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PolitInfo.com > Current Events > January 2004
February 2004 - March 2004 - April 2004 - May 2004 - June 2004 - July 2004 - August 2004 - September 2004 - October 2004 - November 2004 - December 2004
- The United States defence budget is set to exceed US$400 billion next year—an almost 7% increase—according to budget proposals inadvertently posted on the Pentagon's website. [Source] [Source]
- Hutton Inquiry: Reporter Andrew Gilligan resigns from the BBC in the continuing fallout of the publication of Lord Hutton's report into the circumstances of the death of Dr David Kelly. This follows the earlier resignation of the Director-General Greg Dyke and chairman of the Board of Governors Gavyn Davies. [Source] [Source]
- Former French Prime Minister and current Mayor of Bordeaux Alain Juppe is convicted of a party funding scam in the 1980s and early 1990s, and is given an 18 month suspended jail sentence and disqualified from elected office for 10 years, although he retains his mayoralty pending his appeal. He had been viewed as Jacques Chirac's likely successor in the 2007 Presidential election. [Source]
- Muslims begin the annual Hajj today amid fears of a possible attack by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. [Source]
- Sheik Ahmed Yassin, leader of Hamas, announces that his group is making an all-out effort to kidnap Israeli soldiers to use as bargaining chips for Palestinians in Israeli prisons, following the prisoner exchange between Israel and Hezbollah in which the remains of three Israeli soldiers and a businessman were exchanged for over 400 prisoners on January 29, 2004. [Source]
- Hutton Inquiry: The BBC Director-General, Greg Dyke, resigns in the continuing fall-out from the report. Mr Dyke is the second high-ranking BBC official to resign. Mark Byford is appointed Acting Director-General. [Source] The UK media in general condemns the report as a whitewash. [Source]
- The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades of Fatah claim responsibility for a suicide bombing aboard a city bus, in which Ali Yusuf Jaara, a member of the Palestinian police force, kills 10 Israelis and wounds more than 50, outside the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem. Simultaneously with the bombing, Shaul Mofaz, Israeli Defense Minister, is meeting with American envoys Wolfe and Sauterfield, who have requested an easing-up of conditions for the Palestinians. The explosion also coincides with a German-brokered prisoner swap between Israel and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah. [Source] [Source] [Source]
- Milan Babic, the former leader of the breakaway Republic of Serbian Krajina (now re-incorporated into Croatia), pleads guilty to crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
- David Kay testifies before a United States Senate committee stating that evidence of weapons of mass destruction was based on inaccurate intelligence. "I believe that the effort that has been directed to this point has been sufficiently intense that it is highly unlikely that there were large stockpiles of deployed, militarized chemical weapons there" and, even if Iraq did not have weapons stockpiles, this does not mean that nation wasn't dangerous. Kay urges for an inquiry into the intelligence failure and states that the United States needed better intelligence. [Source] [Source] [Source] [Source]
- The Hutton Inquiry report is released, stating the suicide of Iraqi weapons expert David Kelly did not involve "dishonourable conduct" on the part of the United Kingdom's government and exonerates Prime Minister Tony Blair of any wrongdoing in Kelly's death. The BBC receives harsh criticism for the allegations within Andrew Gilligan's report on weapons of mass destruction and the BBC's subsequent backing of the report. Gavyn Davies takes full responsibility for any wrong-doing and resigns as the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC. [Source] [Source] [Source] [Source]
- British Prime Minister Tony Blair narrowly defeats a rebellion in his own party over the Higher Education Bill - a highly controversial bill to reform higher education funding, including the introduction of increased and variable tuition fees. It is approved in the House of Commons by 316 votes to 311. [Source] [Source]
- U.S. presidential election, 2004: Senator John Kerry wins the New Hampshire primary. Howard Dean comes second.
- President Hamid Karzai signs into law the new constitution of Afghanistan. [Source]
- A federal judge in Los Angeles, California declares a portion of the USA Patriot Act, banning "expert advice and assistance" to suspected foreign terrorist groups, to be unconstitutional. [Source]
- The House of Representatives of Connecticut votes unanimously to investigate the dealings of Governor John Rowland, a step which might lead to impeachment proceedings. Rowland is accused of using state contractors for his personal gain. [Source]
- Top Hamas official Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi offered a 10-year truce if Israel would withdraw from territory occupied since 1967 and acknowledge the creation of a Palestinian state. Israel dismissed the peace offer as "ridiculous". [Source]
- Georgia's new president, Mikhail Saakashvili, is sworn in. [Source]
- David Kay says, in his opinion, Iraq had no banned WMD stockpiles: "I don't think they existed," Kay said, "What everyone was talking about is stockpiles produced after the end of the last (1991) Gulf War, and I don't think there was a large-scale production program in the '90s."[Source] David Kay also says that part of Saddam Hussein's secret weapons programme may have been hidden in Syria. [Source] [Source] Syria denies receiving Iraq arms. [Source]
- David Kay steps down from Iraq Survey Group. George Tenet names former UN weapons inspector Charles Duelfer to succeed Kay. [Source]
- The International Monetary Fund has joined the World Bank in forgiving US$4 billion of the $6.5bn debt owed by Nicaragua, sharply reducing the nation's overall debt payments. [Source]
- Staff members of the United States Republican Party are accused of infiltrating Democratic Party computers and making copies of confidential files stored on the compromised computers. The infiltrations reportedly began in early 2002.[Source]
- Maher Arar sues the United States government for having deported him to Syria and not Canada, his country of citizenship. He was reportedly tortured in Syria.[Source]
- The latest World Economic Forum event opens in Davos, Switzerland, with a keynote address by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.
- 2004 Canadian Federal Election: Belinda Stronach officially announces her run for leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. [Source]
- Colonel Rashid Abu Shbak of the Palestinian Authority, said that information was still coming in and the investigating team had been upgraded, but he had no new leads on who was behind the bombing attack of an American diplomatic convoy on October 15, 2002. Three people died in the attack. U.S. officials have been stopped from going to Gaza since the attack. No decision has been made yet on when they might be allowed to return. Col. Shbak blamed Israel for the lack of progress in the investigation.[Source]
- U.S. presidential election, 2004: The Iowa caucuses yield unexpectedly strong results for Democratic candidates John Kerry, who earns 38% of the state's delegates and John Edwards, who takes 32%. Former front-runner Howard Dean slips to 18%, and Richard Gephardt's fourth-place (11%) finish [Source] [Source] prompts him to end his presidential bid. [Source]
- José María Aznar's government in Spain is dissolved prior to March general elections. He has said he will not run for a third term of office. [Source].
- Occupation of Iraq: At around 8 A.M. local time (5 A.M. GMT) in Baghdad, Iraq, an insurgent suicide bomber driving a car filled with explosives blows himself up while attempting to enter "Assassin's Gate." Early reports say that about 18 people, including 16 Iraqi civilians and two United States Department of Defense workers were killed, while another 56 Iraqi civilians were wounded. [Source]
- George Papandreou of Greece promised that he will suggest to sign a mutual agreement with Turkey for lowering their defense military expenses. [Source] (Greek).
- Chen Shui-bian makes a televised address reiterating the four noes and one without pledge and announcing the two questions for a referendum to coincide with the ROC presidential election, 2004 on March 20.[Source][Source]
- Nunavut general election, 2004: Premier Paul Okalik of Nunavut, Canada, requests a dissolution of the territory's legislature and an election call for February 16. [Source]
- The United Nations sides with the United States on voting in Iraq. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other UN officials call direct elections in advance of July 2004 impractical, due to continuing disorder in Iraq and other factors. [Source]
- 30,000 Shiite protesters in Basra call for immediate country-wide elections in Iraq, a move that would give them more power than the UN-backed plan for regional caucuses mandated by the US-led coalition[Source]
- South Korea's foreign minister Yoon Young-kwan resigns after a controversy in which his ministry was accused of diverging from the government's policy of increased independence from the United States. [Source]
- The European Union asks the World Trade Organization for authorization to impose trade sanctions against the United States in response to the U.S.'s anti-dumping scheme, which has been ruled illegal by the WTO. [Source]
- Canadian federal election, 2004: Former Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement declares his candidacy for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. Also confirmed is the candidacy of auto parts magnate Belinda Stronach, who will announce her entry into the leadership race next week. [Source]
- U.S. presidential election, 2004: Carol Moseley Braun drops out of the race and endorses Dr. Howard Dean,confirming rumors circulating the night before as she taped an appearance on The Daily Show. [Source]
- Iraq and weapons of mass destruction: Tests performed by American and Danish military experts indicate no chemical agents are present in the "suspicious" mortar shells discovered in Iraq on January 9th. [Source]
- Turkey and Greece: 22 Turkish military aircrafts entered into the Greek Athens FIR. 5 of these aircrafts were loaded with ammunition. Greek aircrafts intercepted them. Source: Athens News Agency and in.gr. [Source] (Greek)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Tom Hurndall, a British peace activist with the International Solidarity Movement, dies after being shot in the head by an Israeli soldier on April 11, 2003. The Israeli government say that they may consider bringing manslaughter charges against the soldier; the man's family claim that he should be tried for murder.[Source]
- The Constitutional Court of Italy strikes down a law enacted to give Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi immunity from prosecution while in office. [Source]
- Occupation of Iraq: A United States Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter is shot down near the central Iraqi town of Habbaniya, but is able to land without casualties. [Source]
- Canadian federal election, 2004: Stephen Harper announces his entry into the race to lead the new Conservative Party of Canada. Earlier today, Jim Prentice drops out of the leadership contest, citing a lack of funds. [Source]
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Over 100,000 people rally in Tel Aviv to protest Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plans to withdraw from parts of Gaza and the West Bank, which would involve abandoning some Israeli settlements in those areas. [Source]
- Iran's provincial governors are threatening to resign unless a decision by the conservative Guardian Council is reversed. [Source]
- The World Wildlife Fund-UK reports that the orangutan is in danger of becoming extinct within the next 20 years because of commercial logging and clearance for oil palm plantations. [Source]
- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, religious leader of Iran, announces that he will not intervene in a growing political confrontation between progressives and hardliners after the Guardian Council, which he controls, barred thousands of candidates from running in upcoming Parliamentary elections (including 80 current members of Parliament). [Source]
- Occupation of Iraq: Protests in the city of Amarah because of unemployment occur. Police officers and soldiers open fire on demonstrators. Five or six are killed and one or eleven wounded. [Source]
- In publicity for a new book for which former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill is the primary source, 60 Minutes reveals O'Neill's claims that the Bush administration was making plans for an invasion of Iraq within days of Bush's inauguration. Bush officials note that regime change in Iraq had been official U.S. policy since 1998, three years before Bush took office. O'Neill, fired for his opposition to tax cuts, also characterized Bush as so disengaged in cabinet meetings that he "was like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people". On the positive side, O'Neill also described Bush as such a good listener that he (O'Neill) was able to give a non-stop monologue for nearly an hour in a one-on-one meeting. [Source]
- Turkey fully abolishes the death penalty. [Source]
- USA lowers the terrorism advisory level to yellow (elevated) from orange (high). [Source]
- The United States withdraws a group of 400 weapons inspectors from Iraq after finding nothing of substance. 1400 inspectors remain. [Source] [Source]
- Occupation of Iraq: Nine United States soldiers are reported killed after a Black Hawk helicopter makes an emergency landing near the central Iraqi town of Falluja. [Source]
- The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace publishes a report accusing the United States of "systematically misrepresenting" the threat posed by "Iraq's weapons of mass destruction". [Source] [Source] [Source]
- The New Jersey legislature passes a bill creating a domestic partnership status for same-sex couples, with many of the same legal rights as marriage. It becomes the fifth U.S. state to offer such a status to same-sex couples. [Source]
- The Supreme Court of Indonesia upholds the death sentence handed down to Bali bomber Amrozi. The 12 October 2002 attacks killed 202 mainly holiday makers on the resort island of Bali. [Source][Source]
- Costas Simitis, the prime minister of Greece and president of the ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), after informing the country's president Costis Stephanopoulos, announced his resignation. At the same time he announced national elections for March 7, 2004, when PASOK will have a new president, expected to be George Papandreou. PASOK will be challenged by the New Democracy opposition led by Costas Caramanlis. [Source], [Source], [Source], [Source], [Source]
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- U.S.-led occupation of Iraq: Mortar attacks by Anti-American insurgents wound 35 U.S. soldiers at a military camp west of Baghdad. Six mortar rounds exploded around 6:45 p.m. local time. [Source]
- Pakistan is cited as the source of nuclear weapon technology supplied to Libya, Iran and North Korea. The components intercepted at sea by Italy en-route to Libya were fabricated in Malaysia. There is no evidence that the Pakistani government of President Pervez Musharraf knew about the transfer of technology of Libya. [Source] [Source]
- Pakistan and India have agreed to a new round of talks to settle the Kashmir dispute. The talks will be begin February 2004. [Source]
- A British and a German Member of the European Parliament both receive letter bombs in the post. This follows an earlier letter bomb sent to the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi. [Source]
- Ulster Unionist Party defector Jeffrey Donaldson and two other MLAs join Rev. Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party, pushing the DUP's numbers in the Northern Ireland Assembly to 33. [Source]
- Jaap de Hoop Scheffer of the Netherlands became the new Secretary General of NATO, replacing Britain's Lord Robertson. [Source]
- The United States begins tracking foreign arrivals according to the new United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program. [Source]
- Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee meet face-to-face to discuss improving relations between their two countries. [Source]
- South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which comprises India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives, signs the South Asia Free Trade Agreement, a draft agreement to eliminate tariffs by 2016. [Source]
- The Loya jirga adopts a new Constitution of Afghanistan [Source]
- A military court in Israel sentences five Israelis to one year in jail for refusing to serve in the military because of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. [Source] [Source] (Compare conscientious objector)
- Mikhail Saakashvili becomes president-elect of the Republic of Georgia, following the Presidential elections. He had been widely expected to win following the November 23, 2003 ousting of President Eduard Shevardnadze. [Source]
- South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, comprised of foreign ministers from seven south Asian countries (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan) meeting in Islamabad agree to create the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) by 2006. [Source]
- The Republic of Ireland takes over the presidency of the European Union, succeeding Italy, whose presidency is widely criticised as having been a failure due to the collapse of efforts to adopt a European constitution. Haiti's bicentennial celebrations erupt in violence. [Source]
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