The News of 2001.

January:

• Kolkata officially restores its name from Calcutta
• iTunes is launched
• The AOL Time Warner merger is approved
• A 7.6 magnitude earthquake hits El Salvador killing at least 800 people and leaving thousands homeless
• Wikipedia is launched
• George W Bush is sworn in as 43rd President of the United States
• Five people set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square
• A 7.7 magnitude earthquake shakes Western India killing up to 20,000 people
• A report by the Department of Health suggests Harold Shipman may have killed more than 300 patients since the 1970s
• The High Court rules that the identities of James Bulger’s killers are to be kept secret for the rest of their lives; both now 18, they are expected to be released later this year
• Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 comes into effect, reducing the age of consent for male homosexual acts to that of heterosexual and lesbian acts, sixteen (seventeen in Northern Ireland)
• Sven-Göran Eriksson begins his tenure as England national football team manager
• Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Mandelson resigns from the cabinet for the second time

February:

• Disney’s California Adventure opens to the public
• Another earthquake, magnitude 6.6, hits El Salvador killing at least 400 people
• British and US forces carry out bombing raids in an attempt to disable Iraq’s air defence network
• FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia for the past 25 years
• The 2001 UK foot-and-mouth outbreak begins
• Liverpool beat Birmingham City on penalties following a 1-1 draw in the League Cup final, the first cup final to be held at the Millennium Stadium since Wembley closure for redevelopment

March:

• The Taliban begins destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas
• The Hintze Ribeiro Bridge in northern Portugal collapses killing 59 people
• The Game Boy Advance is released
• Apple Computer release Mac OS X, it goes on to be the second-most used desktop operating system with a market share of approximately 10%
• The Eden Project opens to the public

April:

• Former Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces on charges of war crimes
• The Act on the Opening up of Marriage, allowing same-sex couples to marry, goes into effect in the Netherlands
• Following on from their Premier League title win earlier in the month, Manchester United pay a British record fee of £19 million for Ruud van Nistelrooy
• United Kindom census takes place

May:

• An attempt is made to rebuilt the Ferhadija mosque in Bosnia & Herzegovina, however 300 elderly Muslims are beaten and stoned amid mass riots by Serb nationalists
• Silvio Berlusconi becomes Prime Minister of Italy for the second time
• Sherpa Temba Tsheri, 16, becomes the youngest person to summit Mount Everest
• The Versailles wedding hall disaster in Jerusalem kills 23 and injures 380 others
• Two Michael Owen goals award the FA Cup to Liverpool, beating Arsenal 2-1
• Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott punches a protestor who threw an egg at him
• Liverpool win the UEFA Cup with a 5-4 win over Deportivo Alavés

June:

• Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal kills his father, the king, his mother and other members of the royal family with an assault rifle before shootings himself; his uncle Gyanendra ascends to the throne
• George W Bush signs the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, the first of a series of tax cuts
• Tony Blair and the Labour Party achieve a second successive landslide general election victory, four years on from the last; new entrant David Cameron retains the Whitney seat for the Conservatives, while Edward Heath retires
• The worlds longest train is run in Western Australia carrying 100,000 tonnes and measuring 4.6 miles long
• An 8.4 magnitude earthquake shakes coastal Peru causing a tsunami that kills at least 75 people and injures 2687
• A race riot breaks out in Burnley with more than 200 white and Asian youths involved in brawling, vandalism and arson

July:

• The world’s first self-contained artificial heart is implanted
• Race riots erupt in Bradford following National Front members stabbing an Asian man outside a pub
• The IOC awards Beijing the 2008 Summer Olympics
• The 27th G8 summit is held in Genoa, Italy amid mass anti-globalisation demonstrations
• A Tamil militant organisation, Tamil Tigers, attacks Bandaranaike International Airport in Sri Lanka causing an estimated $500 million worth of damage
• The British transfer record is broken again when Manchester United pay £28.1 million for Juan Sebastian Veron
• Jeffrey Archer is sentenced to four years in prison for perjury and perverting the course of justice

August:

• 28 mentally ill people are bound in chains and burnt to death at a faith based institution in Erwadi, Tamil Nadu, southern India
• A Palestinian terrorist kills 15 civilians in an attack on a Jerusalem restaurant
• A train is deliberately derailed in an attack in Angola, killing 252 people
• The World Conference Against Racism 2001 begins in Durban, South Africa
• Former Conservative MP Neil Hamilton and his wife Christine are arrested on suspicion of sexual assault, but are later cleared
• Southampton move into their new 32,000 seat St. Mary’s Stadium
• Former royal butler Paul Burrell is charged with the theft of items belonging to Diana, Princess of Wales, the prosecution subsequently collapses

September:

• Nakai, the first captive orca to be born as a result of artificial insemination is born at Seaworld San Diego
• Protestant loyalists begin a picket of a Belfast Catholic primary school for girls; for 11 weeks riot police escort children and parents through hundreds of protestors amid heightened violence
• John Cage’s piece “As Slow as Possible” begins, it will last 639 years
• 68 people die of methanol poisoning in Pärnu County, Estonia
• Donald Rumsfeld delivers a speech regarding $2.3 trillion in Pentagon spending that cannot be accounted for, he identifies bureaucracy as the biggest threat to America
• Charles Ingram wins £1 million on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, the prize is withdrawn after he is accused of cheating
• Approximately 2977 people are killed or fatally injured in the September 11 terror attacks at the World Trade Center, The Pentagon and rural Pennsylvania after four aeroplanes are hijacked: two crash into the Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon and the other crashes into grassland due to passengers fighting to regain control
• William Hague resigns as Leader of the Conservatives, Iain Duncan Smith is elected as his successor
• Nintendo GameCube is released in Japan
• Letters containing anthrax are mailed to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, the New York Post and the National Enquirer; 22 people are exposed with five fatalities
• George W Bush declares a “War on Terror”
• Seventeen-year-old Ross Parker is murdered by a gang of ten Muslims in a racially motivated attack in Peterborough
• In Zug, Switzerland, a gunman shoots 18 civilians, killing 14 before shooting himself

October:

• Militants attack the state legislature building in Srinagar, Kashmir killing 38
• In response to the September 11 attacks, the US invades Afghanistan, officially beginning the War on Terror
• President George W Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security
• The Provisional IRA commences disarmament after peace talks
• The iPod is first introduced by Apple
• Microsoft releases Windows XP
• The government of Rwanda adopts a new national flag, citing connotations with the Rwandan genocide
• President George W Bush signs the Patriot Act into law, granting greater surveillance abilities to law enforcement
• England achieve automatic qualification for the 2002 World Cup with a 2-2 draw with Greece, thanks to an injury time free kick by David Beckham

November:

• The Police Service of Northern Ireland is established, replacing the Royal Ulster Constabulary
• John Howard’s Liberal/National Coalition Government is re-elected in the Australian federal election
• Heavy rains and mudslides in Algeria kill more than 900
• In the first such act since World War II, President George W Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against any foreigners suspected of connections to terrorism
• Northern Alliance fighters take over Kabul
• Microsoft releases the Xbox in the US
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone premieres in London

December:

• Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection 5 days after Dynegy cancels an $8.4 billion buyout bid, at the time the largest bankruptcy in US history
• The Argentinian government effectively freezes all bank accounts leading to riots
• The People’s Republic of China joins the World Trade Organisation
• US Customs Service raids members of international software piracy group DrinkOrDie
• US President George W Bush announces the US withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
• The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27 million spent to fortify it
• Islamic terrorist Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring premieres in London

Other:

• The best-selling single of the year is Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me”
• Earning $1 billion worldwide, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is the highest grossing film of the year