Portal:Current events/2004 March 2

March 2, 2004 (Tuesday)

Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
- The Palestinian Authority's prisoners' affairs ministry states in its monthly statistical report that the number of Palestinian prisoners has risen to around 7,500. Of those 336 are children, 75 female and 943 in need of medical treatment. Of the 166 prisoners who died, 41% died as a result of medical negligence, while 18% died as a result of torture. (palestine-info.co.uk) (Jihad Unspun)
- Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics reports 1,850 new housing units in the Jewish settlements Israel built in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2003, up by 35 percent from the previous year. (BBC)
U.S. Democratic Presidential Nomination:
- John Kerry wins the Super Tuesday primaries in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Rhode Island and caucus in Minnesota, effectively clinching the nomination. Howard Dean wins in his home state of Vermont even though he is no longer actively campaigning. John Edwards is reported to be withdrawing from the race three hours before polls close in California and just as the caucuses begin in Minnesota.(NC News & Observer)
- Scattered problems crop up with electronic voting systems.(AP) (Tri-Valley Herald)
Same-sex marriage in the United States:
- Jason West, mayor of New Paltz, New York, is charged with 19 criminal counts of solemnizing marriages without a license. If convicted, he faces up to a $500 fine and a year in jail on each count.(Newsday)
- Multnomah County, Oregon, prepares to begin solemnizing same-sex marriages, after its attorney issues a legal opinion deeming such marriages lawful. (SF Chronicle)
Exploration of Mars: NASA announces that Mars rover Opportunity landed in an area where "liquid water once drenched the surface". (SF Chronicle)
Bernard Ebbers, ex-CEO of Worldcom, is indicted on three counts of conspiracy for his alleged role in that company's $11 billion accounting scandal in 2002. Worldcom's CFO Scott Sullivan pleads guilty and is expected to cooperate with prosecutors against Ebbers. (CNN)
Multiple explosions hit Shiite shrines in Baghdad and Karbala on the Shia festival of Ashura. Over 180 people are reported killed. A three-day-long period of national mourning is announced. (BBC)
Iraq gets a Bill of Rights, including guarantees of freedom of religion and press, in the form of the Law of Administering the Iraqi State for the Transitional Period. (Washington Times)
The U.S. declares its 2,000-man force to have leadership over all foreign military forces in Haiti. President Bush chose not to wait for the UN Security Council but, instead, to intervene immediately to "restore order" in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. (Washington Times)
The European Union imposes additional 5% tariffs on a wide range of goods imported from the United States, such as honey, paper, and nuclear reactors. The tariffs were sanctioned by the World Trade Organization in 2002 as punitive measures after a ruling declaring that United States tax law unfairly favors U.S.-based companies. (BBC)
The European Space Agency's Rosetta space probe is successfully launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket on a mission to investigate the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. (BBC)