Portal:Current events/2004 April 1
April 1, 2004 (Thursday)
- U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, commonly known as Laci and Conner's Law, that states that an act of violence that leads to the death of a pregnant mother and her child can be counted as two offenses. (White House) (UPI)
- Faroese Prime Minister's Office announces that from then on the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister's Office would use a new version of the Faroese Coat of Arms. The colours were inspired from the Merkið (flag) and yellow/gold was added. The new Coat of Arms depicts a Ram on a blue shield ready to defend. It can be used by the Government Ministries and by Faroese embassies, but some still use older versions of the Coat of Arms.
- The Turkish Interior Ministry states that 41 members of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) are detained in synchronous operations in Turkey, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands. (Xinhua)
- Following a gun battle, in which Palestinians hiding in a World Health Organization psychiatric hospital, in Bethlehem, opened fire on Israeli troops outside who came to arrest them, 12 of the Palestinians, mostly known militants from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades that make up part of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, are arrested. (Reuters) (BBC)
- Astronomers estimate that Earth-like planets may orbit as many as one in twenty stars. (Webindia123) (BBC)
- Paul Bremer pledges justice for the contractors killed and mutilated in an attack in Falluja. (BBC)
- British Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes resigns over visa irregularities. (BBC)
- Palestinian General Haj Ismail Jabber is discovered to have been claiming the payroll for 37,000 members of the Palestinian Authority's National Security force when only 30,000 members exist. The difference of $2 million is kept by General Jabber each month. (HaAretz)
- Same-sex marriage in Canada: Michael Hendricks and René Leboeuf become the first same-sex couple to legally wed in Quebec. (CBC)
- Neil H. Shubin of the University of Chicago reports in the journal Nature the discovery of a 365-million-year-old forelimb in Pennsylvania, representing the evolution of fish to land-dwelling animals. (Scientific American)[permanent dead link]