On this day
Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
In 2004, the world population was approximately 6,503,377,772 people[†]
2004Hugh Shearer, Jamaican journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica (born 1923)[†]
Hugh Lawson Shearer was a Jamaican trade unionist and politician, who served as the 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1967 to 1972. He was also Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade from 1980 to 1989, under Edward Seaga.
2004Rodger Ward, American race car driver and sportscaster (born 1921)[†]
Rodger Morris Ward was an American racing driver best known for his open-wheel career. He is generally regarded as one of the finest drivers of his generation, and is best known for winning two National Championships, and two Indianapolis 500s, both in 1959 and 1962. He also won the AAA National Stock Car Championship in 1951.
2004The first direct Indonesian presidential election is held.[†]
Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they want to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen depends upon the electoral system used. The most commonly used systems are the plurality system and the two-round system for single-winner elections, such as a presidential election, and proportional representation for the election of a legislature or executive.
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Inventor Uses Technology To Take Aim at Mosquitoes With the threat of West Nile virus and the invasion of fierce Asian tiger mosquitoes in his neighborhood in Arlington, Va., Donald R. Hall was beginning to worry about his granddaughter, Bethany Maurer, playing outside. Mr. Hall, a retired electromechanical engineer, went on the offensive against mosquitoes. He received a patent covering several approaches that rely on the same principal: killing the mosquito eggs rather than the mosquitoes themselves. Among his inventions are an egg-killing birdbath that can run on batteries, solar power or electricity. Patents. [C2.]
Frankfurt Ballet, founded by American choreographer William Forsythe in 1984, holds its final performance in Paris; Forsythe, 55-year-old New Yorker, concluded that he did not want to compromise his artistic freedom when Frankfurt city government signaled plans to cut company's $6 million annual subsidy; new Forsythe Company, based in Frankfurt and Dresden and subsidized by Hesse and Saxony state governments, should be born in January; photos (M)
Draper Fisher Jurvetson venture capital firm holds contest in which entrepreneurs pitch their ideas for billion dollar businesses to Timothy C Draper via Internet; Draper and his partners have reputation for investing in barely formed start-ups most rivals would not consider; photos; drawing (M)
Weehawkin, NJ, will erect plaque to mark 200th anniversary of duel in which Aaron Burr fatally shot Alexander Hamilton on banks of Hudson River; ancestors of both men, who have feuded for generations over shooting, will re-enact duel; photos (M)
Web sites of Sen John Kerry and Democratic National Committee run mainly on open-source software, technology of computing counterculture, while Web sites of Pres Bush and Republican National Committee run on software supplied by Microsoft, industry giant; two sides are defined largely by their approach to intellectual property; many open-source computing fans favor limiting scope and duration of intellectual property laws to spur innovation and efficiency, while Microsoft and others argue intellectual prperty gives United States edge in competitive global economy; David Brunton, founder of Plus Three, which has done much of work on Democratic and Kerry sites, regards open-source software as technological expression of his political beliefs; politics surrounding open-source software do not also fit neatly into party categories; photo (M)
Independence Day is celebrated at beaches, backyards and parks across New York metropolitan area, culminating in Macy's Fourth of July fireworks display on East River; security across region is tight but relatively unobtrusive; photos (M)
Janet Maslin reviews book Little Scarlet by Walter Mosley; photo (M)
Article on recent success of feature-length documentaries at movie box offices, including Michael Moore's record-breaking Fahrenheit 9/11; other popular documentaries include Moore's Bowling for Columbine, Winged Migration and Super Size Me; success of Fahrenheit 9/11, highest-grossing feature-length documentary ever, is prompting movie distributors to view documentaries as potential profit-makers; photos; graph (M)
Hollinger International controlling shareholder Conrad M Black says he will ask Delaware court to block company's planned sale of Telegraph Group to David and Frederick Barclay; will seek to convince court that group represents substantially all of company's assets and that therefore shareholders must vote on plan (M)
Article on Giant Robot, small quarterly Los Angeles magazine with sometimes strange editorial tastes founded by Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong; magazine, celebrating its 10th anniversary, is one of chief arbiters of what is cool and what is not in Asian-American pop culture; photo (M)
Cheney's Doctor Is Dropped From His Medical Team Vice President Dick Cheney's personal doctor has been dropped from Mr. Cheney's medical team. The doctor, Gary Malakoff, has been undergoing treatment for an addiction to prescription drugs for several years, which the vice president was aware of, a medical colleague said. PAGE A10 2 Bystanders Die in Iraq; Fate of Marine Is Uncertain Iraqi troops killed an attacker before he could detonate his vehicle, but the shooting caused the car to explode, killing two bystanders.
Supreme Court's newly concluded 2003-4 term may be remembered as year Chief Justice William H Rehnquist, 79, who has led court with sure hand since his promotion to post 18 years ago, lost his court; his invisibility in cases decided in term's closing days on rights of detainees labeled 'enemy combatants' by Bush administration cited; he failed to play usual role in marshaling fractious colleagues to protect court's institutional prerogatives, which Bush's claim of unreviewable executive power threatened; it seems that he has stood still while court's center of gravity has moved away from him; he was in majority in only eight of 18 cases decided this term by five-member majorities; was in majority in 15 of 21 such decisions two years ago and 7 of 14 such cases year ago; graph; photos (M)