2002

1 January 2002	[banking and finance]	The single European currency becomes a reality in 12 member states of the European Union as euro notes and coins are introduced officially to replace national currencies. The United Kingdom, Denmark, and Sweden remain outside the eurozone.
15 January 2002	UK [animal husbandry]	After an epidemic lasting almost 11 months, livestock in the UK is declared free of foot-and-mouth disease.
6 February 2002	UK [political events]	Queen Elizabeth II completes 50 years as monarch of Britain.
22 February 2002	UK [health and medicine]	The use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment and embryo screening to create a child capable of saving the life of another is sanctioned for the first time by the UK human fertilization and embryology authority.
March 2002	Antarctica [climate and weather]	The collapse of a huge ice shelf, part of the Antarctic Peninsula, is recorded by satellite. It causes alarm among environmentalists concerned by the pace of global warming.
1 March 2002	[banking and finance]	In the 12 European Union member states that make up the euro zone, all remaining national banknotes and coins cease to be legal tender as the transition to the single European currency is completed.
1 March 2002	French Guiana [space exploration]	The European Space Agency's environmental satellite Envisat, the most sophisticated environmental laboratory ever put into space, is launched into orbit successfully from French Guiana in South America.
9 March - 19 March 2002	Zimbabwe [elections]	Robert Mugabe claims re-election as president of Zimbabwe after a campaign marred by alleged ballot rigging and intimidation of opponents of the ruling ZANU-PF regime. International condemnation of the result is reinforced by Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth for a year, a move backed by the influential African states of Nigeria and South Africa.
22 March 2002	England [law and government]	In England a severely paralysed woman's unprecedented plea for legal approval to have the respirator keeping her alive in hospital switched off wins her case.
30 March 2002	England [births and deaths]	Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother dies at Royal Lodge in the grounds of Windsor Castle, England (101).
20 May 2002	East Timor [political events]	East Timor achieves formal independence from Indonesia and becomes a nation state under the recently-elected president Xanana Gusmão, the former guerrilla leader of the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (FRETELIN). Indonesia's claim to sovereignty after its military occupation in 1975 was never recognized by the United Nations, which has administered the territory since 1999 when the East Timorese voted for secession in a referendum despite violent intimidation by pro-Indonesian militias.
13 June 2002	[treaties]	The 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty between the USA and the then Soviet Union lapses as the US's notification to Russia in December 2001 of its intention to withdraw comes into effect. Despite Russian opposition and wider international concern, the US government claims that the treaty – long considered an important check on the global proliferation of long-range and nuclear weapons – is an outdated relic of the Cold War era. The US move clears the way for the development of its controversial National Missile Defense (NMD) system.
22 June 2002	Iran [natural disasters]	About 230 people are killed and some 12,000 made homeless as an earthquake hits Qazvin province in north-west Iran.
27 June 2002	UK [business and economics]	Six years after privatization by the Conservative Party, ownership and management of the UK's railway network is transferred from Railtrack plc, which was put into administration in October 2001, to a not-for-profit public interest company, Network Rail, by the UK government. Network Rail will pay £500 million – of which £300 million will be provided by the government – as well as taking over Railtrack's debt.
1 July 2002	[crime and punishment]	The International Criminal Court, the world's first permanent tribunal to try cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, comes into existence. Based in The Hague in the Netherlands, its powers are not retrospective. Despite ratification of the treaty establishing the court by over 70 countries, the USA refuses to recognize its jurisdiction without protection from prosecution for its personnel serving in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions.
1 July 2002	Germany Switzerland [transport disasters]	A Boeing 757 freight airliner and a Tupolev 154 passenger jet carrying mainly children from Russia to Spain collide in midair over Lake Constance on the German-Swiss border killing over 70 people. The conduct of Swiss air traffic controllers comes under investigation.
2 July 2002	[speed records]	At his sixth attempt, US millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett becomes the first man to fly a balloon solo and non-stop around the world, crossing the west Australian coastline in his Spirit of Freedom after covering more than 19,000 miles in just less than two weeks.
11 July 2002	Chad [archaeology]	The discovery in Chad of a 7 million-year-old fossilized skull belonging to a hominid is announced by researchers, potentially challenging traditional theories of human evolution.
23 July 2002	UK [Protestantism]	Rowan Williams, archbishop of Wales, is confirmed as successor to George Carey as the archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Church on Carey's retirement in October 2002.
November 2002	UK [industrial relations]	In the first national strike action by Britain's 50,000 firefighters since 1977, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) stages two walkouts – the first for two days, the second for eight – in a dispute for more pay. Responsibility for fire protection passes to 19,000 soldiers and their antiquated ‘Green Goddess’ military fire trucks. Government ministers insist that FBU wage demands must be accompanied by modernization of working practices.
November 2002	[cinema and film]	The children's film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, based on one of a series of best-selling books by British author J K Rowling, goes on general release. It is directed by Chris Columbus and stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson.
15 November 2002	England [births and deaths]	Myra Hindley, child murderer and one of Britain's most infamous prisoners, dies in Bury St Edmunds, England (60).
23 November 2002	[sailing]	English sailor Ellen MacArthur becomes the first Briton to win the Route de Rhum solo transatlantic yachting race from St Malo, France, to Guadeloupe, and in a record time of 13 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes.
24 November 2002	Scotland [public health]	David McRae, a wildlife conservationist, dies of the disease rabies in hospital in Dundee, Scotland, after being bitten by a bat. It is the first such case in Britain for 100 years.
25 November 2002	Iraq [diplomacy]	United Nations (UN) arms inspectors return to Iraq after a four-year absence to search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction that the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is suspected of developing. The return of the inspectors, led by Swedish diplomat Hans Blix, follows earlier unanimous UN Security Council support for a resolution demanding full Iraqi compliance.