Queen Elizabeth II of the Commonwealth Realms celebrates her Golden Jubilee, marking 50 years since her accession to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

• The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former president of Yugoslavia, begins at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
• NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
• UNITA guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in clashes against government troops led by Angolan President Jos Eduardo dos Santos in Moxico Province, Angola. His death leads to the end of the Angolan Civil War on April 4.