| |
| 2004 |
| January 1st |
 |
In
Pakistan Pervez Musharraf got a vote of confidence from an electoral
college consisting of Parliament and the provincial assemblies,
and confirmed him as President of Pakistan until 2007. |
|
| January 3rd |
|
Flash
Airlines Flight 604 crashed into the Red Sea off the coast of
Egypt, killing all 148 passengers and crew on board. |
|
| January 4th |
|
Mikhail
Saakashvili won the Presidential elections in Georgia. |
|
| January
4th |
|
NASA's
MER-A (Spirit) landed on Mars at 04:35 UTC. |
|
| January 8th |
|
Queen
Elizabeth II christened the RMS Queen Mary II cruise liner,
to date the largest ocean liner in the world. |
|
| January
24th |
|
NASA's
MER-B (Opportunity) landed on Mars at 05:05 UTC. |
|
| January 28th |
|
The
findings of the Hutton Inquiry were published in London. The
British Government was found not to have falsified information
in the "sexed up dossier". The report criticised the
BBC's role in the death of David Kelly, July 2003, who was a
weapons expert on Iraq. |
|
| January 28th |
|
At
a hearing of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon
the United States, it was revealed that the September 11th 2001
terrorists used Mace (a brand of tear gas) or pepper spray when
they overpowered the flight crew of American Airlines Flight
11. |
|
| February
1st |
|
In
Mena, near Mecca in Saudi Arabia, a stampede at the Haj religious
festival killed 251 Muslim pilgrims. |
|
| February
3th |
|
The
CIA admited that there was no imminent threat from weapons of
mass destruction before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. |
|
| February
6th |
|
In
Russia, a suicide bomber killed 41 people on a metro car in
Moscow. |
|
| February
7th |
|
Several
leaders of Abnaa el-Balad were arrested in Israel. |
|
| February
10th |
|
In
Iraq at least 50 people were killed in a car bomb attack on
a police recruitment centre south of Baghdad. |
|
| February
10th |
|
The
French National Assembly voted to pass a law banning religious
items and clothing from French schools. |
|
| February
13th |
|
In
South Korea scientists announced the cloning of 30 human embryos. |
|
| February
14th |
|
Riots
broke out between the New South Wales Police and Aboriginal
residents of Redfern, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. |
|
| February
14th |
|
In
Russia the roof of the Transvaal water park in Moscow collapsed
and killed 25 people and over a 100 injured more. |
|
| February
18th |
|
In
Iran a transport train carrying petrol, fertiliser and sulfur
derailed and exploded that killed 320 people. |
|
| February
20th |
|
In
Iran, the conservatives won a majority in the Iranian parliament
election. |
|
| February
26th |
|
The
United States lifted a ban on travel to Libya, which ended travel
restrictions to Libya that had lasted for 23 years. |
|
| March 2nd |
|
In
The United States senator John Kerry clinched the U.S. Democratic
Party presidential nomination for 2004, by winning nine out
of 10 'Super Tuesday' primaries and caucuses. |
|
| March
2nd |
|
NASA
announced that the Mars rover MER-B (Opportunity), had confirmed
that the area of Mars they landed on was once drenched in water. |
|
| March 10th |
|
In
England, five British men released from detention at Camp Delta,
Guantanamo Bay landed at RAF Brize Norton. Four were immediately
arrested by the British police for questioning. |
|
| March 11th |
|
Terrorist
attacks in Madrid, Spain. A simultaneous multi bomb blast attack
on rush hour commuter trains in Madrid killed 202 and injurd
nearly 1,750 people. Muslim extremists from the Al Qaeda announced
responsibility for the attack. |
|
| March 12th |
|
In
Spain, following the terrorist attacks in Madrid on March 11th,
millions of Spanish protesters demonstrated in the streets of
Spanish cities against terrorism and the horror attacks of the
previous day. |
|
| March 14th |
|
The
Spanish government, the ruling Popular Party under José
María Aznar was defeated by the Socialist José
Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in the general election. A political
backlash caused by the terrorist attacks in Madrid three days
earlier, due to Spain's involvement in Iraq. |
|
| March 14th |
|
In
Russia, Presidential elections were held. Vladimir Putin easily
won a second term in office. |
|
| March 14th |
|
In
Ashdod, Israel, two suicide bombers killed eleven Israeli civilians. |
|
| March 15th |
|
The
new Spanish government announced that it will withdraw Spain's
1,300 troops in Iraq. |
|
| March 17th |
|
In Kosovo organised violence broke out. Nineteen people were
killed, 139 Serbian homes were burned, schools and businesses
were attacked and over 30 orthodox monasteries and churches
were burned and destroyed. |
|
| March 19th |
|
The
UN launched a corruption investigation due to the scandal over
its Iraqi Oil for Food program. |
|
| March 21st |
|
Hamas
leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin was assassinated in Gaza City by an
Israeli helicopter gunship. Seven others were also killed. Humas
declared a new wave of terror and riots erupted across the Middle-East. |
|
| March 22nd |
|
Palestinians
protested in the streets after the assassination of the Hamas
leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin on the previous day by an Israeli
helicopter gunship. |
|
| March 24th |
|
In
Spain a state memorial service was held in the Almudena Cathedral
de Santa Maria in Madrid. The service was for the 202 victims
of the terrorist attack on the commuter trains on the 11th March. |
|
| March 25th |
|
British
Prime Minister Tony Blair met Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi
(Moamer al-Khaddhafi) in a tent outside Tripoli, Libya. As a
result of Gaddafi's renouncement of terrorism and WMD in December
2003. |
|
| March 29th |
|
The
Republic of Ireland banned smoking in all enclosed work places,
which included restaurants, pubs and bars. |
|
| March 29th |
|
The
largest expansion of NATO to date, which allowed former the
Eastern European countries of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia into the organisation. |
|
| March 29th |
|
The
English actor, director and raconteur, Peter Ustinov died. |
|
| March 31st |
|
In
Fallujah, Iraq, four American private military contractors who
worked for Blackwater USA, were killed and their bodies mutilated
after being ambushed. |
|
| April 3rd |
|
In
Spain, a bomb explosion in a Madrid flat killed a Spanish policeman
and five terrorists suspected of responsibility for the Madrid
train attacks on March 11th. |
|
| April 4th |
|
In
Iraq, the cities of Najaf, Sadr City, and Basra, serious fighting
broke out. Shia insurgents supporting Muqtada al-Sadr rose against
the coalition forces. |
|
| April 5th |
|
Queen
Elizabeth II began a state visit to France to celebrate the
100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale, a treaty signed between
Great Britain and France on April 8th 1904. |
|
| April 8th |
|
In
Iraq three Japanese citizens were taken hostage. |
|
| April 16th |
|
India
defeated Pakistan in their first cricket tour in 14 years. |
|
| April 17th |
|
Israeli
helicopters fired missiles at a convoy of vehicles in the Gaza
Strip, and killed the Gaza leader of Hamas, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi. |
|
| April 20th |
|
In
Iraq, 12 mortars were fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents.
Twenty two detainees were killed and 92 wounded. |
|
| April 21st |
|
Israeli
nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was released from the
Shikma prison in Ashkelon, Israel, after serving 18 years. Vanunu
was jailed in 1986 for leaking Israeli nuclear secrets to the
media. |
|
| April 22nd |
|
Two
trains carrying explosives and fuel collided in the North Korean
town of Ryongchon. The collision killed 161 people, injured
1,300 and destroyed thousands of homes. |
|
| April 25th |
|
A
referendum on a United Nations plan, which proposed to re-unite
the island of Cyprus, took place in both the Greek and Turkish
parts. Although the Turks voted in favour, the Greeks rejected
the proposal. |
|
| May 1st |
|
The
largest expansion to date of the European Union takes place,
extending the Union by 10 member-states: Poland, Lithuania,
Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary,
Malta and Cyprus. |
|
| May 9th |
|
Chechen
president Akhmad Kadyrov was killed by a landmine placed under
a VIP stage during a World War II memorial parade in Grozny. |
|
| May 11th |
|
In
Scotland, an explosion destroyed a plastics factory in Glasgow.
The blast killed 9 people and injured over a 100. |
|
| May 12th |
|
In
Iraq, an American civilian contractor Nick Bergin who had been
kidnapped, was shown being decapitated on video via web sites,
by a group linked to Al-Qaeda . |
|
| May 17th |
|
In
Iraq, Ezzedine Salim, holder of the rotating leadership of the
Iraqi Governing Council, was killed in a bomb blast in Baghdad. |
|
| May 19th |
|
In
England, British Prime Minister Tony Blair was hit with a purple
flour bomb in the chamber of the House of Commons during a session
of Prime Minister's Questions. The protest group 'Fathers4Justice'
were responsible. |
|
| May 23th |
|
In
France a section of the ceiling in Terminal 2E at Paris's Charles
de Gaulle International Airport collapsed, the accident killed
6 people. |
|
| May 26th |
|
In
the United States, Terry Nichols was convicted by an Oklahoma
state court on murder charges that stemmed from the April 19th
1995 Oklahoma City bombing. |
|
| May 30th |
|
In
Hong Kong thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate
and commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square
massacre of May/June 1989 in Beijing in China. |
|
| June 3rd |
|
In
Britain all outgoing flights from the UK were temporarily grounded
following an air traffic control computer failure. |
|
| June 5th |
|
The
famous Hollywood actor and ex-President of the United States
of America, Ronald Wilson Reagan died aged 93. Reagan served
two terms as the US President during the 1980s. |
|
| June
6th |
|
The
60th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied beach landings in Normandy,
France, was remembered by world leaders. |
|
| June 8th |
|
In
the United States, the G8 Summit took place over two days on
Sea island in Georgia. |
|
| June 11th |
|
In
the United States, Terry Nichols was spared the death penalty
by an Oklahoma state court after being convicted of murder on
May 26th of the April 19th 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The decision
came on the third anniversary of the execution of his co-defendant
Timothy James McVeigh, in Terre Haute, Indiana. |
|
| June 11th |
|
In
the United States, the first Presidential state funeral was
held since 1973. President Ronald Wilson Reagan was laid to
rest at Simi Valley, California, at the site of the Reagan Presidential
Library. |
|
| June 16th |
|
The
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
(or "9/11 Commission") issued an initial report of
its findings. |
|
| June
21st |
|
Space
Ship One became the first privately funded space plane to achieve
spaceflight. |
|
| June 28th |
|
At
10.26am the Coalition forces handed over sovereignty to an interim
Iraqi government after 14 months of occupation. American proconsul
Paul Bremer exchanged authority with Prime Minister Dr. Iyad
Allawi. |
|
| June 30th |
|
In
Iraq the preliminary hearings began in the trial of former President
Saddam Hussein, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. |
|
| July
3rd |
|
Cosmonaut
Andriyan Nikolaev died suddenly of a heart attack. Nikolaev
flew as pilot in space on the Vostok-3 mission. The mission
duration was between the 11th -15th August in 1962. |
|
| July 4th |
|
In
New York City, Untied States, groundbreaking of 'Freedom Tower'
at Ground Zero began. |
|
| July 22nd |
|
The
Old Bridge of Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina was reconstructed
and reopened after it was destroyed by Bosnian Croat forces
on November 9th 1993. |
|
| July 25th |
|
Over
100,000 opponents to Israel's unilateral disengagement plan
of 2004 participated in a human chain 90 kilometers in length,
from Gush Katif, to the Western Wall, Jerusalem. |
|
| July 25th |
|
In
France, Lance Armstrong of Austin, Texas, won an unprecedented
6th consecutive Tour de France cycling title. |
|
| June
27th |
|
The
American general George Patton IV died. Well known General of
World War II, famous for wearing his pearl handled six shooters. |
|
| August 3rd |
|
French
photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, known as the 'eye of the
century', died aged 95. He documented some of the major events
of the 20th century, Spanish Civil War, liberation of Paris,
the fall of Beijing to Mao's communists and the death of Mahatma
Gandhi. |
|
| August 13th |
|
In
Florida, United States, Hurricane Charley killed 27 people.
It killed 4 in Cuba and 1 in Jamaica. Charley made landfall
near Cayo Costa, Florida as a Category 4 hurricane. Charley
was the most intense hurricane to strike the United States since
Hurricane Andrew in 1992. |
|
| August 16th |
|
In
England, severe flooding in Cornwall destroyed the village of
Boscastle. |
|
| August 22nd |
|
In
Norway, a gang of armed robbers stole Edvard Munch's 'The Scream'
(Skrik, 1893), 'Madonna' and other paintings from the Munch
Museum in Oslo, Norway. |
|
| August 24th |
|
In
Russia, two airliners carrying a total of 89 passengers crashed
within minutes of flying out of Domodedovo International Airport,
which left no survivors. Authorities suspected suicide attacks
by rebels from Chechnya to be the cause of the crashes. |
|
| August 29th |
|
In
the United States, around 200,000 protesters demonstrated in
New York City against President George W. Bush Jr. and his government,
ahead of the 2004 Republican National Convention. |
|
| August 31st |
|
In
Israel, two suicide attacks on buses in Beer Sheva, killed at
least 16 people and injured at least 60. Hamas claimed responsibility
for the attacks. |
|
| August 31st |
|
In
Russia, a woman committed a suicide attack near a subway station
in northern Moscow, which killed at least 10 people and injured
at least 50 others. Authorities held Chechen rebels responsible. |
|
| September
1st |
|
Chechen
rebels took between 1,000 and 1,500 people hostage, mostly children,
in a school in Beslan, Northern Ossetia. The hostage-takers
demanded the release of Chechen rebels imprisoned in neighbouring
Ingushetia and the independence of Chechnya from Russia. |
|
| September
2nd |
|
The
United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1559 calling
for the removal of all foreign troops from Lebanon. This measure
was largely aimed at Syrian troops. |
|
| September
3rd |
|
Beslan
school massacre. Chechen terrorists that siezed a Beslan school
in North Ossetia two days earlier slaughtered their hostages,
bringing the 53 hour siege to an end. 336 people were murdered,
more than half that number were children. Russian forces killed
32 terrorists and the injured numbered nearly 700 people. |
|
| September
7th |
|
In
Edinburgh, Scotland, the Scottish Parliament met in the new
Scottish Parliament Building for the first time. |
|
| September
9th |
|
In
Jakarta, Indonesia, a bomb blast outside the Australian embassy
killed eleven people and injured up to 100 more. |
|
| September
15th |
|
In
London, England, the security at the Palace of Westminster was
compromised when the House of Commons was stormed by a small
group of protestors during a debate about fox hunting. |
|
| October 4th |
|
In
Iraq two car bombs killed at least 16 people and injured dozens
more in Baghdad. |
|
| October 8th |
|
In Iraq, the British hostage Kenneth Bigley, held by Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, an Iraqi insurgent, was killed after a failed escape
attempt. |
|
| October 8th |
|
In
Egypt, suicide bombers detonated two bombs at the Red Sea resort
of Taba. The blast killed 34 Israeli tourists and Egyptian workers. |
|
| October 9th |
|
In
Scotland, Queen Elizabeth II opened the new Scottish Parliament
Building in a ceremony in Edinburgh. |
|
| October 9th |
|
In Afghanistan, direct elections for president was held for
the first time. Interim president Hamid Karzai was eventually
declared the winner. |
|
| October 10th |
|
The
American actor and activist Christopher Reeve died. Reeve was
famous for his role on film as the superhero 'Superman'. He
was paralysed from the neck down after falling from his horse
in a riding competition on May 27th 1995. |
|
| October 21st |
|
In
Britain, the MOD (Ministry of Defence) approved the deployment
of the Black Watch regiment of the British Army to Baghdad,
Iraq, after a request for assistance by the U.S. government. |
|
| October 24th |
|
In
Iraq, the bodies of 49 Iraqi soldiers was discovered after being
ambushed by rebel insurgents. |
|
| October
24th |
|
Brazil
successfully launched its first rocket into space. |
|
| October 25th |
|
The
American Civil Rights leader, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King, were recognised for
their work when they received the Congressional Gold Medal. |
|
| October 25th |
|
British
Radio 1 DJ John Peel died. Peel championed new music on his
shows on BBC radio over several decades. |
|
| October 29th |
|
A
videotape of Osama Bin Laden speaking aired on Arabic TV, in
which he threatened terrorist attacks on the United States,
and taunted the US President George W. Bush Jr., over the September
11th 2001 attacks. |
|
| October 29th |
|
European
heads of state signed in Rome the Treaty and Final Act that
established the first European Constitution. |
|
| November
1st |
|
In
Israel a 16 year old Palestinian boy blew himself up at an outdoor
market in Tel Aviv. The blast killed three Israelis. |
|
| November
2nd |
|
In
Holland Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh was assassinated in Amsterdam
by Muslim extremist Mohammed Bouyeri. |
|
| November
2nd |
|
President
George W. Bush Jr. became the President of the United States
of America for a second term, by winning the 2004 US election
against Democrat candidate Senator John Kerry. |
|
| November
7th |
|
U.S.
forces launched a major assault on the rebel insurgent stronghold
of the Iraqi town of Fallujah, in an effort to rid the area
of insurgents before the Iraqi elections in January 2005. |
|
| November
11th |
|
Palestine
leader Yassir Arafat died at the age of 75. Controversial President
of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The exact cause
of his illness is unknown and considered controversial. |
|
| November
12th |
|
Yassir
Arafat was laid to rest within his former headquarters in Ramallah,
in the West Bank. Following a state funeral in Cairo, which
was attended by many Arab leaders. |
|
| November
13th |
|
In
Iraq, after six days of intense battles in the insurgent stronghold
of the Iraqi town of Fallujah, was fully occupied by U.S. forces. |
|
| November
14th |
|
American
Secretary of State Colin Powell submited his resignation. He
was replaced by Condoleezza Rice after her confirmation from
the United States Congress. |
|
| November
16th |
|
The
European Space Agency probe, Smart 1, passed from orbit of the
Earth into the orbit of the Moon. |
|
| November
16th |
|
NASA's
hypersonic jet ScramJet broke a record by reaching a velocity
of about 7,000 mph in an unmanned experimental flight. It obtained
a speed of Mach 9.6, almost 10 times the speed of sound. |
|
| November
21st |
|
In
the Ukraine, the final round of Presidential election ended.
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych declared the winner. International
election observers expressed severe criticism, and large crowds
demostrated in a protest rally in Kiev. 12 days later, the Supreme
Court annulled the result, and a new poll was scheduled for
December. |
|
| November
26th |
|
In
Iraq, a group of Iraqi political leaders, primarily from Sunni
and Kurdish parties, advocated a six-month delay in popular
elections scheduled for January 2005. |
|
| November
28th |
|
The
President of Chile Ricardo Lagos promised economic compensation
to 28,000 victims of torture during Augusto Pinochet's military
dictatorship. |
|
| December
3rd |
|
The
Colombian government extradited to the United States one of
the most powerful drug dealers in the world, Gilberto Rodríguez
Orejuela. |
|
| December
6th |
|
In
Saudi Arabia, terrorists attacked the U.S. consulate in Jeddah
and killed several people. |
|
| December
11th |
|
Medical
tests showed that Ukrainian opposition presidential candidate
Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned with a large dose of dioxin. |
|
| December
14th |
|
In
France the world's tallest bridge, the Millau bridge over the
River Tarn in the Massif Central mountains was opened by French
President Jacques Chirac. British designer and architect. |
|
| December
15th |
|
In
Greece, Albanian terrorists took a bus and its passengers hostage
in Athens and demand 1 million euros (€) in ransom money. |
|
| December
16th |
|
In
England, the House of Lords ruled that the British Government
breached human rights legislation by the detention without trial
foreign nationals suspected of being terrorists. |
|
| December
21st |
|
Iraqi
insurgents attacked a U.S. military base in the city of Mosul
and killed 22 people. |
|
| December
22nd |
|
In
Northern Ireland, armed robbers stolel over £22 million
from the headquarters of the Northern Bank. Unionist politicians
and the PSNI blamed the IRA, which stalled the peace process. |
|
| December
26th |
|
A
tsunami disaster struck south east Asia, a result of a large
9.3 earthquake off the west coast island of Sumatra in Indonesia,
in the Indian Ocean. The tsunami wave swept across much of the
coastlines of Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Burma,
Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and even as far as Somalia in
Africa. 289,000 people were killed, settlements destroyed and
millions left homeless in the most devastating natural disaster
the World had ever experienced. |
|
| December
26th |
|
In
the Ukraine, the re-run of the second round of the Ukrainian
presidential election took place. Opposition candidate Viktor
Yushchenko was declared the victor. |
|
| December
28th |
|
The
Ukrainian transport minister, Heorhiy Kyrpa, was found shot
dead in a suspected suicide. |
|
| December
30th |
|
In
Argentina, a fire in a Buenos Aires night club, República
Cromagnon, killed 194 people during a rock concert. |
|
| December
31st |
|
In
the Ukraine, and following the election of December 26th, Ukrainian
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich resigned. |
|
| December
31st |
|
The
official opening of Taipei 101, at this date the tallest skyscraper
in the world, standing at a height of 508 metres or 1,676 feet. |
|
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