Portal:Current events/2004 February 9

February 9, 2004 (Monday)

Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden angers some Swedes by his praise of Sultan and Yang di-Pertuan Negara of Brunai Hassanal Bolkiah.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf admits that he had suspected for at least three years that Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, was sharing nuclear technology with other countries, blaming the United States for not giving him convincing proof of the activities of his own scientist.
Russian federal prosecutors close a murder investigation, one hour after it had been opened by Moscow's prosecutor office, in the case of missing presidential candidate, Ivan Rybkin. Rybkin was last seen five days ago.
In Haiti, an armed uprising spreads to nearly a dozen towns in the western and northern areas of the island nation. The uprising is the strongest challenge yet to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. At least 41 people have been killed.
Judge Robert E. Jones of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon sentenced Ahmed Bilal to 10 years in prison, his brother Muhammad Bilal to eight years in prison, and Mike Hawash to seven years in prison. The three are the last of the Portland Seven to be sentenced; the group of Muslim men from the Portland, Oregon area were convicted of attempting to enter Afghanistan to join the Taliban – are sentenced to prison. The Bilal brothers had pled guilty to conspiracy to aid the Taliban and to federal weapons charges on September 18, 2003, and Hawash has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges on August 6. The three has entered into a plea agreement with the Justice Department and has cooperated with the government in its investigation.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov announces that Russia is considering withdrawing from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, a cornerstones of European security, citing the enlargement of NATO and the end of the Cold War.
American college student Maura Murray goes missing after a car accident in Haverhill, New Hampshire.