Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei blasted ongoing Israeli extrajudicial executions of Palestinianactivists, which claimed two more lives on Sunday, and blamed Israel for the weekend of violence, whilst accusing his Israeli counterpart's government of trying "to kill any possibility for (achieving a) mutual cease-fire".[1]
Several hundred United States, French, and Canadian troops are deployed to Haiti. (Age)
Palau National Congress' debate about whether to propose several constitutional amendments to Palau voters or ask them to consider more changes at a Constitutional Convention ended without an accord. (Guam Pacific Daily News)
The Palestinian Authority's prisoners' affairs ministry states in its monthly statistical report that the number of Palestinian prisoners has risen to around 7,500. Of those 336 are children, 75 female and 943 in need of medical treatment. Of the 166 prisoners who died, 41% died as a result of medical negligence, while 18% died as a result of torture. (palestine-info.co.uk)(Jihad Unspun)
Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics reports 1,850 new housing units in the Jewish settlements Israel built in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2003, up by 35 percent from the previous year. (BBC)
Jason West, mayor of New Paltz, New York, is charged with 19 criminal counts of solemnizing marriages without a license. If convicted, he faces up to a $500 fine and a year in jail on each count.(Newsday)
Multnomah County, Oregon, prepares to begin solemnizing same-sex marriages, after its attorney issues a legal opinion deeming such marriages lawful. (SF Chronicle)
Multiple explosions hit Shiite shrines in Baghdad and Karbala on the Shia festival of Ashura. Over 180 people are reported killed. A three-day-long period of national mourning is announced. (BBC)
The U.S. declares its 2,000-man force to have leadership over all foreign military forces in Haiti. President Bush chose not to wait for the UN Security Council but, instead, to intervene immediately to "restore order" in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. (Washington Times)
The European Union imposes additional 5% tariffs on a wide range of goods imported from the United States, such as honey, paper, and nuclear reactors. The tariffs were sanctioned by the World Trade Organization in 2002 as punitive measures after a ruling declaring that United States tax law unfairly favors U.S.-based companies. (BBC)
Researchers at Harvard University announce that they will give scientists free access to 17 human embryonic stem cell lines created without U.S. federal funding. This move is expected to boost stem cell research in the face of federal funding restrictions announced in 2001 by the Bush administration. (CNN)
Israeli aircraft destroy a car in the Gaza strip with missile fire, killing three people acknowledged by Palestinian officials as members of the militant group Hamas. (BBC)
A group of Israelis join a court challenge against the Israeli West Bank barrier out of concern it could turn their good Palestinian neighbors into deadly enemies. (Reuters)
In the trial of Martha Stewart and her broker, Judge Miriam Goldman gives the jury its instructions. (TheStreet)
New claims of bubble fusion are made, claiming that the results of previous experiments have been replicated under more stringent experimental conditions. (RPI press release)(NY Times)
In an interview published today, former U.S. and U.N. weapons inspector David Kay says that President George W. Bush and his administration should admit the United States was wrong about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. "It's about confronting and coming clean with the American people," he said. (The Guardian)
Michael Dell, head of Dell Computers announces that he will step down as CEO of the computer manufacturer. However, he will still retain his position as chairman of the board. Dell president and COO, Kevin Rollins will assume the role of CEO. (CNN)
US Democratic Party labels the Bush campaign an "attack machine" which they vow to thwart at every turn. "Fund raising and the race to define your opponent before he defines you that's what it's all about," said one Democratic strategist yesterday. (Washington Times) The White House defends the use of images from the 2001 terror attacks in adverts for President Bush's re-election campaign. Karen Hughes states, "It's a reminder of our shared experience as a nation ... not just some distant tragedy from the past. It really defined our future". (BBC)
Israeli tanks (around 15 armoured vehicles escorted by several bulldozers) enter the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, exchanging gunfire with resistance and later demolishing a four-storey building, claiming "anti-terrorist operations". (Australian)
The U.S. Republican National Committee sends a letter to hundreds of television stations, warning the stations about airing anti-Bush advertisements sponsored by MoveOn.org. The letter warns that the ads may be financed with money raised in violation of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. (CNN)
SCO v. IBM: U.S. District Judge Brooke Wells orders the two involved companies to produce, within 45 days, lines of code and documentation supporting their cases. (USA Today)
The National People's Congress convenes in Beijing. Premier Wen Jiabao makes his first state address, saying that "solving the problems of agriculture, villages and farmers is one of the most crucial parts of our entire work". (BBC)
Civilian Russian engineers may have secretly aided Saddam Hussein's long-range ballistic missile program, providing technical assistance for prohibited Iraqi weapons projects. (IHT)
The Russian polar station will be evacuated. Russia launches rescue operation to evacuate 12 of its scientists stranded on a research station (which partially sank) near the North Pole. (Pravda)(BBC)
Tony Blair defends the war in Iraq, stating that "global threat we face in Britain and round the world is real and existential and it is the task of leadership to expose it and fight it, whatever the political cost." (ABC)(Scotsman)
Police hold a Haifa man, Eliran Golan, and his 54-year-old father in custody on suspicion of involvement in making and planting bombs over the last three years. Haifa Magistrate court extends for five days the remand of Yivgeny Grossman. Grossman denies any connection. (Haaretz)(Jerusalem Post)
Key Tokyo stock indexes (Nikkei 225 and Topix) hit 21-month highs.
The trial of former Finnish Prime Minister Anneli Jäätteenmäki ends. She has been accused of leaking secret foreign ministry documents referring to her predecessor Paavo Lipponen's meetings with George W. Bush. (BBC)
The Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators set a National Hockey League single-game record with 419 combined penalty minutes, due to a brawl involving all six players (including the goalies) on both teams. The Flyers also set a team record for most team penalty minutes in a game with 213.
Tens of thousands demonstrate in Caracas, Venezuela, against what they see as the government's fraud committed by the National Electoral Council related to the realization of a presidential referendum in mid-2004.
The United States puts forth a UN Security Council resolution seeking to freeze the assets of Charles Taylor, the exiled former president of Liberia. The U.S. also announces that it is pledging $35 million to help rebuild Liberia's armed forces and that it supports the cancellation of Liberia's international debt, providing that economic reforms are implemented. (BBC)
Turkishpoliticians claim that there is political consensus within Turkey to join the European Union, despite the EU's demands for changes before that can occur. (IHT)
Up to 80,000 people march through the Turkish capital Ankara against plans to reform the country's civil service. The marchers fear that the reforms could lead to the civil service becoming politicised or losing its secular status. (BBC)
The scientists of the Russian polar research station near the North Pole are evacuated from their shifting and cracking ice floe by two Russian helicopters via Norway's Spitzbergen island. (BBC)
An explosion rocks a Moscow apartment block. Initial reports from police suggest that the explosion was caused by a bomb, in spite of increased security in the run-up to the presidential election on March 14. Later reports state that the explosion was due to a gas leak. (BBC)
Palestinian sources say that 14 people died after an Israeli raid into the refugee camps of al-Bureij and Nusseirat. Israeli sources say it was a "pinpoint" operation against the "terrorist infrastructure". (BBC)
In Austria there are elections in the states of Salzburg and Carinthia. In Salzburg, the SPÖ earns a majority for the first time. In Carinthia, the election is an unexpected success for Jörg Haider (FPÖ).
The headquarters of the US-led coalition in Baghdad come under rocket attack from Iraqi guerillas, the day before the new Iraqi temporary constitution is due to be signed. (BBC)
United States Marines shoot and kill a Haitian gunman in front of Port-au-Prince's presidential palace after the man fired rounds at the marines and protesters. Supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had shot and killed several anti-Aristide demonstrators.(NYT)
Iraq's governing council unanimously approves the country's new constitution. (AP)
Five of the nine Britons held by American authorities at Guantanamo Bay under suspicion of having links to terrorist organisations are returned to Britain. They are to be questioned by British anti-terrorism police on arrival.(Reuters)(CNN)
The Spirit rover takes the first picture ever of Earth from the surface of another planet which happens to be Mars. (Space.com)
Four British prisoners who had been arrested on their return from Guantanamo Bay are released without charge. A fifth was not arrested on arrival. A further four remain in the Cuban camp. British newspapers vie for the rights to their stories, with offers in the range of £300,000. Compensation lawsuits from the returned five are expected against the US and UK governments. (Guardian)(BBC)(BBC)
Pop singer George Michael announces that he will stop selling his music. Instead, he plans to distribute it freely over the Internet and pass on any donations to charity. (E! Online)
The parliament of South Korea votes to impeachPresidentRoh Moo-hyun, saying he "breached election rules" by calling for support for the Uri Party. Prime MinisterGoh Kun will run the country until the Constitutional Court rules on the issue. Roh's supporters dismiss the move as a power play to influence the upcoming April elections. Thousands protest in support of Roh. (Reuters)(BBC)(BBC)
The death toll in the Madrid bombings rises to 200; investigators continue search for perpetrators, with suspicions against ETA complemented by the apprehension of five foreign citizens connected to terror attacks in Morocco. (BBC)(AP)
Nine people, eight of whom are children, are found dead in Fresno, California, US. A man apparently related to the victims is arrested. The police speculate that the deaths may have been part of a ritual. (CNN)(AOL news)
Madrid bombings: Spanish police receives a videotape where a man identifying himself as an al-Qaeda spokesman says the organisation claims responsibility for the attack, according to an announcement from the country's interior minister. The authenticity of the video has not been verified. The al-Qaeda claim overshadows voting in the general election. (BBC)(BBC)(Toronto Star)
Occupation of Iraq: Six United States soldiers are killed over the weekend in three separate insurgent roadside bomb attacks, two in Baghdad and one in Tikrit. This occurs amidst the largest U.S. troop rotation since World War II.
Voting takes place in the Russian presidential election. Incumbent Vladimir Putin wins by a large majority. The election is widely criticised by external observers who said Russian state television was very biased towards Putin during the campaign. (BBC)(Reuters)
Unrest in Kosovo: After two Albanian children are found drowned in the Ibar river in Kosovo, with a third still missing, riots erupt in the town of Kosovska Mitrovica and later spread to the entire province. Mitrovica Serbs are blamed by Albanian media for forcing the children into the river, but this is later denied by United Nations officials. At least 22 people are killed by the end of the day with hundreds injured in clashes between Serbs and Albanians; enclaves of Kosovo Serbs elsewhere in the province experience attacks by Kosovo Albanians as well as offices of UN officials which were abandoned. In reaction to the violence in Kosovo, demonstrators in Serbia march in Belgrade and set ablaze mosques in Belgrade and Nish. (B92)(B92)(SwissInfo)(NYT)(BBC)(CNN)(B92)(RTS, in Serbian)
Howard Dean announces plans to form Democracy for America, a political organization intended to help progressive candidates holding similar views. (CNN)
Indian government officials warn that rebels from northeast India based in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan are planning major attacks to disrupt upcoming national elections. (Reuters)
Near-Earth asteroid2004 FH made the second-closest approach of an asteroid ever recorded. At 22:08 UTC it passed 43,000 km above Earth's surface. (NASA-JPL)
Cleanup work at Love Canal has been completed, federal officials said. The EPA says it should be taken off the Superfund list. Environmental activist Lois Gibbs said the Bush administration was seeking to deflect criticism from a March 11 Senate vote against reauthorizing an expired user fee on corporations to fund environmental cleanup. (NYT)
US Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia refuses to recuse himself from a case – involving his friend Dick Cheney – considering whether the White House must release information about private meetings of Cheney's energy task force stating that duck hunting and fishing trip "was not an intimate setting" and that the energy case was never discussed. (SC)
Äänekoski bus disaster: At least 24 young people are killed and 15 injured, several of them seriously, in a collision on an icy road between a coach and a lorry carrying rolls of paper on Highway 4 near Äänekoski in Central Finland. The accident happened at around 2 a.m. local time (UTC +2). (Helsingin Sanomat)(BBC)
The newspaper USA Today admits that a former reporter, Jack Kelley, invented or distorted important parts of at least eight major stories. He was, for example, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 on the basis of an eyewitness account of a suicide bombing that, the publication now acknowledges, could not have happened as described. (USA Today)
Jimmy Carter, former US president and 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner, vehemently condemns George W. Bush and Tony Blair for waging an unnecessary war "based upon lies and misinterpretations" in order to oust Saddam Hussein. He claims that Blair had allowed his better judgment to be swayed by Bush's desire to finish a war that his father had started. (Independent)
Measurements taken at Mauna Loa Observatory show carbon dioxide readings of 379 parts per million, up by 3 ppm in one year; average increase for the past decade has been 1.8 ppm. The reason for this accelerated buildup in a greenhouse gas requires further analysis. (AP)
ROC presidential election: Taiwan's High Court has ordered all ballot boxes to be sealed, in order to preserve evidence. However, a recount of votes was not ordered. Various protests are held throughout the island. (AP)
Malaysian general election: Voting gets underway all over Malaysia to decide the new holders of seats in Parliament and various state assemblies.
Microsoft is to be fined a record €497 million ($613 million) by the European Commission as punishment for abusing its Windows monopoly, according to reports ahead of a key meeting by EU Commissioners on Wednesday. (Financial Times)
Same-sex marriage in the U.S.: Benton County, Oregon, commissioners, after receiving a letter from state attorney general Hardy Myers, reverse their earlier vote to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples this Wednesday. But, stating they will observe the principle of equal treatment under the law, the commissioners decide that the county will stop issuing any marriage licenses until the Oregon Supreme Court has ruled on the constitutionality of the law. (Oregonian)(Register-Guard)
The terrorist group AZF suspends its bombing campaign in France but continues to demand money from the government. News agencies report that the government placed notices in Libération newspaper to contact the terrorists. (BBC)
The House of Representatives of US state of Georgia passes a ban on genital piercings for women, including consenting adults, as part of a bill to ban female genital mutilation as performed by some Muslim populations, among others. The ban does not apply to men. The provision is not included in the version passed by Georgia's Senate. (AP)
ROC presidential election, 2004: The controversial victory of Chen Shui-bian is confirmed by the state electoral commission, with a margin of only 29,518 votes – 0.2% of the total – separating the candidates. Pan-Blue protestors storm and hurl eggs at the Central Electoral Commission building. (BBC)
NASA succeeds in a second attempt to fly its X-43A experimental airplane from the Hyper-X project, attaining speeds in excess of Mach 7, the fastest ever air-breathing hypersonic flight. (CNN)
The Arab Leaguesummit is postponed. The meeting was put off indefinitely because of differences of opinion regarding ways to encourage reform in the region, including democratization. (VOA)(BBC)
An explosion occurs close to the main bazaar in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, killing two and injuring around twenty; preliminary reports point to two female suicide bombers. Also in the capital, three police officers are shot dead; and, in the city of Bukhara, another explosion at a suspected terrorist bomb factory claims ten fatalities. (Reuters)(BBC)
The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country to ban tobacco smoking in all enclosed workplaces (including bars and restaurants); infringers risk a €3,000 (US$3,600) fine. (BBC)
NATO welcomes seven new members, as Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia formally became members by depositing their instruments of accession with the United States' government, though the countries will join officially next month at a NATO meeting. All but Slovenia were formerly members of the Warsaw Pact. (BBC)(NATO)
A suicide bomber sets off a small explosion inside the Bolivian Congress. The bomber – a miner, protesting unpaid pensions – and the chief congressional security guard are killed; several bystanders are wounded. (BBC)(USA Today)
The Guardian newspaper quotes British security service sources as believing that yesterday's raids may have stopped a major terrorist bombing. The sources state that MI5 and MI6 worked with police during the investigation leading to the raids. (Guardian)
