Portal:Current events/2004 February 3
February 3, 2004 (Tuesday)
- Israeli Army Chief of Personnel Major-General Gil Regev tells a Knesset committee that the number of soldiers refusing to serve in the territories had dramatically decreased in 2003. He said that 26 persons had been imprisoned for refusal in 2003 compared to 129 in 2002, a decrease of 80%. The refusers' organization Yesh G'vul claimed that Regev's figures were "ridiculous" since 76 persons had been imprisoned for refusal in 2003.
- British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announces an independent inquiry, to be chaired by Lord Butler of Brockwell, to examine the reliability of intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. His report, the Butler Review, is published on July 14.
- An apartment block collapses in the Turkish city of Konya, killing at least 14 people.
- Simon Blitz and two partners purchased Oldham Athletic A.F.C., rescuing the Football League One club from possible liquidation.
- Astronomers detect the presence of oxygen and carbon in the atmosphere of the extrasolar planet HD 209458 b (Osiris), known to be venting gas into space.
- Political status of Taiwan: President Chen Shui-bian proposes to set up a demilitarized zone between Taiwan and mainland China.
- Mini-Tuesday: Five states hold primaries and two states hold caucuses for the Democratic presidential nomination. U.S. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts wins primary elections in Arizona, Delaware, New Mexico, Missouri and North Dakota, which a best result is 51 percent in Missouri. Senator John Edwards of North Carolina wins in South Carolina. Retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark narrowly wins in Oklahoma. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, who opted to focus on the Michigan and Washington primaries the following Saturday, polls poorly in all these primaries, with a best result is third with 18% in New Mexico. For the first time, Kerry obtains a majority of elected delegates to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, with 244 delegates to Dean's 121, Edwards' 102 and Clark's 79. Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, having earlier announced "Joementum", comes in second in Delaware and announces his withdrawal from the race.
- Nine Cuban migrants attempt to reach Florida in a modified 1959 Buick that was converted to a boat. They are intercepted by the United States Coast Guard. The same group had made a similar attempt the summer before in a modified 1951 Chevrolet truck.
- The e-mail worm W32/Mydoom.B performs a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack against www.microsoft.com at 13:09:18 (UTC).