Portal:Current events/2004 September 29

September 29, 2004 (Wednesday)

The People's Republic of China accuses
Yu Shyi-kun of "clamoring for war" after he said Taiwan would defend itself by firing missiles at Shanghai in the event of an attack of Taipei or Kaohsiung by the PRC. (BBC) (VOA)

Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne, an experimental spaceplane, makes the first competitive flight for the Ansari X Prize. Although a roll problem caused the mission to be aborted early, SpaceShipOne nonetheless reached an estimated 109.1 km (358,000 ft), which qualifies as a spaceflight. (Space.com) (New Scientist)

Conflict in Iraq

Kenneth Bigley, a British hostage held in Iraq, appeared alive in a video broadcast by Al Jazeera. Seen in a cage wearing an orange jumpsuit, Bigley said "Tony Blair is lying. He doesn't care about me". (BBC)

Reports that ransom was paid to secure yesterday's release of two Italian aid workers raise fears that the burgeoning hostage crises will worsen. Gustavo Selva, an Italian lawmaker, states that "The sum ($1 million) is probably correct". To date about 130 foreigners have been taken hostage. About 30 of these have been killed. (Reuters) Archived 2005-01-05 at the Wayback Machine
Arab-Israeli conflict
- Five masked men armed with bats and chains attack Chris Brown and Kim Lamberty, members of
  Palestinian children to school. CPT alleges the assaults are part of an ongoing pattern of intimidation by Israeli Settlers. (BBC) (Haaretz) (Al Jazeera)
- Five
  Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and Nablus in the West Bank. The Israeli government claims the troops entered in retaliation for at least four rockets being fired at the Israeli town of Sderot on September 28. (BBC) (Reuters) Archived 2005-05-03 at the Wayback Machine (Al Jazeera) (Haaretz)
- Two
  Jabaliya refugee camp, which left four Palestinians dead. (BBC) (Haaretz)
- Two
  Jabaliya refugee camp. The raid was launched in retaliation for the rocket attacks on the town of Sderot which left two children dead. (BBC)

The asteroid 4179 Toutatis passes within 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers, or about four times the distance from Earth to the Moon) of Earth. Toutatis is the largest known asteroid to pass this close to Earth. (Space.com)
The Montréal Expos play their last game at the Olympic Stadium in Montréal against the Florida Marlins in front of over 30,000 fans