May 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December Events May 1, 2004EU enlargement: Ten new member states (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) join the European Union, increasing the EU's population by 75 million people to a total of roughly 455 million. (BBC) (Guardian)In Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, gunmen kill five Westerners and a Saudi security guard in a shooting spree and car chase. (BBC)A fire at the Parco dei Principe hotel in Rome kills three, and forces the evacuation of a number of professional tennis stars, including Andy Roddick, Marat Safin, Mariano Zabaleta, and Max Mirnyi. (AP)Smarty Jones wins the Kentucky Derby. (AP)The separatist region of Ajaria attempts to sever its links from Georgia by blowing up the three bridges connecting it to the rest of the country over the Choloki River. (AP)Riot police clash with masked left-wing anarchists in Berlin and Leipzig, Germany. 100 people are arrested. (Deutsche Welle) (Reuters AlertNet)The Rochester Americans rally from a 3-1 series deficit to complete the comeback and defeat the Syracuse Crunch on Norm Milley's OT goal in the first round of the American Hockey League playoffs at the Onondaga County War Memorial. May 2, 2004Investment banker Frank Quattrone of Credit Suisse First Boston is convicted of obstructing justice and witness tampering. Quattrone played a significant role in the Initial Public Offerings of Amazon, Netscape, Intuit and other Internet companies. (NYT)Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller resigns one day after Poland becomes a member of the European Union. His government was the most unpopular of the nine that have ruled Poland since the fall of the communist regime in 1989. Miller's Left Democratic Alliance party, plagued by a series of corruption scandals (including the Rywin affair), hit a record low in popularity rankings in the last months which led some of its members to break away and form a new party, the Social Democracy of Poland. President Aleksander Kwaśniewski announces he will designate Marek Belka, a liberal economist, as new prime minister. (Reuters)Israeli-Palestinian conflict:Israel's Likud Party votes in a referendum not to pull out of the Gaza Strip unilaterally. The referendum's defeat is seen as a major blow to the Sharon government. Sharon subsequently says that he will not resign and may modify the plan. (BBC)Palestinian gunmen kill a pregnant Israeli mother, Tali Hatuel, and all four of her young daughters near the Kissufim Crossing in the Gaza Strip. The killers are shot dead by security forces. The incident is believed to have influenced voting intentions in the referendum held the same day. (INN) (BBC)Martín Torrijos wins Panama's presidential election. (BBC)U.S. civilian contractor Thomas Hamill, who was taken hostage by Iraqi insurgents on April 9, is found by U.S. forces south of Tikrit after escaping his captors. (MSNBC)The Sasser worm is spreading. It has the chance of becoming as big as the Blaster worm epidemic because it can infect computers running Microsoft Windows directly without user interaction. (AP)A government report has found that secret searches in the U.S. are up 85% since 2001. (Baltimore Sun)A shell containing mustard gas, was found in the middle of a street west of Baghdad. Officials from the Defense Department commented that this was part of an improvised explosive device (IED). It was not certain that use was to be made as a bomb. (Fox News) (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) May 3, 2004The USA is starting to lose its dominance in the sciences; "the rest of the world is catching up", according to John E. Jankowski of the National Science Foundation. Scientists from Europe and now other countries are now publishing more papers in major professional journals than scientists from the U.S.. New York Times p.A1.An Egyptian court rejects the petition of an Egyptian movie producer seeking to establish an Egyptian-Israeli friendship organization stating: "Egyptian society does not need a friendship association with Israel. The Egyptian public and Arabs do not need such false friendships, as demonstrated by the attacks on the Palestinian people."" (INN)(HaAretz)French police seek 500 kg (1,100 lb) of ammonium nitrate fertilizer stolen from the port of Honfleur at the mouth of the Seine River. The fertilizer can be converted easily into a powerful explosive. Such an explosive was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing. AZF recently suspended operations inside France while the group seeks to upgrade its arsenal. (NYT)Mexico and Peru recall their ambassadors from Cuba, citing recent "offensive" comments by Cuban head of state Fidel Castro. The Cuban ambassador to Mexico is also expelled, for "activities incompatible with his diplomatic status". (VOA) (BBC)At US$38.21 per barrel of crude, oil prices hit their highest level since 1990. (AP)In an open letter to George W. Bush more than 50 former high-ranking United States diplomats (including former ambassadors to Saudi Arabia and Qatar) complain about the Bush administration's policy towards the Middle East claiming that the President's approach, and specifically his endorsement of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, is losing the U.S. "credibility, prestige and friends". The letter follows a similar one written by 52 former British diplomats sent to Tony Blair a few days earlier. (BBC) May 4, 2004The Legislative Yuan in Taiwan passes a bill mandating that official documents in Chinese be written from left to right instead of right to left, ending centuries of tradition. (Straits Times) (BBC)The United Nations Commission on Human Rights elects thirteen countries to serve on it for 3-year terms. Sudan is elected unopposed to represent the African bloc, prompting a walk-out by the U.S. delegation. (NYT) (CNN)Hundreds of Muslim cattle herders are killed by Christian farmers in central Nigerian town of Yelwa. (Reuters)U.S. Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress condemn the alleged mistreatment of Iraqi detainees in the strongest terms and call for a congressional investigation. (Reuters) (PolitInfo)Iraq Occupation and resistance:The Pentagon announces that it plans to keep as many as 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq through the end of 2005. (Bloomberg) (NYT)The U.S. Department of Defense announces that 37,000 National Guardsmen and 10,000 active duty Army and Marine Corps troops are to be called up to serve a one-year tour of duty in Iraq by early 2005. (AP)A Chicago laboratory announces they helped choose embryos by genetic testing to yield five babies who could donate stem cells to sick siblings. (CNN)William Krar, a Texan with ties to white supremacists, is sentenced to 11 years in prison after he pled guilty to building and possessing chemical weapons in what has been described as one of the most serious cases of domestic terrorism since the Oklahoma City bombing. (Reuters) (KRT) (AP) May 5, 2004Parliament grounds and adjoining footpaths in New Zealand host 15,000 people (many of whom have participated in several days of route march - "hīkoi") protesting about the proposed law that is expected to change the ownership of foreshore and seabed.The Dalai Lama ends his visit to Canada with a ceremony initiating thousands in Tibetan Buddhism. (Toronto Star)Israeli company Givot Olam announces that from a previously known oil reserve near Kfar Sava believed to contain 980 million barrels (156 million m³) of oil, 20% of it is extractable. (INN) (Haaretz)During a raid in Gaza Israeli troops kill a police captain and wound 15 people, in an area that is used to fire Qassam rockets into Israeli towns. (Reuters)Maya artifacts are discovered in Cival, a ruined city in the Petén region of Guatemala, suggesting an earlier development of dynastic customs than previously known. (Washington Post)Three bombs explode in Athens outside a single police station, 100 days before the start of the Olympic Games. One policeman was injured. (BBC) (Boston Herald)George W. Bush speaks on the Al Arabiya and Alhurra Arabic-language television networks, stating he was 'appalled' at the conduct of U.S. soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. (Toronto Star)Houston Astros baseball pitcher Roger Clemens records his 4,137th career strikeout to place him second on the all-time list behind Nolan Ryan. (AP) (Reuters)A judge of the Ontario Superior Court, overseeing the bankruptcy and reorganization of Air Canada, approved an amended "standby purchase agreement" from Deutsche Bank, which stands to become a major owner of equity in the revived airline. (Globe and Mail)President of the breakaway Georgian republic of Ajaria, Aslan Abashidze is forced to resign by Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili. (BBC) (Independent) (Guardian) (Washington Post) May 6, 2004Iraq Occupation and resistance:The United States Senate votes (95-3) to approve John Negroponte as the head of the new U.S. embassy in Iraq despite concerns over his role in allegedly supporting widespread campaigns of terror and human rights abuses as ambassador of Honduras in the 1980s. (Los Angeles Times) (IPS) (Democracy Now!)In Baghdad, a suicide bomber using a car packed with explosives and artillery shells kills 5 Iraqis and one American soldier and injures 25 people, including two American soldiers. (NYT)Israeli-Palestinian conflict:Over U.S. and Israeli objections, the UN General Assembly votes 140-6, with 11 abstentions, to adopt a resolution that affirms the Palestinians' right of sovereignty over the territories seized by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. (Reuters) (AP)An Israeli government report finds that Israel's Housing Ministry secretly gave about $6.5 million to help expand settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank territory between 2000 and 2003 which are illegal according to Israel. These included outposts which the government had promised to remove. (Philadelphia Inquirer) (Haaretz)Hamas co-founder Mohammad Taha, aged 68, is released from an Israeli prison. (INN)Iraqi abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prisonThe International Committee of the Red Cross states that, over a period of some months, it has repeatedly requested that the United States take action on alleged prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. (NYT)U.S. Democratic Senator Tom Harkin calls on Donald Rumsfeld to resign from office to protect the image of America around the world in light of the abuse. (AP)President George W. Bush states that a resolution of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians would be the result of negotiations and that the United States would oppose "any developments in the region that might endanger your (Jordan's) interests." (NYT)The television sitcom Friends airs its final episode in the United States and Canada.It is announced that John Scarlett is to succeed Sir Richard Dearlove as the head of the Secret Intelligence Service with Dearlove becoming master of Pembroke College at Cambridge University. Scarlett is the first head of the SIS ever to have a current photograph published.President George W