April 22, 2004 (Thursday)
- At the International Space Station, the second of four stabilizing gyroscopes fails, hours after a new crew arrives. A spacewalk to do the repair will be scheduled in a few weeks. (Reuters) Archived 2004-12-08 at the Wayback Machine
- Volkswagen buys LeasePlan from ABN AMRO.
- The US Army states that the insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq, have "days, not weeks" to fulfill a clause in the ceasefire that requires them to turn over heavy weapons. To date, only rocket-propelled grenade rounds marked "inert", rusted mortar shells, dud rockets and unusable guns have been surrendered. (AP) (Defenselink)
- The Evangelical Lutheran Church is ordered to pay the largest per capita settlement in a church sexual abuse case in the United States by a jury in Marshall, Texas. (AP) (ABC/US)
- The United Nations Security Council passes a unanimous resolution endorsing the inquiry into corruption in the United Nations Oil for food program for Iraq calling upon all 191 member states to cooperate. (NYT)
- Ryongchon disaster: at least 154 people are killed and over 1200 are injured, according to the Red Cross, in a massive explosion after a train carrying explosives came in contact with live electrical wires in Ryongchon, North Korea. 1850 homes were destroyed and thousands more damaged. (BBC) (BBC) (NYT)
- Yasser Arafat orders 21 members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades section of Fatah, who are wanted by Israel and have been seeking sanctuary within the Mukata for many months, to leave his Mukata headquarters in Ramallah. (INN)