October 1, 2004 (2004-10-01) (Friday)
- The University of Manchester, the largest university in the United Kingdom outside London, is created by, the merger of the Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST. (BBC)
- Ichiro Suzuki, a Japanese baseball star now playing for Major League Baseball's New York Yankees, breaks George Sisler's 84-year-old record for hits in a season, prompting praise from Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi and celebrations in both Seattle and Tokyo. (CNN/SI)
- Mount St. Helens in the U.S. state of Washington awakens, with a minor eruption of steam, "smoke," and ash. (Fox News) (CNN)
- The Movie Premiere of Shark Tale
- From the Studio That Brought You Shrek
- The government of Denmark is investigating whether it can claim ownership of the North Pole, by studying how far the underwater portion of Greenland, a Danish territory, extends. Canada and "Russia are already undertaking similar investigations regarding their own claims." (Toronto Star)
- U.S. presidential debates: "Instant-response" polls of viewers of last night's U.S. presidential debate show that a majority of viewers thought the "challenger," John Kerry, won the contest. (The Guardian) (BBC) (Indianapolis Star) (CBS)
- At least 19 people are killed in an explosion—suspected——to be, a suicide bombing—at a Shia mosque in the Pakistani city of Sialkot (located near the border of Indian-controlled Kashmir). The attack follows the killing of a leading Sunni cleric. (BBC)
- 2004 Irish presidential election: Mary McAleese is appointed to a second seven-year term as President of Ireland, without an election, when no other candidate secures the necessary nominations. This is the third time a sitting president has been reappointed unopposed, following President Seán T. O'Kelly in 1952. And President Patrick Hillery in 1983. (Irish Examiner) (RTÉ)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- Conflict in Iraq:
- U.S. and Iraqi government forces attack the insurgent-held city of Samarra in northern Iraq. U.S. officials say over 100 militants were killed and 37 were captured, while local doctors say at least 80 people died. And 100 were wounded, including civilians. (BBC) (Canada.com News) (The Independent)
- U.S. officials say that U.S. forces rescued Yahlin Kaya, a Turkish construction worker who had been held hostage by militants, during today's assault on the city of Samarra. (Reuters) (The Australian)
- Same-sex marriage debates: The cabinet of Spanish Prime Minister JosĂ© Luis RodrĂguez Zapatero approves a bill to legalize same-sex marriage; the government believes that the bill will pass the full parliament. (CNN) (BBC)
October 2, 2004 (2004-10-02) (Saturday)
October 3, 2004 (2004-10-03) (Sunday)
- Conflict in Iraq: On the third day of the assault on Samarra, which has left 125 insurgents and 70 civilians dead, U.S. and Iraqi government officials say they have secured 70 percent of the city. (AP) (BBC)
- The Prime Minister of Slovenia, Anton Rop, concedes defeat in today's parliamentary elections. Early results suggest the opposition will make large gains at the expense of the current government. (BBC)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- Pope John Paul II beatifies five persons, including Anne Catherine Emmerich, a German nun, and Karl I, last emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in a ceremony in Rome. John Paul II has made a total of 1,340 beatifications (including today's), more than all previous popes combined. (Reuters) Archived 2005-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
October 4, 2004 (2004-10-04) (Monday)
October 5, 2004 (2004-10-05) (Tuesday)
- A major British influenza vaccine company, Chiron, has its manufacturing license revoked due to an outbreak of bacteria. Chiron had been expected to supply half of this season's flu vaccines in the United States. (BBC)
- U.S. presidential campaign: Incumbent US Vice President Dick Cheney and challenger Senator John Edwards meet in Cleveland, Ohio, for the only vice presidential debate of the 2004 U.S. presidential election. (ABC) (MSNBC) (BBC)
- United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, when asked about connections between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda in an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, states "To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two". Several hours later he issues a statement saying that he was "regrettably misunderstood" and that there was "solid evidence of the presence in Iraq of al-Qaeda members, including some that have been in Baghdad". (BBC) (Reuters) Archived 2005-03-05 at the Wayback Machine
- The incumbent President of Indonesia, Megawati Sukarnoputri, concedes defeat in the country's presidential election, which took place last week. Her successor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, will be inaugurated on October 20. (NEWS.com.au)
- Iran announces that its Shahab-3 missile has been modified to increase its range (originally 810 miles (1,300 km)) to 1,250 miles (2,000 km). This puts parts of Europe—and all of the Middle East—within range of Iran's missiles for the first time. (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine (The Scotsman)
- Afghan presidential election: With elections due in four days, Hamid Karzai makes a public appearance in Ghazni, his only campaign rally outside of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. One of Karzai's main opponents, General Abdul Rashid Dostum makes an appearance at Mazari Sharif, whilst another, Yunus Qanuni, addresses crowds in the capital. (BBC)
- American physicists David Gross, David Politzer, and Frank Wilczek are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for "the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction". (Nobel Prize)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
October 6, 2004 (2004-10-06) (Wednesday)
- Appearing before the US Senate Armed Services Committee, Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group announces that the group found no evidence that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had produced any weapons of mass destruction since 1991, when UN sanctions were imposed. This directly contradicts the main argument used by the George W. Bush administration for invading Iraq in 2003. (CNN) (BBC)
- A team of Japanese and Mongolian archaeologists announce that they have found the 13th-century palace of Genghis Khan, at a site about 150 miles east of Ulan Bator, Mongolia, and that his tomb may be located nearby. (CNN) (Japan Times) (Scotsman)
- Conflict in Iraq: A suicide car bomb kills 16 and injures 24 people outside an Iraqi National Guard recruiting center in Anah, a roadside bomb kills a civilian and wounds four policemen in Basra, and a Kurdish tribal leader and his companion are shot dead in Mosul. (Reuters)
- Same-sex marriage in Canada: The Supreme Court of Canada begins three days of hearings into the federal government's reference of a draft bill to legalize same-sex marriage. The court will review the bill's constitutionality, hearing arguments from groups on either side of the debate. A ruling is not expected for months. (CBC)
- A British Royal Navy rescue ship reaches the HMCS Chicoutimi (SSK 879), which is adrift off the Irish coast following an electrical fire en route to Halifax yesterday. Heavy seas have impeded rescue efforts, and one crewman has died being airlifted to hospital. (BBC)
- The European Commission recommends that talks be opened with Turkey aiming for it to join the European Union. (BBC)
- Mark David Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon, is denied parole for the third consecutive time. (BBC)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
- Three people, including 15-year-old boy, are killed after Israel shells the town of Beit Lahiya. (BBC)
- Three Hamas militants are killed after infiltrating the Israeli settlement of Kfar Darom. One of the militants blew up when hit by Israeli gunfire, killing a Thai worker in addition to himself. The other two militants were killed by IDF forces. Gaza Strip. (Haaretz) (INN [Israel])
- The UNRWA denies Israel's claim that it has detained 13 of its staff in Gaza. A spokesman said a member of the Gaza staff had been in detention for two years. But knew of no one else in Israeli custody. Israel qualified its earlier statement, admitting that the number 13 referred to people detained in the past four years, some of whom are no longer in custody. (BBC)
- Israeli scientists Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko and American Irwin Rose are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation". (Haaretz) (Nobel Prize)
October 7, 2004 (2004-10-07) (Thursday)
- In Canada, a last minute compromise between the current minority federal government and the two largest opposition parties ends a dispute over the wording of the throne speech and avoids a premature dissolution of parliament. (Toronto Star)
- The FBI seizes the servers of the open-publishing network Indymedia in the U.S. and the UK, disabling Indymedia websites in many countries. No reason was given. (IMC: 1, 2)
- Three car bombs are detonated in Egyptian towns in the Sinai Peninsula frequented by Israeli tourists. The largest explosion, which killed at least 34 and wounding 105, was at the Hilton Taba in Taba, near the border with Israel. The other two explosions occurred at the towns of Ras al-Sultan and Nuweiba, killing two Israelis and four Egyptians. A group calling itself Jamayia al-Islamia al-Alamiya ("World Islamist Group") later claims responsibility and threatens further attacks. (Al Jazeera) (Haaretz) (The Australian) (ABC) (CNN)
- HMCS Chicoutimi (SSK 879), one of Canada's four Victoria-class submarines, is taken under tow, after being adrift for two days following an onboard fire that crippled the boat. One member of the crew has died. (BBC: 1, 2) (Pravda)
- Austrian author Elfriede Jelinek is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for "her musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that with extraordinary linguistic zeal reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power". (Nobel Prize) (ABC)
- Two bombs explode in the Pakistani city of Multan, killing 39 people at a memorial for murdered Sunni leader Azam Tariq. (BBC)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- The United Nations issues a special report warning of an imminent humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. The report says that 72.5 percent of Palestinians will be living in poverty by the end of 2006, that Israeli restrictions are hampering emergency aid deliveries, and that, since September 28, 82 Palestinians and 5 Israelis, including 26 children, have been killed. (BBC) (UN)
- Witnesses say that two Palestinian children were killed when the Israeli military shelled a crowd near the Jabaliya refugee camp. Israel says that an Israeli helicopter gunship fired at two people attempting to launch a Qassam rocket. (BBC)
- Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, announces his abdication. His successor will be chosen by a special council. (CNN)
October 8, 2004 (2004-10-08) (Friday)
October 9, 2004 (2004-10-09) (Saturday)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflicts:
- In the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli troops shoot and kill Abed Rauf Nabhan, a local Hamas leader, as he prepares to fire an anti-tank missile at Israeli tanks in Jebaliya. The Israeli military says that Nabhan was responsible for a rocket attack that killed two Israeli children in Sderot on Sukkot eve. (Maariv)
- In addition to Abed Rauf Nabhan, seven Palestinians, including two Palestinian Authority policemen, are reported to have been killed today. A total of 94 Palestinians, about half of whom were civilians, including 18 children, have been killed since Israel began its offensive 10 days ago. (ABC News)(BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq: A peace agreement is reached in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City between the Iraqi government and local militants loyal to Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The militants will turn in medium and heavy weapons during a five-day grace period, and Iraqi and US forces will then take control of the area. (CNN)
- Afghanistan's presidential election ends peacefully, but its legitimacy comes into question when all 15 candidates opposing incumbent president Hamid Karzai withdraw, alleging that election irregularities had invalidated the vote. (Reuters) (BBC)
- Australia votes in its 2004 Federal election, with the incumbent Coalition government winning a fourth term. As a result, in December, Australian Prime Minister John Howard will become the nation's second longest-serving Prime Minister. (ABC)
October 10, 2004 (2004-10-10) (Sunday)
- Typhoon Ma-on, the strongest storm to strike eastern Japan in a decade, kills six people in the Tokyo area. (Channel News Asia)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Palestinian witnesses say that a missile fired from an Israeli helicopter destroyed a home in the Gaza Strip town of Jabaliya, killing a schoolteacher and wounding six others. (BBC)
- Somalia's transitional parliament elects Abdullahi Yusuf, a former army officer, interim president. He will be Somalia's first head of state since 1991, when tribal warlords overthrew the ruling military dictatorship. The election was held in Nairobi, Kenya, since the situation in Somalia remains dangerous. (BBC) (ABC)
- Conflict in Iraq: Two car bombs explode in Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and wounding 17, including a US soldier. (AP)
- 2004 Atlantic hurricane season: Tropical Storm Matthew floods southeastern Louisiana, dropping as much as 7 inches (180 mm) of rain. (CNN)
- Christopher Reeve who played Superman in the movie passes away.
October 11, 2004 (2004-10-11) (Monday)
- The Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry requests that all non-Muslims currently in Saudi Arabia refrain from eating, drinking or smoking in public. "Authorities will take deterrent measures such as terminating work contracts of, and deporting, violators"
- War on Terrorism: Human Rights Watch issues a report charging that the US government's treatment of certain suspected terrorists being held outside the U.S. is in violation of U.S. treaties, international human rights law, and the Geneva Conventions. (BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq: A rocket attack in southern Baghdad kills two US soldiers and injures five others, while in the northern city of Mosul a suicide car bomb detonated near a U.S. military convoy kills a U.S. soldier and two Iraqis and injures 27 others. (ABC/AP) (News.com.au)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
- Finn Kydland and Edward Prescott are awarded the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for "their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles". (Nobel Foundation)
- Rescue efforts end in Taba, Egypt at the site of Thursday's bombing. Egypt and Israeli forensic experts announce that they have identified 12 Israelis, 6 Egyptians, 2 Italians, 1 Russian, and 13 Eastern Europeans among those killed. (Haaretz) (Israeli MFA)
- Workers in Nigeria begin a four-day general strike in protest of fuel price increases caused by the last year's repeal of government subsidies. (BBC)
- Early results in the first round of Lithuania's general election show the opposition Labour Party winning the largest proportion of the vote. (BBC)
October 12, 2004 (2004-10-12) (Tuesday)
- Federal, state, and local officials in the US state of Nevada are gathering information regarding allegations that a private voter registration firm, Voters Outreach of America, destroyed registration forms collected from Democratic voters while submitting those collected from Republican voters. (KLAS-TV)
- Cambodia's legislature votes to allow a nine-member council to choose a successor to King Norodom Sihanouk. It is expected the council will choose Prince Norodom Sihamoni. (VOA)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
- The Nigerian government announces that last month, Nigerian Sharia courts sentenced two women, one of whom is pregnant, to death by stoning on charges of committing adultery, while acquitting the two men involved. The sentence may still be appealed. (Reuters)
- The government of Saudi Arabia announces that women will be prohibited from running as candidates or voting in the country's upcoming municipal elections. The elections, the first in Saudi Arabia since the 1960s, will be held from February 10 to April 21, 2005. (CNN)
- Conflict in Iraq: A U.S. Air Force air strike destroys Haji Hussein, the most popular restaurant in insurgent-controlled Fallujah. The U.S. says the restaurant was being used by militants loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Witnesses say two civilian security guards were killed in the attack. (BBC) (ABC Australia) (Reuters)
- The trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević for alleged war crimes has resumed after a month's delay. (BBC)
- Pakistan test fires a nuclear-capable missile with a range of 1,500 km (930 miles), sufficient to reach most cities in neighboring India. Pakistan and India routinely test their missiles. (BBC)(The Hindu [India])
October 13, 2004 (2004-10-13) (Wednesday)
October 14, 2004 (2004-10-14) (Thursday)
- Prince Norodom Sihamoni is named the new King of Cambodia by the country's Throne Council. His father, former King Norodom Sihanouk, abdicated on October 7. (CBC News)
- The British government orders the freezing of any assets that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's militant group, Tawhid and Jihad—which has claimed responsibility for killing Kenneth Bigley—may hold in Britain. (BBC)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
- Conflict in Iraq:
- The Israeli government announces that it will not restrict the number of worshippers allowed to enter Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound (located in the area known as the Temple Mount in Judaism) during the Muslim month of Ramadan, despite concerns voiced by security officials that the site is dangerously structurally unstable and could collapse if too many people visit. The Israeli government had earlier suggested it would limit the number of visitors, with mosque officials accusing Israel of having "political reasons" to do so. (Haaretz) (Jerusalem Post) (AFP)
- Russia and the People's Republic of China sign an agreement ending their last border dispute. Details of the agreement have not yet been released. (AP/Reuters) (Economic Times [India])
- The European Court of Human Rights agrees, for the first time, to hear cases brought against Russia by Chechen civilians. (BBC) (ECHR press release)
- Authorities in Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb division of Bosnia and Herzegovina, admit for the first time the actual scale of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, providing a list of over 7,000 Muslim victims. The Bosnian Serb president admitted in June that Serb forces had committed the massacre, but did not give a specific number of victims. (BBC) (Melbourne Herald Sun) (Channel News Asia)
- A Boeing 747 cargo plane, en route to Spain, crashes at the end of a runway at Halifax International Airport in Nova Scotia, Canada. All seven of the crew are confirmed dead in Canada's worst-ever air cargo crash. (CBC)
October 15, 2004 (2004-10-15) (Friday)
- Presidential elections in the war torn country of Burundi are postponed until April 2005. (BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- The US Army is investigating up to 19 members of an Army Reserve unit stationed in Iraq who refused to take part in a fuel delivery convoy mission they considered unsafe. Relatives of the soldiers say that several soldiers described it as a "suicide mission". Relatives also say that the soldiers were held under guard for almost two days, although an army spokesperson denies the claim. (Daily Telegraph) Archived 2007-03-13 at the Wayback Machine (San Francisco Gate) (Washington Times)
- Major United States air strikes against Fallujah continue. The U.S. military says that the bombings are "not the beginning of a major offensive". (Reuters) Archived 2004-12-26 at the Wayback Machine
- Senior British military sources say that the US has asked that some British troops be moved to an area south of Baghdad to replace U.S. troops moved to Fallujah. Sources also say that the troops would be under U.S. command, a possibility which provokes criticism from opposition members of Parliament. (BBC)
- Former OAS and Costa Rican president, Miguel Angel Rodriguez, is arrested after stepping down last week on allegations of corruption. He is not formally charged. But a judge is demanding him to testify. (BBC)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- The Israel Defense Forces clears an officer accused of repeatedly shooting a Palestinian schoolgirl, Iman al-Hams, while she lay wounded or dead, accepting the officer's claim that he actually shot into the ground near the girl. A separate military police investigation is continuing. (BBC)
- The United Nations chooses Argentina, Denmark, Greece, Japan, and Tanzania as the non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for its next two-year term, which begins in January 2005. (BBC)
- A United Nations official says that about 70,000 people have died in the troubled Darfur region of Sudan since March. (BBC)
- Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is acquitted of treason charges. (BBC)
- Indonesian prosecutors file charges against Abu Bakar Bashir, alleging he was involved in an August 2003 bomb attack on a Jakarta hotel and accusing him for the first time of involvement in the 2002 Bali terrorist bombing. (BBC) (ABC)
October 16, 2004 (2004-10-16) (Saturday)
October 17, 2004 (2004-10-17) (Sunday)
October 18, 2004 (2004-10-18) (Monday)
- India's most wanted bandit, sandalwood smuggler and elephant poacher, Veerappan, is shot dead by the Special Task Force in Tamil Nadu at 11 p.m. IST, after having evaded capture for 20 years. (Reuters) Archived 2005-01-21 at the Wayback Machine (BBC)
- Venkaiah Naidu resigns from his post as president of India's main opposition party, BJP. He will be replaced by Lal Krishna Advani. (BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- Early voting begins in Florida and ten other US states for the 2004 U.S. presidential election, which officially takes place November 2. (CNN)
- A referendum is held in Belarus on a proposal by President Alexander Lukashenko to permit Lukashenko to run for a third term by amending the country's constitution to remove term limits. The Belarus electoral commission says the referendum won the support of at least 75 percent of voters, but independent elections monitors say that the voting procedures "fell significantly short" of international standards. In Minsk, the capital, more than 2,000 people protest the results of the referendum. (BBC) (Reuters)
- Iran says that it is willing to negotiate with the U.K., Germany, and France regarding a suspension of its uranium enrichment activities, but that it will never renounce its right to enrich uranium. Iran's nuclear program is currently under investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency. (Reuters) Archived 2005-03-06 at the Wayback Machine
- The Anglican Communion's Lambeth Commission on Communion releases the Windsor Report. The Commission recommends that churches throughout the Communion express regret for the divisions that they have caused in the Communion. This report was precipitated by the consecration of the openly gay Reverend Gene Robinson as a bishop in the United States Episcopal Church, and by the responses of other Anglican churches to his consecration. (BBC) (Windsor Report)
October 19, 2004 (2004-10-19) (Tuesday)
- In Minsk, Belarus, protests continue over the results of Monday's referendum, which permitted President Alexander Lukashenko to seek a third term. At least 30 protesters are arrested, including opposition leader Anatoly Lebedko. Supporters say Lebedko was badly beaten by police and was refused treatment for his injuries. (BBC)
- Hassan Rowhani, the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, says that he believes Iran's interests would be better served by the election of Republican incumbent George W. Bush, rather than Democrat John Kerry, to the US Presidency. (Yahoo News/AP) (Link dead as of 22:35, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- Conflict in Iraq:
- An unknown militant group kidnaps Margaret Hassan, head of the international charity CARE International, in Baghdad, Iraq. Ms. Hassan holds British, Irish and Iraqi citizenship. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 22:35, 14 January 2007 (UTC)), (AAP Australia)
- A mortar attack on an US army compound in central Baghdad kills a U.S. contractor, while another mortar attack, on an Iraqi National Guard base in Mushahida, kills four guardsmen and injures 80. Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. Marines, arrest 100 suspected insurgents south of Baghdad. Three car bombs kill two Iraqis in Mosul. (BBC)
- British police charge Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri with 16 crimes, including encouraging the murder of non-Muslims. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 22:35, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- British and German officials announce that, on Thursday, representatives of France, the United Kingdom, and Germany will meet in Vienna with Iranian officials to offer Iran a final chance to halt uranium enrichment plans before proposed U.N. sanctions are imposed. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 22:35, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- Thai officials say that Myanmar's military has removed the current prime minister of Myanmar, General Khin Nyunt, from office and placed him under house arrest. (BBC)
- Polytechnic University of the Philippines celebrates its centennial founding.
- In its annual report on national militaries, the International Institute for Strategic Studies says that the US-led invasion of Iraq has, at least for the short term, increased the risk of terrorism. (ABC) (Reuters) (Link dead as of 22:35, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- A team of explorers reached the bottom of the world's deepest cave, located in Krubera. The depth reached was 2,080 meters (6,824 feet), setting a world record. (National Geographic)
October 20, 2004 (2004-10-20) (Wednesday)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- US war planes strike a building in Fallujah. Local sources say the strike killed a family of six, including four children. The U.S. military, however, denies a family was killed and issues a statement saying that "intelligence sources indicate a known Zarqawi propagandist is passing false reports to the media". (Reuters: 1, 2)
- In Samarra, two car bombs kill at least eight civilians, including a child, and wound eleven US soldiers. In Baghdad, an adviser to the political party of Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is killed in a drive-by shooting. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
- CARE International, a health and water aid agency, announces that it is suspending operations in Iraq. Its local manager, Margaret Hassan, was abducted yesterday. (BBC)
- U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick pleads guilty to conspiracy, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees, assault, and committing an indecent act for his actions in the prisoner abuse scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison. He is the third person to plead guilty in the scandal. (CNN)
- Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri resigns and says he will leave the government, ending several weeks of conflict between Hariri and the Syrian-backed President, Émile Lahoud. Lahoud's term in office was extended last month, allegedly as a result of pressure from Syria; in response, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution condemning foreign interference in Lebanon and demanding the withdrawal of foreign troops. (Al Jazeera) Archived 29 November 2004 at the Wayback Machine
- The Boston Red Sox top the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS, and win the series after being down 3-0, winning four straight games in the greatest comeback MLB playoffs history. The Red Sox continue on to face the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. (ESPN)
- Ubuntu released its first version of the Linux operating system, called Warty Warthog (4.10). It is based on the Linux distribution Debian.
October 21, 2004 (2004-10-21) (Thursday)
- A University of Florida scientist, Thomas DeMarse, announces that he has grown a "brain" of rat neurons that can fly an airplane simulator. A "brain" such as this could be used to study how actual brains compute information and, potentially, as a sort of living computer. (Wired) (Discovery) (U. of FL press release)
- Lebanese President Émile Lahoud names staunch pro-Syrian politician Omar Karami as Prime Minister following Rafic Hariri's resignation on October 20, 2004. Karami, Prime Minister from 1990 to 1992, was forced to resign in 1992. (Jerusalem Post)
- Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse: The US Army sentences Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick to eight years in prison for sexually and physically abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. (Reuters)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- In Xinmi, China, a gas explosion in a coal mine kills 62 people; 86 are still missing. (Xinhuanet) (BBC)
- A U.S. pilot is killed in Afghanistan when his Sikorsky HH-60 helicopter crashes due to technical problems. (BBC)
- Fidel Castro, long-time ruler of Cuba, falls after a televised speech, breaking a leg and an arm. (BBC)
- In response to dropping public support for his party, Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson reorganizes the Swedish government by replacing two cabinet ministers. (Bloomberg)
- Typhoon Tokage kills at least 66 people and injures hundreds more in southern Japan, making it the deadliest typhoon to hit Japan in 22 years. (BBC) (Reuters) Archived 2005-01-24 at the Wayback Machine
- The Human Genome Project revises its estimate of the number of genes in the human genome, putting the number at 20,000 to 25,000, about 30 percent fewer than the previous estimate. (ABC News)
October 22, 2004 (2004-10-22) (Friday)
- The state-of-art Canadian Light Source synchrotron opens for atomic research in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. (CBC)
- The Kyoto Treaty on climate change is ratified by Russia's State Duma, the lower house of parliament. The treaty will now go to the upper house and President Vladimir Putin for their approval. (BBC)
- Pakistani forces attack suspected Islamic militants using mortars and helicopters near the Afghanistan border. (Reuters) Archived 2005-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
- Conflict in Iraq:
- Officials from the Republic of Macedonia confirm that three Macedonian contract workers kidnapped on August 21 have been executed. (BBC)
- Carlos Valenzuela, top United Nations electoral expert in Iraq, says that despite the absence of international monitors, "Things could go wrong ... But, so far, everything is on track" for Iraqi national assembly elections in January 2005. (AP/Boston Globe) (NYT)
- Margaret Hassan, the humanitarian aid worker who was kidnapped in Baghdad on October 19, is shown on the al Jazeera television network pleading for her life. (BBC)
- U.S. and Iraqi forces reportedly detain Sheikh Abdel-Sattar Abdel-Jabbar, a Sunni Muslim cleric and a leading member of the Muslim Clerics' Association, a group which, according to members, has played a major role in hostage negotiations and in negotiating the recent cease-fire in Fallujah. The U.S. military, however, says it has no record of any Iraqi cleric being arrested in Baghdad. (Reuters) Archived 2004-10-23 at the Wayback Machine (al-Jazeera)
- United States Air Force planes strike suspected weapons dumps in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. Local hospital officials say seven people were killed and three were wounded. (Turkish Press)
October 23, 2004 (2004-10-23) (Saturday)
- Political Crisis in French Polynesia continues with the fall of the government of Oscar Temaru and doubts cast on the legitimacy of the re-election of Gaston Flosse as President of French Polynesia. (Pacific Islands Report)
- Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Somalia's new president, requests 20,000 African Union troops to help secure the country. (BBC)
- The United States Navy commissions the USS Virginia, the lead ship of the Virginia class. (AP) (AFP) (Virginian-Pilot)
- Prosecutors in France file charges against former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet for the disappearance and torture of four French citizens in the 1970s. (BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq: A suicide car bomb kills 16 and wounds 40 at a police training base in Ramadi west of Baghdad. A separate car bomb kills four Iraqi National Guard soldiers at a check point in Samarra. Two die and four are injured in U.S. air strikes on Falluja. In Mosul, two Turkish drivers are killed and two wounded when their convoy is attacked. Mortars land in central Baghdad killing two civilians. The U.S. military say they have captured a senior official of al-Zarqawi's militant organization. (Reuters) (BBC)
- A powerful 2004 Chūetsu earthquake 6.7 measuring and six aftershocks of similar scale occur in the Tokamachi area. A huge landslide occurs on the outskirts of Nagaoka. Both area is southern and central Niigata Prefecture in Japan. According to Japanese officials, 68 people are killed, 4,085 are injured, and 103,000 are rendered homeless.
October 24, 2004 (2004-10-24) (Sunday)
October 25, 2004 (2004-10-25) (Monday)
- The Roman Catholic Church publishes a handbook intended to guide business, cultural], and political leaders in making decisions regarding social issues. The publication comes one week before the U.S. presidential election. In response to a journalist's question as to how Roman Catholics should vote, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls says that "the Holy See never gets involved in electoral or political questions directly". (MSNBC)
- At the behest of Premier Ralph Klein, the provincial legislative assembly of Alberta, Canada, is dissolved and elections called for November 22. (CBC)
- Tensions remain high in French Polynesia as the Leadership remains in doubt. The Legislative Assembly failed to sit on Monday 25 October. Gaston Flosse, elected President on 22 October, attempted to enter the Presidential palace on the weekend but was met by closed gates. (Oceania Flash)
- Conflict in Iraq: A roadside bomb kills a U.S. soldier and wounds five others in western Baghdad. Hospital officials say five civilians are killed from U.S. snipers in the western city of Ramadi. In Kirkuk, a roadside bomb kills an Iraqi civilian. An Estonian soldier is killed and five wounded in a bomb blast in Baghdad. A mortar lands on an Iraqi National Guard checkpoint north of Baghdad, killing an Iraqi civilian. In Mosul, a car bomb kills a tribal leader and two civilians. (Reuters) Archived 2004-11-14 at archive.today (BBC)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- The International Atomic Energy Agency announces that two weeks ago, the Iraqi government informed the agency that about 380 tons (345,000 kg) of powerful explosives, potentially usable in detonators for nuclear bombs, apparently disappeared from the Al-Qaqaa weapons facility, a site about 30 miles south of Baghdad, sometime shortly before or after Saddam Hussein's government fell. The Iraqi director of planning attributed the disappearance to "the theft and looting of the governmental installations due to lack of security", although other sources indicate the explosives could have been removed by the Hussein regime itself. (Reuters: 1 Archived 2004-10-26 at archive.today, 2 Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine, CNN: 1, 2)
- Six men from Pitcairn Island, including mayor Steve Christian, are convicted of sexual offences involving women and girls as young as 12. The island has a population of 47, mainly descendants of the Bounty crew. (MSNBC) (ABC)
October 26, 2004 (2004-10-26) (Tuesday)
- The co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 587 caused the November 2001, crash in New York City that claimed the lives of 265 people, the staff of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said. (Globe and Mail)
- A report by the media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranks press freedom across the world. The ten lowest scoring countries (least free) in the report were North Korea, Cuba, Myanmar, Turkmenistan, Eritrea, the People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, while the ten highest were Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland, New Zealand, and Latvia. (BBC News) (RSF report)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The Knesset approves Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw 21 settlements from the Gaza Strip and 4 from the West Bank by next year. Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and three other cabinet ministers from Sharon's ruling Likud government threaten to resign if a referendum over the plan will not be held. (Reuters) Archived 2004-11-02 at archive.today (Guardian)
- The People's Republic of China shuts down dozens of illegal or unsanitary blood collection stations as part of its efforts to curb the spread of AIDS in the country. (VOA)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- 78 people died of suffocation while in the custody of Thailand police following the dispersal of a violent demonstration on October 25 in the restive Muslim-majority southern region of the country. The deaths appeared to have occurred during a five-hour trip in closed trucks to a detention facility. (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine(BBC)
- Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto San Andreas was released.
October 27, 2004 (2004-10-27) (Wednesday)
- The Boston Red Sox win their first World Series title since 1918—and break the "Curse of the Bambino"—by beating the St. Louis Cardinals 3–0 in the fourth game of the 2004 World Series of baseball.
- The US Air Force commissions its first F-22 Raptor jet, the world's most expensive fighter aircraft. The Air Force has ordered 277 of the planes. (BBC)
- Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's health declines sharply, and a team of doctors is called in to treat him. Doctors performed a minor diagnostic procedure on Arafat on Monday, after he complained of stomach pains. (Reuters) (Haaretz)
- Scientists announce the discovery on the Indonesian island of Flores of the skeleton of a previously unknown species of extinct human, named Homo floresiensis. Unusually, the creature, while quite different from modern humans—as an adult, it stood only 3 feet (90 cm) tall—dates from only 18,000 years ago, disproving the accepted theory that modern humans became the sole human species 160,000 years ago. (AP)
- Four British citizens, who were detained at the US military installation in Guantanamo Bay for almost three years, sue the U.S. government for ÂŁ5.5 million ($10 million) each, alleging torture and other human rights violations. The principal defendants are Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers. (BBC)
- Three Russian policemen are charged with negligence over the Beslan school hostage crisis; more than 350 people, about half of whom were children, died in that event. (Reuters)
- Three militants with alleged links to al-Qaeda are killed by Pakistani forces near the border with Afghanistan. (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-26 at the Wayback Machine
- Amnesty International declares the Bush administration to be "guilty of setting conditions for torture and cruel treatment by lowering safeguards and failing to respond adequately to allegations of abuse", amid other criticisms of the "war on terror", which the report says is "violating basic rights in the name of national security" and urged the President and challenger John Kerry to support an independent inquiry into detention and interrogation policies. (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
- Slobodan Milošević trial: Slobodan Milošević's defense team asks for a withdrawal, saying Milošević refuses to cooperate. (Reuters)
- U.S. presidential election: The BBC reports that it has obtained a document from George W. Bush's Florida campaign headquarters containing a list of 1,886 names and addresses of voters in largely African-American and Democratic areas of Jacksonville, Florida. Democratic Party officials allege that the document is a "caging list" that the Bush campaign intends to use to issue mass challenges to African-American voters, in violation of federal law. (BBC)
- A vote by the European Parliament over the approval of the new European Commission has been delayed, after incoming president José Manuel Barroso asks for more time to reshuffle his team. (EUobserver) (BBC)
- The Cassini-Huygens space probe makes its first close flyby of Titan, resulting in images up to 100 times better than anything seen before. (Astrobio)
October 28, 2004 (2004-10-28) (Thursday)
- In Latvia, Indulis Emsis, the first Green Party prime minister steps down when the country's minority coalition government dissolves after the parliament rejects its 2005 budget. (CNN)
- An article in the Washington Times, citing US Defense Department official John A. Shaw, alleges that Russian special forces moved weapons, explosives, and related materials out of Iraq and into Syria, Lebanon, and possibly Iran, shortly before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Russia denies the allegation, calling the claims "absurd". U.S. officials later say they cannot corroborate the claim, but are investigating. (Washington Times) (VOA) (Interfax)
- A Los Angeles-based company, Allerca, announced that within three years it will be able to produce a hypoallergenic cat using genetic modification. At the same time, the company denied that it will be able to do the same for dogs, because whereas cats have a single gene that produces the allergenic protein, dogs have many allergenic proteins controlled by multiple genes. (San Jose Mercury News) (New Scientist)
- U.S. presidential election:
- A methane gas explosion in Russia's Listvyazhnaya mine, which is located in Siberia near the border with Mongolia, kills 13 people and injures 23. (Reuters)
- A total lunar eclipse, visible in western Europe, western Africa, and most of North and South America, takes place. It lasts for 3 hours, 40 minutes (1:15 to 4:54 UTC); the next total lunar eclipse will not occur until March 2007. (NASA) (Seattle Times)
October 29, 2004 (2004-10-29) (Friday)
- NAACP sends out warnings about a forged letter that threatens the arrest of voters who have outstanding parking tickets or have failed to pay child support. (The State)
- Vaughn Meader, whose The First Family comedy-album spoof of John F. Kennedy was the fastest-selling American album of all time and won the 1963 Grammy Award for best album of the year, dies in Auburn, Maine. (CNN)
- Fighting broke out for the second time in a month in Somalia between troops from the autonomous Somaliland and Puntland macro-regions. So far, fighting in the disputed region has left over a hundred dead.(BBC)
- In Rome, heads of state and government from the countries of the European Union sign the treaty establishing a constitution for Europe. The treaty is still subject to ratification by the member nations. (BBC)
- Norodom Sihamoni is crowned King of Cambodia. (BBC)
- Yasser Arafat is flown to Paris, France, for medical treatment at Percy military hospital which specializes in blood disorders and cancer. Ahmed Qurei will manage the daily affairs of the Palestinian Authority and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestine Liberation Organization. (Reuters) Archived 2004-10-29 at archive.today
- Two bombings occur in southern Thailand, in the wake of clashes between minority Muslim protesters and Thai soldiers in which about 80 protesters were suffocated while being transported to detention camps. (INQ7.net)
- A Johns Hopkins University study, published in the British medical journal the Lancet, estimates that an additional 100,000 civilian deaths have occurred since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. However, the study has a significant margin of error—the actual figure predicted by the study is anywhere from 8,000 to 194,000 excess deaths. (The Lancet) (Lancet report [pdf]) (BBC) (Slate)
- The New York Times reports the existence of a videotape made by a KSTP-TV St. Paul, Minnesota, television crew embedded with U.S. 101st Airborne Division troops on April 18, 2003, nine days after Hussein's fall. The videotape shows the sealed explosives containers at Al Qaqaa, clearly displaying the ammunition cache of explosives and other weapons supplies, sealed with the International Atomic Energy Agency seals which were reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency 18 months ago. (NY Times)
- Arab television network Al Jazeera broadcasts a new video tape of Osama bin Laden, addressing citizens of the United States, acknowledging his responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks, threatening further action against the U.S., and criticizing U.S. President George W. Bush. He said that the security of the American people depended neither on Mr. Bush nor on John Kerry, but on US policy. (Reuters) (BBC)
- Belgium: Strike of the buses, metros and tramways of the Brussels public transport company STIB/MIVB. Buses of De Lijn however worked. (Expatica.com) (Xinhua)
October 30, 2004 (2004-10-30) (Saturday)
October 31, 2004 (2004-10-31) (Sunday)
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