Year 2002
Events
January
January 1
The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992,
officially enters into force.
The Euro is officially introduced in the Eurozone countries. The former
currencies of all the countries that use the Euro ceased to be legal
tender on February 28.
January 17 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
January 18 – The Sierra Leone Civil War comes to a conclusion with the
defeat of the Revolutionary United Front by government forces.
February
February 6 – Queen Elizabeth II of the Commonwealth Realms celebrates
her Golden Jubilee, marking 50 years since her accession to the thrones
of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
February 8–24 – The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City,
Utah.
February 12 – The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former president of
Yugoslavia, begins at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia in The Hague.
February 19 – NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the
surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
February 22 – UNITA guerilla leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in clashes
against government troops led by Angolan President José Eduardo dos
Santos in Moxico Province, Angola. His death leads to the end of the
Angolan Civil War on April 4.
March
March 1 – The Envisat environmental satellite is launched, with its
purpose being the recording of information on environmental change.
March 27 – A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 30 people and injures 140
others at a hotel in Netanya, Israel, triggering Operation Defensive
Shield, a large-scale counter-terrorism operation in the West Bank, two
days later.
April
April 2 – Israeli forces besiege the Church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem, when militants took shelter there. The siege would last for
38 days.
April 9 – The Funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother takes place at
Westminster Abbey, London.
April 15 – Air China Flight 129 crashes into a hillside during heavy
rain and fog near Busan, South Korea, killing 129 people.
April 25 – South African Mark Shuttleworth blasts off from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome on the Soyuz TM-34, becoming the first African space tourist.
May
May 20 – East Timor regains its independence after 2-and-a-half years of
United Nations administration and 26 years of occupation by Indonesia
since 1975.
May 24 – In Moscow, United States President George W. Bush and Russian
President Vladimir Putin sign the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty
to replace the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 and the START II
Treaty of 1993.
May 25 – A Boeing 747 operating as China Airlines Flight 611 breaks up
and crashes in the Taiwan Strait, killing all 225 passengers and crew on
board.
May 31 – June 30 – The 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan;
which is ultimately won by Brazil.
June
June 6 – An object with an estimated diameter of 10 meters collides with
Earth over the Mediterranean and detonates in mid-air.
June 10 – The first direct electronic communication experiment between
the nervous systems of two humans is carried out by Kevin Warwick in the
United Kingdom.
June 24 – A passenger train collides with a freight train in Dodoma
Region, Tanzania, killing 281 people, making it the worst rail accident
in African history.
July
July 1
The Rome Statute comes into force, thereby establishing the
International Criminal Court.
A Russian passenger jet and cargo plane collide over the town of
Überlingen, Germany, killing 71 people.
July 9 – The Organisation of African Unity is disbanded and replaced by
the African Union.
August
August 26 – Earth Summit 2002 begins in Johannesburg, South Africa,
aimed at discussing sustainable development by the United Nations.
September
September 10 – Switzerland joins the United Nations as the 190th member
state after rejecting a place in 1986.
September 19 – General Robert Guéï leads an army mutiny in an attempt to
overthrow Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, resulting in civil war.
September 25 – The Vitim event, a possible bolide impact, occurs in
Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.
September 26 – The Senegalese passenger ferry MV Le Joola capsizes in a
storm off the coast of the Gambia, killing 1,863 people.
September 27 – East Timor is admitted to the United Nations as the 191st
member state; it also changes its official longform name from
"Democratic Republic of East Timor" to "Democratic Republic of
Timor-Leste".
October
October 12 – Jemaah Islamiyah militants detonate multiple bombs in two
nightclubs in Kuta, Indonesia, killing 202 people and injuring over 300
in the worst terrorist act in Indonesia's history.
October 23–25 – Chechen rebels take control of the Nord-Ost theatre in
Moscow and hold the audience hostage. At least 170 people are killed
following a Russian attempt to subdue the militants.
November
November 7 – A sovereignty referendum is held in Gibraltar. The people
reject Spanish sovereignty.
November 8 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts
Resolution 1441, forcing Iraq to either disarm or face "serious
consequences". Iraq agrees to the terms of the resolution on November
13.
November 19 – Prestige oil spill: Greek oil tanker MV Prestige splits in
half off the coast of Galicia after spilling an estimated 17.8M US
gallons (420,000 bbl) in the worst environmental disaster in the history
of the Iberian Peninsula.
November 25 – U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security
Act into law, establishing the Department of Homeland Security, in the
largest U.S. government reorganization since the creation of the
Department of Defense in 1947. Following a several month-long
transitional period, it commences operations the following year.
November 28 – 2002 Mombasa attacks: Suicide bombers blow up an
Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, but their colleagues failed in
their attempt to bring down an Arkia Israel Airlines charter flight with
surface-to-air-missiles.
December
December 23 – A U.S. MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 in
the first combat engagement between a drone and conventional aircraft.
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