2004

2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. It was designated the:

• International Year of Rice (by the United Nations)
• International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO)
• Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar)

See The world in 2004 for a description of the state of the world in this year.

Events

January

• January 1 - Pervez Musharraf gets a vote of confidence from an electoral college consisting of Parliament and the provincial assemblies, confirming him as President of Pakistan 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.
• January 8 - Queen Elizabeth II christens the RMS Queen Mary 2 cruise liner, currently the largest ocean liner in the world.
• January 11 - The infamous Goatse.cx website is shutdown for AUP violations.
• January 13 - An Uzbekistan Airways plane crashes in Uzbekistan's capital of Tashkent, killing 37.
• 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.
• 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 criticises 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

• February 1 - A hajj stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills 251 pilgrims.
• 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 arrested in Israel.
• February 10 - At least 50 people 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 15 - David Chapman opens up the LivingWithStyle website.
• 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 Rif mountains 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 was 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 11 Academy Awards in every category it was nominated.

March

• March 2 - John Kerry effectively clinches the U.S. Democratic Party presidential nomination, 2004 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 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 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 - 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 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.
• 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

• 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.
  • Three Japanese citizens are taken hostage in Iraq.
• 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. 22 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.
  • The last coal mine in France closes, ending nearly 300 years of coal mining.
• April 25 - Referenda on a United Nations plan, which proposes to re-unite the island of Cyprus, take place in both the Greek and Turkish parts. Although the Turks vote in favour, the Greeks reject the proposal.
• April 28 - Abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is revealed on the television show 60 Minutes II.

May

• 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 6 - The final episode of Friends airs on NBC, drawing an estimated 52 million viewers in North America.
• May 9 -
  • Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed by landmine placed under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial parade in Grozny.
  • Team of Canada won the World Ice Hockey Championship in Prague.
• May 10 - The 2004 Philippine presidential and legislative elections take place. Incumbent president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wins the presidency.
• May 11 - An 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 -
  • The Los Angeles Lakers defeat the San Antonio Spurs, 74-73, in Game 5 of the NBA Playoffs on a last second shot by point guard Derek Fisher.
  • 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 17 -
  • Ezzedine Salim, holder of the rotating leadership of the Iraqi Governing Council, is killed in a bomb blast in Baghdad.
  • Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage in compliance with a ruling from the state's Supreme Judicial Court (Goodridge et al. v. Department of Public Health).
• May 18 - The IOC announces the short list of candidates for the 2012 Summer Olympics: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris. Unsuccessful cities are Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig and Rio de Janeiro.
• 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.
  • Jeremy Sivits pleads guilty in a court-martial in connection with alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.
• May 23 -
  • A section of the ceiling in Terminal 2E at Paris's Charles de Gaulle International Airport collapses, claiming at least six lives.
  • 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

• June 1 - 12-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 meme.
• 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 8 -
  • The first transit of Venus since 1882 occurs; the next one will occur in 2012.
  • The G8 Summit takes place over the next 2 days on Sea Island, in Georgia, USA.
  • 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.
  • 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 struck a house in Ellerslie, New Zealand causing serious damage but no injuries.
  

  

  Imprisoned Saddam Hussein
• 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 -
  • The U.S.-led coalition occupying Iraq transfers sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government.
  • 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

• July 1 - The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft arrives at Saturn.
• July 4 -
  • Groundbreaking of Freedom Tower at Ground Zero in New York City.
  • The EURO 2004 final between Portugal and Greece takes place in Lisbon, Portugal. Greece wins the match 1:0.
• July 15 - 18 - The Open Championship in golf takes place in Troon, Scotland.
• 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).
  • Lance Armstrong of Austin, Texas wins an unprecedented 6th consecutive Tour de France cycling title.

August

• August 1 - Supermarket fire in Asunción, Paraguay, kills about 400 people and leaves over 100 missing.
• August 3 - Statue of Liberty reopens after security improvements.
• 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 13 -
  • The 2004 Summer Olympics begin in Athens. They end on August 29.
  • 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 18 - In Dublin, Ireland the Dublin Port Tunnel excavation works were completed and the final tunnel boring machine breakthrough ceremony took place.
• 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 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.
  • 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

• September 1 - Chechen rebels 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 rebels 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 at least 32 of the approximately 40 hostage-takers) have been killed and at least 700 people have been injured.
  • Hurricane Frances makes landfall in Florida. After killing two people in the Bahamas, Hurricane Frances killed ten people in Florida, two in Georgia and one in South Carolina.
• September 5 - Future Hurricane Ivan becomes a Hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.
• September 7 -
  • The Scottish Parliament meets in the new Scottish Parliament Building for the first time.
  • 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 1970's 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 14- Tufts University activists create Project REPEAL to challenge Somerville, MA Anti-loitering Ordinance.
• 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.
  • 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.
  • "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.
• September 17 -
  • 2004 Summer Paralympics commences in Athens, Greece.
  • Mexico and Japan finish the two year long negotiations and sign a Free Trade Agreement in Mexico City.
• September 23
  • Mount St. Helens became active again.
  • 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 killed 92 people.
• September 25 - Hurricane Jeanne makes landfall near Hutchinson Island, FL. In all, Jeanne killed over 3,000, most in Haiti.
• September 29 - First Ansari X-Prize flight of SpaceShipOne.

October

• 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 -
  • Jacques Derrida dies in Paris.
  • Kenneth Bigley, the British hostage held by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an Iraqi insurgent, is killed after a failed escape attempt.
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Direct elections for president 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 - The Boston Red Sox defeat the New York Yankees twice in one day, to pull to within 3 games to 2 in the American League Championship Series. The first victory comes just after one-thirty in the morning, on a walk-off home run by David Ortiz; the second victory comes just after eleven in the evening, on a game-winning RBI by Ortiz.
• October 19 - General Khin Nyunt is replaced by Lieutenant-General Soe Win as Prime Minister of Myanmar.
• October 20 -
  • The Boston Red Sox defeat the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, completing an unprecedented comeback from three games to none down.
  • Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 crashes in Missouri, killing 13 people, and injuring 2.
  • 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 discovered after being ambushed by insurgents.
  • Brazil successfully launches its first rocket into space.
• October 26 -
  

  

  Titan shown in ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths. Photo captured by the Cassini spacecraft
  The Cassini probe passes within 1,200km of Titan
• October 27 -
  • Details of the discovery of a new, recent, species of fossil hominid, Homo floresiensis, from the island of Flores, Indonesia are published.
  • The Boston Red Sox sweep the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series championship for the first time since 1918.
• October 29
  • A videotape of Osama Bin Laden speaking airs on Arabic TV, in which he threatens terrorist attacks on the USA, and taunts the president, George W. Bush, over the September 11 Terrorist attacks.
  • European heads of state signed in Rome the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution.
• October 30 - A 163 metre high radio mast in Peterborough, UK collapsed at a fire
• October 31 - Leftist candidate Tabaré Vázquez is elected President of Uruguay.

November

• November 2 - U.S. presidential election: President George W. Bush defeats Senator John Kerry. Republicans make gains in the House and Senate.
• November 6 -
  • Ufton Nervet rail crash in Berkshire, England, kills 7 people.
  • 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 12 - Jury finds Scott Peterson guilty of murder of his wife Laci and unborn son, Connor
• November 13 - After six days of intense battles, Iraqi town of Fallujah fully occupied by U.S. forces.
• November 14 - American Secretary of State, Colin Powell submits his resignation. He was replaced by Condoleezza Rice after her confirmation from the United States Congress.
• November 16
  • The European Space Agency probe, Smart 1 passes from orbit of the Earth into orbit of the Moon
  • A train crash near Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia, injures 150 people.
  • The People's Republic of China 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.
  • NASA's hypersonic jet ScramJet breaks 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 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. 12 days later, the Supreme Court annuls the result, and a new poll is scheduled.
• November 21 - The Nintendo DS is released in North America.
• 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
  • Explosion in coal mine in China. Death toll expected to be above 150.
  • Ricardo Lagos, President of Chile promises economic compensation to 28000 victims of torture during Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship.

December

• December 3 - The Colombian government extradites Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, one of the most powerful drug dealers of 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 to merge in a $10.3 billion deal, creating the second largest maker of business applications software.
• 

  

  The Millau bridge in France.