2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. It was designated the:

• International Year of Rice (by the United Nations)
• International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO)

Elections were held in 73 countries during 2004. See a list of elections.

See The world in 2004 for a description of the state of the world in this year.

Events

January

• January 1 - Pervez Musharraf gets the vote of confidence from Parliament and provincial assemblies to continue as President of Pakistan.
• January 3 - Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, killing all 148 aboard.
• January 4 -
  • Mikhail Saakashvili wins the presidential elections in Georgia.
  • NASA's MER-A (Spirit) lands on Mars.
• January 8 - Queen Elizabeth II christens the RMS Queen Mary 2 cruise liner, currently the largest ocean liner in the world.
• January 13 - An Uzbekistan Airways plane crashes in Uzbekistan's capital of Tashkent, killing 37.
• January 22 - The European Union bans the import of poultry from Thailand, as bird flu spreads throughout Southeast Asia.
• January 24 - NASA's MER-B (Opportunity) lands on Mars.
• January 27 - The British government narrowly wins a House of Commons vote on the proposed introduction of tutition top-up fees in British universities.
• January 28 -
  • The findings of the Hutton Inquiry are published in London. The British Government is found not to have falsified information in the "sexed up dossier". The report criticises the BBC's role in the death of David Kelly, a weapons expert on Iraq.
  • At a hearing of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, it is revealed that the September 11, 2001, terrorists used Mace (a brand of tear gas) or pepper spray in overpowering the flight crew of American Airlines Flight 11.

February

• February 1 - A hajj stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills 251 pilgrims.
• February 3 - The CIA admits that there was no imminent threat from weapons of mass destruction before the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
• February 6 - A suicide bomber kills 41 people on a metro car in Moscow.
• February 10 -
  • At least 50 people killed in a car bomb attack on a police recruitment centre south of Baghdad.
  • The French National Assembly votes to pass a law banning religious items and clothing from schools.
• February 12 - Same sex marriage in the United States: The City and County of San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as an act of civil disobedience.
• February 13 - Scientists in South Korea announce the cloning of 30 human embryos.
• February 14 - Riots break out between police and Aboriginal residents of Redfern, a suburb of Sydney, Australia.
• February 18 - A train carrying a convoy of petrol, fertiliser, and sulfur derails and explodes in Iran, killing 320 people.
• February 20 - Conservatives win a majority in the Iranian parliament election.
• February 24 - 6.5 Richter scale earthquake in Northern Morocco hits in the Rif mountains near the city of Al Hoceima - over 400 dead. Ait Kamara is destroyed. 517 dead.
• February 26 - The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.
• February 29 -
  • 2004 Haiti rebellion: Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as president of Haiti. The chief justice of the Haitian Supreme Court, Boniface Alexandre, is sworn in as interim president.
  • Nippon TV moves from Kojimachi, Tokyo, Japan to Shiodome, Tokyo, Japan.

March

• March 2 -
  • John Kerry effectively clinches the U.S. Democratic Party presidential nomination, 2004 by winning nine out of 10 "Super Tuesday" primaries and caucuses.
  • NASA announces that the Mars rover MER-B (Opportunity), has confirmed that the area of Mars they landed in was once drenched in water.
• March 10 - Five British men released from detention at Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay land at RAF Brize Norton. Four are immediately arrested for questioning.
• March 11 - Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid kill 190 people.
• March 12 - Following the terrorist attacks in Madrid on March 11, millions of protesters take to the streets of Spanish cities against terrorism.
• March 14 -
  • Two suicide bombers kill eleven Israeli civilians in Ashdod, Israel.
  • The Spanish parliamentary elections of 2004 take place. The incumbent government led by José María Aznar is defeated by the Socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
  • Presidential elections in Russia are held. Vladimir Putin easily wins a second term.
• March 15 -
  • A trio of astronomers announce they have discovered a large trans-Neptunian object, the largest object found in the solar system since Pluto was discovered in 1930. Initially designated 2003 VB₁₂, it was named 90377 Sedna in late September.
  • The new Spanish government announces that it will withdraw Spain's 1,300 troops in Iraq.
• March 17 - Organized violence breaks out over two days in Kosovo. Nineteen people are killed, 139 Serbian homes are burned, schools and businesses are vandalized, and over 30 orthodox monasteries and churches are burned and destroyed.
• March 19 - The UN launches a corruption investigation due to the scandal over its Iraqi Oil for Food program.
• March 20 - President Chen Shui-bian wins the Taiwanese presidential election by 0.2% of the vote. The day before, he and Vice President Annette Lu were 'shot'. Lien Chan refuses to concede and demands a recount. A controversial 'peace referendum' opposed by the People's Republic of China is invalidated.
• March 21 -
  • The 2004 Malaysian general election takes place. The incumbent Barisan Nasional party wins 198 out of 219 seats in the Malaysian Parliament.
  • Tony Saca is elected President of El Salvador (inauguration June 1).
• March 22 - Palestinians protest in the streets after an Israeli helicopter gunship fires a missile at the entourage of Ahmed Yassin in Gaza City, killing Yassin and 7 others.
• March 25 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair visits Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, in return for the dismantling of Libya's WMD programme in December 2003 - the first time a major western leader has visted the nation in several decades.
• March 28 - In France, the government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin suffers a stunning and unprecedented defeat in regional elections.
• March 29 -
  • The Republic of Ireland bans smoking in restaurants, pubs and bars.
  • Largest expansion of NATO to date, allowing Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia into the organization.
• March 31 - Four American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed and their bodies mutilated after being ambushed in Fallujah, Iraq.

April

• April 3 - A bomb explosion in a Madrid flat kills a Spanish policeman and five terrorists suspected of responsibility for the Madrid train bombings on March 11.
• April 4 - Serious fighting breaks out in Najaf, Sadr City, and Basra in Iraq as Shia insurgents supporting Muqtada al-Sadr rise against coalition forces.
• April 5 - Queen Elizabeth II begins a state visit to France to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale
• April 8 -
  • Darfur conflict: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups.
  • Three Japanese citizens are taken hostage in Iraq.
• April 16 - India defeats Pakistan in their first cricket tour in 14 years
• April 17 - Israeli helicopters fire missiles at a convoy of vehicles in the Gaza Strip, killing the Gaza leader of Hamas, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi.
• April 21 - Mordechai Vanunu, who revealed an Israeli nuclear weapons programme in the 1980s, is released from prison in Israel after an 18 year term for treason.
• April 22 -
  • Two trains carrying explosives and fuel collide in the North Korean town of Ryongchon, killing 161 people, injuring 1,300 and destroying thousands of homes.
  • The last coal mine in France closes, ending nearly 300 years of coal mining.
• April 25 - Referenda on a United Nations plan, which proposes to re-unite the island of Cyprus, take place in both the Greek and Turkish parts. Although the Turks vote in favour, the Greeks reject the proposal.
• April 28 - Abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is revealed on the television show 60 Minutes II.

May

• May 1 - the largest expansion to date of the European Union takes place, extending the Union by 10 member-states: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Malta and Cyprus.
• May 6 - The final episode of Friends airs on NBC, drawing an estimated 52 million viewers in North America.
• May 9 - Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed by landmine placed under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial parade in Grozny.
• May 11 - An explosion destroys a plastics factory in Glasgow, UK, killing nine people and injuring over a hundred.
• May 12 - An American civilian contractor in Iraq, Nick Berg, is shown being decapitated by a group allegedly linked to al-Qaida on a web-distributed video.
• May 13 - In India, the Congress Party wins a surprise victory in the elections to the Lok Sabha.
• May 14 - Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, marries Australian Mary Donaldson in Copenhagen.
• May 17 -
  • Ezzedine Salim, holder of the rotating leadership of the Iraqi Governing Council, is killed in a bomb blast in Baghdad.
  • Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage in compliance with a ruling from the state's Supreme Judicial Court (Goodridge et al. v. Department of Public Health).
• May 18 - The IOC announces the short list of candidates for the 2012 Summer Olympics: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris. Unsuccessful cities are Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig and Rio de Janeiro.
• May 19 -
  • Tony Blair is hit with a purple flour bomb in the chamber of the House of Commons during a session of Prime Minister's Questions.
  • Jeremy Sivits pleads guilty in a court-martial in connection with alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.
• May 23 -
  • A section of the ceiling in Terminal 2E at Paris's Charles de Gaulle International Airport collapses, claiming at least six lives.
  • Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi visits North Korea to secure the release of the families of the nine abducted Japanese citizens returned earlier.
• May 26 - Terry Nichols is convicted by an Oklahoma state court on murder charges stemming from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
• May 29 - Dedication of the National World War II Memorial takes place in Washington, DC.
• May 30 - Thousands of people in Hong Kong take to the streets to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

June

• June 6 - The 60th anniversary of D-Day is remembered by world leaders.
• June 8 -
  • The first transit of Venus since 1882 occurs; the next one will occur in 2012.
  • The G8 Summit takes place over the next 2 days on Sea Island, in Georgia, USA.
  • The pickled heart of Louis XVII of France is buried in the royal crypt at Saint-Denis.
• June 11
  • Terry Nichols is spared the death penalty by an Oklahoma state court on murder charges stemming from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The decision came on the third anniversary of the execution of his co-defendant, Timothy James McVeigh, in Terre Haute, Indiana.
  • After the first presidential state funeral since 1973, President Ronald Wilson Reagan is laid to rest at Simi Valley, California, at the site of the Reagan Presidential Library.
• June 12 - A 1.3 kg chondrite type meteorite struck a house in Ellerslie, New Zealand causing serious damage but no injuries.
• June 16 - The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (or "9/11 Commission") issues an initial report of its findings.
• June 21 - SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately-funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
• June 28 -
  • The U.S.-led coalition occupying Iraq transfers sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government.
  • 2004 Canadian election: The Liberal Party, led by Paul Martin, is reduced to a minority government, after holding a majority since November 1993.
• June 30 - The preliminary hearings begin in Iraq in the trial of former president Saddam Hussein, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

July

• July 1 - The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft arrives at Saturn.
• July 4 -
  • Groundbreaking of Freedom Tower at Ground Zero in New York City.
  • The EURO 2004 final between Portugal and Greece takes place in Lisbon, Portugal. Greece wins the match 1:0.
• July 15 - 18 - The Open Championship in golf takes place in Troon, Scotland.
• July 25 -
  • Over 100,000 opponents to Israel's unilateral disengagement plan of 2004 participate in a human chain from Gush Katif, to the Western Wall, Jerusalem (90 kilometers).
  • Lance Armstrong of Austin, Texas wins an unprecedented 6th consecutive Tour de France cycling title.

August

• August 1 - Supermarket fire in Asunción, Paraguay, kills about 400 people and leaves over 100 missing.
• August 3 - Statue of Liberty reopens after security improvements.
• August 6 - A United Nations report that blames the government of Sudan for crimes against humanity in Darfur is released.
• August 12 - Singapore's prime minister Goh Chok Tong hands over his position to Lee Hsien Loong.
• August 13 -
  • The 2004 Summer Olympics begin in Athens They end on August 29.
  • Hurricane Charley kills 27 people in Florida after killing four in Cuba and one in Jamaica. Charley made landfall near Cayo Costa, FL as a Category 4 hurricane. Charley was the most intense hurricane to strike the United States since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
• August 21 - A series of blasts rocks a rally of an opposition party in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing at least 13 people.
• August 22 - Armed robbers steal Edvard Munch's The Scream, Madonna and other paintings from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway.
• August 24 - Two airliners in Russia, carrying a total of 89 passengers, crash within minutes of each other after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, leaving no survivors. Authorities suspect suicide attacks by rebels from Chechnya to be the cause of the crashes.
• August 29 - Around 200,000 protesters demonstrate in New York City against President George W. Bush and his government, ahead of the 2004 Republican National Convention.
• August 31 -
  • Two suicide attacks on buses in Beer Sheva, Israel, kill at least 16 people and injure at least 60. Hamas claims responsibility for the attacks.
  • A woman commits a suicide attack near a subway station in northern Moscow, Russia, killing at least 10 people and injuring at least 50. Authorities hold Chechen rebels responsible.

September