2004
|
Artist's Concept of Rover on Mars (credit: Maas Digital LLC) (3D version) |
*
January 1 -
Pervez Musharraf wins a
vote of confidence from an
electoral college consisting of
Parliament and the provincial assemblies, confirming him as
President of Pakistan and de facto dictator until 2007.
*
January 3 -
Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the
Red Sea off the coast of
Egypt, killing all 148 aboard.
*
January 4 -
Mikhail Saakashvili wins the presidential elections in
Georgia.
*
January 4 -
NASA's
MER-A (
Spirit) lands on
Mars at 04:35 UTC.
*
January 8 -
Queen Elizabeth II christens the
RMS Queen Mary 2 cruise liner, currently the largest
ocean liner in the world.
*
January 13 - An
Uzbekistan Airways plane crashes in
Uzbekistan's capital of
Tashkent, killing 37.
*
January 18 - Premiere of
The L Word, first lesbian drama series.
*
January 19 -
Animax Asia is launched in Southeast Asia.
*
January 22 - The
European Union bans the import of
poultry from
Thailand, as
bird flu spreads throughout
Southeast Asia.
*
January 24 -
NASA's
MER-B (
Opportunity) lands on
Mars at 05:05 UTC.
*
January 27 - The British government narrowly wins a
House of Commons vote on the proposed introduction of tuition top-up fees in British
universities.
*
January 28 - The findings of the
Hutton Inquiry are published in
London. The
British Government is found not to have falsified information in the "
sexed up dossier". The report criticizes the
BBC's role in the death of
David Kelly, a weapons expert on
Iraq.
*
January 28 - At a hearing of the
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, it is revealed that the
September 11, 2001,
terrorists used
Mace (a brand of
tear gas) or
pepper spray in overpowering the flight crew of
American Airlines Flight 11.
*
February 1 - A
hajj stampede in
Mina,
Saudi Arabia, kills 251 pilgrims.
*
February 1 - The
New England Patriots win
Super Bowl XXXVIII, defeating the
Carolina Panthers, 32-29.
*
February 2 - An 11-story apartment building collapses in
Konya,
Turkey, killing more than 90 residents.
*
February 3 - The
CIA admits that there was no imminent threat from
weapons of mass destruction before the
2003 invasion of Iraq.
*
February 6 - A
suicide bomber kills 41 people on a
metro car in
Moscow.
*
February 7 - Several leaders of
Abnaa el-Balad are arrested in
Israel.
*
February 10 - At least 50 people are killed in a
car bomb attack on a police recruitment centre south of
Baghdad.
*
February 10 - The
French National Assembly votes to pass a
law banning religious items and clothing from schools.
*
February 12 -
Same sex marriage in the United States: The
City and County of San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as an act of
civil disobedience.
*
February 13 - Scientists in
South Korea announce the
cloning of 30 human embryos.
*
February 14 - Riots break out between
New South Wales Police and
Aboriginal residents of
Redfern, a suburb of
Sydney,
Australia.
*
February 14 - The roof of the
Transvaal water park in
Moscow collapses, killing 25 and injuring more than 100.
*
February 18 - A train carrying a convoy of
petrol,
fertiliser, and
sulfur derails and explodes in
Iran, killing 320 people.
*
February 20 - Conservatives win a majority in the
Iranian parliament election.
*
February 24 - 6.5 Richter scale earthquake in Northern
Morocco hits in the near the city of
Al Hoceima - over 400 dead.
Ait Kamara is destroyed. 517 dead.
*
February 25 -
Ash Wednesday. Also, the
religious docudrama,
The Passion of the Christ is released.
*
February 26 - The
United States lifts a ban on travel to
Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.
*
February 26 -
Macedonian President
Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near
Mostar,
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
*
February 29 -
2004 Haiti rebellion:
Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as president of
Haiti. The chief justice of the Haitian Supreme Court,
Boniface Alexandre, is sworn in as interim president.
*
February 29 - The film
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King directed by
Peter Jackson, wins
Academy Awards in every category it was nominated, with 11 wins in total, including Best Picture and Best Director.
*
March 2 -
John Kerry effectively clinches the
2004 U.S. Democratic Party presidential nomination by winning nine out of 10 "
Super Tuesday" primaries and caucuses.
*
March 2 -
NASA announces that the
Mars rover
MER-B (Opportunity) has confirmed that the area of Mars they landed in was once drenched in water.
*
March 6 - The 26th
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is held in
Australia.
*
March 10 - Five British men released from detention at
Camp Delta,
Guantanamo Bay land at
RAF Brize Norton. Four are immediately arrested for questioning.
*
March 11 -
Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in
Madrid kill 190 people.
*
March 12 - Following the terrorist attacks in Madrid on March 11, millions of protesters take to the streets of
Spanish cities against terrorism.
*
March 14 - Two
suicide bombers kill eleven Israeli civilians in
Ashdod, Israel.
*
March 14 - The
Spanish parliamentary elections of 2004 take place. The incumbent government led by
José María Aznar is defeated by the Socialist
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
*
March 14 -
Presidential elections in Russia are held.
Vladimir Putin easily wins a second term.
*
March 14 -
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) held the 20th Anniversary of their flagship pay per view event
WrestleMania.
Wrestlemania XX was held in
Madison Square Garden where the first Wrestlemania had been held 20 years previously.
*
March 15 - A trio of
astronomers announce they have discovered a large
trans-Neptunian object, the largest object found in the
solar system since
Pluto was discovered in
1930. Initially designated
2003 VB12, it was named
90377 Sedna in late September.
*
March 15 - The new Spanish government announces that it will withdraw Spain's 1,300 troops in
Iraq.
*
March 17 - A
pogrom-like
organized violence breaks out over two days in
Kosovo. Nineteen people are killed, 139 Serbian homes are burned, schools and businesses are vandalized, and over 30 Orthodox monasteries and churches are burned and destroyed.
*
March 19 - The
UN launches a
corruption investigation due to the
scandal over its
Iraqi
Oil for Food program.
*
March 20 - President
Chen Shui-bian wins the
Taiwanese presidential election by 0.2% of the vote. The day before, he and Vice President
Annette Lu were 'shot'.
Lien Chan refuses to concede and demands a recount. A controversial '
peace referendum' opposed by the
People's Republic of China is invalidated.
*
March 21 - The
2004 Malaysian general election takes place. The incumbent
Barisan Nasional party wins 198 out of 219 seats in the
Malaysian Parliament.
*
March 21 -
Tony Saca is
elected President of
El Salvador (inauguration
June 1).
*
March 22 -
Palestinians protest in the streets after an
Israeli helicopter gunship fires a missile at the entourage of
Ahmed Yassin in
Gaza City, killing Yassin and 7 others.
*
March 22 Child pornography charges against
Paul Reubens (
Peewee Herman) are dropped, after he pleads guilty to a separate "misdemeanor obscenity" charge.
*
March 25 - British
Prime Minister Tony Blair visits
Libyan leader Colonel
Muammar al-Qaddafi, in return for the dismantling of Libya's
WMD programme in
December 2003 - the first time a major western leader has visited the nation in several decades.
*
March 28 - In
France, the government of
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin suffers a stunning and unprecedented defeat in regional
elections. The first ever South Atlantic
hurricane makes landfall in South Brazil on the state of Santa Catarina - the hurricane is dubbed
Hurricane Catarina.
*
March 29 - The
Republic of Ireland bans smoking in all enclosed work places, including restaurants, pubs and bars.
*
March 29 - Largest expansion of
NATO to date, allowing
Bulgaria,
Estonia,
Latvia,
Lithuania,
Romania,
Slovakia and
Slovenia into the organization.
*
March 31 - Four American
private military contractors working for
Blackwater USA, are killed and their bodies mutilated after being ambushed in
Fallujah,
Iraq.
*
April 1 -
Faroese Prime Minister's Office announces that from then on the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister's Office would use a new version of the Faroese Coat of Arms. The colours were inspired from the Merkið (flag) and yellow/gold was added. The new
Coat of Arms depicts a Ram on a blue shield ready to defend. It can be used by the Government Ministries and by
Faroese embassies, but some still use older versions of the
Coat of Arms.
*
April 3 - A bomb explosion in a
Madrid flat kills a Spanish policeman, and five terrorists suspected of responsibility for the Madrid train bombings on
March 11.
*
April 4 - Serious fighting breaks out in Najaf, Sadr City, and Basra in
Iraq, as Shia
insurgents supporting
Muqtada al-Sadr rise against coalition forces.
*
April 5 -
Queen Elizabeth II begins a state visit to
France to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the
Entente Cordiale.
*
April 8 -
Darfur conflict: The
Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the
Sudanese government and two rebel groups.
*
April 8 - Three
Japanese citizens are taken
hostage in
Iraq.
*
April 8 -
Kazuhide Uekusa, a
Japanese economist, and
professor at
Waseda University Graduate School, is arrested on the
escalator of
JR Shinagawa Station, for trying to peep under a high school girl's skirt and dress with his hand mirror.
*
April 16 -
India defeats
Pakistan in their first
cricket tour in 14 years.
*
April 17 -
Israeli helicopters fire missiles at a convoy of vehicles in the
Gaza Strip, killing the Gaza leader of
Hamas,
Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi.
*
April 20 - In Iraq, 12 mortars were fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents. Twenty two detainees were killed and 92 wounded. [
1]
*
April 21 -
Mordechai Vanunu, who revealed an Israeli nuclear weapons programme in the 1980s, is released from
prison in
Israel after an 18-year term for
treason.
*
April 22 - Two trains carrying explosives and fuel collide in the
North Korean town of
Ryongchon, killing 161 people, injuring 1,300 and destroying thousands of homes.
*
April 22 - The last
coal mine in
France closes, ending nearly 300 years of coal mining.
*
April 24 -
Referenda on a
United Nations plan, which proposes to re-unite the island of
Cyprus, take place in both the
Republic of Cyprus controlled and
Turkish controlled parts. Although the
Turkish Cypriots vote in favour, the
Greek Cypriots reject the proposal.
*
April 28 -
Abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in
Iraq is revealed on the television show
60 Minutes II.
*
April 29 - Last
Oldsmobile rolls off of the assembly line.
*
May 1 - 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 4 - A
WNBC helicopter crashes in the
Flatbush section of
Brooklyn, New York. This event is covered by rival station
WABC-TV.
*
May 6 - The final episode of
Friends airs on
NBC, drawing an estimated 52 million viewers in
North America.
*
May 8 - Would-be "Saudi Princess" "
Antoinette Millard" surfaces in
New York City and claims that muggers had stolen jewels worth of $262.000 from her (she later proves to be an
impostor).
*
May 9 -
Chechen president
Akhmad Kadyrov is killed by a landmine placed under a VIP stage during a
World War II memorial parade in
Grozny.
*
May 9 - Team of
Canada wins the
World Ice Hockey Championship in
Prague.
*
May 10 - The
2004 Philippine presidential and legislative elections take place. Incumbent president
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is re-elected.
*
May 11 - The
explosion destroys a plastics factory in
Glasgow,
UK, killing nine people and injuring over a hundred.
*
May 12 - An American civilian contractor in Iraq,
Nick Berg, is shown being decapitated by a group allegedly linked to
al-Qaida on a web-distributed video.
*
May 13 - In India, the
Congress Party wins a surprise victory in the elections to the
Lok Sabha.
*
May 14 -
Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, marries Australian
Mary Donaldson in
Copenhagen.
*
May 16 -
Failed coup d'état in
Chad against the
President Idriss Déby.
*
May 17 -
Ezzedine Salim, holder of the rotating leadership of the
Iraqi Governing Council, is killed in a bomb blast in
Baghdad.
*
May 17 -
Massachusetts legalizes
same-sex marriage in compliance with a ruling from the state's
Supreme Judicial Court (
Goodridge v. Department of Public Health).
*
May 19 -
Tony Blair is hit with a purple flour bomb in the chamber of the
House of Commons during a session of
Prime Minister's Questions.
*
May 19 -
Jeremy Sivits pleads guilty in a court-martial in connection with alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners at
Abu Ghraib prison in
Baghdad.
*
May 19 -
Angel (TV series) airs its final episode, ending a 5 year run on
The WB Network.
*
May 23 - A section of the ceiling in Terminal 2E at
Paris's
Charles de Gaulle International Airport collapses, claiming at least six lives.
*
May 23 -
Japanese prime minister
Junichiro Koizumi visits
North Korea, to secure the release of the families of the nine abducted Japanese citizens returned earlier.
*
May 26 -
Terry Nichols is convicted by an
Oklahoma state court on murder charges stemming from the
1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
*
May 29 - Dedication of the
National World War II Memorial takes place in
Washington, DC.
*
May 30 - Thousands of people in
Hong Kong take to the streets to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the
Tiananmen Square massacre.
*
June 1 - Twelve-year-old Satomi Mitarai, a
Japanese schoolgirl attending Okubo Elementary School in
Sasebo, Japan is murdered. Her killer, an 11-year-old classmate identified by Japanese authorities as "Girl A", becomes the basis for the
Nevada-tan Internet phenomenon.
*
June 3- All outgoing
flights from the
UK are temporarily grounded following an
air traffic control computer failure.
(BBC)*
June 3-
Central Intelligence Agency director
George Tenet tenders his resignation, citing "personal reasons".
John McLaughlin, CIA Deputy Director, will become the acting Director until a permanent Director is chosen and confirmed by Congress.
*
June 4 -
Marvin Heemeyer destroys many local buildings with a home-made tank in
Granby, Colorado.
*
June 5 - Former
President of the United States,
Ronald Reagan, dies at age 93.
*
June 6 - The 60th anniversary of
D-Day is remembered by world leaders.
*
June 7 - Tampa Bay Lightning defeat Calgary Flames in 2004 Stanley Cup Finals.
*
June 8 - The first
transit of Venus since
1882 occurs; the next one will occur in
2012.
*
June 8 - The
G8 Summit takes place over the next 2 days on
Sea Island, in
Georgia,
USA.
*
June 8 - The pickled heart of
Louis XVII of France is buried in the royal crypt at Saint-Denis.
*
June 11 -
Terry Nichols is spared the death penalty by an Oklahoma state court on murder charges stemming from the
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 11 - After the first presidential state funeral since
1973, President
Ronald Wilson Reagan is laid to rest at
Simi Valley, California, at the site of the
Reagan Presidential Library.
*
June 12 - A 1.3
kg chondrite type
meteorite strikes a house in
Ellerslie, New Zealand, causing serious damage but no injuries.
|
Imprisoned Saddam Hussein |
*
June 15 - The
Detroit Pistons upset the heavily favored
Los Angeles Lakers to win the 2004 NBA Finals, four games to one.
*
June 16 - The
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (or "9/11 Commission") issues an initial report of its findings.
*
June 21 -
SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately-funded
spaceplane to achieve
spaceflight.
*
June 28 -
Union Pacific and
Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains collide in a rural area outside of
San Antonio,
Texas. Forty cars are derailed, including one
chlorine car. Three people die, another 50 people are hospitalized because of exposure to the gas.
*
June 28 - The U.S.-led
coalition occupying Iraq transfers
sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government.
*
June 28 -
Canadian election: The
Liberal Party, led by
Paul Martin, is reduced to a minority government, after holding a majority since November
1993.
*
June 30 - The preliminary hearings begin in
Iraq in the trial of former president
Saddam Hussein, for
war crimes and crimes against
humanity.
*
July 1 - The
Cassini-Huygens spacecraft arrives at
Saturn.
*
July 4 - Groundbreaking for the
Freedom Tower begins at
Ground Zero in
New York City.
*
July 4 -
Greece beats
Portugal 1-0 to win
2004 European Football Championship.
*
July 13 -
Tales of Symphonia is released on the
Nintendo Gamecube.
*
July 22 - The
Old Bridge of
Mostar in
Bosnia-Herzegovina is reconstructed and reopened after being destroyed by
Bosnian Croat forces on
November 9,
1993.
*
July 25 - Over 100,000 opponents to
Israel's unilateral disengagement plan of 2004 participate in a
human chain from
Gush Katif, to the
Western Wall,
Jerusalem (90 kilometers).
*
July 25 -
Lance Armstrong of Austin, Texas wins an unprecedented 6th consecutive
Tour de France cycling title.
*
August 1 - Supermarket fire in
Asunción,
Paraguay, kills about 400 people and leaves over 100 missing.
*
August 1 - A bomb attack occurs in front of
Prague's Casino Royal.
*
August 2 -
Monday demonstrations against social cutbacks began in
Germany.
*
August 3 -
Statue of Liberty reopens after security improvements.
*
August 4 -
Gibraltar celebrates 300 years of British rule.
*
August 6 - A
United Nations report that blames the government of
Sudan for crimes against humanity in
Darfur is released.
*
August 12 -
Singapore's prime minister
Goh Chok Tong hands over his position to
Lee Hsien Loong.
*
August 12 -
New Jersey Governor
James McGreevey announces that he is "a
gay American" and will resign effective November 15, 2004.
*
August 13 - The
2004 Summer Olympics begin in
Athens. They end on
August 29.
*
August 13 -
Hurricane Charley kills 27 people in
Florida after killing four in
Cuba and one in
Jamaica. Charley made landfall near Cayo Costa, FL as a Category 4 hurricane. Charley was the most intense hurricane to strike the United States since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
*
August 16 - Severe
flooding occurs in the
village of
Boscastle in
Cornwall.
*
August 18 - In
Dublin,
Ireland, the
Dublin Port Tunnel excavation works are completed and the final
tunnel boring machine breakthrough ceremony takes place.
*
August 20 -
Elbegdorj Tsakhia - the peaceful democratic revolutionary leader of
Mongolia, becomes the
Prime Minister of Mongolia for the second time.
*
August 21 - A series of blasts rocks a rally of an opposition party in
Dhaka,
Bangladesh, killing at least 13 people.
*
August 22 - Armed robbers steal
Edvard Munch's
The Scream,
Madonna, and other paintings from the Munch Museum in
Oslo,
Norway.
*
August 24 - Two airliners in
Russia, carrying a total of 89 passengers, crash within minutes of each other after flying out of
Domodedovo International Airport, leaving no survivors. Authorities suspect suicide attacks by rebels from
Chechnya to be the cause of the crashes.
*
August 29 - Around 200,000 protesters demonstrate in
New York City against
President George W. Bush and his government, ahead of the
2004 Republican National Convention.
*
August 29 -
Michael Schumacher wins a record seventh
world championship title by finishing second in the
Belgian Grand Prix at
Spa-Francorchamps.
*
August 31 - Two suicide attacks on buses in
Beer Sheva,
Israel, kill at least 16 people and injure at least 60.
Hamas claims responsibility for the attacks.
*
August 31 - A woman commits a suicide attack near a subway station in northern
Moscow,
Russia, killing at least 10 people and injuring at least 50. Authorities hold
Chechen rebels responsible.
* September - The
Great Laxey Mine Railway of the
Isle of Man is re-opened.
*
September 1 -
Chechen terrorists take between 1,000 and 1,500 people hostage, mostly children, in a school in
Beslan,
Northern Ossetia. The hostage-takers demand the release of Chechen terrorists imprisoned in neighbouring
Ingushetia and the independence of
Chechnya from
Russia.
*
September 2 - The
United Nations Security Council adopts
Resolution 1559 calling for the removal of all foreign troops from
Lebanon. This measure is largely aimed at
Syrian troops.
*
September 3 -
Russian forces end the siege at a school in
Beslan,
Northern Ossetia. At least 335 people (among which are 32 of the approximately 40 hostage-takers) are killed and at least 700 people injured.
*
September 3 -
Hurricane Frances makes landfall in
Florida. After killing two people in the
Bahamas,
Hurricane Frances kills ten people in
Florida, two in
Georgia and one in
South Carolina.
*
September 4 -
Hurricane Ivan formed.
*
September 7 - The
Scottish Parliament meets in the new
Scottish Parliament Building for the first time.
*
September 7 -
Hurricane Ivan passes directly over
Grenada, killing 37 people. It passes over other
Caribbean islands over the next two days, killing 5 people in
Venezuela, 4 in the
Dominican Republic, 1 in
Tobago and 20 in
Jamaica.
*
September 8 - In the
"Rathergate" affair, the first
Internet posts appear pointing out that documents claimed by
CBS News to be typewritten memos from the early 1970s appear instead to have been produced using modern word processing systems.
*
September 9 - A
bomb blast outside the
Australian embassy in
Jakarta,
Indonesia, kills eleven people and injures up to 100 people.
*
September 13 - The
Assault Weapons Ban expires.
*
September 15 -
Davíð Oddsson Prime Minister of Iceland, steps down after serving as prime minister since April 30, 1991. Oddson becomes foreign minister as his foreign minister Halldór Ásgrímsson becomes Prime Minister.
*
September 15 - Security at the
Palace of Westminster is compromised, when the House of Commons is stormed by a small group of protestors during a debate about
fox hunting.
*
September 15 -
"Girl A" is sentenced to be
institutionalized due to the
murder of classmate Satomi Mitarai.
*
September 16 -
Hurricane Ivan strikes
Gulf Shores,
Alabama, as a Category 3 storm, killing 25 in
Alabama and
Florida, becoming the 3rd costliest hurricane in American history (currently the 4th following the destruction of 2005's Hurricane Katrina).
*
September 17 - The
2004 Summer Paralympics commences in
Athens,
Greece.
*
September 17 -
Mexico and
Japan finish two year long negotiations and sign a Free Trade Agreement in Mexico City.
*
September 21 -
Green Day releases the blockbuster smash
American Idiot.
*
September 21 - Gaming mega-giant MANSION launches services from Gibraltar.
*
September 22 - The hugely popular
television hit,
LOST, premieres in America.
*
September 23 -
Mount St. Helens becomes active again.
*
September 23 -
Tropical Storm Ivan, having come around and reformed in the
Gulf of Mexico, makes its final landfall near
Cameron, Louisiana, to little effect. In total, the storm will kill 92 people.
*
September 25 -
Hurricane Jeanne makes landfall near Hutchinson Island, FL. In all, Jeanne will kill over 3,000, most in Haiti.
*
September 29 - First
Ansari X-Prize flight of
SpaceShipOne, which is competing with a number of spacecraft (including Canada's
Da Vinci Project, claimed to be its closest rival) and will go on to win the prize on October 4th.
*
October 4 - Two
car bombs kill at least 16 people and injure dozens more in
Baghdad.
*
October 5 - A fire breaks out on the
Canadian submarine HMCS Chicoutimi leaving it stranded without power in the North Atlantic ocean, off the north coast of
Ireland. One crewmember is killed.
*
October 8 -
Kenneth Bigley, the British hostage held by
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an Iraqi insurgent, is killed after a failed escape attempt.
*
October 8 - Suicide bombers detonate two bombs at the
Red Sea resort of
Taba,
Egypt, killing 34 people, mainly Israeli tourists and Egyptian workers.
*
October 9 -
Queen Elizabeth II opens the new
Scottish Parliament Building in a ceremony in
Edinburgh*
October 9 - Incumbent
Prime Minister of Australia John Howard leads the Liberal-National coalition to victory over the Labor Party led by
Mark Latham in federal elections.
*
October 9 -
Direct elections for president are held for the first time in
Afghanistan. Interim president
Hamid Karzai is eventually declared the winner.
*
October 10 -
Abdullahi Yusuf is chosen as the new transitional president of
Somalia.
*
October 14 - Prince
Norodom Sihamoni is chosen as the new king of
Cambodia.
*
October 16 - The
New York Yankees defeat the
Boston Red Sox, 19-8 in Game 3 of
Major League Baseball's
American League Championship Series. The game, which pushed the Yankees to a 3 games to none series lead, sets a record for longest nine
inning baseball game.
*
October 17 - A referendum in
Belarus approves the lifting of constitutional term limits for the presidency.
*
October 18 - Three men attack Greek journalist
Philippos Syrigos in
Athens and seriously wound him.
*
October 19 - General
Khin Nyunt is replaced by Lieutenant-General
Soe Win as
Prime Minister of Myanmar.
*
October 20 -
Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 crashes in
Missouri, killing 13 people, and injuring 2.
*
October 20 -
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono becomes the first directly-elected
President of Indonesia.
*
October 21 - The
Ministry of Defence approves 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 24 - The bodies of 49 Iraqi soldiers are discovered after being ambushed by insurgents.
*
October 24 -
Brazil successfully launches its first rocket into space.
*
October 25 - Reverend Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr and
Coretta Scott King receive the
Congressional Gold Medal.
|
Titan shown in ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths. Photo captured by the Cassini spacecraft |
*
October 26 - The
Cassini probe passes within 1,200km of
Titan*
October 27 - The
Boston Red Sox win the
World Series for the first time since
1918, breaking the
Curse of the Bambino.
*
October 27 - Details of the discovery of a new, recent, species of fossil
hominid,
Homo floresiensis, from the island of
Flores,
Indonesia are published.
*
October 29 - A
videotape of
Osama Bin Laden speaking airs on Arabic TV, in which he threatens terrorist attacks on the
United States, and taunts the
president,
George W. Bush, over the
September 11 Terrorist attacks.
*
October 29 - European heads of state sign in
Rome the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first
European Constitution.
*
October 30 - A 163 metre high
radio mast in
Peterborough,
UK collapses at a fire.
*
October 31 -
Leftist candidate
Tabaré Vázquez is elected President of
Uruguay.
 |
Ken Jennings on Jeopardy! in 2004. He was the longest champion in history. |
*
November 1 - A 16 year old
Palestinian Muslim blows himself up in an outdoor market in
Tel Aviv, killing three
Israelis.
*
November 2 -
U.S. presidential election:
President George W. Bush defeats Senator
John Kerry.
Republicans make gains in the
House and
Senate.
*
November 2 - Dutch film maker
Theo van Gogh is assassinated in
Amsterdam,
Netherlands by
Mohammed Bouyeri.
*
November 6 -
Ufton Nervet rail crash in
Berkshire,
England, kills 7 people.
*
November 6 - In
Côte d'Ivoire, National Army bombings kill nine people, including French UN soldiers. French UN forces retaliate by destroying the
National Army's air force.
*
November 7 -
U.S. forces launch a major assault on the
Iraqi town of
Fallujah, in an effort to rid the area of insurgents before the Iraqi elections in January.
*
November 9 - The Ireland High Court rules that Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan can sue the
Revenue Commissioner to have their
Vancouver, British Columbia Same-sex marriage recognized for tax purposes.
*
November 9 - The highly-anticipated video game
Halo 2 is released. It sets the stage by becoming the #1 first day best selling entertainment ever.
*
November 11 -
Yasser Arafat, leader of the
Palestinian Authority, dies in a Paris hospital.
*
November 12 - A jury finds
Scott Peterson guilty of the murder of his wife Laci, and unborn son Connor.
*
November 13 - After six days of intense battles, the Iraqi town of
Fallujah is fully occupied by U.S. forces.
*
November 14 -
American Secretary of State Colin Powell submits his resignation. He is replaced by
Condoleezza Rice after her confirmation by the
United States Congress.
*
November 16 - The
European Space Agency probe,
Smart 1, passes from orbit of the
Earth into orbit of the
Moon.
*
November 16 - A train crash near
Bundaberg in
Queensland,
Australia, injures 150 people.
*
November 16 - The
People's Republic of China agrees to invest $20 billion dollars in
Argentina, a deal signed days before the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be held in the City of
Santiago in
Chile.
*
November 16 -
NASA's
hypersonic jet
ScramJet breaks a record by reaching a
velocity of about 7,000
mph in an unmanned experimental flight. It obtains a
speed of
Mach 9.6, almost 10 times the
speed of sound.
*
November 17-
November 21 - The
APEC Summit is held in
Santiago,
Chile.
*
November 21 - Final round of
presidential election in Ukraine. Official winner:
Viktor Yanukovych. International election observers express severe criticism, and large crowds gather in a protest rally in
Kiev. Twelve days later, the Supreme Court annuls the result, and a new poll is scheduled.
*
November 25 - The
Indian
political party Congress Jananayaka Peravai merges into the
Indian National Congress*
November 26 - A group of Iraqi political leaders, primarily from
Sunni and
Kurdish parties, advocate a six-month delay in popular elections scheduled for January
2005.
*
November 28 - An explosion occurs in a coal mine in
China. The death toll is expected to be above 150.
*
November 28 -
Ricardo Lagos, President of
Chile, promises economic compensation to 28,000 victims of torture during
Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship.
*
November 28 - Male
Po'o-uli dies of avian
malaria in
Maui Bird Conservation Center in
Olinda before it can breed, making the species in all probability
extinct.
*
November 30 -
Ken Jennings' 74 game reign as
Jeopardy! champion ends. Nancy Zerg defeats Jennings. His final wins total over $2 Million.
*
December 3 - The
Colombian government extradites
Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, one of the most powerful drug dealers in the world, arrested in 1995 and 2003, to the
United States.
*
December 6 - Terrorists attack the
U.S. consulate in
Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia, killing several people.
*
December 8 - The biggest Chinese
PC producer
Lenovo announces its plan to purchase
IBM's global PC business, making it the third largest world PC maker after
Dell and
Hewlett-Packard.
*
December 11 - Tests show that Ukrainian opposition presidential candidate
Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned with a large dose of
dioxin.
*
December 13 - Software giants
Oracle Corporation and
PeopleSoft agree to merge in a $10.3 billion deal, creating the second largest maker of
business applications
software.
*
December 14 - The world's tallest bridge, the
Millau bridge over the
River Tarn in the Massif Central mountains,
France is opened by
President Jacques Chirac.
*
December 15 -
Albanian terrorists take a bus and its passengers hostage in
Athens,
Greece and demand 1 million
euros in ransom money.
*
December 16 - The
House of Lords rules that the
British Government breaches
human rights legislation by detaining without trial foreign nationals suspected of being terrorists.
*
December 16 - IT security company
Symantec Corp signs a definitive agreement to merge with
Veritas Software Corp, valued at $13.5 billion, in an all-stock transaction.
*
December 21 - Iraqi insurgents attack a U.S. military base in the city of
Mosul and kill 22 people.
*
December 22 - Armed robbers in
Northern Ireland steal over £22 million from the headquarters of the
Northern Bank.
Unionist politicians and the
PSNI blame the
PIRA, and stall the
peace process.
*
December 25 - An historic and unprecedented snowfall occurs over portions of southern Texas during the early morning hours. Daily totals include 1.5" at
Brownsville, Texas, 3.5" at
McAllen, Texas, 4.4" at
Corpus Christi, Texas, and 12.1" at
Victoria, Texas.
*
December 26 -
 |
A village near the coast of Sumatra lies in ruins after the December 26 tsunami. |
One of the worst
natural disasters in
recorded history hits southeastern
Asia when
the strongest earthquake in 40 years hits the entire
Indian Ocean region. The massive 9.3 magnitude
earthquake, epicentered just off the west coast of the
Indonesian island of
Sumatra, generates enormous
tsunami waves that crash into the coastal areas of a number of nations including
Thailand,
India,
Sri Lanka, the
Maldives,
Malaysia,
Myanmar,
Bangladesh,
Burma and
Indonesia. The official death toll in the
affected countries stands at 186,983 while more than 40,000 people are still missing.
*
December 26 - The re-run of the second round of the
Ukrainian presidential election takes place. Opposition candidate
Viktor Yushchenko is declared the victor.
*
December 28 - The Ukrainian transport minister,
Heorhiy Kyrpa, is found shot dead, in a suspected suicide.
*
December 30 - A fire in a
Buenos Aires night club (
República Cromagnon) kills 194 people during a rock concert.
*
December 31 - The official opening of
Taipei 101, the current
tallest skyscraper in the world, standing at a height of 509
metres (1,670
feet).
*
December 31 -
Simón Trinidad, high-profiled
FARC leader, is extradited to the
United States, following the second extradition of a high drug dealer in a month and in 2004.
*
December 31 - Ukrainian Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovich resigns.
*
January 21 -
Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway*
February 13 - Declan James Mcmahon grandson of
Vince Mcmahon*
November 20 - HRH
Princess 'M'aSeeiso of
LesothoFor more deaths, see: Deaths in 2004January
*
January 2 -
Lynn Cartwright, American actress (b.
1927)
*
January 4 -
Joan Aiken, English author (b.
1924)
*
January 6 -
Tug McGraw, baseball player (b.
1944)
*
January 6 -
Pierre Charles,
Prime Minister of Dominica (b.
1954)
*
January 11 -
Mairtín Crawford, Irish poet (b.
1967)
*
January 12 -
Randy Van Warmer, American singer and songwriter (b.
1955)
*
January 14 -
Uta Hagen, German actress (b.
1919)
*
January 22 -
Ann Miller, American dancer and actress (b.
1923)
*
January 22 -
Jack Tunney, Canadian wrestling promoter (b.
1935)
*
January 27 -
Jack Paar, American television show host (b.
1918)
*
January 29 -
M. M. Kaye, British writer (b.
1908)
February
*
February 14 -
Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (b.
1970)
*
February 17 -
José López Portillo,
President of Mexico (b.
1920)
*
February 23 -
Carl Anderson, American singer and actor (b.
1945)
*
February 24 -
John Randolph, American actor (b.
1915)
*
February 26 -
Boris Trajkovski,
President of the Republic of Macedonia (b.
1956)
*
February 27 -
Paul Sweezy, American economist and editor (b.
1910)
*
February 28 -
Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian and
Librarian of Congress (b.
1914)
March
*
March 2 -
Cormac McAnallen, Irish footballer (b.
1980)
*
March 2 -
Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (b.
1918)
*
March 2 -
Marge Schott, baseball team owner (b.
1928)
*
March 4 -
Claude Nougaro, French singer (b.
1929)
*
March 4 -
Stephen Sprouse, American fashion designer, artist, and photographer (b.
1953)
*
March 5 -
Priscilla Paris, American singer (b.
1953)
*
March 7 -
Paul Winfield, American actor (heart attack) (b.
1941)
*
March 8 -
Robert Pastorelli, American actor (b.
1954)
*
March 8 -
Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (b.
1948)
*
March 15 -
John Pople, English chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1925)
*
March 20 -
Juliana of the Netherlands (b.
1909)
*
March 22 -
Ahmed Yassin, Palestinian co-founder of Hamas
*
March 26 -
Jan Berry, American singer (b.
1941)
*
March 26 -
Jan Sterling, American actress (b.
1921)
*
March 29 -
Peter Ustinov, English actor and director (b.
1921)
*
March 30 -
Alistair Cooke, English-born journalist (b.
1908)
April
*
April 1 -
Carrie Snodgress, American actress (b.
1946)
*
April 15 -
Ray Condo, Canadian musician (b.
1950)
*
April 17 -
Edmond Pidoux, Swiss writer (b.
1908)
*
April 18 -
Kamisese Mara, first
Prime Minister of Fiji and
President of Fiji (b.
1920)
*
April 19 -
Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the
Guinness Book of Records (b.
1925)
*
April 19 -
John Maynard Smith, English biologist (b.
1920)
*
April 22 -
Pat Tillman, American football player and U.S. Army Ranger (killed in action) (b.
1976)
*
April 24 -
Estée Lauder, American cosmetics entrepreneur (b.
1906)
May
*
May 9 -
Alan King, American actor (b.
1927)
*
May 14 -
Anna Lee, British actress (b.
1913)
*
May 17 -
Tony Randall, American actor (b.
1920)
*
May 17 -
Ezzedine Salim, President of the Iraqi Governing Council (b.
1943)
*
May 22 -
Richard Biggs, American actor (b.
1960)
*
May 22 -
Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (b.
1945)
*
May 25 -
Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (b.
1917)
*
May 28 -
Umberto Agnelli, Swiss-born automobile executive (b.
1934)
*
May 28 -
Bob Couture, Canadian musician (b.
1940)
*
May 29 -
Archibald Cox, American Watergate special prosecutor (b.
1912)
*
May 29 -
Samuel Dash, American Congressional counsel (b.
1925)
June
*
June 5 -
Ronald Reagan,
President of the United States (b.
1911)
*
June 6 -
Iona Brown, British violinist and conductor (b.
1941)
*
June 10 -
Ray Charles, American singer and musician (b.
1930)
*
June 11 -
Egon von Furstenberg, Swiss fashion designer (b.
1946)
*
June 11 -
Xenophon Zolotas,
Prime Minister of Greece (b.
1904)
*
June 13 -
Dick Durrance, American skier (b.
1914)
*
June 16 -
Thanom Kittikachorn,
Prime Minister of Thailand (b.
1912)
*
June 20 -
Jim Bacon,
Premier of Tasmania (b.
1950)
*
June 22 -
Mattie Stepanek, American poet (b.
1990)
*
June 26 -
Naomi Shemer, Israeli songwriter (b.
1931)
*
June 27 -
Darrell Russell, American race car driver (b.
1968)
*
June 27 -
George Patton IV, American general (b.
1923)
July
*
July 1 -
Peter Barnes, English writer (b.
1931)
*
July 1 -
Marlon Brando, American actor (b.
1924)
*
July 2 -
John Cullen Murphy, American comic strip artist (b.
1919)
*
July 4 -
Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss conductor (b.
1920)
*
July 5 -
Hugh Shearer,
Prime Minister of Jamaica (b.
1923)
*
July 6 -
Thomas Klestil,
President of Austria (b.
1932)
*
July 9 -
Isabel Sanford, Harlem actress (b.
1917)
*
July 12 -
Betty Oliphant, co-founder of National Ballet of Canada (b.
1918)
*
July 13 -
Carlos Kleiber, Austrian conductor (b.
1930)
*
July 19 -
Zenko Suzuki,
Prime Minister of Japan (b.
1911)
*
July 21 -
Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1918)
*
July 28 -
Francis Crick, English molecular biologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1916)
*
July 28 -
Sam Edwards, American actor (b.
1915)
August
*
August 1 -
Philip Abelson, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1913)
*
August 3 -
Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photographer (b.
1908)
*
August 6 -
Rick James, American musician (b.
1948)
*
August 8 -
Fay Wray, Canadian actress (b.
1907)
*
August 12 -
Godfrey Hounsfield, English electrical engineer and inventor, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1919)
*
August 13 -
Julia Child, American chef (b.
1912)
*
August 14 -
Czesław Miłosz, Polish-born writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1911)
*
August 15 -
Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1916)
*
August 17 -
Gérard Souzay, French baritone (b.
1918)
*
August 18 -
Elmer Bernstein, American composer (b.
1922)
*
August 18 -
Charlie Waller, American singer and guitarist (b.
1935)
*
August 24 -
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-born psychiatrist (b.
1926)
*
August 26 -
Laura Branigan, American singer (b.
1957)
*
August 27 -
Willie Crawford, baseball player (b.
1946)
*
August 30 -
Fred Lawrence Whipple, American astronomer (b.
1906)
September
*
September 1 -
Ahmed Kuftaro, Grand Mufti of Syria (b.
1915)
*
September 10 -
Brock Adams, American politician (b.
1927)
*
September 11 -
Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria (helicopter crash) (b.
1949)
*
September 13 -
Luis E. Miramontes, Mexican chemist (b.
1925)
*
September 15 -
Johnny Ramone, American guitarist (
The Ramones) (cancer) (b.
1948)
*
September 18 -
Norman Cantor, Canadian historian (b.
1929)
*
September 19 -
Árpád Bogsch, Hungarian-born (b.
1919)
*
September 19 -
Skeeter Davis, American singer (b.
1931)
*
September 19 -
Ellis Marsalis, Sr., American businessman, musician, and activist
*
September 22 -
Ray Traylor, American professional wrestler (b.
1962)
*
September 24 -
Françoise Sagan, French writer (b.
1935)
October
*
October 1 -
Bruce Palmer, Canadian musician (
Buffalo Springfield) (b.
1946)
*
October 3 -
John Cerutti, baseball player and announcer (b.
1960)
*
October 3 -
Janet Leigh, American actress (b.
1927)
*
October 4 -
Gordon Cooper, astronaut (b.
1927)
*
October 5 -
Rodney Dangerfield, American comedian and actor (b.
1921)
*
October 5 -
Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born physicist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1916)
*
October 8 -
Jacques Derrida, Algerian-born French literary critic (b.
1930)
*
October 10 -
Ken Caminiti, baseball player (heart attack) (b.
1963)
*
October 10 -
Christopher Reeve, American actor and activist (b.
1952)
*
October 16 -
Pierre Salinger,
John F. Kennedy's White House Press Secretary (b.
1925)
*
October 20 -
Anthony Hecht, American poet (b.
1923)
*
October 23 -
Robert Merrill, American baritone (b.
1919)
*
October 24 -
Ricky Hendrick, American race car driver and owner (b.
1980)
*
October 25 -
John Peel, British radio disc jockey (b.
1939)
*
October 28 -
Jimmy McLarnin, Irish-born boxer (b.
1907)
*
October 29 -
Edward Oliver LeBlanc, Dominican politician (b.
1923)
*
October 29 -
Peter Twinn, English mathematician and World War II code-breaker (b.
1916)
*
October 30 -
Peggy Ryan, American actress (b.
1924)
November
*
November 1 -
Mac Dre, American rapper (b.
1970)
*
November 2 -
Theo van Gogh, Dutch film director (b.
1957)
*
November 2 -
H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan-al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates (b.
1918)
*
November 7 -
Howard Keel, American singer and actor (b.
1919)
*
November 7 -
Eddie Charlton, Australian snooker player (b.
1929)
*
November 11 -
Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (b.
1929)
*
November 13 -
Ol' Dirty Bastard, American rapper (b.
1968)
*
November 14 -
Margaret Hassan, Irish-born aid worker (b.
1945)
*
November 15 -
John Morgan, British-born comedian
*
November 19 -
John Robert Vane, British pharmacologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1927)
*
November 23 -
Rafael Eitan, Israeli politician (b.
1929)
*
November 29 -
John Drew Barrymore, American actor (b.
1932)
December
*
December 1 -
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (b.
1911)
*
December 2 -
Alicia Markova, English ballerina (b.
1910)
*
December 2 -
Mona Van Duyn, American poet (b.
1921)
*
December 5 -
Seymour Ginsburg, American computer scientist (b.
1928)
*
December 7 -
Frederick Fennell, American conductor (b.
1914)
*
December 8 -
Dimebag Darrell, American guitarist (
Pantera and
Damageplan) (murdered) (b.
1966)
*
December 18 -
Anthony Sampson, British journalist and biographer (b.
1926)
*
December 19 -
Herbert C. Brown, English-born chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1912)
*
December 19 -
Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano (b.
1922)
*
December 20 -
Son Seals, American guitarist (b.
1942)
*
December 23 -
P. V. Narasimha Rao,
Prime Minister of India (b.
1921)
*
December 24 -
Johnny Oates, baseball player and manager (b.
1926)
*
December 26 -
Reggie White, American football player (b.
1961)
*
December 27 -
Hank Garland, American guitarist (b.
1930)
*
December 28 -
Jerry Orbach, American actor (b.
1935)
*
December 28 -
Susan Sontag, American writer and activist (b.
1933)
*
December 29 -
Julius Axelrod, American biochemist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1912)
*
December 30 -
Artie Shaw, American musician (b.
1910)
*
December 31 -
Gerard Debreu, French-born economist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1921)
*
Physics -
David J. Gross,
H. David Politzer,
Frank Wilczek*
Chemistry -
Aaron Ciechanover,
Avram Hershko,
Irwin Rose*
Physiology or Medicine -
Linda B. Buck,
Richard Axel*
Literature -
Elfriede Jelinek*
Peace -
Wangari Maathai*
Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel -
Finn E. Kydland,
Edward C. Prescott*
2004 Coin Picturesroa-rup:2004nds-nl:2004zh-yue:2004年
