WHAT HAPPENED IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 21. CENTURY
Find out what all happened in the first half of the 21. century

The 2010 Haiti earthquake occurs killing an estimated 316,000 and destroying the majority of the capital Port-au-Prince. (12. January 2010)

An earthquake hits El Salvador, killing more than 800. (13. January 2001)

The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia sinks off the coast of Italy. There are 31 confirmed deaths with one still missing, Russel Rebello, amongst the 4232 passengers and crew. (13. January 2012)

The national flag of The Republic of Georgia, the so-called "five cross flag", is restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years. (14. January 2004)

The Huygens probe lands on Saturn's moon Titan. (14. January 2005)

Yemen declares an open war against the terrorist group al-Qaeda. (14. January 2010)

The former president of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled his country to Saudi Arabia after a series of street demonstrations against his regime and corrupt policies, asking for freedom, rights and democracy, considered as the anniversary of the Tunisian Revolution and the birth of the Arab Spring. (14. January 2011)

The Pirate Party of Greece is founded, on the model of the Swedish Pirate Party. (14. January 2012)

Wikipedia, a free Wiki content encyclopedia, goes online. (15. January 2001)

ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the moon. (15. January 2005)

Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging in Iraq. (15. January 2007)

US Airways Flight 1549 makes an emergency landing in the Hudson River shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York, New York. All passengers and crew members survive. (15. January 2009)

A train carrying Egyptian Army recruits derails near Giza, Greater Cairo, killing 19 and injuring 120 others. (15. January 2013)

Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards. (16. January 2001)

US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish–American War. (16. January 2001)

The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the remaining members of the Taliban. (16. January 2002)

The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry. (16. January 2003)

Romanian university lecturer and novelist Adriana Iliescu gives birth at 66 to her daughter Eliza, breaking the record for the oldest birth mother in the world (16. January 2005)

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state. (16. January 2006)

An estimated 41 international workers are taken hostage in an attack in the town of In Aménas, Algeria. (16. January 2013)