| 2004-12-27
Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet.
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| 2004-04-08
Darfur conflict: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups.
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| 2004-10-04
SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.
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| 2004-12-08
Darrell Lance Abbott, also known as "Diamond Darrell" "Dimebag Darrell", "Dimebag" or simply "Dime" was murdered onstage during a Damageplan performance at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio. He was 38
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| 2004-11-21
The island of Dominica is hit by the most destructive earthquake in its history. The northern half of the island receives the most damage, especially the town of Portsmouth. It is also felt in neighboring Guadeloupe, where one person is killed.
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| 2004-11-21
The Paris Club agrees to write off 80% (up to $100 billion) of Iraq's external debt.
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| 2004-11-17
Kmart Corp. announces that it is buying Sears, Roebuck and Co. for $11 billion USD and naming the newly merged company Sears Holdings Corporation.
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| 2004-05-02
Yelwa massacre of more than 630 nomad Muslims by Christians in Nigeria.
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| 2004-12-14
The Millau viaduct, the highest bridge in the world, near Millau, France is officially opened.
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| 2004-11-22
The Orange Revolution begins in Ukraine, resulting from the presidential elections.
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| 2004-03-19
Konginkangas bus disaster: A semi-trailer truck and a bus crash head-on in Äänekoski, Finland. 24 people are killed and 13 injured.
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| 2004-02-01
Janet Jackson's breast is exposed during the half-time show of Super Bowl XXXVIII, resulting in US broadcasters adopting a stronger adherence to Federal Communications Commission censorship guidelines.
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| 2004-08-13
Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm, strikes Punta Gorda, Florida and devastates the surrounding area.
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| 2004-08-03
The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks.
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| 2004-05-26
The New York Times publishes an admission of journalistic failings, claiming that its flawed reporting and lack of skepticism towards sources during the buildup to the 2003 war in Iraq helped promote the belief that Iraq possessed large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.
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| 2004-01-04
Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.
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| 2004-09-03
Beslan school hostage crisis: Day 3: The Beslan hostage crisis ends with the deaths of over 300 people, more than half of which are children.
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| 2004-02-14
In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.
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| 2004-09-23
Hurricane Jeanne: At least 1,070 in Haiti are reported killed by floods.
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| 2004-11-18
The Clinton Presidential Center is opened in Little Rock, Arkansas, containing 2 million photographs and 80 million documents.
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| 2004-04-06
Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.
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| 2004-12-30
A fire in the República Cromagnon nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 194.
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| 2004-02-26
The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.
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| 2004-03-29
The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.
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| 2004-01-01
In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, is "deemed to be elected" to the office of President until October 2007.
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| 2004-06-12
A 1.3 kilogram chondrite type meteorite strikes a house in Ellerslie, New Zealand causing serious damage but no injuries.
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| 2004-11-26
Ruzhou School massacre: a man stabs and kills eight people and seriously wounds another four in a school dormitory in Ruzhou, China.
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| 2004-02-01
251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured in a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
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| 2004-03-27
HMS Scylla (F71), a decommissioned Leander class frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe.
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| 2004-04-02
Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid. Their attack is thwarted.
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| 2004-01-21
NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.
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| 2004-10-25
Fidel Castro, Cuba's President, announces that transactions using the American Dollar will be banned by November 8.
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| 2004-01-08
The RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship ever built, is christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
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| 2004-12-13
Former Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet is put under house arrest, after being sued under accusations over 9 kidnapping actions and manslaughter. The house arrest is lifted the same day on appeal.
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| 2004-08-17
The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Boze Pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country.
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| 2004-11-08
War in Iraq: More than 10,000 U.S. troops and a small number of Iraqi army units participate in a siege on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
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| 2004-09-07
Hurricane Ivan, a Category 5 hurricane hit Grenada, killing 39 and damaging 90% of its buildings.
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| 2004-09-21
The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War and the Maoist Communist Centre of India merge to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
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| 2004-09-01
Beslan school hostage crisis commences when armed terrorists take children and adults hostage in Beslan in North Ossetia, Russia.
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| 2004-10-29
The Arabic news network Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a video of Osama bin Laden in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election.
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| 2004-02-05
Twenty-three Chinese people drown when a group of 35 cockle-pickers are trapped by rising tides in Morecambe Bay, England. Twenty-one bodies are recovered.
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| 2004-06-21
SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
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| 2004-06-06
Tamil is established as a Classical language by the President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in a joint sitting of the two houses of the Indian Parliament.
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| 2004-05-26
The United States Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.
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| 2004-05-28
The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq's interim government.
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| 2004-01-26
President Hamid Karzai signs the new constitution of Afghanistan.
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| 2004-02-04
Facebook, a mainstream online social network is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.
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| 2004-06-02
Ken Jennings begins his 74-game winning streak on the syndicated game show Jeopardy!
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| 2004-11-06
An express train collides with a stationary carriage near the village of Ufton Nervet, England, killing 7 and injuring 150.
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| 2004-05-01
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.
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| 2004-08-24
89 passengers die after two airliners explode after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, near Moscow. The explosions are caused by suicide bombers (reportedly female) from the Russian Republic of Chechnya.
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| 2004-02-26
Republic of Macedonia President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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| 2004-12-14
Cuba and Venezuela found the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.
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| 2004-02-05
Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front capture the city of Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion.
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| 2004-02-28
Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (300-mile) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947
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| 2004-11-11
New Zealand Tomb of the Unknown Warrior is dedicated at the National War Memorial, Wellington.
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| 2004-03-23
Andhra Pradesh Federation of Trade Unions holds its first conference in Hyderabad, India.
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| 2004-11-30
Lion Air Flight 538 crash lands in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, killing 26.
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| 2004-11-07
War in Iraq: The interim government of Iraq calls for a 60-day "state of emergency" as U.S. forces storm the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
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| 2004-04-16
The super liner RMS Queen Mary 2 embarks on her first trans-Atlantic crossing, linking the golden age of ocean travel to the modern age of ocean travel.
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| 2004-08-01
A supermarket fire kills 396 people and injures 500 in Asunción, Paraguay.
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| 2004-09-08
NASA's unmanned spacecraft Genesis crash-lands when its parachute fails to open.
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| 2004-06-24
In New York state, capital punishment is declared unconstitutional.
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| 2004-05-09
Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed in a land mine bomb blast under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial victory parade in Grozny, Chechnya.
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| 2004-03-12
The President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, is impeached by its national assembly: the first such impeachment in the nation's history.
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| 2004-08-12
New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey comes out publicly as a gay man.
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| 2004-03-31
In Fallujah, Iraq, 4 American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed after being ambushed and their bodies mutilated.
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| 2004-02-29
Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.
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| 2004-05-17
Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage.
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| 2004-02-27
A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack kills 116.
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| 2004-09-15
National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman announces lockout of the players union and cessation of operations by the NHL head office.
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| 2004-12-25
Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005.
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| 2004-07-02
ASEAN Regional Forum accepts Pakistan as its 24th member.¨
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| 2004-06-28
Sovereign power is handed to the interim government of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, ending the U.S.-led rule of that nation.
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| 2004-05-22
The U.S. town of Hallam, Nebraska, is wiped out by a powerful F4 tornado (part of the May 2004 tornado outbreak sequence) that broke a width record at an astounding 2.5 miles (4.0 km) wide, which kills one resident.
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| 2004-05-14
The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.
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| 2004-01-25
Opportunity rover (MER-B) lands on surface of Mars.
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| 2004-04-30
U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
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| 2004-03-03
Belgian brewer Interbrew and Brazilian rival AmBev agree to merge in a $11.2 billion deal that forms InBev, the world's largest brewer.
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| 2004-04-24
The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
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| 2004-03-19
A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Russian MiG-15 in 1952 over the Baltic Sea is finally recovered after years of work. The remains of the three crewmen are left in place, pending further investigations.
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| 2004-07-16
Millennium Park, considered Chicago's first and most ambitious early 21st century architectural project, is opened to the public by Mayor Richard M. Daley.
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| 2004-08-22
A version of The Scream and Madonna, two paintings by Edvard Munch, are stolen at gunpoint from a museum in Oslo, Norway.
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| 2004-11-27
Pope John Paul II returns the relics of Saint John Chrysostom to the Eastern Orthodox Church.
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| 2004-10-23
A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata prefecture, northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.
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| 2004-02-18
Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a run-away freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes.
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| 2004-10-07
King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia abdicates.
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| 2004-09-09
2004 Australian embassy bombing: A bomb explodes outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, killing 10 people.
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| 2004-10-02
American Samoa joins the North American Numbering Plan.
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| 2004-11-11
The Palestine Liberation Organization confirms the death of Yasser Arafat from unidentified causes. Mahmoud Abbas is elected chairman of the PLO minutes later.
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| 2004-03-22
Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and leader of the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas, two bodyguards, and nine civilian bystanders are killed in the Gaza Strip when hit by Israeli Air Force AH-64 Apache fired Hellfire missiles.
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| 2004-11-30
Longtime Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings of Salt Lake City, Utah finally loses, leaving him with US$2,520,700, television's biggest game show winnings.
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| 2004-04-21
Five suicide car bombers target police stations in and around Basra, killing 74 people and wounding 160.
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| 2004-01-12
The world's largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, makes its maiden voyage.
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| 2004-11-21
The second round of the Ukrainian presidential election is held, giving rise to massive protests and controversy over the election's integrity.
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| 2004-07-05
The first Indonesian presidential election is held.
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| 2004-02-13
The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star "Lucy" after The Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
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| 2004-05-29
The World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
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| 2004-04-22
Two fuel trains collide in Ryongchon, North Korea, killing up to 150 people.
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| 2004-04-29
Oldsmobile builds its final car ending 107 years of production.
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| 2004-03-02
War in Iraq: Al-Qaeda carries out the Ashoura Massacre in Iraq, killing 170 and wounding over 500.
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| 2004-03-29
Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members.
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| 2004-05-24
Communications in North Korea: North Korea bans mobile phones.
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| 2004-09-17
Tamil is declared the first classical language in India.
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| 2004-10-29
In Rome, European heads of state sign the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution.
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| 2004-02-12
The city of San Francisco, California begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.
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| 2004-03-08
A new constitution is signed by Iraq's Governing Council.
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| 2004-01-03
Flight 604, a Boeing 737 owned by Flash Airlines, an Egyptian airliner, plunges into the Red Sea, killing all 148 people on board.
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| 2004-02-21
The first European political party organization, the European Greens, is established in Rome.
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| 2004-11-26
Male Po'ouli (Black-faced honeycreeper) dies of Avian malaria in the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Olinda, Hawaii before it could breed, making the species in all probability extinct.
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| 2004-01-02
Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.
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| 2004-06-11
Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby of the Saturn moon Phoebe.
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| 2004-05-16
The Day of Mourning at Bykivnia forest, just outside of Kiev, Ukraine. Here during 1930s and early 1940s communist bolsheviks executed over 100,000 Ukrainian civilians.
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| 2004-07-01
Saturn orbit insertion of Cassini-Huygens begins at 01:12 UTC and ends at 02:48 UTC.
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| 2004-09-29
The asteroid 4179 Toutatis passes within four lunar distances of Earth.
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| 2004-09-30
The first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat are taken 600 miles south of Tokyo.
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| 2004-12-31
The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 ft).
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| 2004-07-04
The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.
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| 2004-03-11
Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain, kill 191 people.
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| 2004-10-19
Care International aid worker Margaret Hassan is kidnapped in Iraq.
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| 2004-08-13
156 Congolese Tutsi refugees massacred at the Gatumba refugee camp in Burundi.
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| 2004-05-23
Part of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport's Terminal 2E collapses, killing four people and injuring three others.
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| 2004-07-21
The United Kingdom government publishes Delivering Security in a Changing World, a paper detailing wide-ranging reform of the country's armed forces.
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| 2004-04-29
Dick Cheney and George W. Bush testify before the 9/11 Commission in a closed, unrecorded hearing in the Oval Office.
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| 2004-03-17
Unrest in Kosovo: More than 22 are killed and 200 wounded. 35 Serbian Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Belgrade and Niš are destroyed.
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| 2004-03-19
3-19 Shooting Incident: Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian is shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20.
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| 2004-12-08
The Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.
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| 2004-12-26
A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 250,000 people including over 1700 on a moving train
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| 2004-10-19
Myanmar prime minister Khin Nyunt is ousted and placed under house arrest by the State Peace and Development Council on charges of corruption.
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| 2004-09-29
The Burt Rutan Ansari X Prize entry SpaceShipOne performs a successful spaceflight, the first of two required to win the prize.
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| 2004-12-23
An 8.1 magnitude earthquake hits Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean.
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| 2004-04-03
Islamic terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves.
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| 2004-01-26
A whale explodes in the town of Tainan, Taiwan. A build-up of gas in the decomposing sperm whale is suspected of causing the explosion.
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| 2004-03-01
Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum becomes President of Iraq.
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| 2004-03-20
Stephen Harper wins the leadership of the newly created Conservative Party of Canada, becoming the party's first leader.
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| 2004-09-30
The AIM-54 Phoenix, the primary missile for the F-14 Tomcat, is retired from service. Almost two years later, the Tomcat is retired.
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