- January 10
- America Online announces it is buying Time Warner, in a stock-trade deal valued at $160 billion, the largest in corporate history. The new firm, AOL Time Warner, will have a combined value of $350 billion. [4] [21]
- January 11
- The armed wing of Islamic Salvation Front concludes its negotiations with the government for an amnesty and disbands in Algeria. [21]
- January 14
- United Nations tribunal sentences five Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years, for the 1993 killing of over 100 Bosnian Muslims in a Bosnian village. [21]
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 11,722.98, a level never reached before (the peak of the Dot-com bubble). (This high is not broken until October 2006.) [21] [227]
- In Yunnan, China, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake occurs. Seven people are killed, 2,528 injured, and 92,479 are left homeless. More than 41,000 houses are destroyed in central Yunnan Province. [53]
- January
- A 150-tonne meteoroid crosses the skies over Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, and explodes over Tagish Lake south of the city. [521]
- Ice chunks (megacryometeors) weighing up to 6.6 pounds rain down on the Iberian peninsula of Spain over ten days, damaging cars and an industrial storage facility. [521]
- January 18
- The Tagish Lake meteorite impacts the Earth. [21]
- A broken pipeline in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, leaks 492,000 litres of crude oil, covering about 5km of coastline. [522]
- January 24
- God's Army, a Karen militia group led by twins Johnny and Luther Htoo, take 700 hostages at a Thai hospital near the Burmese border. [21]
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- The Honduran-flagged cargo vessel Al Jazya 1 sinks in bad weather 4 miles east of Abu Dhabi's coast, leaking up to 1.1 million litres of fuel oil, [522]
- The Singapore-owned vessel MV Nol Schedar runs aground on the coast of Sual town in Lingayan Gulf, Philippines. [522]
- January 26
- At the Desert Inn casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, Cynthia Jay-Brennan wins $34,959,458.56 on a Megabucks slot machine, the world's largest payout. She had entered a total of $27. [565.320]
- January 30
- Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169. [21]
- January 31
- Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashes off the California coast into the Pacific Ocean, killing 88. [21]
- In England, Dr. Harold Shipman is found guilty of murdering 15 patients between 1995 and 1998 and sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial judge recommends that Shipman, 54, should never be released from prison. Shipman's victims were all patients at his surgery in the North Cheshire township of Hyde, where he had worked for six years leading up to his arrest in September 1998. [21]
- February 2
- A flash flood in Bolivia breaks a crude oil pipeline, spilling over 30,000 litres of oil into the Desaguadero River. [522]
- February 4
- German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion, in connection with the sabotage of German railway lines. [21]
- February 6
- Tarja Halonen is elected the first female president of Finland. [21]
- February 7
- Stipe Mesic is elected president of Croatia. [21]
- A barge holding 1.8 million litres of oil sinks to the bottom of the Amazon River in Brazil. [522]
- February 11
- A blast from an explosive device in front of a Barclay's Bank across from the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street wounds dozens but kills none. [21]
- February 13
- The final original Peanuts comic strip is published, following the death of its creator, Charles Schulz. [21]
- February 17
- In San Francisco, California, Microsoft unveils the Windows 2000 operating system. 1.5 million copies are sold in the first two months. [4]
- February 26
- In the Mariana Islands, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurs. It is felt strongly on Guam and Saipan. [53]
- March 1
- The Constitution of Finland is rewritten. [21]
- March 2
- Hans Blix assumes the position of Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC. [21]
- March 4
- Sony releases the PlayStation 2 video game system in Japan. It features 294.912 MHz 128-bit Emotion Engine processor, 32 MB RAM, 147.456 MHz Graphics Synthesizer with 4 MB embedded VRAM cache, 2 MB sound RAM, 48 sound channels, 24X CD-ROM, 4X DVD ROM drive. Price is 39,800 yen. One million units are sold on the first weekend. [9]
- March 6
- Advanced Micro Devices ships the first commercially-available 1 GHz processor. (Intel follows two days later with its own 1 GHz Pentium III processor.) [4]
- March 8
- In Japan, a sideswipe collision of two Tokyo Metro trains kills five people. [21]
- March 9
- The FBI arrests art forgery suspect Ely Sakhai in New York City. [21]
- March 10
- The NASDAQ Composite Index reaches an all-time high of 5048. [21]
- German-born filmmaker Billy Wilder is honored with the German "Verdienstkreuz". The award is presented in Hollywood, California. [37]
- March 16
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises by 499.19 points (4.93 percent), its second-largest one-day point gain. [227]
- March 18
- Chen Shui-bian is elected President of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Democratic Progressive Party ends Kuomintang rule for the first time. [21]
- March 19
- U.S. President Bill Clinton arrives in New Delhi, India, for a state visit. [21]
- March 21
- Pope John Paul II begins the first official visit by a Roman Catholic pontiff to Israel. [21]
- The U.S. Supreme Court rules the government lacks authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug, throwing out the Clinton administration's main anti-smoking initiative. [21]
- March 26
- Presidential elections in Russia: Vladimir Putin is elected President. [21]
- March 31
- At its annual meeting, the jury of the German Academy of Language and Literature designates the 2000 Büchner Prize winner as Volker Braun. [37]
- The German ministry of justice determines that drunkenness will no longer be an excuse. It had been a tradition that crimes committed while under the influence of alcohol were sentenced more mildly than in other circumstances. [37]
- April 1
- Tanker King Fisher hits a reef while approaching the Pertamina port in Cilacapan, at the Southern coast of Central Java, Indonesia, leaking 160 million litres of crude oil, affecting 25km of shoreline. [522]
- Japanese prime minister Keizo Obuchi suffers a stroke and falls into a coma. [21]
- April 3
- In the US Justice Department versus Microsoft anti-trust case, Judge Thomas Jackson issues his Conclusions of Law, ruling that Microsoft acted illegally to protect its operating system monopoly, and used its monopoly position to attempt to monopolize the market for Web browser software. [4] [5]
- April 5
- Yoshiro Mori replaces Keizo Obuchi as prime minister of Japan. [21]
- April 7
- Pepco's Chalk Point Generating Station on the Patuxent River in southern Maryland, USA, spills about 420,000 litres of oil. Some 6 1/2 miles of oil containment booms are positioned in the river capturing an estimated 300,000 litres. [522]
- April 16
- Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, Sultan of Selangor, dies after a reign of 55 years. He was the longest reigning monarch in the world since the death of Prince Franz Joseph II of Liechtenstein. [21]
- April 17
- Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin becomes Raja of Perlis. [21]
- April 19
- Microsoft launches the Pocket PC, a specification for handheld computers. The Pocket PC runs Windows CE 3.0, and includes several applications: music player, word processor, Internet browser, and more. The operating system proves to be more successful than previous Microsoft offerings, and soon threaten Palm's dominance. [4]
- April 22
- The Big Number Change takes place in the United Kingdom, to allow more telephone numbers. [5]
- Brazil issues its first polymer bank notes. [488.36]
- April 25
- The State of Vermont passes HB847, legalizing Civil unions for same-sex couples. [21]
- May 2
- Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the U.S. military. [5]
- May 3
- A rare conjunction of seven celestial bodies (Sun, Moon, planets Mercury-Jupiter) occurs on the New Moon. [21]
- In San Antonio, Texas, computer pioneer Datapoint files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [21]
- In the Philippines, 24-year-old Onel De Guzman releases a virus that he had proposed creating as part of his undergraduate thesis. The email message was sent with subject "ILOVEYOU", and attachment "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU". When opened, the virus activates, sending the message and attachment to every name on the email program's address list. (By the end of May 5, an estimated 45 million Windows PCs have been affected.) [35]
- May 4
- In Sulawesi, Indonesia, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake occurs. At least 46 people killed, 264 injured, and extensive damage and power outages occur in the Luwuk area, Sulawesi and on nearby islands. 80 percent of buildings damaged or destroyed on Banggai. A local tsunami with estimated wave heights up to 6 metres cause much damage east of Luwuk and on Peleng. [53]
- May 12
- The Tate Modern Gallery opens in London, England. [21]
- May 18
- Boo.com collapses in London after six months, due to lack of funds. [21]
- May 24
- Paramount releases the film Mission: Impossible II to theaters. (Total world gross ticket sales: $546 million (1st for 2000).) [935]
- May 25
- Israel withdraws IDF forces from southern Lebanon after 22 years. [21]
- May 28
- The volcano Mount Cameroon erupts. [21]
- Royal Caribbean International's Voyager of the Seas cruise ship sets a new record for most guests on a single cruise: 3608. [79]
- June 1
- Mount Etna erupts on the island of Sicily. [21]
- June 2
- U. S. President William Jefferson Clinton is awarded the Charlemagne prize of the city of Aachen, Germany. Clinton is the first American president to win the prize which is given for contributions toward the unity of Europe. [37]
- June 4
- In Southern Sumatra, Indonesia, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake occurs. At least 103 people killed, 2,174 injured, extensive damage and landslides. [53]
- June 7
- In the US Justice Department versus Microsoft anti-trust case, Judge Thomas Jackson orders the breakup of Microsoft into two companies, one producing operating systems, the other producing application programs. (Judge Jackson is later found to be prejudiced, and the break-up order is rescinded.) [4]
- June 13
- South Korean President Kim Dae Jung visit North Korea, first as a president of opposite side, to participate in the first North-South presidential summit. [21]
- June 14
- Italian President Carolo Ciampi pardons Mehmet Ali Agca for the attempted assassination on Pope John Paul II 19 years ago. [129]
- June 17
- An earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale strikes Iceland. [21]
- June 21
- Section 28, a law preventing the promotion of homosexuality, is repealed by the Scottish Parliament. [21]
- June 23
- Bulk carrier Treasure carrying some 1.6 million litres of oil sinks off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa. The spill washes onto Robben Island, home to about 5,700 pairs of jackass penguins. [522]
- June 26
- A preliminary draft of genomes, as part of the Human Genome Project, is finished. [21]
- June 30
- At the Roskilde Festival near Copenhagen, Denmark, 9 die and 26 are injured on a set while the rock group Pearl Jam performs. [21]
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