2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
See also: July 2004 in sports

July 31, 2004

• A plea bargain in a US court reveals details of an alleged Libyan plot to assassinate Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah. Leading US Muslim activist Abdurahman Alamoudi, founder of the American Muslim Council, admits taking part in the plot, as he pleads guilty to three charges of illegal dealings with Libya. US Attorney General John Ashcroft says the case has provided "critical intelligence" in the war on terror. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3941475.stm)
• The Olympic Stadium in Berlin is given a new lease of life after a four-year renovation. The stadium is to stage the Football World Cup 2006 final, Germany's biggest sporting spectacle since reunification, exactly 70 years after the infamous Nazi Olympics. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3942661.stm)
• The Vatican denounces feminism, claiming that it blurs differences between men and women and threatens the institution of the traditional family of one man and one woman, stating that the drive for equality makes "homosexuality and heterosexuality virtually equivalent, in a new model of polymorphous sexuality". (AP) (http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/V/VATICAN_WOMEN?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME)
• Iran states that it has resumed building nuclear centrifuges to enrich uranium, reversing an October 2003 pledge to Britain, France and Germany to suspend all uranium enrichment-related activities. The United States contends that the purpose is to produce weapons grade uranium. (Reuters) (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5835448)

July 30, 2004

• The United Nations Security Council passes a US-drafted resolution 1556 (http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/sc8160.doc.htm) demanding the Sudanese government end atrocities in the Darfur conflict; however, aid groups criticize the weakening of the resolution at the insistence of China, Pakistan, and Russia. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3940547.stm)
• Three people are killed and eight wounded in three suicide bomber attacks outside the U.S. and Israeli embassies and the Uzbek chief prosecutor's office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir is blamed by Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Other unnamed sources point to al-Qaeda. (FOXNews) (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,127544,00.html) (AP) (http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/U/UZBEKISTAN_ATTACKS?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME)
• A natural gas pipeline explodes in Ghislenghien, near Ath (thirty kilometres southeast of Brussels), killing 18 people and leaving over 120 wounded, some critically. (Reuters) (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=HXJX3BKM0LDU0CRBAE0CFFA?type=worldNews&storyID=5832363) (CNN) (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/07/30/belgium.gas.blast/index.html)

July 29, 2004

• United States Senator John Kerry formally accepts the 2004 Democratic Presidential candidate nomination. In his acceptance speech he undertakes to "restore trust and credibility to the White House". (MSNBC) (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5344731/)
• Pakistan announces the capture of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, only the second person on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list to be detained. He is wanted in connection with the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. The US Government had offered a reward of up to $25m for information leading to the arrest of Ghailani. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3938133.stm) CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/07/29/pakistan.alqaeda.capture/index.html)
• The Bank of England says that consumer debt in the United Kingdom has passed one trillion pounds for the first time. Coupled with increasing interest rates, this increased amount of debt has caused a sharp rise in the number of people seeking help with money problems – up 44% on five years ago. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3935671.stm)
• Two Australian anti-war protestors who daubed "No War" in red paint on the top sail of the Sydney Opera House on March 18, 2003 take their case to the New South Wales Court of Appeal. David Burgess, 33, and Will Saunders, 42, claim their defence of self-defence was not heard by their original trial judge. (Sydney Morning Herald) (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/29/1091080369482.html?oneclick=true)
• The International Criminal Court says it will launch an investigation into ongoing atrocities at the Barlonyo refugee camp in northern Uganda. Reports say that more than 200 people have killed by rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army since the beginning of the year. (Mail & Guardian) (http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=119498)
• In Vietnam, dissident pro-democracy activist Dr Nguyen Dan Que is sentenced by the Ho Chi Minh People's Court for "abusing democratic rights to jeopardise the interests of the state, and the legitimate rights and interests of social organisations and citizens". Que is the third dissident this month to be jailed after using the Internet to criticise the ruling Communist government. (Vietnam News Agency) (http://www.vnagency.com.vn/newsA.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=29&NEWS_ID=111191) (note the Agency is state-controlled), (Miami Herald) (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/9271340.htm?1c).
• Doughnut maker Krispy Kreme announces that its accounting practices are the subject of an informal inquiry by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The inquiry is concerned with the company's repurchase of franchises as well as a recent earnings warning. (AP) (http://news.findlaw.com/ap/f/1310/7-29-2004/20040729073007-13.html)
• Scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute announce the discovery of a new genus of deep sea worms, Osedax (meaning bone devourer). The worms feed on lipids found in the bones of whale carcasses. (MBARI) (http://www.mbari.org/news/news_releases/2004/whalefall.html)

July 28, 2004

• The Catholic Church says a "weeping statue" at a Vietnamese Catholic centre near Brisbane is not a miracle. (ABC) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1164463.htm)
• Violence in Iraq:
  • A massive suicide car-bomb kills 70 Iraqi civilians in an attack near a police station in the city of Baquba, north of Baghdad.
  • Insurgents launch simultaneous attacks on U.S bases around Ramadi, killing two U.S soldiers and wounding eight. One guerilla and an Iraqi civilian are killed in the Ramadi fighting. Clashes between Marines and guerillas are reported elsewhere in Al Anbar province, west of Baghdad.
  • A U.S soldier is killed and three wounded in a roadside bomb attack on a convoy in the town of Balad Ruz, north of Baghdad.
  • A U.S soldier is killed and another three wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad. An Iraqi civilian was also injured in the blast.
  • Seven Iraqi policemen and 35 guerillas are killed in a battle in the town of Suwariyah, southeast of Baghdad, that was started by a raid by Iraqi security forces backed by U.S and Ukrainian troops. [1] (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040728/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=2100(AP))
• About 220 North Koreans fly to South Korea from an unnamed third country, following 247 who arrived the day before. They arrive at Incheon International Airport on a plane chartered by the South Korean government. The North Korean government describes their apparent defection as "kidnapping". (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3931873.stm)
• A United Airlines flight carrying 246 passengers to Los Angeles, USA is forced to return to Sydney, Australia, after a bomb threat. Police later describe a hoax warning, found written on an air sickness bag. (CNN) (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/07/27/australia.plane/index.html)
• The Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Muslims World League, two Saudi-based international Islamic organizations, warn of Muslim anger in the event of an attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and say Israel would be held responsible for any aggression against the mosque. (ArabNews) (http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=48997&d=28&m=7&y=2004&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom)
• Roman Catholic Bishop Misael Vacca Ramírez, abducted by the left-wing rebel group National Liberation Army (ELN) in Colombia, tells local television he has been set free. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3931769.stm)
• Traces of ricin are found in jars of baby food in a supermarket in Irvine, California. (Bloomberg (http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=ambnYuz6DXzM&refer=us))

July 27, 2004

• South African authorities announce that Al-Qaeda militants have illegally obtained a large number of South African passports, enabling operatives to travel to many African countries and Britain without visas. It is believed that the passports came from crime syndicates operating within the passport office. (AP) (http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/T/TERROR_SOUTH_AFRICA_LINK?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT)
• The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court orders the unsealing of investigative files related to the unsolved 1972 murder of 13-year-old altar boy Danny Croteau. Richard Lavigne, a defrocked priest convicted of child molestation, is the only suspect in the case. (ABC) (http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040727_863.html)
• A lower French court annuls the same-sex union of Stephane Chapin and Bertrand Charpentier, stating that the Civil Code does not allow same-sex unions and that allowing them is for the legislature. The couple say they will appeal against the court's ruling, even to the European Court of Human Rights. The mayor who officated at the ceremony, Noel Mamere of the left-wing Greens Party, had been suspended from duties for one month by the national executive. (AP) (http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/F/FRANCE_GAY_MARRIAGE?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT)
• Iran is alleged to have broken seals placed upon uranium centrifuges by the International Atomic Energy Agency and resumed their construction. (AP) (http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/N/NUCLEAR_AGENCY_IRAN?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT)
• Violence in Iraq:
  • Guerilla mortar fire, directed at the Green Zone in Baghdad, strikes the nearby neighborhood of Salhiya, killing an Iraqi garbage collector, wounding another, and injuring 15 U.S. soldiers.
  • Dr. Qassem el-Obaidi, assistant director of Mahmudiya hospital, is assassinated in Mahmudiya, 25 miles south of Baghdad.
  • A suicide bomber launches a failed attack in Baquba, north of Baghdad, killing himself but inflicting no other casualties.
  • The Jordanian company Daoud and Partners decides to withdraw from Iraq, so as to secure the release of two Jordanian hostages. [2] (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040727/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=2100(AP))
• The United Nations warns that Bangladesh is on the verge of an humanitarian crisis, as severe flooding causes more than 350 deaths. Forty-one of the country's sixty-four districts are affected by the floods, and officials say 14 million people are either marooned or homeless; other estimates reach as high as 30 million. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3928463.stm)
• The European Union's 25 foreign ministers jointly call on the United Nations to pass a resolution threatening sanctions if the Sudanese government does not rein in the Arab militias blamed for atrocities in Darfur. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3926873.stm)

July 26, 2004

• The 2004 Democratic National Convention opens in Boston, Massachusetts. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3925421.stm) (Guardian) (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1269340,00.html)
• Violence in Iraq:
  • A suicide bomber attacks near a U.S base in the northern city of Mosul, killing two civilians and an Iraqi security guard. Three U.S soldiers and an Iraqi security guard were wounded.
  • The Iraqi interim Interior Ministry's Deputy Chief of Tribal Affairs, Col. Musab al-Awadi, is assassinated in Baghdad, along with two of his bodyguards.
  • Insurgents kill two Iraqi women working as cleaners for British forces in Basra in southern Iraq.
  • Militants threaten to kill two Jordanian truck drivers they captured within 72 hours if their Jordanian employer does not stop doing business with the U.S. military. (AP) (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040726/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=1480)
• The International Maritime Bureau says that deaths due to piracy doubled in the first month of 2004 compared with the same period in 2003, to 30 people. Half of the killings were in Nigerian waters. Despite the increased violence, the total number of piracy attacks fell. In the economically critical Straits of Malacca however, attacks rose by a third. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3925277.stm)

July 25, 2004

• Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
  • The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades seizes the governor's office in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis, demanding that Yasser Arafat's cousin Moussa Arafat be dismissed from his post as Gaza's security chief. In a separate attack, unidentified people storm a police station and burn the structure. (AP) (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=3&u=/ap/20040725/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians)
  • The "Human Chain" rally of 130,000 Israelis protesting against Israel's plan to unilaterally disengage from the Gaza Strip ends peacefully. About 130,000 people formed a 90 km human chain from the Gaza Strip to Jerusalem. (Maariv) (http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=10128)
• Violence in Iraq:
  • Fifteen insurgents are killed in a five-hour battle near the guerilla stronghold of Buhriz near Baquba in which small-arms, artillery, and mortars are used.
  • A U.S soldier is killed in a roadside bomb attack near Baiji, 90 miles south of Mosul.
  • A former government official is killed in Baghdad.
  • Guerillas kill two police officers in Mahumudiya, 25 miles south of Baghdad.
  • A police officer, a Kurdish Patriotic Union of Kurdistan fighter, and a Kurdish woman and her two sons are killed in Kirkuk. (AP) (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040725/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_040725191245)

July 24, 2004

• An Iranian court clears Mohammad Reza Aghdam-Ahmadi, the intelligence agent accused of killing the Iranian-Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi, of charges of "semi-intentional murder", stating that the blood money should be paid from the state's treasury. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3923511.stm)
• A militant group kidnaps an Egyptian diplomat, Mohamed Mamdouh Qutb, in Baghdad, Iraq. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3921803.stm)
• A roadside bomb explodes in Karachi, Pakistan, killing an electrician and wounding six others. The victims were all students and staff at an Islamic seminary, and appear to be the targets of the attack. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3922379.stm)
• In Mexico Judge César Flores refuses to authorize an arrest warrant for former president Luis Echeverría Álvarez and other officials under the accusations of genocide for the killing of students during the "dirty war". Prosecutors are expected to appeal the decision. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3923567.stm)

July 23, 2004

• The United States Senate and House of Representatives pass a joint resolution declaring the armed conflict in the Sudanese region of Darfur to be genocide. (CNN) (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/07/23/un.sudan.ap/)
• An 18-year-old Palestinian, Hassan Zaanin, is shot dead in Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip when he and his familiy attempt to stop Palestinian gunmen from planting an anti-tank explosive outside their house. (Haaretz) (http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/455715.html) (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3920181.stm)
• An arrest is made in Toronto in the Cecilia Zhang murder case, nine months after she was abducted. (Toronto Star) (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1090534213252&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154)
• The bridge in Mostar dividing Croatian and Bosniak communities is opened 11 years after it was destroyed in the Bosnian war. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3919047.stm)
• A special prosecutor files genocide charges against former President of Mexico Luis Echeverría for actions taken by the Mexican military during a student protest in 1971.

July 22, 2004

• Police seal off the Washington, DC, office building housing John Kerry's presidential campaign headquarters after an envelope contaning a suspicious white powder is opened by a Kerry staff member. (ABC News) (http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040722_1880.html)
• Major North American brewers Coors and Molson announce they will go ahead with a proposed merger, creating the world's fifth-biggest brewing company. (Toronto Star) (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1090491305747&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154)
• In the United States, the 9/11 Commission releases its unanimous final report (http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf). The report harshly criticizes American intelligence agencies. (Democracy Now!) (http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/23/1336253)
• The 9/11 Commission releases a transcript of the hijackers' conversation in the final moments of United Airlines Flight 93, which details how the hijackers forced the plane into the ground in Pennsylvania. (Reuters) (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5750011)
• United States and Afghan forces kill 10 suspected Islamic militants and arrest five others. (Reuters) (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5745077)
• The United Nations raises its threat warning level for the Gaza Strip to "Phase Four" (the maximum is five) and plans to evacuate non-essential foreign staff from the Gaza Strip. (Reuters) (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5743863)
• Kenya calls on its citizens to leave Iraq, after the recent abductions of three Kenyan citizens (AP) (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=721&e=7&u=/ap/20040722/ap_on_re_mi_ea/kenya_iraq_hostages)
• In Canada, one person is reported to have died and five others hospitalized due to an E. coli contamination (AFP) (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1527&e=6&u=/afp/canada_health)
• In Turkey a passenger train travelling between Istanbul and Ankara derails at about 18:45 local time (16:45 UTC) near Pamukova in Sakarya province. Initial fatality reports from the government suggested that 139 people were killed; this was reduced to approximately 30, without explanation, a few hours later, and the actual number is unclear. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3918473.stm)
• Following Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin's cabinet shuffle two days earlier, Leader of the Opposition Stephen Harper announces a reshuffled Conservative Shadow Cabinet. (CBC) (http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/07/22/tory_shadow040722.html)
• Ignacio Carrillo, the Special Prosecutor for Past Social and Political Movements in Mexico, presents the findings of the investigation into the "dirty war", where it classifies the killings by government forces as genocide, and requests warrants be issued for the arrest of former president Luis Echeverría Álvarez and 11 other ex-government figures. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3922119.stm) (La Jornada in Spanish) (http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2004/jul04/040723/003n2pol.php?origen=index.html&fly=1)
• Same-sex marriage in the United States: the House of Representatives today passes legislation preventing federal courts from ordering courts in other states recognize same-sex marriage granted elsewhere. (The NewStandard) (http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=729)

July 21, 2004

• Palestinian Legislative Council member Nabil Amr, a leading voice for anti-corruption reform of the Palestinian Authority, is shot twice in his right leg after returning from a television interview in which he criticized Yasser Arafat. (Reuters) (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=F4H0PFAVFUI1MCRBAEZSFFA?type=worldNews&storyID=5729689)
• The United Nations General Assembly passes a