The August 18, 2004 was a Wednesday under the star sign of ♌. It was the 230 day of the year. President of the United States was George W. Bush.
If you were born on this day, you are 21 years old. Your last birthday was on the Monday, August 18, 2025, 319 days ago. Your next birthday is on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, in 45 days. You have lived for 7,989 days, or about 191,747 hours, or about 11,504,873 minutes, or about 690,292,380 seconds.
Date: 18 August 2004
By Robin Finn
Robin Finn
Interview with Pat Kiernan, morning anchor of NY1 news broadcast, who has branched out to evening reality game show, WB's Studio 7, a move that has cost him his job as host of CNN's The Money Gang; photo (M)
Date: 18 August 2004
By Mark Landler
Mark Landler
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder and his wife have adopted 3-year-old Russian girl named Viktoria from orphanage in St Petersburg; Shroder has worked to heal wartime wounds in Europe and Doris Schroder-Kopf is former journalist active in charities for children in St Petersburg; photo; separately, Defense Sec Peter Struck reveals that he suffered mild stroke in June; line drawn by German public and media on personal stories noted (M)
Date: 19 August 2004
By Jacques Steinberg and Michael Janofsky
Jacques Steinberg
Federal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson holds five journalists in contempt of court for refusing to disclose names of confidential sources who might have given them information about Dr Wen Ho Lee, scientist at Los Alamos laboratory who was suspected of espionage; imposes $500 per day fine, but suspends it pending appeal; journalists are Jeff Gerth and James Risen of New York Times, Robert Drogin of Los Angeles Times, H Josef Hebert of Associated Press and Pierre Thomas formerly with CNN and now ABC News; lawyers for all five say they will appeal (M)
Date: 18 August 2004
By Jacques Steinberg
Jacques Steinberg
Legal experts say fundamental protections for gathering and publishing of news are being weakened; cite contempt citation and subpoenas issued as part of federal investigation of whether Bush administration illegally disclosed identity of covert CIA officer, other rulings that have chipped away at principle that has enabled journalists to publish virtually everything they know without being subject to prior restraint and federal agencies' tightening of rules governing what journalists and general public can access under Freedom of Information Act (M)
Date: 18 August 2004
By William C. Rhoden
William Rhoden
William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column contends that media expectations were unfairly high for US women's gymnastics team, resulting in undeserved disappointment in team for securing only silver medal at 2004 Olympics in women's team final (M)
Date: 19 August 2004
By John F. Burns
John Burns
Rebel cleric Moktada al-Sadr sends last-minute messages of conciliation to Iraqi interim government, apparently staving off imminent assault by Iraqi forces on his fortress in holiest Shiite shrine in Iraq; has led his Mahdi Army in some of deadliest fighting with American troops since invasion 16 months ago; in addition to vacating shrine, he suggests he will disband his militia and convert it into political party; as with previous Sadr about-faces, this one comes hedged with uncertainties; his message came through aides, and they were vague on what exactly he agreed to; senior officials in Washington and Baghdad are deeply skeptical about his new offer; meanwhile, menacing new dimension is added to Najaf crisis by report on Al Jazeera that Iraqi militants calling themselves Martyrs' Squad have captured American journalist Micah Garen, threatening to kill him within 48 hours if US forces do not pull out of Najaf; photo (M)
Date: 18 August 2004
By Andy Grundberg
Andy Grundberg
Carl Mydans, photographer for Life whose career spanned all 36 years of weekly magazine and who took memorable combat pictures during World War II, dies at age 97; photos; Mydans was father of New York Times correspondent Seth Mydans (M)
Date: 19 August 2004
By Brian Wingfield
Brian Wingfield
Ad campaign using enigmatic 'Retro vs Metro' advertisements that have created buzz among newspaper and Internet readers is promotion for book called The Great Divide by billionaire businessman John Sperling and four co-authors; premise of book is that country has become two nations, and authors argue that potential majority exists in 'Metro' states, letting Democrats write off 'Retro' ones in their pursuit of presidency (M)
Date: 18 August 2004
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Richard Frost will become chief executive of Louisiana-Pacific after retirement of chairman-chief executive Mark Suwyn on Oct 31 (S)
Date: 18 August 2004
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
LoJack Corp, which makes devices for recovering stolen cars, acquires Boomerang Tracking Inc for about 64 million Canadian dollars ($49 million) to expand into Canada (S)
Date: 18 August 2004
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Federal Bankruptcy Judge Burton R Lifland approves plan by Travelers Property Casualty Corp to pay $500 million to settle claims against it by people with asbestos-related diseases linked to Johns-Manville Corp; more than 600,000 people sued Travelers, contending tghat it knew about hazards of asbestos and failed to disclose them over course of about 30 years as Manville's primary insurer (S)