Portal:Current events/2004 October 20

October 20, 2004 (Wednesday)

Conflict in Iraq:
- US war planes strike a building in Fallujah. Local sources say the strike killed a family of six, including four children. The U.S. military, however, denies a family was killed and issues a statement saying that "intelligence sources indicate a known Zarqawi propagandist is passing false reports to the media". (Reuters: 1, 2)
- In Samarra, two car bombs kill at least eight civilians, including a child, and wound eleven US soldiers. In Baghdad, an adviser to the political party of Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is killed in a drive-by shooting. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link]}
- CARE International, a health and water aid agency, announces that it is suspending operations in Iraq. Its local manager, Margaret Hassan, was abducted yesterday. (BBC)
U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick pleads guilty to conspiracy, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees, assault, and committing an indecent act for his actions in the prisoner abuse scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison. He is the third person to plead guilty in the scandal. (CNN)
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri resigns and says he will leave the government, ending several weeks of conflict between Hariri and the Syrian-backed President, Émile Lahoud. Lahoud's term in office was extended last month, allegedly as a result of pressure from Syria; in response, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution condemning foreign interference in Lebanon and demanding the withdrawal of foreign troops. (Al Jazeera) Archived 29 November 2004 at the Wayback Machine
The Boston Red Sox top the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS, and win the series after being down 3-0, winning four straight games in the greatest comeback MLB playoffs history. The Red Sox continue on to face the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. (ESPN)
Ubuntu released its first version of the Linux operating system, called Warty Warthog (4.10). It is based on the Linux distribution Debian.