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Portal:Current events/January 2004

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ed Poor (talk | contribs) at 21:24, 16 January 2004 (Bush defies Dems, appoints Charles Pickering to the federal appeals court). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.



Time: 15:23 UTC   |   Date: Saturday, October 5, 2024

See also

Ongoing events
2004 Canadian Federal Election
2004 Taiwan Presidential Election
2004 U.S. Presidential Election
Bloody Sunday Inquiry
Hutton Inquiry
Exploration of Mars
  Search for Beagle 2
  Mars Exploration Rovers
Kyoto Protocol
Liberian Crisis
Same-sex Marriage
SCO v. IBM
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
  Road Map to Peace
North Korean Crisis
War on Terrorism
  Afghanistan timeline January 2004
Occupation of Iraq
  Iraq Timeline

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Recent deaths
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Selected Articles


  • Bush appoints Charles Pickering to the federal appeals court. Congress had refused to vote Pickering up or down, so Bush made a recess appointment. [1]
  • Earthquake in Iran: Iran updates the death toll from the Bam earthquake to 41,000 people. The final figure could be as high as 45,000. [2]
  • China arrests a top Hong Kong official into custody over suspicions that he spied for the United Kingdom. [3]
  • Exploration of Mars: NASA's Spirit rover now has its arm and all six of its wheels free, and only a single cable must be cut before it can turn and roll off its lander onto the soil of Mars. As that milestone is completed, scientists are taking opportunities to take extra pictures and gather other data.[54]
  • Occupation of Iraq:
    • U.S. military records show that attacks against coalition soldiers have decreased by 22% in the four weeks following the capture of Saddam Hussein. [55]
    • More protests in Amarah take place. Demonstrators, many of them related to the victims of January 10, requested compensation. No significant violence reported. [56]


[96], [97] (English).

  • Exploration of Mars: Mars Express failed to hear any signal from the Beagle 2 spacecraft during its first pass over the landing site. This is major blow, but scientists have once again not given up all hope. They will attempt again tomorrow using a different communication mode. The Beagle 2 mission manager, Colin Pilinger, set February 7 as the day to abandon contact efforts. By that time Beagle 2 would have switched into an autotransmit mode after having not received any signal for over a month if it was still alive [98].
  • A report from the International Monetary Fund expresses alarm regarding mounting budget deficits in the United States due to recession, tax cuts, and spending for the war on terrorism. The report says that the unprecedented level of external debt incurred poses "significant risks" not just for the United States but for the rest of the world. However, many outside economists note that other countries are also running large deficits and that underlying economic conditions in the U.S. are still robust. [99] [100]
  • 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. [101]
  • The Daily Mirror, a British tabloid, publishes the blacked out portion of a letter wherein Princess Diana alleged that someone was trying to kill her. The relevant portion reads: "[M]y husband is planning 'an accident' in my car, brake failure & serious head injury in order to make the path clear for him to marry." The part "my husband" (referring to Prince Charles) had been previously blacked out, and the word "him" replaced with "Charles" in transcripts of the letter released by Diana's butler, Paul Burrell. [102] The revelation comes on the same day the inquest into the death of Diana and her lover Dodi Al-Fayed is officially opened. [103]
  • 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. [104] [105]
  • Pakistan and India have agreed to a new round of talks to settle the Kashmir dispute. The talks will be begin February 2004. [106]
  • Exploration of Mars: The first color images have been released from the Spirit rover on Mars. They are the highest resolution images ever taken on the surface of another planet. It has also been announced by NASA that they plan to name the rover's landing site on Mars "Columbia Memorial Station" in honor of the crew of STS-107.[107][108][109][110]

Past events by month

2003: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2002: January February March April May June July August September October November December

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