date: September 27

text: September 27–28 – Bob Denard's mercenaries capture President Said Mohamed Djohar of the Comoros; the local army does not resist.


date: October 16

section: Conflict & Security

text: October 16 – The Million Man March is held in Washington, D.C. The event was conceived by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

source_section: Events › October


date: November 1

text: November 1 – Participants in the Yugoslav Wars begin negotiations at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

source_section: Events › November


date: November 2

text: November 2 – The Supreme Court of Argentina orders the extradition of ex-S.S. captain Erich Priebke.


date: November 4

text: November 4 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – A car bomb explosion outside the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan destroys the façade of the building, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens more.


date: November 30

text: November 30 – Operation Desert Storm officially ends.


date: December 20

text: December 20 – NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.

source_section: Events › December


date: February 21

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: February 21 – Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.

source_section: Events › February


date: March 26

text: March 26 – The Schengen Agreement, easing cross-border travel, goes into effect in several European countries.

source_section: Events › March


date: June 29

text: June 29 – English yachtswoman Lisa Clayton completes her 10-month solo circumnavigation from the Northern Hemisphere.

source_section: Events › June


date: December 8

section: Religion & Belief

text: December 8 – Five-year-old Gyaincain Norbu is enthroned as the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama at Tashilhunpo Monastery.


date: January 1

section: Economy & Finance

text: January 1 – The World Trade Organization (WTO) is established to replace the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

source_section: Events › January


date: January 31

text: January 31 – Mexican peso crisis: U.S. President Bill Clinton invokes emergency powers to extend a $20 billion loan to help Mexico avert financial collapse.


date: February 26

text: February 26 – The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking firm, Barings Bank, collapses after securities broker Nick Leeson loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.


date: April 30

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: April 30 – The United States government stops funding the NSFNET, making the Internet a wholly privatized system.

source_section: Events › April


date: August 24

text: August 24 – Microsoft releases Windows 95 to the public.

source_section: Events › August


text: The first SampTA conference for mathematicians, engineers and applied scientists is held in Riga, Latvia.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: January 9

section: Science & Discovery

text: January 9 – Valeri Polyakov completes 366 days in space while aboard the Mir space station, breaking a duration record.


date: January 25

text: January 25 – Norwegian rocket incident: A rocket launched from the space exploration centre at Andøya, Norway, is briefly interpreted by the Russians as an incoming attack.


date: March 14

text: March 14 – Astronaut Norman Thagard becomes the first American to ride into space aboard a Russian launch vehicle (the Soyuz TM-21), lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.


date: March 22

text: March 22 – Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returns after setting a record for 438 days in outer space.


date: June 6

text: June 6 – U.S. astronaut Norman Thagard breaks NASA's space endurance record of 14 days, 1 hour and 16 minutes, aboard the Russian space station Mir.


date: June 13

text: June 13 – French President Jacques Chirac announces the resumption of nuclear tests in French Polynesia.


text: June 29 – STS-71: Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian Mir space station for the first time.


date: October 6

text: October 6 – Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz announce the discovery of 51 Pegasi b, the first confirmed extrasolar planet orbiting an ordinary main-sequence star.


date: October 24

text: October 24 – A total solar eclipse is visible from Iran, India, Thailand and Southeast Asia.


date: November 1

text: November 1 – The last signal is received from NASA's Pioneer 11 spacecraft.


date: December 7

text: December 7 – NASA's Galileo probe enters Jupiter's atmosphere.


date: December 31

text: December 31 – Final Calvin and Hobbes comic published by Bill Watterson.


date: December 6

section: Health & Medicine

text: December 6 – The United States Food and Drug Administration approves Saquinavir, the first protease inhibitor to treat HIV/AIDS. Within 2 years of its approval, annual deaths from AIDS in the United States fall from over 50,000 to approximately 18,000.


date: March 31

section: Crime & Justice

text: March 31 – Murder of Selena: Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez is shot and killed by her fan club president Yolanda Saldívar at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas.


date: May 16

text: May 16 – Following the Tokyo subway sarin attack two months earlier, Japanese police besiege the headquarters of Aum Shinrikyo near Mount Fuji and arrest cult leader Shoko Asahara. Further police operations result in over two hundred arrests and thirteen members of the cult, including Asahara, are sentenced to death.

source_section: Events › May


date: June 2

text: June 2 – Waffen-SS Hauptsturmführer Erich Priebke is extradited from Argentina to Italy.


text: June 6 – The Constitutional Court of South Africa abolishes capital punishment in South Africa in the case of S v Makwanyane and Another.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – Japanese police rescue 365 hostages from a hijacked All Nippon Airways Flight 857 (Boeing 747-200) at Hakodate airport. The hijacker was armed with a knife and demanded the release of Shoko Asahara.


date: September 26

text: September 26 – The trial against former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, who is accused of Mafia connections, begins.

source_section: Events › September


date: November 16

text: November 16 – A United Nations tribunal charges Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić with genocide during the Bosnian War.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi scuba divers, under the direction of the United Nations Special Commission, dredge the Tigris near Baghdad. The divers find over 200 prohibited Russian-made missile instruments and components.


date: March 20

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: March 20 – Members of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo carry out the Tokyo subway sarin attack, killing 14 people and leading to over a thousand injured.


text: March 31 – TAROM Flight 371 from Bucharest to Brussels crashes shortly after takeoff killing all 60 people on board.


date: April 19

text: April 19 – Oklahoma City bombing: 168 people, including eight federal Marshals and 19 children, are killed at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and 680 are wounded by a bomb set off by Timothy McVeigh.


date: May 10

text: May 10 – The Vaal Reefs mining disaster at Vaal Reefs gold mine in Orkney, South Africa. A runaway locomotive falls into a lift shaft onto an ascending cage and causes it to plunge 1500 ft to the bottom of the 6900 ft deep shaft, killing 104.


date: June 29

text: June 29 – Sampoong Department Store collapse in the Seocho-gu district of Seoul, South Korea, kills 502 and injures 937.


date: July 11

text: July 11 – A Cubana de Aviación Antonov An-24 crashes into the Caribbean off southeast Cuba killing 44 people.

source_section: Events › July


date: August 14

text: August 14 – Nepali Prime Minister Man Mohan Adhikari along with seven other high-ranking officials survives a helicopter crash.


date: October 9

text: October 9 – 1995 Palo Verde, Arizona, derailment An Amtrak Sunset Limited train derails through sabotage at a trestle near Palo Verde, Arizona, United States, resulting in one death.


date: October 28

text: October 28 – A fire in Baku Metro, Azerbaijan, kills 289 passengers, becoming the world's worst subway disaster.


date: December 20

text: December 20 – American Airlines Flight 965 (Boeing 757) crashes into a mountain near Buga, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, killing 160 of the 164 on board.


date: December 23

text: December 23 – Dabwali fire accident: The Rajiv Marriage Palace catches fire in Haryana, India, killing 442 persons.


text: Sudden oak death, the tree disease caused by the plant pathogen Phytophthora ramorum, is first observed, in California, United States.


date: January 17

section: Climate & Environment

text: January 17 – The 6.9 Great Hanshin earthquake strikes the southern Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan with a maximum Shindo of 7, leaving 5,502–6,434 people dead, and 251,301–310,000 displaced.


date: May 13

text: May 13 – The 6.6 Western Macedonia earthquake strikes northwestern Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), injuring 25 and causing $450 million in damage.


date: May 28

text: May 28 – The 7.0 Neftegorsk earthquake strikes northern Sakhalin Island in Russia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 1,967 people dead and 750 injured.


date: August 7

text: August 7 – The Chilean government declares a state of emergency in the southern half of the country in response to an event of intense cold, wind, rain and snowfall known as the White Earthquake.


date: October 26

text: October 26 – An avalanche hits the village Flateyri in Iceland, killing 20 people, the second of two deadly avalanches to occur in Iceland during this calendar year.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – Typhoon Angela leaves the Philippines and Vietnam devastated, with 882 deaths and US$315 million in damage. The typhoon is the strongest to strike the Philippines in 25 years, with wind speeds of 130 mi/h km/h and gusts of 180 mi/h km/h.


date: November 22

text: November 22 – The 7.3 Gulf of Aqaba earthquake shakes the Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia region with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing eight and injuring 30, and generating a non-destructive tsunami.


date: December 30

text: December 30 – The lowest ever United Kingdom temperature of -27.2 °C °F is recorded at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands. This equals the record set at Braemar, Aberdeenshire in 1895 and 1982.


date: January 1

section: Culture & Society

text: January 1 – Final The Far Side comic by Gary Larson is published.


date: January 10

text: January 10–15 – The World Youth Day 1995 festival is held in Manila, Philippines, culminating in 5 million people gathering for John Paul II's concluding mass in Quirino Grandstand.


date: May 25

text: May 25 – June 24 – The 1995 Rugby World Cup takes place in South Africa and is won by the host nation after beating New Zealand in the final; this was the Springboks tournament debut after World Rugby lifted their ban following the end of apartheid.


date: June 16

text: June 16 – The IOC selects Salt Lake City to host the 2002 Winter Olympics.


date: August

text: August – The International Rugby Football Board declares that rugby union players may be professional.


date: September 4

text: September 4–15 – The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing with over 4,750 delegates from 181 countries in attendance.


date: November 12

text: November 12 – The Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme, a programme to implement the Harare Declaration, is announced by the Commonwealth Heads of Government.


date: December 3

text: December 3 – Strikes paralyze France's public sector.


section: Births

text: January 1 – Poppy, American musician and model

source_section: Births › January


date: February 15

text: February 15 – Megan Thee Stallion, American rapper and YouTube personality

source_section: Births › February


date: February 17

text: February 17 – Madison Keys, American tennis player


date: February 19

text: February 19 – Nikola Jokić, Serbian basketball player


date: April 1

text: April 1 – Logan Paul, American actor and YouTube personality

source_section: Births › April


date: May 9

text: May 9 – Beth Mead, English footballer

source_section: Births › May


date: June 5

text: June 5 – Troye Sivan, South African-born Australian singer, YouTube personality

source_section: Births › June


date: August 2

text: August 2 – Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, Indonesian badminton player

source_section: Births › August


date: August 8

text: August 8 – S.Coups, South Korean singer, rapper, songwriter, and leader of Seventeen (South Korean band).


date: September 17

text: September 17 – Patrick Mahomes, American football player

source_section: Births › September


date: October 21

text: October 21 – Doja Cat, American rapper

source_section: Births › October


date: November 15

text: November 15 – Karl-Anthony Towns, Dominican-American basketball player

source_section: Births › November


date: December 27

text: December 27 – Timothée Chalamet, French-American actor

source_section: Births › December


date: December 30

text: December 30 – V, South Korean singer


date: October 3

section: Deaths

text: October 3 – Murder trial of O. J. Simpson: Former American football star O. J. Simpson is found not guilty of double murder in a criminal trial for the deaths of former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

source_section: Events › October


date: January 20

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: January 20 – Yasser Arafat is re-elected president of the Palestinian Authority.

source_section: Events › January


date: March 2

text: March 2 – 1996 Australian federal election: The Liberal/National Coalition led by John Howard defeats the Labor government led by Prime Minister Paul Keating. Howard was sworn in on March 11.

source_section: Events › March


date: March 3

text: March 3 – José María Aznar, leader of the Popular Party, is elected as Prime Minister of Spain, replacing Felipe González.


date: March 6

text: March 6 – Mesut Yılmaz of ANAP forms the new government of Turkey (53rd government).


date: March 22

text: March 22 – Sweden's Finance Minister Göran Persson becomes the new Prime Minister of Sweden.


date: April 9

text: April 9 – In a common statement, the European Union officially recognises the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

source_section: Events › April


date: April 21

text: April 21 – A general election in Italy proclaims a new center-left government headed by Romano Prodi, replacing Silvio Berlusconi.


date: April 24

text: April 24 – At the urging of Yasser Arafat, the Palestine Liberation Organization drops its clause in Palestinian National Covenant calling for the removal of Israel (→ Legitimacy of the State of Israel). The Israeli government responds by dropping a similar clause concerning the existence of Palestine.


date: May 9

text: May 9 – South Africa's National Party pulls out of the coalition government formed two years earlier, and the African National Congress assumes full political control.

source_section: Events › May


date: May 17

text: May 17–28 – Atal Bihari Vajpayee, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is elected as Prime Minister of India, replacing P. V. Narasimha Rao of the Indian National Congress. However, the party does not receive an overall majority and Vajpayee resigns thirteen days later rather than face a no confidence vote and is replaced by the United Front leader, Deve Gowda.


date: May 28

text: May 28 – Albania's general election of May 26 is declared unfair by international monitors, and the ruling Democratic Party under President Muhannad Ibrahim is charged by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe with rigging the elections. Several hundred protestors gather in Tirana to demonstrate against the election result.


date: May 30

text: May 30 – The Likud Party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, wins a narrow victory in the Israeli general election.


date: June 12

text: June 12 – 1996 Bangladeshi general election was held after mass protests erupt in the country results in resignation of Incumbent Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and dissolution of Parliament that was created three month earlier.

source_section: Events › June


date: June 28

text: June 28 – A new government is formed in Turkey, with Necmettin Erbakan of Refah Partisi becoming Prime Minister of the coalition government, and Deputy/Foreign Minister Tansu Çiller of the True Path Party succeeding him after two years.


date: June 30

text: June 30 – Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić relinquishes power to his deputy, Biljana Plavšić.


text: June 30 – Costas Simitis is elected president of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Greece.


date: July 3

text: July 3 – Boris Yeltsin is re-elected as President of Russia after the second round of elections.

source_section: Events › July


date: July 19

text: July 19 – Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadžić resigns from public office in Republika Srpska after being indicted for war crimes.


date: July

text: The Indian government officially renames the city of Madras, restoring the name Chennai.


date: September 13

text: September 13 – Alija Izetbegović is elected President of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the country's first election since the Bosnian War.

source_section: Events › September


date: September 24

text: September 24 – U.S. president Bill Clinton signs the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.


date: November 5

text: November 5 – 1996 United States presidential election: Incumbent Democratic President Bill Clinton defeats his Republican challenger, Bob Dole and Reform Party candidate Ross Perot.

source_section: Events › November


date: December 11

text: December 11 – Tung Chee-hwa is appointed to become the new leader of Hong Kong after it reverts to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997, at the end of a 99-year lease to the United Kingdom.

source_section: Events › December


date: December 29

text: December 29 – Guatemala and the leaders of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity sign a peace accord that ends the 36-year Guatemalan Civil War.


date: February 9

text: February 9 – An IRA ceasefire ends with the Docklands bombing in London's Canary Wharf District, killing two people and causing over £85,000,000 worth of damage.

source_section: Events › February


date: February 10

text: February 10 – Bosnian Serbs break off contact with the Bosnian government and with representatives of IFOR, the NATO localised force, in reaction to the arrest of several Bosnian Serb war criminals.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – Violent clashes erupt between Filipino soldiers and Vietnamese boat people, as the Filipino government attempts to forcibly repatriate hundreds of Vietnamese asylum seekers.


date: February 15

text: February 15 – Begum Khaleda Zia is re-elected as Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The country's second democratic election is marred by low voter turnout, due to several boycotts and pre-election violence, which has resulted in at least thirteen deaths.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – Cuban fighter jets shoot down two American aircraft belonging to the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Cuban officials assert that they invaded Cuban airspace.


date: February 29

text: February 29 – The Bosnian government declares the end of the Siege of Sarajevo.


date: March 3

text: March 3–4 – Two suicide bombs explode in Israel, killing 32 people. The Yahya Ayyash Units admit responsibility, and Palestinian president Yasser Arafat condemns the killings in a televised address. Israel warns of retaliation.


date: April 3

text: April 3 – Burundian Civil War: massacres of Hutus by Tutsis in Burundi take place with more than 450 killed within a few days.


date: April 6

text: April 6 – First Liberian Civil War: fighting breaks out in Monrovia, Liberia, between various rebel factions struggling for power in the country's interrupted civil war. Several foreign nationals leave the nation.


text: April 6 – Turkish authorities begin Operation Hawk, a military offensive against rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party in south-east Turkey.


date: April 11

text: April 11 – The Israeli government launches Operation Grapes of Wrath, consisting of massive attacks on Lebanon, in retaliation for "terrorist attacks", and sparking off a violent series of retaliations.


date: April 18

text: April 18 – Qana massacre: Over 100 Lebanese civilians are killed after Israel shells the United Nations compound in Qana.


date: April 28

text: April 28 – Port Arthur massacre (Australia): Martin Bryant kills 35 people at the Port Arthur tourist site in Tasmania.


date: May 27

text: May 27 – First Chechnya War: Russian president Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a ceasefire for the dispute.


date: July 25

text: July 25 – The Tutsi-led Burundian army performs a coup and reinstalls previous president Pierre Buyoya, ousting current president Sylvestre Ntibantunganya.


date: July

text: Iraq disarmament crisis: U.N. Inspector Scott Ritter attempts to conduct surprise inspections on the Republican Guard facility at the airport but is blocked by Iraqi officials.


date: August 1

text: August 1 – A pro-democracy demonstration supporting Megawati Sukarnoputri in Indonesia is broken up by riot police.

source_section: Events › August


date: August 21

text: August 21 – Former State President of South Africa, F. W. de Klerk, makes an official apology for crimes committed under Apartheid to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Cape Town.


date: August

text: The invasive species Asian long-horned beetle is found in New York City.


date: September 4

text: September 4 – The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia attack a military base in Guaviare, Colombia, starting three weeks of guerrilla warfare that will claim the lives of at least 130 Colombians.


date: September 20

text: September 20 – Leader of Pakistani opposition party Pakistan Peoples Party Murtaza Bhutto is killed during a gunfight with police.


date: September 27

text: September 27 – In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city of Kabul, after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.


date: December 17

text: December 17 – The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement takes 72 hostages in the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru.


date: December 27

text: December 27 – Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram Air Base, solidifying their buffer zone around Kabul, Afghanistan.


date: August 16

text: August 16 – Brookfield Zoo, Chicago. After a 3-year-old boy falls into the 20 ft m deep gorilla enclosure, Binti Jua, a female lowland gorilla sits with the injured boy until his rescue.


date: July 22

text: July 22 – The first Gethsemani Encounter takes place at the abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani. This event, hosted by the DIMMID, is the first intermonastic dialogue between Buddhist and Christian monks and is attended by the Dalai Lama and Bishop Joseph John Gerry.


date: January 31

text: January 31 – Colombo Central Bank bombing: an explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing at least 86 people and injuring 1,400.


date: February 9

text: February 9 – Disney formally finalizes its $19 billion acquisition of the ABC parent, Capital Cities/ABC Inc.


date: March 15

text: March 15 – Fokker, a major manufacturer of small size aircraft, goes bankrupt in Netherlands.


date: March 26

text: March 26 – The International Monetary Fund approves a $10.2 billion loan to Russia for economic reform.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – The Halifax Regional Municipality encompassing the City of Halifax, the City of Dartmouth, the Town of Bedford, and the Municipality of the County of Halifax is formed in Nova Scotia, Canada.


date: July 5

text: July 5 – Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell, is born at the Roslin Institute in Midlothian, Scotland, UK.


text: August 21 – In the UK, Queen Elizabeth II issues letters patent on divorced former wives of British princes, taking away from the ex-wives the attribute and style of Royal Highness. With that Sarah, Duchess of York as well as Diana, Princess of Wales legally cease to be Royals, but they remain as non-royal Duchess and Princess.


date: August 28

text: August 28 – Their Royal Highnesses, the Prince and Princess of Wales, are formally divorced at the High Court of Justice in London. Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales is restyled Diana, Princess of Wales, due to the Queen's letters patent issued a week earlier.


text: January 31 – An amateur astronomer from southern Japan discovers Comet Hyakutake; it will pass very close to the Earth in March.


text: February 9 – The element copernicium is created by fusing a 208 Pb nucleus with a 70 Zn nucleus, forming 278 Cn. Given the placeholder name "ununbium", the element is not named until 2010.


date: February 15

text: February 15 – The UK government publishes the Scott Report.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – The space rocket Ariane 5 explodes forty seconds in its maiden flight, after takeoff in French Guiana. The project costs European governments $7,500,000,000 over eleven years.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – German orthography reform of 1996 agreed internationally.


date: August 1

text: August 1 – Sarah Balabagan returns to the Philippines.


date: August 6

text: August 6 – NASA announces that the Allan Hills 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, may contain evidence of primitive lifeforms; further tests are inconclusive.


date: August 13

text: August 13 – Data sent back by the Galileo space probe indicates there may be water on one of Jupiter's moons.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor.


date: November 19

text: November 19 – Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) established.


text: November 19 – STS-80: Space Shuttle Columbia conducts the longest mission of the Space Shuttle program.


date: January 22

text: January 22 – Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece, resigns due to health problems; a new government is formed under Costas Simitis.


date: February 27

text: February 27 – Pokémon Red & Green Versions release in Japan for the Game Boy.


text: July 1 – The Northern Territory in Australia legalises voluntary euthanasia.


date: July 16

text: July 16 – An outbreak of E. coli food poisoning in Japan results in 6,000 children being ill, including two deaths, after a group of school children eat contaminated lunches.


date: August 7

text: August 7 – Heavy rains kill more than 80 campers near Huesca, Spain.


date: August

text: The first three-parent baby is conceived in New Jersey through mitochondrial donation.


date: October 22

text: October 22 – A fire at La Planta prison in southwest Caracas, Venezuela, kills thirty prisoners.


date: November 17

text: November 17 – A bomb explodes in Kaspiysk, Russia, killing 32 people.


date: May 21

text: May 21 – Seven Trappist monks from the monastery of Thibirine are killed by members of the Armed Islamic Group in Algeria after talks with French government concerning the imprisonment of several GIA sympathisers break down.


date: July 11

text: July 11 – Arrest warrants are issued for Bosnian Serb war criminals Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić by the Russell Tribunal in The Hague.


date: August 26

text: August 26 – David Dellinger, Bradford Lyttle, and nine others are arrested by the Federal Protective Service while protesting in a demonstration at the Kluczynski Federal Building in downtown Chicago during that year's Democratic National Convention.


text: November 19 – Martin Bryant is sentenced to 35 consecutive sentences of life imprisonment plus 1,035 years without parole for murdering 35 people in a shooting spree in Tasmania earlier this year.


date: February 6

text: February 6 – Birgenair Flight 301, on a charter flight from the Caribbean to Germany, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Dominican Republic, killing all 189 passengers and crew.


date: February 29

text: February 29 – Faucett Perú Flight 251 en route from Lima to Rodriguez Ballon airport crashes into a mountain near Arequipa; all 123 people on board are killed.


text: February 29 – At least 81 people drown when a boat capsizes 120 kilometres east of Kampala, Uganda.


date: March 6

text: March 6 – A boat carrying market traders capsizes outside Freetown harbour in Sierra Leone, killing at least 86 people.


date: March 18

text: March 18 – The Ozone Disco Club fire in Quezon City, Philippines, kills 163 people.


date: March 24

text: March 24 – The Marcopper mining disaster on the island of Marinduque, Philippines takes place.


date: April 3

text: April 3 – A Boeing 737 military jet crashes into a mountain north of Dubrovnik, Croatia. All 35 people on board are killed, including United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.


date: April 28

text: April 28 – Bhai Pheru bus bombing: A bomb explodes in Bhai Pheru, Punjab, Pakistan, killing more than 60 people.


date: May 10

text: May 10 – 1996 Everest disaster: A sudden storm engulfs Mount Everest with several climbing teams high on the mountain, leaving eight people dead. By the end of the month, at least four other climbers die in the worst season of fatalities on the mountain to date.


date: May 11

text: May 11 – After takeoff from Miami, a fire started by improperly handled oxygen canisters in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board.


text: May 21 – The MV Bukoba sinks in Tanzanian waters in Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1,000 people in one of Africa's worst maritime disasters.


date: June 11

text: June 11 – A peace convoy carrying Chechen separatist leaders and international diplomats is targeted by a series of remotely controlled land mines; eight people are killed.


date: June 15

text: June 15 – In Manchester, UK, an IRA bomb injures over 200 people and devastates a large part of the city centre.


date: June 29

text: June 29 – An explosion in a firecrackers factory in Sichuan Province, China kills at least 52 people and injures 83 others.


date: July 17

text: July 17 – Paris- and Rome-bound TWA Flight 800 (Boeing 747) explodes off the coast of Long Island, New York, killing all 230 people on board.


date: August 14

text: August 14 – A rocket ignited during a fireworks display in Arequipa, Peru knocks down a high-tension power cable into a dense crowd, electrocuting 35 people.


date: August 29

text: August 29 – A Russian Tupolev Tu-154 jetliner crashes into a mountain as it approaches the airport at Spitsbergen, Norway, killing all 141 people on board.


date: October 2

text: October 2 – Aeroperú Flight 603 crashes into the Pacific Ocean when the instruments fail just after takeoff from Lima Airport, killing all 70 people on board.


date: November 8

text: November 8 – All 144 people on board a Nigerian-owned Boeing 727 die after the aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while approaching Lagos airport.


date: November 12

text: November 12 – Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 collides in mid-air with Kazakhstan Airlines Il-76 in New Delhi, India, resulting in the loss of 349 lives.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – The 1996 Garley Building fire occurred in Hong Kong, resulting in 41 deaths and 81 injuries.


date: November 21

text: November 21 – A propane explosion at the Humberto Vidal shoe store and office building in San Juan, Puerto Rico kills 33 people.


date: November 23

text: November 23 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 is hijacked, then crashes into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 125.


date: December 30

text: December 30 – In the Indian state of Assam, a passenger train is bombed by Bodo separatists, killing 26.


date: February 3

text: February 3 – The 6.6 earthquake near Lijiang in South-west China kills up to 322 people, injures 17,000, and leaves 300,000 homeless.


date: February 17

text: February 17 – The 8.2 Biak earthquake strikes the Papua province of eastern Indonesia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A large tsunami followed, leaving 166 people dead or missing and 423 injured.


date: March 8

text: March 8 – Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: China begins surface-to-surface missile testing and military exercises off Taiwanese coastal areas. The United States government condemns the act as provocation, and the Taiwanese government warns of retaliation.


date: May 9

text: May 9 – Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni wins a landslide victory in the country's first direct presidential elections, securing 75% of the vote.


date: May 13

text: May 13 – Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people.


date: July 12

text: July 12 – Hurricane Bertha: made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 2 storm, causing $270 million in damage ($ in present-day terms) to the United States and its possessions and many indirect deaths.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – The Saguenay Flood, one of Canada's most costly natural disasters, is caused by flooding on the Saguenay River in Quebec.


date: September 5

text: September 5 – Hurricane Fran makes landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina as a Category 3 storm with 115 mph sustained winds. Fran caused over $3 billion in damages ($ in present-day terms) and killed 27 people, mainly in North Carolina. The name "Fran" was retired due to the extensive damage.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – A category 4 cyclone strikes Andhra Pradesh, India, killing at least 1,000 people.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – Sri Lanka wins the Cricket World Cup by beating Australia in the final.


date: March 25

text: March 25 – The 68th Academy Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles with Braveheart winning Best Picture.


date: May 18

text: May 18 – The X Prize Foundation launches the $10,000,000 Ansari X Prize.


date: June 8

text: June 8–30 – England hosts the UEFA Euro 1996 football tournament, which is won by Germany.


date: June 29

text: June 29 – The Prince's Trust concert is held in Hyde Park, London, and is attended by 150,000 people. The Who headlines the event in their first performance since 1989.


date: July 19

text: July 19 – The 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, begin.


date: July 27

text: July 27 – The Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in the United States kills one person and injures 111.


date: August 4

text: August 4 – The 1996 Summer Olympics conclude.


date: August 15

text: August 15 – Bob Dole is nominated for President of the United States, and Jack Kemp for vice president, at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, California.


date: August 29

text: August 29 – U.S. president Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore are re-nominated at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.


date: January 16

text: January 16 – Jennie, South Korean singer and rapper

source_section: Births › January


date: February 13

text: February 13 – Muhammad Rian Ardianto, Indonesian badminton player

source_section: Births › February


date: April 24

text: April 24 – Ashleigh Barty, Australian tennis player

source_section: Births › April


date: May 15

text: May 15 – Ilias Ennahachi, Dutch-Moroccan Muay Thai kickboxer

source_section: Births › May


date: May 21

text: May 21 – Josh Allen, American football quarterback


date: June 15

text: June 15 – Aurora, Norwegian singer

source_section: Births › June


date: July 7

text: July 7 – Mikey Musumeci, American BJJ practitioner and current ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Champion

source_section: Births › July


date: August 16

text: August 16 – Caeleb Dressel, American swimmer

source_section: Births › August


date: August 18

text: August 18 – Jonathan Di Bella, Italian-Canadian kickboxer and current ONE Strawweight Kickboxing World Champion


date: August 28

text: August 28 – Kim Se-jeong, South Korean singer and actress


date: August 31

text: August 31 – Jalen Brunson, American basketball player


date: September 17

text: September 17 – Esteban Ocon, French racing driver

source_section: Births › September


date: November 7

text: November 7 – Lorde, New Zealand singer-songwriter

source_section: Births › November


date: December 17

text: December 17 – Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Russian figure skater

source_section: Births › December


date: June 2

text: June 2 – Former Family Feud host Ray Combs dies.

source_section: Events › June


date: January 19

text: January 19 – Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years, and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city. (→ Hebron Agreement)

source_section: Events › January


date: January 23

text: January 23 – Madeleine Albright becomes the first female Secretary of State of the United States, after confirmation by the United States Senate.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – 1997 Liechtenstein general election: The Patriotic Union remains the largest party and wins a majority of 13 seats in the Landtag.


date: March 21

text: March 21 – In Zaire, Étienne Tshisekedi is appointed prime minister; he ejects supporters of Mobutu Sese Seko from his cabinet.

source_section: Events › March


date: April 29

text: April 29 – The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), CWC treaty enters into force.

source_section: Events › April


date: May 1

text: May 1 – Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as the Labour Party wins the 1997 United Kingdom general election and returns to government for the first time in 18 years.

source_section: Events › May


date: May 16

text: May 16 – First Congo War ends when president Mobutu Sese Seko is exiled from Zaire.


date: May 23

text: May 23 – Mohammad Khatami wins the 1997 Iranian presidential election and becomes the first Iranian Reformist president.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – Socialist Party-led Centre-left coalition won the second-round in 1997 French legislative elections, began with the third Cohabitation (1997–2002).


date: June 11

text: June 11 – In the United Kingdom, the House of Commons votes for a total ban on handguns.


date: June 26

text: June 26 – Bertie Ahern is appointed as the 10th Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland and Mary Harney is appointed as the 16th, and first female, Tánaiste, after their parties, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats respectively, win the 1997 General Election.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – The United Kingdom hands sovereignty of the British colony in Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.

source_section: Events › July


date: July 8

text: July 8 – NATO invites the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance in 1999.


date: July 25

text: July 25 – K. R. Narayanan is sworn in as India's 10th president and the first member of the Dalit caste to hold this office.


date: August 3

text: August 3–11 – Two of the three islands of the Union of the Comoros – Anjouan and Mohéli – attempt to revert to colonial rule by France. The plan fails when the French government of President Jacques Chirac refuses to recolonize them, resulting in the two islands being reintegrated into the Comoros over the next two years.

source_section: Events › August


date: August 26

text: August 26 – The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning is set up in Northern Ireland, as part of a peace process.


date: September 11

text: September 11 – Scotland votes in favour of a devolved Parliament, forming the Scottish Parliament less than two years later.

source_section: Events › September


date: September 15

text: September 15 – The Norwegian parliamentary election is held in Norway.


date: September 18

text: September 18 – Wales votes in favour of devolution and the formation of a National Assembly for Wales.


date: November 12

text: November 12 – Mary McAleese is elected the eighth President of Ireland in succession to Mary Robinson, the first time in the world that one woman has succeeded another as elected head of state.

source_section: Events › November


date: December 3

text: December 3 – In Ottawa (Canada) representatives from 121 countries sign a treaty prohibiting the manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel land mines. However, the United States, the People's Republic of China, Russia, South Korea and 32 other nations do not ratify the treaty.

source_section: Events › December


date: December 10

text: December 10 – The capital of Kazakhstan is moved from Almaty to Astana.


date: December 11

text: December 11 – The Kyoto Protocol is adopted by a United Nations committee.


date: December 19

text: December 19 – Janet Jagan (widow of Cheddi Jagan) takes office in Guyana.


date: January 11

text: January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis.


date: February 10

text: February 10 – Sandline affair: Australian newspapers publish stories that the government of Papua New Guinea has brought mercenaries onto Bougainville Island.

source_section: Events › February


date: February 28

text: February 28 – North Hollywood shootout: Two robbers, wearing kevlar body armor, and armed with illegally modified Type 56S rifles with high-capacity magazines and other weapons, injure 20 police officers and civilians in a gun battle. The incident sparks debate on the appropriate firepower for United States patrol officers to have available in similar situations in the future.


text: February 28 – 1997 Turkish military memorandum: As a result of a meeting held by the National Security Council, the Turkish Armed Forces issues a memorandum to adopt more secular criteria. Later on June 18, the Turkish government resigns because of the pressure.


date: March 7

text: March 7 – In Sri Lanka, the Tamil Tigers overrun a military base and kill over 100 Sri Lankan troops.


date: April 3

text: April 3 – The Thalit massacre in Algeria: all but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.


date: April 22

text: April 22 – A 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, Peru.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – The United States government acknowledges existence of the "Secret War" in Laos (1953–1975) during the Vietnam War, and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.


date: May 17

text: May 17 – Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa.


date: May 23

text: May 23 – A riot in Banjarmasin, Indonesia breaks out, causing at least 137 deaths.


date: May 25

text: May 25 – A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koroma.


date: July 5

text: July 5 – The Egyptian Islamic Group announces a cessation-of-violence initiative.


text: July 5 – In Cambodia, Hun Sen of the Cambodian People's Party overthrows Norodom Ranariddh in a coup.


date: August 29

text: August 29 – Over 98 (and possibly up to 400) are killed in the Rais massacre in Algeria.


date: September 18

text: September 18 – Al-Qaeda carries out a terrorist attack in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – The Islamic Salvation Army, the Islamic Salvation Fronts' armed wing, declares a unilateral ceasefire in Algeria.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Luke Woodham walks into Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi and opens fire, killing two girls, after killing his mother earlier that morning.

source_section: Events › October


date: October 3

text: October 3 – The President of Paraguay, Juan Carlos Wasmosy, orders the arrest of political opponent Lino Oviedo.


date: October 12

text: October 12 – Sidi Daoud massacre: 43 are killed at a false roadblock in Algeria.


date: October 17

text: October 17 – The remains of Che Guevara are laid to rest with full military honours in a specially built mausoleum in the city of Santa Clara, Cuba, where he had won the decisive battle of the Cuban Revolution 39 years before.


date: October 29

text: October 29 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq says it will begin shooting down Lockheed U-2 surveillance planes being used by UNSCOM inspectors.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – In the Indian state of Bihar, Ranvir Sena attacks the CPI(ML) Party Unity stronghold Lakshmanpur-Bathe, killing 63 lower caste people


date: December 21

text: December 21 – Brazil beats Australia 6–0 in the FIFA Confederations Cup final.


date: December 27

text: December 27 – Ulster loyalist paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated inside Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland.


date: March 13

text: March 13 – India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala, to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.


date: September 6

text: September 6 – The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, takes place at Westminster Abbey, London, UK, watched by over two billion people worldwide.


date: March 4

text: March 4 – U.S. President Bill Clinton bans federal funding for any research on human cloning.


date: July 2

text: July 2 – The Bank of Thailand floats the baht, triggering the Asian financial crisis.


date: July 17

text: July 17 – The F. W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business.


date: December 19

text: December 19 – James Cameron's Titanic is released in theaters in the United States. It will become the fourth highest-grossing film of all time (adjusted for inflation).


date: January 1

text: January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States.


date: May 11

text: May 11 – IBM's Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, the first time a computer beats a chess World champion in a match.


date: May 21

text: May 21 – Radiohead releases OK Computer


date: May 31

text: May 31 – The 13-kilometer Confederation Bridge, the world's longest bridge spanning ice-covered waters, opens between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, Canada.


date: August 13

text: August 13 – Trey Parker and Matt Stone's animated television comedy series, South Park, started broadcasting with the first episode, Cartman Gets an Anal Probe, on Comedy Central.


date: August 29

text: August 29 – Netflix, Inc. is founded as a DVD-by-mail rental service.


date: October 16

text: October 16 – The first color photograph appears on the front page of The New York Times.


date: November 11

text: November 11 – Telecom companies WorldCom and MCI Communications announce a US$37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom, the largest merger in U.S. history.


date: January 17

text: January 17 – A Delta II rocket carrying a military GPS payload explodes, shortly after liftoff from Cape Canaveral.


date: February 13

text: February 13 – STS-82: Tune-up and repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope is started by astronauts from the Space Shuttle Discovery.


date: March 22

text: March 22 – The Comet Hale–Bopp makes its closest approach to Earth.


date: April 21

text: April 21 – A Pegasus rocket carries the remains of 24 people into earth orbit, in the first space burial by Celestis company.


date: June 25

text: June 25 – An uncrewed spacecraft Progress M-34 collides with the Russian space station Mir.


date: July 4

text: July 4 – NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.


date: July 10

text: July 10 – In London, scientists report their DNA analysis findings from a Neanderthal skeleton, which support the out of Africa theory of human evolution, placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.


date: October 15

text: October 15 – NASA launches the Cassini–Huygens probe to Saturn.


text: October 15 – Andy Green sets the first supersonic land speed record for the ThrustSSC team, led by Richard Noble of the UK. ThrustSSC goes through the flying mile course at Black Rock Desert, Nevada at an average speed of 1,227.985 km/h (763.035 mph).


date: November 27

text: November 27 – NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission is launched, the start of the satellite component of the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System.


date: January 26

text: January 26 – VJTI changes its name from Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute to Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute in Mumbai.


date: March 24

text: March 24 – The 69th Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, are held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, with The English Patient winning Best Picture. During the event, the DVD format is launched in the United States.


date: May 16

text: May 16 – U.S. President Bill Clinton issues a formal apology to the surviving victims of the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male and their families.


date: September 1

text: September 1 – Dublin Regulation on treatment of applications for right of asylum under European Union law first comes into force.


date: October 2

text: October 2 – British scientists Moira Bruce and John Collinge, with their colleagues, independently show that the new variant form of the Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is the same disease as Bovine spongiform encephalopathy.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – Severe Tropical Storm Linda devastates southern Vietnam and Thailand, killing 3,275 people.


date: November 19

text: November 19 – In Des Moines, Iowa, Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to septuplets in the second known case where all seven babies are born alive, and the first in which all survive infancy.


date: December 15

text: December 15 – Microsoft releases Windows 98 Beta 3.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – In Japan, over 700 children suffer photosensitive epilepsy attacks after watching an episode of the Pokémon anime.


date: December 29

text: December 29 – Hong Kong begins to kill all the chickens within its territory (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 strain.


date: January 16

text: January 16 – Murder of Ennis Cosby: Near Interstate 405 in Los Angeles, Bill Cosby's son Ennis is shot in the head in a failed robbery attempt.


date: March 9

text: March 9 – American rapper The Notorious B.I.G. is murdered in Los Angeles.


date: March 16

text: March 16 – Sandline affair: On Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea, soldiers of commander Jerry Singirok arrest Tim Spicer and his mercenaries of the Sandline International.


date: April 14

text: April 14 – Former SS Captain Erich Priebke is retried; on July 22 he is sentenced to fifteen years in prison.


date: June 2

text: June 2 – In Denver, Colorado, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.


date: June 10

text: June 10 – Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot orders the killing of his defense chief, Son Sen, and 11 of Sen's family members, before Pol Pot flees his northern stronghold.


date: June 13

text: June 13 – A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.


date: July 13

text: July 13 – The remains of Che Guevara are returned to Cuba for burial, alongside some of his comrades. Guevara and his comrades were executed on October 9 1967 in Bolivia.


date: July 15

text: July 15 – Spree killer Andrew Cunanan shoots fashion designer Gianni Versace dead outside Versace's Miami Beach residence.


date: August 20

text: August 20 – More than 60 are killed, 15 kidnapped in the Souhane massacre in Algeria.


date: October 22

text: October 22 – Danish escaped criminal Steen Christensen robs the Hotel Palace in Helsinki, Finland, killing two police officers while evading capture.


date: November 13

text: November 13 – Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.


date: November 17

text: November 17 – In Luxor, Egypt, 62 people are killed by 6 Islamic militants outside the Temple of Hatshepsut.


date: February 4

text: February 4 – On their way to Lebanon, two Israeli troop-transport helicopters collide, killing all 73 on board.


date: March 18

text: March 18 – The tail of a Russian An-24 charter plane breaks off while en route to Turkey, causing the plane to crash, killing all 50 on board, and resulting in the grounding of all An-24s.


date: March 24

text: March 24–26 – In San Diego, 39 Heaven's Gate cultists commit mass suicide at their compound.


text: April 14 – Fire breaks out in a pilgrim camp on the Plain of Mena, 11 km mi from Mecca; 343 die.


date: April 29

text: April 29 – Two trains crash at Hunan, China; 126 are killed.


date: July 11

text: July 11 – Royal Jomtien Resort Hotel fire at Pattaya, Thailand's worst hotel fire, kills 90.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – St. Olaf's Church, a stone church from the 16th century in Tyrvää, Finland, is burnt down.


date: September 26

text: September 26 – Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 crashes while on approach to Medan, North Sumatra, during the 1997 Southeast Asian haze, killing all 234 people on board. This becomes the deadliest aviation accident in Indonesian history.


date: October 10

text: October 10 – Uruguay's worst air disaster occurs when Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 2553 crashes near Nuevo Berlín, killing all 74 on board.


date: December 19

text: December 19 – SilkAir Flight 185 crashes into the Musi River, near Palembang in Indonesia, killing 104.


text: February 4 – A magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes North Khorasan province, Iran, killing 88 people and injuring 1,948.


date: April 18

text: April 18 – The Red River of the North breaks through dikes and floods Grand Forks, North Dakota, and East Grand Forks, Minnesota, causing US$2 billion in damage.


date: May 10

text: May 10 – The 7.3 Qayen earthquake strikes eastern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). At least 1,567 were killed and 2,300 were injured.


date: May 12

text: May 12 – An F1-rated tornado strikes downtown Miami, causing $525,000 in damages. Pictures and videos of this tornado made news headlines around the world.


date: May 27

text: May 27 – The fourth-deadliest tornado of the 1990s hits in Jarrell, Texas, killing 27 people and causing extreme damage in the Double Creek Estates.


date: June 25

text: June 25 – A massive eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat leads to evacuation and eventual abandonment of the capital, Plymouth.


date: July 30

text: July 30 – 18 people are killed in the Thredbo landslide in the Snowy Mountains resort in Australia.


date: July

text: July – The 1997 Central European flood occurs across Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic.


text: September 26 – An earthquake strikes the Italian regions of Umbria and Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi to collapse.


date: June 21

text: June 21 – The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) plays its first game at The Great Western Forum in Los Angeles.


date: June 26

text: June 26 – Publication of J. K. Rowling's first Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in London by Bloomsbury Publishing, in an edition of 500 copies.


date: September 5

text: September 5 – The International Olympic Committee picks Athens, Greece, to be the host city for the 2004 Summer Olympics.


date: September 27

text: September 27 – The sports-fused entertainment TV program SASUKE started on TBS in Japan.


date: November 18

text: November 18 - Metallica released the album Reload internationally.


date: August 4

text: August 4 – Jeanne Calment, the verified oldest person to have ever lived, dies at 122 years and 164 days.


date: August 6

text: August 6 – Korean Air Flight 801 crash lands west of Guam International Airport, resulting in the deaths of 228 people.


date: August 31

text: August 31 – Death of Diana, Princess of Wales: Diana, Princess of Wales, is taken to a hospital after a car accident shortly after midnight, in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris. She is pronounced dead at 4:00 am.


date: September

text: Television series, Melangkah di Atas Awan was aired by Indonesian private television station, Indosiar. It was a final TV series of Ryan Hidayat, who died on 8 February 1997, before the TV series was broadcast.


date: November 9

text: November 9 – BBC News 24 has launched a new channel at 5:30pm, after the final closedown with the last national anthem of God Save the Queen, which occurred at approximately 2:57am for BBC One, following the death of Lady Diana Spencer.


date: February 20

text: February 20 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein negotiates a deal with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, allowing weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad, preventing military action by the United States and United Kingdom.


date: March 11

text: March 11 – 1998 Danish general election: Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen is re-elected.


date: March 21

text: March 21 – The European Union announces an arms embargo against Serbia and Montenegro.


date: March 30

text: March 30 – Hungary begins European Union accession talks.


date: March 31

text: March 31 – Quett Masire voluntarily steps down as President of Botswana after 18 years in office.


date: April 10

text: April 10 – Good Friday Agreement: An hour after the end of the talks deadline, the Belfast Agreement is signed between the Irish and British governments and most Northern Ireland political parties, with the notable exception of the Democratic Unionist Party. This would mostly put an end to the conflict known as The Troubles.


date: May 21

text: May 21 – Suharto (elected 1967) resigns after 31 years as President of Indonesia, effectively ending the New Order period. It is his 7th consecutive re-election by the Indonesian Parliament (MPR). Suharto's hand-picked Vice President, B. J. Habibie, becomes Indonesia's third president.


date: June 30

text: June 30 – Philippine Vice President Joseph Estrada is sworn in as the 13th President of the Philippines.


date: July 17

text: July 17 – Rome Statute: at a conference in Rome, 120 countries vote to create a permanent International Criminal Court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.


date: August 1

text: August 1 – Puntland State leaders in Somalia declare the territory an autonomous state; the capital is the city of Garoowe in the Nugal region.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Europol is established when the Europol Convention signed by all of its member states comes into force.


date: October 3

text: October 3 – 1998 Australian federal election: John Howard's Liberal/National Coalition government is re-elected with a substantially reduced majority, defeating the Labor Party led by Kim Beazley.


date: October 20

text: October 20 – Boris Yeltsin announces he will not seek reelection in 2000.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Ireland formally relinquishes its territorial claim over Northern Ireland and recognizes the United Kingdom's sovereignty there.


date: December 6

text: December 6 – Hugo Chávez, politician and former officer of the Venezuelan army, is elected President of Venezuela.


date: December 19

text: December 19 – The U.S. House of Representatives forwards articles of impeachment against President Clinton to the Senate, making him the second president to be impeached in U.S. history.


date: January 11

text: January 11 – Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria.


date: January 15

text: January 15 – U.N. peacekeepers return Eastern Slavonia to Croatian control; 80,000 displaced Croatians begin returning home, while 60,000 Serbs begin vacating the region. The area will remain under UNPSG supervision until October.


date: February 21

text: February 21 – King Hussein of Jordan imposes martial law in Ma'an to quell growing pro-Iraqi demonstrations.


date: February 28

text: February 28 – A massacre in Likoshane, FR Yugoslavia starts the Kosovo War.


date: March 24

text: March 24 – Westside Middle School shooting: Five people are killed in Jonesboro, Arkansas.


date: April 17

text: April 17 – 1998 Australian waterfront dispute: Patrick Stevedores fires all 1,400 employees.


date: April 23

text: April 23 – The Yugoslav Army ambushes a group of Kosovo Liberation Army fighters attempting to smuggle weapons from Albania into Kosovo, killing 19.


date: May 6

text: May 6 – A large Eritrean mechanized force enters Badme in Tigray Region, Ethiopia, resulting in the Eritrean–Ethiopian War.


date: May 13

text: May 13–14 – Riots directed against Chinese Indonesians break out in Indonesia, killing around 1,000 people. Maria Catarina Sumarsih holds Prabowo Subianto the responsibility for being involved in a series of human rights abuses during the riot.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – Argentina expels seven Iranian diplomats over their connections to the 1994 AMIA bombing.


date: May 19

text: May 19 – The wreck of the aircraft carrier , sunk during the Battle of Midway in 1942, is found near Midway Atoll by a team led by former US Navy officer Robert D. Ballard.


date: May 28

text: May 28 – Nuclear testing: In response to a series of Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan explodes five nuclear devices of its own in the Chagai hills of Baluchistan, codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.


date: June 7

text: June 7 – Former Brigadier-General Ansumane Mané seizes control over military barracks in Bissau, marking the beginning of the Guinea-Bissau Civil War (1998–99).


date: July 24

text: July 24 – Russell Eugene Weston Jr. enters the United States Capitol Building and opens fire, killing two members of the United States Capitol Police, Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson.


date: August 4

text: August 4 – The Second Congo War begins; 5.4 million people die before it ends in 2003, making it the bloodiest war, to date, since World War II.


date: August 7

text: August 7 – 1998 U.S. embassy bombings: the bombings of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, kill 224 people and injure over 4,500; they are linked to terrorist Osama bin Laden, an exile of Saudi Arabia.


date: August 8

text: August 8 – Afghan Civil War: The Taliban takes control of Mazar-i-Sharif.


date: August 10

text: August 10 – Voters in Nevis narrowly reject an independence referendum.


date: August 15

text: August 15 – The Troubles: The Omagh bombing is carried out in Northern Ireland by the Real Irish Republican Army as a reaction to the Good Friday Agreement. 29 people are killed and 220 are injured. Shortly after these events, the group will call a ceasefire in response, signaling an end to the 30+ year conflict.


date: September 2

text: September 2 – A United Nations court finds Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide, marking the first time that the 1948 law banning genocide is enforced.


date: September 5

text: September 5 – The Government of North Korea adopts a military dictatorship on its 50th anniversary. The constitution is amended, and the late Kim Il Sung is enshrined as the eternal President.


date: September 17

text: September 17 – Basque conflict: Basque Homeland and Liberty reaches a ceasefire agreement with the government of Spain, the second such agreement in two years.


date: September 24

text: September 24 – Iranian President Mohammad Khatami retracts a fatwa against Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie that was in force since 1989 stating that the Iranian government will "neither support nor hinder assassination operations on Rushdie".


date: December 14

text: December 14 – The Yugoslav Army ambushes a column of 140 Kosovo Liberation Army militants attempting to smuggle arms from Albania into Kosovo, killing 36.


date: March

text: Bill Clinton makes the first visit to South Africa by a U.S. president.


date: June 27

text: June 27 – Kuala Lumpur International Airport officially opens, becoming the new international gateway into Malaysia.


date: September 25

text: September 25 – Benoit Lecomte finishes his 72-day swim across the Atlantic Ocean, but uncertainty over the exact route and distance covered prevent him from being recognized as the first person to swim across the Atlantic.


date: January 21

text: January 21 - Pope John Paul II begins a 5-day visit to Cuba; Fidel Castro releases 300 political prisoners in a gesture of goodwill.


date: January 17

text: January 17 – The Drudge Report breaks the story about U.S. President Bill Clinton's alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky, which will lead to the House of Representatives' impeachment of him.


date: February 25

text: February 25 – Alaska v. Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government: The SCOTUS rules against the Neets'aii Gwich'in Indian nation, who had been levying taxes on non-natives in order to fund a local airstrip; the Court ruled that only the federal and state governments may collect taxes.


text: Boris Yeltsin dismisses Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin in "an effort to make economic reforms more energetic and effective."


date: May 18

text: May 18 – The Department of Justice files an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, alleging its Windows operating system unfairly takes market share from Netscape's Navigator.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – The European Central Bank is established, replacing the European Monetary Institute.


date: August 17

text: August 17 – Russia's government devalues the ruble, defaults on domestic debt, and declares a moratorium on repayment of foreign debt. This marks the beginning of 1998 Russian financial crisis.


text: September 25–28 – Major creditors of Long-Term Capital Management, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund, after days of tough bargaining and some informal mediation by Federal Reserve officials, agree on terms of a re-capitalization to avoid a wider collapse in financial markets.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President Bill Clinton orders airstrikes on Iraq. UNSCOM withdraws all weapons inspectors from Iraq.


date: December 31

text: December 31 – In the Eurozone, the currency rates of this day are fixed permanently.


text: The European Small Business Alliance organization is formed.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: February 20

text: February 20 – The Nashville Banner publishes its last issue; the newspaper ceases operation after 122 years.


date: April 5

text: April 5 – In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshū and costing about US$3.6 billion, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.


date: May 11

text: May 11 – The first euro coins are minted in Pessac, France. Because the final specifications for the coins are not finished, they will have to be melted and minted again in 1999.


text: May 11 – Pokhran-II (Operation Shakti): India conducts three underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, including one thermonuclear device.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – The Windows 98 operating system is released to manufacturing.


date: June 12

text: June 12 – The 1995 Stock is used on the Northern line in London.


date: July 21

text: July 21–September 5 – 1998 Sydney water crisis: suspected contamination by the microscopic pathogens cryptosporidium and giardia of the water supply system of Greater Metropolitan Sydney, Australia.


date: October 17

text: October 17 – 1998 Jesse pipeline explosion: An oil pipeline explosion in Jesse, Nigeria results in 1,082 deaths.


date: November 19

text: November 19 – Valve Corporation releases their first-person shooter video game Half-Life to critical acclaim. The game would be deemed one of the most influential titles of its genre, and one of the greatest video games of all time.


date: January 6

text: January 6 – The Lunar Prospector spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently shadowed craters near the Moon's poles.


date: February 6

text: February 6 – Washington National Airport is officially renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.


date: March 2

text: March 2 – Data sent from the Galileo probe indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.


date: March 5

text: March 5 – NASA announces that the Clementine probe orbiting the Moon has found enough water in polar craters to support a human colony and rocket fueling station.


date: March 13

text: March 13 – The High-Z Supernova Search Team becomes the first team to publish evidence that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate.


date: May 19

text: May 19 – The Galaxy IV communications satellite fails, leaving 80–90% of the US's pagers without service.


date: May 30

text: May 30 – A second nuclear test, codenamed Chagai-II, is conducted and supervised by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC).


date: July 5

text: July 5 – Japan launches the probe Nozomi to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as an outer space-exploring nation.


date: November 17

text: November 17 – Voyager 1 overtakes Pioneer 10 as the most distant man-made object from the Solar System, at a distance of 69.419 AU km.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – A Russian Proton rocket is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying the first segment of the International Space Station, the 21-ton Zarya Module.


date: December 4

text: December 4 – The Space Shuttle Endeavour launches the first U.S.-built component to the International Space Station, the 25,600 lb kg Unity module on STS-88. It docks with Zarya two days later.


date: December 31

text: December 31 – The first leap second since June 30, 1997, occurs.


date: January 12

text: January 12 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning.


date: October 4

text: October 4 – The World Bank praises Costa Rica for its remarkable success in raising life expectancy and lowering infant mortality.


date: January 23

text: January 23 - P.W. Botha appears in front of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to answer for apartheid-era policies; he refers to the hearing as a "circus".


date: February 26

text: February 26 – Oprah is cleared of slander in an Amarillo court after a highly publicized court battle with Texas beef moguls.


date: April 24

text: April 24 – Rwanda executes 22 Hutus, including Froduald Karamira, for their roles in the 1994 genocide.


date: May 27

text: May 27 – The United States requests that El Salvador reopen its probe into the 1980 murders of U.S. missionaries.


date: July 17

text: July 17 – In Saint Petersburg, Nicholas II of Russia and his family are buried in St. Catherine Chapel, 80 years after he and his family were killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.


date: September 12

text: September 12 – The Cuban Five intelligence agents are arrested in Miami, and later convicted of espionage. The agents claim they were not spying against the United States Government but against the Cuban exile community in Miami.


date: September

text: Jean Kambanda is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Rwandan genocide.


date: October 10

text: October 10 – Indictment and arrest of Augusto Pinochet: General Augusto Pinochet, Chilean dictator from 1973 to 1990, is indicted for human rights violations he committed in Chile by Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzón. 6 days later British police place him under house arrest during his medical treatment in the UK. This is a leading case in the law of universal jurisdiction.


date: February 2

text: February 2 - Cebu Pacific Flight 387 crashes into a mountain, this crash marked deadliest aviation accident in Philippines until 2000.


date: February 4

text: February 4 – Western Pacific, a low-cost airline with headquarters at Colorado Springs Airport, ceases operations.


date: February 16

text: February 16 – China Airlines Flight 676 crashes upon attempted landing at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, killing 203, the second-deadliest air crash in Taiwan.


date: June 3

text: June 3 – Eschede train disaster: an Intercity-Express high-speed train derails between Hanover and Hamburg, Germany, causing 101 deaths.


date: June 8

text: June 8 - The DeBruce Grain Elevator explosion in Wichita, Kansas kills 7.


date: September 2

text: September 2 – A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airliner (Swissair Flight 111) crashes near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, after taking off from New York City en route to Geneva; all 229 people on board are killed.


date: September 10

text: September 10 – At midnight, a shooting occurs aboard an Akula-class nuclear-powered attack submarine of the Russian Navy docked in the northern Russian port city of Severomorsk.


date: December 11

text: December 11 – Thai Airways International Flight 261 crashes upon attempted landing at Surat Thani International Airport, killing 101, the second-deadliest air crash in Thailand.


text: February 4 – The 5.9 Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). With up to 4,000 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme.


date: April 20

text: April 20 – The alleged date the German Red Army Faction (created 1970) is dissolved.


date: May 5

text: May 5–6 - landslides in Campania, Italy kill 161


date: May 30

text: May 30 – A 6.5 magnitude earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.


text: July 17 – The 7.0 Papua New Guinea earthquake shakes the region near Aitape with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). This submarine earthquake triggered a landslide that caused a destructive tsunami, leaving more than 2,100 dead and thousands injured.


date: August 7

text: August 7 – Yangtze River Floods: in China the Yangtze river breaks through the main bank; before this, from August 1–5, peripheral levees collapsed consecutively in Jiayu County Baizhou Bay. The death toll exceeds 12,000, with many thousands more injured.


date: September 9

text: September 9 – Keiko the orca, captured in 1979, is released back into the wild off the coast of Iceland.


date: October 29

text: October 29 – Hurricane Mitch makes landfall in Central America, killing an estimated 11,000 people.


date: February 7

text: February 7–22 – The 1998 Winter Olympics are held in Nagano, Japan.


date: February 12

text: February 12 - The Flag of the Philippines gets a minor redesign, changing its blue and red shades.


date: February 20

text: February 20 – Rudy Giuliani kicks off his "quality of life" campaign in New York City, focused on increasing civility and reducing nuisances like littering and reckless driving.


date: March 23

text: March 23 – The 70th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted for the 6th time by Billy Crystal, is held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Titanic wins 11 Oscars including Best Picture.


date: May 26

text: May 26 – Australia holds its first National Sorry Day.


date: June 10

text: June 10–July 12 – The 1998 FIFA World Cup in France: France beats Brazil 3–0 in the FIFA World Cup Final.


date: September 4

text: September 4 – Google, Inc. is founded in Menlo Park, California, by Stanford University PhD candidates Larry Page and Sergey Brin.


date: November 3

text: November 3 – South Carolina voters repeal the state's 103-year-old constitutional ban on interracial marriage, making Alabama the last U.S. state with such a ban in place.


date: November 24

text: November 24 – A declassified report by Swiss International Olympic Committee official Marc Hodler reveals that bribes had been used to bring the 2002 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City during bidding process in 1995. The IOC, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, the United States Olympic Committee and the United States Department of Justice immediately launch an investigation into the scandal.


date: January 23

text: January 23 – XXXTentacion, American rapper (d. 2018)

source_section: Births › January


date: February 15

text: February 15 – George Russell, British racing driver

source_section: Births › February


date: March 24

text: March 24 – Ethel Cain, American singer-songwriter, record producer, and model

source_section: Births › March


date: May 5

text: May 5 – Aryna Sabalenka, Belarusian tennis player

source_section: Births › May


date: May 6

text: May 6 – Luigi Mangione, perpetrator of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson


date: June 14

text: June 14 – Shayne Coplan, American businessman and founder of Polymarket

source_section: Births › June


date: August 12

text: August 12 – Stefanos Tsitsipas, Greek tennis player

source_section: Births › August


date: August 18

text: August 18 – Nick Fuentes, American far-right political commentator


text: August 18 – Tenshin Nasukawa, Japanese kickboxer and mixed martial artist


date: August 26

text: August 26 – Soyeon, South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer


date: September 18

text: September 18 – Christian Pulisic, American footballer

source_section: Births › September


date: September 21

text: September 21 – Tadej Pogačar, Slovenian cyclist


date: October 7

text: October 7 – Trent Alexander-Arnold, English footballer

source_section: Births › October


date: November 5

text: November 5 – Takehiro Tomiyasu, Japanese footballer

source_section: Births › November


date: February 3

text: February 3 – Cavalese cable car disaster: A United States military pilot causes the deaths of 20 people near Trento, Italy, when his low-flying EA-6B Prowler severs the cable of a cable-car.


date: September 14

text: September 14 - Failed coup attempt in Albania following the death of Azem Hajdari, a key leader of the Democratic Party of Albania


text: Ibrahim Hanna, the last native speaker of Mlahsô, dies in Qamishli, Syria, making the language effectively extinct. Also, the last native speaker of related Bijil Neo-Aramaic, Mrs. Rahel Avraham, dies in Jerusalem.


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Former Warsaw Pact members Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic join NATO.

source_section: Events › March


date: April 1

text: April 1 – Nunavut, an Inuit homeland, is created from the eastern portion of the Northwest Territories to become Canada's third territory.

source_section: Events › April


date: April 26

text: April 26 – Sultan Salahuddin of Selangor becomes the 11th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.


date: April 30

text: April 30 – Cambodia joins the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), bringing the total members to 10.


date: May 12

text: May 12 – David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (Speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.

source_section: Events › May


date: May 13

text: May 13 – Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is elected President of Italy.


date: May 17

text: May 17 – Ehud Barak is elected prime minister of Israel.


date: May 29

text: May 29 – Nigeria terminates military rule, and the Fourth Nigerian Republic is established with Olusegun Obasanjo as president.


date: June 9

text: June 9 – Kosovo War: Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty to end their hostilities.

source_section: Events › June


date: June 16

text: June 16 – Thabo Mbeki is inaugurated as the second president of South Africa, marking the first peaceful transfer of executive power in the country's post-democratization history.


date: September 12

text: September 12 – Under international pressure to allow an international peacekeeping force, Indonesian president BJ Habibie announces that he will do so.

source_section: Events › September


text: September 14 – Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations.


date: November 6

text: November 6 – Australians defeat a referendum proposing the replacement of the Queen and the Governor General with a President to make Australia a republic.

source_section: Events › November


date: November 23

text: November 23 – The National Assembly of Kuwait revokes a 1985 law that granted women's suffrage.


date: November 27

text: November 27 – The centre-left Labour Party takes control of the New Zealand Government, with leader Helen Clark becoming the second female Prime Minister in New Zealand's history.


date: December 20

text: December 20 – Handover of Macau: the Portuguese Republic transfers administration of Macau to the People's Republic of China after 442 years of Portuguese rule in the settlement.

source_section: Events › December


date: December 31

text: December 31 – With the Torrijos–Carter Treaties being put into effect on this day, Panama gains full control of the Canal.


text: December 31 – Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting president until a new election can be held.


date: February 16

text: February 16 – Across Europe, Kurdish protestors take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrests one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.

source_section: Events › February


text: February 16 – In Uzbekistan, an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov takes place at government headquarters.


date: February 23

text: February 23 – Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.


date: March 24

text: March 24 – NATO launches air strikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign state.


date: March 27

text: March 27 – Kosovo War: A U.S. Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is shot down by Yugoslav forces.


date: April 7

text: April 7 – Kosovo War: Kosovo's main border crossings are closed by Yugoslav forces to prevent Kosovo Albanians from leaving.


date: April 9

text: April 9 – Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, president of Niger, is assassinated.


date: April 14

text: April 14 – Kosovo War: NATO warplanes repeatedly bomb ethnic Albanian refugee convoys for 2 hours over a 12-mile stretch of road, after mistaking them for Yugoslav military trucks, between Đakovica and Dečani in western Kosovo, killing at least 73 refugees.


date: May 7

text: May 7 – Kosovo War: in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, three Chinese embassy workers are killed and 20 others wounded when a NATO B-2 aircraft bombs the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.


text: May 7 – In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.


date: May 26

text: May 26 – The 1999 UEFA Champions League final takes place at the Camp Nou Stadium, Barcelona, in which the English side Manchester United defeats the German side Bayern Munich 2–1.


text: May 26 – Kargil War: The Indian Air Force launches an attack on intruding Pakistan Army troops and mujahideen militants in Kashmir.


date: June 5

text: June 5 – The Islamic Salvation Army, the armed wing of the Islamic Salvation Front, agrees in principle to disband in Algeria.


date: June 10

text: June 10 – Kosovo War: NATO suspends its airstrikes after Slobodan Milošević agrees to withdraw Yugoslav forces from Kosovo.


date: June 12

text: June 12 – Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian/Operation Agricola begins: NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping forces KFOR enter Kosovo, Yugoslavia.


date: June 24

text: June 24 – Kosovo War: NATO marines shoot three gunmen in Kosovo, Yugoslavia after being attacked by the latter, killing one of them and injuring the other two.


date: July 11

text: July 11 – India recaptures Kargil, forcing the Pakistani army to retreat. India announces victory, ending the 2-month conflict.

source_section: Events › July


date: August 7

text: August 7 – Dagestan incursions: Hundreds of Chechen guerrillas invade the Russian republic of Dagestan, triggering the short war.

source_section: Events › August


date: August 10

text: August 10 – The Atlantique incident occurs as an intruding Pakistan Navy plane is shot down in India, sparking tensions between the two nations, a month after the end of the Kargil War.


date: August 19

text: August 19 – In Belgrade, tens of thousands of Yugoslavs rally to demand the resignation of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević.


date: August 30

text: August 30 – East Timor votes for independence from Indonesia (which had invaded and occupied it since 1975) in a referendum.


date: September 8

text: September 8 – The first of a series of Russian apartment bombings occurs. Subsequent bombings occur on September 13 and 16, while a bombing on September 22 fails.


date: October 12

text: October 12 – Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attempts to dismiss Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf, who is out of the country. The generals lead a coup d'état, ousting Sharif's administration, and Musharraf takes control of the government.

source_section: Events › October


date: October 27

text: October 27 – Armenian parliament shooting: Gunmen open fire in Armenia's National Assembly building, killing Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Parliament Chairman Karen Demirchyan, and six other members.


date: February 27

text: 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 aloft for 233 hours and 55 minutes.


date: March 21

text: March 21 – Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Shanghai Pudong International Airport opens in China, becoming the primary international airport serving Shanghai and taking over all international flights from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport.


date: December 3

text: December 3 – After rowing for 81 days and 5,486 kilometers (2,962 nautical miles), Tori Murden becomes the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by rowboat alone, when she reaches Guadeloupe from the Canary Islands.


date: March 15

text: March 15 – The Santer Commission of the EU resigns over allegations of corruption.


date: October 31

text: October 31 – The Catholic Church and several Lutheran Church leaders sign the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, attempting to resolve a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – The euro currency is established, and the European Central Bank assumes full powers.

source_section: Events › January


date: March 29

text: March 29 – For the first time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10,000 mark, at 10,006.78.


date: June 8

text: 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.


date: September 20

text: September 20 – Start of the 1999 Greek stock market crash.


date: March 24

text: March 24 – A fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel kills 39 people, closing the tunnel for nearly three years.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – Napster, a music downloading service, is created; it would later inspire other file-sharing sites such as The Pirate Bay, LimeWire, Gnutella, Kazaa, Morpheus, BearShare, and ΜTorrent 1999–2010 period which some called the "Second Golden Age of Piracy".


date: June 2

text: June 2 – The King of Bhutan allows television transmissions to commence in the Kingdom for the first time, coinciding with the King's Silver Jubilee.


date: July 15

text: July 15 – T-Mobile Park (formerly known as Safeco Field) opens for the first time.


date: August 26

text: August 26 – WWE introduce their secondary program, SmackDown, which started its broadcast on UPN.


date: January 3

text: January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA.


date: February 11

text: February 11 – Pluto moves along its eccentric orbit further from the Sun than Neptune. It had been nearer than Neptune since 1979, and will become again in 2231.


date: May 27

text: May 27 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-96, the first shuttle mission to dock with the International Space Station.


date: June 25

text: June 25 – Bosnia and Herzegovina gets a new national anthem.


date: July 20

text: July 20 – Mercury program: Liberty Bell 7 – piloted by Gus Grissom in 1961 – is raised from the Atlantic Ocean.


date: July 23

text: July 23 – NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is launched.


date: August 11

text: August 11 – A total solar eclipse is seen in Europe and Asia.


date: September 9

text: September 9 – Sega releases the Dreamcast in North America, marking the launch of its final home video game console.


date: September 23

text: September 23 – NASA permanently loses contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter during orbital insertion around Mars, resulting in the spacecraft's loss and the failure of the mission.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – China launches the first Shenzhou spacecraft.


date: December 3

text: December 3 – NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander, moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.


date: December 9

text: December 9 – The hormone Ghrelin is discovered and named.


date: December 18

text: December 18 – NASA launches the Terra platform into orbit, carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.


date: March 26

text: March 26 – The Melissa virus attacks the Internet.


date: July 18

text: July 18 – MLB Pitcher David Cone of the New York Yankees, throws the 16th perfect game in Major League Baseball history.


text: July 20 – Falun Gong is banned in the People's Republic of China under Jiang Zemin.


date: February 12

text: February 12 – U.S. President Bill Clinton is acquitted in impeachment proceedings in the United States Senate.


date: April 5

text: 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.


date: April 26

text: April 26 – British TV presenter Jill Dando, 37, is shot dead on the doorstep of her home in Fulham, London.


text: 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.


date: May 28

text: May 28 – Two Swedish police officers are wounded by bank robbers armed with automatic firearms, and later executed with their own service pistols in Malexander, Sweden.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – Europol (short for European Police Office) the European Union's criminal intelligence agency becomes fully operational.


text: July 23 – Fourteen Kosovar Serb villagers are killed by ethnic Albanian gunmen in the village of Staro Gračko.


date: October 12

text: October 12 – Murder of Björn Söderberg in Stockholm, Sweden by neo-fascists.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – One of four bombs detonated in Lusaka, Zambia, which destroys the Angolan Embassy.


text: 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.


date: May 9

text: May 9 – Mother's Day bus crash: a charter bus veers off the roadway before colliding with a dirk embankment in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, killing 22 passengers and injuring another 22.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – American Airlines Flight 1420 crash lands after overrunning the runway at Little Rock National Airport, killing 11 of the 145 people on board.


date: June 30

text: June 30 – Twenty-three people die in a fire at the Sealand Youth Training Center in South Korea.


date: July 14

text: July 14 – the Big Blue crane collapse happened during the construction of Miller Park, killing three iron workers.


date: July 27

text: July 27 – Twenty-one people die in a canyoning disaster at the Saxetenbach Gorge near Interlaken, Switzerland.


date: July 31

text: July 31 – NASA intentionally crashes the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the lunar surface.


date: September 3

text: September 3 – The 1999 Ontario Highway 401 crash occurs, involving 87 vehicles and killing 8.


date: October 5

text: October 5 – Thirty-one people die in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash, west of London, England.


date: October 30

text: October 30 – 1999 Incheon bar fire: A bar catches fire in Incheon, South Korea, killing 56 people.


date: October 31

text: October 31 – EgyptAir Flight 990, travelling from New York City to Cairo, crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts killing all 217 on board.


date: October

text: The Croatian cargo ship Borak, sailing from Koromačno to Solin and transporting cement, sank near Sestrica Vela after its cargo shifted because of bad weather. Two crew members (Valter Cimera and Stjepan Španić) lost their lives, while the other three (Ante Jureško, owner and captain of the ship, his son Slavko, as well as Muhamed Čeliković) were rescued by Damir Badžim (from Šibenik) and Slaviša Malešević (refugee from Bosnia and Herzegovina).


date: December 24

text: December 24 – Indian Airlines Flight 814 was hijacked on 24 December 1999 by five members of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen in what was considered to be India's worst and last plane hijacking


date: January 25

text: January 25 – The 6.2 Colombia earthquake strikes western Colombia, killing at least 1,900 people.


date: February 23

text: February 23 – 1999 Galtür avalanche: An avalanche destroys the village of Galtür, Austria, killing 31.


date: May 3

text: May 3 – 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak: a devastating tornado, rated F5 on the Fujita scale, hits southern and eastern Oklahoma City metropolitan area, killing 36 people (and 5 indirectly) and producing the highest winds recorded on Earth: 301 ± 20.


date: July 22

text: July 22–25 – Woodstock '99 was held in Rome, New York at former Griffiss Air Force Base, which was marred with difficult environmental conditions, poor sanitation, overpriced food and water, looting, violence, rapes, riots and several deaths.


date: August 17

text: August 17 – The 7.6 İzmit earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving more than 17,000 dead and around 50,000 injured.


date: September 7

text: September 7 – The 6.0 Athens earthquake hits with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 143, injuring 800–1,600, and leaving 50,000 homeless.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – The 7.7 921 earthquake (also known as the Jiji earthquake) affects central Taiwan with a maximum Mercali intensity of X (Extreme) leaving 2,400 people dead and more than 11,000 injured.


date: October 29

text: October 29 – 1999 Odisha cyclone: A super cyclonic storm impacts Orissa, India, killing approximately 10,000 people.


date: November 12

text: November 12 – The 7.2 Düzce earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 845 people are killed and almost 5,000 are injured.


date: November 26

text: November 26 – The 7.5 Ambrym earthquake shakes Vanuatu and a destructive tsunami follows, killing 10 and injuring 40.


date: December 26

text: December 26 – Cyclone Lothar kills 140 people as it crosses France, southern Germany, and Switzerland.


date: December 27

text: December 27 – A day after Cyclone Lothar, Cyclone Martin causes additional damage throughout France, Spain, Switzerland and Italy, including an emergency due to flooding at the Blayais Nuclear Power Plant.


date: January 10

text: January 10 – American crime drama series The Sopranos premieres on HBO, beginning what many commentators describe as the second “Golden Age of Television”.


date: March 21

text: March 21 – The 71st Academy Awards are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles with Shakespeare in Love winning Best Picture.


date: March 28

text: March 28 – The adult animated sitcom Futurama premiered on Fox.


date: May 1

text: May 1 – Children's animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants premieres on Nickelodeon.


date: May 14

text: May 14–June 20 – The 1999 Cricket World Cup is held in England, (some matches in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and the Netherlands), with Australia defeating Pakistan in the final.


date: May 28

text: May 28 – After 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper is placed back on display in Milan, Italy.


date: June 18

text: June 18 – The J18 international anti-globalization protests are organized in dozens of cities around the world, some of which led to riots.


date: June 19

text: June 19 – Turin, Italy, is awarded the 2006 Winter Olympics.


date: June 20

text: June 20 – Australia defeats Pakistan by 8 wickets at Lord's Cricket Ground in London in the 1999 Cricket World Cup Final, securing their second World Cup title.


date: July 7

text: July 7 – In Rome, Hicham El Guerrouj runs the fastest mile ever recorded, at 3:43.13.


date: July 10

text: July 10 – American soccer player Brandi Chastain scores the game winning penalty kick against China in the final of the FIFA Women's World Cup.


date: October 1

text: October 1–November 6 – The 1999 Rugby World Cup, the first World Cup in the professional era of rugby is held in Wales and is won by Australia who beat France in the final.


date: October 25

text: October 25 – Telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea debuts on RCN Televisión in Colombia. It will give rise to Ugly Betty and at least a dozen other versions worldwide.


date: December 5

text: December 5 – Bolivian municipal elections, the first election contested by Evo Morales' Movimiento al Socialismo.


date: December 31

text: December 31 – Millennium celebrations: A series of worldwide celebrations mark the end of 1999 and the beginning of the year 2000, popularly regarded as the start of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, with fireworks displays, concerts, and public festivities held across the globe.


date: February 7

text: February 7 – Abdullah II inherits the throne of Jordan, following the death of his father, King Hussein.


date: May 23

text: May 23 – The WWF pay-per-view event Over the Edge takes place at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. The event is tragically remembered for the accidental death of wrestler Owen Hart during a stunt.


date: July 16

text: July 16 – John F. Kennedy Jr. dies in a plane crash off Martha's Vineyard.


date: July 23

text: July 23 – Mohammed VI of Morocco becomes king upon the death of his father Hassan II.


year_label: 2 CE

text: AD 2 – Juba II of Mauretania joins Gaius Caesar in Armenia as a military advisor. It is during this period that he meets Glaphyra, a Cappadocian princess and the former wife of Alexandros of Judea, a brother of Herod Archelaus, ethnarch of Judea, and becomes enamoured with her.

source_section: Events › Africa