Portal:Current events/2004 March 22

March 22, 2004 (Monday)

Testimony begins in the state murder trial of convicted Oklahoma City bombing accomplice, Terry Nichols, in McAlester, Oklahoma. (AP)
ROC presidential election, 2004: Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party submits a bill to the Legislative Yuan to allow an immediate recount, per Lien Chan's demand, but the majority Pan-Blue Coalition dismisses it as unnecessary saying the President could just issue an executive order instead. (The Star) (Bloomberg)
Microsoft is to be fined a record €497 million ($613 million) by the European Commission as punishment for abusing its Windows monopoly, according to reports ahead of a key meeting by EU Commissioners on Wednesday. (Financial Times)
Salvadoran presidential election: Tony Saca of the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) declares victory over a former Communist Party guerrilla leader, with 60% of the votes. (Seattle Times) (CoLatino) (El Salvador) (Democracy Now!)
Israel assassinates Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual head of Hamas, in the Gaza Strip. It then seals off both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. (Reuters) Archived 2004-04-23 at archive.today (BBC) Kofi Annan, and the British, French, and German governments, amongst others, condemn the killing. (BBC) (FOX)
The former chief counter-terrorism aide to U.S. President Bush, Richard Clarke, claims that Bush diverted attention towards Iraq, ignoring the main threat of Al-Qaida. Clarke was the administration's senior counter-terrorism official when 9/11 took place. (Guardian) (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine (FT) (BBC)
The United Kingdom shuts its embassy in Algiers, Algeria, amid general security fears. (BBC) (CNN)
Mijailo Mijailovic is sentenced to life imprisonment for the equivalent of First-degree murder, found guilty of assassination of Sweden's Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, September 10, 2003.
Same-sex marriage in the U.S.: Benton County, Oregon, commissioners, after receiving a letter from state attorney general Hardy Myers, reverse their earlier vote to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples this Wednesday. But, stating they will observe the principle of equal treatment under the law, the commissioners decide that the county will stop issuing any marriage licenses until the Oregon Supreme Court has ruled on the constitutionality of the law. (Oregonian) (Register-Guard)