August 2004

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This article covers breaking news and events in August 2004.

Daily events

Sunday 1st August 2004

• Asunción / Paraguay : In a fire in a shopping center , at least 200 people die and several hundred people are injured, well over 100 are life-threatening. The fire brigade suspects a restaurant kitchen to be the source of the fire . The owner of the center, who allegedly ordered the exits to be closed after the fire broke out to prevent looting , is being held in custody. President Nicanor Duarte Frutos decreed a three-day national mourning .
• Geneva / Switzerland : The World Trade Organization conference approves a framework agreement that is intended to reduce agricultural subsidies and import tariffs . Critics of capitalism see this as a disadvantage for the emerging countries .
• Khartoum / Sudan : After initial approval, the Sudanese government rejects the 30-day period of the resolution passed by the United Nations (UN) on July 30th . Instead, they will stick to a 90-day program previously agreed with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to remedy the situation in the crisis region of Darfur .

Monday 2nd August 2004

• Berlin / Germany : In Germany, the special tax on alcopops comes into effect, which makes standard 275 ml bottles more expensive by 85 cents, plus VAT , and which is supposed to make drinks less attractive to young people.
• Darfur / Sudan : The World Food Program of the United Nations starts relief flights in the Darfur region. 22 tons of food are dropped over the village of Fur Buranga  . Even Egypt starts relief flights to supply the population with food, medicine and tents.
• Washington, DC / United States : The New York Times and The Washington Post independently report that the most recent terrorist attack warnings on information from the United States Department of Homeland Security are in 2000 and 2001. The government confirms the reports. The responsible minister Tom Ridge points out that the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda is planning long-term.

Tuesday 3rd August 2004

• Cape Canaveral / United States : The space probe Messenger of the space agency NASA starts successfully on board a Delta II rocket towards Mercury , which it is supposed to reach in 2011.
• Frankfurt am Main / Germany : In today's edition of the newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau (FR) a “misprint” is noticed early in the morning. The title head does not say “independent” as usual, but “dependent daily newspaper”. The delivery of the output is stopped. The management emphasizes that a technical error has occurred and that there was no willful manipulation of the slogan. Since May the FR has been part of the German Printing and Publishing Company of the Social Democratic Party of Germany .
• London / United Kingdom : 14 men of Asian origin are arrested in a raid at various locations . You and especially the head of the Dhiren Barot network are suspected of having commissioned or prepared terrorist attacks aimed at buildings in the United States .

Wednesday 4th August 2004

• Copenhagen / Denmark : The military judiciary is initiating an investigation into illegal interrogation methods in Camp Eden near Basra , Iraq . At the center of the allegations is the 37-year-old interrogation specialist Annemette Hommel . The commander of a battalion , Colonel Henrik Flach, and three other leading officers will be relieved of their posts .

Thursday 5th August 2004

• Hamburg / Germany : Some major German publishers, including Axel Springer Verlag , Spiegel Verlag , Bauer Verlagsgruppe and Süddeutsche Verlag have announced that they will return to traditional spelling as soon as possible. The German Press Agency (dpa) and Associated Press (AP) want to reserve a decision based on the wishes of their customers. Focus , the Frankfurter Rundschau and the Gruner + Jahr publishing group have spoken out against it.
• Hamburg / Germany : According to reports from Deutschlandfunk, there is also a call from trade unionists and the electoral association to hold Monday demonstrations based on the model of the Leipzig “peaceful revolution” of 1989 from now on. The GDR civil rights activist and pastor Christian Führer also called for the demonstrations and said that the situation today is comparable to that of 1989.
• Hanover / Germany : The Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung reported that SPD members from North Rhine-Westphalia wrote an email chain letter calling for the overthrow of Gerhard Schröder and the rescue of the welfare state . This is one of many protest actions that can be understood as a reaction to the most radical social reform in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany . Meanwhile, the Monday demonstrations against the Hartz IV reform continue across Germany.
• Krefeld / Germany : As has now become known, the confectionery factory "Nappo" in Krefeld has introduced a 60-hour week without wage compensation in a flash at a works meeting . The company's employees, mostly women, are paid according to the 38-hour tariff . This is illegal under applicable laws .

Friday August 6, 2004

• Bremen / Germany : In the opening game of the 42nd Bundesliga beats Werder Bremen to FC Schalke 04 with 1: 0th Due to a power failure, the game only started with a 66-minute delay.
• Schleswig / Germany : Prince Joachim of Denmark , together with the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands , Jóannes Eidesgaard , and the city's dignitaries open the Nordic Rowing and Culture Meeting 2004 , which takes place here on the occasion of the city's 1200th anniversary. The Faroe Islands came with 9 regatta boats and around 400 active people and fans and will host the first Faroese rowing competition in Germany on August 7th on the Schlei .

Saturday 7th August 2004

• Pretoria / South Africa . The New National Party (NNP), the ruling party of South Africa during apartheid , joins the currently ruling African National Congress .
• Hamburg / Germany . German utility companies are apparently stretching natural gas imported from abroad on a larger scale with liquid gas-air mixtures. As early as 1989, according to SPIEGEL, several municipal companies were exposed because they were selling more gas to their customers than they had obtained from their suppliers.
• New York / USA . A new UN report raises the most serious allegations against the Sudanese government: both in the crisis region of Darfur and in the Upper Nile region , the government has been responsible for extrajudicial executions and mass killings in recent months . There is overwhelming evidence of coordinated actions by government forces and the Arab militias.

Sunday August 8, 2004

• Wiesbaden / Germany . Violent storms with hail and cloudbursts have caused millions in damages according to dpa in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg . Roads and railroad tracks were impassable, and in some places there were power outages that lasted for hours. As far as is known, no people were injured.
• Brussels / Belgium . Many of those injured in the gas explosion on July 30th will find it difficult to afford treatment for their severe burns , Belgian media reported. The health insurance companies assume reportedly paying the necessary medicines not for the numerous fire victims. Some patients should therefore be presented with an invoice for 15,000 euros.
• Baghdad / Iraq The death penalty is being reintroduced in Iraq . The interim government has decided, said Iraqi State Minister Adnan el Dschanabi , that the death penalty can be used for murder , threats to national security and drug trafficking .
• Copenhagen / Denmark . In Greenland, plant particles were discovered in a geological drilling three kilometers under the ice. These are likely several million years old and of great value for geological research.
• Oschersleben / Germany . The Dane Tom Kristensen wins the seventh round of the DTM in an Audi ahead of Martin Tomczyk (Audi) and Manuel Reuter in an Opel . For the first time in the new DTM, there is no Mercedes driver on the podium.
• Berlin / Germany . The body of the Berlin state manager of the SPD, Andreas Matthae , was found in his apartment . He had committed suicide by hanging . He had recently been given leave of absence due to public prosecution investigations.

Monday August 9, 2004

• Athens / Greece : The previous Bulgarian IOC member Ivan Slawkow and four previously accredited sports agents have been excluded from access to all IOC events with immediate effect. Undercover reporters from the broadcaster BBC had been able to prove their willingness to buy votes, i.e. corruption .
• Athens / Greece . According to Der Spiegel, the first doping cases overshadow the Olympic Games even before their opening. An Irish athlete has admitted to swallowing illicit drugs . Two members of the Greek baseball team tested positive for prohibited substances in the A sample .
• Bergen / Norway : The two-month MAR-ECO - Exploration of the Deep Sea - Ecology of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge brought back 350 animals, of which at least five are previously unknown species .
• Brussels / Belgium . A European Union delegation sent to Sudan could not find any evidence of genocide in the crisis region of Darfur . Pieter Feith (Advisor to EU Foreign Policy Coordinator Javier Solana ): “We are not in a genocide situation there, but it is clear that the killing is widespread, is going on quietly and slowly and the villages are still on fire.”
• Germany : After his resignation claim against Chancellor Gerhard Schröder , the former is SPD boss Lafontaine in his party strongly criticized. His resignation from the party and even a party expulsion process were called for. According to election researchers, a possible new left party would currently receive around 15-20% of the vote if Lafontaine supported after leaving the SPD.
• Leipzig / Germany : The controversial use of the term “ Monday demonstration ”, which is particularly controversial among many politicians, has sparked a broad debate in the media. The organizers of the numerous protests against the interference in the welfare state by Hartz IV , for example in Magdeburg , Suhl , Gera , Rostock, but also in the West German cities of Dortmund , Gelsenkirchen and Remscheid, rejected this criticism as inconsistent, said Leipzig pastor Christian Führer . In the evening there were Monday demonstrations against social cuts ( Hartz IV / Agenda 2010 ) and others. a. in Dessau, Magdeburg (12,000 participants), Halle (3000), Aschersleben, Gera and Leipzig (10,000). In the old federal states u. a. in Hamburg and Gelsenkirchen.
• Tokyo / Japan : A leak in a 50 cm thick pressure pipe in Mihama - nuclear power plant of the operator "Kansai Electric Power Co." ( Kansai Electric Power Company ) about 320 kilometers northwest of Tokyo has caused several deaths and 10 serious injuries. The authorities said that there was no radioactivity from the leak, where steam was hot at 200 degrees . Another reactor of the operator "Tokyo Electric Power Co." ( Tepco ) in Fukushima also had to be shut down due to a leak on the same day.
• After a long wait, Service Pack 2 for Windows XP will be published on the Internet. The release was originally due in June 2004, but was delayed due to some bug fixes .

Tuesday August 10, 2004

• Baghdad / Iraq . The Iraqi government has ordered the Baghdad editorial office of the well-known Arab television station Al Jazeera to close and to impose a 30-day broadcasting ban on it. Government spokesmen accused the station of " showing too much crime and criminals ". Al Jazeera officials called the decision a serious interference with freedom of the press and freedom of expression .
• Athens / Greece . The Kenyan boxer David Munyasia , an athlete at the 2004 Summer Olympics , was convicted of doping and banned from the competitions before the start of the competition. The forbidden substance cathine was detected in the 24-year-old .
• Copenhagen / Denmark . Denmark has announced that it will no longer hand over Iraqi prisoners to British soldiers. The decision was based on the reintroduction of the death penalty in Iraq.
• Istanbul / Turkey . An Iranian and a Turk were killed in bomb explosions in two hotels at 2 a.m. At least 9 people were injured. Both Islamists and Kurds are committed to the attack .
• Khartoum / Sudan . According to the UN refugee agency , refugees from the crisis region of Darfur are being urged by the Sudanese government to return to supposedly safe areas. There, however, they are threatened with attacks by Arab militias.
• USA . US President George W. Bush has nominated Republican Congressman Porter Goss as the new director of the CIA . If this is confirmed by the US Senate , he will succeed George Tenet , who resigned in June .
• Germany . After the Monday demonstrations : Chancellor Gerhard Schröder now wants to take on "the matter" Hartz IV after his vacation . SPD leader Franz Müntefering announces a quick revision of the disputed labor market reforms.

Wednesday August 11, 2004

• Hamburg / Germany . According to a report from Die Zeit , a survey by the Federal Statistical Office indicates that the gap between rich and poor in Germany is widening: the financial assets of the poorest quarter of West German households shrank by half from 1993 to 2003, while the financial assets of the wealthiest neighborhood has increased by 25%. The proportion of households considered poor rose from 9.4 to 11.1% in 2002. The newspaper reported that the Federal Statistical Office would not officially present the figures because of the "social explosives" they contain. The Federal Office rejected this claim.
• Lübeck / Germany . The 22-year-old violinist Erik Schumann from Lübeck is the third winner to receive the Leonard Bernstein Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival endowed with 10,000 euros . The award is to be presented on Friday.
• Usedom / Germany . The German historian Wolfgang J. Mommsen died at the age of 73.
• Gelsenkirchen / Germany . The football player Aílton was the first foreign player to be voted German Footballer of the Year by the football magazine kicker . Birgit Prinz were voted German Footballer of the Year for the fourth time in a row. Thomas Schaaf was named coach of the year.
• Turkey . A collision between two trains in northwestern Turkey, halfway between Ankara and Istanbul , kills 36–39 people and injures 88.

Thursday August 12, 2004

• Brussels / Belgium . The independent European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf) has come to the preliminary conclusion that there has been no misuse of EU funds by the Palestinian Authority . The EU Commission previously came to the same conclusion after media reports reported abuses. Meanwhile, the commission announced that it would provide further funds for victims of house demolition in the West Bank .
• Brussels / Belgium . The future President of the EU Commission , the conservative Portuguese José Manuel Barroso , presented his new cabinet today. The previous EU commissioner for enlargement and development of the EU, the SPD politician Günter Verheugen , will now be EU industry commissioner and one of three vice-presidents of the EU commission.
• Al-Anbar / Iraq . Two US soldiers were killed in the afternoon when a CH-53 helicopter crashed and three others were injured. Thus the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq has risen to 935. A British soldier died and several were wounded in an explosion while on patrol in Basra .
• Najaf / Iraq . In fighting in Iraq between US troops and fighters from the “ Mahdi Army” of the Shiite preacher Moktada al Sadr around the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, numerous Iraqis were apparently injured and killed. News agencies now speak of around 160 dead and hundreds injured, including children and women. The US army is said to have taken the city of Najaf during the day and access to the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib shrine was blocked. A total of 2,000 US soldiers and 1,800 Iraqi security forces are said to be deployed. There are said to be around 1000 Al-Sadr fighters in the city. British troops are meanwhile taking action against al-Sadr rebels in the southern Iraqi cities of Basra , Amara , Nasirija , Samawa and Diwaniyya .
• Ceanu Mare / Romania . Chancellor Gerhard Schröder visited his father's grave in a small village in Transylvania for the first time .
• Berlin / Germany . The introduction of the practice fee has led to a decrease in patient visits in many medical practices. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) also spoke of the fact that many diseases are now being dragged on because patients tried to save the practice fee and the high co-payments for drugs. The German Cancer Aid criticizes the fact that too few use the preventive examinations, men in particular do too little for their health.
• New York / USA . Michael Moore publishes an interview with Porter Goss , in which the latter describes himself as "not qualified" for service in the CIA , partly due to a lack of language and technical skills. The interview was recorded while filming Fahrenheit 9/11 , but was not used in the film.
• Sweden . Sweden has exactly 9 million inhabitants as of 2:58 p.m. today . According to Swedish press reports, the name of the newborn Swede is Jakob, his parents are Jeanette and Hans-Christian.
• Athens / Greece . The two well-known Greek athletes Konstantinos Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou miss an unannounced doping test and are therefore suspected of doping.
• Singapore . Lee Hsien Loong is sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Singapore.

Friday August 13, 2004

The climax of the Olympic opening ceremony

• Athens / Greece . The 2004 Summer Olympics traditionally opened in the evening with a celebration lasting several hours.
• Hanoi / Vietnam . A Vietnamese man died of the H5N1 influenza A virus , the causative agent of the H5N1 bird flu . This particularly dangerous variant had already cost hundreds of deaths in the spring. In other regions of Vietnam, others are said to be infected.
• Khartoum / Sudan . The United Nations reports that the Sudanese government has agreed to set up security zones of 20 km around the refugee camps in the west of the Darfur crisis region . Implementation would already be possible in the coming week if appropriate decisions are made over the weekend.
• China . 63 people are killed and more than 1,800 injured in a cyclone in Zhejiang Province, People's Republic of China.
• Najaf / Iraq . Al Jazeera reports that the radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr was apparently injured in another bomb attack by US forces on the Iraqi city of Najaf .
• Stralsund / Baltic Sea . A sperm whale got lost in the Baltic Sea. According to Stralsund marine researchers, this is a "millennium event". The animal should be male and 10–12 years old. Because the Baltic Sea is too shallow and there is no food, the whale has only a slim chance of survival.
• Vienna / Austria . The on-board personnel from Austrian and Lauda Air held a works meeting from 10 a.m. After the works council had declared the collective agreement negotiations to have failed at around 1 p.m. , a warning strike was called that lasted until around 3 p.m. The strike affected 19 flights and 6,000 passengers.

Saturday August 14, 2004

• Okakarara / Namibia . The Development Aid Minister of Germany Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul confesses German guilt in Namibia during the Herero uprising (1904–1906) in the former colony of German South West Africa during a speech on the anniversary of the Battle of Waterberg . Around 60,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama were killed. She is also the first official government representative to attend a battle memorial service.

Sunday 15th August 2004

• Caracas / Venezuela : In Venezuela, the electorate will vote on a referendum to end the term of office of President Hugo Chávez . Due to the high demand, the election has been extended by several hours.
• Gatumba / Burundi : Hutu militias attack a UN refugee camp in Gatumba and kill 189 people.
• Florida / United States : Cyclone "Charly" reaches the Florida coast. The hurricane killed at least 19 people in the United States. Three people were previously killed in Cuba .
• Najaf / Iraq : The Iraqi government calls on all journalists to leave the embattled city of Najaf immediately. Iraqi security forces shoot at anyone who does not comply.
• Vaduz / Liechtenstein : Prince Hans-Adam II appoints his son Hereditary Prince Alois as his deputy and entrusts him with the privilege of sovereign rights to which the Prince is entitled. Alois is thus the new head of state of Liechtenstein.
• Iran / Neka Atefah Sahaaleh will be executed at the age of 16.

Monday August 16, 2004

• Berlin / Germany . The turnover of the German manufacturing industry rose unusually strongly in June of this year by 14.9%. The domestic sales rose by a whopping 9.5%, while foreign sales even improved by 23.6%. The number of employees fell by 2% over the same period.
• Caracas / Venezuela . The Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez survived the referendum initiated by the opposition and supported by Venezuela's private media, which his “Bolivarian Constitution” makes possible for the first time, with 58% approval. In 2001 the opposition tried to overthrow Chavez by means of a coup . The election was overseen by independent international election observers , including former US President Jimmy Carter and staff at his Atlanta- based Carter Center. The opposition does not recognize the result.
• Berlin / Germany . Despite criticism, etc. a. from Lower Saxony's SPD parliamentary group leader Sigmar Gabriel and Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Wolfgang Böhmer ( CDU ), Gerhard Schröder is sticking to the planned further reduction in the top tax rate from 45% to 42% on January 1, 2005.

Tuesday 17th August 2004

• Washington, DC / USA . The US has not recognized the result of the referendum against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez , from which he emerged victorious. Although the u. a. International election observers sent by former US President Jimmy Carter confirmed a “fair victory”, the US government is demanding an investigation into allegations of fraud by the Venezuelan opposition.
• Hamburg / Germany . In the so-called “terror trial” against Mounir El Motassadeq , the 23-year-old witness Shahid N. testified that Motassadeq was part of the inner circle of the death pilots around Mohammed Atta . In doing so, he contradicted the summary of testimony that the United States had recently sent to the German court.
• Najaf / Iraq . Following the warning from the Iraqi government last Sunday when it asked all foreign journalists to leave Najaf, the Iraqi police have now surrounded a hotel with independent journalists. The security forces announced that they would shoot any journalist who leaves the hotel. This means that only journalists who are under the protection of the US Army are active in the embattled city .
• N'Djamena / Chad . The government of Chad fears an economic collapse due to the refugees from the crisis region Darfur . According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, there are already 180,000 Sudanese refugees in the neighboring area of ​​Chad, an uneconomical region that has only 80,000 inhabitants.
• Wiesbaden / Germany . The process of the CDU donation affair in Hesse has begun, it involves transfers of 20.8 million marks in party assets to Switzerland . 14 days of negotiations are scheduled. The accused are ex- Federal Interior Minister and former Secretary General of the Hessian CDU, Manfred Kanther , the former CDU state treasurer Casimir Johannes Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and the former CDU financial advisor Horst Weyrauch . Meanwhile, Kanther has admitted to transferring party assets to Switzerland, but denies the allegation of infidelity .
• Washington, DC / USA . The USA announced that it would withdraw up to 70,000 soldiers from Europe and Asia . In Germany , two army divisions from Wiesbaden and Würzburg with a total of 30,000 soldiers are to be withdrawn. Around 70,000 American soldiers are currently stationed in Germany.

Wednesday August 18, 2004

• Sydney / Australia . A study by the Australian Center for Independent Studies suggests that the island nation of Nauru should give up its full independence and seek other options such as annexation to Australia. The author of the study suggested that they should reorganize the structure of parliament and services.
• Leipzig / Germany . Dispute among the organizers of the Monday demonstrations : The "Action Alliance: Social Justice - Stop the Social Welfare Cut" invited the controversial SPD politician Oskar Lafontaine on August 30th . Some officials demand that he refrain from speaking. The organizers of the “Social Forum” want the demos to be independent of the party and not a platform for politicians, but for those affected.
• Bad Oeynhausen / Germany . Former Federal President Johannes Rau was fitted with a new heart valve . The operation was necessary because an examination on Monday revealed a changed heart valve.
• Caracas / Venezuela . Since the Venezuelan opposition does not recognize the result of the referendum against left-wing President Hugo Chávez , the authorities in Venezuela have now agreed to randomly check the result in the presence of government officials, international election observers and representatives of the opposition. International election observers had not noticed any irregularities so far. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan praised the peaceful manner in which the referendum. After the announcement of the result, however, there were sometimes bloody riots in the capital Caracas.
• France . Severe storms occurred in the south of France. There were 3 fatalities and 5 missing. Bathing on the Mediterranean coast was banned for almost 40 km, 1,300 tent ends were brought to safety from crossing rivers, 30,000 people were temporarily without electricity.
• Kathmandu / Nepal . All traffic connections to Nepal's capital Kathmandu have been torn down. The reason for this is a corresponding statement by the Maoist rebels.
• The president of the international scientific association " Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas ", Kjell Aleklett , has warned that, given the current level of demand, oil production could peak as early as 2010 ; As a result, with increasing demand, the price of crude oil would rise dramatically.

Thursday August 19, 2004

• Budapest / Hungary . The Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy (SP) has resigned, the cause is said to be an ongoing dispute within the governing coalition. A successor is to be nominated shortly.
• Khartoum / Sudan . The Sudanese government has announced the disarming of the Arab Janjawid militias in some parts of the crisis region of Darfur . Eight so-called "security zones" are to be set up and around 180 weapons have been confiscated so far.
• Abuja / Nigeria . The Nigerian Senate approves the deployment of up to 1,500 soldiers to the crisis region of Darfur as part of an African Union (AU) peacekeeping force . A first advance party of 150 men will support the unit of equal strength from Rwanda , which has been on site since Sunday, in securing AU observers.
• Berlin / Germany . The former Federal Minister of Economics and longstanding Federal Treasurer of the FDP, Dr. Günter Rexrodt died at the age of 62 from complications from cancer . In May he was operated on for a tumor on the left side of his neck and is said to have been feeling better again. For two days he had been to the Berlin Charité for follow-up treatment .

Friday August 20, 2004

• USA : Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry filed a complaint with the Federal Electoral Commission (FEC) against a TV commercial. In the TV commercial for the Vietnam veterans group "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth", financed by the Texan businessman Bob J. Perry , he is personally attacked. His morale as commander of a speedboat is criticized. According to media reports, there should also be links between the veterans group and the family of George W. Bush . John Kerry had already discussed his service in Vietnam at the beginning of the election campaign, he was one of 3 officers who commanded the 3 speedboats in Vietnam on February 28, 1969.
• Kathmandu / Nepal : On the third day of the blockade by Maoist rebels, there were injuries for the first time in the Nepalese capital. Some civilians were injured in a bomb attack on an official building and a police officer was previously shot by the rebels.
• Kiel / Germany : The SSW demands in the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament that it should register the Danewerk with UNESCO as a world cultural heritage . According to the SSW, the Danewerk near Schleswig is the largest archaeological monument in Northern Europe and can thus be better preserved and used for tourism.
• Beijing , People's Republic of China : WHO expresses concern over the discovery of the avian flu H5N1 virus in pigs by Chinese scientists as the virus could potentially mutate into a form of the deadly disease contagious to humans.
• Paderborn / Germany : The DFB Cup game between Paderborn 07 and Hamburger SV under the direction of Robert Hoyzer leads to rumors about match- fixing and ultimately to the soccer betting scandal in 2005 .

Saturday August 21, 2004

• United States . Kenneth Cordier has to leave George W. Bush's campaign team . He is a retired colonel and was responsible for veterans issues. He appeared in a TV commercial for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, in which the opposing candidate John Kerry is described as a liar and a traitor. There are supposed to be indications that the production and broadcast of the commercial were illegally coordinated with the election campaign of George W. Bush. Another TV commercial is to follow.

Sunday August 22, 2004

Minimum wages remain theory in Germany

• Chicago / United States : Vietnam veteran William Rood defends John Kerry against the " Chicago Tribune " and criticizes the TV commercial. Along with John Kerry, he was one of 3 officers who commanded a speedboat in Vietnam in February 1969.
• Berlin / Germany : The idea of ​​a minimum wage in Germany, the introduction of which is supported by the party Die Linke and SPD leader Franz Müntefering , does not seem to be feasible due to strong headwinds from IG Metall and the trade union federation .
• Nauru : An Australian economist sees the Pacific island nation of Nauru on the brink of financial collapse and suggests working with Australia or New Zealand .
• Oslo / Norway : The painting The Scream by Edvard Munch is stolen from a museum in Oslo.
• Paris / France : Again there is an anti-Semitic attack in France : A Jewish community center near Paris burns down.
• Wolfsburg / Germany : The VW Board Member for Human Resources, Peter Hartz, demands a zero round from VW employees in order to reduce wage costs. The trade union IG Metall is demanding a wage increase of 4% and a job guarantee for ten years for the 103,000 employees in the six “West German” locations.

Monday 23 Aug 2004

• Berlin / Germany . According to a “Data Report 2004” presented by the Federal Statistical Office in Berlin and social scientists , it emerges that more and more Germans are dissatisfied. The dissatisfaction with the social security systems in Germany stands out in particular. In addition, according to those responsible for the "data report", it is becoming apparent that the gap between rich and poor is widening. In 2002 there would have been more rich and poor statistically speaking than in 2000 when the data was last collected. The data were collected in 2002.
• Redmond / USA . The software group Microsoft has received a software patent for the sudo process known from the UNIX area .

Tuesday August 24, 2004

• Melbourne / Australia . The Nauru House in Melbourne, Nauru's biggest overseas building was in early September 2004 will be sold. Estimates for the selling price were between 120 and 140 million Australian dollars . The Air Nauru and the Government had its facilities in Nauru House by the end of August grant of 2004.
• Berlin / Germany . After the verbal attacks against Chancellor Gerhard Schröder , which were accompanied by the throwing of eggs , it was decided in government circles to strengthen the active protection of the Chancellor and, if possible, to limit all of Schröder's appointments to the purely political level.
• Washington, DC / USA . The commission of inquiry into the torture in the Iraqi Abu Ghuraib prison found "institutional and personal responsibility at higher levels". This is stated in the final report of the commission, which was presented by the chairman James Schlesinger .
• Russia . In the evening in Russia were two Russian Tupolev - Aircraft of suicide bombers almost simultaneously in the Tula Oblast and Rostov-on-Don to crash . A total of 89 people were killed in the crashes. The government and the domestic intelligence service FSB initially tried to cover up the terrorist background.

Wednesday August 25, 2004

• United States . Presidential candidate John Kerry called for Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld to resign over the torture scandal in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison . This demand was supported by the results of the investigation commission from the previous day.
• London / Great Britain . Amnesty International accuses the Sudanese government of covering up human rights violations in the crisis region of Darfur . The government should arrest witnesses rather than the perpetrators of human rights abuses.
• Finland . Four-time Olympic and world champion Matti Nykänen was arrested and, together with his wife Mervi, is suspected of murder after he stabbed an acquaintance with a knife while under the influence of alcohol.

Thursday August 26, 2004

• Santiago de Chile / Chile . The Chilean Supreme Court lifted the immunity of the former dictator Augusto Pinochet . The 88-year-old, during whose term of office from 1973 to 1990 at least 3,000 left-wing opposition members were killed, is now facing charges for various crimes, particularly in connection with the " Plan Condor ", in which the secret services of Chile, Argentina , Bolivia , Brazil , Paraguay , Uruguay and the USA were involved. Hundreds of members of the opposition died in the coup against the democratically elected President Salvador Allende .
• Khartoum / Sudan . The Sudanese government does not want to comply with the 30-day ultimatum of the United Nations to disarm the Janjawid militias. National interests have priority, explains a government negotiator at Darfur peace talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja .
• Gummersbach / Oberbergisches Land / Germany . After a traffic accident , the Wiehltalbrücke ( A4 ) between Gummersbach and Engelskirchen is in danger of collapsing. A tanker truck loaded with 32,000 liters of fuel fell off the bridge after colliding with a skidding car. The truck exploded and structural damage to the bridge is suspected due to the resulting heat. The driver of the truck was killed.
• New York City / USA . The American singer Laura Branigan died at the age of 52 from complications from a cerebral haemorrhage .

Friday August 27, 2004

• Iraq . The Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni , who was kidnapped in Iraq on August 19, is killed by his kidnappers.
• Najaf / Iraq . With the mediation of the Shiite Ayatolla Ali as-Sistani , a peaceful solution is found for the Najaf, which is contested between US troops and fighters Muqtada al-Sadr . The US soldiers leave the city, which is secured by police units of the interim government; the Imam Ali mosque comes under the control of as-Sistani himself.

Saturday August 28, 2004

• Washington, DC / USA . According to media reports, investigations are underway against an employee of State Secretary Douglas J. Feith in the Pentagon on suspicion of espionage for the Israeli secret service Mossad . The employee is said to be a specialist for Iran and South Asia .
• The internet auction house Ebay was the victim of a hacker attack in the morning . According to DENIC , the domain was redirected to a private person's server for several hours and a copy of the start page was displayed. The error has now been fixed, but the process has not yet been fully clarified.
• Al Amari / Palestinian Territories . Supporters of the al-Aqsa Brigades abducted a 27-year-old Palestinian from Ramallah to the Al Amari refugee camp, where he was executed in front of a mosque . The man is said to have cooperated with the Israeli army in the search for militant Palestinians.
• Kabul / Afghanistan . Ten people, including nine children, died in a school bomb attack in the southern Afghan province of Paktia .
• Baghdad / Iraq . Further unrest in Iraq. Gunmen killed five Iraqi police officers and injured two others in Baquba . In Fallujah , 14 people, including eight children, were injured in a US airstrike and skirmishes between American troops and insurgents. Professor Iman Abdul-Munem Junis was shot dead in Mosul in northern Iraq .
• Baghdad / Iraq . Two French people missing in Iraq since August 19 have been kidnapped. A corresponding video was leaked to the Al Jazeera broadcaster .
• Khartoum / Sudan . In the Sudanese crisis region of Darfur , five aid workers are kidnapped, two Sudanese employees of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and three others by the Red Crescent .

Sunday 29th August 2004

End of the Summer Olympics

• Athens / Greece : Closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics . The most successful nation is the United States with 100 medals. 49 medals go to Germany , seven to Austria and five to Switzerland .
• Baghdad / Iraq : In attacks by radical Shiites in Sadr City , a district of Baghdad, 12 people were killed and around 130 injured.
• Hurghada / Egypt . About 120 tourists, including more than 100 German, are to hepatitis A sick. All the holidaymakers affected were staying in the same hotel in Hurghada.
• Spa / Belgium : Michael Schumacher secured after his second place at the Belgian Grand Prix his seventh Drivers' World Championship in Formula 1 .
• New York / United States : Half a million people demonstrated in New York against the Republican National Convention taking place there and the policies of the currently incumbent Republican Party .

Monday August 30, 2004

• Sochi / Russia : President Vladimir Putin , German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and French President Jacques Chirac discuss at a tripartite summit a. a. a reform of the OSCE Pact and the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by Russia.
• Tokyo / Japan : A typhoon hit the southern main island of Kyushu with wind speeds of up to 144 kilometers per hour . Four people died. More than 12,000 residents of Kyushu have been evacuated. Power outages occurred in over 250,000 households.
• New York / United States : The election party convention of the US Republicans begins in New York under massive security measures . George W. Bush will be officially named as the Republican Party candidate for the presidential election in early November.
• Kabul / Afghanistan : An attack on a building of a US security company in the capital Kabul claimed at least seven lives and many injured.
• Chechnya : As expected, the Russian preferred Alu Alkhanov won the presidential election in Chechnya with 73.5% of the vote and a turnout of 85%. Alkhanov succeeds the murdered Akhmat Kadyrov . Observers and the opposition criticized the irregularities.

Tuesday August 31, 2004

• Baghdad / Iraq : A group of Iraqi extremists who call themselves the "Military Committee of the Ansar al-Sunna Army" claimed to have killed twelve Nepalese hostages. The reason is that they "[...] came from their country [to Iraq]" to "fight the Muslims".
• Be'er Scheva / Israel : At least twelve people are killed and at least 35 others are injured in a series of attacks on three buses .
• Hamburg / Germany : The defender of Mounir al-Motassadeq in the Hamburg terror trial, Josef Gräßle-Münscher, is apparently currently in mortal danger after a car that suddenly turned left, according to police, crashed into his motorcycle.
• Moscow / Russia : Ten people are killed and more than 50 are injured in a suicide attack in northern Moscow. Chechen terrorists are suspected to be behind the crime.
• Paris / France : The deadline given by Iraqi hostage-takers to the French government ends this evening. The perpetrators are calling for the so-called headscarf ban in French schools to be lifted . The hostages, Christian Chessnot and Georges Malbrunot, two French journalists, would otherwise die.

See also

• Nekrolog August 2004 for deaths this month
• List of annually recurring commemorative and action days in August
• Category for commemorative days, holidays or action days in August

Web links

Commons : August 2004  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Blaze witnesses claim doors ordered shut. In: smh.com.au . August 3, 2004, accessed August 1, 2018 . 
2. ↑ UN starts aid flights for Darfur. In: derstandard.at . August 4, 2004, accessed August 19, 2018 . 
3. ^ Barot and the Financial Buildings. In: osu.edu . June 3, 2011, accessed November 2, 2019 . 
4. ↑ derstandard.at
5. ↑ All journalists out of here! In: heise.de/tp . August 17, 2004, accessed December 16, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Monica Garnsey: Death of a teenager . In: The Guardian . July 27, 2006, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed April 22, 2020]).
7. ↑ Trade unions oppose minimum wages. In: spiegel.de . August 22, 2004, accessed October 8, 2016 . 
8. ↑ Extremists kill twelve Nepalese. In: derstandard.at . September 2, 2004, accessed September 20, 2016 . 
9. ↑ Motassadeq lawyer struggles with death. In: spiegel.de . August 30, 2004, accessed September 20, 2016 .