1999

Year '1999' ('MCMXCIX') was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar).
The year 1999 was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations.

Events of 1999

Ongoing

★ Kosovo War

★ Y2K preparation was a major event in 1999 both in actual events and in media over-reporting.

★ The human population of the world surpassed six billion. The United Nations Population Fund designated October 12 as the approximate date for this event.

January

★ January 1 - European currency, the Euro, is introduced, locking the exchange rates of member state currencies.

★ January 2 - A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern United States, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and 19 inches (487 mm) at Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, temperatures plunge to -13°F (-25°C), and 68 deaths are reported.

★ January 4 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in a mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 16 people and injuring 25.

★ January 5 - Apple Computer releases the Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White).

★ January 10 - A large piece of the chalk cliff at Beachy Head collapses into the sea.

★ January 13 - After 13 years of playing NBA basketball, superstar Michael Jordan announces his second retirement from basketball.

★ January 20 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet cafes.

★ January 21 - War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 9,500 pounds (4.3 t) of cocaine aboard, headed for Houston, Texas.

★ January 25 - A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia, killing at least 1,000.

February

Orbit of Pluto - polar view.

★ February 4 - Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by NYC police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.

★ February 5 - Mike Tyson is sentenced to a year's imprisonment, fined $5,000, and ordered to serve 2 years probation and perform 200 hours of community service for the August 31, 1998 assault on 2 people after a car accident.

★ February 7 - King Hussein of Jordan dies from cancer, and his son Abdullah II inherits the throne.

★ February 10 - Avalanches in the French Alps near Geneva kill at least 10.

★ February 11 - Pluto, a dwarf planet with an eccentric orbit, moves further from the Sun than Neptune. It had been nearer than Neptune since 1979, and will become again in 2231.

★ February 16 - In Uzbekistan, an apparent assassination attempt against President Islom Karimov takes place at government headquarters.

★ February 16 - Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrests one of their rebel leaders.

★ February 16 - In Jasper, Texas, testimony begins in the trial of John William King who is accused of dragging African American James Byrd Jr. to death in an apparent hate crime. King is later convicted and sentenced to the death penalty.

★ February 21 - The Albertinkatu shootings in Helsinki, Finland: Three men are killed and 1 wounded at a shooting range.

★ February 22 - Moderate Iraqi Shiite cleric Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr is assassinated.

★ February 23 - Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.

★ February 23 - White supremacist John William King is found guilty of kidnapping and killing African American James Byrd Jr. by dragging him behind a truck for 2 miles (3 km).

★ February 23 - An avalanche destroys the village of Galtür, Austria, killing 31.

★ February 24 - LaGrand Case: The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery that led to a death. Karl's brother Walter is executed a week later, in spite of Germany's legal action in the International Court of Justice to attempt to save him.

★ February 27 - While trying to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon, Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new endurance record after being in a hot air balloon for 233 hours and 55 minutes.

March

★ March 1 - One of 4 bombs detonated in Lusaka, Zambia, destroys the Angolan Embassy.

★ March 1 - Rwandan Hutu rebels kill and hack to pieces 8 foreign tourists at the Buhoma homestead, Uganda.

★ March 1 - The Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines comes into force.

★ March 3 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones begin their attempt to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon without stopping.

★ March 3 - Walter LaGrand is executed in the gas chamber.

★ March 4 - In a military court, United States Marine Corps Captain Richard Ashby is acquitted of the charge of reckless flying which resulted in the deaths of 20 skiers in the Italian Alps, when his low-flying jet hit a gondola cable.

★ March 12 - Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic join NATO.

★ March 15 - In Brussels, Belgium, the Santer Commission resigns over allegations of corruption.

★ March 17 - The Roth IRA is introduced by U.S. Senator William V. Roth, Jr.

★ March 20 - Serbs launch an offensive in Kosovo.

★ March 21 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.

★ March 22 - U.S. pro-euthanasia doctor Jack Kevorkian goes on trial for murder in Pontiac, Michigan.

★ March 23 - Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña.

★ March 24 - NATO launches air strikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which refused to sign a peace treaty. This marks the first time NATO attacked a sovereign country.

★ March 24 - Fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel kills 39 people, closing the tunnel for nearly three years.

★ March 25 - Enron energy traders allegedly route 2,900 megawatts of electricity destined for California to the town of Silver Peak, Nevada, population 200.

★ March 26 - The Melissa worm attacks the Internet.

★ March 26 - A Michigan jury finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man (an incident videotaped and aired on the September 17, 1998 edition of ''60 Minutes'').

★ March 27 - Kosovo War: A U.S. F-117 Nighthawk is shot down by Serbian forces.

★ March 29 - For the first time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10,000 mark, at 10,006.78.

★ March 29 - UConn defeats Duke, despite overwhelming predictions to the contrary, for the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.

April

Map of Nunavut

★ April 1 - Nunavut, an Inuit homeland, is created from the eastern portion of Northwest Territories to become Canada's third, and final territory.

★ April 5 - Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 are handed over to Scottish authorities for eventual trial in the Netherlands. The United Nations suspends sanctions against Libya.

★ April 5 - In Laramie, Wyoming, Russell Henderson pleads guilty to kidnapping and felony murder, in order to avoid a possible death penalty conviction for the apparent hate crime killing of Matthew Shepard.

★ April 7 - Kosovo War: Kosovo's main border crossings are closed by Serbian forces to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving.

★ April 7 - A bomb explodes at the Valley of the Fallen Church in Spain; GRAPO claims responsibility.

★ April 9 - Ibrahim Baré Maînassara, president of Niger, is assassinated.

★ April 13 - Tercentenary celebrations of the creation of the Sikh, Khalsa.

★ April 17 - A nail bomb explodes in the middle of a busy market in Brixton, South London.

★ April 18 - "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky plays his final National Hockey League game.

★ April 19 - The US Navy kills a civilian guard in the Naval Base at Vieques, an island east of Puerto Rico which the Navy has used since 1943. The death of the civilian officer sparks off a civil disobedience campaign throughout the island of Puerto Rico to protest the presence of the Navy on the island.

★ April 20 - Columbine High School massacre: Two Littleton, Colorado teenagers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, open fire on their teachers and classmates, killing 12 students and 1 teacher, and then themselves.

Columbine High School massacre

★ April 25 - The term of Tuanku Jaafar ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman as the 10th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia ends.

★ April 26 - Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah Al-Haj, Sultan of Selangor, becomes the 11th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

★ April 26 - British T.V presenter Jill Dando, 37, is shot dead on the doorstep of her home in Fulham, London.

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

★ April 30 - A third nail bomb (see April 17) explodes in the Admiral Duncan pub in Old Compton Street, Soho, London, killing a pregnant woman and two friends and injuring 70 others, including her husband. This is part of a hate campaign against ethnic minorities and gay people by David Copeland.

May

★ May 2 - Norman J. Sirnic and Karen Sirnic are murdered by the serial killer Angel Maturino Resendiz in a parsonage in Weimar, Texas (his fourth and fifth victims in his fourth slaying incident).

★ May 3 - Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak: A F5 tornado slams into Moore, Oklahoma, killing 38 people - the second strongest tornado ever recorded in United States history.

★ May 3 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 11,000 for the first time, at 11,014.70.

★ May 6 - Elections are held in Scotland and Wales for the new Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales.

★ May 7 - A jury finds ''The Jenny Jones Show'' and Warner Bros. liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure, after the show purposely deceived Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a secret same-sex crush episode.

★ May 7 - Kosovo War: In the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 3 Chinese embassy workers are killed and 20 wounded, when a NATO aircraft mistakenly bombs the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.

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

★ May 8 - Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to graduate from The Military College of South Carolina.

★ May 8 - Jimmy Glass scores the goal that keeps Carlisle United in the Football League.

★ May 12 - David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (Speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.

★ May 13 - Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is elected President of Italy.

★ May 17 - Ehud Barak is elected prime minister of Israel.

★ May 26 - The Indian Air Force launches an attack on intruding Pakistan Army troops and mujahadeen militants in Kashmir.

★ May 26 - The first Welsh Assembly in over 600 years opens in Cardiff.

★ May 26 - Manchester United wins the UEFA Champions League at the Nou Camp stadium, Barcelona, beating Bayern Munich to lift their third major trophy of the season, after winning the English Premier League and FA Cup, an unprecedented feat for a single season.

★ May 27 - The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.

★ May 28 - The Swedish police officers Robert Karlström and Olov Borén gets wounded by three bank robbers armed with automatic weapons and later executed with their own service pistols by shots in the head from close distance on the scene in Malexander.

★ May 28 - After 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo de Vinci’s "The Last Supper" is placed back on display in Milan, Italy.

★ May 29 - Cathy O'Dowd, a South African mountaineer, becomes the first woman to summit Mount Everest from both the north and south sides.

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

June

the original iBook

★ June 1 - Napster debuts.

★ June 2 - After decades of fighting off outside technological influences like television, the King of Bhutan allows television transmissions to commence in the Kingdom for the first time, coinciding with the King's Silver Jubilee (see Bhutan Broadcasting Service).

★ June 5 - The Islamic Salvation Army, the armed wing of the Islamic Salvation Front, agrees in principle to disband in Algeria.

★ June 6 - In Brazil, 345 prisoners escape from Putim prison through the front gate.

★ June 8 - The government of Colombia announces it will include the estimated value of the country's illegal drug crops, exceeding half a billion US dollars, in its gross national product.

★ June 9 - Kosovo War: The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty.

★ June 10 - Kosovo War: NATO suspends its air strikes after Slobodan Milošević agrees to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo.

★ June 12 - Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian begins - NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping forces KFOR enter the province of Kosovo in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

★ June 12 - Texas Governor George W. Bush announces he will seek the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States.

★ June 15 - George Morber Senior and Carolyn Frederick are murdered by Angel Maturino Resendiz in Gorham, Illinois (his 8th and 9th victims, in his 7th and final incident).

★ June 16 - Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras wins the Libertadores Cup.

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

★ June 19 - The Dallas Stars defeat the Buffalo Sabres in triple overtime of game six of the Stanley Cup Finals to win their first Stanley Cup. Brett Hull scores the controversial cup-winning goal to seal the victory.

★ June 19 - Stephen King is hit in a car accident on Route 5 in North Lovell, Maine by Bryan Smith.

★ June 21 - Apple Computer releases the first iBook.

★ June 25 - The San Antonio Spurs defeat the New York Knicks 78-77 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to take home the title in a strike-shortened season.

July

NASA's Lunar Prospector

★ July 2 - Benjamin Nathaniel Smith begins a 3-day killing spree targeting racial and ethnic minorities in Illinois and Indiana, USA.

★ July 5 - U.S. Army Pfc. Barry Winchell is bludgeoned in his sleep at Fort Campbell, Kentucky by fellow soldiers; he dies the next day from his injuries.

★ July 7 - In Rome, Hicham El Guerrouj runs the fastest mile ever recorded - a mere 3:43:13.

★ July 11 - India recaptures Kargil, forcing the Pakistan Army to retreat. India announces victory ending the two-month conflict.

★ July 16 - Off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, a plane piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr. crashes, killing him and his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her sister Lauren Bessette.

★ July 18 - David Cone pitches a perfect game, the 16th in history, as the Yankees defeat the Montreal Expos, 6-0, to celebrate Yogi Berra Day.

★ July 20 - Mercury program: Liberty Bell 7 is raised from the Atlantic Ocean.

★ July 22 - Persecution of Falun Gong begins. Falun Gong was banned in the People's Republic of China under Jiang Zemin.

★ July 22 - The first version of MSN Messenger is released by Microsoft.

★ July 23 - ANA Flight 61 is hijacked in Tokyo.

★ July 23 - Mohammed VI of Morocco becomes king upon the death of his father Hassan II.

★ July 23-July 25 - The Woodstock 99 festival is held in New York.

★ July 25 - Lance Armstrong wins his first Tour de France.

★ July 26 - The last Checker taxi cab is retired in New York City and auctioned off for approximately $135,000.

★ July 27 - Twenty-one people die in a canyoning disaster near Interlaken, Switzerland.

★ July 31 - Mark O. Barton kills 9 in Atlanta, Georgia.

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

August

★ August 7 - Hundreds of Chechen guerrillas invade the Russian republic of Dagestan, triggering a short war.

★ August 8 - The first Callatis Festival, the largest music & culture festival in Romania, is held.

★ August 9 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet.

★ August 10 - Buford O. Furrow, Jr. wounds 5 and kills 1 during the August 1999 Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting.

★ August 10 - The Atlantique Incident occurs as an intruding Pakistan Navy plane is shot down in India. The incident sparks tensions between the 2 nations, coming just a month after the end of the Kargil War.

★ August 11 - A total solar eclipse is seen in Europe and Asia.

★ August 11 - An F-2 tornado rips through downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, killing 1 person and injuring over 100.

★ August 13 - Steffi Graf announces her retirement from tennis after a 17 year career in which she won 107 career titles including 22 Grand Slams.

★ August 17 - 1999 İzmit earthquake: A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes İzmit and levels much of northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000. This is the first of a long series of unrelated but frequent earthquakes throughout the world during the years 1999 and 2000.

★ August 19 - In Belgrade, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević.

★ August 22 - Mandarin Airlines Flight 642 crashes in Hong Kong.

★ August 26 - Michael Johnson captures the 400 M. world record.

★ August 31 - Apple Computer releases the Power Macintosh G4.

September

Sega Dreamcast

★ September 7 - A magnitude 5.9 earthquake hits Athens, killing 143 people and injuring more than 500.

★ September 7 - Viacom-CBS merger

★ 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.

★ September 9 - Sega releases the Dreamcast video game console worldwide (on 9/9/99), breaking video game and entertainment sales records in the first 24 hours.

★ September 11 - Eric Milton of the Minnesota Twins pitches a 7-0 no-hitter against the Anaheim Angels.

★ September 14 - Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations.

★ September 21 - The Chi-Chi earthquake with magnitude 7.6 on the Richter scale kills about 2,400 people in central Taiwan.

October

★ October 1 - Pudong International Airport opens in Shanghai, China, taking over all international flights to Hongqiao.

Mars Climate Orbiter during tests

★ October - NASA loses one of its probes, the Mars Climate Orbiter.

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

★ October 10 - Elections are held in Portugal.

★ October 12 - Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attempts to dismiss Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf and install ISI director Khwaja Ziauddin in his place. Senior Army generals refuse to accept the dismissal. Musharraf, who was out of the country, attempts to return in a commercial airliner. Sharif orders the Karachi airport to not allow the plane to land. The generals lead a coup d'état, ousting Sharif's administration and taking over the airport. The plane lands with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and Musharraf takes control of the government.

★ October 12 - World population reached 6 billion people, as the six billionth person (according to the UN) is born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

★ October 13 - The United States Senate rejects ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

★ October 15 - A National Geographic Society press conference reveals the fossil of ''Archaeoraptor'' (which is later found to be a forgery).

★ October 27 - Gunmen open fire in the Armenian Parliament, killing Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian, Parliament Chairman Karen Demirchian, and 6 other members.

★ October 27 - The New York Yankees complete a 4-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves to win their second consecutive World Series.

★ October 31 - EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board. When the pilot leaves the cockpit, the co-pilot causes the Boeing 767 to enter a steep dive, resulting in impact with the Atlantic Ocean.

★ October 31 - Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran Church leaders sign the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, ending a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.

November

Helen Clark.

★ November 5 - United States v. Microsoft: U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issues a preliminary ruling that the software company Microsoft has "monopoly power" (on April 3, 2000 Jackson finds that Microsoft violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act).

★ November 6 - Australians vote to keep the monarch as their head of state.

★ November 9 - TAESA Flight 725 crashes a few minutes after leaving the Uruapan airport en-route to Mexico City; 18 people are killed in the accident.

★ November 11 - A six-story apartment building collapses in Italian city of Foggia killing more than 60 residents.

★ November 12 - A 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes Duzce and northwestern Turkey, killing 845 and injuring 4,948.

★ November 12 - British rock star Gary Glitter, 54, is jailed for 4 months after being found guilty of possessing child pornography.

★ November 18 - In College Station, Texas, 12 are killed and 28 injured at Texas A&M University when the annual Aggie Bonfire collapses while under construction.

★ November 19 - John Carpenter becomes the first top prize winner of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' and breaks the record of the largest single win on a United States game show.

★ November 19 - In Istanbul, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ends a two-day summit by calling for a political settlement in Chechnya and adopting a Charter for European Security.

★ November 20 - The People's Republic of China launches the first Shenzhou spacecraft.

★ November 22 - Wayne Gretzky is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, his number 99 permanently retired by the National Hockey League.

★ November 26 - An earthquake and tsunami strike Vanuatu.

★ November 26 - The Norwegian passenger ferry ''MS Sleipner'' sinks, killing 16 people on board.

★ November 27 - The New Zealand Labour Party, led by Helen Clark, wins office in a General Election, unseating the incumbent administration of Jenny Shipley.

★ November 28 - A man wielding a samurai sword enters St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Thornton Heath and injures 11.

★ November 28 - Jorge Batlle, of the Colorado Party, is elected president of Uruguay.

★ November 30 - In Seattle, Washington, the first major mobilization of the anti-globalization movement catches police unprepared and forces the cancellation of the opening ceremonies of the WTO Meeting of 1999 (protests end on December 3).

★ November 30 - Exxonmobil Corporation merger was completed, and formed the largest company in the world.

December

The Millennium Dome opens in London.

★ December 2 - The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.

★ December 3 - After rowing for 81 days and 2,962 nautical miles (5486 km), Tori Murden becomes the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by rowboat alone, when she reaches Guadeloupe from the Canary Islands.

★ December 3 - NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander, moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.

★ December 12 - President Lt. General Umar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir of Sudan dismisses the National Assembly, during an internal power struggle between him and speaker of the Parliament Hasan al-Turabi.

★ December 14 - Algerian Ahmed Ressam is arrested while crossing the United States-Canada border at Port Angeles, Washington, when United States Customs finds explosives in the trunk of his automobile. The arrest causes fears of a terrorist attack in the United States, and is a major factor in the cancellation of a public New Year's celebration in Seattle, Washington. Ressam is later convicted in a plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve.

★ December 15 - Torrential rains cause catastrophic floods and mudslides in the coastal regions of Venezuela, killing an estimated 25,000 people and leaving 100,000 others homeless.

★ December 17 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) is created to replace UNSCOM. The U.N. Security Council once again orders Iraq to allow inspections teams immediate and unconditional access to any weapons sites and facilities. Iraq rejects the resolution.

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

★ December 20 - Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.

★ December 20 - The Vermont Supreme Court orders the state to legalize same-sex unions.

★ December 21-December 22 - The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts near Calatayud (Zaragoza) a Madrid-bound van driven by ETA and loaded with 950 kg of explosives. The next day, another van loaded with 750 kg is found not far from there. The incident is known as ''la caravana de la muerte'' (the caravan of death). Shortly after 9/11, ETA confirms their plan had been to blow down Torre Picasso.

★ December 24 - Indian Airlines Flight 814, en route from Kathmandu, Nepal to Delhi, India is hijacked and taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

★ December 29 - In Henley-on-Thames, England, former Beatle George Harrison is stabbed several times in the chest by Michael Anram, who had broken into his home. Harrison's wife wrestles the knife out of the assailant's hand before the police arrive. The man apparently believes that Harrison is the devil. He is later charged with attempted murder.

★ December 31 - Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, to be replaced by Vladimir Putin.

★ December 31 - Five hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed.

★ December 31 - Millennium celebrations begin worldwide (although technically the third millennium starts in 2001 not 2000). Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom opens the Millennium Dome at Greenwich, London.

★ December 31 - Years of growing concern about serious Y2K date-handling problems with computer systems reach the moment of truth.

★ December 31 - US turns over complete administration of the Panama Canal to the Panamanian Government as stipulated in the Torrijos-Carter Treaty of 1977 free of liens and debts, in good operation and with a $1billion investment progran in place designed to ensure continued first class service to the maritime world. At the transfer, more than 97 percent of the Canal's 9,000 workers are Panamanian.

Births

★ May 25 - Maisy McLeod-Riera, actress

★ July 1 - Charles Armstrong-Jones

★ August 28 - Prince Nikolai of Denmark

★ September 29 - Juan Urdangarín y de Borbón, grandson of King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

★ October 15 - Bailee Madison, American actress