Portal:Current events/2004 December 3

December 3, 2004 (Friday)

Dragomir_Milošević, the general who besieged Sarajevo for three years during the Bosnian Civil War surrenders to the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 12,000 people died during the siege. (AFP) (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
The People's Republic of China launches a new long-range nuclear submarine and an accompanying class of ballistic missiles, with a range in excess of 7,400 km (4,600 mi), developed by the People's Liberation Army. (AP) (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
2004 United States election voting controversies: The House Judiciary Committee schedules a public congressional forum on voting irregularities in Ohio on December 8. (House.gov (PDF))
Yukos loses an appeal to halt the auctioning off of its main production unit. President of Russia Vladimir Putin, while on his three-day visit to India, says Indian firms are welcomed to bid. (BBC)
Kosovo's parliament elects a former KLA commander, Ramush Haradinaj, who has been questioned twice by UN war crimes investigators. (BBC)
Conflict in Iraq:
- A car bomb explodes outside a Shi'a mosque in a Baghdad Sunni district, killing 14 worshippers and wounding 19. Mortars land on a police station in Baghdad, followed by an assault which kills 12 people and results in the freeing of 50 prisoners. A website allegedly tied to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claims responsibility for the police station attack. (BBC) (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
- The United States Agency for International Development states they aim to boost the availability of electricity throughout Iraq to 18 hours a day by the end of next year from 11 to 15 hours now, estimably higher than before the 2003 U.S. invasion. (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
- The Ukrainian parliament, embroiled in the presidential election controversy, votes to ask outgoing president Leonid Kuchma to withdraw Ukraine's 1,600 troops in Iraq. (Reuters) Archived 2004-12-08 at archive.today (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
- German security forces arrest three alleged members of Ansar al-Islam who are suspected of planning the assassination of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi while he was on a state visit to Germany. (CNN)(Der Spiegel (in German)
U.S. President George W. Bush nominates former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik to replace outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge in the Cabinet position. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson also announces his resignation. (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
Following warnings by separatist group ETA, a number of devices explode in Madrid. (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC)) (BBC) (Wikinews)
The Supreme Court of Ukraine rules that the 2004 second round presidential results are invalid and requires a new vote to be completed within three weeks without determining whether the second round will be re-run or an entirely new election will be run. (BBC) (Yahoo! News) (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
Former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel and Holocaust survivor Yisrael Meir Lau says that "Jewish history in Europe is nearing its end" and called the Jewish Agency to prepare for the absorption of Europe's Jews in Israel. Lau conveyed concern over rise in antisemitism and fading of the Holocaust remembrance in Europe.(Haaretz) (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
Rwanda denies it has sent any troops to Congo. Reuters (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC)) quotes unnamed diplomatic sources that claim that the troops were there only temporarily. (BBC) (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC))
Brazilian paleontologists of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro announce a find of a new dinosaur species, Unaysaurus tolentinoi. The find also shows links to Europe when both continents were part of Pangaea. (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (Link dead as of 04:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC)) (BBC) (News 24)
Typhoon Nanmadol slams into the island of Luzon in the Philippines, less than a week after tropical depression locally called "Winnie" caused landslides and floods in the region also affected by the earlier typhoons Muifa and Merbok. Floods and landslides by Winnie killed at least 495 persons. More people are expected to be declared missing or dead as typhoon Nanmadol leaves the country later today. (CNN) (Inquirer/GMA7)