Portal:Current events/2004 September 22

September 22, 2004 (Wednesday)

Experts and officials from Interpol and 19 countries met Tuesday in Burkina Faso to elaborate a strategy to combat terrorism and crime in Africa. Countries participating included France, the United States, Britain, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Chad, Sudan, Côte d'Ivoire, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, Benin, Burundi, Togo and Mauritania. (Independent Online)
Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan announce in a joint statement that have agreed work together on a plan for reforming the United Nations, including securing a permanent seat or seats on the UN Security Council for at least one of the four nations. (ABC News)
The United States Senate, by a vote of 77–17, confirms the nomination of Porter Goss as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Some Democratic senators had charged that Goss is too partisan to deliver unbiased reports to the White House. (Reuters) Archived 2004-09-23 at archive.today
The Republic of Ireland's telecommunications regulator, ComReg, announces that, starting on October 4, it will suspend direct-dial telephone] services to thirteen island nations and dependencies, in order to counter telephone dialer scams which have cost some customers thousands of euros. (Reuters)
The United States Air Force military drops all espionage charges against the Syrian-American airman after he pleads guilty to four lesser charges. The judge criticizes the prosecution for improperly handling key evidence and for failing to correct the mistranslation of a crucial document. (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link]}