December 2004
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Events
- U.S. TV personality Tom Brokaw ends his career as anchor for NBC Nightly News.
- Palestinian presidential election, 2005: Jailed Palestinian Marwan Barghouti joins the race to succeed Yasser Arafat, bringing the total to 10 candidates, drawing criticism from Arafat's Fatah movement. (Reuters)(BBC)
- AIDS pandemic: The head of Brazil's AIDS program says the government will violate patents on anti-AIDS drugs by copying them, citing unsustainable increases in cost. (BBC)
- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ends the Likud-led coalition after he fires ministers from the secular Shinui party, which voted to defeat the annual budget over subsidies to religious parties. (Haaretz) (BBC) (Reuters)
- 2004 Ukrainian presidential election: Ukraine's parliament, Verkhovna Rada, passes a vote of no-confidence to dismiss Viktor Yanukovich as Prime Minister. The opposition led by Viktor Yushchenko agrees to continue negotiations and end the blockade of official buildings. (Reuters) (BBC)
- Serbia's interior minister says the "assassination attempt" on president Boris Tadić was a case of road rage against his motor convoy in Belgrade traffic. (Reuters)
- CBS and NBC refuse to air an advertisement by the United Church of Christ citing the advocacy of accepting homosexuals is "too controversial". The advertisement was accepted by numerous other networks including Fox, ABC and TBS. (CNN) (UCC)
- A French appeals court reduces former Prime Minister Alain Juppé's disqualification from holding public office from ten years to one, opening up the way for him to contend in the 2007 presidential election. (BBC)
- Côte d'Ivoire conflict: French officials acknowledge troops killed around 20 people during clashes with anti-French protestors, but maintain the French troops acted in self-defense and gave warning shots, contrary to Ivoirian police claims. (BBC)
- Chinese state media confirms all 166 miners missing after a coal mine explosion in central Shaanxi province on November 28 are dead. (Xinhua) (BBC)
- Rwandan troops are spotted by UN personnel in eastern Congo where Congolese officials say the troops are attacking and burning villages. The last invasion started the Congo Civil War, which resulted in the deaths of 3-4 million people. (Reuters)
- An Indonesian MD-82 from the charter airline Lion Air crashes in Central Java, killing at least 31 people and injuring at least 62 people. (CNN) (Reuters)
- A report commissioned by U.N. Secretary General calls for radical reform of the United Nations, including expansion of the U.N. Security Council. (AP)
- Egypt and Israel hold talks in Jerusalem to discuss the planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
- United States President George W. Bush holds talks with Canada's Prime Minister Paul Martin in his first official visit to the country and agrees to work together to combat terrorism. (BBC)
- David Blunkett, U.K. Home Secretary, insists that he did no wrong in the controversy surrounding the alleged misuse of his position, and receives the backing of Prime Minister Tony Blair. Sir Alan Budd is appointed to carry out an independent enquiry. (BBC)
- 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy: The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary requests Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell to respond to alleged voting irregularities. (House.gov (PDF))
- The Inter-American Court of Human Rights upholds Peru's conviction and continued imprisonment of U.S. citizen Lori Berenson on terrorism charges. (BBC) (AP)
- A spokesman for George W. Bush requests that Myanmar release dissident opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose house arrest was recently extended. (BBC)
- Iran's nuclear program: United Nations inspectors wishing to inspect the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran and Lavizan II in northeastern Tehran lack the legal authority according to United Nations diplomats. (Reuters)
- British Member of Parliament and anti-war activist George Galloway wins his libel case against the Daily Telegraph, which during the invasion of Iraq had published a story suggesting that Galloway had been in the pay of Saddam Hussein. (BBC)
- U.S. President George W. Bush nominates Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns to become the next Secretary of Agriculture. If confirmed by the Senate, Johanns would fill the Cabinet position currently held by resigning Secretary Ann Veneman. (Reuters) (Transcript)
- The life sentence of Mijailo Mijailovic, killer of Swedish minister Anna Lindh, is confirmed by the Swedish Supreme Court (BBC) (Reuters) (Bloomberg)
- The European Union takes over from NATO in peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largely replacing the NATO-led SFOR with a new Eufor. (BBC)
- India announces a new effort to survey and decontaminate the area affected by the December 3, 1984 Bhopal chemical disaster. (BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq: The U.S. military, citing security concerns for the Iraqi transitional parliamentary election scheduled for January 30, 2005, announces the deployment of 1,500 additional troops to Iraq and tour extensions bringing the number to an all time high of 150,000. (Reuters) (CNN)
- Dragomir Milošević, the general who besieged Sarajevo for 3 years during the Bosnian Civil War surrenders to the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. 12,000 people died during the siege. (AFP)
- The People's Republic of China launches a new long-range nuclear submarine and an accompanying class of ballistic missiles, with a range in excess of 7,400 km (4,600 miles), developed by the People's Liberation Army. (AP)
- 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy: The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary schedules a public congressional forum on voting irregularities in Ohio on December 8. (House.gov (PDF))
- Yukos loses an appeal to halt the auctioning off of its main production unit. President of Russia Vladimir Putin, while on his three day visit to India, says Indian firms are welcomed to bid. (BBC)
- Kosovo's parliament elects a former KLA commander, Ramush Haradinaj, who has been questioned twice by UN war crimes investigators. (BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- U.S. President George W. Bush nominates former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik to replace outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge in the Cabinet position. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson also announces his resignation. (Reuters)
- Following warnings by separatist group ETA, a number of devices explode in Madrid. (Reuters) (BBC) (Wikinews)
- Ukrainian Supreme Court rules that the 2004 second round presidential results are invalid and requires a new vote to be completed within three weeks without determining whether the second round will be re-run or an entirely new election will be run. (BBC) (Yahoo! News)
- Former Israeli chief Rabbi and Holocaust survivor Meir Lau says that "Jewish history in Europe is nearing its end" and called the Jewish Agency to prepare for the absorption of Europe's Jews in Israel. Lau conveyed concern over rise in antisemitism and fading of the Holocaust remembrance in Europe.(Haaretz)
- Rwanda denies it has sent any troops to Congo. Reuters quotes unnamed diplomatic sources that claim that the troops were there only temporarily. (BBC) (Reuters)
- Brazilian paleontologists of the University of Rio de Janeiro announce a find of a new dinosaur species, Unaysaurus tolentinoi. The find also shows links to Europe when both continents were part of Pangaea. (Reuters) (BBC) (News 24)
- Typhoon Nanmadol slams into the island of Luzon in the Philippines, less than a week after tropical depression locally called "Winnie" caused landslides and floods in the region also affected by the earlier typhoons Muifa and Merbok. Floods and landslides by Winnie killed at least 495 persons. More people are expected to be declared missing or dead as typhoon Nanmadol leaves the country later today. (CNN) (Inquirer/GMA7)
- Dissident investors in Disney, including former board member Roy Disney, nephew of the company founder Walt Disney, announced that they won't nominate a slate of alternate directors for the 2005 annual meeting. The announcement is a sign of an easing of tensions at that corporation's board. thestreet.com
- In Taiwan, rallies are held in support of candidates in this week's elections to the Legislative Yuan (parliament). Party sources estimate that separate rallies held in Taipei by the Kuomintang and Taiwan Solidarity Union drew around 100,000 each. (VOA) (TaipeiTimes)
- A referendum in Hungary to grant citizenship to ethnic Hungarians living in other countries appears to have failed due to insufficient turnout. The proposal has angered the governments of countries with significant Hungarian populations, particularly Romania. The Prime Minister of Hungary, Ferenc Gyurcsány, opposed the referendum. (Reuters)
- 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy:
- Hundreds gather at the Ohio statehouse to demand a recount of votes, citing fraud that took votes from John Kerry and gave them to George W. Bush. (AP)
- A lawsuit challenging the Volusia County, Florida election is thrown out for being a day late. The suit claims paperwork is missing from 59 of Volusia's 179 precincts and that precinct printouts show different numbers. (AP)
- The Thai government drops millions of origami cranes on its restive, predominantly Muslim provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, saying that they are a gesture of goodwill and peace. (Channel News Asia) (BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin seeks to ban Hizbullah's TV channel al-Manar from broadcasting in France due to purported anti-Semitic content, most recently involving a commentator speaking of "Zionist attempts to transmit AIDS to Arab countries". al-Manar claims to be anti-Israeli rather than anti-Semitic. (BBC)
- In a Prisoner exchange between Israel and Egypt, Egypt releases Azzam Azzam, an Israeli Druze businessman sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by Egypt in 1997 on charges of spying for Israel, while Israel releases 6 Egyptian students who allegedly infiltrated Israel to kidnap soldiers. (Haaretz) (BBC)
- With more than 1000 people dead or missing, devastation in the northern agricultural regions, and damaged infrastructure after Monday's storm and Thursday's Typhoon Nanmadol, Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo suspends logging and pledges to prosecute violators. (Malaysia Star)(Boston Globe) (New York Times)
- Former Houston Rockets star Calvin Murphy acquitted of charges that he molested his five daughters. (Houston Chronicle)
- Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams recommends that Sinn Féin support a British-Irish power-sharing plan for Northern Ireland that involves the public decommissioning of the arms held by the Irish Republican Army. Ian Paisley of the loyalist Democratic Unionist Party may become first minister of Northern Ireland, with former IRA member Martin McGuinness as his deputy. (BBC)
- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has come under fire after reports claim that his son received payments from a Swiss company that won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil for Food program. (BBC)
- The U.S. consular compound in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia is stormed by gunmen, who kill nine Saudis in a four-hour battle but do not gain entry to the consulate building itself. Saudi security forces kill three of the gunmen, arrest two others, and pursue several more. There are no Americans dead, though some are slightly wounded. (BBC) (Reuters/AFP)
- In Spain the Basque separatist group ETA detonate seven bombs in bars, cafes and town squares across the country. The cities attacked are León, Ávila, Santillana del Mar, Ciudad Real, Málaga, Valladolid, and Alicante. All the attacks were preceded by warnings and nobody was seriously hurt. (BBC)
- Ukrainian presidential election controversy: EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has returned to Ukraine for talks on the country's political crisis.(BBC)
- Delegates from twelve South American countries meeting in Cuzco, Peru, sign a deal creating the South American Community of Nations, a bloc modelled on the European Union. (BBC)
- The Israeli government indicates that it will recognize same-sex partnerships for certain benefits, and will introduce legislation formalizing this status. (365gay.com)
- Civil unions in New Zealand: Parliament passes civil union legislation by 65 votes to 55. The new law provides a way for de facto couples, including same-sex couples, to gain legal recognition of their relationships, but stops short of same-sex marriage. (Scoop) (TVNZ)
- The White House affirms that, despite reports to the contrary, John Snow will remain Treasury Secretary during President George W. Bush's second term of office. Meanwhile, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi announces his expected resignation. (CNN)
- The United States Senate follows the U.S. House of Representatives in approving a complete overhaul of government intelligence services, creating the post of United States Director of National Intelligence. (BBC)
- The European Union says it is not ready to lift its 15-year-old arms embargo on the People's Republic of China, set after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. (BBC)
- Malaysian Deputy Home Affairs Minister Tan Chai Ho announces that once an extended amnesty sought by Indonesia comes to an end later this year, illegal immigrants will face up to 5 years in prison and a whipping; their employers will also be punished. More than 18,000 undocumented migrants have already been whipped since the 2002 amendment to the Malaysian Immigration Act. (China View) (Channel News Asia)
- IBM announces that it will sell its PC hardware business to Lenovo, a Chinese computer company. (BBC)
- Seer Jayendra Saraswathi, a senior Hindu cleric, has been denied bail over his murder charge in India's southern Tamil Nadu state. (BBC)
- The Times reports that Dr. Nikolai Korpan, who treated Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko in Vienna, announced Yushchenko had been poisoned, and that the specific poison would be identified within days, but later denied the report, saying he had been cited wrongly and that it would be hard to gain hard evidence for a poisoning. (Times Online) (Yahoo News)
- While performing with post-Pantera band Damageplan at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott was shot and killed onstage by Nathan Gale. Abbott was shot a total of five times. He was 38 years old. Three others were killed in the shooting: concert attendee Nathan Bray, 23, of Columbus; club employee Erin Halk, 29, of northwest Columbus; and Damageplan security guard Jeff "Mayhem" Thompson, 40, of Texas. The band's drum technician, John Brooks, and tour manager, Chris Paluska, were injured.
- Israeli troops kill Rania Siam, an 8-year-old Palestinian girl, as she eats lunch in the kitchen of her home in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip. Earlier, three mortar shells are fired into the nearby Israeli settlement of Neve Dekalim injuring four people, one of them a child. Hamas claims responsibility. Israeli troops fire in the general direction the source of mortar fire. The Israeli army says it will investigate Rania Siam's death. (NYT)
- A riot forms in Puerto Rico between members of the PIP, the FUPI, the Socialist party and members of the police in front of the federal court business, where PIP and PNP backers had shown two days before the outcome of the 2004 Puerto Rican elections are decided by a judge. Several people, including seven policemen, are severely injured. (El Vocero, in Spanish)
- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is acquitted of bribery thanks to the statute of limitations. The court's ruling implied that Berlusconi probably was guilty of bribing a judge in 1991, but said that too much time had passed for him to be punished. Financial Times Reuters
- The 2004 Nobel Prizes are handed out at twin ceremonies in Oslo and Stockholm. (Canadian Press) (BBC)
- "Godfather of Soul" James Brown is diagnosed with prostate cancer and will undergo surgery next week. (BBC)
- A bomb explodes at a market in the Pakistani city of Quetta, leaving at least ten people dead. (BBC)
- The Inter-American Court of Human Rights orders Guatemala to pay USD $7.9 million in compensation to 317 survivors of the 1982 Plan de Sánchez massacre in which soldiers and paramilitaries killed 268 villagers.
- Self-confessed cannibal Yoo Young-Chul, convicted of killing 20 people, mostly prostitutes, is sentenced to death in Seoul, South Korea. (Xinhua)
- France's highest administrative court, the Conseil d'État, bans Hizbullah's al-Manar TV station on the grounds that it incites racial hatred and antisemitism. (BBC)
- The jury in the Scott Peterson trial recommends that he be sentenced to death for the murder of his wife and unborn son. (CNN)
- Augusto Pinochet is charged by Chilean prosecutors for alleged involvement in murder and "disappearances" in Chile in the 1970s, and is placed under house arrest. (BBC)
- 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy:
- United States Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael O. Leavitt is nominated by President George W. Bush to succeed outgoing Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson in the Cabinet-level post. (Bloomberg)
- Conflict in Iraq:
- Foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration: Human Rights Watch, a New York based NGO claims that another three prisoners have died while in U.S. detention in Afghanistan. (BBC)
- Hundreds of protesters have gathered in Cairo outside Egypt's Supreme Judiciary buildings, defying a ban on public protests, to call for an end to Hosni Mubarak's 23-year presidency of Egypt. (BBC)
- Romanian presidential election, 2004: Prime Minister Adrian Năstase concedes defeat to opposition candidate Traian Băsescu after a close contest. With 99% of the vote counted, Băsescu took 51.23% of the vote to Năstase's 48.77%. (BBC)
- Oracle Corporation announces a merger deal to acquire PeopleSoft for approximately US$10.3 billion. (Oracle Press Release)
- CNN's business news network CNNfn ends transmissions. (CNN)
- U.K. Home Secretary David Blunkett resigns from his post in the wake of numerous controversies. He is replaced by Charles Clarke, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills. Ruth Kelly takes over from Clarke as Education Secretary and becomes the sixth woman in prime minister Tony Blair's Cabinet. Kelly is replaced as Cabinet Office minister by David Miliband. (Sky) (BBC)
- In Athens, Greece, two gunmen, possibly Albanian, seize a bus at 7:00 local time and take 25 hostages on board. The hijackers threaten to blow up the bus at 08:00 Greek time (06:00 GMT, Thursday) if their demands for €1 million and a flight to Russia are not met. The hostage crisis ends peacefully after 18 hours when the two gunmen surrender. All the hostages are released unharmed. (Sky)(News24) (OfficialWire)(Reuters)
- An armed group of young ethnic Albanians, allegedly former NLA guerrilla members, seal off the village of Kondovo, Macedonia, a suburb of the capital Skopje, citing poor conditions and repression by state authorities. The fledgling multi-ethnic governing coalition plays down the incident stating it is a local problem stemming from the slow implementation of the peace agreement after the 2001 civil war, while some opposition parties call for "strong action". (RealityMK) (TOL)
- Democratic Party members of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary request an FBI investigation into alleged Ohio voting problems, (NYT) (pdf) prompted by affidavits and sworn testimony taken at a congressional forum held on December 13. [1]
- A US$85 million test of the U.S. National Missile Defense system by the Missile Defense Agency is aborted when an unknown anomaly is detected before the launch of an interceptor missile in the Marshall Islands, 16 minutes after the launch of the target from Kodiak Island, Alaska. It is the first test since a previous failed test in 2002. As in 2002, the Bush administration abandons plans to activate the system by the end of the year, and projects its activation in early 2005. (Reuters) (Associated Press)
- Sprint Corporation announces a US$35 billion deal to acquire Nextel Communications. With about $40 billion in combined yearly revenue the resulting company (called Sprint Nextel) will be the third largest wireless telephone service provider in the U.S.. (MSNBC)
- Human rights in Iraq: The U.S. is forced to release evidence which shows prisoners in Iraq were subject to mock executions, electric shocks, and burns by US Marines. (BBC)
- Iraqi transitional parliamentary election: Iraq's defense minister accuses Iran and Syria of supporting terrorists and charges that a senior Iraqi Shiite was leading a "pro-Iranian" coalition into next month's national elections. (AP via Yahoo)
- North Korea announces that if Japan is to impose any sanctions over the ashes of kidnap victim Yokota Megumi, it will be regarded as a declaration of war. (Japan Today) The Japanese government downplays the criticism. (News24)(Bloomberg) (Japan Today)
- At least four people die in a second Indian train accident, blamed by railway officials on the driver of a van stopped on train tracks near Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu. The new accident comes after the previous day's train crash with a death toll of at least 37. (The Tribune, Chandigarh, India)
- United Nations envoy Jan Pronk says that 10,000 peacekeepers are needed in Sudan to monitor the forthcoming peace deal. (Reuters Alertnet)
- Pitcairn Islands election, 2004: Jay Warren becomes Mayor of Pitcairn Island.
- Belgian child killer Marc Dutroux loses an appeal against his life sentence . (Expatica)(News.Com)
- Leaders of the European Union, meeting in Brussels, agree to invite Turkey to begin negotiations to join the EU from 3 October 2005, about 36 years after they first applied to join. (BBC)
- In the Western Districts of Nepal, nearly 50 people are killed in clashes between Nepalese troops and Maoist rebels. (BBC)
- A commuter in Zimbabwe who allegedly insulted President Robert Mugabe could face up to five years in prison for undermining the president's authority. (BBC)
- Inuit leaders want to sue the U.S. government at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for causing global warming. They view the melting of the polar icecap in the Arctic as a threat to their existence as a people, an assault on their basic human rights. The announcement is expected today in Buenos Aires at the 10th round of international talks on climate change. (NYT) (Democracy Now!)
- The British final court of appeal, the Law Lords, rule that the suspension of habeas corpus for foreign nationals detained under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 is illegal, being incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. (BBC) (judgment)
- Cambodian soldiers discover a cache of Angkor Wat-era carvings that were to be smuggled out of the country. (Reuters)
- Thai security forces pursue 100 people connected to the unrest in the south of the country. Four Islamic teachers have been arrested on suspicion of inciting terrorism. (Channel News Asia) (Reuters)
- Former chess champion Bobby Fischer has been offered residency in Iceland. He is currently detained in Japan, and is wanted by the United States. (BBC)(Reuters)
- Researchers at the University of Tübingen report the discovery of a 30,000 to 37,000-year-old flute, the earliest musical instrument ever found. [2]
- United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld faces criticism from both Democrats and Republicans following a dismissive reply to a soldier in Iraq when questioned about vehicle armor. (CNN)
- Cuban authorities put up photos of abused Iraqi prisoners in front of the US interests section in Havana after the U.S. displayed Christmas decorations in a protest against Cuba's human rights record. (BBC)
- The United States declares Hizbullah's al-Manar TV channel to be a terrorist organization. (White House Official Statement) (Al-Jazeera)
- A public inquiry into the deaths of 85 Muslim protesters in southern Thailand claims the killings were "not deliberate". 78 people suffocated to death after being piled into army trucks by Thai security forces; 7 were shot at the separatist protests on October 25. (BBC)
- U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, creating the office of the Director of National Intelligence to oversee the country's fifteen spy agencies. (ABC News)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- The Israeli Labor party and Ariel Sharon's Likud Party reach an agreement, forming a unity government in order to implement Israel's unilateral disengagement plan of 2004. In return, the Labor will receive eight cabinet portfolios, including "peace/disengagement minister" specially suited for Shimon Peres and Internal Affairs. (Yahoo/Reuters) (BBC)
- Israeli forces, accompanied by armored bulldozers and helicopter gunships, raid the Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis, killing 8 Palestinians, including 2 civilians, and wounding 24, after 50 mortar shells were fired on the Gush Katif settlements and caused injuries to some Israeli Soldiers and killed a Thai worker. (BBC) (Maariv) (Haaretz)
- In retaliation for the Israeli raid, Palestinians from Hamas and the Abu-Reish faction shoot at least five anti-tank missiles, wounding two Israeli soldiers. (BBC) (Haaretz) (Maariv) (CTV Canada)
- Hundreds of Palestinians flee homes in the area, fearful that Israeli troo
