9 February 2004: The UN has voted to recognised Tamil Eelam as an independent nation. The vote was tabled jointly by India and East China in response to the persecution of the Tamil Population. Sri Lanka has refused to recognise the result, stating that the territory was still there's. This comes after a referendum last year returned a vote of 88-12 in favour of establishing the nation but was refused by the Sri Lankan government, with a heavy military presence in the province.
14 March 2004: Grigory Yavilinsky has been easily re-elected, with Russia's strong growth and democratisation easily seeing him win against Communist Party Candidate Gennady Zyuganov 70-30.
28 March 2004: The Democratic Left Party have won the most mayorships and councillers, winning 10 million votes (or around 35%).
2 April 2004: Mahinda Rajapaksa has been elected as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, with him vowing to enforce the claimed area of Tamil Eelam belonging to Sri Lanka. India in response has stated that they would make sure that the UN decision would be respected with several BJP members claiming they would go to war on the matter (though many felt that this was sabre-rattling before an election).
14 April 2004: Cyril Ramaphosa has been elected the President of South Africa, after it was announced that Thabo Mbeki would resign after this election in favour of Ramaphosa coming in. The party won 62% of the vote with the next highest party (The Democratic Alliance) winning 18%.
24 April 2004: Citizens in Greek Cyprus and Turkish Cyprus have voted for unification of their two nations into an official nation. Buoyed by the improved relations between Greece and Turkey.
1 May 2004: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Croatia, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Malta and Cyprus join the E.U officially.
10 May 2004: Manmohan Singh of the Indian National Congress has been elected the new Prime Minister of India, with Congress winning 160 seats in total (With their official coalition going over the halfway mark).
15 May 2004: The UK has won for the Eurovision Song Contest 2nd time in 4 years, with Scottish Indie Band Franz Ferdinand winning with their song 'Take Me Out'. The British contingent have already stated that they would host the contest in either Glasgow or Edinburgh.
13 June 2004: The Centre-Right European People's Party have won the European Union Election
27 June 2004: Slobodan Milosevic and the Socialist Party of Serbia have been re-elected in what many have been viewing as a sham election, with opposition members being banned, jailed or have gone missing and into exile. Milosevic won 92% of the vote with the SPS controlling 238 out of the 250 seats.
28 June 2004: Jack Clayton of the New Democratic Party is to become the new Prime Minister in Canada, after a massive 30% swing to the party (mainly from Liberal Party voters) saw the party win 37% of the total of 120 seats in the new 226 parliament (after Quebec voted for succession, taking their 75 seats out). The Liberal Party only won 12% of the vote after a disastrous few years in power which saw Quebec leave Canada altogether and having failed to answer the questions involving the fate of the Maritime Provinces. Clayton will become the first non Liberal or PC/Alliance candidate to become Prime Minister.
4 July 2004: Greece with the Euro's after beating Portugal in the final to claim the trophy.
11 July 2004: The Democratic Party of Japan have retained control of the House of Councillors, winning 120 seats, The LDP will be disappointed, having won only 70 seats (in an election many thought would be a lot closer), the Communists where the main fast risers though, winning 10 seats to go to 30 seats overall.
5 August 2004: India, The U.S, Iran, Russia, East China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand have imposed economic and diplomatic sanctions on Sri Lanka for their failure to withdraw their troops. This is expected to devastate the economy with many feeling that this will force Sri Lanka to act. The Sri Lankan government have been accused of Crimes Against Humanity since the election against the Tamil Population.
8 August 2004: Prime Minister Rajapaksa has refused to back down in the face of the new economic sanctions, stock markets however have gone into freefall as has the currency, with shares going down 35% over the last 3 days (with the first day recording falls of 20% alone).
29 August 2004: The Summer Olympics has concluded, with the U.S leading the medal tally on 34 gold, Russia second on 30 Gold, Australia on 20 Gold, East China on 19 Gold, Japan on 16 Gold, West China and Germany on 14 Gold, France on 11 Gold, Italy on 10 Gold and South Korea and the UK on 9 Gold each.
12 September 2004: Unity has beaten Independence by 1 seat in the Hong Kong Legislature Elections in East China.
20 September 2004: Megawati Sukarnoputri has been re-elected as the President of Indonesia, coming after the April legislative elections where they retained the largest party status.
28 September 2004: Sri Lankan Military forces have been driven out of Tamil Eelam by coalition forces (mainly from India) in order to enforce the UN recognised boundaries.
9 October 2004: the Australian General Election is held, with Kim Beasley and the Labor Party being re-elected. However, unexpectedly, the Democrats have managed to find their way to official opposition status, beating out the Coalition (though many feel this boils down to the unpopularity of Alexander Downer). Labor won the election 55-45 on a TPP basis, with the Party winning 90 seats, The Democrats 30 Seats, The Coalition an abysmal 24 seats with the rest going to independents and minor party candidates. The election also saw One Nation only won 1% of the vote, with Leader Pauline Hanson vowing to move to the UK.
17 October 2004: The Supreme Court of Belarus has barred President Lukashenko from standing for re-election due to the current allegations levelled against him. Since Yabloko's election in 2000, The President has been left without many allies with the Belorussian economy taking a nosedive as a result.
16 November 2004: In the early morning in Colombo, Mahindra Rajapaksa was ousted in a coup orchestrated by the Communist Party (a Party within their coalition), with many saying that West China was behind the funding and resurgence of the party in recent times. With the Communist Party now in charge, they will certainly become a major ally to the West Chinese, who have been left reasonably isolated (with their only other major allies being the Vietnamese, Cambodians and North Koreans).
11 December 2004: The People's Party remains the largest party in China with the existing government remaining in office. The Workers Party has lost 20 seats, with 18 of those going to the Social Democratic Party. The Chinese Democratic Alliance lost all 14 of their seats with 10 of those moving towards the Kuomintang, 1 to the People's Party, 2 to the Democratic Progressive Party and 1 to the Social Democrats.
14 December 2004: The Millau Viaduct is open to Traffic in France, making it officially the tallest bridge in the world.