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[†]
2004Doug Ault, American baseball player and manager (born 1950)[†]
Douglas Reagan Ault was an American professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter who played for the Texas Rangers (1976) and Toronto Blue Jays. He is best known for hitting the first two home runs in Blue Jays history, in the team's first Major League Baseball (MLB) game on April 7, 1977, a 9–5 Toronto win against the Chicago White Sox.
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is hiring as many as 20 pilots a month and will add 500 flight attendants in 2005 as airline expands to meet growth in air travel; expects to raise seating capacity in 2005 by 5 percent to 7 percent; forecasts intercontinental traffic growth to exceed that figure (S)
Comment on Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven, chocolate factory and emporium on Hudson Street in SoHo; photos (L)
Some fathers in New York area take on challenge of caring for children and home as their wives work, braving the isolation and lingering stigma this entails; Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that slightly more than 5 percent of men with children under 18 stay home, outnumbered by stay-at-home moms by six to one; photos (M)
Justice Department is appointing monitor to examine American International Group's books for last four years; monitor is subject to approval by Securities and Exchange Commission and company; monitor, as well as $126 million in penalties and restitution, is heavy price of settlement between company and SEC and Justice Department; accord covers loss-hiding transactions company arranged for PNC Financial Services and Brightpoint; use of independent monitor is unusual step, and it underscores how little is known, by regulators, analysts, shareholders and investors, about sale of insurancelike products that companies buy to smooth their earnings; regulators want to know exactly how many other income-smoothing products were pitched by AIG, and who, in any, bought them; photo of AIG chief executive Maurice R Greenberg (M)
Ifo Institute says Germany's economy will expand 1.2 percent in 2005; Hamburg Institute of International Economics is forecasting growth of 0.9 percent, down from 1.7 percent in 2004 (S)
Three hours before the game against the Dallas Cowboys here Sunday, Shaun Young was already dressed in his Eagles jersey, shoulder pads, football pants and turf shoes. This might have been unremarkable, except that Young is a Teamster, not anyone's teammate. As he watched in a tent across from Lincoln Financial Field, the mood grew giddily rowdy during a radio promotion. Several Eagles fans ate cockroaches to show their disdain for the hated Cowboys. A chocolate fondue fountain was available for those gourmands with a sweet tooth for household pests.
Stephen Holden reviews movie Hotel Rwanda, directed by Terry George and starring Don Cheadle; photos (M)
MTA chairman Peter S Kalikow says he would be willing to jettison ambitious expansion projects, like Second Avenue subway, if doing so is necessary to save $17.2 billion plan to keep existing transit system in good repair; says he hopes that state legislators and Gov Pataki will realize need to maintain current system as well as to pay for expansion projects, including new subway line and link between Long Island Rail Road and Grand Central Terminal, but acknowledges that achieving both goals may be impossible; photo (L)
Internal report warned top executives at Newmont Mining Corp in 2001 that company's mine in Buyat Bay, Indonesia, was putting tons of toxic mercury vapors into air; sheds new light on operations at one of most troubled mines of Denver-based Newmont, which has drawn rising ire of environmental groups and local communities over impact of its operations; adds fuel to charges from Indonesian officials who say they intend to prosecute company for pollution, as well as accusations by former employees that Newmont willfully flouted environmental safeguards around the globe; Newmont denies that it acts outside American or Indonesian law and that its operations or mercury harm local people; map (L)
Sanyo Electric warns that it expects net loss of 71 billion yen ($682 million) of year ending March 31, 2005, compared with earlier forecast for profit of 14 billion yen; cites damage caused to one of its factories in northern Japan by earthquake in October (S)
Janet Maslin Crowd Pleasers column reviews new books filled with visual imagery: State of Fear by Michael Crichton, Night Fall by Nelson DeMille, A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffett, Memory of Running by Ron McLarty and Hot Target by Suzanne Brockmann; photo (M)
Brazil's government-run oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro, reaches agreement to buy controlling stake in Conecta SA, Uruguayan natural gas distributor, for $3.2 million from Spanish group Union Fenosa (S)