Portal:Current events/2004 February 1

February 1, 2004 (2004-02-01) (Sunday)

• A team composed of Russian scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna and American scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory report on the discovery of two new transuranium (superheavy) chemical elements with very high atomic masses. From the international convention governing the periodic table, element 113 is given the temporary name Ununtrium (atomic symbol Uut) and element 115 is designated Ununpentium (Uup). The discovery is later confirmed.
• Over one hundred members of the Majlis of Iran resign in protest after the Guardian Council disqualifies thousands of reformist and independent candidates for parliament, including sitting MPs seeking reelection.
• Abdul Qadeer Khan, founder of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, is removed from his post as a special science and technology adviser to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf after Khan, three other scientists and three low-level Pakistan Army officers are investigated in connection with the sharing of Pakistani nuclear technology with Iran, Libya and other countries in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
• Incidents during the Hajj: 244 Muslim pilgrims are trampled to death during the ritual of the stoning of the devil at the Hajj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca).
• Kurdistan: At least 56 are maytred and over 200 injured when two suicide bombers hit the offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Erbil, 200 miles (320 km) north of Baghdad. Hundreds had gathered at the party offices for the start of Eid al-Adha.
• The European Union and the United States file documents with the International Court of Justice opposing the court's decision to deliberate on the Israeli West Bank barrier.
• The new Minatomirai Line subway opens in Yokohama, Japan.
• The first Ghan passenger train across Australia from Adelaide to Darwin sets off on its three-day journey.
• Super Bowl XXXVIII: The New England Patriots defeat the Carolina Panthers 32–29 after Adam Vinatieri kicks a game-winning field goal with seconds remaining.
  • Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy: During the halftime show performance by Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, one of Jackson's breasts is exposed and broadcast on the CBS broadcast of the show in what is later described as a "wardrobe malfunction." CBS is fined a record $550,000 by the Federal Communications Commission later in the year and the incident precipitates an increase of the FCC fine per indecency violation from $27,500 to $325,000. See also fleeting expletive.
• The e-mail worm W32/Mydoom launches a denial-of-service (DoS) attack on the Web site www.sco.com at 16:09:18 (UTC).

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