Portal:Current events/August 2004
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Time: 09:32 UTC | Date: September 30 | See also: Current sports events
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Deaths in August• 6 Rick James Ongoing eventsReconstruction of Iraq Upcoming eventsAug.13–29: Olympics in Athens Upcoming electionsAugust 15: Hugo Chávez recall Election results in August3: Missouri:Same-sex marriage ban Related pages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
August 8, 2004
- United States intelligence officials and non-governmental experts conclude that diplomatic efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons to Iran and North Korea have failed to slow their weapons development programs. (NYT)
- Sudan is seeking support from states attending the Arab League summit in Cairo, Egypt to forstall possible United Nations sanctions against the country regarding its support for the Arab Janjaweed accused of ethnic cleansing in Darfur. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa stated that the Arab League states are inclined to help Sudan avoid sanctions. (Reuters)
- Militants in Iraq kidnaps the Iranian Consul assigned to Karbala, Iraq stating that the consul has been acting in ways incompatible with his diplomatic status. The Islamic Army in Iraq has previously kidnapped an Iraqi, a Philipino, and two Pakistanis. The two Pakistanis have been reported killed by the group. (Reuters)
- In Greece, the Rio-Antirio bridge, the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world, built by the French Vinci group, is inaugurated.
August 7, 2004
- At the Asian Cup 2004 soccer finals, Japan defeats China 3–1; subsequently, a riot broke out in Beijing. (BBC)
August 6, 2004
- Pacific Islands Forum leaders call for assistance for Nauru to prevent the emergence of another "failed state". (The Age)
- U.S. Senate election, 2004: Alan Keyes, a resident of Maryland, indicates he will seek the Republican nomination for the Illinois seat, to run against Barack Obama. (CNN)
- Mohammed M. Hossain and Yassin M. Aref, leaders of the Masjid as-Salam mosque in Albany, New York, are arrested for their part in an alleged plot (actually an FBI sting operation) to use an RPG-7 to assassinate a Pakistani diplomat in New York City. (NYT)
- A Kuwaiti transport company says it is willing to pay millions of dollars ransom to secure hostages' release. (Times of India)
- In Londonderry, Northern Ireland, police are attacked by people carrying petrol bombs. (Reuters)
- Saudi police arrest terror suspect Faris Ahmed Jamaan al-Showeel al-Zahrani. (ABC)
- Israel reopens the Gaza-Egypt border crossing after a three-weeks shutdown, allowing 1,500 Palestinians on the Egyptian side to return home. (AP)
- Two Afghan men deny being enemy fighters, in appearances before U.S. military tribunals reviewing the status of Guantanamo Bay detainees. For the first time, the US allows journalists to attend the hearings. (BBC)
- Radical Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr calls for a truce to be restored after a day of heavy fighting between his militia and U.S. troops in Najaf. (BBC)
- Chess master Bobby Fischer, apparently seeking to avoid deportation to, and trial in the U.S., says he is renouncing his U.S. citizenship. (AFP)
August 5, 2004
- At least seven Iraqis and a U.S. soldier die in clashes; and a U.S. helicopter is shot down, injuring two. (BBC)
- The U.S. FCC issues a preliminary ruling that providers of broadband communications (including cable modem, DSL, broadband over power line, and wireless) and VoIP communications are subject to the 1994 CALEA statutes which require providers to assist law enforcement authorities in wiretapping. (The Register)
August 4, 2004
- The National Institutes of Health decides not to override drug patents to allow generic production of anti-AIDS drug Norvir in the United States, despite claims of price gouging by patients' groups and some members of Congress. (ABC)
- U.S. aviation regulators threaten to cap commercial flights at Chicago's O'Hare airport to reduce delays that are affecting the nation's aviation system. (Reuters)
- Saddam Hussein wants to be transferred to a Swedish jail to await his trial. (Khaleej Times)
- The death toll from monsoon flooding in India exceeds 1,000. (MSNBC)
- NASA dedicates its new supercomputer 'KC' to the memory of India-born astronaut Kalpana Chawla, one of the seven crew members who died when the space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated in mid-air in 2003. (NDTV)
- A bomb explodes near an electrical substation outside Athens, 9 days prior to the beginning of the Olympic Games. (Melbourne Herald Sun)
- The FBI warns that Mumbai, Delhi, or Bangalore could be the target of terrorist attacks. (Times Of India)
- A ceremony is held at London's Cenotaph to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the United Kingdom's entry into the First World War. Four of the 23 surviving British veterans of the war, aged between 103 and 108, are well enough to attend. (BBC)
- Mary Kay Letourneau is released from a Washington prison after serving a sentence of over seven years for statutory rape. The former elementary school teacher became notorious for her sexual involvement with one of her male students, who was 12 years old when the illicit relationship began. She bore two children by the boy, who is now 21 years old. (FOX News)
August 3, 2004
- Saddam Hussein's daughter Raghad reveals her willingness to hire an American lawyer as long as her father gets a fair trial. (Times Of India)
- Two 'high-value' al-Qaida targets are arrested in Pakistan. (Tampa Bay Online)
- A U.S. court martial hears allegations by the lead criminal investigator that Iraqi prisoners were abused 'for fun' at Abu Ghraib. (Reuters)
- Reports state that information that led the US to raise the terror alert for five financial centers in New York city, northern New Jersey and Washington D.C. was mainly three or four years old but had been updated as recently as January. Administration officials note, too, that al Qaeda is known for its advance planning, and that this information became available following the apprehension of a Pakistani member of that terrorist organization. (CNN) (Xinhuanet)
- NASA launches its MESSENGER spacecraft. It is due to reach the planet Mercury in 2011. (JHUAPL)
- The Statue of Liberty opens to the public for the first time since the September 11, 2001 attacks. (BBC)
- Missouri votes to ban same-sex marriage through a state constitutional amendment. The amendment passes with 72% of the vote. Louisiana will vote on the same issue September 18, followed by Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah on November 2. (CBS) Meanwhile, in Washington, a state judge rules that its recently-enacted ban on same-sex marriage violates the state constitution. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
- Tropical storm "Alex" in the Atlantic becomes the first hurricane of the 2004 season, skirting North Carolina's Outer Banks, without making landfall. (CNN)
- The People's Republic of China says it may delay talks on a free trade agreement with Singapore following a recent visit to Taiwan by Singapore's deputy prime minister Lee Hsien Loong. (AtOL) (StraitsTimes)
- The death toll in the market fire in Asuncion, Paraguay rises to 464. Six people, including the co-owner, are arrested for manslaughter on charges that they locked the doors after the fire started, in order to prevent looting. (The Scotsman) (ABC News)
August 2, 2004
- U.S. President George W. Bush urges Congress to create a national intelligence director and a national counterterrorism center. (Centre Daily)
- Jorge Hank Rhon, candidate of the left-conservative PRI party—which had held power in Mexico for more than 70 years—wins the Tijuana mayoral election by just 1.09%, on a platform of solving organized crime by omnipresent public surveillance. (El Universal Online)
- A poll shows that U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry gained limited support after the Democratic Convention. (ABC News)
- The U.S. plans to shift 3,600 soldiers to Iraq from South Korea. (Reuters)
- Turkey's truckers' association says it will stop delivering goods to U.S. forces in Iraq, in what appears to be a direct response to insurgents' videotaped killing of a Turkish hostage. (Herald Sun)
- Doom 3, the long-awaited second follow-up to the 1993 first-person shooting classic, is leaked online. (BBC)
- A Philippine lawyer who helped recover millions of dollars stashed by late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and a doctor who exposed China's SARS outbreak are among this year's winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, a prestigious prize in Asia. (AP)
- Five Moroccans detained at the U.S. military camp in Guantanamo Bay are turned over to authorities in their home country. (The Australian)
- The Indian Army claims to be confronting teenaged militants, some as young as 13 or 14, wielding sophisticated arms, along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. (Times Of India)
- The Iraqi government blames Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi for a series of church bombings that killed at least 11 people, saying the aim was to spark religious strife and drive Christians out of the country. (Khaleej Times)
- Sudan's army says the UN resolution on the conflict in Darfur is "a declaration of war" and threatens to fight any foreign intervention. (BBC)
- India's junior Foreign Minister, Edappakath Ahamed, declares that the Indian government has no confirmation of the release of 3 truck drivers who were taken hostage in Iraq in late July. (Reuters)
- The government of Paraguay confirms that at least 275 people died in a supermarket fire in Asunción. The death toll is still expected to rise as a more thorough search is completed. (Seattle Post) (CNN)
- Police make arrests following the assassination attempt on Pakistan's prime minister-designate. (Herald Sun)
- U.S. General Tommy Franks discloses that, through a double agent codenamed "April Fool", he tricked Saddam Hussein into bungling the defense of his country. (The Australian)
August 1, 2004
- Lawyers reveal that African American workers are to sue Eastman Kodak Co., charging that the firm paid them less and promoted them less often than white colleagues. (Reuters)
- The U.S. raises the security alert level to high for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC, the New York Stock Exchange and companies in the New York City area on Sunday after intelligence signals a possible al Qaeda attack. (Reuters)
- Kuwait bans Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 because it deems the movie insulting to the Saudi Arabian royal family and critical of America's invasion of Iraq. (AP)
- Four car bombs explode just minutes apart outside four nearby churches in central Baghdad and one car bomb explodes at a church in Mosul during Sunday evening services, killing 5 and injuring at least 46 people, witnesses say. The attacks appeared to be the first targeting churches during the 15-months of violent insurgency. (AP)CNN
- Chinese authorities say they have shut down nearly 700 websites and arrested 224 people in a new campaign against internet pornography. (BBC)
- The French Ambassador to Chad, Jean Pierre Bercot, says that France will deploy 200 soldiers to help secure Chad's eastern border with Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region. The troops will also bring humanitarian aid to tens of thousands of Darfur refugees in Chad. (BBC)
- World Trade Organization members agree on a revised draft deal that aims to revive stalled talks on freeing up trade between rich and poor nations. Key WTO members accept proposals to cut the subsidies wealthy countries give their farmers for exports. International non-governmental organizations (NGOs) denounced the results as a sell-out of poor countries and the environment. (BBC) (OneWorld.net)
- Over 311 people are killed and 276 injured in a fire which swept a market in Asunción, Paraguay. (AP)(CNN)
Past events by month
2004: January February March April May June July
2003: January February March April May June July August September October November December
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Logarithmic timeline of current events - most important events of the last ten years on one page.
News collections and sources
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