July 2, 2004 (Friday)
- Darfur conflict: Sudanese President Omar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir, in a meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, makes a commitment to "ensure security for the civilian population by deploying civilian police and by disarming militias". (Reuters)[permanent dead link]
- Brazil's strict new gun control legislation, including a nationwide register of all firearms, both privately owned and government issued, comes into force. (BBC)
- Entertainer Bill Cosby, in an appearance with Jesse Jackson, criticizes the African American community, saying illiterate blacks are "going nowhere" and advising unemployed black men to "stop beating up your women". (CNN/archive.org)
- Occupation of Iraq: Four U.S. Army soldiers, including 1st. Lt. Jack M. Saville and Sgt. Tracy Perkins, are charged with offenses ranging up to involuntary manslaughter in the January 3 drowning death of an Iraqi detainee whom they reportedly forced to leap into the Tigris from atop a bridge in Samarra. (Reuters)
- U.S. presidential election: Several Democratic Party members of the U.S. House of Representatives request that the United Nations send observers to monitor the November 2 presidential election, citing the disputed 2000 presidential outcome. (AFP)
- A Medevac of airline Air TRK crashes during take-off from Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, Panama, after a stopover in a flight from Quito, Ecuador, to Washington, D.C., U.S., killing six passengers and one airport worker. (Estrella de Panama)