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- For the song, see 1999 (song)
1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. 1999 was the year of Cancer, the Crab in traditional astrology. In the Chinese Calendar it is the Year of the Hare.
Events
- January 1 - Euro currency introduced.
- January 1 - An avalanche destroys a school gymnasium during New Year celebrations in Kangiqsualujjuaq in far northern Quebec, killing nine.
- January 2 - A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern USA, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and 19 inches (487 mm) at Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, temperatures plunge to -13°F (-25°C), and 68 deaths are reported.
- January 4 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque killing 16 people and injuring 25.
- January 5 - Apple Computer releases the Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White).
- January 12 - The remains of Christina Marie Williams were found three miles (5 km) from her home on the old Fort Ord military base.
- January 12 Britney Spears debut album release.
- January 13 - After thirteen years of playing NBA basketball, NBA superstar Michael Jordan announces his second retirement from basketball.
- January 20 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet cafes.
- January 21 - War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 9,500 pounds (4.3 t) of cocaine aboard. The ship was headed for Houston, Texas.
- January 25 - A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000
- January 31 - The Denver Broncos win their second consecutive Super Bowl, defeating the Atlanta Falcons, 34-19, in Super Bowl XXXIII.
- February 4 - Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
- February 5 - Mike Tyson is sentenced to a year's imprisonment, fined $5,000, and ordered to serve 2 years probation and perform 200 hours of community service for the August 31, 1998 assault on two people after a car accident.
- February 7 - King Hussein of Jordan dies from cancer, and his son Abdullah II inherits the throne.
- February 10 - Avalanches in the French Alps near Geneva kill at least ten.
- February 11 - Pluto, a planet with an eccentric orbit, changes from the eighth to ninth planet furthest from the Sun. It had been the eighth furthest since 1979, and will become again in 2231.
- February 12 - President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial
- February 12 - John Myatt and John Drewe are sentenced for art forgery for one and six years, respectively.
- February 15 - Rapper Big L, real name Lamont Coleman, is shot and killed with 7 bullets to the head and chest just blocks from his home in Harlem.
- February 16 - In Uzbekistan a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov.
- February 16 - Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.
- February 16 - In Jasper, Texas, testimony begins in the trial of John William King who is accused of dragging African American James Byrd Jr. to death in an apparent hate crime. King was later convicted and sentenced to the death penalty.
- February 21 - The Albertinkatu shootings in Helsinki, Finland: Three men are killed and one is wounded at a shooting range.
- February 22 - Moderate Iraqi Shiite cleric Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr is assassinated.
- February 23 - Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
- February 23 - White supremacist John William King is found guilty of kidnapping and killing African American James Byrd Jr by dragging him behind a truck for two miles (3 km).
- February 23 - An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.
- February 24 - LaGrand Case: The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery that led to a death. Karl's brother Walter is executed a week later, in spite of Germany's legal action in the International Court of Justice to attempt to save him.
- February 27 - While trying to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon, Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new endurance record after being in a hot air balloon for 233 hours and 55 minutes.
- February 27 - Olusegun Obasanjo becomes Nigeria's first elected president since mid-1983.
- March 1 - One of four bombs detonated in Lusaka, Zambia, destroys the Angolan Embassy.
- March 1 - Rwandan Hutu rebels kill and hack to pieces eight foreign tourists at the Buhoma homestead, Uganda
- March 1 - The Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines comes into force.
- March 3 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones begin their attempt to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon without stopping. Their journey ended in success on March 21.
- March 3 - Karl LaGrand is executed by means of gas chamber.
- March 4 - Monica Lewinsky's book detailing her affair with Bill Clinton goes on sale in the United States
- March 4 - In a military court, Captain Richard Ashby of the United States Marines is acquitted of the charge of reckless flying which resulted in the deaths of twenty skiers in the Italian Alps when his low-flying jet hit a gondola cable.
- March 12 - Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic join NATO.
- March 15 - The European Commission under the presidency of Jacques Santer resigns over allegations of corruption.
- March 16 - The game EverQuest is released.
- March 17 - The Roth 401(k) is introduced by U.S. Senator William Roth, Jr.
- March 20 - Serbs launch an offensive in Kosovo
- March 21 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.
- March 22 - US pro-euthanasia doctor Jack Kevorkian goes on trial for murder in Pontiac, Michigan. He is later convicted of second-degree murder
- March 23 - Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña
- March 24 - NATO launches air strikes in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which was refusing to sign a peace treaty. This marks the first time NATO attacked a sovereign country
- March 24 - Fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel kills thirty nine people, closing the tunnel for nearly three years.
- March 25 - Enron energy traders allegedly route 2,900 megawatts of electricity destined for California to the town of Silver Peak, Nevada, population 200.
- March 26 - The Melissa worm attacks the Internet.
- March 26 - A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man (the incident was videotaped and aired on September 17, 1998 edition of 60 Minutes)
- March 29 - For the first time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10000 mark at 10006.78.
- March 29 - UConn defeats Duke, despite overwhelming predictions to the contrary, for the NCAA championship in men's basketball.
- March 31 - The Matrix, first episode of the Matrix trilogy movies, is released in theaters.
- April 1 - Nunavut, an Inuit homeland, part of the Northwest Territories becomes Canada's third territory.
- April 5 - Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 are handed over to Scottish authorities for eventual trial in the Netherlands. The United Nations suspends sanctions against Libya
- April 5 - In Laramie, Wyoming, Russell Henderson pleads guilty to kidnapping and felony murder in order to avoid a possible death penalty conviction for the apparent hate crime killing of Matthew Shepard
- April 7 - Kosovo War: Kosovo's main border crossings are closed by Serbian forces to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving
- April 7 - Bomb explodes in the Valley of the Fallen church in Spain - GRAPO claims responsibility
- April 9 - Ibrahim Baré Maînassara, president of Niger, is assassinated
- April 17 - A nail bomb explodes in the middle of a busy market in Brixton, South London
- April 18 - "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky plays his final game in the NHL.
- April 19 - MySpace.com was officially introduced to the Internet, though MySpace-beta had been around since 1998
- May 18 - The Backstreet Boys release their album, Millennium.
- May 19 - The Phantom Menace is released in theaters.
- May 20 - Bluetooth announced.
- May 23 - In Kansas City, Missouri, wrestler Owen Hart (Blue Blazer) falls 90 feet (30 m) to his death while being lowered into a World Wrestling Federation ring during WWF Over the Edge.
- May 26 - Indian Air Force launches attack on intruding Pakistan army and mujahideen militants in Kashmir.
- May 26 - Manchester United win the UEFA Champions League at the Nou Camp stadium, Barcelona, beating Bayern Munich to lift their third major trophy in their unprecedented Treble, after winning the English Premier League and FA Cup.
- May 26 - Madejczyk Massacre Averted, Bridgman, Michigan school shooting plot
- May 26 - First Welsh Assembly for over 600 years opens in Cardiff
- May 27 - The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo
- May 28 - In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo de Vinci's newly-restored masterpiece "The Last Supper" is put back on display.
- May 31 - Nigeria gets a democratic president in Olusegun Obasanjo
- June 1 - The initial release of Napster, arguably changing the face of the music industry forever.
- June 1 - 'solid - the socialist youth is formed in Hannover, Germany
- June 2 - After decades of fighting off outside technological influences like television, the King of Bhutan allows television transmissions to commence in the Kingdom for the first time, coinciding with the King's silver jubilee (see Bhutan Broadcasting Service).
- June 5 - The AIS, the armed wing of FIS, agrees in principle to disband in Algeria.
- June 6 - In Brazil, 345 prisoners escape from Putim prison through the front gate.
- June 8 - The government of Colombia announces it will include the estimated value of the country's illegal drug crops, exceeding half a billion US dollars, in its gross national product.
- June 9 - Kosovo War: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty.
- June 10 - Kosovo War: NATO suspends its air strikes after Slobodan Milošević agrees to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo.
- June 12 - Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian begins - NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping force KFOR enter the province of Kosovo in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
- June 12 - Texas Governor George W. Bush announces his intention to seek the Republican Party's nomination for President of the United States.
- June 15 - George Morber Senior and Carolyn Frederick are murdered by Angel Maturino Resendiz in Gorham, Illinois. They are his eighth and ninth victims, in his seventh and final incident.
- June 15 - The White Stripes release thier self titled debut album.
- June 18 - The J18 international anti-globalization protests was organized in dozens of cities around the world, some of which led to riots.
- June 19 - The Dallas Stars defeat the Buffalo Sabres in triple overtime of game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals to win their first Stanley Cup. Brett Hull scores the controversial cup-winning goal to seal the victory.
- June 19 - Stephen King was hit in a car accident on Route 5 in North Lovell, Maine by Bryan Smith.
- June 21 - Apple Computer releases the first iBook
- August 8 - ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire premieres, will become the highest-rated show of the United States 1999-2000 TV season.
- August 8 - The first edition of the Callatis Festival, the largest music &culture festival in Romania.
- August 9 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet
- August 10 - Buford O. Furrow, Jr. attempts a mass murder in Los Angeles
- August 10 - Atlantique Incident occurs as an intruding Pakistan Navy plane is shot down in India. The incident sparks tensions between the two nations, coming just a month after the end of the Kargil War.
- August 11 - Total solar eclipse in Europe and Asia
- August 11 - An F-2 tornado rips through downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, killing one person and injuring over 100.
- August 17 - A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes Istanbul and northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000. This earthquake was the first of a long series of unrelated but frequent earthquakes throughout the world during the years 1999 and 2000. Some connected the earthquake to the fact that the Umbra of the solar eclipse of August 11, was right above Istanbul.
- August 19 - In Belgrade, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević
- August 22 - Mandarin Airlines Flight 642 crashed in Hong Kong
- August 26 - Michael Johnson captures the 400 M. world record.
- October - NASA loses one of its probes, the Mars Climate Orbiter
- October 5 - Thirty-one people die in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash, west of London, England.
- October 12 - Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attempts to dismiss Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf and install ISI director Khwaja Ziauddin in his place. Senior Army generals refuse to accept the dismissal. Musharraf, who was out of the country, attempts to return in a commercial airliner. Sharif orders the Karachi airport to not allow the plane to land. The generals lead a coup, ousting Sharif's administration and taking over the airport. The plane lands with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and Musharraf takes control of the government.
- October 12 - The 6 billionth person in the world, according to the UN is born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- October 13 - The United States Senate rejects ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
- October 15 - National Geographic Society reveals the fossil of Archaeoraptor in a press conference (the fossil is later found to be a forgery)
- October 18 ? Michael Pawluk Michigan attorney sails solo-single-handed over 2,500 nautical miles (4600 km) on a 30 foot (10 m) boat when his wife demands "some space".
- October 25 - Golfer Payne Stewart, 42, dies in an aircraft accident in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
- October 27 - Gunmen open fire in the Armenian parliament killing Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian, Parliament Chairman Karen Demirchian and 6 other members.
- October 27 - The New York Yankees complete a 4 game sweep of the Atlanta Braves to win their second consecutive World Series.
- October 31 - EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board
- October 31 - Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran Church leaders sign the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, ending a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.
- October 31 - Nerf Arena Blast is released by Atari, Inc. and Visionary Media, Inc.