2001 in politics

Years in politics: 1999-2000-2001-2002-2003 - list of years in politics

Events

January

• January 20
  • George W. Bush is sworn in as the 43rd President of the United States.
  • Impeachment proceedings against Philippine President Joseph Estrada, accused of playing Jueteng, end preeminently and trigger the second EDSA People Power Revolution (or People Power II). His Vice-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo succeeds him as the 14th President of the Republic.

February

• February 16 – Iraq disarmament crisis: British and U.S. forces carry out bombing raids, attempting to disable Iraq's air defense network.
• February 18 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia for 25 years.

April

• April 1
  • Hainan Island incident: A Chinese fighter jet bumps into a U.S. EP-3E surveillance aircraft, which is forced to make an emergency landing in Hainan, China. The U.S. crew is detained for 10 days and the F-8 Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, goes missing and is presumed dead.
  • Former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on charges of war crimes.
  • In the Netherlands, the Act on the Opening up of Marriage goes into effect. The Act allows same-sex couples to marry legally for the first time in the world since the reign of Nero.

May

• May 13 – Silvio Berlusconi wins the general election and becomes Prime Minister of Italy for the second time.

June

• June 1 – Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal kills his father, the king, his mother and other members of the royal family with an assault rifle and then shoots himself in the Nepalese royal massacre. Dipendra dies June 4, as King of Nepal. His uncle Gyanendra accedes to the throne.
• June 6 – U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont leaves Republican party to caucus as an independent with Democrats, handing majority control of the Senate to the Democratic Party and Majority Leader Tom Daschle
• June 7 – George W. Bush signs the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, the first tax cut of a series now known as the Bush tax cuts.

July

• July 7 – 2001 Bradford riots: Race riots erupt in Bradford in the north of England after National Front members reportedly stab an Asian man outside a pub.
• July 16 – The People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation sign the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship ("Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation").
• July 19 – UK politician and novelist Jeffrey Archer is sentenced to 4 years in prison for perjury and perverting the course of justice.
• July 20–22 – The 27th G8 summit takes place in Genoa, Italy. Massive demonstrations are held against the meeting by members of the anti-globalization movement. One demonstrator, Carlo Giuliani, is killed by a policeman. Several others are badly injured during a police attack on a school used by the protesters as their headquarters.
• July 24 – Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, deposed as the last Tsar of Bulgaria when a child, is sworn in as the democratically elected 48th Prime Minister of Bulgaria.

August

• August 1 – Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has a Ten Commandments monument installed in the judiciary building, leading to a lawsuit to have it removed and his own removal from office.
• August 21 – NATO decides to send a peace-keeping force to the Republic of Macedonia.
• August 31 – The World Conference against Racism 2001 begins in Durban, South Africa.

September

September 11 attacks

• September 3
  • In Belfast, Protestant loyalists begin a picket of Holy Cross, a Catholic primary school for girls. For the next 11 weeks, riot police escort the schoolchildren and their parents through hundreds of protesters, amid rioting and heightened violence.
  • The United States, Canada and Israel withdraw from the U.N. Conference on Racism because they feel that the issue of Zionism is overemphasized.
• September 9 – A suicide bomber kills Ahmad Shah Massoud, military commander of the Afghan Northern Alliance.
• September 10 – Antônio da Costa Santos, mayor of Campinas, Brazil is assassinated.
• September 11 – 2,977 victims are killed in the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, and in rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania after American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 are hijacked and crash into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, American Airlines Flight 77 is hijacked and crashes into the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93 is hijacked and crashes into grassland in Shanksville, due to the passengers fighting to regain control of the airplane. The World Trade Center towers collapse as a result of the crashes.
• September 20 – In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a "War on Terror".

October

• October 1 – Militants attack the state legislature building in Srinagar, Kashmir, killing 38.
• October 7 – War in Afghanistan: The United States invades Afghanistan, with participation from other nations.
• October 8 – U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.
• October 17 – Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi becomes the first Israeli minister to be assassinated in a terrorist attack.
• October 23 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks.
• October 26 – U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Patriot Act into law.

November

Soldiers board a Chinook helicopter

• November 4 – The Police Service of Northern Ireland is established, replacing the controversial Royal Ulster Constabulary.
• November 10 – John Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia, is elected to a third term.
• November 12 – War in Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, ahead of advancing Northern Alliance troops.
• November 13 – In the first such act since World War II, U.S. President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against any foreigners suspected of having connections to terrorist acts or planned acts against the United States.
• November 14 – War in Afghanistan: Northern Alliance fighters take over the capital Kabul.
• November 23 – The Convention on Cybercrime is signed in Budapest, Hungary.

December

• December – The International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty produces a report on Responsibility to protect.
• December 3 – Officials announce that one of the Taliban prisoners captured after the prison uprising at Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan is John Walker Lindh, a United States citizen.
• December 11
  • The United States government indicts Zacarias Moussaoui for involvement in the September 11 attacks.
  • The United States Customs Service raids members of international software piracy group DrinkOrDie in Operation Buccaneer.
• December 13
  • 2001 Indian Parliament attack: 12 are killed, leading to a 2001–02 India–Pakistan standoff.
  • U.S. President George W. Bush announces the US withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
• December 22 – Burhanuddin Rabbani, political leader of the Northern Alliance, hands over power in Afghanistan to the interim government headed by President Hamid Karzai.
• December 27 – The People's Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade status with the United States.