1999 - What happened in 1999 ?

January 1999

Friday 01:

The Euro currency is introduced.

Saturday 02:

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

Sunday 03:

The Mars Polar Lander launched.

Friday 15:

The Racak incident: 45 Albanians in the Kosovo village of Racak were killed by Yugoslav security forces.

Sunday 31:

Super Bowl XXXIII: The Denver Broncos defeat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-19. After the game, the TV show Family Guy airs its pilot episode.

February 1999

Thursday 11:

Pluto, a planet with an irregular orbit, changes from the eighth to ninth planet furthest from the sun. It had been the eighth furthest since 1979.

Friday 12:

President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.

Monday 15:

Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the terrorist organization Kurdistan Workers Party, is arrested in Kenya by Turkish agents.

Tuesday 16:

In Jasper, Texas, the trial begins of John William King who is accused of dragging African American James Byrd Jr. to death in an apparent hate crime.

Tuesday 23:

An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.

March 1999

Thursday 04:

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

Friday 05:

Paul Okalik is elected first Premier of Nunavut.

Monday 08:

Oklahoma City bombing: The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the murder convictions of Timothy McVeigh.

Friday 12:

Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.

Friday 26:

A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man.

April 1999

Thursday 01:

Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved from the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.

Monday 05:

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

Wednesday 07:

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

Friday 09:

Nigerian President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara is assassinated.

Friday 30:

Chandra Levy, a former intern to California Congressman Gary Condit, is last seen in Washington, D.C.

May 1999

Sunday 02:

Panamanian election: Mireya Moscoso became the first woman to be elected President of Panama.

Friday 07:

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

Saturday 08:

Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel military college.

Wednesday 12:

David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.

Saturday 29:

In Jerusalem, Israel, Charlotte Nilsson wins the forty-fourth Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden singing "Take Me To Your Heaven".

June 1999

Wednesday 02:

The Bhutan Broadcasting Service finally brings television transmissions to the Kingdom for the first time.

Sunday 06:

At the Putim maximum security prison in Brazil, 345 prisoners run from the main gate in the largest jailbreak in Brazilian history, marking the 10th escape for the three-year-old facility. In the ensuing manhunt, two fugitives are killed and five innocent bystanders are accidentally jailed.

Tuesday 08:

War on Drugs: 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.

Thursday 24:

The guitar with which Eric Clapton recorded Layla is sold at auction for $497,500.

Friday 25:

The American soap opera Another World airs its 8891st and final episode.

July 1999

Friday 09:

Days of student protests begins after Iranian police and hardliners attack a student dormitory of University of Tehran

Thursday 15:

Safeco Field opens in Seattle, Washington.

Friday 23:

Hijack of ANA Flight 61 in Tokyo.

Sunday 25:

Lance Armstrong wins first Tour de France.

Tuesday 27:

21 die in a canyoning disaster near Interlaken, Switzerland.

August 1999

Wednesday 11:

A total solar eclipse visible from Europe and Asia.

Sunday 15:

Beni Ounif massacre in Algeria; some 29 people killed at a false roadblock near the Moroccan border, leading to temporary tensions with Morocco.

Tuesday 17:

A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.

Monday 30:

East Timorese vote for independence in a referendum.

Tuesday 31:

The first of a series of Russian Apartment Bombings in Moscow, killing one person and wounding 40 others.

September 1999

Wednesday 01:

A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 74, including 10 on the ground.

Tuesday 07:

A major earthquake close to Athens, Greece, results to the collapse of few buildings in the area. About 150 people are killed.

Wednesday 08:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third book in J.K. Rowling's hugely popular Harry Potter series, is published in the United States.

Thursday 23:

NASA announces that it lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.

Thursday 30:

Japan's worst nuclear accident at a uranium reprocessing facility in Tokai-mura, northeast of Tokyo. Workers overload a container with uranium, exposing workers and local residents to very high radiation levels.

October 1999

Friday 08:

U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security, which will be headed by Tom Ridge.

Monday 11:

The Lord of the Rings movies begin principal photography.

Wednesday 13:

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

Thursday 14:

1999 - The South Carolina Supreme Court rules that the video poker machines in the state must be unplugged by June 30, 2000.

Wednesday 27:

Armenian Prime Minister Vasgen Sarkissian and 6 other members killed in an attack on the Armenian parliament.

November 1999

Saturday 06:

Australians vote to keep the British queen as their head of state.

Thursday 18:

In Jasper, Texas, 24-year old Shawn Allen Berry is sentenced to life in prison, becoming the third person convicted in the racially-motivated dragging death of James Byrd, Jr..

Friday 19:

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

Thursday 25:

The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution designating November 25 as the annual International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women.

Saturday 27:

A new era in government begins in New Zealand as the left-wing Labour Party takes control with leader Helen Clark, the first elected female Prime Minster in New Zealand's history.

December 1999

Thursday 02:

The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to a the Northern Ireland Executive.

Thursday 16:

Mud streams kill thousands in Venezuela.

Monday 20:

Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.

Tuesday 21:

The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives intended by ETA to blow down Torre Picasso.

Wednesday 22:

Tandja Mamadou became President of Niger.