January 2004

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This article covers breaking news and events in January 2004.

Daily events

Thursday January 1, 2004

Swiss Federal Council 2004, fourth from left: Joseph Deiss

• Berlin / Germany : Around 800,000 to a million people experience the New Year at Germany's largest New Year's Eve party at the Brandenburg Gate .
• Bern / Switzerland : The CVP politician Joseph Deiss takes office as Federal President .
• Dublin / Ireland : The presidency of the Council of the European Union goes to Ireland on a rotating basis. Prime Minister Bertie Ahern is confident about future tasks, although he says that he did not expect that the enactment of the planned European Constitution would fall during his presidency.
• New York / United States : Algeria , Benin , Brazil , the Philippines and Romania are new non-permanent members of the Security Council of the United Nations .
• Port-au-Prince / Haiti : Serious riots broke out on the 200th Independence Day, which began with shooting at President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his visiting South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki . Police then shoot tear gas into the crowd, injuring at least eight people.

Saturday 3rd January 2004

• Sharm el-Sheikh / Egypt : A passenger plane of the Egyptian airline Flash Airlines of type Boeing 737 crashes with 148 people on board, probably due to a technical problem, in the Red Sea . Almost all of the victims are French vacationers en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to Paris .

Sunday 4th January 2004

• Kabul / Afghanistan : The Loja Jirga adopts the new constitution of Afghanistan.
• Mars : After more than 480 million kilometers journey, which lasted seven months ends up at 5:35 AM CET 173  kg mass spacecraft Spirit (MER-A) of the space agency NASA south of the Martian equator in the crater Gusev. She is supposed to search for traces of water over a period of three months, and thus for the possibility of life on the neighboring planet Earth .
• Tbilisi / Georgia : In the presidential election, 96% of the voters vote for Mikheil Saakashvili . His predecessor Eduard Shevardnadze was ousted in November 2003.

Monday 5th January 2004

• Brussels / Belgium : The Dutchman Jaap de Hoop Scheffer takes up his post as the new Secretary General of the NATO military alliance . He replaces the British George Robertson .
• Brussels / Belgium , Rome / Italy : The secretary of the Member of the European Parliament Gary Titley triggers an explosion when opening an envelope. Romano Prodi , Jean-Claude Trichet and Hans-Gert Pöttering, as well as the Europol and Eurojust authorities , received working bombs in the mail outside Titley within ten days . Belgian and Dutch authorities identified the Bologna region in Italy as the origin of the consignments. A European anti- terrorist unit to combat the phenomenon is set up in Rome .

Tuesday January 6, 2004

• Bischofshofen / Austria : Sigurd Pettersen from Norway wins the 52nd Four Hills Tournament ahead of the Austrian Thomas Morgenstern .
• Islamabad / Pakistan : The foreign ministers of Bangladesh , Bhutan , India , Maldives , Nepal , Pakistan and Sri Lanka sign a free trade agreement. According to the declaration negotiated by the countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation , in which around 1.4 billion people live, all customs barriers are to have fallen by 2016 at the latest.
• Niue : Cyclone Heta devastated the Pacific island of Niue, on which 1,500 people live. At least one resident loses his life and over 200 become homeless.

Wednesday January 7, 2004

• Athens / Greece : President Konstantinos Simitis of the socialist Pasok party announces his resignation as president. New elections are to be held on March 7th to find a successor between Georgios A. Papandreou (Pasok) and opposition leader Kostas Karamanlis .

Thursday January 8, 2004

RMS Queen Mary 2

• Tehran / Iran : Religious leader Ali Khamene'i sees no changes in his country's relations with the United States , even though his country received humanitarian aid from the United States after the severe earthquake in Bam in December 2003. He is responding to a statement made by US President George Bush , who on January 1st described political progress in Iran as a prerequisite for “closer relations”.
• United Kingdom : The monarch of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II christened the world's longest passenger ship the RMS Queen Mary 2 .

Friday January 9, 2004

Kamaz truck at the Dakar Rally

• Ankara / Turkey : Turkey completely removes the death penalty from criminal law.
• Bamako / Mali : The Dakar Rally will be interrupted for two days after the finish of the current stage. There are indications of planned kidnapping of drivers by militant groups from Mauritania .
• Salzburg / Austria : Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel announces the coalition's agreement on the second stage of the tax reform .

Saturday January 10, 2004

• Chemnitz / Germany : The entertainer Hansi Hinterseer wins the folk music crown .
• Iraq : Danish armed forces soldiers find remains of ammunition suspected of containing nerve agents .

Sunday January 11, 2004

• Tehran / Iran : The governors of all 27 provinces threaten to resign President Mohammad Chātami in an open letter if the Islamic Guardian Council maintains its blockade against the nomination of 877 candidates from the reform-political spectrum before the upcoming parliamentary elections. They set a deadline of seven days for the realization of their demand.

Monday January 12, 2004

• Brussels / Belgium : The Commission of the European Union plans to check the legality of the trademarks “ Made in Germany ” and “Made in Italy”. By his own admission, Commissioner Lamy prefers the words "Made in the European Union" instead. Violent protests can be heard from German and Italian industry .

Tuesday January 13, 2004

• Krefeld / Germany : The former Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl receives the International Adalbert Prize .
• Tashkent / Uzbekistan : A passenger plane crashes on approach to Tashkent airport. 36 people are killed. The authorities cite poor visibility as a possible cause of the accident.

Wednesday January 14, 2004

• Guatemala City / Guatemala : Óscar Berger Perdomo is sworn in as the new President of Guatemala.
• Washington, DC / United States : US President George W. Bush announces plans for the further development of American space travel in a speech to representatives of the space agency NASA . They include the establishment of a permanent station on the moon and manned flights to Mars .

Thursday January 15, 2004

US military in Iraq

• Basra / Iraq : Several 10,000 Shiites demonstrate for the immediate holding of parliamentary elections in Iraq. Both the United Nations and the United States declare that the current security situation speaks against scheduling elections. At best, July could be the date for parliamentary elections.

Friday January 16, 2004

• Germany , Sri Lanka : The investment protection treaty between the two countries comes into force.
• Huntsville / United States : In the Marshall Space Flight Center is the head of the space agency NASA Sean O'Keefe announced that the next repair flight to the Hubble - Telescope has been deleted since the space shuttle for the further development of the International Space Station must be used. Negative effects on the Hubble successor project James Webb Space Telescope , which should be fully developed in 2011, are considered likely.
• Mumbai / India : The 4th World Social Forum begins, several 10,000 critics of globalization are also present.

Saturday 17th January 2004

• Frankfurt am Main / Germany : An employee of Gunther von Hagen's corpses exhibition series “ Body Worlds ”, who has meanwhile been dismissed , is accused of knowingly receiving bodies from execution victims from the People's Republic of China . The exhibition is currently visiting Frankfurt am Main.

Sunday January 18, 2004

• Addis Ababa / Ethiopia : The German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder begins a one-week diplomatic trip through the African continent.

Monday January 19, 2004

• Bergen / Norway : The freighter MS Rocknes capsizes off the Norwegian coast. Twelve people of the 30-strong crew can be rescued.
• Paris / France : The Space Agency ESA released the first color photographs of their Mars probe Mars Express .

Tuesday January 20, 2004

• Baghdad / Iraq : For days there have been demonstrations for an early election and a handover of the former President Saddam Hussein, who was captured by the armed forces of the United States , to the Iraqi authorities.
• Des Moines , United States : The Democratic Party is holding the first primaries in Iowa for its candidate's nomination convention in the November presidential election. Senator John Kerry wins ahead of John Edwards and the favorite Howard Dean . The fourth-placed Dick Gephardt gives up his candidacy.
• Nairobi / Kenya : President Mwai Kibaki receives German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder , who promises to double the German financial aid. That would correspond to 50 million euros in 2004 and 2005.
• New York / United States : The Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) Kofi Annan wants to check whether early elections in Iraq are possible this year. US President George W. Bush recently called for a greater commitment from the UN to the development of Iraq, but spoke out against holding elections anytime soon. The security situation in Iraq is currently fragile.
• Tetovo / Macedonia : Macedonia decides by law to found a state university in Tetovo.

Wednesday January 21, 2004

• Berlin / Germany : The Federal Foreign Office is financing two judicial development projects of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Afghanistan .
• Kaiserslautern / Germany : According to initial estimates, a night gas explosion in a five-storey residential and commercial building in the city center causes damage of around 1.5 million euros . The pressure wave and objects flying around injure two people and damage many buildings in the vicinity. Numerous people are evacuated.

Thursday January 22, 2004

• Tehran / Iran : The Guardian Council of the Islamic Republic is once again allowing reform-minded candidates for the parliamentary elections in February , which it has boycotted to date, giving way to pressure from the government under Mohammad Chātami , which has been called on to act by MPs and provincial governors .
• Xinjiang / China : Thousands of people from the vicinity of a dam are evacuated because water shoots out of an 8  m² hole in the dam, flooding fields and houses. The authorities in Xinjiang, which was very cold at the time, report that they have not yet recorded any personal injuries caused by the incident.

Friday January 23, 2004

• Darmstadt / Germany : The Space Agency ESA announces that instruments of their spacecraft Mars Express in search of water vapor in the atmosphere of Mars ' were successful. In addition, other measurement data suggest ice deposits at the south pole of the planet's neighboring planet .
• Madras / India : Up to 45 guests at a wedding reception are killed in a fire in a ballroom . The groom also dies in the fire. More than 100 other people suffer injuries.
• New Delhi / India : Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the first prime minister to receive rebels from the Kashmir region who are trying to separate this part of the country from India. The aim of the conversation is to end the military conflict between rebels and national armed forces.

Saturday January 24, 2004

• Accra / Ghana : The German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder ends his trip to Africa .
• Berlin / Germany : Federal Minister of Economics Wolfgang Clement ( SPD ) dismisses the head of the Federal Employment Agency Florian Gerster , against the allegations in the room of having falsified internal protocols.
• Eisenberg / Germany : A bus accident in Thuringia claims three lives.
• Radès / Tunisia : Host Tunisia wins the opening game of the 24th African Cup of Nations 2-1 against Rwanda .
• Stuttgart / Germany : The historian Joachim Fest , research focus on Adolf Hitler , receives the Eugen Bolz Prize .
• Stuttgart / Germany : With a stake of 3.75 euros , a woman from Baden-Württemberg achieved the highest lottery win in Germany to date: 20,233,178.20 euros.

Sunday January 25, 2004

Inauguration of Mikheil Saakashvili

• Davos / Switzerland : Right-wing extremists attack demonstrating critics of globalization on the fringes of the World Economic Forum .
• Pasadena / United States : The space agency NASA reports that the space probe Opportunity (MER-B) has landed on Mars . Opportunity and its sister probe Spirit (MER-A) are part of the Mars Exploration Rover mission .
• Tbilisi / Georgia : Mikheil Saakashvili is sworn in as the new president.

Monday January 26, 2004

• Berlin / Germany : The House of Representatives of the State of Berlin passes a new school law that is to come into force in February 2004.
• United States : A judge declares parts of the George W. Bush administration's Patriot Act unconstitutional. The Department of Justice is considering the possibility of appealing this finding.
• The Mydoom computer worm spreads around the world and slows down Internet traffic by an average of 10% over several hours . The loading time of web documents doubles.

Tuesday January 27, 2004

• Guangdong / China : The Chinese government reports the outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. China is already the tenth country to have recorded bird flu cases.

Wednesday January 28, 2004

• London / United Kingdom : In the Hutton Report , the Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the suicide of bioweapons expert David Kelly in July last year found the British government under Tony Blair free of any complicity. Kelly once told broadcaster BBC anonymously that the Blair administration was taking the threats posed by possible weapons of mass destruction to Iraq too seriously. The government then urged the BBC to reveal its source, and Kelly was found dead shortly afterwards.

Friday January 30, 2004

• Nanterre / France : The regional court finds former Prime Minister Alain Juppé guilty of corruption and sentenced him to 18 months in prison. Juppé is banned from exercising political office for ten years. This announces that he will appeal.
• Rotenburg an der Fulda / Germany : Armin Meiwes , who, according to his own statements, ceremonially killed a man with his consent in 2001 and then ate it, is sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for manslaughter .

Saturday January 31, 2004

• Beijing / China : The Chinese government responded to further evidence of the H5N1 avian flu for poultry from several southern provinces an export ban.

See also

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

Web links

Minsk in January 2004

Commons : January 2004  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Around 800,000 guests expected at the Brandenburg Gate. In: rp-online.de . December 30, 2003, accessed May 21, 2019 . 
2. ↑ History of the Federal Presidium: Federal Presidents. In: admin.ch . Retrieved February 22, 2018 . 
3. ^ Presidency of the Council of the European Union. In: cvce.eu . July 28, 2016, accessed January 30, 2017 . 
4. ^ Countries Elected Members of the Security Council. In: un.org . Retrieved February 25, 2018 . 
5. ↑ jamaicaobserver.com: Calm returns to Haiti after clashes at bicentennial celebrations ( Memento from March 17, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
6. ^ Julian Lindley-French: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization: The Enduring Alliance . 2nd Edition. Routledge , Abingdon-on-Thames 2015, ISBN 978-1-138-80137-0 , pp. 109 .
7. ↑ "Archipelago of Violence". In: heise.de/tp . January 8, 2004, accessed May 4, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Four Hills Tournament. In: ifosta.de, Jörg Thomas. Accessed December 31, 2016 . 
9. ↑ Hopes Of Bilateral 'Earthquake Diplomacy' Appear To Be Crumbling. In: rferl.org . January 9, 2004, accessed August 7, 2019 . 
10. ↑ Dakar stages canceled. In: bbc.co.uk . January 9, 2004, accessed October 25, 2016 . 
11. ↑ Investment protection in bilateral trade agreements between the Federal Republic of Germany and developing and emerging countries. In: bmwi.de . March 27, 2015, accessed November 20, 2018 . 
12. ↑ Merchant of Death. In: Der Spiegel . January 19, 2004, accessed September 20, 2016 . 
13. ↑ Biography of Florian Gerster. In: hdg.de . Retrieved September 17, 2018 . 
14. ^ Tunisia - Rwanda 2-1. In: skysports.com . Retrieved September 11, 2018 . 
15. ↑ The great shake of the head. In: freitag.de . February 13, 2004, accessed December 1, 2018 . 
16. ↑ De 1995 à 2016, la carrière d'Alain Juppé marquée par une série de revers. In: lemonde.fr . November 28, 2016, accessed May 4, 2019 (French).