2000 200120022003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

2002

In 2002, the Euro was announced as the official currency for twelve members of the European Union and ten new countries were voted to be added to the EU.

At The Hague, the trial for Slobodan Milosevic, former Yugoslav’s leader, was opened with charges of crimes committed against humanity. Moreover, a 19-year-old civil war ended after the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tigers signed a cease-fire agreement.

It was a bad year for India as more than 1000 people died in a bloodshed. It involved Muslim mob firebombing a train that killed Hindu activists, which led to Hindus’ retaliation. On 2 March of the same year, Afghan and U.S troops launched the Anaconda Operation against the Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters that were remaining in Afghanistan.

It is during this time that Israeli warplanes and tanks attacked the West Bank towns of Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus, and a couple of others in response to the string of suicide bombings that had taken place in Palestine. The first three months of the same year were also not good for Israel as 14 suicide bombers killed dozens of Israeli civilians while hundreds of others were severely wounded. Luckily, the International Criminal Court won UN ratification while at the same time, U.S refused to sanction.

In some twists of events, Hugo Chavez who was Venezuela’s president at the time was ousted in a coup but then two days later on April 14, he was fortunate enough to be reinstated. Almost a month later on May 13, Russia and U.S were able to reach an agreement on the landmark arms to reduce nuclear arsenals for both countries by up to two-thirds over a period of the next ten years.

Meanwhile, The Osbourne’s, MTV’s reality TV show debuted and at the same time the O Brother Where Art Thou’s soundtrack recording won a remarkable five Grammy awards. Sadly, deaths related to AIDS were anticipated to hit the roof if no serious preventative measures were not taken.

Discover how the world looked like in 2002

Looking for 2002 Calendar ? Here it is: January 2002, February 2002, March 2002, April 2002, May 2002, June 2002, July 2002, August 2002, September 2002, October 2002, November 2002, December 2002

Oscar Winners

All Academy Awards Prize winners of the 75th edition of the Oscar ceremony

Best picture

Chicago

Best director

Roman Polanski

Best actor

Adrien Brody

Best actress

Nicole Kidman

Best supporting actor

Chris Cooper

Best supporting actress

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Time Person of the Year

Who was the person of the year of 2002?

The Whistleblowers

Represented by Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley and Sherron Watkins.In 2001, Watkins uncovered accounting irregularities in the financial reports of Enron, testifying before Congressional committees the following year. In 2002, Cooper exposed a $3.8 billion fraud at WorldCom. At the time, this was the largest incident of accounting fraud in U.S. history. In 2002, Rowley, an FBI agent, gave testimony about the FBI's mishandling of information related to the September 11 attacks of 2001.

Books

Which were the most popular books released in 2002 ?
Unlimited books on any devices, try your first month free

Nobel Prizes

All Nobel Prize winners of 2002

Peace Prize

Jimmy Carter

Literature

Imre Kertész

Physics

Raymond Davis Jr.
Masatoshi Koshiba
Riccardo Giacconi

Economic Sciences

Daniel Kahneman
Vernon L. Smith

Chemistry

John Fenn
Koichi Tanaka
Kurt Wüthrich

Physiology or Medicine

Sydney Brenner
H. Robert Horvitz
John Sulston

Music charts

Which were the top hits of 2002?

Top #1 songs in the USA

Nelly - Dilemma
Nelly - Hot In Herre
Ashanti - Foolish
Avril Lavigne - Complicated
Nickelback - How You Remind Me
Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles
Jennifer Lopez - Ain't It Funny
Ja Rule - Always On Time
Fat Joe - What's Luv?
P. Diddy - I Need A Girl (Part Two)

Top #1 songs in the UK

Nickelback - How You Remind Me
Shakira - Whenever Wherever
Las Ketchup - The Ketchup Song (Asereje)
Elvis vs JXL - A Little Less Conversation
Sugababes - Round Round
Gareth Gates - Anyone Of Us (Stupid Mistake)
Puretone - Addicted To Bass
Enrique Iglesias - Hero
Pink - Just Like A Pill
Ronan Keating - If Tomorrow Never Comes

Movies

Which were the most popular Movies released in those months?
Watch popular movies, TV series and live events, start your 30-day free trial

Popular names

Which were the top popular names given to babies born in 2002 in the USA ?

Top #10 male names

Top #10 female names

World Population

Demographic statistics of the year 2002

Population statistics

Total population: 6.3 billion (6,301,773,188 to be precise!)
Urban population: 3.0 billion, that is 48.0% of the total population of 2002 lives in cities
Yearly change: +79.0 million, corresponding to a percentage increase of +1.27%
Average density: 42.0 persons per km²

Historical Events

Which were the important events of 2002?

Events

01 Jan 2002 Twelve member states of the European Union have made euro banknotes and euros coins legal tender.
02 Jan 2002 The 2002 Tennessee quarter-dollar is now in circulation at the US Mint
03 Jan 2002 Freddy Heineken, the beer brewer and grandfather of the brewery's founder, died at home at the age 78.
04 Jan 2002 U.S. officials announced that they had custody of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi
05 Jan 2002 Charles Bishop, a 15-year-old student pilot crashes a light plane into a Tampa, Florida, building. This evokes fear of an imitating 9/11 terrorist attack.
08 Jan 2002 IBM announced that it will cease manufacturing desktop personal computers in most parts of the globe. It will sell its desktop equipment in the US and Europe to Sanmina SCI.
12 Jan 2002 The X (roller coaster), opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, Santa Clarita, California.
14 Jan 2002 New York hears the asylum case of Adelaide Abankwah
16 Jan 2002 John Ashcroft, the U.S. Attorney General, announces that John Walker Lindh, an American Taliban member will be tried in the United States.
18 Jan 2002 The Sierra Leone Civil War has been ended.
20 Jan 2002 Speed skating: world championships sprint, Hamar, Norway. Canada's Katriona Lemay Doan wins the women's competition (2. Andrea Nuyt, Neth., 3. Anzhela Kotyuaga, Bel. ), Jeremy Wotherspoon (also from Canada) becomes the male champion in the men’s competition (2. Casey Fitzrandolph, US, 3. Michael Ireland, Can. ).
22 Jan 2002 Kmart is the first retailer to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in America's history.
23 Jan 2002 Daniel Pearl, Wall Street Journal reporter, is kidnapped by his captors in Pakistan and accused of being an agent for the US Central Intelligence Agency.
24 Jan 2002 Enron hearings begin.
27 Jan 2002 A blast at a military storage unit in Lagos, Nigeria kills at most 1,100 people and causes more than 20,000 injuries.
29 Jan 2002 Geography:
31 Jan 2002 Large sections of the Antarctic Larsen Ice Shelf begin to disintegrate, taking about 35 days.
01 Feb 2002 Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter kidnapped, is killed in Karachi (Pakistan).
03 Feb 2002 Costa Rica holds both presidential and congressional elections.
04 Feb 2002 Cancer Research UK is the largest independent charity dedicated to cancer research in the world.
05 Feb 2002 According to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, the United States would be willing to sign a treaty on strategic nuclear weapons with Russia. This indicates a shift in policy by the administration after it resigned from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty. In May, President George W. Bush will host a summit on arms reduction in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin.
06 Feb 2002 Golden Jubilee to Elizabeth II on the 50th anniversary of King George VI's murder in 1952
08 Feb 2002 February 24, 2002 ampndash Salt Lake City hosts the 2002 Winter Olympics.
09 Feb 2002 From February 24 to 24, the XIX Olympic Winter Games will be held in Salt Lake City (Utah), USA.
10 Feb 2002 Al-Shorta, an Iraqi club, won the 2001-02 Umm Al Ma'arak Cup (mother of all Battles) Cup by beating Al-Talaba 1-0.
11 Feb 2002 British Telecommunications plc begins its US federal court case regarding a controversial patent it claims grants it a monopoly in the technology of web-links.
12 Feb 2002 A Tupolev Tu-154 from Iran Air Tours crashes in the mountains near Khorramabad, Iran, while it descends for landing at Khorramabad Airport. It killed 119 people.
14 Feb 2002 Shaker Aamer, a prisoner, was transferred to Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. Aamer is currently being held without charge, despite having been released in 2007 and 2009.
15 Feb 2002 On the 50th anniversary of her father’s funeral, Princess Margaret, Countess Snowdon will be buried.
16 Feb 2002 According to Rowan Scarborough's book Rumsfeld's War, George W. Bush signed a secret directive from the National Security Council establishing the goals for going to war against Iraq. The Guardian
19 Feb 2002 NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe starts to map Mars' surface using its thermal emission imaging system.
20 Feb 2002 Robert William Pickton, the most prolific serial killer of Canadian history, is being charged with the first two (27) counts of first-degree killing.
22 Feb 2002 Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is shot dead in a military ambush
26 Feb 2002 12 Shiite Muslims were killed in a mosque at Rawalpindi in Pakistan.
27 Feb 2002 Ryanair Flight 296 is set on fire at London Stansted Airport. Investigations into the incident have revealed that Ryanair was not responsible for its handling.
28 Feb 2002 Gulbarg Society massacre: A mob attacked the Gulbarg Society in Chamanpura (Ahmedabad) during the 2002 Gujarat riots. This is a Muslim lower-middle-class neighbourhood. The majority of the houses were destroyed and 35 of the victims, including Ehsan Jafri (a former Congress Member of Parliament), were burned alive. 31 other victims were later found to be missing, making the death toll at 69.
01 Mar 2002 Space Shuttle Columbia flies Hubble Space Telescope service mission. This is its last flight before STS-107.
02 Mar 2002 U.S. invades Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda starts (ending March 19, after 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters have been killed, and 11 Western troop deaths).
03 Mar 2002 Conflict between Israel and Palestine: A Palestinian sniper fires from a hill close to Ofra, killing seven soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces and three Israeli settlers. Six more are injured. Later, he is captured and sentenced to life imprisonment.
04 Mar 2002 Afghanistan: Seven American Special Operations Forces soldiers die trying to infiltrate Shahi Kot Valley with a low-flying helicopter reconnaissance mission.
11 Mar 2002 Robert Mugabe won the Zimbabwe election with 54% vote, compared to Morgan Tsvangirai’s 40%. This was a 55.9% turnout. His win is controversial. It comes amid allegations that many people were prevented from voting and that there was an intimidation campaign. However, observers from South Africa and Organisation of African Unity believe that the result is valid.
12 Mar 2002 Andrea Yates, a Houston, Texas mother, is found guilty in June 2000 of drowning five children. Later, she is sentenced to life imprisonment.
14 Mar 2002 A massive pileup of 125 vehicles is taking place on Interstate 75 in Ringgold (Georgia), USA.
18 Mar 2002 U.S. invasion in Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda is over (started March 2), after 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters were killed. There were 11 allied troop deaths.
19 Mar 2002 After a chaotic presidential election, Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth.
20 Mar 2002 The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation is passed 60-40 by the U.S. Senate.
21 Mar 2002 Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three other suspects were charged in Pakistan with murder in connection to the kidnapping, killing, and attempted murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
23 Mar 2002 Two to three million members of trade unions gathered in Rome to protest the labor legislation filed by Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy, and the assassination by the reformed Red Brigades of Marco Biagi (an advisor to the Labor Minister). If the legislation is not passed, labor leaders will threaten a general strike.
24 Mar 2002 Whoopi Goldberg hosts the 74th Academy Awards. The Kodak Theatre is located in Hollywood, California. Best Picture was won by ''A Beautiful Mind.
27 Mar 2002 Passover Massacre: 29 Passover-eaters in Netanya, Israel are killed by a suicide bomber from Palestine.
28 Mar 2002 Arab-Israeli Conflict: The summit of the Arab League endorses the plan of Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia, for a "land for peace" plan.
29 Mar 2002 Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield, its largest military operation since 1967 Six-Day War, in response to the Passover massacre.
30 Mar 2002 Conflict between Israel and Palestine: A suicide bomber detonates in My Coffee Shop, Tel Aviv's cafe, killing 32 people.
31 Mar 2002 Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli troops engage in gunfire with Yasir Arafat guards in Ramallah. Shadi Tubasi (a refugee from Jenin) is the suicide bomber who kills 14 people and injures more than 40 others in Haifa. Later, four people were injured in an attack by a suicide bomber in Efrat. One of them was critically. According to the Associated Press 1262 Palestinians have been killed in the last 18 months and 401 Israelis.
02 Apr 2002 Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem. A siege ensues.
04 Apr 2002 Angola's government and UNITA rebels sign an agreement to end the Angolan Civil War.
05 Apr 2002 Layne Staley, the lead singer and colyricist of Alice In Chains, was found dead at home.
06 Apr 2002 340,000 litres crude oil are spilled by a ship off the coast of southeast Louisiana, USA.
07 Apr 2002 Reports suggest that Martin Dunwoody may have solved the Poincare conjecture.
08 Apr 2002 Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing changes its name to 3M Company.
11 Apr 2002 Al Qaeda bombs the Ghriba synagogue killing 21 Tunisians.
12 Apr 2002 Coup d'etat in Venezuela. Hugo Chavez is taken to military barracks. Military announces transitional government made up of civilians and military, headed by Pedro Carmona, leader of the Chamber of Commerce (Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce), who immediately repeals the constitution and dissolves parliament.
14 Apr 2002 Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's President, returns to office just two days after he was ousted by the military.
15 Apr 2002 Los Angeles, California: The Alameda corridor transportation project opens to rail traffic. This will stop freight trains operating on the 120-year old BNSF Harbour Subdivision.
17 Apr 2002 Two US F-16s open fire on four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, killing four of their infantrymen.
18 Apr 2002 Mantophasmatodea is a new insect family.
21 Apr 2002 Chirac (19.88%), Le Pen (16.86%), Jospin (16.18%), Bayrou (6.5%), Lauguiller (5.72%), Mamere (5.25%), Chevenement (5.32%), Besancenot (4.5%), Saint-Josse (4.0%), Hue(3.6%). Turnout 75%
22 Apr 2002 Cyberscore, a video game score tracking website, is created.
23 Apr 2002 Through April 24, Pope John Paul II will meet with American cardinals at Vatican regarding the sexual abuse of children perpetrated by priests or religious workers.
25 Apr 2002 Lisa Lopes, singer/rapper, is killed in a car accident in Honduras.
26 Apr 2002 Robert Steinhauser infiltrates Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt and kills 17. He then dies from a self-inflicted gunshot.
27 Apr 2002 Three people are killed in the Laughlin, Nevada River Run Riot.
28 Apr 2002 Recent celebrity deaths: Alexander Lebednbsp - Russian General who ran against Boris Yeltsin Ruth Handlernbsp - inventor of Barbie Doll
02 May 2002 Eight Hindus were killed in a massacre at Marad near Palakkad, Kerala.
03 May 2002 Eight people were killed when a MiG-21 military aircraft crashed into the Bank of Rajasthan, India.
04 May 2002 A EAS Airlines BAC 1-11-1500 crashed in a Kano suburb, Nigeria just after takeoff, killing more than 148 people.
05 May 2002 After losing to SS Lazio (4-2), Internazionale squanders the Serie A Scudetto in an awkward handover to their bitter rivals Juventus.
06 May 2002 Pim Fortuyn, a Dutch politician, is assassinated in the name of an animal rights activist.
07 May 2002 One hundred and two people were killed when a China Northern Airlines MD-82 crashed into the Yellow Sea.
08 May 2002 Feyenoord Rotterdam won the UEFA Final Cup, beating Borussia Dortmund 3-2.
09 May 2002 The 38-day standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is over when the Palestinians within agree to have 13 suspected terrorists deported to different countries.
10 May 2002 F.B.I. Agent Robert Hanssen sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole. He sold secrets from the United States to Moscow for $1.4million in cash and diamonds.
12 May 2002 Fidel Castro arrives in Cuba to meet Jimmy Carter, the former President of the United States. This is the first time that a President of the United States has visited Cuba since Castro's 1959 revolution.
15 May 2002 The Netherlands politics: There were general elections for the lower house. The Lijst Pim Fortuyn was the winner. It won 26 of the 150 seats. This is a remarkable achievement for a new party. Jan Peter Balkenende's CDA (Christen Democratisch Appel), was the most powerful party with 43 seats. The coalition parties of the ruling ampquotpurple coalitionampquot were the great losers (PvdA), labour party VVD and liberals D'66, leftist Liberals). These parties were
16 May 2002 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is now available in cinemas
17 May 2002 In Ireland, the Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats coalition was re-elected. This is the first time that a government has been reelected since 1969.
19 May 2002 Conflict between Israel and Palestine: At least two Israeli soldiers are killed by a suicide bomber who pretends to be an Israeli soldier. More than 50 people are injured in Netanya.
20 May 2002 Portugal officially recognizes East Timor's independence, ending 23 years of Indonesian rule. There was also 3 years of provisional UN administration. Portugal is the former colonizer of East Timor from 1976 to 1976.
21 May 2002 The US State Department has released a report that names seven state sponsors of terror: Iran, Iraq and Libya, North Korea. Sudan.
22 May 2002 The remains of Chandra Levy, who was missing from Washington, D.C., can be found in Rock Creek Park.
23 May 2002 After the ratification of the Kyoto protocol by Iceland, the ''55 party'' clause has been reached.
24 May 2002 The Moscow Treaty is signed by Russia and the United States.
25 May 2002 China Airlines Flight 611: A Boeing 747 200 crashes in mid-air, plunges into Taiwan Strait, killing 225 people
26 May 2002 A barge collides in eastern Oklahoma with the Interstate 40 bridge, crossing the Arkansas River. It left 14 people dead.
28 May 2002 The Mars Odyssey discovered large ice deposits on Mars.
30 May 2002 272 days after September 11 attacks, closing ceremonies take place for the cleanup/recovery efforts at New York City's World Trade Center. The last remaining steel beam of steel is taken down and moved to the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island.
31 May 2002 Ampquotconditions at India's border with Pakistan have worsened, according to the United States Department of State.
05 Jun 2002 Elizabeth Smart, aged fourteen years old, is abducted from her bedroom at knifepoint.
06 Jun 2002 Eastern Mediterranean Event. Near-Earth Asteroid of 10m in Diameter Explodes over the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Libya. It is thought that the explosion produced 26 kilotons of energy, which is slightly less than the Nagasaki nuclear bomb.
08 Jun 2002 An annular solar eclipse occurs.
10 Jun 2002 Technology - Kevin Warwick, a British engineer, is responsible for the first direct electronic communication experiment between two human nervous systems.
11 Jun 2002 The United States Congress recognizes Antonio Meucci as the original inventor of the telephone.
13 Jun 2002 The United States of America has withdrawn from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
14 Jun 2002 Astrophysics - A 2002 MN asteroid, which is about the same size as a soccer field, just missed hitting the Earth.
15 Jun 2002 Near-Earth Asteroid 2002 MN misses Earth by 75,000 Miles (121,000 Kilometers), or one-third the distance between Earth and the Moon.
16 Jun 2002 Pope John Paul II made Pio di Pietrelcina a Saint.
18 Jun 2002 BT Cellnet will be rebranded as O2 starting at 6 pm
20 Jun 2002 Law - The United States Supreme Court asks about the need for Internet filters.
22 Jun 2002 Darryl Kile, Saint Louis Cardinals pitcher, is found dead in his Chicago hotel room from a heart attack.
25 Jun 2002 Entertainment
26 Jun 2002 Law - A federal court in San Francisco ruled that the Pledge to Allegiance was unconstitutional because it contained an ampquotunder Godampquot clause.
27 Jun 2002 Accounting scandals - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has initiated fraud action against WorldCom.
29 Jun 2002 For two hours, Dick Cheney, the U.S. Vice-President of the United States, serves as Acting President while President George W. Bush goes through a colonoscopy.
30 Jun 2002 To prosecute people for crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and the crime of aggressiveness, the International Criminal Court was established. The court may prosecute crimes committed after or on this date.
01 Jul 2002 A Bashkirian Airlines (flight 2977) Tupolev TU-154, and a DHL German cargo (Boeing 757) collide mid-air above Ueberlingen in southern Germany, killing 71.
02 Jul 2002 Steve Fossett becomes first solo pilot to fly non-stop around the globe in a balloon.
03 Jul 2002 Columbia Pictures distributed "Men in Black II" to movie theaters.
05 Jul 2002 Recent celebrity deaths: Ted Williams (baseball player), aged 83.
07 Jul 2002 The scandal broke out when British news reports accused MI6 of sheltering Abu Qatada (the supposed European Al Qaeda leader).
08 Jul 2002 Organization of African Unity is disbanded. African Union is created.
09 Jul 2002 Peter Paul Rubens' painting, ampquotThe Massacre of the Innocentsampquot (first edition) was sold at Sotheby's for PS49.5million (US$76.2million) to Kenneth Thomson (2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet).
10 Jul 2002 Michel Brunet, a French paleontologist, stated in the journal Nature that a skull dated 7 million years old found in the desert of Chad was the oldest known hominid fossil. However, he was quickly met with criticism by other scientists who claimed that the skull is not of an ape and could be a proto-gorilla.
11 Jul 2002 A group of Moroccan soldiers established a base on Perejil Island.
14 Jul 2002 During Bastille Day celebrations, French President Jacques Chirac is unassassinated.
15 Jul 2002 John Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban", pleads guilty in Washington, DC to aiding the enemy, and possessing explosives during the commission a felony. Lindh agrees that he will spend ten years prison time for each of the charges.
18 Jul 2002 Patents: Forgent Networks claims that it has and will enforce patent rights to the JPEG image compression standard, which is widely used on the World Wide Web. This announcement is a resounding defeat for Unisys' efforts to assert its rights over GIF image compression standards.
19 Jul 2002 In the Chinese province Henan, Hail kills 25 people and injures many more.
20 Jul 2002 South America: More than twenty-five people are killed by a fire at a discotheque located in Lima, Peru.
21 Jul 2002 Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet crashes at an Ukrainian air show, killing 77 people and injuring over 100 others. (See Sknyliv airshow catastrophe).
22 Jul 2002 Parts of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands were struck by an earthquake measuring magnitude 4.7.
23 Jul 2002 Recent celebrity deaths: Chaim Potter, novelist, dies from cancer at the age of 73.
24 Jul 2002 On a vote of 420-1, James Traficant, Democrat, is expelled from United States House of Representatives.
25 Jul 2002 The United States made a proposal to defer the adoption of a new United Nations Anti-Torture Pact. It was defeated 15-29. After that, the Economic and Social Council adopted the pact. The United States expressed concern that American state prisons could be subject to inspection if the General Assembly adopted the pact.
27 Jul 2002 Ukraine airshow disaster: A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes at Lviv, Ukraine, killing 85 people and injuring over 100 more. This is the worst airshow accident in Ukraine history.
28 Jul 2002 Cyclist Lance Armstrong wins his fourth consecutive Tour de France.
29 Jul 2002 England defeats India in the first cricket test match of the series.
30 Jul 2002 Sotheby's New York auctions the King Farouk double eagle of the US 1933 Saint-Gaudens Saint-Gaudens for $7,590,000. This is a world record price for a single coin sold at auction. The $20 is a $20 Federal Reserve note that David Redden paid to Henrietta Holsman, Mint Director, to officially monetize this coin.
31 Jul 2002 A bomb explodes in the cafeteria of Hebrew University of Jerusalem, killing nine.
02 Aug 2002 The 2002 Indiana quarter-dollar is now in circulation at the US Mint
04 Aug 2002 Soham murders: Two 10-year-old schoolgirls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, go missing from Soham, Cambridgeshire.
05 Aug 2002 Chick Hearn, pro basketball announcer, dies at 85.
07 Aug 2002 Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Six Palestinians are killed by Israeli forces: Four Palestinian militants were shot and killed by Israeli undercover troops in Tulkarm. Hussam Hamdan is killed by an Israeli sniper. He was a member Hamas' Gaza Strip affiliate. A Palestinian policeman is killed when Israeli troops and 30 tanks enter northern Gaza. These are in response to the August 4th attacks.
08 Aug 2002 Accounting scandals: WorldCom has announced that it discovered false accounting, in addition to what was previously discovered.
09 Aug 2002 Extreme weather: Dozens of people are killed in floods that result from torrential rains in Europe. This includes the Malse, Blanice, and Shirokaya Balka, a Black Sea resort village, near Novorossiisk, Russia. It has also caused severe damage in Spain, Bulgaria, Croatia and Italy due to the downpours.
10 Aug 2002 Charlton Heston (a movie actor and president, National Rifle Association) announces that he has Alzheimer’s disease.
11 Aug 2002 UNEP (UN Environment Programme), reports on the Asian brown clouds.
12 Aug 2002 In Arlington, Virginia, US Airways declares bankruptcy.
13 Aug 2002 Extreme weather: The peak of the 100-year flood of Vltava River reaches Prague on the seventh day. On this day, an estimated seven million people are flooded. The Kampa Museum has been flooded. Melnik saw 15,000 people evacuated, while Decin saw 1,600. The death toll in Europe stands at 88 and 9 respectively in the Czech Republic and Poland.
14 Aug 2002 Vladimir Putin announced that Belarus will become fully integrated into Russia. Each of Belarus' six provinces will become an independent republic within Russia Federation.
16 Aug 2002 The 29th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races will be held at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. It takes place over three days. The honored marque is Corvette. More than sixty Corvettes from the past are on display. They also participate in racing: Corvette SR-2 and Corvette SS. 1959 Sting Ray, CERV-I. Daytona-winning Corvette C5-R. Mako Shark. Aerovette, Grand Sport. 1953 Corvette #2 (EX-122). There are many other early race Corvettes.
17 Aug 2002 Extreme weather: Dresden's Elbe crests at a record height of 30.84 feet (9.40m). Along the river's course, 30,000 Germans are evacuated.
18 Aug 2002 Extreme weather: A sea lion that escaped from Prague Zoo on 13th March is now being held near Wittenberg.
19 Aug 2002 A Russian Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops was hit outside Grozny by a Chechen missile, killing 118 soldiers.
20 Aug 2002 Five hours later, a group of Iraqis fighting the regime of Saddam Hussein occupy the Iraqi Embassy Berlin before freeing their hostages and surrendering.
21 Aug 2002 Extreme weather: A dam that was built in India over 125 years ago bursts during torrential rains. It kills 10.
22 Aug 2002 Extreme weather: The Dongting Lake floods Yueyang in China, forcing 600,000 people to flee. Sunday is the expected crest of flooding from the Yangtze River. Nearly 1000 people have been killed in floods and landslides in China, 200 of them in Hunan province. This monsoon season saw 376 deaths in India and 494 in Nepal. There were also 158 deaths at home.
23 Aug 2002 Recent celebrity deaths: Hoyt Wilhelm, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, dies.
25 Aug 2002 The British reality series "I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!" aired its first series. ITV1 aired the first series of the British reality show 'I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'
26 Aug 2002 Eric Gagne, a former three-time All-Star Major League Baseball closer, and 2003 NL Cy Young Award recipient, starts his MLB-record streak with 84 consecutive games saved.
29 Aug 2002 The US Navy found a Japanese midget submarine measuring 78 feet in length in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It is believed that it was sunk two hours prior to the Japanese attack on 1941.
31 Aug 2002 Recent celebrity deaths: Lionel Hampton (jazz vibraphone master) dies.
01 Sep 2002 Conflict between Israelis and Palestinians: The Arab League has disowned the Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-up's final statement. They claim that they support Israel's right of existence within pre-1967 borders and that the conflict in Middle East is not between all Jews but only Palestinians and Israelis.
03 Sep 2002 Consolidated Freightways is the third-largest U.S. trucking company and files for bankruptcy.
04 Sep 2002 At the World Basketball Championships, in Indianapolis, Indiana, Argentina beat the United States 87 to 80. This was the first international loss for a team of National Basketball Association players in the United States.
05 Sep 2002 In Kandahar, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan was assassinated. The Governor of Kandahar was wounded by a gunman in the uniform of the Afghan Army. One of the President's bodyguards was also killed by the gunman.
06 Sep 2002 Terrorist Attack on September 11, 2001/Memorials & Services: A joint session of the US Congress is held in Federal Hall, New York City. This was the original capital of the United States.
07 Sep 2002 2002 US Open: Serena Williams defeats Venus Williams.
08 Sep 2002 2002 US Open: Pete Sampras beats Andre Agassi in 4 sets to win his 14th major record.
09 Sep 2002 Judit Pologar defeats Garry Kasparov in a speed chess game.
10 Sep 2002 Switzerland is now a full member in good standing of the United Nations.
11 Sep 2002 The World Summit on Sustainable Development is over.
12 Sep 2002 U.S. President George W. Bush addressed the United Nations and challenged its members to confront "grave-and-growing danger" from Iraq or remain silent while the United States and other like-minded countries act.
14 Sep 2002 The world record for the 100-meter dash was broken by Tim Montgomery from the United States. He ran 9.78 seconds, beating the previous record of 9.79 held by Maurice Greene in 1999.
16 Sep 2002 U.S. plans to invade Iraq: Colin Powell meets the U.N. Security Council in an effort to push for stronger resolutions to the conflict against Iraq. Surprise reversal: Iraq informs the UN that it will allow weapons inspectors to inspect its territory immediately and without conditions.
18 Sep 2002 After three days of negotiations at Sattahip in Thailand, the Tamil Tigers accepted independence from Sri Lanka and acquiesced to autonomy in the north-west and northwest.
19 Sep 2002 A coup attempt by disillusioned former soldiers of Cote d'Ivoire failed. General Robert Guei was killed. He was a former military dictator of the nation. Guei was shot to death when his car refused stop at a traffic light in downtown Abidjan. The cities of Bouake, Korhogo and Korhogo are still under the control of rebels.
20 Sep 2002 U.S. plans to invade Iraq: White House officials and Pentagon officials announced that Gen. Tommy Franks had presented detailed war plans to President Bush at the beginning of September.
21 Sep 2002 Recent celebrity deaths: Robert L. Forward, science fiction author, dies.
22 Sep 2002 German Federal Election leaves Gerhard Schroder, his Social Democrats, and the Greens at the top.
23 Sep 2002 Release of the first public version Mozilla Firefox's web browser (''Phoenix 0.1’').
24 Sep 2002 Technology: Motorola announced a single chip satellite navigation receiver. This will allow for the addition of location-specific functions in low-cost ubiquitous computing devices. The chip includes RF processing as well as analog signal processing and digital signal processing. It also has a CPU.
25 Sep 2002 The Vitim event, which could have a bolide impact on Siberia, Russia.
26 Sep 2002 Overcrowded Senegalese ferry, MV Joola, crashes off Gambia's coast killing over 1,000 people.
27 Sep 2002 Timor-Leste (East Timor), joins the United Nations.
28 Sep 2002 To protest the U.S. invasion of Iraq, hundreds of thousands marched through London. Around a hundred thousand protested in Rome.
30 Sep 2002 Following ethics scandals, Senator Robert Torricelli (D.N.J.) has withdrawn from his campaign for reelection.
02 Oct 2002 The Congress of the United States approves a joint resolution that authorizes the President of the United States to use the United States Armed Forces against Iraq as he considers appropriate and necessary.
03 Oct 2002 Hurricane Lili is a Category One hurricane that strikes Intercoastal City in Louisiana. It has been weakened by the Category Four storm it was only 10 hours before.
05 Oct 2002 Bertrand Delanoe is stabbed in his abdomen by the Paris mayor during the Nuits Blanches celebration.
06 Oct 2002 The French oil tanker Limburg was bombed off Yemen.
07 Oct 2002 Conflict between Israel and Palestine: Israeli troops attack Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip. 13 Israeli soldiers were killed (10 by a helicopter missile), while 100 were injured when a rocket was fired at a Jewish settlement. Later, the Palestinians kidnap Rajeh Abu Lehiya and kill him as chief of the Palestinian riot Police. Two others are killed in gunfire during a conflict between police and Hamas supporters.
09 Oct 2002 The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops to 7,286.27, the lowest level since October 1997.
10 Oct 2002 France confirmed that the explosion onboard the French oil tanker "Limburg" off Yemen's coast was a terrorist act.
11 Oct 2002 U.S. plans to invade Iraq: In the ongoing conflict between the United States of America and Iraq, the United States Senate voted in favor of President George W. Bush's war powers.
12 Oct 2002 Terrorists set off bombs at the Sari Club in Kuta (Bali), killing 202 people and injuring more than 300.
13 Oct 2002 2002 Bali bombings: The U.S. President George W. Bush, amongst others, has condemned the perpetrators in the Bali car bombings of October 11. At least 187 people have now died in the Bali car bombings.
14 Oct 2002 Four games to one, the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals to win the National League Championship Series. They will now move on to the World Series. They will face the Anaheim Angels who beat the Minnesota Twins by four games to one in the American League Championship Series.
15 Oct 2002 A Kiev judge directed prosecutors to open an investigation into Ukraine's former President Leonid Kutschma on corruption and abuse of power charges.
16 Oct 2002 The Iraq War Resolution is signed by George W. Bush, US President.
17 Oct 2002 Bombings in Zamboanga: Two bombs were detonated in the main shopping area of Zamboanga, a predominantly Christian city in the southern Philippines. Six people were killed and about 150 others were injured. This was the second terrorist attack in Southeast Asia that occurred in less than one week. Jemaah Islamiyah was immediately under suspicion. This Islamic extremist group is also being investigated in connection to the Bali car bombing on October 11, where more than 180 people were killed.
18 Oct 2002 October 18, 2002 Manila bus bombing. A bomb went off in suburban Manila and destroyed a bus, killing at least three people and wounding 23 more. Hours earlier, a grenade was detonated in the financial district of Manila. Two bomb attacks in the Philippines' financial district were just one day before the bomb attacks.
19 Oct 2002 Computer chess: The Brains in Bahrain match was drawn by Vladimir Kramnik, the chess champion, and Deep Fritz, the computer program. Each game has four points.
21 Oct 2002 DDoS attacks have disabled 9 out of 13 DNS root servers.
22 Oct 2002 25 Chechen rebels in ampndash take over the theatre "Nord-Ost" in Moscow and make the audience slaves.
23 Oct 2002 Moscow Theatre Siege: Around 700 theater-goers are taken hostage by Chechen terrorists who seize the Moscow House of Culture theatre.
24 Oct 2002 Police arrested John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo as they were suspected of being a sniper group. This brings an end to the Beltway attacks around Washington, DC.
25 Oct 2002 U.S. U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone and his family, along with his staff, were killed in a plane crash at Eveleth (Minnesota).
26 Oct 2002 Moscow Theatre Siege: Around 50 Chechen terrorists are killed and 150 hostages are taken hostage by Russian Spetsnaz. They stormed a Moscow theater that had been occupied three days earlier during a musical performance.
27 Oct 2002 Sports: Emmitt SMITT of the Dallas Cowboys passed Walter Payton to become the NFL's top rusher. This was in a 17-14 loss against the Seattle Seahawks
28 Oct 2002 Sports: The FA Cup First Round qualifies Team Bath as the first university team since 1882. They defeated Horsham on penalties in the replay of the Fourth Qualifying round.
29 Oct 2002 Ho Chi Minh City ITC Inferno: A fire damages a luxury department store in which 1500 people shop. More than 60 people were killed and more than 100 are still missing. This is the worst disaster that Vietnam has seen in peacetime.
30 Oct 2002 The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party chose former Vice President of the United States Walter Mondale as their candidate for the United States Senate seat of recently deceased Senator Paul Wellstone from Minnesota.
31 Oct 2002 Yuri Shevchenko, the Russian Health Minister, has stated that the incapacitating drug used in the storming and capture of the Moscow Theatre Siege was a fentanyl derivative.
01 Nov 2002 29 people were killed in an earthquake in San Giuliano di Puglia in Campobasso (Molese), Italy. 26 of the victims were children who died when the roof of their school fell. It is estimated that 5,500 Italians have been left homeless.
02 Nov 2002 Recent celebrity deaths: Charles Sheffield (science fiction author and physicist) dies from brain cancer at the age of 67
03 Nov 2002 Central Alaska experiences a magnitude 7.9 earthquake, which was the largest in 2002. There were no deaths or injuries, but roads sustained extensive damage. It was felt as far as Seattle, Washington.
04 Nov 2002 Chinese authorities have arrested He Depu, a cyber-dissident who signed a pro-democracy petition to the 16th Communist Party Congress.
05 Nov 2002 The Republican Party retains control of US elections and regains control of United States Senate.
06 Nov 2002 The U.S. Federal Reserve System reduces its primary discount rate 50 basis points to 0.75 per cent, which puts the real interest rate well below the inflation rate.
07 Nov 2002 Iran bans advertising for products from the United States.
08 Nov 2002 Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council resolution 1441 - The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution regarding Iraq. This forces Saddam Hussein into disarmament or face'serious consequences.
09 Nov 2002 Los Angeles, California: Television and film actor Merlin Santana is killed.
10 Nov 2002 According to the Guardian newspaper Gauthier Hulot, a Paris Geophysical Institute researcher, has found evidence of a decrease in the Earth's magnetic fields over the past two hundred years. This could be an indication of a possible reversal in the polarity of Earth's magnetic fields over the next few hundred year.
11 Nov 2002 Three-day general strike in Nepal begins. According to "Outlook India", Kathmandu was virtually at a standstill for three days. The strike was called by Maoists to protest the King's appointment Lokendra Bahadur Chand... to the post of prime minister, after the dismissal of Sher Bahadur deuba's government. Also, 30 Maoist rebel guerrillas were killed as part of a renewed attack on the revolutionary forces that the government is fighting to overthrow. Also see politics of Nepal.
12 Nov 2002 Ethiopian famine: Meles Zewi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, is reported to have said that the Ethiopian famine could be worse than that of 1984. According to reports, he said that ampquotif that were a nightmare, this would be too ghastly for me to contemplateampquot and appealed for Ethiopian famine relief.
13 Nov 2002 The massive oil spillage that resulted from the sinking of the oil tanker Prestige off the Galician coast is caused by the Prestige.
14 Nov 2002 Microsoft launches Xbox Live, an online gaming service for the USA.
15 Nov 2002 Former Secretary of the Secretariat Hu Jintao is named General Secretary of Communist Party of China, replacing Jiang Zemin. Jiang will remain President until spring 2003.
16 Nov 2002 MI5 discovered a plot by terrorists that was believed to be part of the al-Qaeda network or associated with it. MI5 discovered a plot to release poison gas into the Underground railway network in London.
17 Nov 2002 Although the UK government has not confirmed or denied the poison gas attack on November 16th, it is now known that three men are being held under the Terrorism Act 2000 and are currently being investigated.
18 Nov 2002 Iraq disarmament crisis: UN weapons inspectors, led by Hans Blix, arrive in Iraq.
19 Nov 2002 Jose Bove, a member of the antiglobalization movement will spend 14 months in prison for the destruction of transgenic rice seedlings from France. Hunter Andrew Crossman born.
20 Nov 2002 Professor Gunther von Hagens performed the first public dissection of London in over 100 years. Although this was illegal, the authorities were able to prevent it.
21 Nov 2002 NATO invites Bulgaria to join its ranks.
22 Nov 2002 More than 100 people are killed in Nigeria by an attack on Miss World contestants.
23 Nov 2002 Volkert van den Graaf, a Dutch man, confessed to the killing of Pim Fortuyn. He claimed he did not act alone and that he did it to protect vulnerable sections of society.
24 Nov 2002 2002 Austrian legislative elections. The conservative Austrian People's Party, led by Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel, wins a landslide victory (42.27%). It picks up 27 seats and becomes the largest party in Austria's National Council for the first-time since 1966. The vote share of Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), is lowered to 10.6% and it loses 34 seats.
25 Nov 2002 The Homeland Security Act is signed by President George W. Bush. It establishes the Department of Homeland Security. This is the largest U.S. government restructuring since 1947's creation of the Department of Defense (Senate passed it 90-9 on November 19).
26 Nov 2002 George W. Bush signs the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act into Law. This creates a federal backstop to insurance claims related acts of terror.
27 Nov 2002 Severino Antinori, a controversial doctor, claimed that a project to clone humans has been successful. The first human clone is due to be born in 2003. Many observers were skeptical of his claims. Clonaid, an even more controversial organization, announced that five clones were still in the process of being born. One of them, Clonaid claimed, would be born December 2002.
28 Nov 2002 Thanksgiving Day 2002.
29 Nov 2002 The Concert for George took place at London's Royal Albert Hall.
30 Nov 2002 According to reports, the Provisional IRA could be making significant concessions to restart the Northern Ireland peace process.
03 Dec 2002 Football (soccer: Real Madrid defeated Olimpia paraguay to win Intercontinental Cup.
05 Dec 2002 Today marks the end of Ramadan worldwide for Muslims by being the Islamic festival Eid ul-Fitr.
06 Dec 2002 Akhmed Zakayev, a separatist Chechen from Chechnya, has returned to London and is expected to seek asylum. He was taken into custody but was soon released on bail by Vanessa Redgrave.
07 Dec 2002 Overnight, two Vincent van Gogh paintings were taken from the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam. It comes shortly after a large theft of diamonds from an exhibit at The Hague's Museon, casting doubt on high-tech security systems.
08 Dec 2002 The Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community meet with the Government of Cuba to declare the date as ''CARICOM Cuba Day to celebrate diplomatic ties between CARICOM and Cuba.
09 Dec 2002 United Airlines, second-largest airline in the world is filing bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy code.
10 Dec 2002 Venezuela's Supreme Court declared it was suspending services due to political harassment and condemned the use of deadly violence by President Hugo Chavez's opponents.
11 Dec 2002 Chile's government signs a bilateral trade agreement to the USA.
13 Dec 2002 European Union's expansion: The European Union announced that Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary and Latvia will be joining the Union as members starting May 1, 2004.
15 Dec 2002 The Capital Center, formerly the US Airways Arena, has been demolished.
16 Dec 2002 Former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavisic pleaded guilty to one count for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Tribunal for the ex-Yugoslavia in The Hague for the atrocities she committed against Bosnian Muslims during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War.
17 Dec 2002 Second Congo War: The Congolese Parties to the Inter Congolese Dialogue Sign a Peace Agreement that provides for transitional governance, legislative and presidential elections within two-years.
18 Dec 2002 2003 California recall: Gray Davis, the Governor of California, announces that California would be facing a record deficit of $35 billion. This figure is roughly twice the amount reported by him during his reelection campaign.
19 Dec 2002 U.S. plans to invade Iraq
20 Dec 2002 Barbara Joyce Williams Ferrell is the daughter of Ted Williams, a baseball player. She has settled her lawsuit to have her father's body taken from a cryonics storage unit and cremated.
21 Dec 2002 Units of the French Foreign Legion based in the Cote D'Ivoire have come in contact with rebels moving southward from Man. Commander of the French force Colonel Emmanuel Maurin stated that "between what we have here, and the river, they will not pass."
22 Dec 2002 Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, announced that he had canceled presidential and legislative elections that were scheduled for next month. He believes that continuing Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories will make it impossible to hold free elections.
23 Dec 2002 An Iraqi MiG-25 shoots down a MQ-1 Predator, marking the first time that unmanned drones and aircraft have engaged in combat.
24 Dec 2002 A number of US Muslim organizations have filed a lawsuit against John Ashcroft, the US Attorney General and the US Immigration Services over the detention and arrest of Muslim men.
25 Dec 2002 Katie Hnida, University of New Mexico kicker, makes history as the first female participant in NCAA Division 1 football games. She missed a kick during the Las Vegas Bowl match.
26 Dec 2002 After removing the United Nations seals from the reactor and degrading surveillance camera capabilities, North Korea is now reactivating the plutonium-producing nuclear power plant north Pyongyang. Officials in the United States believe that this reactor is responsible for producing plutonium for two atomic bombs. The George W. Bush Administration has named North Korea as part of the "ampquotaxis of evilampquot.
27 Dec 2002 Two truck bombs struck the Chechen government headquarters in Grozny (Chechnya), killing 72 people and injuring 200 others.
29 Dec 2002 According to Kenya's electoral commission, the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), an opposition party, won a landslide victory over the ruling KANU party in Friday’s elections. This brings an end to 40 years of single-party rule and 24 years under Daniel arap Moi. Mwai Kibaki (NARC's presidential candidate) led the KANU's official candidate by more than 30%.
30 Dec 2002 Three American missionaries are killed by Abed Abdel Razzak Kamel in Yemen.
31 Dec 2002 Col. Yuri Budanov was found not guilty of insanity. He was then committed to a psychiatric facility for further evaluation. This is the first trial of a Russian soldier for human rights violations in Chechnya. Budanov, who was accused of murdering and abducting Heda Kungayeva (18-year-old Chechen girl), was charged. Budanov claims that she was a rebel sniper.

2002

Your place in the Universe on 2002

Find out more about your Moon Sign

Oscar Winners

Best picture

Chicago

Chicago

Best director

Roman Polanski

The Pianist

Best actor

Adrien Brody

The Pianist

Best actress

Nicole Kidman

The Hours

Best supporting actor

Chris Cooper

Adaptation

Best supporting actress

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Chicago

Time Person of the Year

Books

A Mind At A Time

The Nanny Diaries

The Lovely Bones

John Adams

The Summons

Have a look at the old UK newspapers from 2002 and get them!

Do you remember those beautiful old magazines?

Nobel Prizes

Peace Prize

Literature

Physics

Economic Sciences

Chemistry

Physiology or Medicine

Music charts

Top #1 songs in the USA

Top #1 songs in the UK

Movies

The Wire

Still Game

Firefly

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

City of God

2002 Chinese Zodiac and Horoscope

Popular names

Top #10 male names

Top #10 female names

World Population

Population statistics

Historical Events

Events