1999 - What happened in 1999 ?

January 1999

Sunday 03:

The Mars Polar Lander launched.

Thursday 07:

The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton begins.

Wednesday 13:

Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls basketball team announces his retirement (for the second time -- he has since rescinded his retirement).

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.

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.

Wednesday 24:

A China Southern Airlines Tupolev TU-154 airliner crashes on approach to Wenzhou airport in eastern China killing 61.

March 1999

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.

Tuesday 23:

Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña.

Wednesday 24:

Kosovo War: NATO commences air bombardment against Yugoslavia. This marks the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.

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

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.

Tuesday 20:

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 12 students and a teacher before turning their guns on themselves in the Columbine High School massacre.

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.

Thursday 27:

The International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.

Sunday 30:

Kenny Bräck wins the 83rd Indianapolis 500

June 1999

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 10:

Kosovo War: NATO suspends its air strikes after Slobodan Milo?evi? agrees to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo.

Saturday 19:

Author Stephen King is struck by a minivan in a hit-and-run accident.

Thursday 24:

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

July 1999

Thursday 01:

The Scottish Parliament is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth on the day powers are officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh.

Friday 09:

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

Friday 16:

First game at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium in Newark, New Jersey.

Friday 23:

Hijack of ANA Flight 61 in Tokyo.

Sunday 25:

Lance Armstrong wins first Tour de France.

August 1999

Thursday 05:

Mark McGwire becomes the 16th member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.

Wednesday 11:

A total solar eclipse visible from Europe and Asia.

Tuesday 17:

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

Thursday 19:

In Belgrade, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milo?evi?.

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.

Saturday 11:

Tennis: Serena Williams, 2 weeks short of her 18th birthday, wins her first Grand Slam tournament when she became US Open champion, becoming the first African American woman to win a Grand Slam tournament since Althea Gibson in 1958.

Tuesday 14:

Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations.

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

Tuesday 12:

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif tries to dismiss Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf, who is returning to Pakistan from abroad in a commercial airliner. Sharif orders the Karachi airport to not allow the plane to land. Army leaders refuse to accept the dismissal and, in a coup, oust Sharif's administration and take over the airport. The plane lands with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and Musharraf assumes control of the country.

Wednesday 13:

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

Friday 22:

Maurice Papon, an official in the Vichy France government during World War II, is jailed for crimes against humanity.

Wednesday 27:

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

Sunday 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 1999

Friday 05:

United States v. Microsoft: US District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issues a preliminary ruling that software maker Microsoft had "monopoly power".

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..

Saturday 20:

The People's Republic of China launches its first Shenzhou spacecraft.

Thursday 25:

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

December 1999

Friday 03:

NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.

Tuesday 14:

Charles M. Schulz, creator of the comic strip Peanuts, announced his retirement.

Thursday 16:

Mud streams kill thousands in Venezuela.

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.