April 2004
2004 : January - February - March -
April - May - June
- July - August - September - October -
November - December
- U.S. newscast Nightline is taken off the air by several stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group because of its planned airing of a list of soldiers killed in
Iraq. Sinclair claims it is a political ploy, while network ABC says it is meant as "an expression of respect
which simply seeks to honor those who have laid down their lives for this country". (Washington Post) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55041-2004Apr29.html)
- President George W. Bush expresses his "disgust" at images of Iraqi prisoners being mistreated by U.S. soldiers:
"Their treatment does not reflect the nature of the American people." (DefenseLink.Mil) (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2004/n04302004_2004043010.html)
- Macedonian officials admit that they staged a bogus
gun-battle with "terrorists" in March 2002 and that they knew the seven men slain had no terrorist connections. Four members of the security
forces face murder charges for their staged killing. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3674533.stm)
- Diego Maradona leaves hospital after 12 days of treatment for
heart and breathing problems. (Glasgow Evening Times) (http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/sport/6012272.html)
- After 25 years, Bob Edwards hosts NPR's Morning Edition for
the last time. (CNN) (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/04/29/npr.edwards.ap/index.html) (South
Florida Sun-Sentinel) (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/news/celebrity/sns-ap-npr-edwards,0,4598426.story?coll=sfla-entertainment-headlines)
(Salt Lake Tribune) (http://www.sltrib.com/2004/May/05012004/commenta/commenta.asp)
- Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse: Photographs
showing Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad being abused and
humiliated by U.S. soldiers spark outrage around the world. Six soldiers face courts martial and their commanding officer is
suspended. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3672901.stm)
- Google announces plans for an initial public offering to raise as much as USD $2.72 billion.
The IPO will be unconventional in that it will use an auction process and a complex averaging formula designed to prevent
brokers' elite customers from winning more shares than average investors. (SF Chronicle) (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/04/30/MNGVC6D2CO22.DTL) (The Age) (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/30/1083224580385.html)
- Ten U.S. soldiers are killed in three attacks in Iraq, raising the number of U.S.
combat deaths in April to 126. More U.S. troops have been killed this month than during the six weeks of "major combat" in 2003.
(Washington Post) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52429-2004Apr29.html)
- President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney meet in private with all 10 members of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United
States. (CNN) (http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/29/bush.911.commission/index.html) (PolitInfo) (http://www.politinfo.com/articles/article_2004_04_29_3603.html)
- Federal authorities file the first criminal charges under the Can Spam Act of 2003 against a group that had spammed ads for allegedly worthless "diet patch"
products. (Detroit Free Press) (http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw96936_20040429.htm)
- The last Oldsmobile automobile is produced in Lansing, Michigan
(CNN) (http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/29/pf/autos/olds_dead/).
- Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Israel, beats CSKA
Moscow, Russia in the Euroleague and qualifies for the finals. Final score: 93-85. (AP) (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/04/29/sports1727EDT0429.DTL)
- ROC presidential election,
2004: The High Court schedules a vote recount for May 10. (Bloomberg) (http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aDp_REVff5Sw&refer=asia)
- Iraq Occupation and resistance:
- Intense fighting breaks out in Fallujah, as US forces respond to attacks on
their positions by insurgents. Artillery and AC-130 gunships are used to bombard guerrilla positions, but the number of casualties is as yet unknown. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3665775.stm)
- According to a CNN/USA
Today/Gallup poll, 71% of Iraqis see the U.S. troops in their country as
"occupiers", only 19% as "liberators". Though, 61% say that despite any hardships they had suffered, it was worth ousting
Saddam Hussein. Still, 57% would like U.S./British forces to leave
immediately. (CNN) (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/28/iraq.poll/index.html) (USA Today) (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-04-28-gallup-iraq-findings.htm)
- Cable TV giant Comcast abandons its
US$66bn bid to take over Disney, citing a
lack of interest from the Disney board. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3666749.stm)
- More than 100 suspected Jemaah Islamiah militants die during
their attacks on security outposts in Thailand's Muslim-dominated southern provinces of Pattani,
Yala and Songkhla. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3665293.stm)
- In heavy fighting outside Najaf, Iraq, United States Armed Forces kill 64 insurgents and destroy an anti-aircraft weapon. (AP) (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq.html?hp) (Democracy Now!) (http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/27/1434254)
- A bomb explosion and gun battle occur in Damascus, Syria between security forces and a "terrorist group", in which four people are killed and a vacant United Nations building badly damaged. The identity and motives of the
attackers is unclear but Islamist militants are the prime suspects. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3664811.stm).
- South African president Thabo Mbeki is sworn in for a second term after being overwhelmingly reelected on April 14. The event is marred by controversy over the attendance of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3659619.stm)
- In an open letter to Tony Blair, fifty-two former high ranking British
diplomats, including former ambassadors to Iraq and Israel, condemn the Prime Minister's foreign policy stance in the Middle East as "doomed to failure". They also condemn George W. Bush's recent endorsement of Ariel Sharon's
offer to withdraw settlers from the Gaza strip while leaving some in the West Bank as "one-sided and illegal and which will
cost yet more Israeli and Palestinian blood". (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3660529.stm)
- Indian elections: the second phase
of elections in the world's largest democracy takes place. Many key states such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar vote; exit polls favour the opposition (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3663893.stm)
- The design of the new U.S. fifty dollar bill is
announced. (U.S.
Treasury) (http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney/) (IHT) (http://www.iht.com/articles/517111.html) (CNN) (http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/26/pf/new_50_unveiled/)
- Authorities in Jordan announce that they have broken up an attempt to set off
massive explosions in Amman, possibly including the release of toxic chemicals. Alleged
targets include the office of the Prime Minister, Jordanian intelligence headquarters, and the US embassy. The plot is attributed to Al Qaida operative
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. (CNN) (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/26/jordan.terror/index.html)
- Three Irishmen arrested in Colombia
in August 2001 on charges of training FARC rebels are acquitted. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/3660557.stm)
- Hong Kong's democracy
movement suffers a setback as the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress declares the
territory won't have direct elections for its Chief Executive in 2007 nor for all its lawmakers in 2008.
- A landslide buries a village in southern Kyrgyzstan, and emergency officials state that up to 33 people are missing and feared dead.
- Nick Holonyak Jr.,
inventor of the light-emitting diode (LED), receives the
10th annual Lemelson-MIT Prize, awarded to prominent inventors by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (AP) (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/aptech_story.asp?category=1700&slug=LED%20Creator)
- Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus
Carlsen (13) becomes the world's youngest international Grandmaster (GM), and the second youngest ever, after four wins and four draws out of nine games
in the 6th Dubai Open Chess Championship. (Aftenposten) (http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article781461.ece)
- DaimlerChrysler announces it will no longer financially support
Mitsubishi Motors and will try to sell its current stake.
(Taipei Times) (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2004/04/24/2003137940)
- Muqtada al-Sadr threatens U.S. troops with suicide attacks if they move
against him in Najaf. (Arab News) (http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=43728&d=24&m=4&y=2004)
(Reuters)
(http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=498628&section=news)
- Palestinian gunmen attack a police station in the Gaza Strip, freeing three men arrested for the October 2003 bomb attack
against an American diplomatic convoy. A fourth man arrested for the bombing refuses to leave the police station. (AP) (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Palestinians-US-Bombing.html)
- A major fire in downtown Bangkok leaves thousands of residents homeless. Hundreds
of buildings, including several hotels, are destroyed in the area near the Australian and German embassies. (AP)
(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=516&ncid=731&e=5&u=/ap/20040423/ap_on_re_as/thailand_fire)
- Ryongchon disaster: Breaking from previous precedent, the
North Korean government asks for and receives United
Nations recovery assistance. (CNN) (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/04/23/nkorea.train/index.html)
- At the International Space Station, the
second of four stabilizing gyroscopes fails, hours after a new crew arrives. A
spacewalk to do the repair will be scheduled in a
few weeks. (Reuters)
(http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=4914792&section=news)
- Volkswagen buys LeasePlan from ABN Amro.
- The US Army states that the insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq,
have "days, not weeks" to fulfill a clause in the ceasefire that requires them to
turn over heavy weapons. To date, only rocket-propelled
grenade rounds marked "inert," rusted mortar shells, dud
rockets and unusable guns have been surrendered. (AP) (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq.html) (Defenselink) (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2004/n04222004_200404221.html)
- The Evangelical
Lutheran Church is ordered to pay the largest per capita settlement in a church sexual abuse case in the United States by a jury in
Marshall, Texas. (AP) (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040422/ap_on_re_us/lutherans_abuse_4)
(ABC/US) (http://www.ktbs.com/news-detail.html?cityid=1&hid=23740)
- The United Nations Security
Council passes a unanimous resolution endorsing the inquiry into corruption
in the United Nations Oil for food program for Iraq calling upon all 191
member states to cooperate. (NYT) (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/22/international/middleeast/22CND-NATI.html)
- Ryongchon disaster: at least 154 people are killed and over
1200 are injured, according to the Red Cross, in a massive explosion after a
train carrying explosives came in contact with live electrical wires in Ryongchon, North Korea. 1850 homes were destroyed and
thousands more damaged. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3649655.stm) (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3651705.stm)
(NYT) (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/23/international/asia/23CND-KOREA.html%3Fex%3D1083384000%26amp%3Ben%3De1b879058eba7201%26amp%3Bei%3D5062%26amp%3Bpartner%3DGOOGLE)
- Yasser Arafat orders 21 members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades section of Fatah, who are wanted by Israel and have been seeking
sanctuary within the Mukata for many months, to leave his Mukata headquarters in Ramallah. (INN) (http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=61271)
- A grand jury indicts Michael Jackson on charges of child
molestation. (FoxNews) (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,117833,00.html)
- Mordechai Vanunu, who leaked Israeli nuclear-weapons secrets in 1986, is released from prison after 18 years. (Guardian) (http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1197406,00.html) (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3645225.stm)
- Two car bombs explode outside the General Security headquarters of Saudi
Arabia in Riyadh, killing nine and wounding 125. (AP) (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Saudi-Explosion.html?hp) (CNN) (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/21/saudi.blast/index.html)
- Iraq Occupation and Insurgency:
- Three car bombs explode outside police stations in Basra, killing 68 people and
wounding over 100 more. Iraqi officials blame suicide bombers for the terrorism. 23 of the casualties are
school children. A fourth car bomb explodes in Zubeir, south of Basra, killing three and wounding four. British soldiers
assisting the wounded are pelted with stones, injuring four, two seriously. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3644733.stm) (NYT) (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/21/international/middleeast/21CND-IRAQ.html?hp)
- The Iraqi Governing Council chooses a tribunal of judges and prosecutors to try
Saddam Hussein. Salem Chalabi, nephew of Ahmed Chalabi, will chair the tribunal.
(Toronto Star) (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1082499014094&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724)
- The People's Republic of China praises
the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights' decision to block a U.S. motion to condemn Beijing's human rights record.
(VOA) (http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=3293B3DE-4049-4BD5-B00BB93A923B8086&title=Beijing%20Hails%20UNCHR%20Decision%20to%20Block%20Anti%2DChina%20Motion&catOID=45C9C78B-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C&categoryname=Asia%20Pacific)
- 1000 more demonstrators, including former prime minister Sher
Bahadur Deuba, are arrested in Kathmandu. They are calling on the King of
Nepal to restore democracy. (Morning
Star) (http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/star_news/world/nepal_police_arrest_1_000_democracy_protesters)
- 2004 South
Korean parliamentary elections: The Uri Party, backed by suspended President
Roh Moo-hyun, more than triples its representation, winning 152 of 299
seats.
- Iraq Occupation and
Insurgency:
- Mexico - Economy of
Mexico: Mexico's Foreign Affairs Secretary, Luis Ernesto
Derbez, announces that his country is seeking admission to South
America's Mercosur trade bloc, the third largest in the world. (Reuters) (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040416/ids_photos_wl/r3494084369.jpg)
- Seeking legal recognition as a news organization, the National Rifle Association begins NRANews, a website dedicated to presenting its view of the right to bear arms. (NRANews) (http://www.nranews.com/)
- Mark Chen replaces Eugene Chien as foreign
minister of Taiwan. Chien resigned to take responsibility for
American Institute in Taiwan Director
Therese Shaheen's resignation. (Japan Today) (http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=7&id=295396) (Reuters) (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4795721)
- A further 2000 pro-democracy demonstrators are arrested in Nepal; all but 22 are
later released.
- War on Terrorism:
- India beats Pakistan 2-1 in the
historic friendship Test cricket series. This is India's first away win
after 11 years and the first against archrivals Pakistan, in Pakistan.
- United Nations' nuclear watchdog group and other U.N. diplomats state that nuclear-related equipment, some contaminated, and a number of missile
engines have been smuggled out of Iraq for
recycling in Jewometaal Stainless Processing B.V. scrap yards. Satellite photos detect "the extensive removal of equipment and, in some instances, removal of entire buildings" from
sites that had been subject to U.N. monitoring before the Iraq war. The
International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) has also reiterated a call for arms inspectors to return to Iraq. (Washington Post) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13416-2004Apr14.html) (Spacewar) (http://www.spacewar.com/2004/040415165134.540rlpm3.html) (ABC AU) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1087040.htm)
- Iraq Occupation and
Insurgency:
- Khalil Naimi, a senior
Iranian diplomat in Iraq, is killed while driving to the Iranian diplomatic mission in Baghdad by three unknown assailants, who drove up and shot him. He died shortly afterwards and the motives for the killing are unknown. The killing could complicate the mission of an Iranian
government delegation which is in Iraq trying to mediate in the standoff between
Iraq Alliance troops and Muqtada al-Sadr's militia, led by the radical
Shiite cleric who is fortified in the town of Najaf. (NYT) (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/15/international/middleeast/15CND-IRAQ.html?hp) (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3628985.stm) (VOA) (http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=0000F56D-47B7-429B-879F77E4D95DF67B) (CommandPost) (http://www.command-post.org/2_archives/011683.html)
- Iraqi militants execute Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of four Italian hostages, in the first known murder from among the
nearly two dozen foreigners being held in Iraq. (NYT) (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq-Kidnappings.html)
- Three Japanese civilians taken hostage in Iraq are released unharmed after one week in captivity. (Japan Times) (http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040416a1.htm) (NYT) (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq-Kidnappings.html)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, reacting to the United States President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon summit, states Palestinian will never give up their struggle for an
independent homeland, never abandon the claims of their refugees, nor make more territorial concessions. He states
that Jerusalem will be its capital.
Sharon, who wants to withdraw Israel from the Gaza Strip, faces opposition to his withdrawal plan. (VOA) (http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=7165A24C-6AA8-4EA1-85D2398157651646)
- LindowsOS changes its name to Linspire, in a move to counter Microsoft's lawsuit strategy
against the company. (eWeek) (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1568023,00.asp)
- Long-time Canadian NDP member of Parliament Svend Robinson admits that he stole a piece of jewelry at a public sale in what he describes as "a moment of
total, utter irrationality." He states he has turned the ring into police, with whom he is cooperating, and that he is putting
his career on hold, taking medical leave to obtain psychological help. The auction house later accepted Svend's apology and
decided not to press charges, but a special prosecuter was appointed by the government to weigh the decision of whether to
prosecute Robinson.(CBC) (http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/04/15/canada/robinson_040415)
- U.S. and German researchers report the sunset could recalibrate the internal
compasses of migrating songbirds. (CBS News) (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/15/tech/main612112.shtml) (Reuters) (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=4842420&section=news)
(National Geographic) (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0415_040415_songbirdmigration.html)
- Three planets are discovered via gravitational
microlensing orbiting stars many light years away, including one that is more than three times farther away than the previous
record holder. (Space.com) (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/exoplanet_new_0404015.html)
- Voting begins in South Korean parliamentary elections.
- Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa submits a report on the constitutional development to NPC, asking Beijing's
permission to reform the way HK's legislature and the top leadership are chosen in 2007 and 2008.
- 2004 South African
legislative election: The African National
Congress (ANC) of President Thabo Mbeki, which has been in power since
the end of the apartheid system in 1994, is
re-elected with an increased majority. (CNN) (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/04/15/safrica.elections/)
- U.S. presidential
election : An advertisement for John Kerry placed in a newspaper in Gulfport,
Florida by a local Democratic Party
club gets negative national publicity, as it suggests shooting United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The ad was placed by the Saint Petersburg Democratic Club of Florida,
and has been condemned by both Republicans and Democrats, including Kerry's campaign. (Washington Times) (http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040414-123947-2345r.htm) (CNN) (http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/13/dem.ad/index.html)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict :
- Hungarian police detain a Hungarian citizen of Palestinian origin and two Syrian men who are alleged to have been
planning to blow up a Jewish museum in Budapest
and assassinate Israeli president Moshe Kutsuv who arrived to attend the museum's inauguration ceremony. (HaAretz) (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/415000.html)
- The United Nations warns of an imminent humanitarian crisis in the
Darfur region of Sudan, where it is alleged
that Arabs are waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the African population. (Morning
Star) (http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/star_news/world/un_calls_for_100_million_humanitarian_aid_to_west_sudan)
- John Ashcroft tells the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United
States that he blames former president Bill Clinton for intelligence
failures and Jamie S. Gorelick for organizational failures
leading to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
(Washington Times) (http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040414-124718-2114r.htm) (Democracy Now!) (http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/14/1612210)
- The Australian Family Court allows
a thirteen year old child, born female, to start preliminary hormone treatment: the child identifies as being male and has been
suffering from gender identity disorder. (Sydney Morning Herald) (http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/13/1081838723546.html) (The Australian) (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9275542%255E421,00.html)
- Panjshir, the only part of Afghanistan that was never conquered by the Taliban, and the last
defence position of Ahmed Shah Massoud, is named the 34th
province of Afghanistan. (PakTribune) (http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=61808)
- Food and sanitation are allegedly
being denied to more than 2500 people who were arrested in Nepal over the last few days
for protesting against the suspension of democracy. (Morning
Star) (http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/star_news/world/rights_group_condemns_nepal_human_rights_abuses)
- Arjan Erkel, aid worker for Médecins Sans Frontières, is free after being held hostage in Dagestan since August 12, 2002. (CBC) (http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/040411/w041126.html)
- Three European researchers say that if Greenland's average temperature were
to increase by 3 °C (5.4 °F) or
more, its massive ice sheet would melt, gradually swamping coastal communities as seas rise 7 metres (23 feet) over the next 1,000 years. They hypothesize that the
upward trend of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions could cause this. (Indianapolis Star) (http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/137077-2186-010.html)
- NASA is considering a Russian plan to keep
crews aboard the International Space Station
for a year at a time. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3618599.stm)
- Iraq Occupation and
Insurgency:
- An informal ceasefire holds; Muhammad Bashar al-Fiyadi, spokesperson of the Association of Muslim Scholars, notes that there were minor skirmishes but there were no
major clashes. A deputy to a member in the Iraq Interim Governing Council states the truce
would be extended for another 12 hours. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3615703.stm) (Reuters)
(http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=849579&tw=wn_wire_story)
(Al Jazeera) (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/030691E0-2837-4167-9A18-B6FE7E1EC4FA.htm)
- Gunmen shoot down a helicopter during
fighting in western Baghdad. Rebels threaten
to kill and burn a civilian, Thomas Hamill, unless the Alliance troops end their
assault on Fallujah by 6 am. The deadline passes with no word on Hamill's fate.
(Tribune India) (http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040412/main6.htm)
- Marines kill one bomber and discover a bomb
workshop in Fallujah apparently run by Iraqis and foreigners. (AFP) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1085405.htm)
- President Bush, praying with
U.S. troops on Easter Sunday at a military base hit hard by hostilities in Iraq,
acknowledges that it had been "a tough week" and it is unclear if the violence
would ebb soon. (Reuters)
(http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=4798648&section=news)
- A new Iraqi battalion refuses to support Coalition forces in the town of
Falluja after a command failure which lead to miscommunication over their
role in the area. (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3618949.stm)
- Golfer Phil Mickelson wins
the 68th Masters tournament. It is his first major win in 47 such events.
(Augusta Chronicle) (http://www.augusta.com/masters2004/stories/041104/latepm_update2.shtml)
- Canadian scientists report on a
study of mammals from around the world that the species with the best-endowed males live in polar regions, rather than in more equatorial climates.
(Toronto Star) (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1081635608281)
- Apple Computer is investigating a reported security flaw in Mac OS X operating system that could allow hackers to trick
Macs into opening dangerous files, such as Trojan horses and viruses. (CNet) (http://news.com.com/2100-1002_3-5189335.html?tag=nefd.top)
