Editing 2001 (section)

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{{Events by month|2001}}
{{About year|2001}}{{Year nav|2001}}
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{{Year article header|2001}}
The year's most prominent event was the [[September 11 attacks]] against the United States by [[al-Qaeda]], which [[Casualties of the September 11 attacks|killed 2,977 people]] and instigated the global [[war on terror]]. The United States led a [[Participants in Operation Enduring Freedom|multi-national coalition]] in an [[United States invasion of Afghanistan|invasion of Afghanistan]] after the [[Taliban]] government was unable to extradite Al-Qaeda leader [[Osama bin Laden]] within 24 hours. Other international conflicts in 2001 were the [[2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff|standoff]] between India and Pakistan as well as the [[Second Intifada]] between Israel and Palestine. Internal conflicts began [[2001 insurgency in Macedonia|in Macedonia]], [[2001 Central African Republic coup d'état attempt|in the Central African Republic]], and [[RFDG Insurgency|in Guinea]]. Political challenges or violent conflicts caused changes in leadership in Argentina, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines.

2001 was the second hottest year on record at the time, which was amplified by the end of a years-long [[La Niña]] phase. The Atlantic and Pacific tropical storm seasons were both more active than usual. The deadly [[Bhuj Earthquake]] took place in [[Gujarat]] on January 26, while the strongest earthquake in 36 years [[2001 southern Peru earthquake|took place in Peru]] on June 23. A potential health crisis occurred when [[2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak|a major outbreak]] of [[foot-and-mouth disease]] spread among British livestock, bringing about the deaths of millions of animals. Four [[hominid]] species were described or proposed, and several major archaeological finds took place, including a set of [[terracotta]] citizens near the [[Terracotta Army]]. The [[pygmy three-toed sloth]] was also first [[Species description|described]] in 2001. The year had the fewest successful orbital spaceflights since 1963, with eight crewed missions. Successes in space exploration included the landing of ''[[NEAR Shoemaker]]'' on an asteroid and the arrival of ''[[2001 Mars Odyssey]]'' on Mars.

Politics and religion in the final months of 2001 focused intently on the [[Muslim world]] and [[Islamic terrorism]] after the September 11 attacks. The [[Catholic Church]] was active in 2001, as [[Pope John Paul II]] went on several goodwill trips to meet with non-Catholic religious groups and investigations of [[Catholic Church sexual abuse cases|sexual abuse cases]] among the church's priests began. Former [[President of Serbia and Montenegro|Yugoslav president]] [[Slobodan Milošević]] was arrested and became the first head of state to be charged with [[crimes against humanity]] by an international body. The [[27th G8 summit]] took place in [[Genoa]] and was met by 200,000 protestors, where [[Death of Carlo Giuliani|one was killed]]. 2001 took place during a [[Early 2000s recession|minor recession]] among developed and developing nations, with only middle income nations avoiding an economic downturn. The recession saw economic crises take place [[1998–2002 Argentine great depression|in Argentina]] and [[2001 Turkish economic crisis|in Turkey]]. American energy company [[Enron]] and the European airlines [[Sabena]] and [[Swissair]] all ended operations in 2001. In popular culture, the [[Harry Potter (film series)|''Harry Potter'']] and [[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|''The Lord of the Rings'']] film franchises were launched, the [[iPod]] and [[iTunes]] were invented for music, and [[Sixth generation of video game consoles|three major sixth-generation video game systems]] became available. The [[Mac OS X]] and [[Windows XP]] were launched, as was the [[Wikipedia]] project. {{TOC limit|2}}