Portal:Current events/2004 August 15

August 15, 2004 (Sunday)

Chávez recall: Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez defeats a recall vote with 58% support. Some opposition members claim election fraud, but monitors from the OAS and the Carter Center endorse the official result. (BBC) (AP)
1,300 Iraqi delegates begin a three-day conference in Baghdad to select an interim National Assembly. The area of the conference is attacked by mortars, which kill one person and wound 17. (Reuters)^{[permanent dead link]}
1,600 Palestinians in Israeli jails begin a liquids-only diet, which they are describing as a hunger strike to protest against their prison conditions. Israeli Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi comments: "As far as I'm concerned, they can strike for a day, a month, until death." (BBC)
India's Independence Day celebrations are marred by a bomb blast that kills some 18 people at a parade in Dhemaji, Assam. Immediate suspicion falls on ULFA separatists. (BBC)
Same-sex marriage in Canada: Three Nova Scotia couples have filed suit requesting that the provincial government be ordered to issue them marriage licences. Such a ruling would make Nova Scotia the fifth province or territory to recognize same-sex marriages. (365Gay.com)