1999

1999 (MCMXCIX) is a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations.

Events

• 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

• 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 mosque killing 16 people and injuring 25.
• 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 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

February

• 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 of Jordan, Hussein of Jordan, dies from cancer. His son Abdullah II then inherits the throne, and becomes King of Jordan.
• February 10 - Avalanches in the French Alps near Geneva kill at least ten.
• February 11 - Pluto, a planet with an irregular 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 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 22 - Moderate Iraqi Shiite cleric 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

• 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 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 20 skiers in the Italian Alps when his low-flying jet hit a gondola cable.
• March 12 - Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic join NATO.
• March 15 - The European Commission under the presidency of Jacques Santer resigns over allegations of corruption.
• March 17 - The Roth 401k is introduced by Sen Roth Jr., William V.
• March 20 - Serbs launch an offensive in Bosnia
• 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 in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which was refusing to sign a peace treaty. This marks the first time NATO attacked a sovereign country
• March 24 - Fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel kills 39 people, closing the tunnel for nearly 3 years.
• 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 10000 mark at 10006.78.

April

• 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 Nigeria, 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 20 - Two Littleton, Colorado teenagers named Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold open fire on their teachers and fellow students. The teenagers killed 12 students and 1 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 10th 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 11th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
• April 28 - The first comic of Sexy Losers (then called "The Thin H Line") goes online. This webcomic would go on to be one of the most popular webcomics ever made, with a sustained level of unique IP address hits of approximately 1 million a week. It would also popularize the word "fap" as an onomatopoeia for masturbation, a sound effect widely used in anime-themed comics since.
• April 30 - Cambodia joins the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bringing the total members to 10.
• 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 70 others, including her husband. This was part of a hate campaign against ethnic minorities and gay people by David Copeland

May

The ruins of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade following the accidental bombing of the compound by NATO aircraft.

• May 2 - Oliver Reed, British actor famous for starring in The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers, and The Assassination Bureau, dies of a heart attack in Malta while filming Gladiator.
• 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 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma killing 38 people. This was the strongest tornado ever. (See Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak)
• May 3 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 11,000 for the first time. It closes at 11,014.70.
• 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 - 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 - in Italy Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is elected President of the republic
• May 17 - Ehud Barak is elected prime minister of Israel.
• May 19 - Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is released in theaters.
• May 20 - Bluetooth announced.
• May 23 - In Kansas City, Missouri, Owen Hart (Blue Blazer) falls 90 feet (30 m) to his death while being lowered into a World Wrestling Federation ring
• May 26 - Indian Air Force launches attack on intruding Pakistan backed militants in Kashmir sparking the Kargil War.
• 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.

June

• '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 7 - Garfield daily strips in colour.
• 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: 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, 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 19 - Torino is picked as the host city of the 2006 Winter Olympics.
• June 21 - Apple Computer released the first iBook

July

• July 4 - David Beckham and Victoria Adams are married.
• July 11 - India recaptures Kargil as Pakistan pulls out its troops and militants after international condemnation. India claim victory in the two-month conflict.
• July 16 - Off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, a plane piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr. crashes with his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her sister Lauren Bessette on board. All three are killed in the crash
• July 20 - Mercury program: Liberty Bell 7 is raised from the Atlantic Ocean.
• July 23 - Mohammed VI becomes King of Morocco.
• 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 - 21 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

• 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. attempts a mass murder in Los Angeles
• 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 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

September

• September 7 - Earthquake strikes Athens resulting to more than 100 dead and 672 homes destroyed. It was not clear if it was related to the earlier earthquake of Turkey. That earthquake was the worst in Athens after 20 years. Both disasters were noted for resulting to a mutual assistance and better climate between the two 'rivalling' countries.
• September 8 - first of the series of Russian apartment bombings. The subsequent occurred on September 13, 16, and 22 (failed).
• September 9 - Sega released the Dreamcast worldwide. Breaking video game and other entertainment sales record in its first 24 hours of availability.
• September 21 - Chi-Chi earthquake occurred in central Taiwan, caused about 2,400 people dead.

October

• October - NASA loses one of its Mars probes, the 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 ? Michael Pawluk Michigan attorney 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.
• October 27 - Gunmen open fire in the Armenian parliament killing Prime Minister Vazgan 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
• 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.

November

• 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 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 22 - Wayne Gretzky is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, his number 99 permanantly retired by the NHL.
• November 26 - Earthquake and Tsunami in Vanuatu
• November 27 - Labour Party elected in New Zealand general election. Helen Clark first Elected Woman Prime Minster in New Zealand History.
• November 28 - A man wielding a samurai sword enters St Andrews Catholic Church in Thornton Heath and injures 11
• November 28 - Jorge Batlle for 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).

December

The Millennium Dome opens in London.

• 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 20 - Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.
• 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 wrestles the knife out the assailant's hand before the police arrives. 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
• December 31 - 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.
• December 31 - Start Of Millennium celebrations and countdown.
• December 31 - HM Queen Elizabeth II opens the Millennium Dome at Greenwich, London.
• December 31 - The Panama Canal is transferred to Panamanian control.

Unknown date

• Honda Insight is the first hybrid-fuel automobile imported into the United States.
• Naruto (manga) is created by Masashi Kishimoto.

Births

• February 3 - Brett & Jon Wirta, American actors
• April 7 - Conner Rayburn, American actor

Deaths

January-April

• January 14 - Jerzy Grotowski, Polish theatre director (b. 1933)