Home > September 2004

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1 September 30, 2004

• Typhoon Meari batters the town of Miyagawa , Mie Prefecture, Japan killing 27 and causing widespread flooding and significant damage. (News.com) (BBC) (NASA)
• A by-election for the Hartlepool constituency of the UK parliament, to fill the seat of Peter Mandelson, who resigned to take up a role in the European Union, results in a win for Labour (12,752), with the Liberal Democrats second (10,719). The Conservative Party (3,044) is pushed into fourth place by the UK Independence Party (3,193). (BBC)
• 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. Nielsen Media Research later reports 62.5 million people watched the debate. ( Transcript ) (CNN) (MSNBC) (BBC)
• 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)
• The office of British Prime Minister Tony Blair announces he will undergo "routine heart surgery" tomorrow to correct an irregular heartbeat. (Bloomberg)
• 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. Just outside Baghdad, a rocket fired at a US military support base killed one coalition soldier. (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)
  • Three southern provinces ( Basra, Missan and Dhiqar), which together control 80 percent of Iraq's proven oil reserves, are considering plans to set up an autonomous region. (Financial Times)
• 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)
• Arab-Israeli Conflict
  • Israel launches a major offensive into the Jabaliya refugee camp killing at least 23 gunmen and civilians. Earlier this morning, a column of Israeli tanks moved into the center of the camp, followed by bulldozers. At least three Palestinian civilians have been killed thus far. Homes are being demolished, forcing people to flee. 72 Palestinians are known to have been wounded, some losing limbs. (BBC) (Reuters)
  • Two Palestinians are killed by Israeli troops returning fire after an Israeli soldier was killed at an observation post in the northern Gaza strip. The troops have been engaged in that part of the northern Gaza Strip since yesterday, September 29. (AP)
  • Two Israelis, including a civilian, are killed in an ambush close to Gaza. The Palestinian gunman was also killed. (BBC)
• Ahmed Zaoui, Algerian MP, refugee, wins another court case but remains in New Zealand prison. ( Court of Appeal of New Zealand , CA20/04)

2 September 29, 2004

• 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) (VOA)
• Forty-three North Koreans, reportedly seeking asylum, use ladders to scale the walls of the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, China. (Globe and Mail)
• U.S. presidential campaign: Former Republican President Dwight Eisenhower's son John Eisenhower endorses Democrat John Kerry's presidential bid. (The Union Leader)
• Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne, an experimental spaceplane, makes the first competitive flight for the Ansari X Prize. Although a roll problem caused the mission to be aborted early, SpaceShipOne nonetheless reached an estimated 109.1 km (358,000 feet), which qualifies as a spaceflight. (Space.com) (New Scientist)
• 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)
  • Reports that ransom was paid to secure yesterday's release of two Italian aid workers raise fears that the burgeoning hostage crises will worsen. Gustavo Selva, an Italian lawmaker, states that "The sum ($1 million) is probably correct". To date about 130 foreigners have been taken hostage. About 30 of these have been killed. (Reuters)
• Arab-Israeli conflict
  • Five masked men armed with bats and chains attack Chris Brown and Kim Lamberty, members of Christian Peacemaker Teams outside the Israeli settlement of Ma'on in Hebron while the volunteers were escorting Palestinian children to school. CPT alleges the assaults are part of an ongoing pattern of intimidation by Israeli Settlers. (BBC) (Haaretz) (Al Jazeera)
  • Five Palestinians, including Hamas member Tawfik Ali Charafi, are killed during Israeli raids in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and Nablus in the West Bank. The Israeli government claims the troops entered in retaliation for at least four rockets being fired at the Israeli town of Sderot on September 28. (BBC) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera) (Haaretz)
  • Two Israeli children, aged 3 and 5, are killed after a Qassam rocket attack from Palestinian terrorists on the town of Sderot. Hamas claimed the attack was launched in retaliation for the Israeli raid of the Jabaliya refugee camp, which left four Palestinians dead. (BBC) (Haaretz)
  • Two Palestinian teenagers are killed and power supplies are knocked out after an Israeli raid on the Jabaliya refugee camp. The raid was launched in retaliation for the rocket attacks on the town of Sderot which left two children dead. (BBC)
• 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)
• The asteroid 4179 Toutatis passes within 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers, or about four times the distance from Earth to the Moon) of Earth. Toutatis is the largest known asteroid to pass this close to Earth. (Space.com)

3 September 28, 2004

• The 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece closes. China, Great Britain and Canada have won the most gold medals. (Athens2004.com)
• North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su-hon announces at the UN General Assembly that it has turned plutonium from 8,000 spent fuel rods into nuclear weapons as a deterrent against the U.S. nuclear threat. Six-nation talks on the nuclear issue, which were due to have resumed before October, have been suspended. Analysts believe North Korea has ruled out further talks until after the U.S. presidential election in November. (BBC)
• Republic of China foreign minister Mark Chen calls Singapore "the size of a piece of snot" after Singaporean foreign minister George Yeo declared opposition to Taiwan independence. He later apologized for his "improper wording". (BBC) (China Post)
• U.S. President George W. Bush's hometown newspaper, the Crawford, Texas Lone Star Iconoclast, endorses Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. The editorial column asked Texan voters "not to rate the candidate by his hometown . . . but instead by where he intends to take the country." In the last election, the paper endorsed Bush. (Reuters) (Lone Star Iconoclast)
• Giovanni di Stefano , the lawyer of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, tells the Danish newspaper B.T. that Hussein plans to run as a candidate in the Iraqi elections scheduled for January 2005. A recent Gallup poll indicated that 42 percent of the Iraqi people want their former leader back. (Zaman, Turkey)
• Health officials in Thailand report that they have identified a likely case of human to human transmission of the H5N1 strain of avian flu, although the World Health Organization says the transmission occurred only after prolonged contact between individuals. A more easily transmitted virus could potentially cause a worldwide flu pandemic on the level of the 1918 Spanish flu. (Reuters)
• 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).
  • Two British soldiers are killed in an ambush near the southern Iraqi city of Basra. (BBC)
  • The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush says that it had considered secretly supporting pro-U.S. candidates in the upcoming elections in Iraq, but has now decided against the plan. (TIME) (Houston Chronicle)
  • U.S. military planes bomb a building in the insurgent-held city of Fallujah, in what the U.S. describes as a raid against terrorists linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Local doctors say at least three civilians were killed, but the U.S. says only "Zarqawi operatives" died. (BBC)
• 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)
• The price of U.S. light crude briefly exceeds the price of USD 50/ barrel, the highest since 1983. Analysts attribute the increase largely to concerns over the disruption of oil production in Nigeria; conflicts in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and the effects of Hurricane Ivan are also cited. (BBC)
• A Nigerian militant group threatens "all-out war" against foreign companies in the Niger River delta region if they do not leave by October. The European oil company Royal Dutch/Shell has already evacuated 254 non-essential workers from the area. (BBC: 1, 2)
• A strong earthquake, with an estimated magnitude of 6.0 on the Richter scale, strikes central California, near Parkfield. The effects are felt as far away as Sacramento and Santa Ana. (CNN)

4 September 27, 2004

• Arab-Israeli conflict:
  • Jewish settlers in Gaza line a bridge and pelt passing Palestinian cars with rocks, forcing the Israeli army to close the only road from the north into the Gaza Strip. (The Guardian)
  • 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)
  • The Israeli army raids the West Bank city of Jenin, taking over a hospital and several other buildings, making a number of arrests, and reportedly wounding three Palestinians. Several other violent incidents occurred in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (The Australian) (BBC)
  • A 'senior' Israeli security source has told several news organizations (Including the BBC, Haaretz and the AP) that it was Israel who killed a senior figure of Hamas, Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil, who died in a car bomb yesterday, September 26 in Damascus. (BBC) (Dispatch) (Haaretz) (Gulf Daily News)
    • Hamas states that an unnamed Arab state may have aided Israel in the assassination of Hamas leader Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil. (Haaretz) (Reuters)
• 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. The U.S. military disputes that total. (AP) (BBC)
  • Two separate car bombs kill at least seven Iraqi national guardsmen in Mosul and Fallujah, while mortars are fired at a police academy in Baghdad, with no reported casualties. (AP: 1, 2)
• The Virgin Group announces that it will create the world's first commercial space-flight company, to be called Virgin Galactic, using SpaceShipOne technology licensed from Mojave Aerospace Ventures. Virgin hopes to begin commercial space flight within five years. (BBC)
• The University of Montreal announces that a Quebec researcher has discovered a lost play by Alexandre Dumas, titled Les voleurs d'or ("The Gold Thieves"), in the archives of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (National Library of France). (Herald Sun)

5 September 26, 2004

• 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)
• Pakistani security forces kill al-Qaeda member Amjad Farooqi, who is suspected of involvement in the murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl. (Reuters) (BBC)
• Several earthquakes over the weekend centered below Mount St. Helens in the U.S. state of Washington prompt scientists to issue a rare warning that the volcano could erupt soon. (USGS/CVO)
• British Royal Air Force fighter planes escort a Greek Olympic Airlines plane to Stansted Airport in London after an anonymous caller warns of a bomb on board. (AFP) (news.telegraph)

6 September 25, 2004

• 2004 Atlantic hurricane season: Hurricane Jeanne strengthens slightly as it passes over the northern Bahamas and makes landfall at 11:50 pm local time at Hutchison Island, just east of Stuart, Florida, as a Category Three storm with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 km/h). About 3 million people are ordered to evacuate vulnerable areas in Florida. (Reuters)
• 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)
• 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 eight civilians were killed, and television broadcasts show civilian survivors, including an infant, being pulled out of a destroyed building. (BBC)
  • U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage insists that January elections in Iraq will be held in all areas of the country, apparently contradicting earlier statements by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that elections might be limited to secure areas. (BBC)

7 September 24, 2004

• Scientists announce that they have deciphered the complete DNA sequence of Legionella pneumophila, one of the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' Disease. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: The Muslim Council of Britain sends a delegation to Baghdad in the hopes of securing the release of Kenneth Bigley. (BBC)
• Same-sex marriage in Canada: The Nova Scotia Supreme Court strikes down the province's law forbidding same-sex marriages, making it the sixth of Canada's provinces and territories to legalize same-sex marriage. Neither the federal nor the Nova Scotia government had opposed the court challenge. (CBC)
• 2004 Atlantic hurricane season: The storm formerly known as Hurricane Ivan, now a tropical depression, makes landfall near the Texas- Louisiana border late Thursday night, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph. (CNN)

8 September 23, 2004

• The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, continuing a tour of Latin America, arrives in Puerto Rico for a two-day visit. He is scheduled to make several addresses on the subjects of human rights and demilitarization and to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Puerto Rico. (AP/El Nuevo Día)
• Court officials arrive on the remote British territory of Pitcairn Island, which has only 47 inhabitants, to begin the trial of seven islanders, on charges of sexual abuse that date back more than 40 years. (BBC)
• 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)
• 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)
• 2004 Atlantic hurricane season: The death toll in Haiti from flooding caused by this weekend's passage of Hurricane Jeanne is now at 1,080 persons, and government officials say the final number is likely to be around 2,000. At least 175,000 Haitians have been affected by the flooding. (Reuters)

9 September 22, 2004

• Experts and officials from Interpol and 19 countries met Tuesday in Burkina Faso to elaborate a strategy to combat terrorism and crime in Africa. Countries participating included France, the United States, Britain, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Chad, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, Benin, Burundi, Togo and Mauritania. (Independent Online)
• 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)
• 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)
• The Republic of Ireland's telecommunications regulator, ComReg, announces that, starting on October 4, it will suspend direct-dial telephone services to thirteen island nations and dependencies, in order to counter telephone dialer scams which have cost some customers thousands of euros. (Reuters)
• The United States military drops espionage charges against Syrian-American airman Ahmad al Halabi after he pleads guilty to four lesser charges. The judge criticizes the prosecution for improperly handling key evidence and for failing to correct the mistranslation of a crucial document. (Reuters)

10 September 21, 2004

• Three members of Texans for a Republican Majority, a political action committee founded by Tom DeLay, Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, are indicted by a grand jury in Travis County, Texas on charges of money laundering and accepting illegal campaign contributions. (Reuters)
• U.S. President George W. Bush addresses a skeptical United Nations audience to discuss his plans regarding Iraq. (Boston Globe)
• 2004 Atlantic hurricane season: The number of people confirmed dead in Haiti from the effects of Hurricane Jeanne rises to at least 691, with the number of missing at more than 1,000. The city of Gonaïves remains flooded, and thousands are homeless. (ABC News)
• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security intercepts a United Airlines flight from London, so that Yusuf Islam, the musician formerly known as Cat Stevens, can be arrested and deported for allegedly financially supporting groups linked to terrorism. (MSNBC)
• 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. Earlier this month, UN Security Council Resolution 1559, drafted by the United States and France, called for all foreign troops to leave Lebanon. (CNN.com)
• Defying a recent United Nations resolution, Iran announces that it will continue converting 37 tons (33,600 kg) of yellowcake uranium into uranium hexafluoride, a requirement for producing nuclear power plant fuel, but which some fear might be used to build nuclear weapons. (Reuters)
• 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)
• An earthquake swarm is currently in progress in the Adobe Hills about 18 miles (29 km) east of California's Mono Lake. Over 600 earthquakes have been recorded since September 18, including events of moment magnitude 4.8, 5,4, and 5.5. (California Integrated Seismic Network) (U.S. Geological Survey) (CNN/AP)
• The United States formally lifts its general trade and aviation sanctions against Libya today, in response to Libya's decision last year to permit the removal of many of its weapons of mass destruction. (Reuters)

11 September 20, 2004

• 2004 Atlantic hurricane season: Massive flooding in Haiti resulting from this weekend's passage of Hurricane Jeanne over the island of Hispaniola leaves large areas submerged and at least 556 people dead, with that number expected to increase. (Reuters) (BBC)
• 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)
• 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)
  • CBS News announces that it now doubts the authenticity of the " Killian memos", after defending their authenticity for more than a week in the face of widespread expert opinion to the contrary. The network acknowledges that it was a mistake to use the memos as part of the supporting evidence in a 60 Minutes story by Dan Rather alleging deficiencies in U.S. President George W. Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard. (USA Today)
• Indonesian presidential election: Early returns in today's election favor former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri 61 to 39 percent. (KPU)

12 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)
• Two Palestinian women, who the Israeli government alleges intended to carry out suicide bomb attacks, voluntarily surrender to Israeli authorities. (INN) (Melbourne Herald Sun)
• 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)
• 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)

13 September 18, 2004

• 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)
• 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)
• 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)

14 September 17, 2004

• The government of India announces that Tamil will be the first language recognized as a " classical language" in India. Government ministers add that Sanskrit and other languages could be granted the status, depending on their "heritage and legacy". The Indian government plans to create a center for the study of languages so designated. (Times of India) (The Hindu)
• Three men are arrested in New Delhi, India for attempting to sell a 800 year old Tibetan Buddhist manuscript, which had been reported stolen from a monastery at Kalimpong, West Bengal several months earlier. The thieves attempted to sell the manuscript for 30 million rupees (535,000 euros), although experts say that it could be worth three times that much on the international market. (Hindustan Times) (India News via New Kerala)
• Researchers at the University of Central Florida publish an article in the Lancet documenting a strong link between Crohn's disease and the bacterium Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis. This is the latest in a series of studies that strongly suggest a link between the bacterium and the disease. (BBC)
• 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. Rebels will meet with Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo Friday evening to give their version of the story. (MSNBC.com)
• U.S. presidential election: At a firehouse campaign rally in Hamilton, New Jersey, Sue Niederer, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, is arrested after disrupting a speech by First Lady Laura Bush. CNN.com CBS News
• U.S. air raids in the city of Fallujah, 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)
• 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)
• In an interview with the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiyya satellite television network, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell plays down the importance of Wednesday's report by the State Department — which listed Saudi Arabia as a country that severely restricts religious freedom — saying that he hopes that he will be able to use dialogue to remove Saudi Arabia from the list.

15 September 16, 2004

• Prominent Saudis reject yesterday's declaration by the U.S. State Department that Saudi Arabia severely restricts religious freedom, arguing that the report that made the declaration was politically motivated. (Reuters)
• Manitoba becomes the fourth province, and the fifth jurisdiction, in Canada to legalize same-sex marriage. (CBC)
• 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). The helicopter returned to Kabul. (ABC News)
• Indonesia sentences Islamic militant "Ismail", also known as Ricky Putranto , to 12 years in prison for his role in the bombing of a Marriott hotel in Jakarta last year. (Jakarta Post)
• 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)
• United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan reluctantly 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 press conference. (BBC) (Reuters) (Boston Globe) (ITN)
• 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)
• HRH Prince Joachim of Denmark and Alexandra Christina Manley anounce their separation and eventual divorce. (The Scotsman)
• 2004 Atlantic hurricane season:
  • The eye of Hurricane Ivan makes landfall near Mobile, Alabama in the early morning, killing at least 33 and causing an estimated USD 4–10 billion in flood, wind, and other storm damage across the Gulf Coast of the United States. By late afternoon, Ivan is downgraded to a tropical storm. (CNN) (NOAA/NHC) (AP)
  • Tropical Storm Jeanne briefly becomes a hurricane, but is downgraded back to tropical storm strength as it passes over the Dominican Republic, where it brings heavy rains and high winds. Forecasters warn that the storm could strengthen again once it reaches the open sea. (Reuters)

16 September 15, 2004

• China and the United Nations: 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. This reiterates the Assembly's position that Resolution 2758, which recognized the People's Republic of China rather than the Republic of China as the sole legitimate representative of "China", prevents Taiwan from being separately represented. The ROC's supporters argue that the resolution did not give the People's Republic the exclusive right to represent the people of Taiwan.

(Straits Times) (Reuters) (Resolution requesting representation [PDF)]

• Canada's federal government and its provincial and territorial leaders reach an accord to increase funding for the country's national health care system. In exchange for an increase in federal funding of CAD 18 billion over the next six years, provincial and territorial leaders agree to reforms intended to reduce patient waiting times. (Toronto Star)
• In a report released today, 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. A designation as a CPC requires the State Department to take whatever steps are necessary — up to the level of sanctions — to increase religious tolerance in the designated country. (CNN.com) (State Department report)
• Six Palestinian gunmen and four others are killed, including an 11 year old girl by Israeli troops. (Reuters) (BBC)
• 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. The defiant Americans — Jonathan Idema, Brent Bennett , and Edward Caraballo — say they intend to appeal the decision. (CNN)
• A Countryside Alliance rally outside Britain's Parliament buildings, in opposition to a bill that would ban fox-hunting, descends into violence as protesters and police clash. Some protesters successfully breach security and enter the floor of the House of Commons. The bill later passes 339–155. (BBC: 1, 2)
• Five crew members of an Irish yacht, who had been adrift in a liferaft for seven days after abandoning their ship, are rescued by helicopter off the Cornwall coast of Britain. The crew members ran out of water on Monday and were running low on food when rescued. (BBC) (RTÉ)
• 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: 1, 2)
• In Southern California, the radio system linking air traffic controllers to high-altitude planes breaks down at 17:00 local time, Tuesday (0000 UTC September 15), prompting the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to halt outgoing flights for three hours at Los Angeles International and several other airports. (CNN)
• 2004 Atlantic hurricane season:
  • As of 13:00 local time (1800 UTC September 15), the center of Hurricane Ivan is located about 275 km (170 miles) south of the coast of Alabama and is moving northward at about 23 km/h (14 mph). The hurricane is now projected to make landfall along the Gulf Coast of the United States very early on Thursday. Forecasters now predict that there is little risk that the hurricane will pass over New Orleans. A hurricane warning is in effect for the Gulf Coast from New Orleans to the Florida Panhandle. (NOAA/NHC)