Portal:Current events/2004 September 9

September 9, 2004 (Thursday)

United States Secretary of State Colin Powell declares that the actions of the Janjaweed Arab militia in Darfur constitute genocide. Powell holds the government of Sudan responsible. Up to 50,000 ethnic Africans have been killed and 2.2 million displaced into refugee camps in neighboring Chad by ethnic Arab militias. (BBC) (CNN)
A car bomb explodes outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 9 people (according to the BBC) and wounding 180. Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian terrorist group connected with Al Qaeda, is believed responsible. (BBC) (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (News.com.au)
Four (or possibly five) Palestinians, including a nine-year-old boy, a Hamas militant, and two young Palestinian men, are killed as Israeli tanks force their way into the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza while receiving gunfire from scores of gunmen opposed to the invasion. (Reuters) Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine (BBC)
U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched an offensive to drive insurgents out of the northern Iraqi town of Talafar. Hospital sources say at least 17 people have been killed including several women and children. (BBC)
Seventy suspected Taliban or Al Qaida terrorists are said to have been killed in a Pakistani air raid close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Several civilians are also believed to have been killed. (BBC)
Costa Rica asks the U.S. to remove it from the list of Iraq coalition partners. (NYT)
Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah of Brunei marries Pengiran Anak Sarah. (BBC)
2004 Atlantic hurricane season: Hurricane Ivan strengthens to the first Category 5 hurricane of the season, with sustained wind speeds of 160 mi/h (260 km/h). It is currently forecast to strike Jamaica, Cuba and possibly Florida. The storm has the potential to cause catastrophic damage. (NOAA/NHC)