March 2004

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This article covers breaking news and events in March 2004.

Daily events

Monday March 1, 2004

• Arlon / Belgium : The trial of the alleged girl killer Marc Dutroux , his ex-wife Michelle Martin and two alleged accomplices begins. Dutroux is accused of kidnapping and raping six girls in 1995 and 1996, some of them detained for months. Four of the victims, ages 8 to 19, died from the ordeal.
• Berlin / Germany : The tobacco tax increase comes into force. A normal size box with around 20 cigarettes now costs up to 3.60 euros . On the one hand, the additional income is intended to benefit the health system in order to help finance the additional costs of the health consequences of tobacco smoking , and on the other hand to contribute to the increased expenditure on internal security and counter-terrorism after the events of September 11, 2001 . The legislator wants to make tobacco smoking less attractive by increasing the price, especially for young people. A further increase in the tax will follow on December 1st.
• Moscow / Russia : President Vladimir Putin proposes the politician Mikhail Fradkow as the new Prime Minister of Russia .
• Port-au-Prince / Haiti : A more than 300-strong peacekeeping force with soldiers from France , Canada and the United States is stationed in the country that its President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled yesterday.

Tuesday March 2, 2004

• Berlin / Germany : Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands pays tribute to the services of Federal President Johannes Rau to German-Dutch friendship during her state visit .
• Berlin / Germany : The federal government will apply to the Argentine judiciary to extradite former Argentine head of state Jorge Videla and two officers who are wanted by an international arrest warrant . They are accused of being involved in the disappearance and murder of two German students during the military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983.
• Hamburg / Germany : The board of the FDP regional association resigns due to the poor performance of the party in the election for citizenship on February 29th.
• Heidelberg / Germany : Gunther von Hagens , known as the creator of the exhibition “ Body Worlds ”, is sentenced to a fine for improperly using the professor's title.
• Kourou / French Guiana : The space probe Rosetta of the European space agency ESA starts on board an Ariane 5 launcher for its ten-year journey to the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko .
• Mainz / Germany : The “Fuel Cell Initiative Rhineland-Palatinate ” begins. The project aims to fuel cell technology support, with that of propane electric current is produced.
• Munich / Germany : The social worker, wheelchair user and journalist Anita Knochner is appointed as the new disability officer in Bavaria .
• United States : In nine US states , the Democratic Party is holding primary elections for the nomination convention of its candidate in the presidential election in November . Senator John Kerry unites further delegate votes in person.
• United States : The space agency NASA announces that its Mars probe has discovered traces that suggest the past existence of water on Mars. The amount of water was big enough to make life possible.
• Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide , who has been in exile for two days, claims he was forced by the United States at gunpoint to resign and leave Haiti.

Wednesday March 3, 2004

• Raleigh / United States : John Edwards withdraws from the running to nominate the Democratic Party candidate for the November presidential election . Since Senator John Kerry won the majority of the primary elections and the delegates of the individual states usually stick to the grassroots decision of their homeland, the race is practically decided. Should Kerry be elected as the next US president , Edwards is considered a possible contender for the post of vice president.

Thursday March 4, 2004

• Berlin / Germany : The leaders of the CDU , CSU and FDP agree on Horst Köhler , not to be confused with the artist Guildo Horn , whose real name is Horst Köhler, as a candidate for the office of Federal President . Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder ( SPD ) announced that Gesine Schwan will also run for office at the suggestion of the Red-Green coalition . The majority in the Federal Assembly is on the side of the CDU, CSU and FDP.
• Moscow / Russia : The police temporarily arrested around 80 visitors in front of a mosque immediately after the service had ended.

Friday March 5, 2004

• Berlin / Germany : The first meeting of the political association Wahlalternative 2006 takes place in the house of the German Trade Union Confederation .

Saturday March 6, 2004

• Kabul / Afghanistan : Unidentified people shoot Mohammad Isah, the director of the Red Crescent aid organization .
• Vatican City : During a 20-minute private audience with Pope John Paul II, Federal President Johannes Rau pays tribute to his contribution to overcoming the division of Germany . The Pope praised the Germans for allowing people in poorer countries to share in their prosperity.

Sunday March 7, 2004

• Athens / Greece : There are parliamentary elections in Greece. After PASOK's eleven-year reign, the Nea Dimokratia party, with its top candidate Kostas Karamanlis, received the most votes. Karamanlis is expected to be the new Prime Minister of Greece.
• Baghdad / Iraq : At least ten rockets hit downtown near the Allied headquarters. Some of the rockets had detonated on the west bank of the Tigris .
• Hagen / Germany : The Sparkassen high rise " Langer Oskar " is busted.
• Klagenfurt / Austria : Jörg Haider's party FPÖ wins the state elections in Carinthia . He is expected to be governor again .
• Lahti / Finland : In cross-country skiing, René Sommerfeld , an athlete from the German Ski Association, wins the overall World Cup for the first time . Before the last two World Cup races, he is unmatchable in the lead with a lead of 269 points.
• Salzburg / Austria : The SPÖ becomes the strongest party in the state elections in Salzburg . She will probably provide the governor for the first time .

Monday March 8, 2004

• Baghdad / Iraq : The Governing Council of Iraq today signed a provisional constitution for the country. It comes into effect with the transfer of power by the American armed forces, which is scheduled for June 30, 2004.

Tuesday March 9, 2004

• Munich / Germany : The president of the Bundesliga soccer club 1860 Munich , Karl-Heinz Wildmoser , is together with his son Karl-Heinz jun. been arrested. They are said to have received bribes when awarding the construction contract for the new Munich stadium .

Wednesday March 10, 2004

• Bonn / Germany : Deutsche Telekom is back in the profit zone .
• Istanbul / Turkey : A suicide attack is carried out on a Masonic lodge .
• United States : Lee Boyd Malvo is sentenced to life imprisonment in Virginia for participating in the Beltway Sniper Attacks in which 10 people were shot dead in the Washington, DC area in October 2002 . Unlike his accomplice John Allen Muhammad , he was spared the death penalty because he was a minor at the time of the crime.

Thursday March 11, 2004

• Madrid / Spain : 191 people are killed and 1,500 injured in a series of morning rush hour bombings on the Spanish capital's railway network. Initially, the ETA is suspected, but later the terrorist network Al-Qaeda confesses to the attack.

Friday March 12, 2004

Charles Taylor

Demonstration in Barcelona, ​​Spain

• New York / United States : The Security Council of the United Nations arranges the assets of Charles Taylor freeze, the 1994 to 2003 as President of Liberia officiated. This is to deprive him of the possibility of endangering the peace process since the end of the Liberian civil war by distributing his money to former comrades-in-arms.
• Seoul / South Korea : The parliament of South Korea decides to initiate impeachment proceedings against incumbent President Roh Moo-hyun , which, however, fails.
• Spain : Millions of people take to the streets in several Spanish cities to demonstrate against the terrorist attack the day before.

Saturday March 13, 2004

• Sestriere / Italy : At the World Cup final of alpine skiing, the Austrian Hermann Maier wins the overall World Cup ranking for the 4th time through a controversial cancellation of the decisive giant slalom competition. In the women's category, the outstanding skier of the winter, Anja Pärson from Sweden , secured the overall World Cup.
• Germany : The Bundesschülerkonferenz is founded in Germany .

Sunday March 14, 2004

• Adjara / Georgia : Aslan Abashidze , head of government in the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, which belongs to Georgia, refuses the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili "entry". Abashid's policy had come under fire, with the Georgian leadership supporting the critics. A little later, Abashidze gives in and grants Georgia control of Ajarian institutions.
• Madrid / Spain : The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) surprisingly won the 2004 parliamentary elections in Spain with its top candidate José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero , because the population obviously disapproved of the conservative government's tactical information policy regarding the Madrid train attacks .
• Moscow / Russia : In the first round of the presidential election , President Vladimir Putin is confirmed in office by the United Russia party with over 71% of the vote.
• Moscow / Russia : The Manege exhibition complex is burning down to the ground. Two firefighters are killed during the extinguishing work.
• Vatican City : Pope John Paul II has been in office for 25 years and almost five months, making it the third longest pontificate in church history.

Monday March 15, 2004

• Washington, DC / United States : Researchers at the California Institute of Technology present their research on a newly discovered object in the solar system . The object is behind the orbit of Pluto and was christened Sedna . Sedna was discovered on November 14, 2003.
• Ulm / Germany : On the occasion of Albert Einstein's 125th birthday , Federal President Johannes Rau recalled the ethical responsibility of scientists as exemplified by the Nobel Prize winner.

Tuesday March 16, 2004

• Karbala / Iraq : A German and a Dutch hydraulic engineering expert and two Iraqis are killed in an attack on their vehicle near the city of Karbala. Another German is wounded.

Wednesday March 17, 2004

• Baghdad / Iraq : The Mount Lebanon Hotel in central Baghdad was destroyed in a car bomb explosion. At least 27 people were killed and 41 injured.
• Hamburg / Germany : The Hamburg citizenship elects Ole von Beust ( CDU ) as first mayor for the second time . This time the CDU forms the government alone.
• Kosovska Mitrovica / Serbia and Montenegro : In the city and in many other cities and villages in Kosovo , at least 19 people were killed and around 1,000 injured by Kosovar Albanians against the Serbian minority of the province in pogrom-like riots from March 17th to 19th and displaced or forced to flee over 4,000 Serbs. The KFOR troops are behaving cautiously in many places or are not asserting themselves sufficiently effectively.

Thursday March 18, 2004

• Cambridge / United States : Around 11 p.m. CET , the earth escapes a collision with the minor planet 2004 FH with a distance of only 50,000 km. This is the smallest distance a small planet has to date from Earth.
• Hannover / Germany : The world's largest computer fair CeBIT has opened its doors. This year the focus is on mobile internet , the start of the UMTS network and digital entertainment electronics .
• Ottawa / Canada : The EU- Canada summit takes place in Ottawa .

Friday March 19, 2004

• Tainan / Taiwan : One day before the presidential election of the Republic of China, President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Lu Hsiu-lien are assassinated. Both come to the hospital with minor gunshot wounds.
• Berlin / Germany : Stefan Raab's pupil , Maximilian Mutzke , wins the preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 and will represent Germany in the international final in Istanbul ( Turkey ). Second place in the preliminary round went to Scooter .

Saturday March 20, 2004

• On the anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war , the US- led "coalition of the willing" is crumbling . Spain is considering the withdrawal of troops and South Korea would be offering troops to Kirkuk ( Iraq to send to retire). Hundreds of thousands of people in Europe and the USA take to the streets for peace demonstrations, especially in the countries that were actively involved in the Iraq war ( Italy , Spain).
• The Dutch queen mother Juliana died at the age of 94 in her palace in Soestdijk.
• Football Bundesliga. Matchday 25: The pursuers of the first-placed Werder Bremen , FC Bayern and VfB Stuttgart , both do not get past a draw.
• Taipei / Taiwan : Chen Shui-bian is declared the winner of the presidential election in Taiwan (Republic of China) ; he gained a lead of 30,000 votes, or 0.25%, over challenger Lien Chan . In the following days there was a dispute about the correctness of the result and the demand for a recount.

Sunday March 21, 2004

• The five planets that can be seen with the naked eye, Mercury , Venus , Mars , Jupiter and Saturn , could all be seen simultaneously in the evening sky for a few weeks from March 21. This constellation only occurs every 32 years.
• Berlin / Germany : On a special party conference of the SPD sparked Franz Muentefering the old party leader Gerhard Schröder from. He received over 95 percent of the vote. The new General Secretary was Klaus Uwe Benneter , who succeeded Olaf Scholz . Franz Müntefering named the unity of the SPD and the continuation of the reform course taken by the federal government as the most important goals .
• General elections were held in Malaysia . Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's ruling National Front won at least 196 of the 219 seats in the House of Representatives.
• In the regional elections in France , which was considered a nationwide test election , the opposition moderate left emerged as the clear winner with around 40.5%.
• Presidential elections were held in El Salvador , won by Antonio Saca from the right-wing ruling party ARENA with 57% of the vote.
• Herat / Afghanistan : The Afghan Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mirwais Sadeq is killed in an attack in Herat. His father, the governor of Herat province, Ismail Kahn, survived a second assassination attempt. The fighting that followed cost the lives of more than 100 people.

Monday March 22, 2004

• Augsburg / Germany : In a family drama in Augsburg, Bavaria, five members of a Turkish family were stabbed to death in their home.
• Baghdad / Iraq : Two Finnish businessmen are shot in a car on their way to negotiations in the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity.
• China : The human rights organization Amnesty International publishes a report accusing China of submitting its judiciary to the government's political guidelines, alleging that China is abusing the death penalty as a show of strength.
• Gaza City / Palestinian Territories : The spiritual, radical Islamic leader of the Islamic Hamas organization, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin , was deliberately killed in an Israeli rocket attack . Three bodyguards and five passers-by were also killed.
• Skopje / Macedonia : Macedonia applies for membership in NATO and the EU .

Tuesday March 23, 2004

• United States : NASA announces that its Mars rover Opportunity has been able to detect traces of a former salt lake or ocean on Mars.
• Stockholm / Sweden : In the case of the murder of the Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh , the perpetrator Mijailo Mijailović is sentenced to life imprisonment by the Stockholm District Court. The court does not recognize any mitigating circumstances.
• Munich / Germany : About a week after his resignation as President in 1860, Karl-Heinz Wildmoser is also stepping down from the board and supervisory board of the German Football League (DFL).
• Dodoma / Tanzania : At noon, Federal President Johannes Rau was informed that an attack was planned on him. In the evening he announced that he would cancel his trip to Africa in order not to endanger the security of the Bundeswehr soldiers he was visiting .
• New York / United States : An open UN debate is taking place at the UN on the occasion of the liquidation of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin by the Israeli military. There is a violent argument between the representatives of both camps. Before that, it is impossible to agree on a uniform position on the part of the UN Security Council.
• Warsaw / Poland : Chancellor Gerhard Schröder arrives on a state visit in Poland.

Wednesday March 24, 2004

• Djibouti : Federal President Johannes Rau has canceled his state visit to Africa because of a terror threat. There were indications that an attack was planned on Rau.
• Paris / France : An explosive device is found and defused on the railway line from Paris to Basel . The blackmail group AZF is assumed to be the originator .
• Aachen / Germany : Pope John Paul II receives the Charlemagne Prize .
• Madrid / Spain : A state ceremony is held in Madrid to commemorate the 190 victims of the terrorist attack in Madrid .
• Brussels / Belgium : The EU Commission imposed a record fine of almost 500 million euros on the US company Microsoft

Thursday March 25, 2004

• Olympia / Greece : The 32-year-old actress Thalia Prokupiou lit the Olympic flame with a concave mirror at 12:38 p.m. local time in the holy grove of Olympia as high priestess in the sunshine .
• Munich / Germany : The CEO of Infineon , Ulrich Schumacher , has resigned after differences with the Infineon Supervisory Board.
• The rights to broadcast the Bundesliga remain with the pay-TV broadcaster Premiere for 180 million euros per season .
• Dortmund / Germany : The German figure skater Stefan Lindemann won the bronze medal at the World Figure Skating Championships in Dortmund, making him the most successful skater since Norbert Schramm in 1983 .

Friday March 26, 2004

• Ivory Coast : After bloody clashes the day before between the army and opponents of President Laurent Gbagbo , rebels and the opposition have announced their withdrawal from the government of national unity .
• Germany : In the affair of major gifts of the Alliance - Group that of CDU and FDP had not been reported to the President of the Bundestag, the Christian Democrats come with a warning which:
• The Prime Minister of Poland , Leszek Miller , announced his resignation on May 2nd this year. As reasons for this he cited the poor poll ratings of his party, the social democratic SLD , and the intention of some party members to found a new Polish Left Party .

Saturday March 27, 2004

• United States : The NASA successfully tested a with hydrogen -powered hypersonic - Jet named Boeing X-43A . With the unmanned drone , a speed of Mach 7 was reached for 10 seconds .
• Ludwig Stiegler was elected as the new SPD state chairman in Bavaria with 90.6% . The Bavarian Juso boss Florian Pronold was deputy with 73.9%.
• Thomas Gottschalk will host the ' Wetten, dass ..? '- show . Guests include Charlize Theron , Günther Jauch and Franz Beckenbauer .

Sunday March 28, 2004

• France : The left-wing parties achieved an absolute majority in the regional elections for the first time since the 1988 presidential election . According to the interim results announced on Monday night, there will be a left-wing government in 21 of the 23 regions .
• London / United Kingdom : The Sunday Times reported that Al Qaeda boss Osama bin Laden was said to have ordered an attack on London's Heathrow Airport as early as 2001 .
• Augsburg / Germany : A few days after the fivefold murder in Augsburg, the suspect Ali Göbelek was caught in Turkey and identified as a single perpetrator by the German police.
• Guinea-Bissau : Presidential elections in Guinea-Bissau. Since none of the applicants achieved an absolute majority, there will be a runoff on June 19.

Monday March 29, 2004

Second NATO expansion to the east

• Brussels / Belgium : Bulgaria , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Romania , Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO .
• Ireland : The Republic of Ireland was the first EU country to pass a total smoking ban in the workplace, which has been in effect since March 29th . This also includes pubs - the host's workplace.
• Geneva / Switzerland : Sir Peter Ustinov passed away tonight at the age of 82.
• Tashkent / Uzbekistan : 19 people were killed in a suicide attack in Tashkent. A woman blew herself up in a capital market.
• Vilnius / Lithuania : The French singer of the rock band Noir Désir Bertrand Cantat is sentenced to eight years in prison for the manslaughter of the French actress Marie Trintignant . Trintignant and Cantat were a couple at the time.
• In the RTL - TV show " Who to Be a Millionaire ," hosted by Günther Jauch , assistant doctor was Dr. Maria Wienströer the second Euro - millionaire .

Tuesday March 30, 2004

• Berlin / Germany : After a long dispute about the emissions trading scheme planned as a measure to protect the climate , a compromise was reached between Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin and Economics Minister Wolfgang Clement . According to this, German industry must reduce its carbon dioxide emissions from 2005 from currently 505 million tons of permitted CO ₂ emissions per year to 503 million tons and from 2008 to 495 million tons per year.
• The Hague / Netherlands : Princess Juliana , former Queen of the Netherlands, is buried.
• Tashkent / Uzbekistan : A group of 20 extremists blew themselves up after a gun battle with the police near the capital Tashkent. Unknown detonated a car bomb in front of a dam.
• Washington, DC / United States : U-turn of the Bush administration : Following public pressure, the White House agreed to have Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice testify in the committee of inquiry into the events of September 11th . This should be done under oath and publicly. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will also testify, but not under oath.
• Germany , Afghanistan : Federal Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to exchange ideas.

Wednesday March 31, 2004

• Berlin / Germany : The third Afghanistan conference, scheduled for two days, begins in the Interconti-Hotel . The main focus of the conference is the consolidation and planning of further financial aid for the country as well as the cultivation of drugs there.
• Munich / Germany : The Bavarian cabinet decides to introduce the 42-hour week without wage compensation for the public service.

See also

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

Web links

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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rosetta started successfully. In: dlr.de . March 2, 2004, accessed August 4, 2018 . 
2. ↑ March 2. In: cnn.com . Retrieved September 17, 2016 . 
3. ^ John Edwards 2004 Web Site. In: 4president.us. March 4, 2005, accessed November 17, 2018 . 
4. ↑ She weeps with all of her country. In: Bunte.de . March 11, 2014, accessed September 17, 2014 . 
5. ^ Security Council freezes assets of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, concerned they'll be used to undermine peace. In: un.org . March 12, 2004, accessed December 8, 2017 . 
6. ↑ 71.2 percent for Putin, 3.5 percent against all. In: gmuender-tagespost.de . March 16, 2004, accessed March 16, 2018 . 
7. ↑ Ole von Beust just confirmed as mayor. In: handelsblatt.com . March 17, 2004, accessed October 20, 2017 . 
8. ↑ Eight years behind bars. In: laut.de . March 29, 2004, accessed November 30, 2018 .