Portal:Current events/2004 March 8

March 8, 2004 (Monday)

Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks ice hockey team hits rookie Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche in the middle of a game, fracturing vertebrae in Moore's neck and probably ending his career. In the same game, Trevor Linden passed Stan Smyl in career point scoring for the Vancouver Canucks. (National Post)
Dr. Jiang Yanyong, who exposed the SARS coverup in the People's Republic of China, sends a letter to the National People's Congress calling the forceful suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 a "mistake." (BBC)
United States Marines shoot and kill a Haitian gunman in front of Port-au-Prince's presidential palace after the man fired rounds at the marines and protesters. Supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had shot and killed several anti-Aristide demonstrators.(NYT)
Iraq's governing council unanimously approves the country's new constitution. (AP)
On International Women's Day, Afghan President Hamid Karzai encourages men to allow their female relatives to vote in the upcoming election, but also suggests that they control those votes. (Toronto Star)
On a visit to Ottawa, Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan addressed a dinner, saying that Canada is a pillar of the United Nations. (National Post)
The United Kingdom's House of Lords votes to send the Constitutional Reform Bill, which will abolish the office of Lord Chancellor, create a new Supreme Court, and create a Judicial Appointments Commission, to a select committee for scrutiny, defeating the government. Government MPs claim this is a "wrecking" move, and threaten to use the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 to force the measure through. (BBC)