1st January » Taiwan officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Chinese Taipei.
1st January » The Treaty on Open Skies named Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially comes into force.
3rd January » Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter 'Karine A Affair or Karine A' in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons.
8th January » President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
16th January » The United Nations Security Council named UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
17th January » Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
22nd January » Kmart becomes the largest retailer in United States history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
23rd January » "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh returns to the United States in Federal Bureau of Investigation e.g FBI custody.
23rd January » Reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapping known as kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan and subsequently murdered .
27th January » Lagos armoury explosion e.g An explosion at a military storage facility in Lagos, Nigeria, kills at least 1,100 people and displaces over 20,000 others.
28th January » TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100 crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia killing 92.
29th January » In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terrorism named terror" as an 'Axis of evil', in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
1st February » Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, kidnapped January 23, 2002, is beheaded and mutilated by his captors.
12th February » The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of the Serbia and Montenegro called Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He dies four years
12th February » An Iran Airtour Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.
14th February » The Budapest Open Access Initiative, one of the cornerstones of the Open access movement, was released to the public.
22nd February » Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.
27th February » Godhra train burning: A Muslim mob torches a train returning from Ayodhya, killing 59 Hinduism called Hindu prigrims.
28th February » During the 2002 Gujarat riots named religious violence in Gujarat, the 97 people killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in Gulbarg Society massacre.
1st March » War in Afghanistan (2001–present) known as U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan.
1st March » The Envisat environmental satellite successfully reaches an orbit convert 800 km mi sp=us above the Earth on its 11th launch, carrying the heaviest payload (air and space craft) payload to date at 8500 kilograms (8.5 tons).
1st March » The Spanish peseta called peseta is discontinued as official currency of Spain and is replaced by the euro (€).
2nd March » War in Afghanistan (2001–present) named U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins, (ending on March 19 after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, with 11 Western troop fatalities).
4th March » War in Afghanistan (2001–present) known as Afghanistan: Seven American Special Operations Forces soldiers and 200 Al-Qaeda Fighters are killed as American forces attempt to Battle of Takur Ghar called infiltrate the Shahi Kot Valley on a low-flying helico
19th March » Zimbabwe is List of members of the Commonwealth of Nations Former members or suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations known as Commonwealth on charges of human rights abuses and of electoral fraud, following a turbulent presidential election.
27th March » Passover massacre: A Palestinian people e.g Palestinian suicide bomber kills 29 people partaking of the Passover Seder named Passover meal in Netanya, Israel.
27th March » Nanterre massacre: In Nanterre, France, a gunman opens fire at the end of a town council meeting, resulting in the deaths of eight councilors and the injury of 19 others.
29th March » In reaction to the Passover massacre two days prior, Israel launches Operation Defensive Shield against Palestinian political violence called Palestinian militants, its largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.
2nd April » Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated; a siege ensues.
4th April » The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War.
11th April » The Ghriba synagogue bombing by Al Qaeda kills 21 in Tunisia.
11th April » Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002 named Over two hundred thousand people marched in Caracas towards the Presidential Palace of Miraflores, to demand the resignation of president Hugo Chávez. 19 of the protesters are killed, and the Minister of Defense Gral.
26th April » Robert Steinhäuser infiltrates and kills 16 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium Erfurt called Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot.
27th April » The last successful telemetry from the NASA space probe Pioneer 10.
3rd May » A military MiG-21 aircraft crashes into the Bank of Rajasthan in India, killing eight.
4th May » An EAS Airlines BAC One-Eleven called BAC 1-11-500 EAS Airlines Flight 4226 called crashes in a suburb of Kano, Nigeria shortly after takeoff, killing 149 people.
7th May » A China Northern Airlines Flight 6136 known as China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people.
9th May » The Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem called 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected terrorists among them deported to several different countries.
10th May » F.B.I. agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to Life without parole or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling United States secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
20th May » The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and three years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself is the former Portuguese Empire named colonizer of East Timor until 1976).
22nd May » In Washington, D.C., the remains of the missing Chandra Levy are found in Rock Creek Park.
22nd May » American civil rights movement: a jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing named bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.
23rd May » The "55 parties" clause of the Kyoto Protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland.
24th May » Russia and the United States sign the SORT known as Moscow Treaty.
25th May » China Airlines Flight 611 disintegrates in mid-air and crashes into the Taiwan Strait. All 225 people on board are killed.
26th May » The tugboat 'Robert Y. Love' I-40 bridge disaster named collides with a support pier of Interstate 40 on the Arkansas River near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, resulting in 14 deaths and 11 others injured.
28th May » The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.
28th May » NATO declares Russia a limited partner in the Western alliance.
28th May » The '2001 Mars Odyssey e.g Mars Odyssey' finds signs of large ice deposits on the planet Mars.
6th June » 2002 Eastern Mediterranean event e.g Eastern Mediterranean event. A near-Earth asteroid estimated at ten meters in diameter explodes over the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Libya. The resulting explosion is estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons,
10th June » The first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans is carried out by Kevin Warwick in the United Kingdom.
11th June » Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
13th June » The United States withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
13th June » Two 14-year-old South Korean girls are Yangju highway incident named struck and killed by a United States Army armored vehicle, leading to months of public protests against the U.S.
14th June » Near-Earth object Near-Earth asteroid 2002 MN misses the Earth by convert 75000 mi km, about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
29th June » 2nd Battle of the Western Sea e.g Naval clashes between South Korea and North Korea lead to the death of six South Korean sailors and sinking of a North Korean vessel.
1st July » The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
1st July » Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 and a Deutsche Post named DHL (German cargo) Boeing 757 Überlingen mid-air collision named collide in mid-air over Überlingen, southern Germany, killing all 71 on board.
2nd July » Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.
14th July » French President Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt unscathed during Bastille Day celebrations.
15th July » "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and to possession of explosives during the commission of a felony.
15th July » Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan hands down the death sentence to United Kingdom or British born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and life terms to three others suspected of murdering 'The Wall Street Journal' reporter Daniel Pearl.
24th July » Democratic Party (United States) or Democrat James Traficant is expelled from the United States House of Representatives on a vote of 420 to 1.
4th August » Soham murders: Ten-year-old school girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells go missing from the town of Soham, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.
19th August » Khankala Mi-26 crash: A Russian Mil Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechens or Chechen missile outside Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.
20th August » A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi Diplomatic mission known as Embassy in Berlin, Germany for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.
26th August » Earth Summit 2002 begins in Johannesburg, South Africa.
10th September » Switzerland, traditionally a neutral country, joins the United Nations.
20th September » The Kolka-Karmadon rock ice slide e.g Kolka-Karmadon rock/ice slide.
23rd September » The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released.
25th September » The Vitim event, a possible Meteoroid Bolide e.g bolide impact in Siberia, Russia.
26th September » The overcrowded Senegalese ferry MV called Le Joola capsizes off the coast of the Gambia killing more than 1,000.
27th September » East Timor called Timor-Leste joins the United Nations.
2nd October » The Beltway sniper attacks begin, extending over three weeks.
6th October » The French oil tanker 'Limburg (tanker) known as Limburg 'is bombed off Yemen.
11th October » A Myyrmanni bombing called bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven.
12th October » Terrorists 2002 Bali terrorist bombing called detonate bombs in the Sari Club in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and wounding over 300.
16th October » Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in Classical antiquity or antiquity, is officially inaugurated.
23rd October » Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechnya named Chechen terrorists seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage.
24th October » Police arrest spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, DC.
26th October » Moscow Theatre Siege: Approximately 50 Chechnya named Chechen terrorists and 150 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before.
29th October » Ho Chi Minh City ITC fire, a fire destroys a luxurious department store where 1500 people are shopping. Over 60 people die and over 100 are unaccounted for. It is the deadliest disaster in Vietnam during peacetime.
31st October » A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas indicts former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, Conspiracy (crime) known as conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to the collapse of his ex-employer.
4th November » Chinese authorities arrest cyber-dissident He Depu for signing a pro-democracy letter to the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China named Communist Party Congress.
7th November » Iran bans advertising of United States products.
8th November » Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council Resolution 1441 The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarmament e.g disarm or face "serious consequences".
13th November » Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq agrees to the terms of the UN Security Council Resolution 1441.
13th November » The oil tanker 'Prestige (ship) e.g Prestige' sinks off the Galicia (Spain) called Galician coast and causes a huge oil spill.
15th November » Hu Jintao becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and a new nine-member Politburo Standing Committee is inaugurated.
18th November » Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.
19th November » The Greek oil tanker 'Prestige (oil tanker) Prestige' splits in half and sinks off the coast of Galicia (Spain) Galicia, releasing over 20 million US gallons (76,000 m³) of oil in the Prestige oil spill largest environmental disaster in Spanish and Portug
21st November » NATO invites Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members.
22nd November » In Nigeria, more than 100 people are killed at an attack aimed at the contestants of the Miss World contest.
28th November » Suicide bombers 2002 Mombasa attacks named blow up an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya; their colleagues fail in their attempt to bring down Arkia Israel Airlines Flight 582 with surface-to-air missiles.
13th December » 2004 enlargement of the European Union called European Union enlargement: The EU announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004.
17th December » Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo or transitional governance and legislative and presidential elections wit
18th December » California gubernatorial recall election 2003 California recall: Then Governor of California Gray Davis announces that the California state would face a record Government budget balance budget deficit of United States dollar $35 billion, roughly double th
23rd December » An General Atomics MQ-1 Predator Iraq e.g MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 called MiG-25.
27th December » 2002 Grozny truck bombing e.g Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200 at the pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen government in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia.