was a turning point in political history because a wave of revolutions swept the Eastern Bloc in Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power sharing, coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin Wall in November, and the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, embracing the overthrow of the communist dictatorship in Romania in December, and ending in December with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until all such persons have disembarked, where a person is fatally or seriously injured, the aircraft sustains damage or structural failure or the aircraft is missing or is completely inaccessible.

United Nations Security Council resolution , adopted unanimously on December , after recalling resolutions (), (), (), () and () concerning Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and terrorism, the Council decided that financial sanctions against the organisations would not apply to expenses for food, rent, medicine and medical care, health insurance and professional fees.

Marcy Borders (August , – August , ) was an American bank clerk who worked in the World Trade Center and survived its collapse, following the al-Qaeda attacks on September , . Stan Honda, a photographer for Agence France Presse, captured an image of Borders, completely covered in dust from the building collapse, that subsequently became widely described as "iconic". The image became so well-known and so widely distributed, that Borders became known as "The Dust Lady".

The Battle of Najaf took place on January at Zarqa (alt. Zarga) near Najaf, Iraq, between Iraqi Security Forces (later assisted by U.S. and UK forces) and fighters, initially thought to be Iraqi insurgents but later reported to be members of the Shia Islam cult Soldiers of Heaven, who had joined a gathering of worshippers — or, by other accounts, a conflict, originally between an Iraqi government forces checkpoint and armed pilgrims, which then expanded to include local residents, the Soldiers of Heaven group, and UK and U.S. forces.