North America 2001: September 11 attacks

To defeat Iraq, the US had based troops in Saudi Arabia—a move which offended a number of Muslims. One of them was the Islamist militant Osama bin Laden, whose Al-Qaeda group began conducting terrorist attacks on US-linked targets, culminating on September 11, 2001, when Al-Qaeda operatives flew hijacked passenger jets into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia, with an attack on the White House in Washington DC being narrowly thwarted.

Main Events

31 Mar 1995–30 Nov 1997 UN Mission in Haiti

United Nations Mission in Haiti replaced the United States-led Operation Uphold Democracy forces and maintained order in Haiti.in wikipedia

6 Dec 1998 Chávez elected president of Venezuela

Hugo Chávez, leader of the Fifth Republic Movement, won the Venezuelan presidential elections, heralding the beginning of the Bolivarian Revolutionin wikipedia

31 Dec 1999 US completes handover of Panama Canal

United States relinquished control of Panama Canal and all areas of former Panama Canal Zone to Panamain wikipedia

11 Sep 2001 September 11 Attacks

On the morning of 11 September 2001, nineteen members of the terrorist group Al Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes, crashing two into the World Trade Center in New York City and one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia; the fourth crashed in Pennsylvania en route to Washington, DC. The vast majority of the damage was done to the twin towers of the World Trade Center, which both completely collapsed within an hour and 42 minutes of being struck. The attacks killed almost 3,000 people, injured some 6,000 more, and caused at least $10 billion in property damage.in wikipedia