March 8, 2004
(Monday)
- Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks ice hockey team hits rookie Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche in the middle of a game, fracturing vertebrae in Moore's neck and probably ending his career. In the same game, Trevor Linden passed Stan Smyl in career point scoring for the Vancouver Canucks. (National Post)
- Dr. Jiang Yanyong, who exposed the SARS coverup in the People's Republic of China, sends a letter to the National People's Congress calling the forceful suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 a "mistake." (BBC)
- United States Marines shoot and kill a Haitian gunman in front of Port-au-Prince's presidential palace after the man fired rounds at the marines and protesters. Supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had shot and killed several anti-Aristide demonstrators.(NYT)
- Iraq's governing council unanimously approves the country's new constitution. (AP)
- On International Women's Day, Afghan President Hamid Karzai encourages men to allow their female relatives to vote in the upcoming election, but also suggests that they control those votes. (Toronto Star)
- On a visit to Ottawa, Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan addressed a dinner, saying that Canada is a pillar of the United Nations. (National Post)
- The United Kingdom's House of Lords votes to send the Constitutional Reform Bill, which will abolish the office of Lord Chancellor, create a new Supreme Court, and create a Judicial Appointments Commission, to a select committee for scrutiny, defeating the government. Government MPs claim this is a "wrecking" move, and threaten to use the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 to force the measure through. (BBC)