2000s

Table of contents

1 The Decade as a Whole
2 Events and Trends
3 People

3.1 World Leaders
3.2 Entertainers
3.3 Sports figures

4 Arts and Entertainment

4.4 Music

The Decade as a Whole

In the context of Wikipedia, the standard name for the decade 2000 to 2009 is the "2000s". Use of the term elsewhere may result in confusion.
Even within Wikipedia, the wording "2000s decade" is much clearer than "2000s".
In keeping with naming decades (cf. 1990s "the Nineties", 1980s "the Eighties", etc.), the decade of the 2000s lacks an accepted name, so far; it is named "the Noughties" by some (referring to the nought, or zero, as the decade indicator, but the word-play on "naughty" is intentional). In keeping with the practice of the nineteenth century, it could also be called "the Aughts" or "Oughts"; it could also be referred to using the term 'nil' as the "nillies" or the "0-0s". A widely accepted term most likely won't come about until the decade has ended.
The United Nations General Assembly declared the (mostly overlapping) decade of 2001-2010 as the "International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World".

Globalization
September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack on New York's World Trade Center and Washington's Pentagon killing about 3000 people
2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan to depose the Taliban regime in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks
December 2001 - 18 July 2003: The Convention on the Future of Europe proposed first European Union constitution.
International Criminal Court exists as of 1 July 2002, used for judging war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide
2003 invasion of Iraq to remove Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from power.