Portal:Current events/2004 September 11
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September 11, 2004 (Saturday)
- Americans commemorate the third anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks. U.S. President George Bush and First Lady Laura Bush observe a moment of silence on the South Lawn of the White House to officially begin the day of remembrance. (CNN)
- Peter VII, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria, dies along with 15 others, including three other bishops, in a helicopter crash en route to Mount Athos. (BBC)
- In Afghanistan, Major General Eric Olson, the operational commander of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, says senior leaders of Al Qaeda, probably including Osama bin Laden, are still in command. (AP)
- A United States court martial in Baghdad, Iraq sentences Specialist Armin J. Cruz to eight months in jail for maltreating and conspiring to maltreat Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. (BBC News)
- Charles Robert Jenkins reports to United States authorities in Japan after living 39 years in North Korea. (BBC News)
- 2004 Atlantic hurricane season: Twenty-five foot waves and high winds from Hurricane Ivan hit the southern coast of Jamaica early Saturday morning, destroying homes and causing five deaths. There are also reports of looters roaming the streets of Jamaica's capital city, Kingston, some of whom are reportedly robbing emergency workers at gunpoint. As of 17:00 local time (21:00 UTC), Ivan has regained Category Five strength, and is now located about 234 km (134 miles) west of Jamaica and is headed toward the Cayman Islands and western Cuba. Hurricane warnings have been issued for the Cayman Islands, western Cuba, and the Florida Keys. The death toll from Ivan now stands at 50. (Reuters) (ABC) (NOAA/NHC)
- At the sixty first Venice Film Festival, British director Mike Leigh is awarded several prizes, including the prestigious Golden Lion (Leone d'Oro) award, for his movie Vera Drake, about a working-class mother arrested for performing illegal abortions in 1950s Britain. The star of the movie, Imelda Staunton, receives the award for best actress. (Reuters)