Portal:Current events/2004 February 26

February 26, 2004 (Thursday)

IDF soldiers fire against protesters against the Israeli West Bank barrier killing two and injuring 20, several of them seriously. (CNN)
The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years. (Reuters) Archived 2004-05-04 at archive.today
Expressions by Disney shareholders of a lack of confidence in its management continue. Five more state pension funds announced that they will not vote for the re-election of chairman (and chief executive) Michael Eisner at next week's meeting. These pension funds – New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia – are following the lead of California – CalPERS made its announcement to the same effect Wednesday. (TheStreet)
Russian President Vladimir Putin opens the 2,165 km (1,345 mi) Chita-to-Khabarovsk Amur Highway connecting the Russian Far East alongside the Pacific to the rest of the country. Construction of the highway was begun in 1978. (Guardian) (Tri-Valley Herald)
The President of the Republic of Macedonia Boris Trajkovski died in an airplane accident.
Swiss police are investigating a man in the killing of an air traffic controller. The suspect apparently lost his family in the 2002 Überlingen mid-air collision; the murder victim was on duty at the time of the crash.
Microsoft's Japan headquarters are raided on suspicion of violating anti-monopoly laws by the fair trade watchdog. (BBC) (Mainichi)^{[permanent dead link]}
Israel raids four banks in the West Bank seizing currency amounting to over 6 million dollars from accounts which it alleged had been used to fund terrorism. Israel claims it will use the funds for humanitarian projects in Palestinian areas. The U.S. State Department criticized the Israeli raid, and Palestinian Arabs condemned it utterly. (VOA) (SVT)
Clare Short, former British Cabinet Minister, alleges on the BBC Today radio programme that British spies regularly intercept UN communications, including those of Kofi Annan, its Secretary-General. (BBC) (Scotsman) The claim comes the day after Katharine Gun, formerly an employee of British spy agency GCHQ, had a charge of breaching the Official Secrets Act 1989 dropped after prosecutors offered no evidence, apparently on the advice of the Attorney General for England and Wales. Gun had admitted leaking American plans to bug UN delegates to a newspaper. (BBC)
Same-sex marriage in the United States:
- The mayor of New Paltz, a village in New York State, announces that the town will start performing civil marriages for same-sex couples. It will not attempt to issue marriage certificates, but married couples in New York State have six months from the date of their wedding to seek a certificate. (365Gay)
- Rosie O'Donnell marries her partner Kelli Carpenter at San Francisco City Hall. (AP)