September 1, 2004

• Alu Alkhanov is confirmed as the winner of the presidential election in Chechnya, with 73.67 percent of the vote. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • The number of U.S. military personnel wounded since the invasion of Iraq now stands at 6,916, an increase of almost 1,500 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, an increase of about 300 since sovereignty was restored. (MSNBC)
  • Seven truck drivers who were being held hostage by Iraqi militants are released after nearly six 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, stopped doing work in Iraq. All seven drivers are heading back to Kuwait. (Fox News)
• Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to convert 37 tons (33,600 kg) of yellowcake uranium into uranium hexafluoride — estimated to be enough for 5 nuclear weapons. (Reuters)
• Beslan hostage crisis: Approximately 30 armed men and women seize a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, a Russian city close to Chechnya, taking over 1,300 adults and children hostage. Russian police and army units quickly surround the school, beginning a three day standoff. (Reuters) (BBC)
• A group of 29 persons, thought to be North Korean defectors seeking asylum, storm a Japanese school in Beijing, China. (BBC)
• The Nepalese police impose an indefinite curfew on the nation's capital, Kathmandu. The curfew 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)
• 2004 Republican National Convention: U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney accepts re-nomination and harshly criticizes Democratic candidate John Kerry. (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Times)
• The rape prosecution brought against U.S. basketball star Kobe Bryant is dismissed, with prejudice, when it becomes clear that his accuser will refuse to testify. The civil suit filed by his accuser proceeds. (BBC)
• Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher posts a 2 million rand (USD 300,000) bond for her son, Sir Mark Thatcher, who was under house arrest in Cape Town, South Africa for allegedly funding a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea. (CNN)