June 2002

Updated July 10, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

World

• Peasants Die in Mexican Land Dispute (June 1): In a poor mountain village in Oaxaca, 26 men and boys die in an attack by armed members of a neighboring community.
• Arafat Outlines Plan to Reform Security Forces (June 4): In meeting with CIA director George Tenet, Palestinian leader suggests that he will streamline police and intelligence agencies.
• Asian Leaders Meet to Talk Peace (June 4): Kazakhstan hosts First Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia.
• Israeli Troops Attack Arafat's Compound (June 5): Move follows Palestinian suicide attack that kills 17 Israelis, including 13 soldiers, in Galilee.
• Pakistan President Vows to Curb Kashmir Militants (June 6): Pervez Musharraf pledges to permanently halt infiltration of militants into Indian-held Kashmir.
• American Missionary Killed in Philippines (June 7): Martin Burnham, who had been held hostage since last May by rebel group Abu Sayyaf, shot and killed during a fire fight between the guerillas and Filipino troops.
• India Moves to Ease Tension in Kashmir (June 10): Ends its ban on Pakistani planes flying over Indian airspace and pulls back its ships from Pakistan's coast.
• Grand Council Convenes in Afghanistan (June 11): More than 1,500 delegates from around the country meet at loya jirga in Kabul to elect a president and government.
• U.S. Abandons Antiballistic Missile Treaty (June 13): Thirty-year-old pact lapses six months after President Bush announced U.S. withdrawal. Decision allows U.S. to develop system to defend against missile attack.
• Hamid Karzai Elected President of Afghanistan (June 13): Interim leader wins in a landslide. He'll serve until 2004 general election.
• Car Bomb Explodes at U.S. Consulate in Karachi (June 14): Pakistani militants suspected in blast that kills 11 and injures more than two dozen.
• Social Democrats Retain Power in Czech Republic (June 15): Outpoll Civic Democrats 30% to 24%. Vladimir Spidla to become prime minister.
• Israel Begins Construction of Fence (June 16): Barrier, 217-miles long, will separate Israel from the West Bank and is intended to thwart suicide attacks.
• Israel Announces Plan to Reoccupy West Bank (June 18): Troops enter Jenin after suicide bombing on a bus in Jerusalem claims 20.
• Al-Qaeda Member Arrested (June 18 et seq.): Saudi Arabia announces it has in custody 13 suspects who were believed to be planning attack on U.S. military aircraft. (June 19): Morocco says it is holding senior al Qaeda agent Abu Zubaydar.
• Suicide Bomber Strikes Jerusalem (June 19): Six Israelis at a bus stop die in second consecutive day of violence in Jerusalem.
• Palestinian Gunmen Kill Israeli Settlers (June 20): Raid settlement near Nablus, killing five, including a mother and her three children.
• Israeli Soldiers Seize West Bank Towns (June 20): Troops to remain as long “as terror continues,” says Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. At least ten Palestinians killed in ongoing skirmishes. Move follows three consecutive days of violence.
• European Union Summit Opens in Spain (June 21): Meeting to focus on immigration and globalization.
• Bush Announces New Mideast Policy (June 24): Tells Palestinians that the U.S. will not recognize an independent Palestinian state until Yasir Arafat is replaced.
• Karzai Swears In New Government (June 24 et seq.): Twenty-nine ministers representing several ethnic groups take oath of office. (June 27): Five vice presidents, including three powerful regional leaders, sworn in by President Hamid Karzai.
• Alleged Terrorist Enters Plea (June 24): Zacarias Moussaoui, the suspected 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 attacks, tries to plead no contest, which would have been considered an admission of guilt. Judge Leonie Brinkema enters a not guilty plea on his behalf.
• Pakistani Soldiers Die in Fire Fight (June 26): Ten perish while pursuing 35 suspected al-Qaeda members on the Afghanistan border.
• Industrialized Countries Pledge Aid to Africa (June 27): At summit in Canada, G-8 countries, with Russia newly admitted, commit $6 billion to African nations that undergo social and government reform.
• Israeli Forces Attack Palestinian Authority Office (June 28): Part of the four-story building in Hebron destroyed. Palestinian militants thought to be inside.
• U.S. Vetoes Peacekeeping Force in Bosnia (June 30): Move follows Security Council's refusal to grant American peacekeepers immunity from being tried by new International Criminal Court. U.S., however, agrees to a three-day extension of the mission.

Nation

• Intelligence Committees Begin Terrorism Investigations (June 4): House and Senate groups look into U.S. response to threats that date back to 1986.
• Anti-abortion Activist Extradited to U.S. (June 5): James Kopp, indicted in 1999 in the 1998 shooting death of abortion doctor Barnett Slepian, returned from France.
• Whistle-blower Testifies About Life at FBI (June 6): Coleen Rowley, chief counsel of the Minneapolis field office, tells Senate Judiciary Committee about bureaucracy that frustrates agents' attempts at innovative investigation and mires them in paperwork.
• Bush Seeks New Cabinet Department to Fight Terrorism (June 6): President proposes major reorganization of government that would combine 22 federal agencies into a Department of Homeland Security. (June 13): President sends bill to Congress.
• Dirty Bomb Plot Foiled (June 10): Justice Dept. announces the May 8 arrest of Jose Padilla (aka Abdullah al-Muhajir), a U.S. citizen. Government, alleging he was working with al-Qaeda to launch an attack in the U.S, calls him an enemy combatant and holds him at a naval base.
• Senate Defeats Repeal of Estate Tax (June 12): Votes to thwart president's efforts to make permanent the tax cut that expires in 2011.
• Bush Proposes Change in Air Pollution Controls (June 13): New rules would relax requirements for utilities when they upgrade existing power plants. Environmentalists say move would further erode air quality and weaken the Clean Air Act.
• NSA Announces al-Qaeda Intercept (June 19): Security agency collected conversations on Sept. 10 that referred to “the big match” and “zero hour” but did not translate the discussions until the day after the terrorist attacks.
• Tom Ridge Testifies About New Department (June 20): In his first appearance before Congress, director of homeland security answers questions about President Bush's proposed Department of Homeland Security.
• Federal Panel Rejects Mass Smallpox Vaccinations (June 20): Citing health risks of shots, panel recommends that vaccination be limited to about 15,000 health-care workers and law enforcement officials be vaccinated.
• Bush Proposes End to Amtrak Monopoly (June 20): Plan says states should contribute and outside companies could bid on running the intercity rail service.
• Providence Mayor Convicted (June 24): Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, Jr., found guilty of racketeering.
• Government Loan Bails Out Amtrak (June 26): Bush administration promises troubled railroad $100 million loan to maintain service through Sept. Congress expected to approve another $100 million. Amtrak agrees to cut next year's budget by $100 million.
• Court Declares Pledge Unconstitutional (June 26): Federal appeals court in San Francisco rules that the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance violate the separation of church and state.
• House and Senate Pass Defense Budget (June 27): Senate votes, 97–2, in favor of $393 billion program that includes pay raises for military personnel and increased funding for hardware and research. House approves, 413–18, a similar $355 billion appropriations bill.
• House Approves Increase in Debt Limit (June 27): Votes, 215–214, to raise ceiling on national debt $450 billion, to $6.4 trillion. Senate already passed identical bill.
• Bush Cuts Superfund Program (June 30): Slashes funding for decontamination of 33 toxic-waste sites.

Business/Science/Society

• Parade Ends Jubilee Holiday (June 4): A four-day national holiday celebrating Queen Elizabeth's 50 years on the British throne ends with a parade attended by about a million people.
• Business Executive Indicted (June 4): Manhattan district attorney indicts former Tyco chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski on charges he avoided sales taxes on art.
• Space Shuttle Endeavor Launched (June 5): Shuttle to deliver a new crew from to the international space station, Alpha, and will bring the outgoing space station crew back to Earth.
• Unemployment Rate Drops (June 7): Labor Department reports unemployment rate fell 0.2% in May, to 5.8%.
• Kennedy Cousin Found Guilty (June 7): Connecticut jury finds Michael Skakel, 41, guilty of the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley.
• New Rule Cuts Hours for Medical Residents (June 12): Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education regulations, effective in July 2003, to limit work week to 80 hours and reduce shifts to a maximum of 24 hours.
• Biotech Executive Charged with Insider Trading (June 12): Samuel Waksal, former CEO of ImClone Systems, accused of tipping off family members to FDA's decision not to approve company's cancer drug.
• U.S. Bishops Adopt Policy for Abusers (June 14): At national meeting in Dallas, bishops decide to ban from all ministerial duties any priest who has ever been known to sexually abuse a minor.
• Scientists Discover New Planet (June 14): Astronomers at the University of California-Berkeley discover a planet similar to Jupiter in planetary system similar to the Earth's own solar system.
• Arthur Andersen Guilty (June 15): Houston jury convicts accounting firm Arthur Andersen of obstruction of justice for destroying documents relating to former client Enron Corp.
• Firefighter Accused of Starting Colorado Blaze (June 17): Terry Barton, an employee of the U.S. Forest Service, charged with setting the largest wildfire in Colorado history.
• Murder Conviction Overturned in Dog Mauling Case (June 17): Saying the evidence did not justify the conviction, a San Francisco judge overturns a second-degree murder conviction for Marjorie Knoller, owner of two dogs that killed a neighbor, Diane Whipple.
• Jury Favors Victim of Secondhand Smoke (June 18): A Miami jury awards $5.5 million in damages to Lynn French, 56, a flight attendant who claimed smoky airplane cabins caused her chronic sinus problems.
• Arizona Wildfires Merge (June 22): Two wildfires that have already burned 330,000 acres in northern Arizona join, creating a conflagration covering 250,000 acres with a front line stretching 50 mi. (June 30): Leonard Gregg, contract firefighter, charged with setting fire.
• Train Crash Kills Hundreds in Tanzania (June 24): Passenger train rolls down a hill and collides with freight train. About 280 die and more than 900 are wounded.
• WorldCom Admits It Grossly Misstated Profits (June 25): Country's second-largest long-distance carrier said it inflated cash flow over last five quarters by $3.8 billion.
• Brazil Wins World Cup (June 30): Beats Germany, 2–0, for record-setting fifth time. Ronaldo scores both goals.