storms had their names retired by the World Meteorological Organization. Tropical Storm Allison was the deadliest tropical storm to hit the United States without reaching hurricane strength. The 2001 Pacific typhoon season was slightly larger than average, including 28 tropical storms, 20 typhoons, and 11 intense typhoons. The most powerful storms were Typhoon Podul in October and Typhoon Faxai in December. Economy A minor economic decline took place among many developed economies in 2001. The United States saw a recession from March to November after a correction of the dot-com bubble, an over-valued tech industry. Further economic disruption occurred in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. European economies also saw stalled growth in 2001, with Germany entering a brief recession toward the end of the year. Argentina's years-long economic crisis reached its peak in December when a bank run prompted the freezing of deposits, in turn causing widespread social unrest and the resignation of the President of Argentina. Overall, 2001 marked a decline in international trade by about 1.5%, which was a significant contrast from the 11% increase in 2000. This was the first negative growth in international trade since 1982. IT industries and the dot-com crash are attributed for the decline in trade. Greece became the 12th country to join the Eurozone on January 1. America Online (AOL), a U.S. online service provider, was at the apex of its popularity and purchased the media conglomerate Time Warner. The deal took effect on January 11, in the largest merger in history at that time. AOL would rapidly shrink thereafter, partly due to the decline of dial-up and rise of broadband, and the deal would fall apart before the end of the decade, which would be regarded as one of the world's greatest business failures. The Enron scandal took place in October 2001 when Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas, was found to be committing fraud, bringing about the criminal conviction of several executives and causing the company to undergo the largest bankruptcy at that point in U.S. history. The national airlines of Belgium and Switzerland (Sabena and Swissair, respectively) ended operations in 2001. Politics Freedom House recognized 63% of national governments as electoral democracies by the end of 2001, with the Gambia and Mauritania being recognized as democracies following peaceful transfers of power. Peru also saw a significant expansion of civil rights, emerging from the