Unix Timestamp: 1014768000
Wednesday, February 27. 2002, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The ex-currencies of all euro-using nations cease to be legal tender in the European Union.

Continuing violence in Ahmedabad, India kills 28 police shoot and kill 5 rioters.

The Envisatenvironmental satellite successfully reaches an orbit 800 km above the Earth using an Ariane 5 on its 11th launch, carrying the heaviest payload to date at 8,500 kg.

U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: In eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda begins.

57 people die in Godhra when a Muslim mob sets fire to a carriage on the Sabarmati Express filled with Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists returning from Ayodhya en route to Ahmedabad. After detaching the burned carriage, the train continues to Vadodara, where Hindus beat and stab people leaving the train, killing one. A 17-year-old is later killed in Godhra by police trying to disrupt mobs.

"STS-109": Space Shuttle \'\'Columbia\'\' flies the Hubble Space Telescope service mission, penultimate flight before its ill-fated "STS-107" mission.

Gujarat communal riots begin, wherein 97 people are burnt alive or killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre, and 69 in Gulbarg Society massacre in Ahmedabad.

A series of riots leaves hundreds dead, after 59 Hindu pilgrims die aboard a train burned by a Muslim in Godhra, India.

"STS-109": Space Shuttle "Columbia" flies the Hubble Space Telescope service mission, penultimate flight before its ill-fated "STS-107" mission.