January 18 – In northwest
Rwanda,
Hutu militia members kill 6 Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers, and seriously wound another.
January 19 –
Yasser Arafat returns to
Hebron after more than 30 years, and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled
West Bank city.
February 28 –
North Hollywood shootout: Two robbers wearing
kevlar body armor armed with
AK-47s containing armor-piercing bullets injure 17 police officers and civilians in a gun battle. The incident sparks debate on the appropriate firepower for United States patrol officers to have available in similar situations in the future.
A 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in
Lima,
Peru, ends after government commandos storm and capture the building, rescuing 71 hostages. One hostage dies of a
heart attack, 2 soldiers are killed by rebel fire, and all 14
Túpac Amaru rebels are slain.
France supports the new
transitional government in Zaire, withdrawing its support of Mobutu Sese Seko.
April 27 –
Andrew Cunanan murders Jeffrey Trail, beginning a murder spree that lasts until July and ends with the murder of fashion designer
Gianni Versace.
June 7 – A computer user known as "_eci" publishes his
Microsoft C source code on a
Windows 95 and
Windows NT exploit, which later becomes
WinNuke. The source code gets wide distribution across the
internet, and
Microsoft is forced to release a security patch.
June 10 –
Khmer Rouge leader
Pol Pot orders the killing of his defense chief,
Son Sen, and 11 of Sen's family members, before Pol Pot flees his northern stronghold (the news does not reach outside
Cambodia for 3 days).
In London, scientists report their
DNA analysis findings from a
Neanderthal skeleton, which support the
out of Africa theory of
human evolution, placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
July 13 – The remains of
Che Guevara are returned to
Cuba for burial, alongside some of his comrades. Guevara and his comrades were executed on 9 October
1967 in
Bolivia.
July 16 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 63.17 to close at 8,038.88. It is the Dow's
first close above 8,000. The Dow has doubled its value in 30 months.
August 3–
11 – Two of the three islands of the
Union of the Comoros –
Anjouan and
Mohéli – attempt to succeed to revert to colonial rule by France. It fails when the French government of President
Jacques Chirac refuses to recolonize them resulting in the two islands being reintegrated into the Comoros over the next two years.
September 13 –
Iraq disarmament crisis: An Iraqi military officer attacks an UNSCOM weapons inspector on board an UNSCOM helicopter, while the inspector attempts to take photographs of unauthorized movement of Iraqi vehicles inside a site designated for inspection.
September 17 – Iraq disarmament crisis: While waiting for access to a site, UNSCOM inspectors witness and videotape Iraqi guards moving files, burning documents, and dumping waste cans into a nearby river.
September 25 – Iraq disarmament crisis: UNSCOM inspector Dr. Diane Seaman catches several Iraqi men sneaking out the back door of an inspection site, with log books for the creation of prohibited bacteria and chemicals.
October 1 –
Luke Woodham walks into Pearl High School in
Pearl, Mississippi, and opens fire, killing 2 girls, after killing his mother earlier that morning.
One million men gather for
Promise Keepers' "Stand in the Gap" event in Washington, D.C.
Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery: The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history ($17.3 million, mostly in small bills) occurs at the
Charlotte, North Carolina office of
Wells Fargo. An
FBI investigation eventually results in 24 convictions and the recovery of approximately 95% of the stolen cash.
Andy Green sets the first supersonic
land speed record for the
ThrustSSC team, led by
Richard Noble of the UK. ThrustSSC goes through the flying mile course at Black Rock Desert, Nevada at an average speed of 1,227.985 km/h (763.035 mph).
October 27 – In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 554.26 points (−7.18%), closing at 7,161.14.
October 28 – In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average gains a record 337.17 points (+4.71%), closing at 7,498.32. One billion shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time ever.
October 29 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq says it will begin shooting down
Lockheed U-2 surveillance planes being used by UNSCOM inspectors.
November 19 – In
Des Moines, Iowa, Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to
septuplets in the second known case where all 7 babies are born alive, and the first in which all survive infancy.
December 3 – In
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign a
treaty prohibiting the manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel
land mines. However, the United States, the People's Republic of China, Russia, South Korea and 32 other nations do not sign and/or ratify the treaty.
December 29 – Hong Kong begins to kill all the
chickens within its territory (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly
influenza strain.
The
Toyota Prius, the first hybrid vehicle to go into full production, is unveiled in Japan on October 24, and goes on sale in Japan on December 9. It comes to U.S. showrooms on July 11, 2000.[2]
