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 PolitInfo.com > Current Events > September 2004

January 2004 - February 2004 - March 2004 - April 2004 - May 2004 - June 2004 - July 2004 - August 2004 - October 2004 - November 2004 - December 2004

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Articles: September 2004

September 30, 2004

• Incumbent president George W. Bush and challenger Senator John F. Kerry meet at the University of Miami, Florida in the first of three presidential debates in the run-up to the 2004 U.S. presidential election.  (Transcript) (CNN)(MSNBC) (PolitInfo)
• Darfur Crisis:
  •  Sudan agrees to accept an expanded African Union force in its western Darfur region to help protect civilians against marauding pro-government militia. Sudan's foreign minister briefed the U.N. Security Council Thursday: (PolitInfo)
  • Citing fear and insecurity in camps that are "prisons without walls," the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights told the Security Council that a large international police presence is needed in the camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur. (PolitInfo)
  • President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry say the crisis in the western Darfur region of Sudan is tantamount to "genocide." In the first presidential debate Thursday, both men said they support the efforts of the African Union to stop pro-government militias from raping and killing innocent civilians. (PolitInfo)
• Same-sex marriage in the United States: The proposed Federal Marriage Amendment (HJR 106) is rejected by the United States House of Representatives by a vote of 227–186. (Reuters)
• A Federal Court judge in New York strucks down a major provision of the controversial anti-terrorist US Patriot Act. (PolitInfo)
• Conflict in Iraq
  • At least three people are killed by U.S. air raids on the insurgent held city of Fallujah. Locals say civilians are among the dead, but the U.S. maintains they struck a safe house of the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.  (BBC)
  • At least 41 people are killed in a multiple bomb attack on a US military convoy traveling through Baghdad, close to a water treatment plant. At least 34 of them were children. (BBC) (PolitInfo)
• The Russian cabinet recommends ratification of the Kyoto Treaty against global warming, which would bring the accord into force; the measure will be debated in Parliament, which has final say. (CBS)  (Reuters)(Itar-Tass) (PolitInfo)
• The U.N. Security Council  agrees to authorize nearly six-thousand more peacekeeping troops for the Democratic Republic of Congo. (PolitInfo)
• The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, is calling on creditors to cancel sub-Saharan Africa's multibillion-dollar debt. (PolitInfo)

September 29, 2004

• Darfur Crisis:
  • Senior Bush administration officials warne that the already dire situation in Sudan's western Darfur region could get worse without a larger presence by African Union monitors. (PolitInfo)
  • The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says a complete end to violence in Sudan's western region of Darfur is needed to convince hundreds of thousands of displaced people they can eventually return to their homes. (PolitInfo)
  • The U.N. special envoy for Sudan asks the African Union to speed up plans to send a peacekeeping force to Sudan's western Darfur region. (PolitInfo)
• The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), is expressing concern about some voting procedures in the United States, which it says could affect the integrity of the U.S. presidential election in November.  (PolitInfo)
• The People's Republic of China accuses Taiwanese Premier Yu Shyi-kun of "clamoring for war" after he said Taiwan would defend itself by firing missiles at Shanghai in the event of an attack of Taipei or Kaohsiung by the PRC. (BBC)  (PolitInfo)
• Forty-three North Koreans, reportedly seeking asylum, use ladders to scale the walls of the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, China. (Globe and Mail) (PolitInfo)
• Conflict in Iraq: Kenneth Bigley, a British hostage held in Iraq, appears alive in a video broadcast by Al Jazeera. Seen in a cage wearing an orange jumpsuit, Bigley says "Tony Blair is lying. He doesn't care about me". (BBC) (PolitInfo)
• Two men, Rahim al-Nashiri and Jamal Mohammed al-Bedawi, who were found guilty of organizing the October 12, 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, are sentenced to death by a court in Yemen. (BBC) (PolitInfo)

September 28, 2004

• Darfur Crisis:
  • Under international pressure to disarm and disband Arab militias in troubled Darfur, Sudan's government is instead reportedly moving hundreds, possibly thousands, of the fighters from Darfur to remote areas of southern Sudan. (PolitInfo)
  • The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour, is calling for a big increase in the number of United Nations peacekeepers, human rights monitors and aid agencies to ensure security in Darfur.(PolitInfo)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • In Baghdad, two Italian aid workers, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta are released, three weeks after they were taken hostage, along with two Iraqis who had been captured with them. In a separate incident, four Egyptian workers are also released. (The Scotsman) (PolitInfo)
  • Two British soldiers are killed in an ambush near the southern Iraqi city of Basra. (BBC) (PolitInfo)
• Arab-Israeli conflict: In the Gaza Strip, CNN producer Riad Abu Ali, an Israeli citizen, is released by his captors one day after he was abducted from his car by Palestinian militants. (Reuters) Israeli soldiers kill a mentally ill Palestinian man in the West Bank city of Jenin, under disputed circumstances. (BBC)  (PolitInfo)

September 27, 2004

• A U.S. soldier seen in some of the most widely-aired photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse will face a general court martial early next year. (PolitInfo)
• Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says the voting system in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida does not meet some 'basic international requirements' and could undermine the November presidential election. (PolitInfo)
• Darfur Crisis: Lack of security is a growing threat to humanitarian operations in Darfur, according to the World Food Program. The UN agency says aid workers and displaced people are at greater risk of attack. (PolitInfo)
• Arab-Israeli conflict: In the Gaza Strip, four Palestinians kidnap Riad Abu Ali, an Israeli citizen working for CNN. Two other CNN employees were beaten and their equipment stolen. (Reuters) (Haaretz)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • Fereidoun Jahani, an Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped in Iraq in early August, is freed; he was held by a militant group that also claims to be holding two French journalists, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot. (BBC)  (Reuters)
  • The U.S. military carries out air strikes on several suspected militant positions in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, killing at least five people and wounding 46, according to a local hospital official.  (AP) (PolitInfo)
  • Two separate car bombs kill at least seven Iraqi national guardsmen in Mosul and Fallujah.
• The U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch accuses Indonesia's security forces of torturing detainees in the province of Aceh, where Jakarta is struggling to put down a separatist rebellion. (PolitInfo)

September 26, 2004

• The Turkish Parliament approves a revision of the country's penal code, after the government dropped a proposal to criminalize adultery. The plans to criminalize adultery would have undermined the country's chances of joining the European Union (EU). (PolitInfo)
• Conflict in Iraq: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says, in an interview on the ABC television interview program This Week, that the insurgency in Iraq is worsening, and that the aim of the insurgents is to disrupt the upcoming elections. (BBC)  (Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• The main opposition party in Bangladesh is accusing the government of arresting thousands of its supporters as part of a campaign of intimidation. (PolitInfo)

September 25, 2004

• Three more U.S. military personnel are facing charges in connection with alleged abuse of Iraqi detainees. The latest allegations were announced two days after two Army soldiers in Iraq were charged with murder in connection with the deaths of three other Iraqis. (PolitInfo)
• A Chilean judge questions former dictator Augusto Pinochet about political opponents who were abducted and presumably murdered during his rule from 1973 to 1990. (PolitInfo)
• Israeli army bulldozers tear down buildings in the Gaza refugee camp of Khan Yunis, one day after mortars fired from the camp killed an Israeli settler. UNRWA officials say over 200 Palestinians lost their homes or shelters. (BBC) (PolitInfo)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • U.S. air strikes on the Iraqi city of Fallujah destroy several buildings. The U.S. military says no civilians were reported in the area, but a hospital official says at least 15 civilians were killed.. (BBC) (PolitInfo)
  • American military officials in Iraq report that four U.S. Marines have been killed during attacks west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. (PolitInfo)

September 24, 2004

• Conflict in Iraq:
  • A senior State Department Official tells Congress that the Bush administration underestimated the difficulties of post-war Iraq.  Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage says the United States "miscalculated" the level of terrorism in Iraq, describing the insurgency as more "virulent" than expected. (PolitInfo)
  •  Militants in Iraq abduct two Egyptians working in Baghdad. (PolitInfo)
• Iran's foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi insists on his country's right to a peaceful nuclear program. Mr. Kharrazi's speech to the U.N. General Assembly also included a sharp condemnation the invasion of Iraq.  (PolitInfo)
• Darfur Crisis: The head of the African Union, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, says divisions on the UN Security Council could undermine efforts to bring peace to Sudan. (PolitInfo)
• Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf launch a fresh effort to improve the troubled relationship between the two nuclear-armed rivals. The two leaders  agree on several confidence-building measures  meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. (PolitInfo)
• The International Atomic Energy Agency calls on North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons ambitions and give inspectors entry visas so they can supervise a return to peaceful activities. (PolitInfo)
• The president of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, says the international community is so focused on fighting terrorism that it is ignoring the needs of development and poverty alleviation in regions such as Africa.  (PolitInfo)

September 23, 2004

• Conflict in Iraq: The governments of the United Kingdom and Iraq announce that they will not comply with the demands of the militant group Tawhid and Jihad, which has threatened to behead its hostage, British citizen Kenneth Bigley. (Reuters)
• Just hours after Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi vowed elections would take place on schedule in January, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warns voting might not be able to go ahead in areas of the country under control of insurgents. (PolitInfo)
• Kazakhstan's Central Election Commission says pro-government parties loyal to President Nursultan Nazarbayev have won a majority of the seats in the lower house of parliament, in voting on Sunday. International observers have criticized the poll, saying it failed to meet international standards. (PolitInfo)
• Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says a controversial proposal to outlaw adultery will not be included in his country's new penal code and will not be revived as long as he is in power. A flap over criminalizing adultery had threatened to derail Turkey's hopes of beginning negotiations to join the European Union. (PolitInfo)

September 22, 2004

• Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan announce in a joint statement that have agreed work together on a plan for reforming the United Nations, including securing a permanent seat or seats on the UN Security Council for at least one of the four nations. (ABC News) (PolitInfo)
• Two U.S. soldiers in Iraq are charged with murder for the deaths of three Iraqis. (PolitInfo)
• Darfur Crisis:  The United Nations says fighting and other strife is preventing aid workers from reaching 100,000 people in Darfur who need help. (PolitInfo)
• The United States agrees to release Yaser Esam Hamdi, who was born in the United States and raised in Saudi Arabia, after having held him for almost three years, without charges, as an "enemy combatant". In exchange, Hamdi agrees to relinquish his American citizenship and to never return to the United States. (Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• A new opinion poll indicates U.S. Muslim voters overwhelmingly back Democrat John Kerry in the presidential race.
  Senator Kerry leads President Bush 76 - 7 percent in the survey conducted by Zogby International. (PolitInfo)
• The United States Senate, by a vote of 77–17, confirms the nomination of Porter Goss as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Some Democratic senators had charged that Goss is too partisan to deliver unbiased reports to the White House. (Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• US officials in Baghdad say they have no immediate plans to free two female Iraqi scientists in their custody, despite a demand for their release by kidnappers who have threatened to kill their British hostage. (PolitInfo)

September 21, 2004

• United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan warns world leaders that international law is being "shamelessly disregarded" around the globe. Addressing the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, Annan says no country is above the law, whether at home or abroad. (PolitInfo) (Full Text Remarks) U.S. President George W. Bush addresses a skeptical United Nations audience to discuss his plans regarding Iraq. (Boston Globe) Bush offers no apologies for invading Iraq, a move the Secretary-General last week described as illegal.
• Darfur Crisis: The top U.N. human rights official says Arab fighters responsible for atrocities in Sudan's western Darfur region are now guarding camps for tens of thousands of displaced villagers. (PolitInfo)
• Indonesia's election commission says Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is maintaining a wide lead over President Megawati Sukarnoputri. With more than half the votes counted from Monday's election, Mr. Yudhoyono has garnered 60 percent of the vote. (PolitInfo)
• Conflict in Iraq: Tawhid and Jihad, a militant group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, beheads American hostage Jack Hensley. The group threatens to behead the remaining hostage, Briton Kenneth Bigley, within 24 hours unless the United States meets its demands. Eugene Armstrong was beheaded yesterday. (Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• Iran informs the International Atomic Energy Agency that it has started converting uranium into the gas needed for enrichment purposes,  a requirement for producing nuclear power plant fuel, but which some fear might be used to build nuclear weapons. (Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• The U.S. military says it has opened a criminal investigation into the death of an 18-year-old Afghan militiaman last year while in U.S. custody at a base in southeastern Afghanistan. (PolitInfo)
• Syria begins a "phased redeployment" of its forces in Lebanon (currently estimated at 20,000 troops), moving about 1,000 troops out of bases south of Beirut; it is not clear whether they will be redeployed in Lebanon or Syria.  (CNN.com) (PolitInfo)

September 20, 2004

• Conflict in Iraq: Tawhid and Jihad, a militant group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, beheads American hostage Eugene Armstrong. The group threatens to behead two additional hostages, American Jack Hensley and Briton Kenneth Bigley, within 24 hours unless the United States meets its demands. (Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• Indonesian presidential election: Two polling organizations are projecting a landslide victory for former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri 61 to 39 percent. (KPU) (PolitInfo)
• US President Bush lifts trade, commercial and travel sanctions on Libya with an executive order declaring an end to the national emergency declared by former president Ronald Reagan in January 1986.  (Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• United States presidential campaign: The political campaigns of Republican incumbent George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry agree to a tentative schedule of three televised debates, the first of which will take place on September 30 in Florida. (Washington Post) (PolitInfo)
• U.N. inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency are continuing their work in South Korea - after the government in Seoul admitted to clandestine nuclear programs. (PolitInfo)
• The genocide trial of a Rwandan Roman Catholic priest accused of ordering the massacre of thousands of his Tutsi parishioners during Rwanda's 1994 genocide opens in Arusha, Tanzania. (PolitInfo)
• An expert commission says the United States must change the way it manages its marine territories because of the continued degradation of U.S. ocean resources and coastlines. The panel has asked Congress to re-organize government agencies that deal with oceans and to ratify the 22-year-old United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty. (PolitInfo)
   

September 19, 2004

• The former president of the People's Republic of China, Jiang Zemin, resigns from his last official post, the Chairmanship of the Central Military Commission, and is replaced by Hu Jintao. (CNN) (IOL) (The Australian) (PolitInfo)
• Iran rejects a unanimous United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency resolution calling on Iran to freeze its uranium enrichment activities. Iran threatens to prevent UN inspections of its nuclear program. (Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• Turkey's parliament adjourns without passing an important reform of its penal code — intended to prepare the country for membership in the European Union — due to a dispute over a controversial proposal (opposed by the EU) to criminalize adultery. (ABC News) (Bloomberg)
• A videotape posted on an Iraqi Islamist web site shows what appears to be the beheading of three members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which cooperates with the Baghdad government. (PolitInfo)

September 18, 2004

• Darfur Conflict: The United Nations Security Council passes a resolution threatening Sudan with sanctions if it does not act to control the Arab militias accused of genocide in Darfur. The resolution passes 11–0, with the People's Republic of China, Russia, Pakistan, and Algeria abstaining. (MSNBC) (PolitInfo) (SC Resolution 1564)
• In Kirkuk, Iraq, a suicide car bomb attack on the Iraqi national guard headquarters in Kirkuk kills 23, and prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Kadhim al-Hany is ambushed and killed. (BBC) (PolitInfo)
• Insurgents threaten to execute two Americans and one Briton, taken hostage earlier this week in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. (PolitInfo)
• Protestant and Roman Catholic political talks on restoring Northern Ireland's power-sharing government end in failure. (PolitInfo)
• Nader ballot access disputes: The Florida Supreme Court orders that Reform Party candidate Ralph Nader be included on the ballot in Florida for the upcoming U.S. presidential election. (Reuters) (BBC) (CNN)

September 17, 2004

• A new US report on Iraq's weapons will apparently confirm the US has not found any WMD's. (PolitInfo)
• U.S. air raids in the city of Falluja, allegedly aimed at militants loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, kill an estimated 60 fighters, according to claims from the U.S. military. A spokesman for Iraq's health ministry says at least two women and 17 children were among the wounded. Meanwhile in central Baghdad, a suicide car bomb leaves at least 13 dead. (The Guardian)  (PolitInfo)
• Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claims responsibility for the Beslan school massacre, saying that it was carried out by a "martyr battalion" from Riyadus-Salikhin, the group that he heads. (ABC Au) (BBC) (PolitInfo) Russian President Vladimir Putin is warning of preemptive strikes on terrorists. (PolitInfo)
• The International Atomic Energy Agency is planning to send inspectors to South Korea, which recently admitted having conducted nuclear experiments that it said were for scientific purposes only.  The head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, say investigations are continuing into South Korea's nuclear experiments. (PolitInfo)

September 16, 2004

• United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan describes the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq as an "illegal" violation of the UN Charter, in response to repeated questions on the subject during a BBC interview. (BBC)  (Reuters) (Boston Globe) (PolitInfo) (PolitInfo)
• Darfur conflict:
  • Peace talks between the Sudanese government and Darfurian rebels, which began three weeks ago, collapse. Sudan accuses the United States of prolonging the conflict by describing the actions of Arab militias in Darfur as genocide. (MSNBC.com) (PolitInfo)
  • Submitting a revised version of its draft Security Council resolution on Sudan, the United States presses for a vote quickly, saying that time is critical in the race to save lives in Darfur. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in an unusual move, makes a strong plea for the council to act, saying, "It is urgent to take action now." (PolitInfo)
  • The European Parliament calls for a possible arms embargo against Sudan, saying violence in the western Darfur region is "tantamount to genocide." (PolitInfo)
• The New York Times, citing unnamed U.S. government officials, reports that, in late July, the National Intelligence Council prepared a pessimistic classified report for President George W. Bush that predicted three likely outcomes for Iraq by the end of 2005, the best of which is "tenuous stability", and the worst of which is a descent into civil war. (New York Times)  (Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• An Iranian envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency says that satellite images supposedly showing military nuclear sites in Iran are "American lies" and he accuses the United States of deliberately using misinformation. The IAEA board of governors is still considering what to do about Iran's nuclear program. (PolitInfo)
• Afghan President Hamid Karzai survives an assassination attempt when a rocket misses his helicopter, bound for the city of Gardez, by some 300 yards (275 m).  (ABC News) (PolitInfo)
• A senior Iraqi official says two Americans and one British contractor were seized from their central Baghdad home and taken hostage. (PolitInfo)
• The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China convenes in Beijing for four days with speculation over whether Jiang Zemin will resign from his remaining post as Chairman of the Central Military Commission. (BBC)  (PolitInfo)
• Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf indicates he is reconsidering a promise to relinquish his second post as military chief later this year. (PolitInfo)
• Manitoba becomes the fourth province, and the fifth jurisdiction, in Canada to legalize same-sex marriage. (CBC)

September 15, 2004

• Darfur Crisis
  • The United States is pushing for prompt U.N. Security Council approval of a resolution threatening sanctions against Sudan for failing to protect civilians in Darfur. (PolitInfo)
  • The U.S. Senate approves, by unanimous consent, a measure calling for the suspension of Sudan from the U.N. Human Rights Commission. (PolitInfo)
• The United Nations releases its annual The State of World Population 2004. The UN says there has been some progress in improving sexual health and combating poverty around the world, but more funds are needed to meet goals the international community set 10 years ago. (PolitInfo)
• In Afghanistan, three Americans are sentenced to up to 10 years imprisonment for illegally detaining and torturing Afghans, and for running an illegal private jail in Kabul. (CNN) (PolitInfo)
• In the 2004 International Religious Freedom Report, the U.S. State Department for the first time places the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on its list of "countries of particular concern" (CPCs) that engage in "particularly severe violations" of religious freedom.  (CNN.com) (State Department report) (PolitInfo)
• For the 12th consecutive year, the General Assembly of the United Nations rejects a request for the Republic of China (Taiwan) to be represented in the United Nations. (Straits Times)(Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon  in an interview with a leading Israeli newspaper admits his government is not adhering to the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan. (PolitInfo)
• Palestinian medical sources and witnesses say Israeli forces killed at least 11 Palestinians during raids in two West Bank cities. (PolitInfo)

September 14, 2004

• At least 45 people are killed and over 100 others are injured when a car bomb explodes in central Baghdad, Iraq. Many of the dead are Iraqi job-seekers who were queuing up outside a nearby police station. (BBC) (PolitInfo)
• Darfur Crisis:
  • The United States resubmits a draft U.N. Security Council resolution threatening sanctions against Sudan's oil industry. (PolitInfo)
  • After months of waiting for permission from Sudan's government, Amnesty International's Secretary-General, Irene Khan, begins a week-long tour of the country's war-torn Darfur region. (PolitInfo)
• Both the European Union and the government of the United States express concern about Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement that, as a means of responding to terrorism, he would significantly alter Russia's political system. The Russian government rejects the United States' concerns as inappropriate interference in Russia's internal affairs. (Reuters) (PolitInfo) (PolitInfo) Meanwhile, a senior Chechen envoy is calling for the international community to pressure Russia into negotiations with Chechnya, saying more tragedies like the Beslan school siege could result if the Caucasus region continues to radicalize. (PolitInfo)
• In the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person yet tried in the U.S. in relation to the 9/11 attacks, the court refuses to allow Moussaoui to call Camp X-Ray detainees as witnesses, but does allow him to use written evidence from some of the detainees.  (BBC)
• Bowing to pressure from European leaders and local feminist groups, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party appears to have shelved plans to criminalize adultery. The law would have undermined the country's chances of joining the European Union (EU). (PolitInfo)
• Israel's Security Cabinet approve compensation payments for Jewish settlers who will be removed from their homes under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza disengagement plan. (PolitInfo)

September 13, 2004

• Darfur Crisis:
  • Foreign ministers of the European Union call for the United Nations to immediately probe whether atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan are genocide. (PolitInfo)
  • The World Health Organization says a survey conducted in Sudan's Darfur Region shows that between 6,000 and 10,000 internally displaced people die every month. (PolitInfo)
  • The UN mission in Khartoum says it continues to receive reports on clashes and violence in different areas in Darfur, particularly North Darfur, which has led to a number of casualties. These reports include fighting between the Government forces and the rebel forces. (PolitInfo)
• The US offensive against the Iraqi resistance continues in the rebel-held city of Fallujah, with air-strikes killing at least 16, including women and children. Joint U.S.-Iraqi forces say that they are targeting Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is linked to al-Qaeda. The U.S. military says it is investigating an incident that occurred September 12th in Baghdad in which five people, including an al-Arabiya journalist broadcasting live, were killed in a helicopter attack. (Reuters) (BBC) (PolitInfo)
• At midnight, a decade-long US federal ban against the sale of certain semi-automatic assault weapons expires. Democratic lawmakers, joined by some Republicans, criticizes the congressional Republican leadership for allowing the ban on assault weapons to expire. (PolitInfo)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin proposes significant changes in his country's government. He says reforms are needed to fight terror, but his critics say he is trying to use recent terrorist attacks as a way to solidify his hold on power.  (PolitInfo)

September 12, 2004

• The Hong Kong Legislative Council election, 2004 receives record turnout. In the direct election, the pro-democracy parties gained one seat and received 60% of the vote while the pro-government parties unexpectedly gained seven. (BBC) (PolitInfo)
• Dozens of  Iraqis are killed in a day of widespread violence, with new US offensives to retake insurgent-held areas before the January elections. An al-Arabiya journalist is killed during a live broadcast when attack helicopters fire at a crowd gathered around a burning Bradley vehicle in Baghdad. Helicopters and tanks fire on residential areas in rebel-occupied Ramadi. More fighting takes place in Tal Afar and Hilla. (Reuters) (BBC) (PolitInfo)
• 40,000 Israelis demonstrate in Jerusalem against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plans to force all Jews to leave the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. (Haaretz)  (PolitInfo)
• Ryanggang explosion: The South Korean news agency Yonhap reports that on September 9th  there was a explosion in the North Korean province of Ryanggang massive enough to produce a mushroom cloud 3.5–4 kms (2–2.5 miles) in diameter. National security officials worldwide are hesitant to classify it as a nuclear explosion (Yonhap) (AP) (CNN)  U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says specifically that the explosion "does not appear to be a nuclear event." (PolitInfo)
• The government of Saudi Arabia announces that the first nationwide elections in the kingdom's history will occur early next year. The first ballots will be cast on February 10, 2005, for council seats in the Riyadh capital district. (MSNBC.com)

September 11, 2004

• A United States court martial in Baghdad, Iraq sentences Specialist Armin J. Cruz to eight months in jail for maltreating and conspiring to maltreat Iraqi detainees during the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse under U.S. authority. (BBC News) (PolitInfo)
• Americans commemorate the third anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. In New York City, four moments of silence are observed (at 8:46 AM and 9:03 AM, when the planes struck the two towers of the WTC, and at 9:59 AM and 10:29 AM, when the towers collapsed), and the names of all 2,749 people who perished in the buildings are read aloud. (CNN)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin reverses an earlier stand and agrees to allow the upper house of Parliament to investigate the recent hostage-taking attack on a school in southern Russia. (PolitInfo)
• Afghanistan's interim President Hamid Karzai  removes two provincial governors - including a powerful regional warlord - in a bid to consolidate the central government's authority. (PolitInfo)

September 10, 2004

• The United States asks the U.N. Security Council to authorize an international investigation into charges of genocide in Sudan. The United States is pushing the United Nations to follow its lead and formally declare that genocide is occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan. But Washington is encountering stiff opposition from some quarters, and indifference from others. An international declaration of genocide would be unprecedented. (PolitInfo)
• Questions are raised about the authenticity of memos obtained by the CBS television network and broadcast on its September 7 issue of 60 Minutes. The memos were purportedly written by Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, one of George W. Bush's commanding officers in the Texas Air National Guard.  (CNN) (PolitInfo)
• An Israeli helicopter gunship fires a missile into a Gaza refugee camp, killing one militant and wounding a number of other people, while Palestinian militants fire more rockets into southern Israel. . (BBC) (Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• Zimbabwe sentences British mercenary and former SAS officer Simon Mann to seven years in prison for his role in attempting the violent overthrow of the government of Equatorial Guinea. (The Guardian) (PolitInfo)
• The United Nations war crimes tribunal will allow two Britons to appeal their appointment as defense lawyers for former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. (PolitInfo)

September 9, 2004

• United States Secretary of State Colin Powell declares that the actions of the Janjaweed Arab militia in Darfur constitute genocide. Powell holds the goverment of Sudan responsible. Up to 50,000 ethnic Africans have been killed and 2.2 million displaced into refugee camps in neighboring Chad by ethnic Arab militas. A declaration of genocide means that other nations are to be held accountable and are to act to save lives. (BBC) (CNN) (PolitInfo) (PolitInfo)
• A car bomb explodes outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 9 people (according to the BBC) and wounding 180. Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian terrorist group connected with Al Qaeda, is believed responsible. (BBC) (Reuters) (News.com.au) (PolitInfo)
• Members of Congress described testimony provided by top-ranking generals involved in investigating the abuse of Iraqi prisoners held in U.S. custody as very helpful, but zeroed in with questions about how some individuals became "ghost detainees". U.S. investigators are looking into why up to 100 detainees held by the American military in Iraq were concealed from Red Cross observers in violation of the Geneva Conventions. (PolitInfo)
• Five Palestinians, including a child said to have been aged around 10 years, a Hamas militant, and two males in theirs twenties, have been killed as Israeli tanks force their way into the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza while receiving gunfire from scores of gunmen opposed to the invasion. (Reuters) (BBC)  (PolitInfo)
• The Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera broadcasts a tape from Osama bin Laden's deputy saying the United States is on the brink of defeat in Iraq and on the run in Afghanistan. (PolitInfo)
• Costa Rica asks the U.S. to remove it from the list of Iraq coalition partners. (NYT) (PolitInfo)

September 8, 2004

• The United States is asking the U.N. Security Council to step up pressure on Sudan to protect civilians in Darfur. A new U.S.-sponsored draft resolution threatens sanctions against the Khartoum government if it fails to comply. (PolitInfo)
• A U.S. military tribunal finds  that an accused terrorist being held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba can go free after determining he was improperly classified as an enemy combatant. (PolitInfo)
• United Nations inspectors dispute a Bush administration contention that Saddam Hussein's Iraq had developed drones capable of delivering chemical or biological weapons. The U.N. commission monitoring Iraq's weapons programs says it has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's government violated Security Council restrictions on his development of military drones. (PolitInfo)
• Conflict in Russia (Chechnya): Russian President Vladimir Putin's government offers 300 million rubles (USD 10m) for information leading to the arrest of Chechen rebel leaders Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov. Maskhadov was the last democratically elected leader of Chechnya. (BBC)  (Guardian) (PolitInfo)
• 2004 U.S. presidential election: 
  • A new opinion poll in 35 countries indicates a majority of those polled would prefer to see Democratic challenger John Kerry elected over incumbent President George Bush. The public opinion poll was conducted this summer in 35 countries. In 30 of them, the majority of those surveyed said they would prefer to see John Kerry win the presidential election. (PolitInfo)
  • CBS News announces the discovery of newly uncovered records of United States President George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard. The Democratic campaign concludes (1) that the records show then Lieutenant Bush disobeyed orders, and (2) that the Bush campaign lied about having made all such records public. (Nashville Tennessean/AP) (PolitInfo)
  • Democratic lawmakers in Congress react with anger to recent remarks by Vice President Dick Cheney, who says a vote for Democratic candidate John Kerry could leave Americans open to more terrorist attacks. (PolitInfo)
• Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon approves a revised route for Israel's controversial West Bank security barrier. (PolitInfo)

September 7, 2004

• The number of American military personnel killed in Iraq since the March, 2003 U.S.-led invasion reaches 1,000. (PolitInfo)
• U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is urging the Security Council to act quickly to protect civilians in Sudan's troubled Darfur region. (PolitInfo)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin accuses Western countries of applying a double standard on the issue of terrorism. His comments come in the wake of last week's hostage-taking incident that killed at least 338 people. (PolitInfo)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict: An Israeli attack on Hamas members engaged in guerrilla tactics training kills 14 members of the military wing of Hamas. (Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• Reconstruction of Iraq:
  • The British Royal Institute of International Affairs issues a report (pdf) saying that if current conditions continue unabated in Iraq, the most likely outcome would be a major civil war which could destabilise the entire Middle East. (Christian Science Monitor)
  • Two Italian NGO employees, Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, and two Iraqi citizens of undisclosed identity, are kidnapped by a 20 man commando team from their office in central Baghdad. They worked for the humanitarian organization Un ponte per Baghdad. (La Repubblica) (NYT) (PolitInfo)
• In Afghanistan, campaigning for next month's landmark presidential elections officially begins. (PolitInfo)

September 6, 2004

• Occupation of Iraq:
  • Near the Sunni city of Fallujah, seven U.S. Marines and three Iraqi soldiers are killed in an ambush, while U.S. planes bomb the Iraqi city of Najaf.  (news.com.au) (BBC) (PolitInfo)
  • Jordanian and Turkish officials announce the release of five hostages taken recently by militant groups in Iraq. (PolitInfo)
• India's foreign minister says modest progress was made in two days of peace talks with his Pakistani counterpart in New Delhi. (PolitInfo)
• U.N. officials and Afghan human rights activists say that voter intimidation and insecurity are on the rise in Afghanistan, raising questions whether the landmark presidential elections set for October 9 will be free and fair. (PolitInfo)

September 5, 2004

• The European Union says it will push for United Nations sanctions against Sudan if it fails to control the situation in the western region of Darfur.  (PolitInfo)
• Iraqi officials now say that contrary to earlier reports, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the deputy commander of Iraq's armed forces during the rule of Saddam Hussein, has not been captured.  (CNN) (Reuters)
• Families of the hundreds of people killed at a school in southern Russia begin burying their dead, as further details emerged about last week's tragic confrontation between armed militants and Russian security forces.  (PolitInfo)

September 4, 2004

• A suicide bomber has killed at least 17 people in northern Iraq, as U.S. and Iraqi forces conduct a major offensive against a town suspected of harboring insurgents. (PolitInfo)
• The body count from the Beslan school siege rises to over 360, including about 156 children, 26 terrorists, and 10 Russian Special Forces troops. Three terrorists have been captured, and a few have escaped. Some 700 people are reported injured. (CNN) (BBC) (PolitInfo)

September 3, 2004

• The United States says recent violence in Sudan's Darfur region provides evidence that the Arab-led Khartoum government is involved in direct attacks on black citizens there. (PolitInfo)
• The siege at the school in southern Russia takes a dramatic turn when heavy gunfire from militants inside led Russian troops to storm the building. Hundreds of hostages, including many children, manage to flee. Many others die and some are still being held. (PolitInfo)
• The South Korean government says its scientists were not trying to build a nuclear bomb when they enriched a small amount of uranium four years ago. (PolitInfo)

September 2, 2004

• U.S. President Bush formally accepts the Republican Party's nomination for another four years in the White House. (PolitInfo)
• Darfur Crisis:
  • The U.N. special envoy to Sudan says Khartoum has not disarmed the Janjaweed militia or stopped militia attacks against civilians in the troubled region of Darfur. But he stops short of saying that Sudan is backing the Arab fighters, as many observers have alleged. (PolitInfo)
  • Humanitarian aid leaders fear that conditions for millions of displaced Sudanese will only worsen as the country's rainy season approaches. (PolitInfo)
• A U.S. Marine reservist has been convicted in connection with the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq. (PolitInfo)
• Hostage Crisis in North Ossetia: The standoff continues, with Russian authorities stating they have ruled out the use of force to end the siege, while Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has denied that his forces are responsible. (BBC)  A group of about 32 women and children are released by the hostage-takers. (BBC) (PolitInfo)
• Occupation of Iraq: 
  • At least twenty civilians, including up to three children, have been killed in a US air strike on the Iraqi city of Falluja, hospital officials have said. (BBC) (PolitInfo)
  • French officials say Iraqi militants have given up two French journalists they were holding hostage. The news comes after another militant group killed three Turkish hostages. (PolitInfo)
• Former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is freed from jail after his sodomy conviction is overturned by Malaysia's highest court. (Bloomberg) (BBC) (PolitInfo)
• The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague declares former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic unfit to represent himself in his trial, and appoints two lawyers as his defence. (BBC News)  (PolitInfo)
• Alex Salmond is re-elected as leader of the Scottish National Party. (BBC)

September 1, 2004

• Hostage Crisis in North Ossetia: Armed attackers seize a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, a Russian city close to Chechnya; as many as 400 adults and children are held hostage. 50 students manage to escape the building. Several people are killed in a gunfight. Some of the attackers are wearing explosive belts. (BBC) (AP) (Reuters)  (ITAR-TASS)  (PolitInfo)
• A U.S. newspaper is reporting that charges will be filed against 26 soldiers in connection with the deaths of two detainees in Afghanistan nearly two years ago. (PolitInfo)
• Reconstruction of Iraq:
  • The number of U.S. military wounded since the invasion of Iraq now stands at 6,916, a nearly 1,500 increase since the transfer of power on June 28, and a nearly two-fold increase since mid-April. The number of military dead is now 975. (MSNBC.com)
  • Seven truck drivers who were being held hostage by Iraqi militants have been released after nearly 6 weeks in captivity. The three Kenyans, three Indians, and one Egyptian were abducted July 21 and had been threatened with death unless Gulf Link Transport, a Kuwaiti trucking company, would stop doing work in Iraq. The seven are heading back to Kuwait. (FoxNews.com) (PolitInfo)
• Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to convert 37 tons of yellowcake uranium into uranium hexafluoride—estimated to be enough for 5 nuclear weapons. (Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• A group of 29 people thought to be North Korean defectors storm a Japanese school in Beijing, China. It is thought they are seeking asylum. (BBC) (PolitInfo)
• The Nepalese police impose an indefinite curfew on the nation's capital, Kathmandu. It follows a series of violent protests that have targeted random Muslims and a mosque in retaliation for the killing of 12 Nepali hostages in Iraq. (BBC)  (Reuters) (PolitInfo)
• 2004 Republican National Convention: US Vice President Dick Cheney accepts re-nomination, directing harsh criticism toward Democratic candidate John Kerry. (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Times) Thousands of Anti-Bush Protestors Hold Another Demonstration in New York City. (PolitInfo)  (PolitInfo)

January 2004 - February 2004 - March 2004 - April 2004 - May 2004 - June 2004 - July 2004 - August 2004 - October 2004 - November 2004 - December 2004

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