Portal:Current events/2004 January 26

January 26, 2004 (2004-01-26) (Monday)

• President Hamid Karzai signs into law the new constitution of Afghanistan.
• Avian influenza has now been detected in a total of nine countries, with Pakistan and Laos as the latest additions. Pakistan has detected less dangerous strains H7 and H9. A six-year-old Thai boy became the seventh victim in Asia, with another ten suspected cases in the country. Around 19 million chickens have been slaughtered as a result of fighting the spread of the flu. The World Health Organisation expresses concern about a serious human outbreak. (WHO)
• In Fellers v. United States, the United States Supreme Court unanimously reaffirms the Miranda Warning.
• A federal judge in Los Angeles, California, declares a portion of the USA Patriot Act, banning "expert advice and assistance" to suspected foreign terrorist groups, to be unconstitutional.
• The House of Representatives of Connecticut votes unanimously to investigate the dealings of Governor John G. Rowland, a step which might lead to impeachment proceedings. Rowland is accused of using state contractors for his personal gain.
• The US Energy Department's Inspector General releases a report stating that guards at the Y-12 enriched uranium storage facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, have been cheating on security drills, possibly for 20 years.
• Top Hamas official Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi offered a 10-year truce if Israel would withdraw from territory occupied since 1967 and acknowledge the creation of a Palestinian state. Israel dismissed the peace offer as "ridiculous".

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