February 1999

Monday 01:

North Dakota Public Radio is launched.

Thursday 04:

Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, enflaming race-relations in the city.

Friday 05:

Mike Tyson is sentenced to a year's imprisonment for the August 31, 1998 assault on two people.

Sunday 07:

Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the ruler of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.

Wednesday 10:

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

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.

Friday 19:

Dennis Franz receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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.

Saturday 27:

Olusegun Obasanjo becomes Nigeria's first elected president since mid-1983.