January 9 - The same storm which pounded the U.S. earlier in the month hits England, Scandinavia and the Baltic States, leaving 13 dead with widespread flooding and power cuts.
February 16 - The National Hockey League cancels its 2004-2005 season, becoming the first North American professional league to cancel a season due to a labour dispute.
February 19 - Suicide bombers kill more than 30 people in Iraq as Shia Muslims mark Ashura, their holiest day.
February 20 - Spain holds a referendum on the Constitution for Europe, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.
February 22 - More than 500 people are killed and over 1,000 injured after entire villages are flattened in an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale in the Zarand region of Kerman province in southern Iran.
February 23 - A controversial French law on colonialism, requiring teachers to paint it in a positive light, is passed by the national legislature.
February 24 - David Hernandez Arroyo goes on a shooting rampage at the Smith County Courthouse in Tyler, Texas. He kills two, including his ex-wife, and wounds four others before being killed in a police chase.
March 4 - The car of released Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena is fired on by U.S. soldiers in Iraq, causing the death of one passenger and injuring two more.
March 4 - The United Nations warns that about 90 million Africans could be infected with HIV in the future, without further action against the spread of the disease.
March 14 - Approximately one million people gather for an opposition rally in Beirut, a month after the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. It is the largest rally in Lebanon's history.
March 19 - A time bomb explodes in a Muslim shrine in Quetta, southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 29 people and wounding 40.
March 19 - A blast occurs at the Xishui coal mine in Shuozhou, China, and rocks nearby Kangjiayao coal mine, killing up to 59.
March 19 - Wales beat Ireland 32 - 20 to win their first Grand Slam since 1978 in Rugby Union's Six Nations tournament.
March 20 - At least 250 people in Japan are injured and at least one killed, when a magnitude 7 earthquake strikes west of Kyushu Island, just 9km (5.5 miles) below the ocean floor.
April 7 - A suicide bomber blows himself up in Cairo's Khan al Khalili market, killing 2 foreign tourists and wounding 17 others. A group called "Islamic Pride Brigades" claims responsibility.
April 15 - At least 21 people die and around 50 are injured in a devastating fire at a hotel in central Paris.
April 15 - Shanghai Automotive rules out any possibility of going back on its decision to pull out of a venture with MG Rover. This results in the largest independent British carmaker finishing production with the loss of more than 6,000 jobs at its huge Longbridge plant in Birmingham.
April 20 - Fifty six are hurt as earthquake hits Fukuoka and Kasuga, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The earthquake measured a magnitude of 5.8 on the Richter scale.
April 20 - President Lucio Gutiérrez of Ecuador is said to have fled after Congress voted to sack him amid growing protests.
April 26 - Facing international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29 year military domination of that country.
May 1 - A suicide attack targets a Kurdish funeral in the northern Iraqi town of Talafar, near Mosul, killing at least 25 people and injuring more than 30 others. Earlier, at least 5 policemen and 4 civilians were killed in two separate attacks in Baghdad.
May 2 - A blast at an illegal munitions store in northern Afghanistan kills 28 people and injures at least 13 others.
May 3 - At least 32 people are killed and 9 others injured when 3 two-story buildings in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore collapse after gas cylinders stored in one of them explode.
May 4 - In one of the largest insurgent attacks in Iraq, at least 60 people are killed and dozens wounded in a suicide bombing at a Kurdish police recruitment center in Irbil, northern Iraq.
May 27 - Mark Hobson is sentenced to life imprisonment for four murders committed in Yorkshire the previous summer. The trial judge recommends that Hobson, a 35-year-old former binman, should never be released from prison.
June 17 - Because of "quadruple-witching" options and futures expiration, the New York Stock Exchange sees the heaviest first-hour trading on record. 704 million shares are traded between 9:30-10:30 A.M. (1.92 billion shares for the day).
.JPG)
