WHAT ALL HAPPENED FEBRUARY TO MARCH 2002
Find out what all happened February to March 2002

The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He dies four years later before its conclusion. (12. February 2002)

The Budapest Open Access Initiative, one of the cornerstones of the Open access movement, was released to the public. (14. February 2002)

NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system. (19. February 2002)

Passover massacre: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 29 people partaking of the Passover meal in Netanya, Israel. (27. March 2002)

The peseta is discontinued as official currency of Spain and is replaced by the euro (€). (1. March 2002)

During the religious violence in Gujarat, the 97 people killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in Gulbarg Society massacre. (28. February 2002)

Godhra train burning: A Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya. (27. February 2002)

Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush. (22. February 2002)

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. (1. February 2002)

Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire at London Stansted Airport. Subsequent investigations criticize Ryanair's handling of the evacuation. (27. February 2002)

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). (2. March 2002)

The Envisat environmental satellite successfully reaches an orbit 800 kilometers (500 mi) above the Earth on its 11th launch, carrying the heaviest payload to date at 8500 kilograms (8.5 tons). (1. March 2002)

U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan. (1. March 2002)

Zimbabwe is suspended from the Commonwealth on charges of human rights abuses and of electoral fraud, following a turbulent presidential election. (19. March 2002)

In reaction to the Passover massacre two days prior, Israel launches Operation Defensive Shield against Palestinian militants, its largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. (29. March 2002)

An Iran Airtour Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119. (12. February 2002)

Afghanistan: Seven American Special Operations Forces soldiers and 200 Al-Qaeda Fighters are killed as American forces attempt to infiltrate the Shahi Kot Valley on a low-flying helicopter reconnaissance mission. (4. March 2002)