- US military base at Guantanamo Bay is used as detention camp for ‘the war on terror’
- UN inspectors enter Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction
- First Euro banknotes and coins are launched
- Hostages taken by Chechen militants in a Moscow theatre
- Miss World contest relocates to London following violent riots in Nigeria
- Opening of Baltic, Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, England
- Man group start sponsoring the Booker Prize
- Rubens painting sells for £49.5 million