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 09:

Final Fantasy VIII is released in the United States

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.

Monday 13:

Bomb explodes in Moscow, Russia. At least 119 people are killed.

Tuesday 14:

Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations.

Tuesday 21:

Chi-Chi earthquake occurs in central Taiwan, leaving about 2,400 people dead.

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.