Portal:Current events/2004 September 17

September 17, 2004 (Friday)

The government of India announces that Tamil will be the first language recognized as a "classical language" in India. Government ministers add that Sanskrit and other languages could be granted the status, depending on their "heritage and legacy". The Indian government plans to create a center for the study of languages so designated. (Times of India) Archived 2014-01-01 at the Wayback Machine (The Hindu)
Three men are arrested in New Delhi, India, for attempting to sell an 800-year-old Tibetan Buddhist manuscript, which had been reported stolen from a monastery at Kalimpong, West Bengal several months earlier. The thieves attempted to sell the manuscript for 30 million rupees (535,000 euros), although experts say that it could be worth three times that much on the international market. (Hindustan Times) Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine (India News via New Kerala)
Researchers at the University of Central Florida publish an article in the Lancet documenting a strong link between Crohn's disease and the bacterium Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis. This is the latest in a series of studies that strongly suggest a link between the bacterium and the disease. (BBC)
Darfur conflict: Peace talks between the Sudanese government and Darfurian rebels, which began three weeks ago, collapse. Sudan accuses the United States of prolonging the conflict by describing the actions of Arab militias in Darfur as genocide. Rebels will meet with Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo Friday evening to give their version of the story. (MSNBC.com)
U.S. presidential election: At a firehouse campaign rally in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, Sue Niederer, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, is arrested after disrupting a speech by First Lady Laura Bush. CNN.com CBS News
U.S. air raids in the city of Fallujah, allegedly aimed at militants loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, kill an estimated 60 fighters, according to claims from the U.S. military. A spokesman for Iraq's health ministry says at least two women and 17 children were among the wounded. Meanwhile, in central Baghdad, a suicide car bomb leaves at least 13 dead. (The Guardian)
Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claims responsibility for the Beslan school massacre, saying that it was carried out by a "martyr battalion" from Riyad-us Saliheen Brigade of Martyrs, the group that he heads. (ABC Au) (BBC)
In an interview with the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiyya satellite television network, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell plays down the importance of Wednesday's report by the State Department—which listed Saudi Arabia as a country that severely restricts religious freedom—saying that he hopes that he will be able to use dialogue to remove Saudi Arabia from the list.