Sunday, December 29, 2002
NATIONAL
1. The war on terror permeated American society and politics.
2. Corporate scandals, sagging earnings, lagging investor confidence and rising joblessness exacted a toll. The spark trying to ignite the sluggish U.S. economy remained spending by consumers, many of them flush from refinancing their homes at the lowest rates in years.
3. Republicans gained simultaneous control of the House, Senate and White House for the first time since 1954.
4. Sniper shootings in the Washington area turned the mundane chores of everyday life into a deadly game.
5. The Roman Catholic Church suffered a crisis of confidence under a growing litany of sexual abuse by its priests and a lack of cohesive policy on the issue from its leadership.
6. Congress approved the Homeland Security Department, creating the biggest shakeup of the federal bureaucracy in recent history.
7. In a daring feat of engineering and tenacity, nine miners were rescued from deep within a Pennsylvania mountainside.
8. Drought brought failed crops, threatened water supplies and financial failure through much of the nation.
9. Wildfires destroyed homes and devastated millions of acres of forest in the West.
10. Some highly publicized child abductions brought so-called "Amber Alerts" to the fore as a new tool for catching kidnappers and a new fact of life on America's highways.
INTERNATIONAL
1. The Israeli-Palestinian peace process collapsed as war escalated between the sides.
2. Terrorism linked to Al-Qaida erupted across the globe, killing hundreds in Bali, Pakistan, Kenya, the Philippines and Tunisia.
3. U.N. weapons inspectors returned to Iraq for the first time in four years while U.S. preparations for war with Iraq accelerated.
4. India and Pakistan came to the brink of war over disputed Kashmir territory.
5. Chechen terrorists took 700 people hostage in a Moscow theater, and the Russian operation to free them killed 129 theatergoers.
6. North Korea proclaims it has a nuclear-weapons program.
7. Economic and political crises in Argentina and Venezuela threatened South American stability.
8. NATO's 19 members invited seven former Soviet satellite nations to join the security alliance.
9. The Colombian government mounts a big crackdown on drug traffickers and rebel forces.
10. Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was abducted and slain by Islamic extremists in Pakistan.
WINNERS
Jimmy Carter, former U.S. president, who won the Nobel Peace Prize.
President Bush, who persuaded reluctant allies in the United Nations to approve weapons inspections in Iraq and who led Republicans in a sweep in the November elections.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who won U.S. loyalty by helping in the war against the Taliban.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who escaped much domestic criticism after his troops bungled the rescue of 700 hostages in a Moscow theater.
Hu Jintao, the new leader of China.
LOSERS
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who has been pushed aside by other Palestinian leaders.
Henry Kissinger, who was chosen to lead an independent investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks but abruptly resigned after he was asked to reveal his business clients.
Stephen Hatfield, a scientist who was the central character of the anthrax investigation.
Former Rep. Gary Condit, who lost his Democratic primary after allegations of an affair with intern Chandra Levy, who was slain.
Democrats, who lost control of the Senate.
Former Ohio Rep. James Traficant, who was expelled from the House and sent to jail.
LEST WE FORGET
Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., 58. Killed in a plane crash Oct. 25.
The Queen Mother, 101. Died March 30.
England's Princess Margaret, 71. Died Feb. 9.
Ann Landers, advice columnist, 83. Died June 22.
Writer Stephen Ambrose, 66. Died Oct. 14.
Mob boss John Gotti, 61. Died June 10.
Writer Iris Murdoch, 79. Died Feb. 8.
Fashion designer Bill Blass, 79. Died June 12.
Retired CIA chief Richard Helms, 89. Died Oct. 22.
Biologist Steven Jay Gould, 60. Died May 20.
Byron R. White, 84. Retired Supreme Court Justice who served 31 years. Died April 15.
Stephen P. Yokich, 66. The former president of the United Auto Workers (1995-2002) Died Aug. 16.