Portal:Current events/2004 April 4
April 4, 2004 (Sunday)
- Iran asks EU members (France, Britain, and Germany) to stand by their commitments within the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Tehran Declaration. (Tehran Times)
- Thomas H. Kean, chairman of the commission investigating the September 11, 2001 attacks and former Republican governor of New Jersey says that the attacks could have been prevented had the United States government acted sooner to dismantle Al Qaeda and responded more quickly to other terrorist threats. (NYT)
- Iraqi interior minister arrives in Tehran for security talks. (Islamic Republic News Agency)
- The US Customs and Border Protection Agency begin patrols with unmanned aerial vehicles to identify illegal immigrants at U.S. land borders. (Post-Newsweek Media)
- Serhane ben Abdelmajid Farkhet (alias "The Tunisian") is suspected of dying in the April 3 Madrid explosion (along with three other suspects). Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes announces that the ringleader of the March 11, 2004 Madrid bombings is dead. 200 detonators and 22 pounds of dynamite were found "in the apartment where the four terrorists blew themselves up as police closed in", Acebes said. (BBC News) (NYT)
- UK Police refuse discussion of reports over tonnes of unaccounted ammonium nitrate fertiliser stolen from a Welsh farm near Abergavenny, South Wales. (Ananova)
- Occupation of Iraq:
- At least two Shiite Muslim followers of militant Iraqi cleric, Moqtada Sadr, are killed early in the day after throwing themselves in front of United States tanks during a demonstration in Baghdad. (AFP)
- Supporters of Moqtada Sadr outside a coalition military base in Najaf, Iraq throw rocks and fire shots. Spanish troops and Iraqi police return fire. Nineteen people (including some soldiers) are killed from the fire. (BBC) (VOA) (→ 2004 Iraq spring fighting)
- Police chief of Kufa, Saeed Tryak, is killed and one of his escorts is injured when their car is attacked at al-Adala in Najaf, southeast of Baghdad. Police chief of al-Mahmudiya in Baghdad, Usama Husayn, is also killed leaving his house in al-Khadra neighbourhood. He is shot by men in police uniforms. (Al Jazeera)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
- Palestinian Yasser Arafat dismisses Israel's threat to kill him. American representatives, and other world leaders, criticize Israel's prime minister for the suggestion. (ArabNews)
- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon conflicts with right-wing ministers over a plan to unilaterally disengage from the Gaza Strip. Housing and Construction Minister, Effie Eitam, and Tourism Minister, Benny Elon, demand that the plan receive cabinet approval. (Jerusalem Post)
- A year-long European Parliament investigation into how the Palestinian Authority spents money given to it by the European Union fails to find evidence linking its funds with terrorist activity. The findings, leaked before they were made public, are under attack, with one member of the probe calling it a "partial" whitewash. (Jerusalem Post)
- Millwall FC beat Sunderland A.F.C. 1-0 at Old Trafford to make it to the 2004 FA Cup Final after Tim Cahill scores the winning goal.