2004 London Labour Party mayoral selection, Background
However, in 2004, Livingstone was readmitted to the Labour Party, after passing a "loyalty test" interview with senior Labour Party officials. Gavron announced she would step aside, leaving a vacancy for Labour's Mayoral candidate.


2004 London Labour Party mayoral selection, Process
London Labour Party members and affiliates were balloted on whether Livingstone should be nominated as Labour's Mayoral candidate; they were given the option to answer 'yes' or 'no' to whether they wanted Livingstone as the candidate. Affiliates and members had 50% of the votes each in an Electoral College.


2004 London Marathon
The 2004 London Marathon was the 24th running of the annual marathon race in London, United Kingdom, which took place on Sunday 18 April. The race was the coldest London Marathon in history, and the wettest race in history until it was surpassed in 2020.


2004 London Marathon
The elite men's race was won by Kenya's Evans Rutto in a time of 2:06:18 and the women's race was won in 2:22:35 by Margaret Okayo, also of Kenya. In the wheelchair races, Mexico's Saúl Mendoza (1:36:56) and Italy's Francesca Porcellato (2:04:58) won the men's and women's divisions, respectively. In the mass-participation race, a total of 31,659 runners, 23,265 men and 8,394 women, finished the race.


2004 London Marathon, Competitors
The men's race featured 2003 winner Gezahegne Abera and Evans Rutto, whose debut time at the 2003 Chicago Marathon was the fastest first race time by anyone, and was enough to win the event. Sammy Korir, who had recorded the second fastest marathon of all-time also competed, as did Moroccan world champion Jaouad Gharib. Paul Tergat, the world record holder in the men's marathon, did not compete due to an injury.


2004 London Marathon, Competitors
The women's race featured Margaret Okayo, who had won two New York City Marathons, and Sun Yingjie was a favourite for the race. Sun had set the third fastest time ever at the 2003 Beijing Marathon. Paula Radcliffe, who won the 2003 race did not compete; she had set the women's marathon world record at that event.


2004 London Marathon, Race summary
The elite and wheelchair races started in dry conditions, though the course became wet later on. It was the coldest London Marathon in history, as the temperature was 5.3 °C (41.5 °F) at the start of the races. There was 12.4 millimetres (0.49 in) of rain during the race, making it at the time the wettest London Marathon event in history; the 2020 London Marathon later surpassed the 2004 race for amount of rain, as it was run during Storm Alex.


2004 London Marathon, Race summary
The men's race was won by Kenyan Evans Rutto. Sammy Korir finished second and Jaouad Gharib finished third. Gezahegne Abera withdrew from the race after about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi). Rutto, Korir and John Yuda Msuri broke away from the pack around 25 kilometres (16 mi) into the race, and Yuda was distanced from the pair about 6 miles (9.7 km) from the finish line. During the race, Rutto fell on a cobblestone section near to the Tower of London and brought down Korir; the 2005 race was rerouted to avoid these cobblestones.


2004 London Marathon, Race summary
At the time, Rutto's time of 2:06:18 was the best finishing time for a marathon that year. Rutto was not selected in the Kenyan team for the 2004 Summer Olympics, as Korir was chosen instead. Jon Brown was the highest place British finisher, and he finished faster than the Olympic qualifying time.


2004 London Marathon, Race summary
The women's race was won by Kenyan Margaret Okayo, ahead of Lyudmila Petrova in second, and Constantina Diță in third. It was the first time that Kenyan athletes had won both the men's and women's London Marathon events in the same year. Okayo fell behind the leading pack containing Diță after around 10 miles (16 km) of the race, but caught and passed the leaders around 20 miles (32 km) into the race. Diță was overtaken in the closing stages of the race. Tracey Morris was the highest finishing Briton in the race; as a result, she was selected for the British marathon team for the 2004 Summer Olympics, alongside Paula Radcliffe and Liz Yelling.


2004 London Marathon, Race summary
The men's wheelchair race was won by Mexican Saúl Mendoza, with David Weir finishing second. During the race, Mendoza accidentally followed a police motorbike which diverted him away from the course.


2004 London Marathon, Race summary
The women's wheelchair race was won by Italian Francesca Porcellato for the second successive year. Briton Paula Craig finished second, with Swedish debutant Gunilla Wallengren finishing third.


2004 London Marathon, Race summary, Non-elite race
The mass-participation event had three start points. The races from those locations were started by former runner Roger Bannister, rugby union player Jonny Wilkinson and then IAAF president Lamine Diack respectively. A total of 108,000 people applied to enter the race: 45,219 had their applications accepted and 32,746 started the race. A total of 31,659 runners, 23,265 men and 8,394 women, finished the race. Finishers included Fauja Singh, who was aged 93, and finished in a time of 6:07:13. Singh was the oldest finisher at any London Marathon.


2004 London Marathon, Race summary, Non-elite race
Emmerdale star Tony Audenshaw was the first celebrity to finish, and other notable celebrity participants included chefs Gordon Ramsay and Michel Roux, as well as jockey Richard Dunwoody, former cricketer Graham Gooch, former swimmer Adrian Moorhouse, former England football manager Graham Taylor, former leader of the Conservative Party Iain Duncan Smith and politician Jeffrey Archer.


2004 London mayoral election
The 2004 election to the post of Mayor of London took place on 10 June 2004. It was being held on the same day as other local elections and the UK part of the 2004 European Parliament elections, so Londoners had a total of five votes on three ballot papers. Polling opened at 07:00 local time, and closed at 22:00. See : 2004 UK elections. The Supplementary Vote system was used.


2004 London mayoral election
Ken Livingstone gained the Labour party's nomination on 2 January 2004, three weeks after being re-admitted to the Labour Party, after deputy Mayor Nicky Gavron, the previous candidate-elect, stepped down in favour of Livingstone.


2004 London mayoral election, Candidate selection, Liberal Democrats
On 5 March 2003 Simon Hughes, MP for North Southwark and Bermondsey and Frontbench Spokesman for Home Affairs was selected as the Liberal Democrats candidate over Susan Kramer, the Liberal Democrats 2000 candidate for the mayorship and the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Richmond Park, and environmentalist Donnachadh McCarthy.


2004 London mayoral election, Summary of policies
Simon Hughes - A New Mayor for a Greater London


2004 London mayoral election, Potential candidates
London-born comedian Lee Hurst seriously considered standing as a candidate in the election. His comedy club had been under threat of redevelopment, and this had re-ignited a spark of political ambition. His manifesto would probably have included policies such as scrapping bus lanes and the congestion charge, improving public transport (including the re-introduction of bus conductors and AEC Routemaster buses), and tackling crime and abandoned cars.


2004 London–Sydney Marathon
The 2004 London–Sydney Marathon was the fifth running of the London–Sydney Marathon. The rally took place between the 5th of June and the 4th of July 2004. The event covered 9,300 miles (15,000 km) through Europe, Asia and Australia. It was won by Joe McAndrew and Murray Cole in a Honda Integra Type-R.


2004 London–Sydney Marathon, Background
In 2004, Nick Brittan and his company, Trans World Events, who had organise long-distance endurance rallies for the last decade including the last two London–Sydney Marathons in 1993 and in 2000 decided to organise another London-Sydney Marathon but this time featuring pre-1978 classic cars and modern FIA Group N showroom cars, limited to two wheel drive and naturally aspirated engines up to 2000cc.


2004 London–Sydney Marathon, Background
The route would see competitors cross Europe in the first twelve days of the event before the cars would be airlifted by the Antonov An-124 cargo planes hired by TWE from Turkey to India with competitors driving through India for the next eight days before being airlifted to Australia for the last ten days of the rally.


2004 Longford County Council election
An election to Longford County Council took place on 11 June 2004 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 21 councillors were elected from four electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office.


2004 Los Angeles Dodgers season
The 2004 Los Angeles Dodgers season was the 116th for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their 47th season in Los Angeles, California. It brought change to the Dodgers as the sale of the franchise to developer Frank McCourt was finalized during spring training. McCourt promptly dismissed General Manager Dan Evans and hired Paul DePodesta to take over the team. That led to a flurry of trade activity as the new group attempted to rebuild the Dodgers in their image.


2004 Los Angeles Dodgers season
Despite it all, the Dodgers managed to finish the season in first place in the Western Division of the National League and won their first post season game since 1988. However they lost the NL Division Series 3-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals.


2004 Los Angeles Dodgers season, 2004 National League Division Series
The 2004 National League Division Series was played between the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals. St. Louis ended up winning the series 3-1.


2004 Los Angeles Dodgers season, Major League Baseball Draft
The Dodgers selected 52 players in this draft. Of those, nine of them would eventually play Major League baseball. They gained an extra first round pick and a supplemental first round pick as compensation for the loss of free agent pitcher Paul Quantrill.


2004 Los Angeles Dodgers season, Major League Baseball Draft
With their three first round picks, the Dodgers selected left handed pitcher Scott Elbert from Seneca High School, right-handed pitcher Justin Orenduff from Virginia Commonwealth University and second baseman Blake DeWitt from Sikeston High School. Elbert became a relief pitcher for the Dodgers, but numerous injuries kept him from reaching his potential. Orenduff never reached the Majors, pitching in 131 minor league games through 2011. DeWitt hit .257 in 426 games in the Majors, primarily as a utility player.


2004 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
The 30th Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, announced on 11 December 2004 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, honored the best in film for 2004.


2004 Los Angeles Sparks season
The 2004 WNBA season was the eighth for the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks' head coach, Michael Cooper, left the team during the season. Despite with that, the team finished in first place in the West, but they were unable to make another playoff run, losing in the opening round to the Sacramento Monarchs.


2004 Los Angeles Sparks season, Offseason, Dispersal Draft
Based on the Sparks' 2003 record, they would pick 2nd in the Cleveland Rockers dispersal draft. The Sparks picked Isabelle Fijalkowski.


2004 Louisiana Amendment 1
Louisiana Constitutional Amendment 1 of 2004, is an amendment to the Louisiana Constitution that makes it unconstitutional for the state to recognize or perform same-sex marriages or civil unions. The referendum was approved by 78% of the voters.


2004 Louisiana Amendment 1
Marriage in the state of Louisiana shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman. No official or court of the state of Louisiana shall construe this constitution or any state law to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any member of a union other than the union of one man and one woman. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized. No official or court of the state of Louisiana shall recognize any marriage contracted in any other jurisdiction which is not the union of one man and one woman.


2004 Louisiana Democratic presidential primary
The 2004 Louisiana Democratic presidential primary was held on March 9 in the U.S. state of Louisiana as one of the Democratic Party's statewide nomination contests ahead of the 2004 presidential election.


2004 Louisiana Republican presidential primary
The 2004 Louisiana Republican presidential primary was held on March 9 in the U.S. state of Louisiana as one of the Republican Party's statewide nomination contests ahead of the 2004 presidential election.


2004 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team
The 2004 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team represented Louisiana Tech University as a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) during the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by sixth-year head coach Jack Bicknell Jr., the Bulldogs played their home games at Joe Aillet Stadium in Ruston, Louisiana and Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech finished the season with a record of 6–6 overall and a mark of 5–3 in conference play, tying for third place in the WAC.


2004 Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns football team
The 2004 Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns football team represented the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as a member of the Sun Belt Conference in the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. They were led by third-year head coach Rickey Bustle played their home games at Cajun Field in Lafayette, Louisiana.


2004 Louisiana–Monroe Indians football team
The 2004 Louisiana–Monroe Indians football team represented the University of Louisiana at Monroe in the 2004 NCAA Division I-A college football season. The Indians offense scored 211 points while the defense allowed 303 points.


2004 Louisville Cardinals football team
The 2004 Louisville Cardinals football team represented the University of Louisville in the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team, led by Bobby Petrino in his second year at the school, played their home games in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. They finished 11–1 and were the Conference USA champions with a perfect 8–0 conference record in their last season before leaving to join the Big East Conference. They were invited to and won the Liberty Bowl, defeating Western Athletic Conference champion Boise State 44–40.


2004 Louisville Cardinals football team, Previous season
The Cardinals finished the 2003 season with a 9–4 record, losing to Miami (OH) in the 2003 GMAC Bowl.


2004 Louth County Council election
An election to Louth County Council took place on 11 June 2004 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 26 councillors were elected from five electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office.


2004 Lunar New Year Cup
The 2004 Lunar New Year Cup (aka Carlsberg Cup) was a football tournament held in Hong Kong over the first and fourth day of the Chinese New Year holiday (22 January 2004 and 25 January 2004).


2004 Luxembourg general election
General elections were held in Luxembourg on 13 June 2004, alongside European Parliament elections. The ruling Christian Social People's Party (CSV) of Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker won the election, increasing its number of seats to its highest since before 1989 and its share of the vote to levels not seen since the 1959 election.


2004 Luxembourg general election
As expected, the CSV won a plurality of seats, adding 5 new deputies, and continued as the majority partner in the coalition government. However, the junior partner changed from the liberal Democratic Party (DP), which lost 5 seats, to the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP), which gained one seat. The Greens also slightly increased their representation, whilst the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR) lost ground.


2004 Luxembourg general election, Results, By locality
The CSV won pluralities in all four districts; in the previous election, the Democratic Party had won a plurality in Centre. However, the CSV won a better-than-average increase in their vote share in Luxembourg City (of 7.4%) and Centre generally (7.5%), wiping out the DP's advantage and winning 2 deputies in that circonscription alone. The CSV's vote remaining roughly constant across all circonscriptions (in all cases between 35.5% and 38.6%):


2004 Luxembourg general election, Results, By locality
The CSV won pluralities across almost all of the country, winning more votes than any other party in 111 of the country's (then) 118 communes. The LSAP won pluralities in five communes in the industrial Red Lands: Differdange, Dudelange, Kayl, Rumelange, Schifflange. The DP won the northern communes of Schieren and Préizerdaul.


2004 MAC Championship Game
The 2004 MAC Championship Game was played on December 2, 2004 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. The game featured the winner of each division of the Mid-American Conference. The game featured the Miami RedHawks, of the East Division, and the Toledo Rockets, of the West Division. The Rockets beat the RedHawks 35–27.


2004 MAC Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2004 MAC Men's Basketball Tournament, a part of the 2003-04 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, took place from March 8–13 at Gund Arena in Cleveland. Its winner received the Mid-American Conference's automatic bid to the 2004 NCAA Tournament. It was a single-elimination tournament with four rounds, and the three highest seeds received byes in the first round. All MAC teams were invited to participate. Western Michigan, the MAC regular season winner, received the number one seed in the tournament.


2004 MLB Japan All-Star Series
The 2004 MLB Japan All-Star Series was the ninth edition of the championship, a best-of-eight series between the All-Star teams from Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).


2004 MLB Japan All-Star Series
MLB won the series by 5–3–0 and Vernon Wells was named MVP.


2004 MLS All-Star Game
The 2004 Major League Soccer All-Star Game was the 9th Major League Soccer All-Star Game, played on July 31, 2004 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. between the Eastern Conference All-Stars and Western Conference All-Stars. The Eastern Conference earned the victory after a hard-fought 3-2 win over the West.


2004 MLS All-Star Game, Overview
The game was originally scheduled to be between the MLS All-Stars against Real Madrid at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Once the Spanish team instead decided to play friendlies in Japan, they opted out of the game in the United States and MLS was forced to change the All-Star Game's format. The MLS All-Stars eventually played Real Madrid at their home stadium Santiago Bernabéu in the 2005 Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu.


2004 MLS All-Star Game, Legends game
Prior to the All-Star Game, a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the 1994 FIFA World Cup saw the U.S. Team that played the Cup against played a selection of international MLS veterans in two 25-minute halves. The game finished 2-2, with Raúl Díaz Arce and Mauricio Cienfuegos tying the game in the second-half after the Americans built a lead with Eric Wynalda and Hugo Perez.


2004 MLS Expansion Draft
The 2004 MLS Expansion Draft was held on November 19, 2004 and consisted of 10 rounds. The two new teams, Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake, drafted players from the other 10 Major League Soccer teams.


2004 MLS Expansion Draft
Existing MLS teams were allowed to protect 12 players on their senior roster, and players on the developmental roster were exempt from the draft. Teams were allowed to leave no more than one Senior International player unprotected. After each player was selected, his team was allowed to remove one exposed player from their list. Teams were not able to lose more than three players.


2004 MLS SuperDraft
The 2004 MLS SuperDraft, held in Charlotte, North Carolina on January 16, 2004, was the fifth incarnation of the annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The draft was most notable at the time for the selection of one of the youngest athletes in American sporting history, Freddy Adu, with the first pick by D.C. United.


2004 MLS SuperDraft
The draft also included Clint Dempsey (1st round) and teenager Michael Bradley (4th round). Both players  went on to earn over 120 caps with the U.S. national team; additionally, after an initial stint in MLS, both players had successful careers in Europe, and returned to MLS as designated players.


2004 MLS SuperDraft, Player selection
Any player whose name is marked with an * was contracted under the Project-40 program.


2004 MPC Computers Bowl
The 2004 MPC Computers Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game between the Fresno State Bulldogs and the Virginia Cavaliers on December 27, 2004, at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho. Fresno State won the game 37–34 in overtime on a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Paul Pinegar to Stephen Spach.


2004 MPC Computers Bowl
Virginia had a complicated route to the MPC Computers bowl. Strong hopes based on a 5–0 start and a #6 ranking were dashed by a 36–3 blowout loss to Florida State and a third-place finish in the ACC. The Champs Sports Bowl typically took the fourth-place bowl eligible ACC team, but Virginia declined the bid as the game (played on December 21) would have conflicted with final exams.


2004 MPC Computers Bowl
For a time the Independence Bowl was a possibility, as the Southeastern Conference (SEC) failed to produce enough bowl-eligible teams, but this was contingent on the MPC Computers Bowl getting a Big East school—either Boston College, Connecticut or Syracuse—to replace an ACC team. The MPC Computers bowl normally had the sixth choice of ACC teams, which would have been Georgia Tech or Clemson. Clemson declined all bowl invitations after a season-ending brawl, while Georgia Tech took Virginia's place at the Champs Sports Bowl. The Big East declined to send a team to the MPC Computers Bowl, so on December 1 Virginia accepted the bid.


2004 MPC Computers Bowl
Fresno State accepted a bid on December 1 as well, after finishing third in the Western Athletic Conference. It was Fresno State's six straight bowl game and its first one outside of California since the 1999 Las Vegas Bowl. Virginia and Fresno State had never played each other before.


2004 MPSL season
The 2004 Men's Premier Soccer League season was the 2nd season of the MPSL.


2004 MPSL season
Utah Salt Ratz finished the season as national champions, beating Arizona Sahuaros in the MPSL Championship game


2004 MPSL season, Final standings
Purple indicates regular season title clinchedGreen indicates playoff berth clinched


2004 MPSL season, Playoffs, Semi finals
Utah Salt Ratz 1-0 Chico RooksArizona Sahuaros 4-1 Albuquerque Asylum


2004 MTV Europe Music Awards
The 2004 MTV Europe Music Awards were held at Tor di Valle Racecourse, Rome, Italy.


2004 MTV Europe Music Awards
Award presenters on the night included Jamelia, Alicia Keys, N.E.R.D, Naomi Campbell, Andre 3000, Kid Rock and Kanye West.


2004 MTV Movie Awards
The 2004 MTV Movie Awards were held June 5, 2004, and were hosted by Lindsay Lohan and featured performances by Beastie Boys, D12 and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.


2004 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2004 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on August 29, 2004, honoring the best music videos from the previous year. The show took place at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida, and, unlike in previous years, had no host.


2004 MTV Video Music Awards, Nominations, Best Choreography in a Video
The Black Eyed Peas – "Hey Mama" (Choreographer: Fatima Robinson)


2004 MTV Video Music Awards, Nominations, Best Special Effects in a Video
OutKast – "Hey Ya!" (Special Effects: Elad Offer, Chris Eckardt and Money Shots)


2004 MTV Video Music Awards Japan
The MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2004 were hosted by entertainer and singer Tomomitsu Yamaguchi at Tokyo Bay NK Hall in Urayasu, Chiba.


2004 MTV Video Music Awards Japan, Awards, Best Video from a film
Pink featuring William Orbit — "Feel Good Time" (from Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle)


2004 MTV Video Music Awards Japan, Special awards, Best Director
The White Stripes — "The Hardest Button To Button" (directed by Michael Gondry)


2004 MTV Video Music Awards Japan, Special awards, Best Special Effects
The Chemical Brothers — "Get Yourself High" (Special Effects: Joseph Kahn)


2004 Macau Grand Prix
The 2004 Macau Grand Prix (formally the 51st Macau Grand Prix) was a motor race for Formula Three cars that was held on the streets of Macau on 21 November 2004. Unlike other races, such as the Masters of Formula 3, the 2004 Macau Grand Prix was not a part of any Formula Three championship, but was open to entries from all Formula Three championships. For the first time in the history of the Macau Grand Prix, the race itself was made up of two races: a ten-lap qualifying race that decided the starting grid for the fifteen-lap main race. The 2004 race was the 51st running of the Macau Grand Prix and the 22nd for Formula Three cars.


2004 Macau Grand Prix
The Grand Prix was won by ASM Formule 3 driver Alexandre Prémat, having finished third in previous day's qualification race which was won by Lewis Hamilton of Manor Motorsport. Prémat took the lead of the Grand Prix when Nico Rosberg and Hamilton went too fast into a corner and slid into a tyre barrier at Lisboa corner and held it for the rest of the race to win after it ended early for a four-car pile up at Police Bend that made the circuit impassable on the thirteenth lap. Second place went to the other Manor Motorsport car driven by Robert Kubica while third was Lucas di Grassi of Hitech Racing.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Background and entry list
The Macau Grand Prix is a Formula Three race considered to be a stepping stone to higher motor racing categories such as Formula One and has been termed the territory's most prestigious international sporting event. The 2004 Macau Grand Prix was the fifty-first running of the event and the twenty-second time the race was held to Formula Three regulations. It took place on the 6.2 kilometres (3.9 mi) twenty-two turn Guia Circuit on 21 November 2004 with three preceding days of practice and qualifying.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Background and entry list
In order to compete in Macau, drivers had to compete in a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)-regulated championship meeting during the calendar year, in either the Formula Three Euro Series or one of the domestic championships, with the highest-placed drivers given priority in receiving an invitation to the race. Within the 32 car grid of the event, each of the three major Formula Three series were represented by their respective champion.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Background and entry list
Jamie Green, the Formula Three Euro Series champion, was joined in Macau by the British champion Nelson Piquet Jr., Japanese series victor Ronnie Quintarelli, Italian champion Matteo Cressoni and Asian series winner Christian Jones. The sole driver to represent the German series in Macau was Ho-Pin Tung. Five competitors who did not take part in any Formula Three championship throughout the year received invitations from race organisers to participate in the Macau Grand Prix. They were Formula BMW Asia series winner Marchy Lee, and Macau natives Jo Merszei, Michael Ho, Lei Kit Meng and Rodolfo Ávila.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Background and entry list
After the race was held over two legs since its establishment in 1983, the Macau Grand Prix Committee changed the format for 2004 onward to a ten-lap qualification race on Saturday afternoon which determined the starting order for the Grand Prix itself the day after. Furthermore, any driver who retired from the qualification race could start at the back of the grid for the main event and allow themselves a chance of winning. This was in contrast to previous years when any driver who failed to finish every lap of the first leg could not clinch the overall win. Co -Coordinator of the Macau Grand Prix Committee João Manuel Costa Antunes said the changes were made to simplify the Grand Prix for motor racing fans, enhance tension over the weekend, and to provide a larger incentive for drivers to push hard without worrying about losing their chance of victory.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Two practice sessions lasting half an hour were held before the race on Sunday: one on Thursday morning and one on Friday morning. In the first practice session, ThreeBond Racing's Fábio Carbone set the fastest lap at 2 minutes and 15.216 seconds. Carbone was six-tenths of a second faster than Richard Antinucci in second. Lewis Hamilton (participating as a free agent after his contract with McLaren had expired), Robert Kubica, Nico Rosberg, Kazuki Nakajima, Quintarelli, Danny Watts, Alexandre Prémat and Naoki Yokomizo were third to tenth.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Hamilton's front wheel nut loosened, which prevented him from viewing in his mirrors because of visibility problems. He entered the pit lane to have the problem corrected. Kubica then grazed a barrier at Lisboa corner after swerving to avoid ramming into Álvaro Parente. He later ran wide on cement that was laid to clear oil left from a support series and understeered into the Melco hairpin wall.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Qualifying was divided into two 45-minute sessions; the first was held on Thursday afternoon, and the second on Friday afternoon. The fastest time set by each driver from either session counted towards his final starting position for the qualification race. The start of the opening qualifying session was delayed by fifteen minutes due to multiple accidents during practice for the GT Tires Asian Formula Renault Challenge and the CTM Touring Car Cup races.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
When it did begin in warm and sunny weather, Hamilton led early on and never ceded first as he continued to improve his lap time and finished at 2 minutes and 12.344 seconds. He avoided wrecking his car in a wall after going wide onto some dust. Green was consistently quick and his best lap came at his final attempt. It put him second but more than a second adrift of Hamilton. 2003 pole sitter Carbone was third and Antinucci moved up the order in the closing minutes to place fourth.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Watts was as high as second early on but fell to fifth by the end due to him electing to save a set of tyres for Friday. Rosberg finished sixth, ahead of Franck Perera and Nakajima. Both Quintarelli and Parente were in the top five early on but finished ninth and tenth. The fastest driver not to set a top ten lap was Adam Carroll and he was followed by his British compatriot James Rossiter. Prémat and Nokomizo were provisionally on the grid's seventh row and were joined in the order by Loïc Duval and Piquet.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Rob Austin and Katsuyuki Hiranaka were next up ahead of Tung, Kubica, Ho, Cressoni, Daisuke Ikeda, Lee, Jones, Lucas di Grassi, Marko Asmer, Éric Salignon, Lei, Avila, Merszei and Giedo van der Garde. Van Der Garde crashed on his out-lap at San Francisco Bend corner and removed two of his car's wheels. The first red flag came a third of the way through as Salignon had an accident at Maternity Bend turn and needed extricating. After a short interval, Kubica, Lee, di Grassi, Ikeda and Asmer stopped at the Melco hairpin and track marshals moved their cars. A second red flag came with ten minutes left as Parente heavily damaged his car in an impact with the Teddy Yip Bend corner wall.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
In the second half-hour practice session, Kubica was consistently fast and paced the field with a lap of 2 minutes and 12.303 seconds. Hamilton made some changes to his car but was 0,646 seconds behind his teammate in second and Carbone was third. In fourth place was Antinucci, Prémat was fifth and Green sixth. Perera, Rosberg, Rossiter and Quintarelli completed the top ten ahead of second qualifying.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Although the session passed without a stoppage being necessitated, three minor incidents were observed as Jones lost control of his vehicle at Moorish Hill corner and Van der Garde and Carroll were caught off guard at the same turn but all three did not sustain any significant damage to their cars. Nakajima crashed into a wall just before the entrance to the Melco hairpin.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
The start of the second qualifying session was disrupted when a car appeared to be grounded at the Melco hairpin, which prompted everybody else to scramble for space on the narrow part of the track. Lei put his car into a wall at Faraway turn 12 minutes in and was about to recover when Avila collected him. This caused the session's first red flag since the circuit became impassable. As drivers began improving their times, Salignon triggered the second red flags as he crashed into the Maternity Bend corner wall while attempting to avoid Kubica.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
The final red flag was waved as Nakajima ran wide at the R-Bend turn, spun into a wall, ricocheted into the track's centre, and littered debris. Hamilton did not improve due to the interruptions to the session and him causing a multi-car accident at the Melco hairpin. His teammate Kubica became the first Polish driver to claim pole position in Macau in the final five minutes with a 2 minutes and 12.155 seconds lap. Hamilton joined Kubica on the grid's front row and Anuticci moved up one place at the session's end to start from third.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying
Rosberg claimed fourth and Piquet moved eleven places from the first qualifying session to take fifth. Although Green and Carbone improved their times, they fell to sixth and seventh. Prémat and di Grassi moved to eighth and tenth and separated Nakajima in ninth. Behind them the rest of the field composed of Watts, Duval, Perera, Parente, Quintarelli, Yokomizo, Rossiter, Carroll, Salignon, Hiranaka, Austin, Ikeda, Cressoni, Asmer, Lee, Van der Garde, Tung, Jones, Ho, Avila, Lei and Merszei.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Practice and qualifying, Qualifying classification
Each of the driver's fastest lap times from the two qualifying sessions are denoted in bold.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Warm-up one
A ten-minute warm-up session was held on the morning of the qualifying race. Hamilton carried over his strong form to pace the session with a time of 2 minutes and 12.904 seconds having been more than two seconds faster than any one else in the session's early moments. His closest challenger was Carbone in second and Kubica was third. Rosberg was fourth fastest, ahead of Duval and Watts. Di Grassi, Antinucci, Piquet and Nakajima followed in the top ten.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Qualifying race
The qualifying race to set the starting order for the main race started in dry and sunny weather at 14:00 Macau Standard Time (UTC+08:00) on 20 November. Hamilton made a good getaway to cling onto the slipstream of his teammate Kubica who was on the inside line going into Reservoir turn. Hamilton steered left to frighten Kubica into slowing and claimed the lead on the approach to Mandarin Bend corner and he kept it entering Lisboa turn. Further back, a series of incidents on the grid called for the safety car's deployment for four laps.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Qualifying race
Antinucci was slow leaving his starting slot and Piquet went to the right to overtake him but the latter's manoeuvre ended up with him removing his car's left-front wheel. A larger accident was triggered when Nakajima stalled in his grid slot and the rear of his vehicle was run into by Salignon, who then speared into a barrier alongside the track just after the start/finish line. Tung glimpsed space to drive through but he was launched airborne after striking the rear of Lee's car, who aggressively turned to the right as Avila got collected.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Qualifying race
With debris on the track, the remaining drivers were circumspect across the start/finish line and avoided sharp debris to avoid a punctured tyre. Under the safety car, Piquet returned to the pit lane without his front-left wheel fully attached and he retired because his team could not repair it before the race's conclusion. Salignon was trapped in his car and required external assistance from course officials. This was attributed to the long amount of time the safety car was on the circuit.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Qualifying race
Later, he was transported to a local hospital for precautionary observations and was released with no major injuries found. In the meantime, circuit marshals extricated the stricken cars from the track via crane and laid cement dust. Hamilton held the lead at the lap five restart and Rosberg moved past Kubica entering Mandarin Bend corner. Carroll hassled Perera for eleventh and overtook him before the conclusion of the fifth lap. Carroll then set himself about drawing closer to Rossiter. Elsewhere, Green passed Carbone to claim fourth. Carbone tried to retake the position but could not do so as Green defended. As he pushed hard, Prémat got close to a barrier at Maternity Bend and got past Kubica on the run to Lisboa turn on lap six.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Qualifying race
Duval led a pack of cars further down the order as Rossiter overtook Watts (who carried front wing damage) and the latter contended with Perera. Both slipstreamed each other on the circuit's main straights. But when Antinucci became involved, it went awry as Carroll passed Watts going into Lisboa corner on lap seven. Antinucci was caught off guard by this and had to venture onto the turn's escape road. Antinucci tried to restart his car but was unsuccessful and marshals extricated it.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Qualifying race
Hamilton set the race's fastest lap on lap nine at 2 minutes and 12.801 seconds to pull out a lead of 2.2 seconds and win the race for pole position in the Grand Prix itself. Rosberg was second and Prémat completed the podium in third. Off the podium Kubica withstood pressure from Green in the event's closing stages to claim fourth. Behind them Carbone, Duval, di Grassi, Rossiter and Watts rounded out the top ten. Outside the top ten, Carroll, Perera, Hiranaka, Austin, Yokomizo, Quintarelli, Parente, Ikeda, Asmer, Cressoni, Van Der Garde, Jones, Ho, Lei and Merszei were the final classified finishers.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Warm-up two
A second warm-up session held over 20 minutes took place on the morning of the main race. Kubica recovered from his fourth-place finish in the qualification race and was able to top the time sheets with a lap of 2 minutes and 11.485 seconds. Prémat was almost three-tenths of a second adrift in second and Hamilton was third. Fourth place went to Green, Rosberg placed fifth and Antinucci sixth. The rest of the top ten were Rossiter, Piquet, Watts and Yokomizo. After warm-up, but before the Grand Prix, there was one less driver on the grid as the chassis of Salignon's vehicle sustained enough damage from his qualification race crash to warrant its withdrawal.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Main Race
The race began on 21 November at 15:45 local time under dry and sunny weather. On the grid, Hamilton was slow off the line and Rosberg moved into the lead going into Mandarin Bend corner. Behind the two Prémat held off a challenge from Kubica for third. Rossiter and his teammate Duval made contact on the approach to Lisboa turn. Both went onto the corner's run-off area and their races ended on the first lap.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Main Race
At the start of the second lap, Rosberg was pushing hard in his attempt to give himself some space over Hamilton and spent too much time observing the latter in his rear-view mirrors, causing him to drive into Lisboa turn too quickly with his brakes locked and slid sideways on oil laid by the support races. Rosberg ran into a tyre barrier with his car's front. Hamilton was also pushing hard when he ran wide. That rendered him unable to avoid piling into the rear of Rosberg's car.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Main Race
They were joined by Watts who was alongside Carroll on the straight and braked late. He saw Hamilton's stricken car and ventured onto the escape road. Hiranaka then spun into Watts but the latter avoided any noticeable damage as he returned to the track but the former lost a lot of time restarting his vehicle. Rosberg retired but Hamilton disentangled from his car and rejoined down the order.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Main Race
Hamilton and Rosberg's crashes promoted Prémat into the lead with Kubica second. That lap Prémat got sideways at Moorish Hill corner and grazed a wall heavily with his left-rear tyre. He avoided retirement as there was no significant damage to his car. It did allow Kubica to close up but he could not affect an overtaking manoeuvre on Prémat. Further back, Carbone bent the right-hand side of his front wing when he ran into the rear of di Grassi's car and damaged the latter's diffuser. Nevertheless, the collision did not appear to slow di Grassi.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Main Race
The safety car was dispatched on lap three when Parente crashed heavily at the Solitude Esses complex. Track marshals extricated his car and debris was cleared. Under the safety car, Prémat checked his car's steering and found no problems with it. The race restarted at the start on the sixth lap and Prémat led. Kubica misjudged its timing and Green used this to slipstream past Kubica for second going into Lisboa corner. Kubica's tyres reached their optimum operating temperatures and he began to challenge Green for second as di Grassi blocked his Brazilian compatriot Carbone from a pass for fourth.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Main Race
Carroll challenged Perera but was unsuccessful. Carbone then slowed as Carroll was near him and it enabled di Grassi to pull away slightly. Perera reclaimed sixth from Carroll on lap eight and Austin pressured the former. That lap, Green's chance of victory was over when he picked up a left-rear puncture from possible debris. He lost time running wide at Fisherman's Bend corner. Kubica overtook Green for second and he slowed on his way to the pit lane for new tyres.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Main Race
It appeared that the finishing order had been settled by this point but Ikeda disrupted the rhythm with an accident into a barrier and had to be extricated via crane. Avila and Jones collided at the Solitude Esses complex soon after and the safety car was deployed at the end of the ninth lap since the track was temporarily blocked. Yokomizo went off the track under the safety car; it did not extend its on-track time as it was withdrawn at the end of lap eleven. Prémat maintained the lead at the restart. As Prémat pulled away from Kubica, Carbone took the opportunity to overtake di Grassi for third at Lisboa corner and the latter immediately planned a counter-attack.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Main Race
Carroll tried again at getting ahead of Perera but this did not succeed as he lost control of his car but kept off a barrier. In the meantime, Hamilton attempted to pass Nakajima when he went into a wall going uphill to Maternity Bend corner. Elsewhere, di Grassi sought to overtake Carbone only for the latter to block him. On lap 13, Asmer spun across the track at Police Bend; it became impassable when the trio of Hiranka, Jones and Tung piled into the corner.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Main Race
Officials elected to wave the red flags on the lap and the result of the race was counted back to the running order at the conclusion of lap eleven. This gave Prémat the victory and he became the third driver after David Coulthard (1991) and Takuma Sato (2001) to win the Macau Grand Prix and the Masters of Formula 3 in the same year. Kubica was 0.675 seconds behind in second. Carbone's overtake on di Grassi was nullified because of the red flags and the latter took third.


2004 Macau Grand Prix, Main Race
Off the podium, Carbone was fourth, Perera fifth and the British duo of Carroll and Austin sixth and seventh. Quintarelli placed eighth, Antinucci gained seventeen positions to finish ninth and Piquet rounded out the top ten. Asmer, Watts, Nakajima, Hamilton, Van Der Garde, Tung, Jones, Lee, Lei, Green, Merszei, Yokomizo and Hiranka were the last of the classified finishers.


2004 Macedonian autonomy referendum
An autonomy referendum was held in North Macedonia on 7 November 2004. Voters were asked whether they approved of overturning the municipal redistricting plans that gave greater autonomy to ethnic Albanians following the Ohrid Agreement that ended the 2001 conflict between ethnic Albanian militants and the predominantly ethnic Macedonian government forces. These had been changed to give ethnic Albanians greater control in districts where they had significant presence and gives local authorities greater control over education, health and development. It also reduced the number of municipalities from 123 to 84.


2004 Macedonian autonomy referendum
Although 95% voted in favour of the change, the voter turnout of 27% was well below the 50% threshold, resulting in it failing.


2004 Macedonian autonomy referendum, Background
The referendum was initiated by the World Macedonian Congress, led by Todor Petrov, whose "group of Voters" party won 0.25% of the vote in the 1998 parliamentary election. It was backed by conservative parties, notably VMRO-DPMNE, and non-Albanian ethnic minority parties. Backers were opposed to the Ohrid Accord and said the law was divisive and would lead to the breakup of the Republic of Macedonia.


2004 Macedonian autonomy referendum, Background
The then Prime Minister, Hari Kostov said he would quit if the referendum succeeded and urged voters to boycott the vote, so it would fail to meet the 50% turnout requirement.


2004 Macedonian autonomy referendum, Background
The European Union and United States also urged a boycott, and said that accession to the EU and NATO would be more difficult. Four days before the vote the United States announced they would start referring to the country as the Republic of Macedonia rather than the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in a move said to strengthen the government position.


2004 Macedonian autonomy referendum, Background
Prior to the vote, a Macedonian newspaper carried a story suggesting that if the referendum succeeded, Albanian militants had planned to blow up a pipeline carrying water to the capital Skopje.


2004 Macedonian autonomy referendum, Background
Opinion polls prior to the vote suggested support of between 56 and 65% of voters.


2004 Macedonian autonomy referendum, Question
Are you for the territorial organization of the local self-government (the municipalities and City of Skopje) as determined by the Law on Territorial Division of the Republic of Macedonia and Determination of the Areas of the Local Self-Government Units (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no. 49/1996) and the Law on the City of Skopje (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no. 49/1996).


2004 Macedonian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Macedonia on 14 April 2004, with a second round on 28 April. They followed the death in an air crash in February of incumbent President Boris Trajkovski.


2004 Macedonian presidential election
Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski of the Social Democratic Union won the first round. As he failed to cross the 50% threshold, a second round was held in which he defeated Saško Kedev of Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity. In the immediate aftermath, Kedev alleged massive electoral fraud.


2004 Madeiran regional election
A regional election was held in Madeira on 17 October 2004, to determine the composition of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira. All 68 members of the regional parliament were up for an election, an increase of 6 compared with 2000.


2004 Madeiran regional election
The winner of the election in Madeira was, once more, the Social Democratic Party, and Alberto João Jardim was elected president of the Regional Government with an absolute majority for an 8th consecutive time. The percentage gathered by the Social Democrats decreased by 2%, however, due to the increase of the overall number of MPs, the party gained 3 seats and achieved 44 seats. The People's Party decreased its voting share and its number of MPs, gathering just 2 seats, one of their worst performances.


2004 Madeiran regional election
On the left, the Socialist Party achieved one of their best result until this date, only surpassed by the results in the 2019 elections, by winning more than 27% of the votes and election 19 members to the regional parliament. The Unitarian Democratic Coalition, led by the Portuguese Communist Party, was able to hold on to their 2000 voting share and the 2 MPs of the previous election. The Left Bloc elected one MPs in their first run for the Madeira regional parliament and gathered 3.7% of the votes.


2004 Madeiran regional election
Voter turnout was lower, compared with 2000, with 60.5% of the electorate casting their ballot on election day.


2004 Madeiran regional election, Electoral system
In this election, the members of the regional parliament were elected in 11 constituencies, representing the 11 municipalities of Madeira, that were awarded a determined number of member to elect according with the number of registered voters in those constituencies. The method use to elect the members was the D'Hondt method. In this election the number of MPs to be elected rose from 61 in 2000 to 68.


2004 Madeiran regional election, Political parties
A total of 5 political parties presented lists of candidates for the regional elections in Madeira, where 277,774 electors could elect 68 deputies to the Legislative Assembly. The list of parties running was the following:


2004 Madrid train bombings
The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11M) were nearly simultaneous, coordinated bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004—three days before Spain's general elections. The explosions killed 193 people and injured around 2,000. The bombings constituted the deadliest terrorist attack carried out in the history of Spain and the deadliest in Europe since 1988. The official investigation by the Spanish judiciary found that the attacks were directed by Al-Qaeda in Iraq, allegedly as a reaction to Spain's involvement in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Although they had no role in the planning or implementation, the Spanish miners who sold the explosives to the terrorists were also arrested.


2004 Madrid train bombings
Controversy regarding the handling and representation of the bombings by the government arose, with Spain's two main political parties — Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Partido Popular (PP) — accusing each other of concealing or distorting evidence for electoral reasons. The bombings occurred three days before general elections in which incumbent José María Aznar's PP was defeated.


2004 Madrid train bombings
Immediately after the bombing, leaders of the PP claimed evidence indicating the Basque separatist organization ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) was responsible for the bombings, while the opposition claimed that the PP was trying to prevent the public from knowing it had been an islamist attack, which would be interpreted as the direct result of Spain's involvement in Iraq, an unpopular war which the government had entered without the approval of the Spanish Parliament.


2004 Madrid train bombings
Following the attacks, there were nationwide demonstrations and protests demanding that the government "tell the truth". The prevailing opinion of political analysts is that the Aznar administration lost the general elections as a result of the handling and representation of the terrorist attacks, rather than because of the bombings per se. Results published in The Review of Economics and Statistics by economist Jose G. Montalvo seem to suggest that indeed the bombings had important electoral impact (turning the electoral outcome against the incumbent People's Party and handing government over to the Socialist Party, PSOE).


2004 Madrid train bombings
After 21 months of investigation, judge Juan del Olmo tried Moroccan national Jamal Zougam, among several others, for his participation carrying out the attack. The September 2007 sentence established no known mastermind nor direct al-Qaeda link.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Description
During the peak of Madrid rush hour on the morning of Thursday, 11 March 2004, ten explosions occurred aboard four commuter trains (cercanías). The date led to the popular abbreviation of the incident as "11-M". All the affected trains were traveling on the same line and in the same direction between Alcalá de Henares and the Atocha station in Madrid. It was later reported that thirteen improvised explosive devices (IEDs) had been placed on the trains.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Description
Bomb disposal teams (TEDAX) arriving at the scenes of the explosions detonated two of the remaining three IEDs in controlled explosions, but the third was not found until later in the evening, having been stored inadvertently with luggage taken from one of the trains. The following time-line of events comes from the judicial investigation.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Description
All four trains had departed the Alcalá de Henares station between 07:01 and 07:14. The explosions took place between 07:37 and 07:40, as described below (all timings given are in local time CET, UTC +1):


2004 Madrid train bombings, Description
At 08:00, emergency relief workers began arriving at the scenes of the bombings. The police reported numerous victims and spoke of 50 wounded and several dead. By 08:30 the emergency ambulance service, SAMUR (Servicio de Asistencia Municipal de Urgencia y Rescate), had set up a field hospital at the Daoiz y Velarde sports facility. Bystanders and local residents helped relief workers, as hospitals were told to expect the arrival of many casualties. At 08:43, firefighters reported 15 dead at El Pozo. By 09:00, the police had confirmed the death of at least 30 people – 20 at El Pozo and about 10 in Santa Eugenia and Atocha. People combed the city's major hospitals in search of family members who they thought were aboard the trains. There were 193 confirmed dead victims.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Description
The total number of victims was higher than in any other terrorist attack in Spain, far surpassing the 21 killed and 40 wounded from a 1987 bombing at a Hipercor chain supermarket in Barcelona. On that occasion, responsibility was claimed by ETA. It was Europe's worst terror attack since the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Further bombings spur investigation
A device composed of 12 kilograms of Goma-2 ECO with a detonator and 136 meters of wire (connected to nothing) was found on the track of a high-speed railway line (AVE) on 2 April. The Spanish judiciary chose not to investigate that incident and the perpetrators remain unknown. The device used in the AVE incident was unable to explode because it lacked an initiation system.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Further bombings spur investigation
Shortly after the AVE incident, police identified an apartment in Leganés, south of Madrid, as the base of operations for the individuals suspected of being the perpetrators of the Madrid and AVE attacks. The suspected militants, Sarhane Abdelmaji "the Tunisian" and Jamal Ahmidan "the Chinese", were trapped inside the apartment by a police raid on the evening of Saturday 3 April. At 9:03 pm, when the police started to assault the premises, the militants committed suicide by setting off explosives, killing themselves and one of the police officers.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Further bombings spur investigation
Investigators subsequently found that the explosives used in the Leganés explosion were of the same type as those used in the 11 March attacks (though it had not been possible to identify a brand of dynamite from samples taken from the trains) and in the thwarted bombing of the AVE line.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Further bombings spur investigation
Based on the assumption that the militants killed at Leganés were indeed the individuals responsible for the train bombings, the ensuing investigation focused on how they obtained their estimated 200 kg of explosives. The investigation revealed that they had been bought from a retired miner who still had access to blasting equipment.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Further bombings spur investigation
Five to eight suspects believed to be involved in the 11 March attacks managed to escape. In December 2006, the newspaper ABC reported that ETA reminded Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero about 11 March 2004 as an example of what could happen unless the government considered their petitions (in reference to the 2004 electoral swing), although the source also makes it clear that ETA 'had nothing to do' with the attack itself.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Further bombings spur investigation, Aftermath
In France, the Vigipirate plan was upgraded to orange level. In Italy, the government declared a state of high alert.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Further bombings spur investigation, Aftermath
In December 2004, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero claimed that the PP government erased all of the computer files related to the Madrid bombings, leaving only the documents on paper.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Further bombings spur investigation, Aftermath
On 25 March 2005, prosecutor Olga Sánchez asserted that the bombings happened 911 days after the 11 September attacks due to the "highly symbolic and qabbalistic charge for local Al-Qaida groups" of choosing that day. Because 2004 was a leap year, 912 days had elapsed between 11 September 2001 and 11 March 2004.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Further bombings spur investigation, Aftermath
On 27 May 2005, the Prüm Convention, implementing inter alia the principle of availability which began to be discussed after the Madrid bombings, was signed by Germany, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, and Belgium.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Further bombings spur investigation, Aftermath
On 4 January 2007, El País reported that Algerian Ouhnane Daoud, who is considered to be the mastermind of the 11-M bombings, has been searching for ways to return to Spain to prepare further attacks, though this has not been confirmed.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Further bombings spur investigation, Aftermath
On 17 March 2008, Basel Ghalyoun, Mohamed Almallah Dabas, Abdelillah El-Fadual El-Akil and Raúl González Peña, having been previously found guilty by the Audiencia Nacional, were released after a Higher Court ruling. This court also verified the release of the Egyptian Rabei Osman al-Sayed.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility
On 14 March 2004, Abu Dujana al-Afghani, a purported spokesman for al-Qaeda in Europe, appeared in a videotape claiming responsibility for the attacks.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility
The Spanish judiciary stated that a loose group of Moroccan, Syrian, and Algerian Muslims and two Guardia Civil and Spanish police informants were suspected of having carried out the attacks. On 11 April 2006, Judge Juan del Olmo charged 29 suspects for their involvement in the train bombings.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility
No evidence has been found of al-Qaeda involvement, although an al-Qaeda claim was made the day of the attacks by the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades. U.S. officials note that this group is "notoriously unreliable". In August 2007, al-Qaeda claimed to be "proud" about the Madrid 2004 bombings.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility
The Independent reported that "Those who invented the new kind of rucksack bomb used in the attacks are said to have been taught in training camps in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, under instruction from members of Morocco's radical Islamist Combat Group."


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility
Mohamed Darif, a professor of political science at Hassan II University in Mohammedia, stated in 2004 that the history of the Moroccan Combat Group is directly tied to the rise of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. According to Darif, "Since its inception at the end of the 1990s and until 2001, the role of the organisation was restricted to giving logistic support to al-Qaeda in Morocco, finding its members places to live, providing them with false papers, with the opportunity of marrying Moroccans and with false identities to allow them to travel to Europe. Since 11 September, however, which brought the Kingdom of Morocco in on the side of the fight against terrorism, the organisation switched strategies and opted for terrorist attacks within Morocco itself."


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility
Scholar Rogelio Alonso said in 2007, "the investigation had uncovered a link between the Madrid suspects and the wider world of al-Qaida". Scott Atran said "There isn't the slightest bit of evidence of any relationship with al-Qaida. We've been looking at it closely for years and we've been briefed by everybody under the sun... and nothing connects them." He provides a detailed timeline that lends credence to this view.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility
According to the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, this is the only extremist terrorist act in the history of Europe where international Islamic extremists collaborated with non-Muslims.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility
Former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar said in 2011 that Abdelhakim Belhadj, leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and current head of the Tripoli Military Council, was suspected of complicity in the bombings.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Allegations of ETA involvement
Immediate reactions to the attacks in Madrid were the several press conferences held by the Spanish prime minister José María Aznar involving ETA. The Spanish government maintained this theory for two days. Because the bombs were detonated three days before the general elections in Spain, the situation had many political interpretations. The United States also initially believed ETA was responsible, then questioning if Islamic extremists were responsible. Spain's third-largest newspaper, ABC, immediately labelled the attacks as "ETA's bloodiest attack."


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Allegations of ETA involvement
Due to the government theory, statements issued shortly after the Madrid attacks, including from lehendakari Juan José Ibarretxe identified ETA as the prime suspect, but the group, which usually claims responsibility for its actions, denied any involvement. Later evidence strongly pointed to the involvement of extremist Islamist groups, with the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group named as a focus of investigations.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Allegations of ETA involvement
Although ETA has a history of mounting bomb attacks in Madrid, the 11 March attacks exceeded any attack previously attempted by a European organisation. This led some experts to point out that the tactics used were more typical of militant Islamic extremist groups, perhaps with a certain link to al-Qaeda, or maybe to a new generation of ETA activists using al-Qaeda as a role model. Observers also noted that ETA customarily, but not always, issues warnings before its mass bombings and that there had been no warning for this attack. Europol director Jürgen Storbeck commented that the bombings "could have been ETA... But we're dealing with an attack that doesn't correspond to the modus operandi they have adopted up to now".


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Allegations of ETA involvement
Political analysts believe ETA's guilt would have strengthened the PP's chances of being re-elected, as this would have been regarded as the death throes of a terrorist organisation reduced to desperate measures by the strong anti-terrorist policy of the Aznar administration. On the other hand, an Islamic extremist attack would have been perceived as the direct result of Spain's involvement in Iraq, an unpopular war that had not been approved by the Spanish Parliament.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Investigation
All of the devices are thought to have been hidden inside backpacks. The police investigated reports of three people in ski masks getting on and off the trains several times at Alcalá de Henares between 7:00 and 7:10. A Renault Kangoo van was found parked outside the station at Alcalá de Henares containing detonators, audio tapes with Qur'anic verses, and cell phones.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Investigation
The provincial chief of TEDAX (the bomb disposal experts of the Spanish police) declared on 12 July 2004 that damage in the trains could not be caused by dynamite, but by some type of military explosive, like C3 or C4. An unnamed source from the Aznar administration claimed that the explosive used in the attacks had been Titadine (used by ETA, and intercepted on its way to Madrid 11 days before).


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Investigation
In March 2007, the TEDAX chief claimed that they knew that the unexploded explosive found in the Kangoo van was Goma-2 ECO the very day of the bombings. He also asserted that "it is impossible to know" the components of the explosives that went off in the trains – though he later asserted that it was dynamite. The Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez replied "I cannot understand" to these assertions.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Examination of unexploded devices
A radio report mentioned a plastic explosive called "Special C". However, the government said that the explosive found in an unexploded device, discovered among bags thought to be victims' lost luggage, was the Spanish made Goma-2 ECO. The unexploded device contained 10 kg (22 lb) of explosive with 1 kg (2.2 lb) of nails and screws packed around it as shrapnel. In the aftermath of the attacks, however, the chief coroner alleged that no shrapnel was found in any of the victims.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Examination of unexploded devices
Goma-2 ECO was never before used by al-Qaeda, but the explosive and the modus operandi were described by The Independent as ETA trademarks, although the Daily Telegraph came to the opposite conclusion.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Examination of unexploded devices
Two bombs, one in Atocha and another in El Pozo stations, numbers 11 and 12, were detonated accidentally by the TEDAX. According to the provincial chief of the TEDAX, deactivated rucksacks contained some other type of explosive. The 13th bomb, which was transferred to a police station, contained dynamite, although it did not explode because it was missing two wires connecting the explosives to the detonator. That bomb used a mobile phone (Mitsubishi Trium) as a timer, requiring a SIM card to activate the alarm and thereby detonate.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Examination of unexploded devices
The analysis of the SIM card allowed the police to arrest an alleged perpetrator. On Saturday, 13 March, when three Moroccans and two Pakistani Muslims were arrested for the attacks, it was confirmed that the attacks came from an Islamic group. Only one of the five persons (the Moroccan Jamal Zougam) detained that day was finally prosecuted.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Examination of unexploded devices
The Guardia Civil developed an extensive action plan to monitor records corresponding with the use of weapons and explosives. There were 166,000 inspections conducted throughout the country between March 2004 and November 2004. About 2,500 violations were discovered and over 3 tons of explosives, 11 kilometers of detonating cord, and over 15,000 detonators were seized.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Suicide of suspects
On 3 April 2004, in Leganés, south Madrid, four terrorists died in an apparent suicide explosion, killing one Grupo Especial de Operaciones (GEO) (Spanish special police assault unit) police officer and wounding eleven policemen. According to witnesses and media, between five and eight suspects escaped that day.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Suicide of suspects
Security forces carried out a controlled explosion of a suspicious package found near the Atocha station and subsequently deactivated the two undetonated devices on the Téllez train. A third unexploded device was later brought from the station at El Pozo to a police station in Vallecas, and became a central piece of evidence for the investigation. It appears that the El Pozo bomb failed to detonate because a cell-phone alarm used to trigger the bomb was set 12 hours late.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Conspiracy theories
Sectors of the People's Party (PP), and certain media, such as El Mundo newspaper and the COPE radio station, continue to support theories relating the attack to a vast conspiracy to remove the governing party from power. Support for the conspiracy was also given by the Asociación de Víctimas del Terrorismo (AVT), Spain's largest association of victims of terrorism.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Conspiracy theories
These theories speculate that ETA and members of the security forces and national and foreign (Morocco) secret services were involved in the bombings. Defenders of the claims that ETA participated in some form in the 11 March attacks have affirmed that there is circumstantial evidence linking the Islamic extremists with two ETA members who were detained while driving the outskirts of Madrid in a van containing 500 kg of explosives 11 days before the train bombings. The Madrid judge Coro Cillán is continuing to hear conspiracy theory cases, including one accusing government officials of ordering the scrapping of the bombed train cars in order to destroy evidence.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Invasion of Iraq policy
The public seemed convinced that the Madrid Bombings were a result of the Aznar government's alignment with the U.S. and its invasion of Iraq. The terrorists behind the 11-M attack were somewhat successful because of the election outcome. Before the attack, the incumbent Popular Party led the polls by 5 percent. It is believed that the Popular Party would have won the election if it had not been for the terrorist attack. The Socialist Party, led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, ended up winning the election by 5%.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Invasion of Iraq policy
The Socialist Party had called for the removal of Spanish troops from Iraq during its campaigning. Zapatero promised to remove Spanish troops by 30 June 2004, and the troops were withdrawn a month earlier than expected. Twenty-eight percent of voters said that the bombings influenced their opinions and vote. An estimated 1 million voters switched their vote to the Socialist Party after the Madrid bombings. These voters who switched their votes were no longer willing to support the Popular Party's stance on war policy. The bombings also influenced 1,700,000 citizens to vote who did not plan on originally voting. On the other hand, the terrorist attacks discouraged 300,000 people from voting. Overall, there was a net 4 percent increase in voter turnout.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Trial
Judge Juan del Olmo found "local cells of Islamic extremists inspired through the Internet" guilty for the 11 March attacks, not Armed Islamic Group or Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group. These local cells consist of hashish traffickers of Moroccan origin, remotely linked to an al-Qaeda cell that had been already captured. These groups bought the explosives (dynamite Goma-2 ECO) from low-level thieves, police and Guardia Civil informers in Asturias using money from the small-scale drug trafficking.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Trial
According to El Mundo, "the notes found on the Moroccan informer 'Cartagena' prove that the Police had the leaders of the cell responsible for the 11 March attacks under surveillance." However, none of the notes refer to the preparation of any terrorist attack.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Trial
The trial of 29 defendants began on 15 February 2007. According to El País, "the Court dismantled one by one all conspiracy theories" and demonstrated that any link with or involvement in the bombings by ETA was either misleading or groundless. During the trial the defendants retracted their previous statements and denied any involvement. According to El Mundo the questions of "by whom, why, when and where the Madrid train attacks were planned" are still "unanswered", because the alleged masterminds of the attacks were acquitted.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Trial
El Mundo also claimed -among other misgivings- that the Spanish judiciary reached "scientifically unsound" conclusions about the kind of explosives used in the trains, and that no direct al-Qaeda link was found, thus "debunking the key argument of the official version". Anthropologist Scott Atran described the Madrid trial as "a complete farce" pointing out the fact that "There isn't the slightest bit of evidence of any operational relationship with al-Qaida". Instead, "The overwhelming majority of [terrorist cells] in Europe have nothing to do with al-Qaida other than a vague relationship of ideology."


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Trial
Though the trial proceeded smoothly in its opening months, 14 of the 29 defendants began a hunger strike in May, protesting against the allegedly "unfair" role of political parties and media in the legal proceedings. Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez refused to suspend the trial despite the strike, and the hunger strikers ended their fast on 21 May.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Trial
The last hearing of the trial was held on 2 July 2007. Transcripts and videos of the hearings can be seen on datadiar.tv.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Responsibility, Trial
On 31 October 2007, the Audiencia Nacional of Spain handed down its judgements. Of the 28 defendants in the trial, 21 were found guilty on a range of charges from forgery to murder. Two of the defendants were sentenced each to more than 40,000 years in prison.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Police surveillance and informants
In the investigations carried out to find out what went wrong in the security services, many individual negligences and miscoordinations between different branches of the police were found. The group dealing with Islamist extremists was very small and in spite of having carried out some surveillances, they were unable to stop the bombings. Also, some of the criminals involved in the "Little Mafia" who provided the explosives were police informants and had leaked to their case officers some tips that were not followed up on.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Police surveillance and informants
Some of the alleged perpetrators of the bombing were reportedly under surveillance by the Spanish police since 2001.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Police surveillance and informants
At the time of the Madrid bombings, Spain was well equipped with internal security structures that were, for the most part, effective in the fight against terrorism. It became evident that there were coordination issues between police forces as well as within each of them. The Interior Ministry focused on correcting these weaknesses. It was Spain's goal to strengthen its police intelligence in order to deal with the risks and threats of international terrorism.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Police surveillance and informants
This decision for the National Police and the Guardia Civil to strengthen their counter-terrorism services, led to an increase in jobs aimed at preventing and fighting global terrorism. Counter-terrorism services increased its employment by nearly 35% during the legislature. Human resources in external information services, dealing with international terrorism, grew by 72% in the National Police force and 22% in the Guardia Civil.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Controversies
The authorship of the bombings remains a controversial issue in Spain. Sectors of the Partido Popular (PP) and some of the PP-friendly media outlets (primarily El Mundo and the Libertad Digital radio station) claim that there are inconsistencies and contradictions in the Spanish judicial investigation.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Controversies
As Spanish and international investigations continue to claim the unlikeliness of ETA's active implication, these claims have shifted from direct accusations involving the Basque separatist organisation to less specific insinuations and general scepticism. Additionally, there is controversy over the events that took place between the bombings and the general elections held three days later.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Reactions
In the aftermath of the bombings, there were massive street demonstrations across Spain to protest against the train bombings. The international reaction was also notable, as the scale of the attack became clearer.


2004 Madrid train bombings, Memorial service for victims
A memorial service for the victims of this incident was held on 25 March 2004 at the Almudena Cathedral. It was attended by King Juan Carlos I, Queen Sofía, victims' families, and representatives from numerous other countries, including British prime minister Tony Blair, French president Jacques Chirac, German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects
A list of suspects and convictions related to the 2004 Madrid Train Bombings.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Jamal Zougam – guilty and given a 50,000-year jail sentence, was arrested two days after the March 2004 attacks.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
José Emilio Suárez Trashorras- guilty and given between a 25,000 to 35,000-year jail sentence. and was one of the first to be arrested.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Hamid Ahmidan – found guilty and given between a 23- to 25-year sentence. Moroccan and a cousin of Jamal Ahmidan, these men took part in drug trafficking. His release date from prison is November 2030. After his release, he will be deported to Morocco.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Abdelmajid Bouchar – acquitted of all the bombings and still given between a 15- to 18-year sentence, was detained in Belgrade in August 2005 by Serbian officials. His release date is set for November 2023. He will be deported to Morocco.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Rachid Aglif – found guilty and given between a 15- to 18-year sentence. he was arrested in April and he was an alleged lieutenant of Jamal Ahmidan, who was suspected of having helped acquire the explosives. His release date is set for November 2025. He will be deported to Morocco. While a prisoner in El Castellón, he established a "special friendship" with imam Abdelbaki Es Satty, main suspect of the 2017 Barcelona attacks.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Youssef Belhadj – 30, acquitted of bombings but given 12.5-year sentence for membership of a terrorist organisation. He was arrested in Belgium in February 2005 by the Belgian Police, he allegedly set the date for the attacks and was in Spain for the last-minute preparations. Released November 2019 and deported to Morocco.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Hassan el-Haski – 45 acquitted of bombings but handed 12-year sentence for membership of a terrorist organisation. He was the leader of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group in Spain, which prosecutors blamed for the bombings. Haski, from Morocco, but having been "a long time resident of Molenbeek" (Brussels), was arrested in the Canary Islands in December 2004. He was accused of having been aware of and having instigated the attacks. Released on November 2019 and deported to Morocco.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Mohamed Bouharrat, guilty and given 12-year sentence, was responsible for recruitment and gathering information on targets. Released on November 2019 and deported to Morocco.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Fouad el-Morabit – guilty, 12-year sentence was being held in March 2004 for allegedly belonging to the Madrid terror cell, he also had contacts with Rabei Osman. Released on November 2019 and deported to Morocco.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Mouhannad Almallah Dabas – guilty, 12-year sentence. Released and deported to Morocco.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Saed el-Harrak – guilty, 12-year sentence, currently described as an active cell member. Released on November 2019 and deported to Morocco.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Mohamed Larbi Ben Sellam, guilty, 12-year sentence, was allegedly in charge of bringing propaganda material to meetings of the cell. Prosecutors had asked for 27 years. Released on November 2019 and deported to Morocco.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Basel Ghalyoun – 26, guilty, 12-year sentence, was allegedly had links to Rabei Osman and the presumed ideological mastermind, Serhan Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, a Tunisian who also died in the apartment blast. Prosecutors had sought a 12-year sentence. Released on November 2019 and deported to Morocco.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Rafa Zouhier – 27, guilty of obtaining explosives and given 10-year sentence. Released on November 2017 and deported.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Abdelilah el-Fadual el-Akil, guilty, nine-year sentence, was alleged close associate of Jamal Ahmidan, he had worked at a house on the outskirts of Madrid where some bombs had been made there. Prosecutors had asked for 12 years. Released and deported on November 2016.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Rául González Peláez – guilty and given a 5-year sentence, was allegedly helped him gain access to the explosives in exchange for cocaine. Prosecutors had sought an eight-year sentence. Released in November 2012.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Sergio Alvarez Sánchez – guilty, 3-year sentence travelled in January 2004 to Madrid with a sports bag containing up to 15 kg (33 lbs) of explosives for Jamal Ahmidan. Prosecutors had sought a four-year sentence. Released in November 2010.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Antonio Iván Reis Palacio – guilty, given 3-year sentence, transported explosives to Madrid, Spain. Spanish prosecutors had sought a four-year jail term. Released in November 2010.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Nasreddine Bousbaa – guilty, 3-year sentence, he was allegedly helped forge fake documents. Spanish prosecutors had asked for 13 years in jail. Released in November 2010 and deported.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Convicted defendants
Mahmoud Slimane Aoun – guilty, 3-year sentence. he was allegedly trying to help Jamal Ahmidan forge documents. Spanish prosecutors had asked for 13 years in jail. Released in November 2010 and deported.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Acquitted defendants
Rabei Osman – arrested in Milan, Italy in June 2004 by Italian State Police for supporting terrorism in Europe. He was held in an Italian prison before being transferred to Spain in 2007 and he was an alleged member of al-Jihad by Ayman al-Zawahiri. Osman was sentenced in Italy on 11 June 2006 to 10 years in prison for plotting terror attack in Italy and afterwards was extradited to Spain in 2007. In February 2007 Osman's trial began in Madrid, along with other 28 defendants, for having a key role in the 2004 Madrid train bombings. In October 2007 Osman was acquitted in Madrid from all charges with other 5 suspects.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Wrongful arrest
Brandon Mayfield was arrested 6 May 2004 on a material witness charge, on the basis of a fingerprint found after 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks. Although Spanish authorities were doubtful that the identification was correct, he was held for two weeks in federal custody until they conclusively identified the fingerprint as belonging to another man and was released by the FBI authorities.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Other suspects
Mustafa Setmariam Nasar – arrested in Quetta, Pakistan in October 2005 as he was shopping for breakfast, close to the Pakistani-Afghan border by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence. He was held as a Spanish citizenship since the late 1980s following marriage to a Spanish woman. He was wanted for the 2004 Madrid bombings and the 2005 London Bombings. The FBI had offered a US$5 million reward for his capture and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan stated in that his country has received a huge amount of substantial sums in bounties from American authorities.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Other suspects
Abdelilah Hriz – arrested in his native Morocco in January 2008 by Moroccan police. In Rabat, Hriz was found guilty and sentenced up to 20 years in prison in December 2008.


2004 Madrid train bombings suspects, Other suspects
On 29 April 2011, the German Federal Police arrested 3 Moroccans in the western German city of Düsseldorf and one in nearby Bochum. The Moroccans were linked with the 2004 Madrid train bombings and 2005 London transit attacks. The arrests were based on suspicion they were planning a terror attack in the country, they said. Local media reports that officers had seized large amounts of explosives when the three were arrested. The three alleged terrorists were brought to a judge the next day and they are to remain in detention pending an awaiting trial.


2004 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election
Assembly elections was held in Maharashtra, India on October 13, 2004. The major alliances were the Democratic Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party - Shiv Sena alliance. Other political parties contested were the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, and the LJP. 66,000 electronic voting machines were used to elect the 288 members of the Maharashtra legislative assembly.


2004 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election, Results
The result was announced on October 17, 2004 in which Congress and its alliance got majority votes. BJP lost elections that leads to resignation of Venkaiah Naidu and followed by leading command of party to Lal Krishna Advani.


2004 Mahoran legislative election
Parliamentary elections were held in Mayotte on 21 March and 28 March 2004. The Mahoran branch of the Union for a Popular Movement won the most seats despite receiving fewer votes than the Mahoré Departementalist Movement.


2004 Maidstone Borough Council election
The 2004 Maidstone Borough Council election took place on 10 June 2004 to elect members of Maidstone Borough Council in Kent, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.


2004 Maidstone Borough Council election, Background
Before the election both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties had 21 seats, with 10 Labour and 3 independent councillors making up the council. 19 seats were being contested with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats defending 7 each, Labour 4 and an independent 1 seat. A total of 80 candidates were standing in the election with both the Conservative and Labour parties having a full 19 candidates. The Liberal Democrats had 18 candidates, the United Kingdom Independence Party 17, Green Party 5, British National Party 1 and 1 independent candidate.


2004 Maine Black Bears football team
The 2004 Maine Black Bears football team was an American football team that represented the University of Maine as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference during the 2004 NCAA Division I-AA football season. In their 12th season under head coach Jack Cosgrove, the Black Bears compiled a 5–6 record (3–5 against conference opponents) and finished in a three-way tie for sixth place in the conference. Mike Leconte, Marcus Walton, and Marcus Williams were the team captains.


2004 Maine Democratic presidential caucuses
The 2004 Maine Democratic presidential caucuses took place on February 8, 2004 as part of the 2004 United States Democratic presidential primaries. The delegate allocation is Proportional. the candidates are awarded delegates in proportion to the percentage of votes received and is open to registered Democrats only. A total of 24 (of 34) delegates are awarded proportionally.


2004 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 2004 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 75th edition of the midseason exhibition baseball game between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 13, 2004 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, the home of the Houston Astros of the National League. The game resulted in the American League defeating the National League 9–4, thus awarding the AL home-field advantage in the 2004 World Series.


2004 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Rosters
Players in italics have since been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.


2004 Major League Baseball draft
The 2004 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 7 and 8. It was conducted via conference call with representatives from each of the league's 30 teams. The draft marked the first time three players from the same university were chosen in the first ten picks.


2004 Major League Baseball draft, Background
The San Diego Padres stayed close to home with the first overall pick of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft, tabbing high school shortstop Matt Bush from Mission Bay (CA) High School. Bush, the first high school shortstop taken first overall since the Seattle Mariners chose Alex Rodriguez in 1993, batted .450 with 11 home runs, 35 RBI and 12 stolen bases during his senior year. The 18-year-old helped lead the Buccaneers to two San Diego Section Division III championships in three years, setting state records for career hits (211) and runs scored (188) in the process.


2004 Major League Baseball draft, Background
Huston Street, drafted in the supplemental first round, was the first 2004 draftee to make the major leagues. Justin Verlander was the first 2004 draftee to be selected to an All-Star Game in 2007. Dustin Pedroia, drafted in the second round, was the first 2004 draftee to be selected to start an All-Star Game and the first to win a World Series championship and the first to win a League MVP Award.


2004 Major League Baseball draft, Background
Three members of the 2003 NCAA Champions Rice Owls pitching staff were selected within the first eight picks. The Baltimore Orioles could not reach an agreement with Wade Townsend leading to Tampa Bay drafting him in 2005.


2004 Major League Baseball draft, Background
Nick Adenhart, who was selected in the 14th round by the Anaheim Angels, was killed in a car accident a day after his only start of the 2009 season.


2004 Major League Baseball draft, Background
During the 2012 season, first round picks Philip Humber, Homer Bailey, and Jered Weaver threw no hitters (Humber's was a perfect game).


2004 Major League Baseball season
The 2004 Major League Baseball season ended when the Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in a four-game World Series sweep. This season was particularly notable since the Red Sox championship broke the 86-year-long popular myth known as the Curse of the Bambino. The Red Sox were also the first team in MLB history and the third team from a major North American professional sports league ever to come back from a 3–0 postseason series deficit, in the ALCS against the New York Yankees.


2004 Major League Baseball season
The Montreal Expos would play their last season in Montreal, before re-locating to Washington DC, becoming the Washington Nationals in 2005.


2004 Major League Baseball season, Postseason, Bracket
Note: Two teams in the same division could not meet in the division series.


2004 Major League Baseball season, Milestones, Perfect game
Randy Johnson pitched the 17th perfect game in MLB history on May 18, 2004.


2004 Major League Baseball season, Milestones, 4000 strikeouts
Randy Johnson struck out Jeff Cirillo on June 29, 2004 for his 4000th strikeout.


2004 Major League Baseball season, Milestones, Single-Season Hits Record Broken
Ichiro Suzuki – 262 Hits (broke George Sisler's 84-year-old record of 257)


2004 Major League Baseball season, Milestones, Walk-off home runs
There were a total of 80 walk-off home runs, which was then the MLB single-season record until 2018.


2004 Major League Lacrosse season
The 2004 Major League Lacrosse season was the fourth season of the league. The season began on May 22 and concluded with the championship game on August 22, 2004.


2004 Major League Lacrosse season, General information
The Bridgeport Barrage relocated to Philadelphia and became the Philadelphia Barrage before the season started. They played their home games at Villanova Stadium.


2004 Major League Lacrosse season, General information
The Baltimore Bayhawks moved their home games to Johnny Unitas Stadium. The Boston Cannons moved theirs to Nickerson Field. The New Jersey Pride moved theirs to Sprague Field.


2004 Major League Lacrosse season, General information
Major League Lacrosse played the first-ever regular season games in the western United States as Baltimore defeated Rochester by a 24-18 margin in Seahawks Stadium in Seattle on May 22. Baltimore defeated New Jersey 22-19 on June 5 at INVESCO Field in Denver.


2004 Major League Lacrosse season, Regular season
W = Wins, L = Losses, , PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against


2004 Major League Lacrosse season, Awards, Weekly Awards
The MLL gave out awards weekly for the best offensive player, best defensive player and best rookie. No Rookie of the Week award was given Weeks 1 and 2; rookies did not play until after the Collegiate Draft on June 3.


2004 Major League Soccer season
The 2004 Major League Soccer season culminated with D.C. United winning its fourth MLS Cup championship.


2004 Major League Soccer season
The biggest news in the beginning of the season was the signing of 14-year-old prodigy Freddy Adu, who made his debut as a substitute in United's season opener and scored his first goal several games later against the rival MetroStars. Adu contributed as a substitute on D.C.'s championship team, scoring five goals as the youngest player in North American sports history.


2004 Major League Soccer season
The season saw the emergence of forwards Brian Ching (San Jose) and Eddie Johnson (Dallas Burn) as formidable forwards, not only for their MLS teams, but for the United States national team as well. The two shared Golden Boot honors.


2004 Major League Soccer season
The Columbus Crew emerged as a dominant team in the second half of the regular season, running off an MLS-record 18-game unbeaten streak en route to the Supporters' Shield title, won after finishing level on points with Kansas City.


2004 Major League Soccer season, Playoffs
In the playoffs, the Crew were taken down by the New England Revolution, who ended the Crew's streak in the opening leg, and goalkeeper Matt Reis, who saved two penalty kicks in the second leg. United cruised past the rival MetroStars (and league MVP Amado Guevara) 4–0 on aggregate in the other Eastern Conference semifinal.


2004 Major League Soccer season, Playoffs
In the Western Conference, Kansas City rallied from a 2–0 first-leg deficit for a dramatic 3–0 win in stoppage time over the defending MLS Cup champion San Jose Earthquakes in their conference semifinal. The Los Angeles Galaxy used a 2–0 home victory in the second leg to overcome the Colorado Rapids and goalie Joe Cannon, who had led the Rapids to a 1–0 victory in the opener.


2004 Major League Soccer season, Playoffs
In the conference finals, Kansas City used two goals from unsung forward Davy Arnaud, who enjoyed a breakout season, to beat the Galaxy and return to the final for the first time since 2000. D.C. United and New England hooked up in the Eastern Conference final in one of the best games in MLS playoff history. Playing at home, D.C. United took three different leads, only to see New England recover each time to tie the match 3–3 in a game full of highlight-reel goals. The match was finally decided by the first conventional shootout in MLS history, with Nick Rimando saving the first 'sudden death' penalty from Rookie of the Year Clint Dempsey to send D.C. to the championship.


2004 Major League Soccer season, Playoffs
In the second consecutive final held at the Home Depot Center, D.C. rebounded from an early Jose Burciaga goal by scoring three goals in eight minutes, including two from Alecko Eskandarian to take a 3–1 lead. In the second half, Dema Kovalenko became the first player to be sent off in an MLS Cup final after knocking a shot off the goal line with his hand. Although Josh Wolff converted the penalty kick, D.C. United held on with only 10 men to win its fourth championship in the nine-year history of MLS.


2004 Major League Soccer season, MLS Cup Playoffs, Conference finals
D.C. United advance 4–3 on penalties (3–3 after full time).


2004 Major League Soccer season, MLS Cup Playoffs, MLS Cup 2004
D.C. United wins the MLS CupKansas City Wizards and D.C. United earn MLS berths toCONCACAF Champions' Cup 2005.


2004 Malawian general election
General elections were held in Malawi on 20 May 2004 to elect a President and the National Assembly. The election had originally been scheduled for 18 May but was postponed for two days in response to opposition complaints of irregularities in the voter roll. By 22 May no results had been announced, leading to protests from the opposition and threats of disorder. On 25 May the Malawi Electoral Commission finally announced the results of the election. Bingu wa Mutharika, the candidate of the ruling United Democratic Front, was declared the winner of the presidential poll, whilst the Malawi Congress Party had won most seats in the National Assembly vote. Voter turnout was around 62%.


2004 Malawian general election, Campaign, National Assembly
A total of 1,268 candidates ran in the election of which 373 were independents and the rest representing fifteen parties.