Portal:Current events/2004 December 23

December 23, 2004 (Thursday)

An earthquake of moment magnitude 8.1 occurs at 14:59 UTC, 305 miles (491 km) north of Macquarie Island. (USGS)
An intercity bus is intercepted and sprayed with automatic gunfire in Chamelecón, Cortés department, Honduras, killing some 28 passengers. A note left at the crime scene claims the attack for a defunct guerrilla group, but suspicion immediately falls on the Mara Salvatrucha gang, and have since been convicted for the crime. (BBC)
A French United Nations worker in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is arrested for creating pornographic videos of young girls. (Washington Times) (The Times)
United Nations troops from South Africa deploy in Democratic Republic of Congo to create a buffer zone between fighting factions. (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
A powerful and unexpected series of snowstorms plow into the Ohio Valley dumping total snowfalls as high as 40–45 inches. Many Interstates in the region become frozen parking lots as motorist are unable to move and get buried in snowfall. The snowstorms were so powerful that it snowed in Galveston, Texas.