Portal:Current events/2004 December 9
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December 9, 2004 (Thursday)
- President George W. Bush nominates Jim Nicholson, United States Ambassador to the Holy See, as his nominee for Secretary of Veterans Affairs, replacing outgoing Secretary Anthony Principi.
- Police discover four packages of suspected explosives at the main station of the Taipei Rapid Transit System two days before the legislative elections take place.
- Japan and Germany have jointly declared they want permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council with the veto power of the five current permanent members.(VOA)
- The British Law Lords hold treatment of Czech Romani by UK immigration officers at Prague Airport to be discriminatory. (opinions) Since the enlargement of the European Union earlier that year, free movement of EU citizens includes Czechs. (Guardian) (BBC)
- Lord Dubs presents the Succession to the Crown Bill (bill) in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. (The Guardian)
- Acting on a reference from Parliament, the Canadian Supreme Court states that a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Canada would be constitutional. They decline to say if the Constitution requires that recognition, saying that by not appealing several provincial courts' decisions to that effect, the government has already adopted that position. (CBC) Prime Minister Paul Martin says his government will introduce same-sex marriage legislation in January. (CBC)
- In a move denounced as "unconstitutional" by the opposition, the National Congress of Ecuador dismisses all 31 of the country's Supreme Court justices. (BBC)
- Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
- Israeli troops kill at least four Palestinians found crawling into Egypt on the Gaza Border. (China View) (Haaretz)
- Palestinian presidential candidate Mustafa Barghouti claims to have been "detained and beaten" by Israeli soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint. (BBC)
- The government of Lesotho announces plans to give women legal equality and property rights within a year. (Reuters)
- The International Rescue Committee says that the Congo Civil War is killing 1000 people a day and calls the international response "abysmal". (BBC)