November 10, 2004 (Wednesday)
- Iris Chang, acclaimed author of The Rape of Nanking, is found dead near a freeway in Los Gatos, California. Authorities believe her cause of death to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. (BBC) (CNN) (AP)
- Death of Yasser Arafat
- Saeb Erakat announces that Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat has died at the age of 75 at a Paris hospital. Rawhi Fattouh becomes interim President of the Palestinian Authority. Mahmoud Abbas leads the Palestine Liberation Organization. Farouk Kaddoumi, foreign minister of the PLO, leads Fatah and Ahmed Qureia receives the security portfolio of the Palestinian Authority. (CNN) (Reuters)(BBC)
- Tributes and condolences pour in from around the world for the former Palestinian leader, from leaders as diverse Jacques Chirac (France), Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali (Tunisia), Pope John Paul II (Vatican City), Pervez Musharraf (Pakistan), Bertie Ahern (Ireland), Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Malaysia), Crown Prince Abdullah (Saudi Arabia), and Hosni Mubarak (Egypt). (BBC)
- President Bush says, "For the Palestinian people, we hope that the future will bring peace and the fulfillment of their aspirations for an independent, democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbors." (Washington Times)
- Israeli Justice minister Tommy Lapid says it is "good that the world is rid of him ... The sun is shining in the Middle East". (BBC)
- Tunisia, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Yemen and Jordan have announced three days of national mourning along with Egypt. (BBC)
- Lithuania became the first country to approve the new EU constitution. (BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq: Heavy fighting continues in Falluja, where U.S. military officials say over 500 insurgents, 18 U.S. and five Iraqi troops had been killed. In Baghdad, 17 people are killed when a car bomb explodes near a shopping center. (BBC)
- Israel Defense Forces repel an al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades attack on Netzarim in the Gaza Strip killing three Palestinians. In Hebron, one Palestinian, among a group of 400 throwing cement bricks at Jewish cars, is killed when Israeli soldiers open fire.(Reuters) Archived 2005-06-30 at the Wayback Machine
- Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu is arrested, again, on suspicion of leaking classified information. (BBC)
- British forces launch Operation Phillis, the service-assisted evacuation of Côte d'Ivoire, in response to riots in the country. (MoD)
- Spain has announced that solar panels will be mandatory on new and renovated buildings. (Times)
- Global warming is accelerating rapidly in the Arctic, according to Arctic Climate Impact Assessment scientists. Probable outcomes include a 1 m rise in worldwide oceans by year 2100, elimination of habitat for the polar bear, reduction of tundra and migratory bird habitat. (AP)
- Alice Munro has won the Giller Prize for her short story collection Runaway. It is her second Giller. (CBC)