September 3, 2004

• The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China criticizes Chen Shui-bian's recent suggestion that "Taiwan" is the best abbreviation for the Republic of China, characterizing it as an attempt to promote Taiwan independence. (Taiwan News) (People's Daily) (Reuters)
• At the request of Syria, and in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, Lebanon amends its constitution to allow President Émile Lahoud to serve an additional term. (NYT)
• Former United States President Bill Clinton is to receive urgent heart bypass surgery as early as Monday. He was admitted to New York Presbyterian Hospital on Friday after an angiogram showed lesions in multiple coronary arteries. (AP) (CNN)
• Beslan school hostage crisis:
  • The hostage crisis in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia ends violently as fighting erupts in the early afternoon between the hostage-takers and Russian special forces. Special forces teams storm the school, in attempt to save the remaining hostages, after two explosions are heard and the hostage-takers fire on a medical team attempting to remove dead bodies. Several hundred people die in the ensuing battle; the hostage-takers shoot some hostages are shot in the back as the hostages attempt to flee.
  • Official reports list 335 confirmed dead, including 156 children, and more than 700 wounded; 176 remain missing. Some of the hostage-takers briefly escape, but eventually all are reported killed or captured by Russian authorities. (BBC: 1, 2, 3) (Interfax: 1, 2)