul. Listeners soon
discovered that they could use it as a platform to harangue the
authorities.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.50)
2004 Antigua owed some $85
million, over 10% of its GDP, to companies of financier R. Allen
Stanford.
(Econ, 2/28/09, p.42)
2004 The extreme poverty rate in
Argentina fell to15% compared to 20.5% in 2003.
(WSJ, 3/16/05, p.A23)
2004 Bahrain’s population was
about 675,000. 70% were Shia under a Sunni royal family.
(Econ, 7/31/04, p.41)(Econ, 4/5/08, p.52)
2004 Brazil’s public debt fell to
52% of GDP from 57% in 2003.
(Econ, 2/5/05, p.36)
2004 The British government
decided that pluralism requires all schools to include some instruction
on atheism.
(WSJ, 2/20/09, p.W11)
2004 Canadian filmmakers Mark
Achbar, Joel Bakan, and Jennifer Abbot produced the documentary film
“The Corporation,” which asked the question: If the corporation is
treated as a person under law, what kind of person is it? Conclusions
indicated a psychopath.
(Econ, 5/8/04, p.64)
2004 Canada’s mint produced nearly
30 million poppy quarters commemorating 117,000 war dead. The "poppy
coin" was so unfamiliar to suspicious US Army contractors traveling in
Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2004 Goldman Sachs donated a 2,750
square km. property in the Chilean part of Tierra del Fuego to the
Wildlife Conservation Society of NY. It became the Karukinka nature
reserve. Goldman acquired the property in 2002 along with loans backing
a failed 1990s project for logging lenga, a type of beech tree.
(Econ, 3/11/06, p.74)
2004 In Chile Doug Tompkins,
founder of Esprit Corp., purchased the 173,000-acre Valle Chacabuco
ranch for $10 million. Their intent was to convert it into a national
park.
(SFCM, 9/10/06, p.10)
2004 Endesa, a Spanish-owned
utility firm, and Hydro-Quebec of Canada announced their Aysen project,
a $4 billion plan to build 4 dams in Chile’s Valle Chacabuco area.
(SFCM, 9/10/06, p.10)
2004 Chinese President Hu Jintao
visited Latin America and said that he hoped 2-way trade in the region
would reach $100 billion by 2010.
(Econ, 8/15/09, p.20)
2004 China introduced new identity
cards with embedded microchips. Software limited the use to standard
characters. In 2006 a police official moved to ban problematic
characters, thereby limiting people’s choices in names.
(Econ, 4/15/06, p.44)
2004 China’s national tax revenue
of $318 billion came mostly from business taxes. The average Chinese
paid $16 in income tax. Authorities in 90 Chinese cities turned some
sales receipts into lottery tickets to encourage customers to demand
trackable invoices.
(WSJ, 3/31/05, p.A1)
2004 China and Hong Kong entered
into a Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The phased
agreement eliminated tariffs on Hong Kong exports and by 2005 created
29,000 jobs in Hong Kong.
(WSJ, 10/19/05, p.A11)
2004 In China some 130 mainland
securities companies lost 15 billion yuan (almost $2 billion) under a
falling stock market, a dearth of new flotations and bad management.
Losses for 2005 were later estimated to be even higher.
(Econ, 2/11/06, p.69)
2004 China experienced some 74,000
protests involving over 3.7 million people, up from 10,000 in 1994 and
58,000 in 2003.
(Econ, 10/1/05, p.38)
2004 In China Li Shiming, a
corrupt and rapacious local Communist Party secretary in Shanxi
province, beat up a farmer and cleared his land for a housing
development [see Sep 23, 2008].
(Econ, 8/22/09, p.38)
2004 China’s 2004 economic growth
rate was revised up to 10.1 percent from 9.5 percent following the
completion of an economic census in 2006.
(AP, 1/10/06)
2004 Chinese made shoes accounted
for 82% of all shoes sold in the US. US quotas had been abandoned in
1982.
(WSJ, 6/7/05, p.A13)
2004 Chinese car sales reached 2.3
million making it the world’s 4th largest car market. It was expected
to overtake Germany in 2005 and Japan by 2010.
(Econ, 4/23/05, p.61)
2004 A report by the World Health
Organization (WHO) said some 600 people were killed daily in traffic
accidents in China.
(SFC, 12/7/07, p.A25)
2004 China invested almost $150
million in Sudan this year.
(Econ, 10/28/06, p.54)
2004 Dominica’s population
numbered about 71,000 inhabitants.
(WSJ, 1/7/04, p.A1)
2004 The Dominican Republic joined
the negotiations for the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the
US and the agreement was renamed DR-CAFTA.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAFTA)
2004 DP World, a ports operator
owned by the government of Dubai (UAR), purchased the port operations
of CSX, a US railroad company, for $1.15 billion formerly run by John
Snow, US treasury secretary.
(Econ, 2/25/06, p.33)
2004 Dubai reported 34
site-related deaths of construction workers this year. Human Rights
Watch counted 880 bodies sent home by foreign embassies.
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.71)
2004 In Egypt Kefaya, a loose
gathering of mainly Nasserist and communist activists, was formed. It
struggled to make an impact beyond its street protests since the regime
started loosening the noose slightly on the political scene.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2004 The population of El Salvador
at this time was about 6.5 million.
(AP, 3/21/04)
2004 After the March coup attempt
led by Simon Mann and Nick du Toit in Equatorial Guinea, opposition
leader Severo Moto was accused of being the instigator. He was tried in
absentia and received a 63-year sentence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severo_Moto)(Econ,
6/21/08, p.58)
2004 Estonia began paying women up
to $1,560 for 15 months to have babies, in order to help reverse a
trend of declining population.
(WSJ, 10/20/06, p.A1)
2004 The EU’s GDP per head was
$29,330. The average for the 8 new entrants was $9,240.
(Econ, 1/6/07, p.43)
2004 Le Figaro, France’s leading
center-right newspaper, was acquired by Dassault, a big defense
company, which also acquired some 70 other titles.
(Econ, 8/7/04, p.44)
2004 The French public health fund
deficit was expected to top $15.7 billion.
(Econ, 7/31/04, p.43)
2004 French retailer Carrefour SA
agreed to buy 13 supermarkets in Poland.
(WSJ, 4/15/08, p.B2)
2004 The German film “Gegen die
Wand” (Head-On) by Hamburg-born Fatih Akin, won the Berlin film
festival. It was a bleak, violent tale about Turkish-German cultural
crossover.
(Econ, 2/3/07, p.83)
2004 The German film “Der
Untergang” (Downfall) by Oliver Hirschbiegel, was about Hitler’s last
days.
(Econ, 2/3/07, p.83)
2004 Germany passed an immigration
law that required new immigrants to study German.
(Econ, 2/11/06, Survey p.13)
2004 Statistics from Germany’s
Federal Crime Office (BKA) showed that a quarter of bribes received
this year were by local government officials of whom 53 were mayors.
(Econ, 9/9/06, p.67)
2004 BMW unveiled the world's
fastest hydrogen-powered car at the 2004 Paris auto show. Dubbed the
H2R, it can exceed 300 kilometers (185 miles) per hour and reaches 100
km per hour from a standing start in around six seconds.
(Reuters, 9/12/06)
2004 Elena Votsi, Greek artist,
designed the 2004 Olympic medal. It was the 1st re-design in 76 years.
(AM, 7/04,
p.25)(http://olympic-museum.de/w_medals/wmed2004.htm)
2004 Greece had a 2004 deficit of
just over 6% of GDP.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.55)
2004 In Guatemala 527 women were
murdered. Methods used in the murders were reminiscent of those
employed against the guerrillas and the residents of rural indigenous
villages during the 1960-1996 civil war.
(IPS, 6/22/05)
2004 Guyana's government gave the
indigenous Wai Wai control of 2,400 square miles of tropical forest and
savanna, nearly half the size of Connecticut.
(AP, 10/5/07)
2004 Hong Kong-based Ruyan, which
means "like smoking," introduced the world's first electronic
cigarette. It patented its ultrasonic atomizing technology, in which
nicotine is dissolved in a cartridge containing propylene glycol, the
liquid that is vaporized in smoke machines in nightclubs or theaters
and is commonly used as a solvent in food.
(AP, 2/2809)
2004 Hungary passed legislation to
fully open the state security archives. It allowed names to be kept
secret to protect modern day national security.
(Econ, 5/31/08, SR p.13)
2004 Iceland’s PM David Oddsson
pushed through a media law aimed at limiting Baugur’s interests. Baugur
had large retailing interests and in the fall purchased Denmark’s
Magasin de Nord department-store group. Oddsson, Europe's
longest-serving prime minister, stepped down this year following
13-year tenure that transformed Iceland with a strong dose of free
market medicine.
(Econ, 7/25/05, p.54)(AP, 6/5/06)
2004 Halldor Asgrimson took over
as PM of Iceland.
(Econ, 3/4/06, p.48)
2004 The publication of Professor
James W. Laine's book "Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India" infuriated
hardline Hindu groups in the western state of Maharashtra, who claimed
Laine was questioning Shivaji's parentage.
(Reuters, 4/9/07)
2004 India’s Supreme Court issued
a statement regarding activities in protected areas. This was based on
a February 2002 order regarding the protection of some 600 national
parks and wildlife sanctuaries. The 2004 statement included a ban on
razing that created a major problem for herders, especially the Raika
class of herders in Rajasthan, where 83% of the country’s camels were
raised.
(SSFC, 9/9/07, p.A32)(http://tinyurl.com/3bzzgc)
2004 India planned to have its
first nuclear-powered submarine completed.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A13)
2004 In India electronic trading
began in agricultural futures. In 2007 the NCDEX and MCX faced charges
that trading in commodities futures encouraged hoarding and raised
prices.
(Econ, 3/10/07, p.72)
2004 Sunil Bharti Mittal, Indian
businessman, launched FieldFreshFoods, a $50 million 50/50 joint
venture with ELRO, an investment company founded by the Rothschild
family. His aim was to turn India into a global preferred food basket.
(Econ, 11/12/05, p.70)
2004 Mohan Murjani with local
partners opened his 1st Tommy Hilfiger store in India.
(WSJ, 3/27/07, p.A1)
2004 In India the Chennai-based
NGO called Center for the Development of Disadvantaged People
introduced a new rat trap that quickly improved living conditions for
members of the Irula tribe of southern Tamil Nadu state, an
impoverished community of some 3 million people. The new traps
decreased health risks and increased the rat catcher’s average to 15-20
rats per day vs. 4-5 using older methods.
(SSFC, 1/6/08, p.A13)
2004 In India Vedanta Resources of
London constructed a $900 million bauxite refinery at the foot of the
Niyamgiri Hills in eastern Orissa state, where there was an estimated
73 million tons of bauxite. A legal battle with the local Dongria Kond
tribe delayed mining and bauxite was imported.
(SFC, 2/22/08, p.A13)
2004 Laloo Prasad Yadav (b.1947)
began serving as Minister of Railways in the ruling United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) government. He continued as the minister until 2009.
Yadav and the Rashtrija Janata Dal party (RJD) also ruled Bihar state
(1990-2005). Nitish Kumar served as his predecessor at Indian Railways.
(Econ, 1/30/10,
p.12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalu_Prasad_Yadav)
2004 India’s annual death rate due
to train accidents was about 3,500.
(SFC, 11/12/04, p.W1)
2004 In Indonesia the armed forces
formally withdrew from politics. They gave up their reserved seats in
parliament ending their “dwi fungsi,” or dual political and military
function. The military still owned numerous businesses, foundations and
cooperatives, which provided a good chunk of its budget. Law required
that they cede control by 2009.
(Econ, 2/18/06, p.43)
2004 The Iranian government seized
some $200 million in assets from the Khoi Foundation, named after the
late Grand Ayatollah Abol-Qassem Mussavi Khoi. This accelerated a
growing trend for Shiite religious funds to move their assets out to
Iraq.
(WSJ, 9/14/05, p.A20)
2004 In Iraq 850 US troops were
killed during this year.
(SFC, 12/31/07, p.A6)
2004 Israel rejected a Syrian
attempt to create a channel of communications. In response Alon Liel, a
former Israeli ambassador, began talks with Ibrahim Suleiman, a Syrian
in Washington with close ties to Pres. Assad, under the mediation of a
Swiss diplomat.
(Econ, 1/20/07, p.55)
2004 Israel’s PM Sharon agreed to
allow Druze apple growers in the Golan Heights to trade with Syria. In
2009 the authorized consignment rose to 8,000 tons.
(Econ, 2/21/09, p.49)
2004 Italy imported more shoes
than it exported for the 1st time.
(WSJ, 6/13/05, p.A1)
2004 Japan's Fair Trade Commission
(FTC) grew to 331 investigators and a budget of ¥7.82 billion.
(Econ, 10/8/05, Survey p.9)
2004 In Japan workers’ pay dropped
to about 64% of corporate earnings.
(Econ, 10/8/05, Survey p.4)
2004 Kenyan MPs awarded themselves
an average $169,625 a year in salary. The average Kenyan income was
$400.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.65)
2004 Chris Bradshaw visited
Lesotho and became inspired to found the African Library Project:
www.africanlibraryproject.org.
(SSFC, 7/9/06, p.D2)
2004 GetJar, an independent app
sales portal, was founded in 2004 by Lithuanian-born serial
entrepreneur Ilja Laurs. By 2010 with roughly 57,000 applications
contributed by about 350,000 registered developers, the GetJar catalog
yielded about 60 million downloads per month, up from 15 million
monthly a year ago and second in volume only to the App Store.
(www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2010/february/204586.html)
2004 Malawi Pres. Bingu wa
Mutharika closed the country’s embassy in Libya soon after his election.
(AFP, 12/23/07)
2004 Mali’s population numbered
11-12 million people.
(WSJ, 6/22/04, p.A1)(Econ, 7/30/05, p.41)
2004 Morocco banned cultivation of
cannabis. This pushed cultivation of the plant into the hinterlands of
the Rif Mountains.
(Econ, 7/15/06, p.46)
2004 Nepal’s government banned all
diesel-run three wheelers in the Kathmandu Valley due to the smog.
(www.environmentnepal.com.np/articles_d.asp?id=268)
2004 In North Korea the Kaesong
Industrial Complex was set up and seen as a potent symbol of
reconciliation between North and South Korea. It combined the South's
capital and technology with the North's cheap labor.
(AP, 6/11/09)
2004 In Baluchistan, Pakistan,
Bugti and Marri tribesmen ended a 50-year feud.
(Econ, 5/7/05, p.38)
2004 Maualana Fazlullah, local
leader of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammad, began preaching in
Swat, NWFP, Pakistan. By 2007 he drew more than 15,000 weekly to his
Friday prayers. His vision of militant Islam reached thousands more in
the valley by way of his illegal radio station, which he used until
recently to warn parents not to send their girls to school.
(CSM, 5/29/07)
2004 The Paraguayan Finance
Ministry doled out $2 million to compensate some 400 people persecuted
by the Stroessner government (1954-1989).
(SFC, 8/17/06, p.A10)
2004 Peru’s northern Yanacocha
gold mine extracted 3 million ounces. The mine was run by Newmont in
partnership with Peru’s Buenaventura. The mining sparked political
unrest due to ecological and social issues.
(Econ, 2/5/05, p.33)
2004 The Philippine budget deficit
was 3.9% of GDP. Its consolidated public-sector debt was almost 140% of
GDP and some feared a default.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.72)
2004 Romania’s main political
parties formed the Coalition for a Clean Parliament, an anti-corruption
pact.
(Econ, 4/28/07, p.61)
2004 Russia’s Pres. Vladimir Putin
signed an order establishing the "Day of People's Unity," designed to
commemorate Moscow's liberation from Polish invaders in 1612. It was
intended to replace the Nov 7 holiday marking the Bolshevik Revolution.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2004 Carmen bin Ladin authored
“Inside the Kingdom: My Life in Saudi Arabia.” Carmen, the ex-wife of
Osama’s older brother Yeslam, grew up in Geneva.
(SFC, 7/29/04, p.D8)
2004 In Saudi Arabia women until
this year were legally required to conduct business through a male
agent.
(Econ, 4/12/08, p.86)
2004 Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul
All-Share Index posted a 85% gain for the year.
(WSJ, 4/4/05, p.C18)
2004 In Sierra Leone a government
sponsored Truth and Reconciliation Commission published its conclusions
and decided that rampant corruption during the preceding decades was a
major cause of the civil war that erupted in 1991.
(Econ, 11/21/09, p.50)
2004 South Africa launched the
Mzansi bank account, a basic account designed to bring citizens into
the nation’s financial system. In May, 2005, it won its millionth
customer.
(Econ, 5/28/05, p.77)
2004 The government of South
Africa launched Project Consolidate, an effort to help troubled
municipalities by sending them managers from comparatively well-run
cities.
(Econ, 3/4/06, p.44)
2004 South Africa reported some
19,000 murders for the year, about 9 times the rate in the US and 27
times the rate in Britain.
(Econ, 10/1/05, p.44)
2004 In South Africa the
Incwala mining firm was born out of Lonwin Platinum (Lonplats), the
world’s 3rd largest platinum producer. It was a product of South
Africa’s black economic empowerment policy.
(Econ, 2/10/07, p.72)
2004 In Sudan the Eastern Front
was set up as an alliance between 2 eastern tribal rebel groups, the
Rashaida tribe’s Free Lions and the Beja Congress. They were later
joined by the Darfuri’s Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). Eastern
Front’s bases in Eritrea were clearly abetted by the government of
Eritrea.
(Econ, 10/1/05, p.53)
2004 Dr. Frank Artress and his
wife Susan Gustafson, formerly from Modesto, Ca., established the
Foundation for African Medicine and Education (FAME) in Tanzania. Their
decision to work in Africa followed a spiritual transformation during a
climb on Mt. Kilimanjaro, during which Artress was rescued by his
native crew.
(SSFC, 5/4/08, p.A17)(www.fameafrica.org)
2004 Tonga’s King Tupou IV
(1918-2006) announced that he would henceforth include people's
representatives in the 12-member appointed cabinet.
(www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/16092.htm)
2004 In Trinidad construction
began on a drilling platform being built for BP Trinidad and Tobago
LLC, the Trinidad branch of London-based BP Amoco PLC. It was scheduled
to be completed in March, 2005, and be fully operational in January
2006.
(AP, 10/18/04)
2004 The Ukraine Kryvorizhstal
steelworks was privatized at half its market value to two of the
country’s richest men, Victor Pinchuk, the son-in-law of Pres. Kuchma,
and Rinat Akhmetov.
(Econ, 10/30/04, p.27)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.102)
2004 Sheik Issa bin Zayed Al
Nahyan (40), a half brother of the Emirati president, beat a man said
to be the Afghan worker in an empty stretch of the Abu
Dhabi desert. The beating was filmed by Texas
businessman Bassam Nabulsi. The victim, identified as Afghani grain
dealer Mohammed Shapoor, survived the beatings. In 2009 Nahyan went on
trial on torture charges.
(AP, 12/21/09)
2004 Vietnam’s exports reached $30
billion, up from $1 billion in 1988.
(SFC, 5/30/06, p.C1)
2004 Yemen fell from 88th to 112th
place on a ranking of 145 countries tested for government transparency
and corruption by Transparency International, a global anti-corruption
group.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2004-2008 Jordan stripped some 2,700 Jordanians of
Palestinian origin of their citizenship during this period. Nearly half
the kingdom’s people were of Palestinian origin. The government
allegedly feared that if Palestinians were to become a majority, it
would disrupt the its delicate demographic balance.
(SFC, 2/2/10, p.A2)
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