Timeline November 2002

Events in November 2002 16

• 1915 – 2002 Abba Eban (1915-2002) Died 17 November 2002, aged 87 Abba Eban was Israel's ambassador to the United Nations and the United States in its early years and later its foreign minister during the wars of 1967 and 1973. Celebrated as an orator in several languages, he presented Israel's case to the world with unusual polish. In his last decades he wrote and presented histories of the Jewish people and of diplomacy.
• 1915 – 2002 Eddie Bracken (1915-2002) American actor, the everyman hero of Preston Sturges's wartime comedies.
• 1921 – 2002 John Rawls (1921-2002) Died 24 November 2002, aged 81 The American philosopher John Rawls revived political philosophy with A Theory of Justice in 1971, arguing that fair principles are those people would choose behind a 'veil of ignorance' about their own place in society. His idea of justice as fairness became the central reference point for debates on liberalism, equality and rights. He taught at Harvard for most of his career.
• 1928 – 2002 James Coburn (1928-2002) Died 18 November 2002, aged 74 James Coburn was a lean, grinning American actor who broke through in ensemble westerns and war films such as The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape before leading roles in the 1960s spy spoofs beginning with Our Man Flint. Severe rheumatoid arthritis limited his work for years. He won a supporting-actor Oscar late in life for Affliction in 1999.
• 2002 Iraq war authorisation and UN Resolution 1441 US and UN raise pressure on Baghdad In mid-October 2002 the US Congress passed a resolution authorising President Bush to use force against Iraq. On 8 November the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1441, declaring Iraq in material breach of earlier resolutions and offering a final chance to disarm under renewed inspections. Disputes over whether the resolution permitted war dominated the following months.
• 2002 Kurt Cobain's Journals published Notebooks His notebooks are published.
• 2002 AKP wins Turkish general election Erdogan's party sweeps to power The Justice and Development Party, founded a year earlier by Recep Tayyip Erdogan and allies from a banned Islamist movement, won a large parliamentary majority in Turkey's election on 3 November 2002. Only one other party cleared the 10 percent threshold. The result began an era of AKP dominance that reshaped Turkish politics.
• 2002 8 Mile released Eminem film yields an Oscar-winning song The film 8 Mile, a loosely autobiographical story of a young Detroit rapper played by Eminem, opened on 8 November 2002 to strong reviews and box office. Its song 'Lose Yourself' topped charts worldwide and became the first hip-hop track to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The film helped push rap further into the mainstream.
• 2002 Prestige oil spill Tanker breaks up off the Spanish coast The single-hulled tanker Prestige, carrying about 77,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, began leaking in a storm off Galicia and was refused refuge by several governments before breaking apart and sinking on 19 November 2002. The spill fouled thousands of kilometres of coastline in Spain, France and Portugal and devastated the Galician fishing industry. It prompted the European Union to accelerate a ban on single-hulled tankers.
• 2002 Eddie Bracken dies in Montclair Eddie Bracken dies aged 87.
• 2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets #3 film of 2002 — $879m worldwide Directed by Chris Columbus. Harry's second year at Hogwarts sees students and ghosts petrified by a mysterious monster.
• 2002 Die Another Day — Pierce Brosnan Brosnan's final Bond film. After being captured by North Korea and left for dead, Bond escapes and hunts down a traitor. The film celebrates the franchise's 40th anniversary with cameos and references but is critically divisive — its over-reliance on CGI and an invisible Aston Martin provoke considerable backlash. Budget: $142 million. Box office: $431.9 million.
• 2002 US Department of Homeland Security created Largest federal reorganisation since the 1940s President Bush signed the Homeland Security Act on 25 November 2002, merging 22 agencies and about 170,000 employees into a new Department of Homeland Security. Bodies including the Coast Guard, Secret Service, customs, immigration enforcement and disaster response were brought under one cabinet department. It was the biggest restructuring of the US government since the creation of the Defense Department.
• 2002 Mombasa hotel bombing and airliner attack Coordinated al-Qaeda strikes on Israeli targets in Kenya On 28 November 2002 suicide bombers drove a vehicle into the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel near Mombasa, killing 13 people, while attackers nearby fired two shoulder-launched missiles at an Israeli charter jet taking off with 261 passengers. The missiles missed. Al-Qaeda claimed both attacks, which came just over four years after its bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi.
• 2002 Concert for George Royal Albert Hall A memorial concert a year after his death.
• 2002 Concert for George Royal Albert Hall Organised and performed at the Concert for George at the Royal Albert Hall — a tribute concert for his late friend George Harrison, who had died of cancer in November 2001.