November 2004

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

< November 2004 > S M T W T F S   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Deaths in November • 30 Pierre Berton • 29 John Drew Barrymore • 26 Bill Alley • 24 Arthur Hailey • 23 Rafael Eitan • 18 Bobby Frank Cherry • 16 John Morgan • 13 Russell Jones • 12 Mike Smith • 11 Yasser Arafat • 9 Iris Chang • 9 Emlyn Hughes • 7 Howard Keel • 7 Gibson Kente • 6 Fred Dibnah • 2 Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan • 2 Theo van Gogh Other recent deaths Ongoing events AIDS pandemic Iran's nuclear program Nigerian oil crisis Same-sex marriage debates 2004 Pacific typhoon season U.S. election controversy U.S. presidential transition Ukrainian election controversy • Orange Revolution Ongoing armed conflicts Arab-Israeli conflict Conflict in Chechnya Congo Civil War Conflict in Iraq • Conflict in Fallujah Darfur conflict in Sudan Civil war in Côte d'Ivoire Second Sudanese Civil War Ongoing wars Election results in November 28: Romania presidential 28: Romania legislative 22: Alberta legislative 21: Ukraine presidential (runoff) 2: USA presidential 2: USA congressional 2: USA gubernatorial (11 states) 2: Guam general 2: Puerto Rico general Ongoing trials Chile: Augusto Pinochet ICTY: Slobodan Milošević Iraq: Iraqi Special Tribunal — Saddam Hussein, among others USA: Michael Jackson USA: Zacarias Moussaoui India: Jayendra Saraswathi Related pages About this page Year in... Wikipedia Announcements

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November 30 2004

• 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy:
  • Attorneys for Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb asked a federal court today to take jurisdiction of, and ultimately dissolve, a temporary restraining order issued by a Delaware County, Ohio judge attempting to prevent Cobb from seeking a recount of the presidential ballots cast in that county. [1]
  • Attorneys representing John Kerry filed papers to join the Cobb / Badnarik Ohio recount case. [2]
  • If the Ohio recount does not begin before the votes are certified, then electors will be chosen before the recount begins. [3]
• The U.S. Department of Commerce imposes heavy tariffs against shrimp imported to the U.S. from China and Vietnam. (Bloomberg)
• Ken Jennings ends his 75-episode streak on Jeopardy!, becoming the foremost game show contestant in international television history.
• In Ottawa, Canada, sporadic violence occurs in protests against U.S. President George W. Bush's first official visit to Canada. (CBC) (Globe and Mail)
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge resigns. This is the latest in a string of resignations after the 2004 presidential election. (CNN) (Yahoo)
• A report from the International Committee of the Red Cross, recently leaked to the New York Times, describes the treatment of prisoners at the U.S. base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba as being "tantamount to torture". The U.S. military disputes this. (New York Times)
• More than 300 persons have died in flooding and landslides in Quezon Province, in the northern Philippines. Illegal logging is blamed. (Reuters Alertnet)(ABS-CBN) (SwissInfo) (ABC News)
• Traian Băsescu, the leader of the Romanian opposition alliance Justice and Truth, demands a re-run of the 2004 legislative elections, claiming that 160,000 void ballots were awarded to Adrian Năstase and his Social Democratic Party. (BBC) (Guardian)
• Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio dissolves the parliament after Prime minister Pedro Santana Lopes fails to present a plan to solve cabinet instability. The elections are expected to be scheduled to February 2005. (CNN) (BBC)
• U.K. Home Secretary David Blunkett defends his actions after newspaper allegations that he used his position to acquire a fast-track visa application for his former lover's nanny, ordering an independent enquiry into his own actions and denying any impropriety, whilst apologising for inadvertently misusing government funds to obtain her a first class train ticket. (BBC)
• A South African court rules that the common law concept of marriage must be extended to include same-sex couples. Although the ruling does not immediately permit same-sex marriage in South Africa, it is considered a major step in that direction. (365gay.com)

November 29 2004

• The People's Republic of China and Association of South East Asian Nations sign a trade pact that could eventually unite a quarter of the world's population in a free trade zone. (BBC)
• 2004 Ukrainian presidential election: The Supreme Court continues its public hearings of electoral fraud. Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma asks for a new election "to preserve peace and consensus and build this just democratic society". (Reuters) (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • Two U.S. soldiers are killed and three wounded when a roadside bomb in Baghdad detonates. Four Iraqi National Guard are killed in an attack on a checkpoint in nearby Baghdadi. Six Iraqis are killed in a blast near a police station in Ramadi. The Iraqi Red Crescent establishes a relief center in Fallujah, while the International Red Cross says the city remains under siege and workers are unable to freely administer aid. (Reuters) (BBC)
  • Deputy leader of al Qaida Ayman al-Zawahiri releases a videotape vowing to continue fighting "until the last hour" and urging the U.S. to cooperate with Muslims and stop dealing "with them as free loot, robbed land and violated sanctity." (Reuters)
• Researchers from South Korea have successfully used stem cell therapy to allow a paralyzed woman with spinal cord injury to walk again. (WPH)
• U.S. President George W. Bush nominates Kellogg Company CEO Carlos Gutierrez to be the next Secretary of Commerce. (USA Today)
• Iranian-born Dutch national Seyed Mahmoud Namini is being detained by the Canadian government as a potential security threat. He was arrested a month ago when 30 books related to Kurdish revolts in Iran were found in his bag. (Toronto Star)
• Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy, will have her third period of house arrest extended. (BBC)
• Five record labels sue Sharman Networks, the owner of peer-to-peer file-sharing system Kazaa, for facilitating copyright violations in an Australian court. {The Times) (Financial Times) (Wired)
• Romania's ruling Social Democratic Party claims victory in the country's legislative election, and the simultaneous presidential election goes to a second round with Prime Minister Adrian Năstase leading.
• President of Chile Ricardo Lagos proposes special lifetime pensions (approx. €150 a month) for 28,000 survivors of the Pinochet regime's torture camps. (SwissInfo) (Reuters Alertnet) (Washington Post)
• A magnitude 7.0 earthquake hits Hokkaido, Japan. (ABC News) (Bloomberg) (SwissInfo) (USGS)
• A huge number of whales and dolphins are beached on the King Island between the Australian mainland and Tasmania; rescue efforts are ongoing (SBS) (SwissInfo) (New Zealand Herald)
• The U.S. Supreme Court hears a landmark case to decide the rights of states to overrule federal restrictions on medical marijuana use. This case has important consequences for redefining the separation and limitation of powers between states and the federal government. (CSM)
• At the conclusion of The Greatest Canadian project, socialist politician Tommy Douglas was announced as being voted as The Greatest Canadian of all. Toronto Star

November 28 2004

• Swiss voters overwhelmingly approve government proposals to permit research using stem cells of human embryos. (BBC)
• An explosion in a coal mine in the Chinese central province of Shaanxi leaves 187 men trapped underground. Official figures show 4,153 mining accident deaths in the last 9 months, while 119 miners are still missing from a November 20 iron mine fire in Hebei. (BBC) (Xinhua) (Xinhua)
• Conflict in Iraq: 42 primarily Shi'a parties release a statement saying a postponement of elections would be illegal. The U.S. military reports a U.S. soldier is killed by a roadside bomb in Duluiya north of Baghdad and that troops discover 17 more corpses in Mosul, raising the number found to at least 50 in two weeks. Hospital officials in Ramadi say two people are killed and three wounded when U.S. troops fire on suspected insurgents. (Reuters) (BBC)
• 2004 Ukrainian presidential election:
  • Russia intimates that its opposition to fresh elections might not be unshakable. (BBC)
  • The Donetsk regional council is to hold a referendum on 5 December on giving the region the status of a republic within Ukraine. (BBC)
• An oil tanker, the Athos 1, leaks approximately 30,000 gallons of crude oil into the Delaware River in the eastern United States while pulling into a Citgo oil refinery. The Coast Guard closes part of the river to commercial traffic while cleanup begins. (Reuters)

November 27 2004

• Prominent Chinese dissident Liu Jingsheng is released. (BBC)
• Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II presents Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I with reliquaries containing the bones of 4th-century Patriarchs Gregory Nazianzus and John Chrysostom, brought back to Rome as loot from Constantinople during the Crusades. The ceremony is applauded as a notable gesture of ecumenism between the divided churches. (BBC) (Reuters)
• According to the chairman of the Duma commission investigating the Beslan school massacre, there is indirect evidence of involvement by a foreign intelligence agency; however, the agency remains unnamed. (Interfax)
• Colombian Defense Minister Jorge Alberto Uribe claims that FARC rebels plotted to assassinate U.S. President George W. Bush during his recent visit to the country. The U.S. Secret Service declines to comment. (BBC), (CNN)
• Ukraine presidential election, 2004:
  • Ukraine's parliament votes for the annulment of the election results and asks President Leonid Kuchma to dissolve the country's Central Election Committee. This is a non-binding request as the parliament cannot annul the results itself. (CNN)
  • Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot says that the EU believes fresh elections are the best option for Ukraine. (Reuters)
• Lieutenant General Joginder Jaswant Singh is named the next chief of army staff of the Indian Army. He will be the 1st Sikh to become the chief. (Times of India) (The Tribune, India)

November 26 2004

• A Wisconsin girl becomes the first person to survive rabies without a vaccination, after an experimental treatment using an induced coma and a cocktail of anti-viral drugs. (TheDenverChannel)
• Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf begins a tour of several American and European countries to urge Western leaders to resolve the Kashmir and Palestinian disputes, which he sees as root causes of terrorism by Muslims. (Reuters)
• Ukraine presidential election, 2004:
  • The Luhans'k region of Ukraine, the easternmost Russian-speaking region, has reportedly declared itself autonomous and requested recognition from the Russian Federation. Several more regions, including Donetsk, have ruled to put autonomy on popular referendum.
  • Supporters of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko blockaded official buildings in Kiev Friday, in a direct challenge to the Moscow-backed government's control of the country. (Reuters)
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin said after a summit meeting with the European Union that the results of the Ukraine presidential elections results are absolutely clear. (AFP)
  • Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma began meeting with key European envoys, including European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus and Russian parliament speaker Boris Gryzlov. Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has requested a new vote to be held on December 12 (BBC)
• Alberto Abadie, a professor at the Harvard University School of Government, theorizes that the level of political freedom, not poverty, explains terrorism. Areas with intermediate levels of political freedom experience the most terrorism, while societies with high levels of political freedom or authoritarian regimes have low levels of terrorism. (PDF) (Harvard Gazette)
• People are evacuated from Manam in northern Papua New Guinea during eruption of the island's volcano. (New Zealand Herald) (Scotsman) (SwissInfo)
• In one of Canada's largest class-action lawsuits, the Ontario Court of Appeal upholds a lower court ruling whereby Canadians whose same-sex partners died after April 1985 are entitled to Canada Pension Plan survivors' benefits. (CBC News)
• The director for the western region of the World Health Organization says that an influenza pandemic is inevitable and plans to combat it are needed urgently. (In 1918-20, the Spanish Flu killed up to 40 million people.) The new virus is likely to develop out of avian influenza. (Reuters)
• Conflict in Iraq: In Baghdad, an American civilian contractor is shot near the Green Zone. The largest Sunni political party, Iraqi Islamic Party, calls for elections to be postponed for six months to allow better security and threatens a boycott. British troops join the operation to pacify the insurgency in the "Sunni Triangle." Iraqi police state they have arrested five suspected foreign fighters in the south. The Iraqi Minister of State says Iraqi National Guard discovered a small chemical and explosive lab in Falluja. (Reuters) (BBC)
• Fatah officially picks former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, already PLO chairman, as its candidate for January's presidential elections. (BBC) (Reuters)
• The President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, visits the province of Aceh for the first time, the location of a long separatist movement. (BBC)
• Over 8,000 landless activists, including the Landless Workers' Movement (MST), march on Brasilia, Brazil to demand the speeding up of land reform promised by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. (Reuters)
• The Pakistani army states they find no evidence Osama bin Laden is hiding in the mainly tribal border with Afghanistan after combing through the area. (Reuters)
• A man kills 8 and injures four people with a knife at a Chinese high school in Ruzhou, Henan. (BBC) (Xinhua)

November 25, 2004

• India proposes to Pakistan that India will grant Kashmir a large amount of autonomy, in order to end the state of war between the two countries, but that current border can not be modified. Pakistan recently proposed that Kashmir be demilitarized, split along ethnic/religious lines and granted independence or transferred to United Nations control. (Reuters)
• The Ukranian Supreme Court bars publication of the presidential election results, delaying inauguration, and decides to examine a complaint alleging fraud on November 28th. (Reuters)
• Iran's nuclear program: Just three days after an agreement with the European Union took effect, Iran prevents the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from sealing centrifuges at the Natanz enrichment facility. The IAEA begins its meeting to decide whether or not to refer the matter to the United Nations Security Council. (Reuters)
• A previously-scheduled EU-Russia summit in The Hague is overshadowed by the Ukraine presidential election crisis. (official EU) (BBC)
• Gang war between rival groups of Camorra continues in Naples, Italy. (SwissInfo) (Scotsman) (BBC)

November 24 2004

• 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy: The U.S. Government Accountability Office plans to investigate complaints of several systemic problems with this month's elections. (CNN)
  • Ohio law requires state officials to perform a recount when called for by candidates on the ballot, but a federal judge today declared that the results can be declared final before the recount occurs. (CNN)
  • Justice Through Music has posted a minimum $200,000 reward for specific evidence of vote fraud in the recent election in light of the many instances of reported voter irregularities. (eMediaWire)
• Iran's nuclear program: The European Union rejects a request by Iran to be allowed to continue using uranium enrichment centrifuges. (Reuters)
• U.S. Department of Agriculture officials have announced that the possible U.S. case of mad cow disease from the previous week has tested negative twice in tests run by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory. (Sac. Bee) (Wisc. Ag.)
• Despite earlier reports that Ukraine's Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko had agreed to hold talks over the country's heavily disputed elections, this now seems unlikely. Protests continue, with an official election result due to be announced at around 1400 UTC. (BBC)
• Indonesian police officials announce the arrest of four suspects wanted concerning the September 9 suicide bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. (BBC) (CNN)

November 23 2004

• CBS News anchor Dan Rather resigns from CBS Evening News effective in March 2005. He will remain a correspondent for 60 Minutes news magazine and other assignments. (Reuters)
• 2004 Ukrainian presidential election: Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declares himself winner and takes a symbolic oath of office at a parliament special session, boycotted by pro-government MPs. Crowds of around 200,000 Yushchenko supporters rally outside the parliament building in Kiev. Freedom House releases a statement saying that the runoff election was "tainted by massive voter fraud." Russian Foreign Ministry expresses "extreme concern" about the disobedience actions by the Ukrainian opposition. (BBC) (Reuters) (FH)
  • The city governments of Lviv, Ternopil, Vinnytsia and Ivano-Frankivsk announce their support for Yushchenko. A crowd estimated at 200,000 surrounds the Parliament building in Kiev, calling for Yanukovych to step down. (The Guardian)
• Conflict in Iraq
  • Officials from the Arab League, Organization of the Islamic Conference, G8 nations, People's Republic of China and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan convene at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt to discuss and issue declarations on Iraq. (BBC) (Reuters)
  • A second cleric of the Sunni Muslim Clerics Association in two days is gunned down in Miqdadiya near Baquba on his way to a mosque. (Reuters)

November 22 2004

• 2004 Ukrainian presidential election: Ukraine's electoral commission declares Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych the winner. Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko calls for supporters to protest "the total falsification of the vote". Observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) say the run-off vote "did not meet international standards", and the senior U.S. election observer, Senator Richard Lugar, notes a "concerted and forceful program of election day fraud". (Reuters) (BBC)
• European Parliament lawmakers urge European Commission president José Durão Barroso to suspend Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot, after it was revealed that Barrot was involved in a party funding scandal in 2000. (CNN)
• Iran's nuclear program: Iran declares that it will suspend its uranium enrichment programme to comply with a European Union-brokered deadline. Iran will review its decision in three months. The EU seeks to have the suspension made permanent and is willing to provide economic and political incentives. (Reuters)(BBC)
• A mechanical failure has been blamed for an oil spill on the eastern coast of Canada. Experts estimate 170,000 litres of oil have been spilled into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, covering an area 9 km long by 1 km wide. (CBC)
• A Gulfstream II airplane heading to pick up former United States President George H.W. Bush crashes before landing, killing all three people on board, in Houston, Texas. (CNN)
• The American Journal of Psychiatry reports researchers from the University of Southern California conclude in a study of 1,000 Mauritian children that malnutrition and a poor diet are strongly correlated to a low IQ and anti-social behavior. (BBC) (AJP)
• The United Nations is investigating 150 sexual abuse allegations involving civilian staff and soldiers on the peace-keeping mission in the Congo, some reportedly caught on video. (Reuters)
• An Israeli military court indicts an unidentified outpost commander in charge of soldiers who killed a 13-year-old Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip on October 5. (Haaretz)
• In the Canadian province of Alberta, the Progressive Conservative party under Premier Ralph Klein is re-elected to a 10th consecutive term, and the fourth for Klein. The PCs drop to from 74 to 60 seats in the 83-seat legislature.(Edmonton Journal) (CBC)

November 21 2004

• Conflict in Iraq: The nineteen member Paris Club agrees to forgive 80% of nearly $40 billion in Iraqi debt, in three stages: 20% now, 30% in 2005 and 20% in 2008 in tandem with Iraq's implementation of an International Monetary Fund economic programme. $80 billon in debt to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, among others, will remain. (BBC)
• Hifikepunye Pohamba, the candidate of the ruling South-West Africa People's Organisation party, is declared the winner of the Namibian presidential election with 76% of the vote. He succeeds Sam Nujoma, who is retiring after serving as president for 15 years. (BBC)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
  • U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in Israel for talks with leaders of both sides of the conflict with an aim to restarting the stalled peace process. (BBC)
  • Three Fatah militants are killed in a gunfight with YAMAM, an Israeli Police counterterrorist unit. Among those killed is Mohammed Rassan Sheikh, who hid in Arafat's compund. One Israeli police officer sustained light injuries.(Haaretz)
  • In the Gaza Strip, the IDF foils an attack on Kissufim road to Gush Katif, killing two militants. (Haaretz)
• Ukraine holds the second vote in a run-off presidential election today. Voters will decide between Moscow-oriented Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and western-leaning reformer Viktor Yushchenko. Observers have expressed concern over possible Russian interference, election abuses, and bias in reporting by the state media. With 74% of vote counted, Yanukovych leads Yushchenko 49%-48%. Yushchenko has alleged that massive election fraud has taken place. (BBC) (BBC)
• The Electoral Commission of the Iraq interim government schedules parliamentary elections for January 30, 2005. Reuters
• The Grand Canyon is artificially flooded to bring natural sediment to the ecosystem. (CNN)

November 20 2004

• María Isabel from Spain wins the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004. (JESC)
• NASA launches a satellite, named Swift, to investigate gamma ray bursts. (BBC)
• The 25th annual BBC Children in Need telethon has raised over £17 million (£1.5 million more than in 2003). (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: A Polish woman, Teresa Borcz Khalifa, held hostage in Iraq has been freed and flown to Warsaw. (BBC)
• The Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France (CRIF), an umbrella group of French Jewish organisations, accused the French government of failing to protect citizens from broadcasts by Hezbollah's al-Manar TV, which includes films that CRIF claims are anti-Semitic and incite Muslims to attack Jews. (Reuters-Haaretz)
• A small China Eastern airlines jet, an Bombardier CRJ2000, crashes in Mongolia, causing the deaths of 53 persons. (CNN)
• Indian policemen and soldiers of the Indian Army recover 300 kg of RDX from a grocery store near the southern Kashmir town of Anantnag, 55 km from Srinagar. This is the biggest ever explosive haul in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. (The Hindu) (Indian Express)
• The Madras high court in India dismisses the bail petition of Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi, the prime accused in the murder of temple manager Sankararaman. (Times of India)

November 19 2004

• Research by the Medical Research Council shows that the antibiotic co-trimoxazole can halve the death rate in HIV-positive children in Zambia. (BBC)
• Attempts by the United States to draft a U.N. treaty banning human cloning have been abandoned. (CNN)
• Ol' Dirty Bastard draws thousands of mourners at his funeral in the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, New York City. An investigation into the cause of his death is ongoing. (New York Post)
• U.S. President George W. Bush arrives at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Santiago de Chile for talks with China and other nations. The summit's agenda includes nuclear proliferation and new free trade agreements, particularly on agriculture. Bush hopes to revive six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program and promote the "war on terrorism". The Chinese delegation ask Bush to take "all measures necessary" to halt the slide in value of the U.S. dollar. About 40,000 people protest against the summit, Bush, the war in Iraq, and globalization; they are blocked by Chilean police with tear gas and water cannon. (MSNBC) (CBC)
• Sudanese Civil War: At a special session of the United Nations Security Council in Nairobi, Kenya, the government of Sudan and southern rebels sign an agreement which states that both sides will commit themselves to ending the 21 year conflict by December 31. The Council then unanimously passes a resolution which promises substantial aid to the country after the wars in the south and in the region of Darfur come to an end. (Reuters)
• Sino-Japanese relations: Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian says information provided by his government helped Japan locate a Chinese nuclear submarine in Japanese waters a week ago. The PRC expressed "regret" after the incident. (VOA)
• Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, one of the most controversial Dutch politicans, advocates a five-year halt to non-Western immigration in the wake of the murder of Theo van Gogh stating: "The Netherlands has been too tolerant to intolerant people for too long, we should not import a retarded political Islamic society to our country". (NYT)
• 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy: A recount has begun in New Hampshire, testing anomolous statistical discrepancies related to voting machine technologies. [4] [5]
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The commander of the Israeli Defense Force, Moshe Yaalon, orders an investigation "to reach the truth" of claims by the Yediot Ahronot newspaper that IDF troops abused Palestinian corpses. (BBC)
• United States Congress: The U.S. Congress has passed a bill reinstating and extending a ban on taxation of internet access for another three years. (Reuters)
• Russia announces it will sell off the main production unit of Yukos, the energy company seized last year for supposedly failing to pay taxes. (BBC)
• The U.S. Congress raises the national debt ceiling by USD 800 billion to a total of USD 8.18 trillion. This makes the new borrowing cap 30% higher than the debt Bush inherited, and 70% of the size of the U.S. economy. (CNN) (Debt Clock)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • U.S. Military officials report that 102 soldiers, 85% of which are serving in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan, have contracted a rather rare blood infection by Acinetobacter baumannii. Military investigators say there is no evidence of biochemical agents in the infection which surfaces occasionally in unsanitary hospitals, but that some soldiers were arriving with infections. (CNN)
  • World Vision, one of the last aid agencies left in Iraq, announces it will pull its staff out of the country following the murder of its senior manager. (BBC)
  • In Baghdad, two people are killed when clashes break out as Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops enter a popular Sunni mosque to arrest dozens of members reportedly including the imam. (BBC)

November 18 2004

• 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy: According to a report called The Effect of Electronic Voting Machines on Change in Support for Bush in the 2004 Florida Elections[6] George W. Bush received between 130,000 and 260,000 faulty votes in Florida. (IDG) (IT Week) (Scoop) (Vunet)

• In North Korea, portraits of Kim Jong Il vanish and the official media stops referring to him as the "Dear Leader" leading to speculation his cult of personality is undergoing revision or weakening. (VOA) (Asia Times)
• Former Canadian cabinet minister Alfonso Gagliano vehemently denies he has any links with New York's Bonanno crime family, as was reported on November 17 in the New York Daily News. The issue is raised by Opposition Leader Stephen Harper in the House of Commons, where Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin also denies knowing of any links between the Sicilian-born Gagliano and organized crime. (CP)
• Halo 2, a game for the Xbox system, exceeds more than US$ 125 million in sales on its first day of release. This makes it the biggest opening day in the history of entertainment, surpassing any other games or movies. Microsoft, the publisher of the game, estimates more than 2.4 million units sold. (Tom's Hardware)
• The UK House of Commons invokes the Parliament Act (1911) for only the seventh time. The Act was used to push through a bill which bans Hunting with dogs. (BBC)
• Former U.S. President Bill Clinton opens his presidential library, the Clinton Presidential Center, in Little Rock, Arkansas. Speakers include former presidents Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush, and current president George W. Bush. (BBC)
• Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin expels Mississauga—Erindale Member of Parliament Carolyn Parrish from the Liberal Party caucus, after the controversial MP tells the Canadian Press she feels no loyalty to the party, or to the prime minister. (CBC)
• The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approves an application by the American news channel FOX News for a digital licence. Fox's previous exclusion from the Canadian airwaves had been criticized by some Canadians as being motivated by the network's perceived conservative bias. (CBC)
• The European Parliament approves the new make-up of the European Commission, headed by José Durão Barroso. (Xinhua) (Bloomberg)
• The Israeli military, investigating alleged crimes by an Israeli officer, is seeking to exhume the body of 13 year old Iman al-Hams. The schoolgirl was shot at least 15 times by the IDF. (BBC)
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture announces that a cow has tested positive for mad cow disease. Officials caution that the test is inconclusive until confirmed at a lab in Ames, Iowa, but if confirmed, it will be the second case in the U.S. The agency says the disease has not entered the food chain. Tech News World, (NY Times)
• Three Palestinians are buried while digging a smuggling tunnel in Rafah. The tunnel collapsed due to heavy rain. The Israeli Defence Force permitted Palestinian rescue forces to try to rescue them, and later sent its own bulldozers to help. The rescue efforts succeeded and three Palestinian were recovered from the ruins alive. They were treated by IDF medical staff and later taken to investigation. (Washington Times), (Maariv) , (Haaretz)
• Three Egyptian paramilitary security officers stationed at the Sinai-Gaza border are killed by Israeli tank fire, after IDF troops allegedly mistook them for Palestinian terrorists or militants . The Egyptian government accepts an apology from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and demands an investigation on the incident. (Haaretz) (Reuters) (BBC)
• The New Zealand Parliament finally passes a controversial bill on the foreshore and seabed ownership dispute, which has caused considerable tension between Maori and non-Maori. (TVNZ)
• The Great American Smokeout, sponsored by the American Cancer Society is held for the 28th time. (Newsday)

November 17 2004

• Conflict in Iraq: U.S. officers in Falluja say marines are "cleaning up" remaining insurgents, as artillery and airstrikes continue. In Baiji, A suicide car bomb kills 15 Iraqis and wounds 22. Three Turkish truck drivers are ambushed and killed in Mosul. In Ramadi, nine Iraqis are killed and 15 wounded when U.S. forces confront insurgents. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Three apparently home-made explosive devices are detonated in three Buenos Aires banks in Argentina, killing a security guard and wounding a police officer. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Kmart purchases Sears in a deal worth $11.5 billion. The combined resources of the companies results in a $55 billion/year company and encompasses close to 3,500 stores. (Reuters)
• The British House of Lords passes a bill to allow same-sex couples to obtain civil partnerships. This is the final legislative hurdle for the bill, which is expected to receive Royal Assent later in the week. [7]
• Iran's nuclear program: A spokesman for the controversial National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) states that Pakistani nuclear scientist "Abdul Qadeer Khan gave Iran a quantity of HEU (highly enriched uranium) in 2001" and a nuclear bomb design and that Iran "continues to enrich uranium as we speak". (Reuters)
• Death of Yasser Arafat: Le Monde reports that former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat suffered from cirrhosis before dying. (IOL, Ireland)
• The U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has launched the National Children's Study to follow 100,000 humans from birth to age 21 in what will be the largest-ever comprehensive study of children. (Reuters)
• Dino Rossi defeats Christine Gregoire by 261 votes in the Washington governor's race, pending a state-mandated recount. It is the final undecided race of the 2004 United States election season.

November 16 2004

• Japan says the People's Republic of China has apologized for one of its submarines sailing into Japanese waters last week. The PRC has refused to confirm the apology, saying only that a "diplomatic" resolution has been reached. (VOA)
• The Pentagon announces that Secretary of the Air Force, Dr. James G. Roche, has submitted his resignation. (Reuters)
• French scientists at the Institut Pasteur announce they have successfully stimulated antibodies to block HIV from infecting human cells in vitro. The achievement is a significant breakthrough towards the goal of an HIV vaccine. (365gay.com)
• Indian military officials announce that a withdrawal of troops will begin from the Indian-administered part of Kashmir during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's first visit to the disputed, Muslim-majority region which sparked two of the Indo-Pakistani Wars and a 15 year separatist movement. (Reuters) (BBC)
• Madrid Train Bombing: A 16-year-old Spaniard has been jailed for 6 years for his part in the bombing which killed 191. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • A possible war crime by a U.S. Marine in Fallujah, Iraq, is caught on film by an NBC camera crew. The marine shot and killed an apparently unarmed Iraqi while in a mosque. (NYT) (ABC US) (The Independent)
  • US troops have launched a major assault of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul following insurgents gaining control of key sites. (BBC)
  • 1,052 prisoners have been captured in the US assault on Fallujah, approximately two dozen of whom are non-Iraqi. (The Independent) (The Nation)
  • Margaret Hassan, the Irish-born aid worker kidnapped in Iraq, is believed to have been killed. A tape apparently showing her being shot has surfaced. (BBC)
• White House officials announce that Condoleezza Rice will be nominated to succeed Colin Powell as Secretary of State. (BBC)
• Congolese music star Papa Wemba has been found guilty of people-smuggling in a Paris court in France. (BBC)
• The British Government details a white paper to implement a smoking ban in public places to combat the risks of tobacco smoking. (BBC)
• A Queensland Rail Tilt Train, en route from Brisbane, Australia to Cairns, derails 60 kilometers north of Bundaberg, Queensland, injuring more than 150 people. (ABC News) (news.com.au)(BBC)
• Nearly 800,000 Bowflex exercise machines are recalled after dozens of users