Portal:Current events/2004 April 3

April 3, 2004 (Saturday)

NASA announces that the Gravity Probe B is ready for launch on April 17. (Globe)
Jordanian officials report that suspected terrorists were arrested when their vehicle filled with explosives, detonators and bombs was apprehended in a Jordanian town on the Syrian border. (Jerusalem Post)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
Vladimir Meciar has won the first round of Presidential election in Slovakia.
At least three persons suspected in involvement in the March 11, 2004 Madrid bombings blow themselves up in an apartment building in the Madrid suburb Leganés as police officers try to arrest them. Besides the suspects, one police officer is killed and 11 injured. (CBC)
Simpsons voice actors are on strike. (The Age)
Germany: 500,000 people protest against lowering social standards in Berlin, Cologne, and Stuttgart as part of a European protest weekend. (SPIEGEL)
An ongoing study by sociologist Robert Cushing for the Austin American-Statesman newspaper reveals a statistical anomaly: soldiers and Marines from rural areas are dying at twice the rate of troops from cities and suburbs. (NPR)
Pennsylvania's chief auditor states that community notification about felons is often "incorrect, late, and ineffective", after review of state police monitoring of sexually violent predators under Megan's Law. (AP)