| |
|
2001 |
| January 1st |
 |
A
black monolith measuring approximately nine feet tall appeared
in Seattle's Magnuson Park, placed by an anonymous artist in
reference to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. |
|
| January 6th |
|
The
U.S. Congress, presided over by Vice President Al Gore as President
of the Senate, certified George W. Bush Jr. Electoral College
victory and so became the winner of 2000 presidential election. |
|
| January 20th |
|
George
W. Bush Jr. succeeded Bill Clinton as President of the United
States after being chosen over Al Gore by the supreme court
in the disputed and controversial U.S. presidential election,
2000. |
|
| January 24th |
|
The
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Mandelson resigned
from the British cabinet for the second time. |
|
| January 26th |
|
An
earthquake hit Gujarat in India. More than 20,000 people were
killed and most of the historical city was destroyed. |
|
| January 31st |
|
The
Scottish Court in the Netherlands convicted a Libyan and acquited
another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which
crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland on 21st December 1988. |
|
| February. |
|
British
and U.S. forces carred out bombing raids attempting to disable
Iraq's air defense network. |
|
| February
6th |
|
In
Israel, Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon won the election was
the new Prime Minister of the state of Israel. |
|
| February
12th |
|
The
NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft landed in the 'saddle' region of 433
Eros and became the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid. |
|
| February
16th |
|
A
suburb of Baghdad was bombed by US and UK war planes, which
killed 3 people. |
|
| February
20th |
|
FBI
agent Robert Hanssen was arrested and charged with spying for
Russia for 15 years. |
|
| February
20th |
|
In
Britain, panic struck farmers as the 'foot and mouth' crisis
hit. |
|
| February
28th |
|
In
England, the Selby rail crash killed 10 people. |
|
| March
23rd |
|
The
Russian space station Mir was deliberately de-orbited and broke
apart during atmospheric re-entry. It re-entered the atmosphere
near Nadi, Fiji, and fell into the Pacific Ocean. |
|
| April 1st |
|
An
EP-3E American spyplane collided with a Chinese fighter jet
and was forced to make an emergency landing in Hainan, China.
The U.S. crew were detained for 10 days and the F-8 Chinese
pilot, Wang Wei, was never found and was presumed dead. |
|
| April 1st |
|
The
former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan
Milosevic surrendered to police special forces, to be tried
on charges of war crimes. |
|
| May 7th |
|
In
Banja Luka, the second largest city in Bosnia, an attempt was
made to reconstruct the Ferhadija mosque. The ceremony turned
into a mass riot by Serb nationalists that beat and stoned three
hundred elderly Bosnian Muslims. |
|
| May 11th |
|
English
author Douglas Adams of the comicial sci-fi series 'The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy' died from a heart attack, aged 49. |
|
| June 1st |
|
The
Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal killed his father, the king,
his mother and other members of the royal family with an assault
rifle and then shot himself. He died of his wounds on June 4th.
King Gyanendra acceeded to the throne. |
|
| June 7th |
|
The
Labour Party won the British General Election and elected to
serve for a second time in government and Tony Blair as the
Prime Minister. |
|
| June 11th |
|
In
the United States Timothy James McVeigh was executed by lethal
injection for the bombing of Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma
City on April 19th 1995. 168 people were killed, including 8
Federal Marshals and 19 children. |
|
| June 20th |
|
In
Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf became President of Pakistan after
the resignation of Rafiq Tarar. |
|
| July 2nd |
|
World's
first self-contained artificial heart implanted in Robert Tools. |
|
| July 19th |
|
British
politician and novelist Jeffrey Archer was sentenced to four
years in prison for perjury and perverting the course of justice. |
|
July
20th - 22nd |
|
The
27th G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. Massive demonstrations by anti-globalisation
groups. One demonstrator, Carlo Giuliani, was shot dead by police.
Several others were badly injured when the police attacked a
school that the protesters were using as their headquarters. |
|
| August 2nd |
|
In
the United States, Robert Mueller was confirmed as the new director
of the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation). |
|
| August 6th |
|
President
George W. Bush Jr. was informed in his President's Daily Brief
that Osama bin Laden was determined to strike targets within
the United States. The FBI believed activity consistent with
preparations for hijacking US airplanes was underway. |
|
| August 9th |
|
US
President George W. Bush Jr. announced his support for federal
funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells. |
|
| September
9th |
|
Suicide
bomber wounded Ahmed Shah Massoud, military commander of Northern
Alliance in Afghanistan. He died September 14th. |
|
| September
10th |
|
U.S.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld held a press conference
and disclosed that over US$2trillion in Pentagon funds in transactions
could not be accounted for. |
|
| September
11th |
|
World
Trade Center towers, New York, USA, destroyed by Muslim extremists
in a suicide attack which killed almost 3,000 people. Two hijacked
airplanes were used as instruments of destruction. |
|
| September
11th |
|
The
Pentagon, Washington D.C., was also attacked on the same day,
within an hour of the World Trade Towers. Muslim extremists
again used a hijacked passenger airplane to cause the devastation. |
|
| September
11th |
|
Flight
93 was hijacked by Muslim extremists but crashed near Shanksville,
Pennsylvania, killing all passengers and crew. The passengers
stopped the plane from being used as a weapon. |
|
| September
17th |
|
The
New York Stock Exchange reopened following the terrorist attacks
in New York on September 11th. |
|
| September
18th |
|
The
anthrax attacks began. Anthrax letters were mailed from Princeton,
New Jersey to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, the New York Post,
and the National Enquirer. |
|
| October 4th |
|
The
first case of anthrax in the United States was announced by
federal officials. |
|
| October 4th |
|
Siberia
Airlines Flight 1812 from Tel Aviv Israel to Novosibirsk Russia
crashed over the Black Sea. 78 people were killed. |
|
| October 5th |
|
Tom
Ridge resigned as Governor of Pennsylvania to become the first
director of the newly created United States Office of Homeland
Security. |
|
| October 7th |
|
The
combined American and British attack on Taliban controlled Afghanistan
began. |
|
| October 9th |
|
The
anthrax attacks continued as anthrax letters were mailed from
Princeton, New Jersey to Senators Tom Daschle of South Dakota
and Patrick Leahy of Vermont. |
|
| October 10th |
|
US
President George W. Bush Jr. presented a list of 22 the 'most
wanted' terrorists in the World. |
|
| October
10th |
|
Vasili
Pavlovich Mishin died. Along with Sergei Korolev,
Mishin played a key managerial role in the early developments
of the Soviet space programme. A major supporter of the Soviet
N1 Moon rocket. |
|
| October
15th |
|
NASA's
Galileo spacecraft passed within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon
Io. |
|
| October 20th |
|
A
concert in New York City, 'a celebration of the strength, resilience,
and pride of New York and America' which featured performances
by The Who, Paul McCartney, David Bowie and Eric Clapton among
many. |
|
| November
4th |
|
The
Police Service of Northern Ireland was established, which replaced
the discredited RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary). |
|
| November
7th |
|
The
supersonic Concorde resumed flying after a 15-month break, after
an Air France Concorde, Flight 4590, crashed after take off
from Paris. The accident in France killed all 109 passengers
and 5 people on the ground on July 25th 1996. |
|
| November
10th |
|
China
was admitted to the World Trade Organization after 15 years
of negotiations. |
|
| November
12th |
|
In
New York City, American Airlines Flight 587 crashed minutes
after take off from JFK International Airport. The disaster
killed all 260 passengers. At first it was believed to be another
terrorist attack. |
|
| November
12th |
|
Taliban
forces abandoned the Afghanistan capital Kabul, ahead of the
advancing Northern Alliance troops. Kabul finally fell to the
Northern Alliance fighters on November 14th. |
|
| November
13th |
|
US
President George W. Bush Jr. signed an executive order that
allowed military tribunals against any foreigners suspected
of having connections to terrorist acts or planned acts on the
United States. The first time since World War II. |
|
| November. |
|
Muslim
extremists from the Al Qaeda organisation, led by Osma Bin Laden,
announced responsibility for the attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon. Bin Laden video boasts of WTC attack.
|
|
| November
20th |
|
President
George W. Bush Jr. declared war on global terrorism. "Terrorists
are to be held accountable". |
|
| November
29th |
|
English
musician and composer and former Beatle George Harrison died.
Harrison was part of the phenomenon that was The Beatles, who
are still the one most influential and popular bands in music
history. |
|
| December
2nd |
|
Enron
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection five days after Dynegy
cancelled a US$8.4 billion buy out bid. It became to date the
largest bankruptcy in the history of the United States. |
|
| December
3rd |
|
US
officials announced that one of the Taliban prisoners captured
after the prison uprising at Mazar-e Sharif was John Walker
Lindh, an American citizen. |
|
| December
11th |
|
The
United States government indicted Zacarias Moussaoui for his
involvement in the attacks on September 11th. |
|
| December
13th |
|
The
Indian Parliament was attacked by terrorists. The attack killed
14 people and increased tensions between India and Pakistan.
Both nations have nuclear weapons and were on the brink of war. |
|
| December
13th |
|
U.S.
President George W. Bush Jr. announced the United States' withdrawal
from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. |
|
| December
22nd |
|
In
Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai was sworn in as head of the interim
government in Afghanistan. |
|
| December
22nd |
|
Muslim
extremist Richard Reid was arrested after he attempted to light
his shoe that was filled with explosives. Reid was on a Paris-Miami
flight which had to be diverted to Boston after he was subdued. |
|
| December
27th |
|
The
People's Republic of China was granted permanent normal trade
status with the United States of America. |
|
| |
|
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