January 7, 2004

• In the United States, the Bush administration proposes a major reform of immigration law, creating a temporary worker program and giving legal status to both illegal and foreign workers for renewable three-year periods. [1][2]
• The Supreme Court of Indonesia upholds the death sentence handed down to Bali bomber Amrozi. The 12 October, 2002 attacks killed 202 mainly holiday makers on the resort island of Bali. [3][4]

• Costas Simitis, the prime minister of Greece and president of the ruling PASOK, after informing the country's president Costis Stephanopoulos, announced his resignation. At the same time he announced national elections for March 7, 2004, when PASOK will have a new president, expected to be George Papandreou. PASOK will be challenged by the New Democracy opposition led by Kostas Karamanlis. See [5], [6], [7], [8] (Greek) and [9], [10], [11], [12], [13] (English).
• Exploration of Mars: Mars Express failed to hear any signal from the Beagle 2 spacecraft during its first pass over the landing site. This is major blow, but scientists have once again not given up all hope. They will attempt again tomorrow using a different communication mode. The Beagle 2 mission manager, Colin Pillinger, set February 7 as the day to abandon contact efforts. By that time Beagle 2 would have switched into an autotransmit mode after having not received any signal for over a month if it was still alive [14].
• A report from the International Monetary Fund expresses alarm regarding mounting budget deficits in the United States due to recession, tax cuts, and spending for the war on terrorism. The report says that the unprecedented level of external debt incurred poses "significant risks" not just for the United States but for the rest of the world. However, many outside economists note that other countries are also running large deficits and that underlying economic conditions in the U.S. are still robust. [15] [16]

• U.S.-led occupation of Iraq: Mortar attacks by Anti-American insurgents wound 35 U.S. soldiers at a military camp west of Baghdad. Six mortar rounds exploded around 6:45 p.m. local time. [17]

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