November 2001 News and Events

Updated July 10, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

World

• Five Bosnian Serbs Convicted (Nov. 2): Found guilty by UN tribunal for actions in notorious prison system set up by Serbs during Bosnian war.
• Moderate Protestant Reelected in Ulster (Nov. 6): David Trimble renamed first minister of Northern Ireland Assembly, overcoming efforts of hard-line opponents to thwart his return to office.
• Taiwan Lifts Curbs on Investment in China (Nov. 7): Ends restrictions on direct link. Experts suggest move may accelerate commercial integration.
• Afghan Rebels Capture Key City (Nov. 9): Northern Alliance, the Taliban opposition, reports seizure of northern city, Mazar-i-Sharif.
• Pakistani President Seeks U.S. “Gestures” (Nov. 9): President Pervez Musharraf seeks major concessions from administration, including release of American F-16 fighters sold to Pakistan when it was ally against Soviet Union and later withheld, for his cooperation with the U.S. in its war against the Taliban.
• World Trade Group Admits China (Nov. 10): Admits China after 15-year debate over whether the country is entitled to full trading rights of capitalist countries.
• Bush Warns UN of Terrorism (Nov. 10): In first speech to General Assembly, president declares every country is vulnerable to terrorist attacks and that responsibility for fighting them “is binding on every nation with a place in this chamber.”
• Global Warming Agreement Reached (Nov. 11): Morocco conference completes details of treaty. Many large industrial nations expected to accept it.
• Northern Alliance Captures Herat and Kabul (Nov. 12): Taliban flee from Afghani capital.
• U.S. and Russia Pledge Nuclear Cutback (Nov. 13): Presidents Bush and Putin agree to cut stockpiles by nearly two-thirds over next decade. Each nation will be left with less than 2,200 warheads.
• Al-Qaeda Leader Reported Killed (Nov. 16): Mohammed Atef, aide to Osama bin Laden, thought to be victim of U.S. bombing raid in Afghanistan.
• U.S. Offers Bounty for bin Laden (Nov. 19): Announces $25 million award for information leading to location or capture of Afghan terrorist leader.
• Afghan Power Sharing Expected (Nov. 19): U.S. envoy reports Northern Alliance has agreed to surrender exclusive power in capital to a “broad-based, multiethnic, and fully representative” regime.
• Israelis Kill Palestinian Leader (Nov. 23): Head of extremist group Hamas, Mahmoud Abu Hunud, is victim of helicopter attack at van in Jerusalem.
• U.S. Marines Land in Afghanistan (Nov. 25): Hundreds arrive at airfield near southern city of Kandahar in first major entry of American ground troops. Pentagon reports arrival is first period of sustained assaults against Taliban and al-Qaeda forces. Nov. 26: Hours after establishing base, Marines attack from air.
• Afghan Uprising Reported Crushed (Nov. 27): Northern Alliance, backed by American and British forces, reports defeating non-Afghan Taliban prisoners who had smuggled in arms and staged a violent revolt in prison near Mazar-i-Sharif.
• Bonn Summit Begins to Determine Post-Taliban Government (Nov. 27): UN hosts meeting to create new broad-based government in Afghanistan.
• U.S. Planes Bomb Taliban Compound (Nov. 27): Attack area southeast of Kandahar reported to be used by leaders of Taliban, al-Qaeda, and Al Wafa, an Islamic foundation accused of terrorist activities.
• CIA Names Agent Killed in Afghanistan (Nov. 28): Identifies victim in uprising of Taliban prisoners as Johnny Michael Spann, 32, a former Marine captain. He's the first U.S. combat casualty.

Nation

• FBI Asks Public Aid in Anthrax Inquiry (Nov. 2): Baffled after weeks of investigation, agency has no clue about the perpetrator of the deadly attacks.
• U.S. Prepares for Potential Smallpox Attack (Nov. 3): In coping with possible terrorist move, government trains doctors to recognize disease.
• U.S. Opposes Assisted Suicides (Nov. 6): Federal agents ordered to move against doctors who prescribe lethal doses of drugs for terminally ill patients.
• Terrorist Financial Networks Fought (Nov. 7): Bush announces international effort to destroy institutions suspected of ties to al-Qaeda organization.
• Atlanta Elects Black Woman Mayor (Nov. 7): In close tally, Shirley Clarke Franklin seems poised to become Atlanta's first woman mayor and the first black woman to be elected to head a major Southern city.
• Bush Calls for Military Tribunals for Terrorists (Nov. 13): Signs executive order to try foreigners charged with terrorism in special military tribunals that could be closed to the public and heard by a military panel.
• Red Cross Pledges Full Anti-Terrorist Fund (Nov. 14): After weeks of criticism, organization announces it will use $543 million Liberty Disaster Fund only to assist victims of terrorist attacks in New York on Sept. 11. Decision guarantees families hundreds of millions of dollars in additional charitable aid.
• Summit Conference Ends in Texas (Nov. 15): President Bush and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia wrap-up three-day meeting at Bush's ranch. Pledge to bring stability to Afghanistan. No progress on amending antimissile treaty, as U.S. seeks.
• Airport Security Bill Advanced (Nov. 15): Senate and House negotiators agree on measure to require government to hire within one year 28,000 employees to screen passengers and baggage.
• Toll Down from Trade Center Attack (Nov. 20): Official tally of dead and missing drops below 3,900, a total nearly 3,000 fewer than thought at first.
• Connecticut Anthrax Death Is Mystery (Nov. 21): Woman, 94, succumbs to inhaled substance. Medical and legal investigators seek clue as to how widow who seldom left home had become country's fifth anthrax fatality. (Nov. 30): Anthrax detected on letter delivered to family living only mile from victim's home in Oxford, Conn.

Business/Science/Society

• Unemployment at Five-Year High (Nov. 2): Labor department reports rate rose to 5.6% in October, from 5.4%. More than 400,000 Americans lost jobs during month.
• Interest Rates Cut 10th Time in Year (Nov. 6): Federal Reserve orders half-point reduction, raising hopes for economic recovery next year.
• Plane Crash Kills 260 in Queens, N.Y. (Nov. 12): American Airlines jetliner bound for Santo Domingo plunges to ground in neighborhood just after takeoff.
• Heart Pump Aids Patients (Nov. 12): Study reported in California finds implanted mechanical device can assist failing organ but not replace it.
• Anticholesterol Drugs Cut Disease (Nov. 13): Worldwide study finds lower risk of heart attack or stroke.
• Two Oil Companies to Merge (Nov. 18): Phillips Petroleum and Conoco Inc. agree to form company with market value of $35 billion.
• 24 Cloned Cows Reported (Nov. 22): Scientists at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Mass., say animals are normal in every respect. Development challenges widely held theory that links defects to cloning.
• Three Teenagers Held in Death Plot (Nov. 25): Boys charged with plotting attack on fellow students at high school in New Bedford, Mass.
• Astronomers Study Distant Planet (Nov. 28): For first time, a chemical analysis is made of atmosphere of planet beyond the solar system.
• Beatles' Lead Guitarist Dies (Nov. 29): George Harrison, 58, succumbs to cancer. Known as “the quiet Beatle,” Harrison was the spiritual anchor of the popular British group.