2002 - What happened in 2002 ?

January 2002

Sunday 20:

Inauguration of Churches Uniting in Christ.

Wednesday 23:

Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and subsequently murdered in Karachi, Pakistan.

Friday 25:

2002 - Wikipedia switches to the new version of its software ("Phase II") aka

Sunday 27:

Several explosions at a military dump in Lagos, Nigeria kill more than 1,000.

Monday 28:

An Ecuadoran airline Boeing 727-100 crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia killing 92.

February 2002

Sunday 03:

Super Bowl XXXVI: The New England Patriots defeat the St. Louis Rams, 20-17, to win their first Super Bowl championship.

Tuesday 12:

An Iran Air Tupolev Tu-154 crashes prior to landing in Khorramabad, Iran, killing 119

Friday 15:

At the Tri-State Crematory in La Fayette, Georgia, investigators find that bodies that were supposed to have been cremated were in fact disposed of in the woods and buildings on the crematorium's property. The discovery reveals one of the worst incidents of abuse in the funeral service industry.

Tuesday 19:

NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.

Wednesday 20:

In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370.

March 2002

Friday 01:

The Peseta is discontinued as official currency of Spain and is replaced with the euro (€).

Saturday 02:

U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins, ending on March 19) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, with 11 allied troop fatalities.

Sunday 03:

Citizens of Switzerland narrowly vote in favour of their country becoming a member of the United Nations.

Thursday 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.

Wednesday 27:

Passover Massacre: A suicide bomber kills 28 people in Netanya, Israel.

April 2002

Monday 01:

The Netherlands legalizes euthanasia, becoming the only nation in the world to do so.

Tuesday 02:

Israeli forces surrounded the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem which has around 200 Palestinians inside. A siege ensues.

Tuesday 09:

The funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother of the United Kingdom is held at Westminster Abbey.

Friday 12:

Coup d'Etat against Hugo Chávez in Venezuela

Thursday 18:

A new order of insects, Mantophasmatodea, is announced.

May 2002

Tuesday 07:

A China Southern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea killing 112 people.

Tuesday 14:

Ten members of the Darwin-based Network Against Prohibition invade the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory of Australia.

Thursday 16:

2002 - ' opens in cinemas.

Monday 20:

East Timor becomes independent from Indonesian rule.

Saturday 25:

China Airlines Flight 611: A Boeing 747-200 breaks apart in mid-air and plunges into the Taiwan Strait killing 225 people.

June 2002

Monday 03:

The peak day of Golden Jubilee celebrations occurs in the United Kingdom.

Wednesday 05:

2002 - Mozilla 1.0, the first 'official' version, is released.

Thursday 06:

A near-Earth asteroid estimated at 10 metres diameter explodes over the Mediterranean Sea. The resulting explosion is estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons, slightly more powerful than the Nagasaki atomic bomb.

Friday 14:

Twelve are killed and 50 injured by a car bomb explosion in front of the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.

Saturday 22:

An earthquake in western Iran measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale kills more than 261 people

July 2002

Tuesday 09:

The African Union was established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The first chairman was Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa.

Wednesday 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 Kenneth Thomson.

Friday 12:

Gay rights: The Superior Court of Ontario orders Ontario to recognize same-sex marriages.

Sunday 21:

Telecom giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the largest such filing in United States history.

Sunday 28:

2002 - nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset, Pennsylvania, were rescued after 77 hours underground.

August 2002

Tuesday 06:

Manindra Agrawal et al prove the long standing number theory conjecture in the article entitled "Primes in P".

Saturday 17:

In Santa Rosa, California, the Charles M. Schulz Museum opens to the public.

Wednesday 21:

Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister of Canada, announces that he will not seek re-election and would resign within eighteen months.

Monday 26:

Earth Summit 2002 begins in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Friday 30:

The Tandy Center Subway in Fort Worth, Texas, ceases to operate.

September 2002

Thursday 05:

The Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, United States, which burned 499,570 acres (2,020 km²), is finally contained.

Tuesday 10:

2002 - The U.S. Homeland Security Advisory System is set to Orange, or High Condition, for the first time.

Wednesday 25:

The Vitim event, a possible bolide impact in Siberia, Russia.

Thursday 26:

<!--- avoid self references?

Friday 27:

Timor-Leste (East Timor) joins the United Nations.

October 2002

Friday 11:

Bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland. See Myyrmanni bombing.

Wednesday 16:

Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, is officially inaugurated.

Wednesday 23:

Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen rebels seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theatergoers hostage.

Sunday 27:

Running back Emmitt Smith becomes the current leader in career rushing yards in the National Football League, breaking the record then held by Walter Payton.

Wednesday 30:

British Digital terrestrial television (DTT) Service Freeview starts transmitting throughout parts of the United Kingdom

November 2002

Thursday 07:

Iran bans advertising of United States products.

Friday 08:

Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council Resolution 1441 &ndash; The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences".

Friday 15:

Hu Jintao becomes general secretary of the Communist Party of China.

Monday 18:

Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.

Monday 25:

Reported assassination attempt on Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov

December 2002

Tuesday 10:

High Court of Australia handed down its judgement in the Internet defamation dispute in the case of Gutnick v Dow Jones.

Friday 13:

The European Union announces the addition of ten new members, effective May 1, 2004.

Tuesday 17:

A peace accord is signed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Wednesday 18:

California Governor Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier; the budget issue was used to support his 2003 recall from office.

Saturday 21:

Vancouver, British Columbia city council declares "D.O.A. Day" in observance of the Canadian punk band D.O.A.'s decades of influence and accomplishments.