2004

2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).

Events

January

* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, killing all 148 aboard, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Egyptian history at the time.
* January 4 – NASA's MER-A ( Spirit) spacecraft lands on the surface of Mars.
* January 6
** Construction on the tallest human-made structure to date, the Burj Khalifa, begins in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
** Apple introduces the iPod Mini.
* January 8 – The RMS ''Queen Mary 2'', at the time the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by its namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
* January 13 – Eastman Kodak announces the phasing-out of its reloadable film-based cameras in favor of digital cameras.
* January 14 – George W. Bush directs NASA to begin efforts toward establishing a permanent base on the Moon by the year 2020.
* January 19 – Japanese involvement in the Iraq War: 550 Japanese soldiers arrive in Samawah, in Japan's first military combat role since World War II.
* January 25 – NASA's MER-B (Opportunity) spacecraft lands on the surface of Mars.
* January 26 – The MyDoom virus is first identified.
* January 28 – Lord Hutton releases his report on David Kelly's suspicious death, ruling it a suicide.

February

* February 1 – Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy : Janet Jackson suffers a "wardrobe malfunction" during a live performance with Justin Timberlake.
* February 3 – The Ghan: Australia opens a passenger rail line between Alice Springs and Darwin, after 126 years of planning.

* February 4
** The DARPA LifeLog project by United States Department of Defense was canceled by the Pentagon, citing criticism concerning the privacy implications of the system.
** Mark Zuckerberg launches "TheFacebook", later renamed to Facebook, a social networking website for Harvard University students.
** Sierra Leone Civil War: The United Nations officially concludes the disarming of 72,600 combatants, two years after the end of hostilities.
* February 6 – Moscow Metro Bombing: 41 people are killed when a terrorist suicide bomb detonates at the Avtozavodskaya station.
* February 13 – First EuroMillions transnational lottery drawn, in Paris.
* February 14 – Roof collapse at the Transvaal water park in Moscow kills 28 people, including 8 children. The structural failure is blamed on faulty engineering.
* February 15 – The Redfern riots break out in Sydney after an aboriginal teen is killed in an encounter with the police.
* February 24 – The National Review Board releases its official report on child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy.
* February 26 – Macedonian president Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
* February 27 – First Ivorian Civil War: The United Nations approves a peacekeeping mission to Côte d'Ivoire.
* February 29 – Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide is overthrown in a coup d'état.

March

* March 2 – A series of bombings occur in Karbala, Iraq, killing over 140 Shia Muslims commemorating the Day of Ashura.
* March 5 – ImClone stock trading case: Martha Stewart is found guilty of financial crimes.
* March 7 – The 2004 Greek legislative election is held to elect all 300 members of the Hellenic Parliament and the New Democracy party, led by Kostas Karamanlis, won 165 out of 300 seats, ending over 11 years of rule by the PASOK party.
* March 11 – Al-Qaeda bombings on Cercanías trains in Madrid, Spain, kill at least 192 people.
*March 14 – The PSOE wins the election in Spain; José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is elected Prime Minister of Spain, replacing José María Aznar.
*March 18 – The Pan-African Congress meets for the first time, in Addis Ababa.
* March 19 – The Konginkangas bus disaster kills 23 and injures 14 people in Äänekoski, Finland.
* March 28 – Hurricane Catarina, the first ever recorded South Atlantic hurricane, makes landfall in Santa Catarina, Brazil.
* March 29 – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are admitted to NATO, the largest expansion of the organization.
* March 30 – The Iranian government under President Mohammad Khatami approved a policy stating that children of foreign nationals in Iran without valid documentation are not entitled to education in Iran. Furthermore, foreign students with valid documents are required to pay all or part of the enrollment fees and are not allowed to study in pre-university courses, vocational and technical schools, or evening classes.
* March 31 – Air America, a planned progressive alternative to the popularity of conservative talk radio in the U.S., airs its first broadcast.

April

* April 1 – George W. Bush signs the Unborn Victims of Violence Act into law. The law recognizes a "child in utero" as a legal victim if killed in the commission of a crime.
* April 4 – The First Battle of Fallujah starts.
* April 7 – Rwanda observes a national moment of silence on the 10th anniversary of the start of the Rwandan genocide.
* April 8 – The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups, in order to put a pause on the War in Darfur.
* April 17 – Israeli helicopters fire missiles at a convoy of vehicles in the Gaza Strip, killing Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi.
* April 18 – Newly-elected prime minister of Spain, José Zapatero, announces the withdrawal of all 1,300 Spanish troops from Iraq.
* April 23 – The United States eases economic embargo against Libya, in preparation for the resumption of diplomatic relations in July.
* April 24 – Referendums on the Annan Plan for Cyprus, which proposes to reunite the island, take place in both the Greek-controlled and the Turkish-controlled parts. Although the Turkish Cypriots vote in favour, the Greek Cypriots reject the proposal.
* April 28 – CBS News first breaks the story of Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse.
* April 29 – The World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. opens to the public.

May

* May 1
** The European Union expands by 10 new member states: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
** The First Battle of Fallujah ends.

* May 6 – 2004 Adjara crisis: Aslan Abashidze goes into exile in Moscow, leaving Adjara to come under Georgian government control.
* May 7 – Hamid Karzai is sworn in as the first popularly-elected leader in Afghanistan's history.
** Vladimir Putin is sworn in for a second term as Russia's president.
** Chilean President Ricardo Lagos signs a bill legalizing divorce, making Chile the last South American country to do so.
* May 9 – A stadium bombing in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia kills ten people, including regional governor Akhmad Kadyrov.
* May 10 – 2004 Philippine presidential election: Incumbent president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo won a full six-year term as Philippine President.
* May 12– 15 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 takes place in Istanbul, Turkey, and is won by Ukrainian entrant Ruslana with the song "Wild Dances".
* May 18 – Royal Tongan Airlines ceases operations.
* May 19 – The Muskogee, Oklahoma school district announces it will comply with the Department of Justice's order to permit the wearing of hijab by Muslim students.
* May 22 – Manmohan Singh (a Sikh) is sworn in as India's first non-Hindu prime minister.

June

* June 1 – A United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti begins, the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).
* June 4 – Marvin Heemeyer takes his modified and armoured Komatsu D355A bulldozer (killdozer) on a rampage through the town of Granby, Colorado, causing approximately 7 million dollars worth of damage.
* June 8 – 2004 transit of Venus.
* June 12–July 4 – Portugal hosts the UEFA Euro 2004 football tournament, which is won by Greece.
* June 21 – In Mojave, California, United States, SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
** 2002-2006 municipal reorganization of Montreal: Quebec voters pass a referendum to reverse the 2002 Montreal "Mega-City" consolidation.
* June 22 – Repairs are completed on the Frauenkirche in Dresden, heavily damaged in the 1945 firebombing.
* June 26 – Minneapolis inaugurates a light rail service, 56 years after the end of the city's trolley service.
* June 28 – The U.S.-led coalition occupying Iraq, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), transfers sovereignty to the Iraqi Interim Government.
* June 30 – Preliminary hearings begin in Iraq in the trial of president Saddam Hussein, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

July

* July 1 – The unpiloted ''Cassini–Huygens'' spacecraft arrives at Saturn.
** One-third of the Great Barrier Reef is closed to fishing, creating the world's largest no-fishing zone.
** Public libraries in the United States are hereafter required to install and maintain Internet content filters.
* July 3 – The African Union condemns Robert Mugabe for alleged human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
** A subway system in Bangkok opens.
* July 9 – The Senate Intelligence Committee criticizes the CIA for "flawed" intelligence regarding the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
* July 11 – The Russian Federation stops recognizing Soviet Union passports as legal identification.
* July 12 – Ancestral land conflict in Botswana: Botswana's high court hears the eviction case of the San people.
* July 13 – Montenegro's ruling party urges the dissolving of the Montenegrin national union with Serbia.
* July 24 – The Mexican government files charges against former President of Mexico Luis Echeverría for his role in the 1971 Corpus Christi massacre.
* July 28 – The Italian parliament raises the national retirement age from 57 to 60.

August

* August 1 – A fire in the "Ycua Bolaños-Botánico" supermarket in Asunción, Paraguay kills around 400 people.
* August 3 – NASA's unpiloted ''MESSENGER'' spacecraft is launched, with its primary mission being the study of Mercury.
*August 12 – Lee Hsien Loong is sworn in as the third Prime Minister of Singapore.
*August 13 – Hurricane Charley makes landfall at Punta Gorda, Florida, at Saffir–Simpson scale, Category 4 intensity.
* August 13–August 29, 29 – The 2004 Summer Olympics are held in Athens, Greece.
* August 18 – Broadband internet connections surpass Dial-up Internet access, dial-up for the first time in the United States.
* August 22 – Armed robbers steal Edvard Munch's ''The Scream'', ''Madonna (Munch), Madonna'', and other paintings from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway.
* August 24 – After departing Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303, a Tupolev Tu-134, explodes over Russia's Tula Oblast and crashes, killing all 43 people on board; minutes later, Siberia Airlines Flight 1047, a Tupolev Tu-154 departing the same airport, explodes over Rostov Oblast and crashes, killing all 46 on board. The Government of Russia declares the explosions to have been caused by female Chechens, Chechen suicide bombers.
** The United States Department of Defense releases its report on the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, Abu Ghraib scandal, calling it a "failure of military leadership and discipline."

September

* September 1 – Beslan school siege: Chechens, Chechen rebels take 1,128 people, mostly children, hostage at a school in Beslan, Russia. The crisis ends when Russian security forces storm the building, resulting in more than 330 people being killed.
* September 7 – The United States' death toll in the Iraq War reaches 1,000.
* September 8 – The Genesis (spacecraft), Genesis space probe crash-lands in Utah after a three-year study of the Sun.
* September 9 – Australian Embassy bombing in Jakarta, A car bomb of the Jemaah Islamiyah explodes at the Embassy of Australia, Jakarta, Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 9 people.
** Colin Powell refers to the escalating violence in Darfur genocide, Darfur as a genocide.
* September 11 – A Boeing CH-47 Chinook, Boeing Chinook helicopter crashes into the Aegean Sea while en route to the monasteries of Mount Athos, killing all 17 people aboard, including Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria and several other Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox Christian bishops.
* September 12 – US Airways files for bankruptcy protection.
* September 13 – The United States' 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban expires without being renewed.
* September 14 – Turkey's governing Justice and Development Party (Turkey), AKP withdraws a controversial plan to criminalize adultery.
* September 15 – Bakassi conflict: Nigeria fails to transfer Territorial dispute, disputed territory of Bakassi to Cameroon, Cameroonian administration by the International Court of Justice deadline.
* September 17 – United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, UNAMSIL announces the extending of their peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone until at least June 2005.
* September 21 – The National Museum of the American Indian opens to the public.
* September 22 – West Sulawesi is established as the 33rd province of Indonesia.
* September 30 – Rofecoxib, Vioxx is pulled from the market due to a potential doubling of Myocardial infarction, heart attack risk.

October

* October 8 – Suicide bombers 2004 Sinai bombings, detonate two bombs at the Red Sea resort of Taba, Egypt, killing 34 people and injuring 171, mostly Israeli tourists.
* October 9 – 2004 Australian federal election: John Howard's Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal/National Party of Australia, National Coalition (Australia), Coalition Howard government, government is re-elected with an increased majority, defeating the Australian Labor Party, Labor Party led by Mark Latham.
* October 17 – Parque Central Complex fire: A fire that lasted over 15 hours destroyed almost one third of the East Tower of the Parque Central Complex, Parque Central Urban Complex in Caracas, Venezuela.
* October 19 – A team of explorers reach the bottom of Krubera Cave, the world's deepest cave, with a depth of 2,080 meters (6,824 feet).
* October 20 – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is sworn in as the 6th President of Indonesia, becoming the first directly elected president in Indonesia.
* October 27 – The Boston Red Sox win the 2004 World Series, World Series for the sixth time after completing a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals. It was their first championship since 1918 World Series, 1918.
* October 29 – European heads of state sign in Rome the Treaty and Final Act, establishing the first Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, European Constitution.

November

* November 2 – 2004 United States presidential election: George W. Bush is re-elected President of the United States, defeating his Democratic challenger John Kerry.
* November 7 – The Second Battle of Fallujah starts.
* November 13 – The European Space Agency probe SMART-1 arrives at the Moon, becoming the first European satellite to fly to the Moon and orbit it.
* November 16 – NASA's Hypersonic speed, hypersonic ''Scramjet'' breaks a record by reaching a velocity of about 7,000 mph (Mach number, Mach 9.6) in an unpiloted experimental flight.
* November 21 – Nintendo releases the Nintendo DS, the best-selling handheld game console, in North America.
* November 22 – The Orange Revolution begins, following a 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, disputed presidential election in Ukraine where Viktor Yanukovych won against Viktor Yushchenko amid accusations of electoral fraud. A revote results in Yushchenko being declared the winner.
* November 26 – The last known Poʻouli, Po'ouli dies in captivity at the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Maui, Hawaii.
* November 30 – A McDonnell Douglas MD-80, McDonnell Douglas MD-82, operating as Lion Air Flight 538, Runway excursion, overran the runway and crashed on a cemetery near Adisumarmo Airport, Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, killing 25 people.

December

* December 2 – List of military and civilian missions of the European Union, EUFOR takes over peacekeeping duties in Bosnia and Herzegovina from the United Nations peacekeeping, United Nations.
* December 12 – Vladimir Putin signs a bill bringing Governor (Russia), gubernational elections in Russia to an end; governors will hereafter be appointed rather than directly elected.
* December 13 – New Zealand passes the Civil Union Act 2004, Civil Union Act, granting civil unions to same-sex couples as of April 2005.
* December 14 – The world's tallest bridge, the Millau Viaduct over the Tarn (river), Tarn in the Massif Central mountains, France, is officially opened.
* December 16 – the European Council decided to start accession negotiations for Turkey to become a full member of the European Union.
* December 20 – Hungary withdraws the last of its 300 Multi-National Force – Iraq, coalition troops from Iraq War, Iraq.
* December 21 – Iraqi insurgents 2004 Forward Operating Base Marez bombing, attack a U.S. military base in the city of Mosul, killing 22 people.
* December 23 – The Second Battle of Fallujah ends.
* December 26 – The 9.1–9.3 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). One of the largest observed tsunamis follows, affecting coastal areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Somalia, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, killing 227,000 people.
* December 27 – Astrophysicists from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching near Munich measure the strongest burst from a magnetar. At 21:30:26 UT Earth is hit by a huge wave front of gamma and X-rays. It is the strongest flux of high-energetic gamma radiation measured so far.
* December 30 – A Cromañón nightclub fire, fire in the República Cromañón nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 194.
* December 31 – Taipei 101, at the time the List of tallest buildings and structures, tallest skyscraper in the world, standing at a height of , officially opens.

Date unknown

* Metrocable (Medellín) Line K opens, the first modern urban transit Gondola lift, cable car.

Culture

Media

2004 was a year marked by many popular and highly grossing film releases such as ''Shrek 2'', Spider-Man 2, ''Spider Man 2'', ''The Incredibles'', ''The Passion of the Christ'' and ''Howl's Moving Castle (film), Howl's Moving Castle''. 2004 was also the year where Toho Studios would release Godzilla's 50th anniversary movie, ''Godzilla: Final Wars,'' the last Godzilla movie until Legendary Entertainment's Godzilla (2014 film), Godzilla in 2014, and the last Japanese Godzilla movie until ''Shin Godzilla'' in 2016.

Many shows would debut and end in 2004, with ''Friends'' airing its final episode on May 6, 2004 after nearly a decade on air, and Lost (2004 TV series), Lost airing its first episode on September 22 of the same year. Tsuburaya Productions would air the highly controversial Ultraman Nexus, the 17th entry of the Ultraman, Ultra Series on October 2, 2004. Though the series was poorly received when it first began its broadcast, it is now seen as one of the best entries of the Ultra Series.

The gaming industry would see the release of many First-person shooter, FPS and sequel games in 2004, with some of the most famous being ''Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' ''Halo 2'', ''Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'', ''Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door'', and Half-Life 2, ''Half Life 2''. These titles are considered some of the greatest video games of all time. The ''Nintendo DS'' also released this year, which grew to become the List of best-selling game consoles#Best-selling consoles, best-selling handheld console of all time.

Births and deaths

Nobel Prizes

* Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry – Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, Irwin Rose
* Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Economics – Finn E. Kydland, Edward C. Prescott
* Nobel Prize in Literature, Literature – Elfriede Jelinek
* Nobel Peace Prize, Peace – Wangarĩ Maathai
* Nobel Prize in Physics, Physics – David Gross, David J. Gross, Hugh David Politzer, Frank Wilczek
* Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Physiology or Medicine – Linda B. Buck, Richard Axel

References

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2004,
Leap years in the Gregorian calendar