1999
:
For the song, see 1999 (song):
For the tv series, see Space: 19991999 (
MCMXCIX) was a
common year starting on Friday, and was designated the
International Year of Older Persons by the
United Nations. 1999 was the year of Cancer, the Crab in traditional astrology. In the
Chinese Calendar it is the Year of the Hare.
*
Kosovo War*
Y2K preparation was a major event in 1999 both in actual events and in media over-reporting.
* The
human population of
the world surpassed six
billion. The
United Nations Population Fund designated
October 12 as the approximate date for this event.
*
January 1 -
Euro currency introduced.
*
January 1 - An
avalanche destroys a school gymnasium during New Year celebrations in
Kangiqsualujjuaq in far northern
Quebec, killing nine.
*
January 2 - A brutal
snowstorm smashes into the
Midwestern
USA, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow at
Milwaukee, Wisconsin and 19 inches (487 mm) at
Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, temperatures plunge to -13°F (-25°C), and 68 deaths are reported.
*
January 4 - Gunmen open fire on
Shiite Muslims worshipping in an
Islamabad,
Pakistan mosque, killing 16 people and injuring 25.
*
January 5 -
Apple Computer releases the
Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White).
*
January 12 - The remains of
Christina Marie Williams were found three miles (5 km) from her home on the old Fort Ord military base.
*
January 12 Britney Spears' debut album is released.
*
January 13 - After thirteen years of playing NBA basketball,
NBA superstar
Michael Jordan announces his second retirement from basketball.
*
January 20 - The
China News Service announces new government restrictions on
Internet use aimed especially at
Internet cafes.
*
January 21 -
War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the
United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 9,500 pounds (4.3 t) of
cocaine aboard. The ship was headed for
Houston, Texas.
*
January 25 - A 6.0
Richter scale earthquake hits western
Colombia, killing at least 1,000
*
January 31 - The
Denver Broncos win their second consecutive
Super Bowl, defeating the
Atlanta Falcons, 34-19, in
Super Bowl XXXIII.
|
Orbit of Pluto - polar view. |
*
February 4 - Unarmed
West African immigrant
Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes
New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
*
February 5 -
Mike Tyson is sentenced to a year's imprisonment, fined $5,000, and ordered to serve 2 years probation and perform 200 hours of community service for the
August 31,
1998 assault on two people after a car accident.
*
February 7 - King
Hussein of Jordan dies from
cancer, and his son
Abdullah II inherits the throne.
*
February 10 -
Avalanches in the
French Alps near
Geneva kill at least ten.
*
February 11 -
Pluto, a planet with an eccentric orbit, changes from the eighth to ninth planet furthest from the
Sun. It had been the eighth furthest since
1979, and will become again in
2231.
*
February 12 -
President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the
United States Senate in his
impeachment trial.
*
February 12 -
John Myatt and
John Drewe are sentenced for
art forgery for one and six years, respectively.
*
February 15 - Rapper
Big L, real name Lamont Coleman, is shot and killed with 7 bullets to the head and chest, just blocks from his home in
Harlem.
*
February 16 - In
Uzbekistan, a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters, in an apparent
assassination attempt against President
Islam Karimov.
*
February 16 - Across
Europe,
Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after
Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders,
Abdullah Öcalan.
*
February 16 - In
Jasper, Texas, testimony begins in the trial of
John William King who is accused of dragging
African American James Byrd Jr. to death in an apparent
hate crime. King was later convicted and sentenced to the
death penalty.
*
February 21 - The Albertinkatu shootings in
Helsinki,
Finland: Three men are killed and one is wounded at a shooting range.
*
February 22 - Moderate
Iraqi
Shiite cleric
Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr is assassinated.
*
February 23 -
Kurdish rebel leader
Abdullah Öcalan is charged with
treason in
Ankara,
Turkey.
*
February 23 -
White supremacist John William King is found guilty of kidnapping and killing
African American James Byrd Jr by dragging him behind a truck for two miles (3 km).
*
February 23 - An
avalanche destroys the
Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.
*
February 24 -
LaGrand Case: The State of
Arizona executes
Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery that led to a death. Karl's brother Walter is executed a week later, in spite of
Germany's legal action in the
International Court of Justice to attempt to save him.
*
February 27 - While trying to circumnavigate the world in a
hot air balloon,
Colin Prescot and
Andy Elson set a new endurance record after being in a hot air balloon for 233 hours and 55 minutes.
*
February 27 -
Olusegun Obasanjo becomes
Nigeria's first elected president since mid-
1983.
*
March 1 - One of four bombs detonated in
Lusaka,
Zambia, destroys the Angolan
Embassy.
*
March 1 -
Rwandan
Hutu rebels kill and hack to pieces eight foreign tourists at the
Buhoma homestead,
Uganda.
*
March 1 - The
Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines comes into force.
*
March 3 -
Bertrand Piccard and
Brian Jones begin their attempt to circumnavigate the world in a
hot air balloon without stopping. Their journey ended in success on
March 21.
*
March 3 -
Karl LaGrand is executed by means of
gas chamber.
*
March 4 -
Monica Lewinsky's book detailing her affair with
Bill Clinton goes on sale in the
United States*
March 4 - In a military court, Captain
Richard Ashby of the
United States Marines is acquitted of the charge of reckless flying which resulted in the deaths of twenty skiers in the
Italian Alps when his low-flying jet hit a
gondola cable.
*
March 12 -
Hungary,
Poland and the
Czech Republic join
NATO.
*
March 15 -
The European Commission under the presidency of Jacques Santer resigns over allegations of corruption.
*
March 16 - The game
EverQuest is released.
*
March 17 - The
Roth 401(k) is introduced by U.S. Senator
William Roth, Jr.*
March 20 -
Serbs launch an offensive in
Kosovo.
*
March 21 -
Bertrand Piccard and
Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the
Earth in a
hot air balloon.
*
March 22 - US pro-
euthanasia doctor
Jack Kevorkian goes on trial for murder in
Pontiac, Michigan. He is later convicted of second-degree murder.
*
March 23 - Gunmen assassinate
Paraguay's Vice President
Luis María Argaña.
*
March 24 -
NATO launches air strikes against the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which refused to sign a peace treaty. This marks the first time NATO attacked a sovereign country.
*
March 24 - Fire in the
Mont Blanc Tunnel kills thirty nine people, closing the tunnel for nearly three years.
*
March 25 -
Enron energy traders allegedly route 2,900 megawatts of electricity destined for
California to the town of
Silver Peak, Nevada, population 200.
*
March 26 - The
Melissa worm attacks the
Internet.
*
March 26 - A jury in
Michigan finds Dr.
Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree
murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man (the incident was videotaped and aired on
September 17,
1998 edition of
60 Minutes)
*
March 29 - For the first time, the
Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10,000 mark, at 10,006.78.
*
March 29 -
UConn defeats
Duke, despite overwhelming predictions to the contrary, for the
NCAA championship in men's basketball.
*
March 31 -
The Matrix, first episode of the Matrix trilogy movies, is released in theaters.
*
April 1 -
Nunavut, an
Inuit homeland, part of the
Northwest Territories becomes
Canada's third territory.
*
April 5 - Two
Libyans suspected of bringing down
Pan Am flight 103 in
1988 are handed over to Scottish authorities for eventual trial in the
Netherlands. The
United Nations suspends sanctions against
Libya.
*
April 5 - In
Laramie, Wyoming, Russell Henderson pleads guilty to
kidnapping and felony
murder, in order to avoid a possible
death penalty conviction for the apparent
hate crime killing of
Matthew Shepard.
*
April 7 -
Kosovo War:
Kosovo's main border crossings are closed by
Serbian forces to prevent ethnic
Albanians from leaving.
*
April 7 - Bomb explodes in the
Valley of the Fallen church in
Spain -
GRAPO claims responsibility
*
April 9 -
Ibrahim Baré Maînassara, president of
Niger, is assassinated.
*
April 17 - A nail bomb explodes in the middle of a busy market in
Brixton, South
London*
April 18 - "The Great One"
Wayne Gretzky plays his final game in the
NHL.
*
April 19 -
MySpace.com was officially introduced to the Internet, though MySpace-beta had been around since
1998*
April 20 - Two
Littleton,
Colorado teenagers,
Eric Harris and
Dylan Klebold, open fire on their teachers and fellow students. The teenagers killed twelve students and one teacher, and then killed themselves. See
Columbine High School massacre.
*
April 25 - End of term for
Tuanku Jaafar ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman as the tenth
Yang di-Pertuan Agong of
Malaysia.
*
April 26 -
Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah Al-Haj,
Sultan of
Selangor, becomes the eleventh
Yang di-Pertuan Agong of
Malaysia.
*
April 28 - The first issue of one of the most popular
webcomics,
Sexy Losers, which later reached one million users a month.
*
April 30 -
Cambodia joins the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), bringing the total members to ten.
*
April 30 - A third nail bomb (see
April 17) explodes in the
Admiral Duncan pub in Old Compton Street,
Soho, London, killing a pregnant woman and two friends and injuring seventy others, including her husband. This was part of a hate campaign against
ethnic minorities and
gay people by
David Copeland.
*
May 1 -
Spongebob Squarepants first airs on
Nickelodeon.
*
May 2 -
Norman J. Sirnic and
Karen Sirnic are murdered by
Angel Maturino Resendiz in a parsonage in
Weimar, Texas. They were his fourth and fifth victims in his fourth incident.
*
May 3 - Photo driver licences and banknotes made out of
polymer substrate are introduced to
New Zealand.
*
May 3 - A
F5 tornado slams in
Moore, Oklahoma killing 38 people. This was the second strongest tornado ever recorded in United States history. (See
Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak). A possible tornado outbreak that has a similar force to it will take place sometimes in the next 250-500 years.
*
May 3 - The
Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 11,000 for the first time, at 11,014.70.
*
May 5 -
Microsoft releases
Windows 98 Second Edition.
*
May 6 - Elections are held in
Scotland and
Wales for the new
Scottish Parliament and
National Assembly for Wales.
*
May 7 - A jury finds
The Jenny Jones Show and
Warner Bros liable in the shooting death of
Scott Amedure, after the show purposely deceived
Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a secret same-sex crush episode.
*
May 7 -
Kosovo War: In
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, three
Chinese embassy workers are killed and 20 wounded, when a
NATO aircraft mistakenly bombs the Chinese embassy in
Belgrade.
*
May 7 - In
Guinea-Bissau, President
João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military
coup.
*
May 8 - Goalkeeper
Jimmy Glass saved
Carlisle United from certain death when he scored last minuite goal against
Plymouth Argyle and relegate
Scarborough FC instead.
*
May 8 -
Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to graduate from
The Military College of South Carolina.
*
May 12 -
David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern
Scottish Parliament.
*
May 13 -
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is elected President of
Italy.
*
May 17 -
Ehud Barak is elected prime minister of
Israel.
*
May 18 - The
Backstreet Boys release their album,
Millennium.
*
May 19 -
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is released in theaters.
*
May 20 -
Bluetooth announced.
*
May 23 - In
Kansas City, Missouri, wrestler
Owen Hart (Blue Blazer) falls 90 feet (30 m) to his death while being lowered into a
World Wrestling Federation ring during
WWF Over the Edge.
*
May 26 -
Indian Air Force launches attack on intruding
Pakistan army and
mujahadeen militants in
Kashmir.
*
May 26 -
Manchester United win the
UEFA Champions League at the
Nou Camp stadium,
Barcelona, beating
Bayern Munich to lift their third major trophy in their unprecedented Treble, after winning the
English Premier League and
FA Cup.
*
May 26 - Madejczyk Massacre Averted,
Bridgman, Michigan school shooting plot.
*
May 26 - First
Welsh Assembly for over 600 years opens in
Cardiff.
*
May 27 - The
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in
The Hague,
Netherlands indicts
Slobodan Milošević and four others for
war crimes and
crimes against humanity committed in
Kosovo.
*
May 28 - In
Milan,
Italy, after 22 years of restoration work,
Leonardo de Vinci's newly-restored masterpiece "
The Last Supper" is put back on display.
*
May 31 -
Nigeria gets a
democratic president in
Olusegun Obasanjo.
*
June 1 - The initial release of
Napster, arguably changing the face of the music industry forever.
*
June 1 -
'solid - the socialist youth is formed in
Hannover,
Germany.
*
June 2 - After decades of fighting off outside technological influences like television, the
King of Bhutan allows television transmissions to commence in
the Kingdom for the first time, coinciding with the King's Silver Jubilee (see
Bhutan Broadcasting Service).
*
June 5 - The
AIS, the armed wing of
FIS, agrees in principle to disband in
Algeria.
*
June 6 - In
Brazil, 345 prisoners escape from
Putim prison through the front gate.
*
June 8 - The government of
Colombia announces it will include the estimated value of the country's
illegal drug crops, exceeding half a billion
US dollars, in its
gross national product.
*
June 9 -
Kosovo War: The
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and
NATO sign a
peace treaty.
*
June 10 - Kosovo War:
NATO suspends its
air strikes after
Slobodan Milošević agrees to withdraw
Serbian forces from
Kosovo.
*
June 12 - Kosovo War:
Operation Joint Guardian begins -
NATO-led
United Nations peacekeeping force
KFOR enter the province of
Kosovo in
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
*
June 12 -
Texas Governor
George W. Bush announces his intention to seek the Republican Party's nomination for
President of the United States.
*
June 15 - George Morber Senior and Carolyn Frederick are murdered by
Angel Maturino Resendiz in
Gorham, Illinois. They are his eighth and ninth victims, in his seventh and final incident.
* June 15 -
The White Stripes release their self-titled debut album.
*
June 18 - The
J18 international anti-globalization protests was organized in dozens of cities around the world, some of which led to riots.
*
June 19 - The
Dallas Stars defeat the
Buffalo Sabres in triple overtime of game 6 of the
Stanley Cup Finals to win their first
Stanley Cup.
Brett Hull scores the controversial cup-winning goal to seal the victory.
* June 19 -
Stephen King was hit in a car accident on Route 5 in North Lovell, Maine by
Bryan Smith.
*
June 21 -
Apple Computer releases the first
iBook.
* June 22 - Limp Bizkit releases
Significant Other, which debuts at #1 and sells 634,000 copies in first week. First single "Nookie" is biggest rock song of the year.
*
July 2 -
Benjamin Nathaniel Smith begins a three-day killing spree targeting racial and ethnic minorities in Illinois and Indiana, USA.
*
July 7 - In
Rome,
Hicham El Guerrouj runs the fastest mile ever recorded. His time was a mere 3:43:13.
*
July 11 -
India recaptures
Kargil, forcing the
Pakistan army to retreat. India announces victory ending the two-month conflict.
*
July 16 - Off the coast of
Martha's Vineyard, a plane piloted by
John F. Kennedy Jr. crashes, killing him and his wife
Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her sister
Lauren Bessette.
*
July 20 -
Mercury program:
Liberty Bell 7 is raised from the
Atlantic Ocean.
*
July 22 - The first version of
MSN was released by
Microsoft.
*
July 23 -
Mohammed VI of Morocco becomes king, upon the death of his father
Hassan II.
*
July 23 to
July 25 -
Woodstock 99 festival held in
New York.
*
July 23 - Hijack of
ANA Flight 61 in
Tokyo.
*
July 25 -
Lance Armstrong wins first
Tour de France.
*
July 27 - Twenty-one persons die in a
canyoning disaster near
Interlaken,
Switzerland.
*
July 31 -
Mark O. Barton kills 9 in
Atlanta, Georgia.
*
July 31 -
NASA intentionally crashes the
Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the
Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen
water on the moon's surface.
*
August 2 -
M. Night Shyamalan's
The Sixth Sense is released into theaters.
*
August 8 - ABC's
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire premieres, will become the
highest-rated show of the United States 1999-2000 TV season.
*
August 8 - The first edition of the
Callatis Festival, the largest music &culture festival in
Romania.
*
August 9 -
Russian President
Boris Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister,
Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet.
*
August 10 -
Buford O. Furrow, Jr. wounds five and kills one during the
August 1999 Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting*
August 10 -
Atlantique Incident occurs as an intruding
Pakistan Navy plane is shot down in
India. The incident sparks tensions between the two nations, coming just a month after the end of the
Kargil War.
*
August 11 - Total solar eclipse in Europe and Asia.
*
August 11 - An F-2
tornado rips through downtown
Salt Lake City,
Utah, killing one person and injuring over 100.
*
August 17 - A 7.4-magnitude
earthquake strikes
Istanbul and northwestern
Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000. This earthquake was the first of a long series of unrelated but frequent earthquakes throughout the world during the years 1999 and 2000. Some connected the earthquake to the fact that the
Umbra of the solar eclipse of August 11, was right above Istanbul.
*
August 19 - In
Belgrade, tens of thousands of
Serbians rally to demand the resignation of
Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milošević.
*
August 22 -
Mandarin Airlines Flight 642 crashed in
Hong Kong.
*
August 26 - Michael Johnson captures the 400 M. world record.
*
September 7 - A powerful, magnitude 5.9
earthquake hits
Athens, killing 143 people and injuring more than 2,000.
*
September 8 - First of a series of
Russian apartment bombings. Subsequent bombings occurred on September 1 and 16, while a bombing on September 22 failed.
*
September 9 -
Sega released the
Dreamcast video game console worldwide (on 9/9/99), breaking video game and entertainment sales records in the first 24 hours of sales.
*
September 11 -
Eric Milton of the
Minnesota Twins pitched a 7-0
no-hitter against the
Anaheim Angels.
*
September 14 -
Kiribati,
Nauru and
Tonga join the
United Nations.
*
September 21 -
Chi-Chi earthquake in central
Taiwan kills about 2,400 people.
|
Mars Climate Orbiter during tests |
* October -
NASA loses one of its probes, the
Mars Climate Orbiter.
*
October 5 - Thirty-one people die in the
Ladbroke Grove rail crash, west of
London,
England.
*
October 12 -
Pakistani Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif attempts to dismiss Army Chief General
Pervez Musharraf and install
ISI director Khwaja Ziauddin in his place. Senior Army generals refuse to accept the dismissal. Musharraf, who was out of the country, attempts to return in a commercial airliner. Sharif orders the Karachi airport to not allow the plane to land. The generals lead a
coup, ousting Sharif's administration and taking over the airport. The plane lands with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and Musharraf takes control of the government.
*
October 12 - The 6 billionth
person in the world, according to the
UN is born in
Sarajevo,
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
*
October 13 - The
United States Senate rejects ratification of the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
*
October 15 -
National Geographic Society reveals the fossil of
Archaeoraptor in a press conference (the fossil is later found to be a
forgery).
*
October 18 Michigan attorney
Michael Pawluk sails solo-single-handed over 2,500 nautical miles (4600 km) on a 30 foot (10 m) boat, when his wife demands "some space".
*
October 25 - Golfer
Payne Stewart, 42, dies in an aircraft accident in
Aberdeen, South Dakota.
*
October 27 - Gunmen open fire in the
Armenian parliament, killing Prime Minister
Vazgen Sarkisian, Parliament Chairman
Karen Demirchian, and 6 other members.
*
October 27 - The
New York Yankees complete a 4 game sweep of the
Atlanta Braves to win their second consecutive
World Series.
*
October 31 -
EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from
New York City to
Cairo crashes off the coast of
Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board. When the pilot left the cockpit, the co-pilot caused the
767 to enter a steep dive, resulting in impact with the
Atlantic Ocean.
*
October 31 -
Roman Catholic Church and
Lutheran Church leaders sign the
Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, ending a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of
faith and
salvation.
*
October 31 -
Nerf Arena Blast is released by
Atari, Inc. and
Visionary Media, Inc.*
November 5 -
United States v. Microsoft: US District Judge
Thomas Penfield Jackson issues a preliminary ruling that the software company
Microsoft had "monopoly power" (on
April 3,
2000 Jackson found that Microsoft violated the
Sherman Anti-Trust Act).
*
November 6 -
Australians vote to keep the British queen as their head of state.
*
November 9 -
TAESA Flight 725, went down a few minutes after leaving the Uruapan airport en-route to Mexico City. 18 people were killed in the accident
*
November 12 - A 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes
Duzce and northwestern
Turkey, killing 845 and injuring 4948.
*
November 18 - In
College Station, Texas, 12 are killed and 28 injured at
Texas A&M University when a huge bonfire under construction collapses.
*
November 19 - In
Istanbul, the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ends a two-day summit by calling for a political settlement in
Chechnya and adopting a
Charter for European Security*
November 20 - The
People's Republic of China launches the first
Shenzhou spacecraft.
*
November 20 -
John Carpenter becomes the first top prize winner of
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and breaks the record of the largest single win on a United States game show.
*
November 22 -
Wayne Gretzky is inducted into the
Hockey Hall of Fame, his number
99 permanently retired by the
NHL.
*
November 26 - Earthquake and Tsunami in
Vanuatu.
*
November 26 - The
Norwegian passenger ferry
MS Sleipner sinks and 16 of the people on board are killed.
*
November 27 -
Helen Clark, of the New Zealand
Labour Party, becomes the first elected Woman Prime Minster in
New Zealand history.
*
November 28 - A man wielding a samurai sword enters
St Andrew's Catholic Church in
Thornton Heath and injures 11.
*
November 28 -
Jorge Batlle, of the
Colorado Party, is elected
president of Uruguay.
*
November 30 - In
Seattle, Washington, the first major mobilization of the
anti-globalization movement catches police unprepared and forces the cancellation of the opening ceremonies of the
WTO Meeting of 1999 (protests end on
December 3).
*
Gary Glitter jailed for sexual offences.
*
December 2 - The
United Kingdom devolves political power in
Northern Ireland to the
Northern Ireland Executive.
*
December 3 - After rowing for 81 days and 2,962 nautical miles (5486 km),
Tori Murden becomes the first woman to cross the
Atlantic Ocean by
rowboat alone, when she reaches
Guadeloupe from the
Canary Islands.
*
December 3 -
NASA loses radio contact with the
Mars Polar Lander, moments before the spacecraft enters the
Martian atmosphere.
*
December 12 - President Lt. General
Umar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir of
Sudan dismisses the National Assembly, during an internal power struggle between him and speaker of the Parliament
Hasan al-Turabi.
*
December 14 - Algerian
Ahmed Ressam was arrested while crossing the
United States-
Canada border at
Port Angeles, Washington, when United States Customs found explosives in the trunk of his automobile. The arrest caused fears of a terrorist attack in the United States, and was a major factor in the cancellation of a public New Year's celebration in
Seattle. Ressam was later convicted in a
plot to bomb
Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve.
*
December 15 - Torrential rains caused catastrophic floods and mudslides in the coastal regions of
Venezuela, killing an estimated 25,000 people and leaving 100,000 others homeless.
*
December 17 -
Iraq disarmament crisis: The
United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (Unmovic) is created to replace UNSCOM. The U.N. Security council once again orders Iraq to allow inspections teams immediate and unconditional access to any weapons sites and facilities. Iraq rejects the resolution.
*
December 18 - NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including
ASTER,
CERES,
MISR,
MODIS and
MOPITT.
*
December 20 -
Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by
Portugal.
*
December 20 - The
Vermont Supreme Court orders the state to legalize same-sex unions.
*
December 21 and
December 22 - The
Spanish Civil Guard intercepts near
Calatayud (
Zaragoza) a
Madrid-bound van driven by
ETA and loaded with 950 kg of
explosives. The next day, another van loaded with 750 kg is found not far from there. The incident is known as
"la caravana de la muerte" (the caravan of death). Shortly after
9/11, ETA confirmed their plan had been to blow down
Torre Picasso.
*
December 24 -
Indian Airlines Flight 814, which was en route from
Kathmandu,
Nepal to
Delhi,
India was hijacked and taken to
Kandahar,
Afghanistan.
*
December 29 - Former
Beatle George Harrison is stabbed several times in the chest by
Michael Anram, who had broken into his home. Harrison's wife wrestled the knife out of the assailant's hand before the police arrived. The man apparently believed that Harrison was the devil. He was later charged with attempted murder.
*
December 31 -
Boris Yeltsin resigns as
President of Russia, to be replaced by
Vladimir Putin.
Five
hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an
Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed.
Start of
Millennium celebrations worldwide (technically the Millennium starts in
2001 not
2000).
HM
Queen Elizabeth II opens the
Millennium Dome at
Greenwich,
London.
Concerns of serious
Y2K problems with computer systems.
The
Panama Canal is transferred to Panamanian control.
*
Honda Insight is the first hybrid-fuel automobile imported into the United States.
*
Naruto (manga) is created by Masashi Kishimoto.
*
Millennium cruises take place
* The
Finnish epic,
Kalevala published for the fifth time in the
English Language. This time by
Keith Bosley.
*
July 1 -
Charles Armstrong-JonesJanuary
*
January 11 -
Brian Moore, Irish-born writer (b.
1921)
*
January 11 -
Fabrizio de André, Italian singer and songwriter (b.
1940)
*
January 14 -
Jerzy Grotowski, Polish theatre director (b.
1933)
*
January 25 -
Robert Shaw, American conductor (b.
1916)
*
January 28 -
Markey Robinson, Irish painter (b.
1918)
*
January 31 -
Norm Zauchin, baseball player (b.
1929)
February
*
February 1 -
Paul Mellon, American philanthropist (b.
1907)
*
February 5 -
Wassily Leontief, Russian economist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1906)
*
February 7 - King
Hussein of Jordan (b.
1935)
*
February 8 -
Iris Murdoch, Irish author (b.
1919)
*
February 15 -
Henry Way Kendall, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1926)
*
February 18 -
Noam Pitlik, American actor and director (b.
1932)
*
February 20 -
Sarah Kane, English playwright (b.
1971)
*
February 20 -
Gene Siskel, American film critic (b.
1946)
*
February 21 -
Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1918)
*
February 22 -
William Bronk, American poet (b.
1918)
*
February 25 -
Glenn Seaborg, American chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1912)
March
*
March 1 -
Ann Corio, American dancer and actress (b.
1914)
*
March 2 -
Dusty Springfield, English singer, (b.
1939)
*
March 3 -
Gerhard Herzberg, German-born chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1904)
*
March 4 -
Harry Blackmun, American judge (b.
1908)
*
March 4 -
Del Close, American actor, writer, and teacher (b.
1934)
*
March 5 -
Richard Kiley, American actor (b.
1922)
*
March 7 -
Sidney Gottlieb, American Central Intelligence Agency official (b.
1918)
*
March 7 -
Stanley Kubrick, American film director and producer (b.
1928)
*
March 8 -
Joe DiMaggio, baseball player (b.
1914)
*
March 12 -
Yehudi Menuhin, American-born violinist (b.
1916)
*
March 18 -
Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentine writer (b.
1914)
*
March 18 -
Rod Hull, British entertainer (b.
1935)
*
March 21 -
Ernie Wise, British comedian (b.
1925)
*
March 22 -
David Strickland, American actor (suicide) (b.
1969)
*
March 24 -
Birdie Tebbetts, baseball player and manager (b.
1912)
*
March 25 -
Cal Ripken, Sr., baseball player and manager (b.
1935)
*
March 29 -
Joe Williams, American singer (b.
1918)
*
March 31 -
Yuri Knorosov, Russian linguist and epigrapher (b.
1922)
April
*
April 14 -
Anthony Newley, English actor, singer and songwriter (b.
1931)
*
April 20 -
Richard Rood, American professional wrestler (b.
1958)
*
April 25 -
Lord Killanin, Irish journalist and president of the International Olympic Committee (b.
1914)
*
April 25 -
Herman Miller, American screenwriter and producer (b.
1919)
*
April 26 -
Jill Dando, British journalist and television presenter (murdered) (b.
1961)
*
April 28 -
Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1921)
*
April 30 -
Sir Alf Ramsey,
1966 England World Cup winning football manager (b.
1920)
May
*
May 2 -
Oliver Reed, English actor (b.
1938)
*
May 3:
**
Darcy Pedrosa, Brazilian actor,
voice actor and radialist (b.
1930)
**
Steve Chiasson, Canadian hockey player (b.
1967)
*
May 8 - Sir
Dirk Bogarde English actor (b.
1921)
*
May 10 -
Shel Silverstein, American author (b.
1930)
*
May 12 -
Saul Steinberg, Romanian-born cartoonist (b.
1914)
*
May 18 -
Betty Robinson, American athelete (b.
1911)
*
May 21 -
Karnail Pitts, American rapper (murdered) (b.
1978)
*
May 23 -
Owen Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (b.
1965)
*
May 26 -
Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor (b.
1906)
June
*
June 6 -
Anne Haddy, Australian actress (b.
1930)
*
June 7 -
Francisco Stanley, Mexican TV Anchor 9b.
1942*
June 8 -
Christina Foyle, British bookshop owner
*
June 9 -
Maurice Journeau, French composer (b.
1898)
*
June 11 -
DeForest Kelley, American actor (b.
1920)
*
June 16 -
Screaming Lord Sutch, English political personality (suicide) (b.
1940)
*
June 27 -
Jorgos Papadopoulos, military ruler of Greece (b.
1919)
July
*
July 3 -
Mark Sandman, American musician and artist (heart attack) (b.
1952)
*
July 6 -
Carl Gunter Jr, American politician (b.
1938)
* July 6 -
Joaquin Rodrigo, Spanish composer (b.
1901)
*
July 8 -
Charles Conrad, astronaut (motorcycle crash) (b.
1930)
*
July 11 -
Helen Forrest, American jazz singer (b.
1917)
*
July 12 -
Bill Owen, English actor (b.
1914)
*
July 16 -
John F. Kennedy, Jr., American publisher (airplane crash) (b.
1960)
*
July 23 - King
Hassan II of Morocco (b.
1929)
*
July 26 -
Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1911)
*
July 29 -
Anita Carter, American singer (b.
1933)
August
*
August 1 -
Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Bengali writer (b.
1897)
*
August 3 -
Leroy Vinnegar, American musician (b.
1928)
*
August 13 -
Jaime Garzón, Colombian journalist and comedian (murdered) (b.
1960)
*
August 14 -
Lane Kirkland, American union leader (b.
1922)
*
August 23 -
James White, Irish writer (b.
1928)
September
*
September 6 -
Allen Funt, American television personality (b.
1914)
*
September 10 -
Alfredo Kraus, Spanish tenor (b.
1927)
*
September 11 -
Gonzalo Rodriguez, Uruguyan race car driver (b.
1972)
*
September 20 -
Raisa Gorbachev, Soviet first lady (b.
1932)
*
September 22 -
George C. Scott, American actor (b.
1927)
*
September 23 -
Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter (b.
1910)
October
*
October 6 -
Gorilla Monsoon, American professional wrestler and announcer (b.
1937)
*
October 8 -
John McLendon, American basketball coach (b. 1915)
*
October 12 -
Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player (b.
1936)
*
October 14 -
Julius Nyerere,
President of Tanzania (b.
1922)
*
October 15 -
Lena Zavaroni, Scottish entertainer (b.
1963)
*
October 19 -
Harry Bannink, Dutch composer and musician (b.
1929)
* October 19 -
James C. Murray, American politician {b.
1917)
*
October 20 -
Jack Lynch,
Prime Minister of Ireland (b.
1917)
*
October 24 -
John Chafee, American politician (b.
1922)
*
October 25 -
Payne Stewart, American golfer (plane crash) (b.
1957)
*
October 26 -
Rex Gildo, German singer (suicide) (b.
1939)
*
October 27 -
Robert Mills, American physicist (b.
1927)
*
October 31 -
Greg Moore, Canadian race car driver (b.
1975)
November
*
November 1 -
Walter Payton, American football player (b.
1954)
*
November 15 -
Gene Levitt, American television writer, producer, and director (b.
1920)
*
November 16 -
Daniel Nathans, American microbiologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1928)
*
November 18 -
Paul Bowles, American novelist (b.
1910)
* November 18 -
Doug Sahm, American musician (b.
1941)
*
November 29 -
Gene Rayburn, American television personality (b.
1917)
December
*
December 3 -
Jarl Wahlström, Salvation Army general (b.
1918)
*
December 3 -
Madeline Kahn, American actress (b.
1942)
*
December 8 -
Péter Kuczka, Hungarian author (b.
1923)
*
December 10 -
Rick Danko, Canadian musician (b.
1943)
*
December 11 -
Franjo Tuđman,
President of Croatia (b.
1922)
*
December 12 -
Joseph Heller, American novelist (b.
1923)
*
December 17 -
Grover Washington, Jr., American saxophonist (b.
1943)
*
December 19 -
Desmond Llewelyn, Welsh actor (b.
1914)
*
December 20 -
Hank Snow, Canadian musician (b.
1914)
*
December 23 -
John P. Davies, American diplomat (b.
1908)
*
December 26 -
Curtis Mayfield, American musician and composer (b.
1942)
*
December 27 -
Leonard Goldenson, American television network executive (b.
1905)
*
December 28 -
Clayton Moore, American actor (b.
1914)
*
Physics -
Gerardus 't Hooft,
Martinus J.G. Veltman*
Chemistry -
Ahmed H. Zewail*
Physiology or Medicine -
Günter Blobel*
Literature -
Günter Grass*
Peace -
Médecins Sans Frontières*
The Prize in Economics -
Robert Mundell*
Ian Barbour* In the
science-fiction television show
Space: 1999, a huge explosion sends the
Moon hurtling out of
Earth's orbit on
September 13 1999.
* In the
videogame RPG Chrono Trigger, the apocalyptic
Day of Lavos takes place in 1999.
* Three Super Sentai series take place in 1999:
Choujin Sentai Jetman (aired in 1991),
Chouriki Sentai Ohranger (aired in 1995), and
Kyukyu Sentai GoGo-V (aired the correct year).
* The events of the video game
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake occur in 1999.
* In the
tv series Futurama,
Philip J. Fry is
cryogenically frozen at 23:59
December 31 1999.
* In the
science-fiction television show
Macross, a huge spaceship appears high above earth and crashes into an island in the pacific, triggering a world war in 1999.
* on
August 1 1999 the events of the First Season of the
Anime Digimon take place
* the events of the film
Entrapment take place during the week leading up to December 31, 1999.
zh-yue:1999年
