January 3, 2004

A Boeing 737 , Flight 604 , flown by Egyptian charter company Flash Airlines headed for Cairo crashes into the Red Sea minutes after take-off from the holiday resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt . All 148 people on board are killed, of whom more than 120 were French tourists. Though both United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak were in the area, neither were involved in the incident, contrary to initial reports. {Link without Title} {Link without Title} {Link without Title}

The BBC cancels the appearance of Coca Cola sponsorship credits in the music charts in its BBC ONE '' Top Of The Pops '' show, after criticism from politicians and health campaigners that it would be promoting Junk Food and unhealthy drink products to teenagers. {Link without Title}

Ricardo Palmera, better known as Simon Trinidad , one of top seven Colombia n rebel group, FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) is arrested in Ecuador . {Link without Title}

, Spirit, has successfully landed on the Martian surface with a "very strong signal" being received from the lander. It was a tense few minutes as no signal was received from the lander during the minutes while it bounced over the surface. Mission Control is described as being a wild place with the mission scientists very happy. The first pictures are expected at the earliest around 0730 UTC {Link without Title} {Link without Title} {Link without Title} {Link without Title}

The People's Republic Of China 's fifth-largest Brokerage is seized by China Securities Regulatory Commission and local authorities for "illegal and irregular management operations and disorderly management." The unusual move to clamp down China Southern Securities is a high-profile attempt to stem corruption in Mainland China . {Link without Title} {Link without Title}

Casey Kasem hosts his final edition of the popular radio program American Top 40. The following week, American Idol host Ryan Seacrest officially took over hosting duties of the show. Casey continues to host two other radio programs, American Top 20 and American Top 10.

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