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The Beginnings
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Internal Combustion Engine
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March 2004
2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
- Four U.S. civilian contractors are killed in a grenade attack by Iraqi guerrillas in Fallujah, Iraq. A violent mob pulls charred bodies from the burning vehicles and hang two bodies from a bridge over the Euphrates. In a separate incident, five U.S soldiers are killed in a large roadside bomb attack 12 miles (20 km) northwest of Fallujah. (CNN) (BBC)
- The Korea Train Express high-speed rail line opens, connecting Seoul to Busan and Mokpo. (CNN)
- The Guardian newspaper quotes British security service sources as believing that yesterday's raids may have stopped a major terrorist bombing. The sources state that MI5 and MI6 worked with police during the investigation leading to the raids. (Guardian)
- The International Court of Justice rules that the USA violated the rights of 51 Mexican citizens on death row for murder and orders a review of their cases. (AP) (BBC)
- The controversial Higher Education Bill, which will introduce variable tuition fees in England and Wales, passes its third reading in the House of Commons by 316 votes to 288, despite many MPs still vocally opposed. The Bill's second reading in January was passed with a majority of only 5 votes. (BBC) (Guardian) (Reuters)
- Politics of Austria: Jörg Haider, a leading figure in the Freedom Party who is widely viewed as neo-fascist, is re-elected governor of the state of Carinthia. (Scotsman) (Die Presse)
- A Canadian court rules that the Canadian Recording Industry Association did not prove that the downloading of music from the Internet is a copyright violation. The ruling is in line with a decision from the Copyright Board of Canada that downloading music is legal. (Toronto Star) (Bell Globemedia)
- Air America Radio, a self-styled liberal alternative to conservative talk shows on the radio, is launched on six stations from New York City to Los Angeles. (Kansas City Star)
- East African artifacts support evolution of symbolic thinking in Middle Stone Age. (National Geographic Society via EurekAlert)
- Foreign relations of Taiwan: Dominica switches diplomatic recognition from the Republic of China to the People's Republic of China. (Channel News Asia).
- ROC presidential election, 2004: The Pan-Blue Coalition drops its demand for another round of voting by members of the military and the police who were put on a heightened state of alert on election day. Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu sign letters promising not to contest the Pan-Blue petition for a recount.(Miami Herald)(Bloomberg)
- Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has a close encounter with a UFO. Most likely the UFO was actually a fireball. (Canadian Press)
- An explosion occurs close to the main bazaar in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, killing two and injuring around twenty; preliminary reports point to two female suicide bombers. Also in the capital, three police officers are shot dead; and, in the city of Bukhara, another explosion at a suspected terrorist bomb factory claims ten fatalities. (Reuters) (BBC)
- The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country to ban tobacco smoking in all enclosed workplaces (including bars and restaurants); infringers risk a €3,000 (US$3,600) fine. (BBC)
- NATO welcomes seven new members, as Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia formally became members by depositing their instruments of accession with the United States' government, though the countries will join officially next month at a NATO meeting. All but Slovenia were formerly members of the Warsaw Pact. (BBC) (NATO)
- Nanoparticles allegedly cause brain damage in fish, according to a study of the toxicity of synthetic carbon molecules called "buckyballs". (NewScientist)
- Beauty firm Dove is to use "real women" in advertising after a survey finds two-thirds of UK women feel depressed about their figures and have low body confidence as a result of beauty advertising. (Ananova)
- Scientists discover methane in the Martian atmosphere and state it could mean there is life on the Red Planet. (Space.com)
- Spain is reported to be considering doubling her number of troops stationed in Afghanistan. (BBC) (CNN)
- The United States Congress prepares legislation against peer-to-peer technology on multiple fronts. (Wired News)
- United Nations electoral experts and security support arrive in Baghdad. (UN News Center)
- The first South Atlantic hurricane ever recorded forms 275 miles off the coast of Brazil. (Miami Herald)
- Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, says that Islam is authoritarian, inflexible and under-achieving; and that Muslim countries have contributed little of major significance to the world's culture for centuries, at the same time stating that most Muslims are peace loving people who should not be demonized. He, however, denounces moderates for not unequivocally denouncing the "evil" of suicide bombers. Critics said his critique of Islamic culture amounted to an "attack". (Daily Telegraph)
- ROC presidential election, 2004: The controversial victory of Chen Shui-bian is confirmed by the state electoral commission, with a margin of only 29,518 votes – 0.2% of the total – separating the candidates. Pan-Blue protestors storm and hurl eggs at the Central Electoral Commission building. (BBC)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The United States vetoes a United Nations Security Council resolution (sponsored by Algeria and Libya) condemning the killing by Israel of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin along with six other Palestinians outside a mosque in Gaza City and calling for a complete cessation of executions. The veto is publicly motivated by the resolution making no mention of suicide bombings committed by Hamas and attributed to Yassin. 11 votes are recorded in favour, with three (United Kingdom, Germany, and Romania) abstaining and one (the United States) against. (BBC) (KC Star)
- Testimony begins in the state murder trial of convicted Oklahoma City bombing accomplice, Terry Nichols, in McAlester, Oklahoma. (AP)
- ROC presidential election, 2004: Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party submits a bill to the Legislative Yuan to allow an immediate recount, per Lien Chan's demand, but the majority Pan-Blue Coalition dismisses it as unnecessary saying the President could just issue an executive order instead. (The Star) (Bloomberg)
- Microsoft is to be fined a record €497 million ($613 million) by the European Commission as punishment for abusing its Windows monopoly, according to reports ahead of a key meeting by EU Commissioners on Wednesday. (Financial Times)
- Salvadoran presidential election: Tony Saca of the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) declares victory over a former Communist Party guerrilla leader, with 60% of the votes. (Seattle Times) (CoLatino) (El Salvador) (Democracy Now!)
- Israel assassinates Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual head of Hamas, in the Gaza Strip. It then seals off both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. (Reuters) (BBC) Kofi Annan, and the British, French, and German governments, amongst others, condemn the killing. (BBC) (FOX)
- The former chief counter-terrorism aide to U.S. President Bush, Richard Clarke, claims that Bush diverted attention towards Iraq, ignoring the main threat of Al-Qaida. Clarke was the administration's senior counter-terrorism official when 9/11 took place. (Guardian) (Reuters) (FT) (BBC)
- The United Kingdom shuts its embassy in Algiers, Algeria, amid general security fears. (BBC) (CNN)
- Mijailo Mijailovic is sentenced to life imprisonment for the equivalent of First-degree murder, found guilty of assassination of Sweden's Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, September 10, 2003.
- Same-sex marriage in the U.S.: Benton County, Oregon commissioners, after receiving a letter from state attorney general Hardy Myers , reverse their earlier vote to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples this Wednesday. But, stating they will observe the principal of equal treatment under the law, the commissioners decide that the county will stop issuing any marriage licenses until the Oregon Supreme Court has ruled on the constitutionality of the law. (Oregonian) (Register-Guard)
- ICANN announces that a Toronto, Canada organization, the International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR), has applied to sponsor the .xxx top-level domain. IFFOR claims that a special domain would help control the spread of pornography to children. However, in February the Internet Engineering Task Force released RFC 3675 , ".sex Considered Dangerous", detailing technical and administrative concerns with such proposals. (Web Host Industry Review) (IETF announcement) (.xxx application)
- Pakistani soldiers seal off an area of South Waziristan where they suspect that the senior Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is hiding. The Pakistanis have suffered many casualties.(CNN)
- The U.S. military drops all charges of alleged mishandling of classified information against Muslim Army chaplain Yousef Yee at Guantanamo Bay.(FOX)
- Same-sex marriage in Canada: The Quebec Court of Appeal upholds a Quebec superior court ruling that same-sex marriages are valid under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. (CBC) It joins Ontario and British Columbia in permitting same-sex marriage. The couple which brought the suit is scheduled to be wed on April 10, after a required 20-day waiting period.
- Taiwan presidential election and referendum:
- Äänekoski bus disaster: At least 24 young people are killed and 15 injured, several of them seriously, in a collision on a icy road between a coach and a lorry carrying rolls of paper on Highway 4 near Äänekoski in Central Finland. The accident happened at around 2 a.m. local time (UTC +2). (Helsingin Sanomat) (BBC)
- The newspaper USA Today admits that a former reporter, Jack Kelley, invented or distorted important parts of at least eight major stories. He was, for example, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 on the basis of an eyewitness account of a suicide bombing that, the publication now acknowledges, could not have happened as described. (USA Today)
- Four U.S. Baptist missionaries working on a water purification project are killed in a drive-by shooting in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. (CNN)
- The city of Aliso Viejo, California, nearly bans foam cups when they learn they are produced from a substance known as Dihydrogen monoxide (water), a substance that could "threaten human health and safety." (MSNBC)
- Pavlo Lazarenko, former prime minister of Ukraine, stands trial in a U.S. federal court in San Francisco for money laundering. (AP)
- Same-sex marriage in the United States: Commissioners of Multnomah County, Oregon dismiss state attorney general Hardy Myers ' non-binding opinion that same-sex marriages are illegal and vow to continue issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. (Seattle Times)
- Newly elected Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announces his government's opposition to the invasion and continued occupation of Iraq and his intention to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq by June 30, unless they are part of a U.N. force. (BBC)
- Astronomers announce the discovery of 90377 Sedna, a Pluto-like planetoid which is the most distant individual object known to orbit the Sun. (Caltech) (BBC) (The Australian)
- Iran will reallow the entry of UN nuclear inspectors after March 27, says IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei. (BBC) (AFP)
- Haiti recalls its ambassador of neighbouring Caribbean state Jamaica, where ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide is said to be making a personal visit. Haiti also threatens to boycott a 2-day Caricom meeting. (AP) (BBC) (Reuters)
- In the aftermath of nomination day for the Malaysian general election, Barisan Nasional wins 4 more seats in various state assemblies and another parliamentary seat, uncontested. (ChannelNewsAsia) (Toronto Star)
- Exiled Syrian Kurds storm the Syrian consulate in Geneva and other Kurds protest in Turkey and Germany at weekend violence in northeast Syria. (BBC)
- The Spirit rover takes first picture of Earth ever made from the surface of another planet. (Space.com)
- March 11, 2004 Madrid attacks: 10 bombs on Madrid commuter trains kill at least 180 people and wound more than 1400, the largest toll in any bombing in Europe (the 1988 Lockerbie bombing killed more but wounded fewer). (Washington Post) (BBC) (La Vanguardia) (CincoDías) (El Semanal) (Renfe) (Le Monde) (CBC) (Reuters) (CNN) Purported al-Qaida statement: (Al-Jazeera)
- Four British prisoners who had been arrested on their return from Guantanamo Bay are released without charge. A fifth was not arrested on arrival. A further four remain in the Cuban camp. British newspapers vie for the rights to their stories , with offers in the range of £300,000. Compensation lawsuits from the returned five are expected against the US and UK governments. (Guardian) (BBC) (BBC)
- Same-sex marriage in the United States: The California Supreme Court issues an interim stay ordering San Francisco officials to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The court said it would hear oral arguments regarding the controversy in May or June. The state says it did not register any of the thousands of recent gay marriages. (FOX/AP) (365Gay) (Washington Times)
- UN inspectors find weapons-grade uranium in Iran. Iran objects to UN and US policy, considering it "unrealistic." (Asia Times) (Radio Free Europe) (NYT)
- A Maryland woman and former Democratic congressional aide, Susan Lindauer, is arrested on charges of conspiracy against the United States, acting as an Iraqi spy before and during last year's invasion. (CNN) (Smoking Gun)
- An Australian Senate report on poverty is immediately dismissed by Prime Minister John Howard. The report shows between 2 and 3.5 million Australians, or up to 19 per cent of the population, are living in poverty. (Age) (West Australian) (Australian) (Channelnewsasia)
- SCO v. IBM: BayStar Capital, an investment company, confirms tie between Microsoft and SCO. (Business Week) (CNet) (Newsforge) (Groklaw)
- Pop singer George Michael announces that he will stop selling his music. Instead, he plans to distribute it freely over the Internet and pass on any donations to charity. (E! Online)
- March 9, 2004 attack of Istanbul restaurant in Turkey by two Islamic suicide bombers killing one, injuring five. (Reuters) (ChannelNewsAsia)
- California electricity crisis: Federal prosecutors plan to indict a Reliant Energy subsidiary for its alleged role in the energy shortage of 2000 and 2001. These would be the first criminal proceedings related to the crisis. (Houston Business Journal)
- New Hubble Space Telescope images show deepest view of the universe yet. (NYT)
- Opposition members of South Korea's parliament undertake the first steps in impeachment proceedings against President Roh Moo-hyun. (Reuters)
- John Allen Muhammad is sentenced to death by a Virginia judge for his role in the Beltway sniper attacks. (Bloomberg) (CNN)
- A genetically modified crop, Bayer's Chardon LL maize, is approved for growing in England for animal feed from 2005 until October 2006. The Scottish Executive also approves the move, but asks Scottish farmers to hold off. MPs and farmers protest in anger as the science is questioned. The Welsh National Assembly's Environment Minister announces he is still opposed to approving the crop. (New Scientist) (BBC) (BBC) (BBC) (Evening Standard)
- Pakistan announces a successful first flight test of its Hatf VI / Shaheen II long-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile. The missile has a range of 2,000 km (1,250 mi) and can carry a payload of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). (BBC) (CNN)
- Five of the nine Britons held by American authorities at Guantanamo Bay under suspicion of having links to terrorist organisations are returned to Britain. They are to be questioned by British anti-terrorism police on arrival.(Reuters) (CNN)
- The FBI arrests William Cottrell , a Caltech student and alleged member of the Earth Liberation Front, in connection with last summer's spate of arson attacks at a car dealerships which destroyed or damaged over one hundred vehicles, including many Hummer H2 luxury SUVs. (AP) (Reuters)
- In the United States, EchoStar's DISH Network stops carrying channels owned by Viacom (CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, and others) in a dispute over the pricing of those channels. Both companies have used text crawls and other information to influence viewers to call the opposing company to negotiate price. (NYT) (Dow Jones) (Reuters) (Financial Times) (Motley Fool)
- Belinda Stronach, candidate for leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, is nominated as the Conservative candidate for the next federal election in the riding of Newmarket-Aurora, Ontario. (CBC)
- Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks ice hockey team hits rookie Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche in the middle of a game, fracturing vertebrae in Moore's neck and probably ending his career. (National Post)
- Dr. Jiang Yanyong, who exposed the SARS coverup in the People's Republic of China, sends a letter to the National People's Congress calling the forceful suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 a "mistake." (BBC)
- United States marines shoot and kill a Haitian gunman in front of Port-au-Prince's presidential palace after the man fired rounds at the marines and protesters. Supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had shot and killed several anti-Aristide demonstrators.(NYT)
- Iraq's governing council unanimously approves the country's new constitution. (AP)
- On International Women's Day, Afghan President Hamid Karzai encourages men to allow their female relatives to vote in the upcoming election, but also suggests that they control those votes. (Toronto Star)
- On a visit to Ottawa, Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan addressed a dinner, saying that Canada is a pillar of the United Nations. (National Post)
- The United Kingdom's House of Lords votes to send the Constitutional Reform Bill, which will abolish the office of Lord Chancellor, create a new Supreme Court, and create a Judicial Appointments Commission , to a select committee for scrutiny, defeating the government. Government MPs claim this is a "wrecking" move, and threaten to use the Parliament Act to force the measure through. (BBC)
- The New York City medical examiner reveals that a body pulled from the East River is that of actor/writer Spalding Gray, missing since January. (NYT)
- Greek legislative election, 2004: New Democracy, led by Costas Karamanlis, wins over the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, led by George Papandreou.(BBC) (BBC)
- An explosion rocks a Moscow apartment block. Initial reports from police suggest that the explosion was caused by a bomb, in spite of increased security in the run-up to the presidential election on March 14. Later reports state that the explosion was due to a gas leak. (BBC)
- The White House reports that all of Libya's remaining nuclear weapons-related equipment has been sent to the United States. (BBC)
- Palestinian sources say that 14 people died after an Israeli raid into the refugee camps of al-Bureij and Nusseirat. Israeli sources say it was a "pinpoint" operation against the "terrorist infrastructure". (BBC)
- The 2004 Formula One championship gets under way with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Michael Schumacher wins. (BBC)
- In Sweden some 15,500 skiers compete in the 80th installment of Vasaloppet, the oldest and longest cross-country ski race in the world. Norwegian Anders Aukland wins. (Sports Illustrated) (Vasaloppet press release)
- In Austria there are elections in the states of Salzburg and Carinthia. In Salzburg, the SPÖ earns a majority for the first time. In Carinthia, the election is an unexpected success for Jörg Haider (FPÖ).
- It is announced that Peter Maxwell Davies is to be the United Kingdom's next Master of the Queen's Music. (Scotsman)
- The headquarters of the US-led coalition in Baghdad come under rocket attack from Iraqi guerillas, the day before the new Iraqi temporary constitution is due to be signed. (BBC)
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