Portal:Current events/2004 January 27
January 27, 2004 (Tuesday)
- The People's Republic of China announces an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza in the autonomous region of Guangxi, becoming the 10th country in Asia to do so. There are suspected cases in Hunan and Hubei provinces.
- British Prime Minister Tony Blair narrowly defeats a rebellion in his own party over the Higher Education Bill – a highly controversial bill to reform higher education funding, including the introduction of increased and variable tuition fees. It is approved in the House of Commons by 316 votes to 311.
- U.S. presidential election, 2004: Senator John Kerry wins the New Hampshire primary. Howard Dean comes second.
- Academy Awards: nominations announced, leading films are The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (11), Master and Commander (10), Seabiscuit (7), Mystic River (6), and Cold Mountain (6). Keisha Castle-Hughes, at 13, becomes the youngest nominee ever for the Academy Award for Best Actress
- A new e-mail worm, Novarg/Mydoom, is spreading rapidly to thousands of machines running Microsoft Windows. It rapidly becomes the fastest-spreading e-mail worm to date.