2002

2002 (MMII) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. It was designated the:

• International Year of Ecotourism and Mountains
• Year of the Outback in Australia
• National Science Year in the United Kingdom
• Autism Awareness Year in the United Kingdom

See also Wikipedia's almanac of events for this year.

Overview of the year

In contrast to 2000 and 2001, which retained elements of the late 1990s, 2002 shifted into a new cultural decade. With the declining popularity of late 1990s and early 2000s acts like 'N Sync and The Backstreet Boys after band break-ups, rap acts like 50 Cent and Eminem rose in popularity. Pop-Punk acts like Good Charlotte and New Found Glory also appealed to adolescents. 2002 also marked the begining of the controversial Iraq War, which many say, along with 9/11, was the true generation definer of the 2000s.

Events

January

• January 1 - The Republic of China officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Chinese Taipei.
• January 1 - The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially enters in to force.
• January 5 - Charles Bishop, a 15 year-old student pilot, crashes a light aircraft into a Tampa, Florida building, evoking fear of a copycat 9/11 terrorist attack.
• January 9 - The United States Department of Justice announces it is going to pursue a criminal investigation of Enron.
• January 10 - Enrique Bolaños began his five-year term as President of the Republic of Nicaragua.
• January 13 - President George W. Bush faints after choking on a pretzel.^{Confirmation needed}
• January 14 - The case of Adelaide Abankwah comes into trial in New York
• January 16 - A student shoots 6 people at the Appalachian School of Law, killing three.^{Confirmation needed}
• January 16 - John Ashcroft announces that American Taliban member John Walker Lindh would be tried in the United States.
• January 16 - The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the Taliban.
• January 17 - Eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
• January 18 - A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying anhydrous ammonia derails outside of Minot, North Dakota, killing one.
• January 22 - AOL Time Warner brings a federal suit against Microsoft seeking damages. The suit alleges that the market for AOL's Netscape Navigator Internet browser was harmed when Microsoft started to give away a competing browser.^{Confirmation needed}
• January 22 - Kmart Corp becomes the largest retailer in American history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
• January 22 - Clyde Hood sentenced for 14 years in prison for Omega Trust fraud^{Confirmation needed}
• January 24 - Terrorist suspect John Walker Lindh's hearing begins.^{Confirmation needed}
• January 27 - Several explosions at a military dump in Lagos, Nigeria kill more than 1,000.^{Confirmation needed}

February

• February 2 - Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands marries Máxima, Princess of Orange in Amsterdam.
• February 3 - Costa Rica: elections for President and Congress
• February 8-February 24 - 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah
• February 12 - The trial of former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague
• February 12 - Nuclear waste: US Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States' nuclear repository.
• February 13 - Queen Elizabeth II gives former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani an honorary knighthood.
• February 16 - Rachel Thaler, aged 16, blown up at a pizzena in an Israeli shopping mall following a suicide bombing attack on a crowd of teenagers.
• February 19 - NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of using its thermal emission imaging system.
• February 20 - In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370
• February 20 - In most of the world, at 20:02 (8:02 PM) local time, date (written as day/month), time, and year are all 2002, making each of them alone, any two together, and the combination of all three, all palindromes.
• February 22 - Norwegian-facilitated ceasefire begins in Sri Lanka
• February 23 - FARC kidnaps Ingrid Betancourt in Colombia when she campaigns for presidency
• February 27 - Ethnic conflict in India: 59 Hindu pilgrims die aboard a train burned by a Muslim mob in Godhra, India, sparking a series of riots, leaving hundreds dead
• February 28 - The ex-currencies of all euro members officialy (at EU-level) cease to be legal tender.

March

• March 1 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: In eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda begins.
• March 1 - 28 people die in continuing violence in Ahmedabad. Police shoot and kill five while attempting to control rioters.
• March 1 - The Envisat environmental satellite successfully reaches an orbit 800km above the Earth on its 11th launch, carrying the heaviest payload to date at 8500kg.
• March 1 - Space Shuttle Columbia flies Hubble Space Telescope service mission (STS-109).
• March 1 - Peseta discontinued as official currency of Spain and is replaced with the euro (€)
• March 3 - São Tomé and Príncipe: elections for the legislature
• March 6 - France agrees to return the remains of Saartje Baartman to South Africa
• March 10 - Colombia: elections for the legislature; Togo: elections for the Parliament
• March 11 - BBC 6 Music, the first new BBC music radio station in decades, is launched
• March 12 - In Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her five children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison
• March 17 - Portugal: elections for the Parliament
• March 19 - US Attack on Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 1) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities
• March 21 - In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh along with three other suspects are charged with murder for their part in the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl
• March 27 - Netanya suicide attack: A suicide bomber kills 28 people in Netanya, Israel
• March 31 - Ukraine: elections for the Parliament

April

• April 2 - Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, when militants take shelter there. A siege ensues.
• April 9- Funeral of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother takes place in Westminster Abbey, London.
• April 15 - An Air China Boeing 767-200 crashes into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Pusan, South Korea, killing 128
• April 15 - The Alameda Corridor transportation project in Los Angeles, California opens to rail traffic, ceasing operations of through freight trains on the 120-year-old BNSF Harbor Subdivision.
• April 17 - Four Canadian infantrymen are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two U.S. F-16s.
• April 18 - New order of insects, Mantophasmatodea, announced.
• April 25 - South African Mark Shuttleworth blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome; he had paid £15 million for the trip.
• April 26 - Robert Steinhauser opens fire on his former teachers and other students in Erfurt, Germany and then kills himself: 16 dead.
• April 27 - Three people killed in Laughlin, Nevada River Run Riot.
• April 30 - Pakistan: Pakistani voters approve a referendum granting a five-year term for Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf.

May

The Flag of East Timor

• May 4 - In Germany, BV Borussia Dortmund wins the Bundesliga title after a 2-1 victory over SV Werder Bremen.
• May 6 - In the Netherlands, politician Pim Fortuyn is killed by Volkert van der Graaf.
• May 7 - Gay Canadian teenager Marc Hall is granted a court injunction ordering that he be allowed to attend his high school prom with his boyfriend.
• May 9 - The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agreed to have 13 suspected militants among them deported to several different countries. The standoff started April 2.
• May 9 - In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-control bomb explodes during a holiday parade, killing 43 and injuring at least 130.
• May 10 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
• May 12 - Former President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.
• May 15 - The Netherlands: elections for the Lower House.
• May 16 - Star Wars: Attack of the Clones is released in theaters.
• May 20 - Restoration of East Timor independence
• May 21 - US State Department releases report citing seven State-Sponsors of Terrorism;Iran,Iraq,Cuba,Libya,North Korea,Sudan,andSyria.
• May 22 - In Washington, DC, Chandra Levy's remains are found in Rock Creek Park.
• May 22 - American civil rights movement: 16th Street Baptist Church bombing: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls.
• May 23 - Irish Football Captain, Roy Keane, Is sent home from the Training Camp in Saipan, by Manager Mick McCarthy after an Argument over Training arrangements. This cause a huge Media sensation in Ireland and Britain. Many people were split over two sides and some called it the Second Irish Civil War.
• May 23 - First Eurovision Song Contest in a former Soviet country: Estonia
• May 25 - The Boston Celtics come back from twenty-six points down to defeat the New Jersey Nets in Game 3 of the National Basketball Association's Eastern Conference Finals.
• May 25 - China Airlines Flight 611 broke up near the Penghu Islands at Taiwan Strait, killing all 225 people on board.
• May 26 - The Mars Odyssey finds signs of huge water ice deposits on the planet Mars.
• May 28 - Washington DC's medical examiner declares that Chandra Levy's death was the result of homicide.
• May 31 through June 30 - 17th Football World Cup in South Korea and Japan

June

Concorde leads the Red Arrows over London in a fly past for Queen Elizabeth II on her Golden Jubilee

• June 1 - The Los Angeles Lakers def the Sacramento Kings 112-106, to win Game 7 of the National Basketball Association's 2002 Western Conference Finals.
• June 3 - The "Party in the Palace" takes place at Buckingham Palace, London for Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee celebrations.
• June 4 - Quaoar is discovered.
• June 4 - Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh ride in the gold state coach from Buckingham Palace to St Paul's Cathedral for a special service marking the Queen's 50 years on the throne. In New York, the Empire State Building is lit in purple for her honour.
• June 5 - Elizabeth Smart is kidnapped from her Salt Lake City, Utah home.
• June 5 - Mozilla 1.0, the first 'official' version, is released.
• June 6 - The United States House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee announces it is probing Martha Stewart's ImClone stock sales.
• June 8 - Serena Williams defeats her sister Venus Williams in straight sets to win the 2002 French Open.
• June 10 - Annular solar eclipse.
• June 11 - Antonio Meucci was recognised as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
• June 12 - The Los Angeles Lakers def the New Jersey Nets 4 games to 0 to win the 2002 NBA Finals.
• June 13 - The Detroit Red Wings def the Carolina Hurricanes 4 games to 1 in the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals.
• June 14 - In Karachi, Pakistan, a car bomb in front of the U.S. consulate kills twelve Pakistanis and injures fifty.
• June 18 - Arizona experiences its worst forest fire, burning 462,606 acres (1,872 km²) near the Mogollon Rim.
• June 30 - Brazil defeats Germany 2-0 to win the Football World Cup 2002.

July

• July 1 - Russian passenger jet and a cargo plane collide over the town of Uberlingen in Southern Germany - 72 dead
• July 1 - Wendy J. Hamilton became president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
• July 5 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq once again rejects new U.N. weapons inspections proposals
• July 10 - At a Sotheby's auction, Peter Paul Rubens' painting "The Massacre of the Innocents" is sold for £49.5million (US$76.2 million) to Lord Thomson
• July 13 - A lighting strike sets off the Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which is left to burn 499,570 acres (2,022 km²) when finally contained on September 5.
• July 14 - During Bastille Day celebrations, Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt unscathed.
• July 15 - So-called "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and for the possession of explosives during the commission of a felony. Lindh agrees to serve 10 years in prison for each of the charges
• July 19 - K-19: The Widowmaker starring Harrison Ford is released.
• July 21 - Telecommunications giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the largest such filing in United States history
• July 27 - Helen Clark leader of the Labour Party is historically re-elected in a landslide victory over the Right Wing in the New Zealand general election of 2002.
• July 27 - A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes at an air show in Ukraine killing 78 and injuring more than 100 others, the largest air show disaster in history.

August

• August 27 - Simon & Schuster sues Michael Pelligrino and Artist Management Group because Pelligrino had written a book claiming to be a son of late Mafioso Carlo Gambino

September

• September 2 - The opening of the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, successor of the 1972 Conference on the Human Environment, 1983 World Commission on Environment and Development, and the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development.
• September 3 - Consolidated Freightways files for bankruptcy
• September 5 - A car bomb kills at least 30 people in Afghanistan, and an apparent assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai fails the same day.
• September 5 - The Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burned 499,570 acres (2,022 km²), is finally contained.
• September 8 - Typhoon Sinlaku causes huge waves on the Qiantangjiang River in Sheijang Province, China
• September 11 - The World Summit on Sustainable Development comes to a close.
• September 12 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush, addresses the U.N. and challenges its members to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Iraq or stand aside as the United States and likeminded nations act.
• September 15 - The Swedish parliamentary election leaves Prime Minister Göran Persson and the Social Democrats in power.
• September 22 - The German federal election leaves Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, his Social Democrats and the Greens in power

October

• October 2 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The U.S. Congress passes a joint resolution which explicitly authorizes the President to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate.
• October 7 - Discovery of Quaoar is announced.
• October 11 - Lone bomber explodes a home-made bomb in the Myyrmanni shopping mall north of Helsinki, Finland - casualties include himself. See Myyrmanni bombing.
• October 12 - Bali bombing: Terrorists detonate massive bombs in two nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and injuring over 300.
• October 16 - Iraq disarmament crisis: George W. Bush signs the Iraq war resolution.
• October 24 - The Beltway snipers are arrested.
• October 25 - U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his family and staff, are killed by a plane accident at Eveleth, Minnesota.
• October 27 - The Anaheim Angels defeat the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series.

November

The Department of Homeland Security is formed in response to terrorist concerns in the United States

.

• November 5 - U.S. Elections: The Republican Party maintains control of the House of Representatives and regains control of the Senate.
• November 7 - Iran bans advertising of US products.
• November 8 - Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council Resolution 1441 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences".
• November 9 - In Los Angeles, California, television and film actor Merlin Santana is shot to death while sitting in the passenger seat of a friend's car parked on the 3800 block of Victoria Avenue.
• November 13 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq agrees to the terms of the UN Security Council Resolution 1441.
• November 13 - The oil tanker Prestige sinks off the Galician coast and causes a huge oil spill.
• November 14 - Argentina defaults on a US$805 million World Bank payment
• November 15 - Hu Jintao becomes general secretary of the Communist Party of China.
• November 16 - A Campaign Against Climate Change march takes place in London from Lincoln's Inn Fields, past Esso offices to the United States Embassy.
• November 18 - Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.
• November 21 - NATO Summit in Prague - Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia invited to become NATO members.
• November 22 - In Nigeria, more than 100 people are killed at an attack aimed at the contestants of the Miss World contest.
• November 25 - US President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Act into law, establishing the Department of Homeland Security in the largest US government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 (the Senate passed the bill 90-9 on November 19).

December

• December 4 - Total solar eclipse
• December 7 - Iraq disarmament crisis: As required by the recently passed U.N. resolution, Iraq files a 12,000 page weapons declaration with the U.N. Security Council. Although it is supposed to be a complete declaration, it is seen as incomplete by the Security Council and weapons inspectors.
• December 10 - High Court of Australia hands down its judgement in the Internet defamation dispute in the case of Gutnick v Dow Jones.
• December 18 - Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was released into theaters.
• December 24 - Laci Peterson of Modesto, California is reported missing.
• December 27 - Suicide truck-bomb attack destroys headquarters of Chechnya's Moscow-backed government, killing 72 people.
• December 29 – Communist New People's Army blows up a bust of Ferdinand Marcos in Benguet, Philippines.

Unknown Date

• Naruto (anime) is created by Studio Perriot.
• American Prohibition Foundation incorported.

Births

• August 2 - Kara Hoffman, American actress
• August 2 - Shelby Hoffman, American actress
• December 6 - Sophia Rosalinda Bratt, daughter of Benjamin Bratt and Talisa Soto

Deaths

For more deaths see: Deaths in 2002

January

• January 3 - Freddy Heineken, Dutch-born beer magnate (b. 1923)
• January 8 - Alexander Prochorow, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
• January 8 - Dave Thomas, American fast food entrepreneur (b. 1932)
• January 12 - Stanley Unwin, South African comedian (b. 1911)
• January 12 - Cyrus Vance, United States Secretary of State (b. 1917)
• January 13 - Ted Demme, American film and television director (b. 1963)
• January 16 - Michael Bilandic, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1923)
• January 16 - Bobo Olson, American boxer (b. 1928)
• January 16 - Ron Taylor, American actor (b. 1952)
• January 17 - Camilo José Cela, Spanish writer (b. 1916)
• January 20 - Carrie Hamilton, actress (b. 1963)
• January 22 - Peggy Lee, American singer and actress (b. 1920)
• January 23 - Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist (b. 1930)
• January 23 - Robert Nozick, American philosopher (b. 1938)
• January 28 - Dick "Night Train" Lane, American football player (b. 1928)
• January 28 - Astrid Lindgren, Swedish children's book author (b. 1907)
• January 29 - Harold Russell, Canadian-born actor (b. 1914)

February

• February 6 - Max Perutz, Austrian-born molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1914)
• February 8 - Joachim Hoffmann, German historian (b. 1930)
• February 9 - Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom (b. 1930)
• February 13 - Waylon Jennings, Country music singer (b. 1937)
• February 14 - Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer (b. 1922)
• February 15 - Howard K. Smith, American television journalist (b. 1914)
• February 15 - Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor (b. 1963)
• February 16 - Walter Winterbottom, English football manager (b. 1913)
• February 19 - Virginia Hamilton, American writer
• February 21 - John Thaw, British actor (b. 1942)
• February 22 - Chuck Jones, American animator (b. 1912)
• February 22 - Jonas Savimbi, Angolan rebel leader (b. 1934)
• February 24 - Leo Ornstein, American composer and pianist (b. 1912)
• February 26 - Lawrence Tierney, American actor (b. 1919)
• February 27 - Spike Milligan, British comedian, writer, and poet (b. 1918)
• February 27 - Mary Stuart, American actress (b. 1926)
• February 28 - Helmut