January 1 - A black monolith measuring approximately nine feet tall appears in Seattle's Magnuson Park, placed by an anonymous artist in reference to the movie .
January 29 - Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.
April 1 - An American EP-3E spyplane collides with a Chinese F-8 fighter jet and is forced to make an emergency landing in Hainan, China. The U.S. crew was detained for 10 days and the Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, went missing and presumed dead.
July 18 - In Baltimore, Maryland, a 60-car train derailment occurs in a tunnel sparking a fire that will last days and virtually shut down downtown Baltimore.
July 19 - UK politician and novelist Jeffrey Archer, Lord Archer of Weston-Super-Mare, sentenced to four years in prison for perjury and perverting the course of justice.
July 20 - Vanessa Legget is found in contempt by a Federal Court for refusing to release notes made for her book on the Doris Angleton murder.