Portal:Current events/2004 October 22
October 22, 2004 (Friday)
- The state-of-art Canadian Light Source synchrotron opens for atomic research in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. (CBC)
- The Kyoto Treaty on climate change is ratified by Russia's State Duma, the lower house of parliament. The treaty will now go to the upper house and President Vladimir Putin for their approval. (BBC)
- Pakistani forces attack suspected Islamic militants using mortars and helicopters near the Afghanistan border. (Reuters) Archived 2005-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
- Conflict in Iraq:
- Officials from the Republic of Macedonia confirm that three Macedonian contract workers kidnapped on August 21 have been executed. (BBC)
- Carlos Valenzuela, top United Nations electoral expert in Iraq, says that despite the absence of international monitors, "Things could go wrong ... But, so far, everything is on track" for Iraqi national assembly elections in January 2005. (AP/Boston Globe) (NYT)
- Margaret Hassan, the humanitarian aid worker who was kidnapped in Baghdad on October 19, is shown on the al Jazeera television network pleading for her life. (BBC)
- U.S. and Iraqi forces reportedly detain Sheikh Abdel-Sattar Abdel-Jabbar, a Sunni Muslim cleric and a leading member of the Muslim Clerics' Association, a group which, according to members, has played a major role in hostage negotiations and in negotiating the recent cease-fire in Fallujah. The U.S. military, however, says it has no record of any Iraqi cleric being arrested in Baghdad. (Reuters) Archived 2004-10-23 at the Wayback Machine (al-Jazeera)
- United States Air Force planes strike suspected weapons dumps in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. Local hospital officials say seven people were killed and three were wounded. (Turkish Press)