1996-2000

1996

1996 Elections in Bosnia After several years of fighting and the deaths of tens of thousands, leaders of the battling forces met on November 1 at the Wright-Patterson Airforce Base, outside Dayton, Ohio, to negotiate a peace settlement. The Dayton Accords were initialed twenty days later, thus effectively bringing about a conditional end to armed hostilities. The accords were reinforced with 15,000 American ground troops, whose introduction assured that the ceasefire was observed by all sides. In an effort to construct a stable political system in the troubled region, elections were held on September 12, 1996; 60-70% of eligible voters cast votes, resulting in a three-headed presidency representing all the major ethnic groups.
1996 Taliban Capture Afghanistan At the end of September, the Taliban captured Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. The Taliban originated from a group of students studying at a fundamentalist Islamic school. In a period of two years, the insurgents took control of two-thirds of Afghanistan. Their advance was nearly unopposed. Many welcomed the Taliban, as they brought the first stabilty to Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion of 1979. However, the Taliban instituted strict Islamic law in all areas that they controlled, and were ruthless to their opponents. Seen in this picture is the public hanging of the former President of Afghanistan, Najibullah, and his brother, who had been living in the UN compound in Kabul. The Taliban faced substantial opposition in the northern provinces, where opponents to the Taliban united in October to fight them.
1996 Nigeria Unrest Moshood Abiola, a multi-millionaire businessman, was widely believed to have won the presidential election in Nigeria in June of 1993. General Ibrahim Babangida, who had ruled Nigeria for eight years, annulled the election results, which were unfavorable to his regime, before they could be released. On the one-year anniversary of the election, Mr. Abiola declared himself President. Two years later, his wife, Kudirat, and her driver were assassinated in Lagos. Shortly afterwards, Abiola was arrested and held on charges of treason.

The arrest further contributed to the government's reputation as an oppressive violator of human rights, a reputation which was earned both by the 1993 election scandal and the 1995 execution of nine Ogoni activists, including Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa's organization, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, accused the Royal Dutch Shell Group -Nigerian government alliance of taking few, if any precautions to protect the local people from the harmful and sometimes fatal side-effects of pumping oil from the Ogoniland, the most oil-rich section of Nigeria. After years of government harassment, Saro-Wiwa and the eight other activists were arrested for the murder of four pro-government Ogoni tribal chiefs. The nine men were executed in November of 1995, after a mockery of a trial.
1996 Suicide Bombers Hit Israel A series of suicide bombings struck both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, seriously affecting the peace process. The bombings helped defeat Shimon Peres, Rabin's succesor, and brought to power Benjamin Netanayahu.
1996 TWA Flight 800 Explodes TWA Flight 800 exploded off the coast of Long Island, shortly after taking off from JFK Airport in New York, bound for Paris. Initially, foul play was suspected, but eventually it was determined that the crash was most likely due to mechanical problems.

1997

1997 Mars Pathfinder Lands The US spacecraft Pathfinder landed on Mars. It began transmitting stunning images from the surface of the planet. Pathfinder released a robot vehicle to explore the surface.
1997 Britain Turns Over Hong Kong to China The long rule of Britain over Hong Kong came to an end on July 1, 1997. On that day, the sovereignty of the colony was turned over to China. China had agreed to maintain greater freedom in Hong Kong than was allowed in China itself.


1998

1998 Northern Ireland Peace Representatives of the Catholics and Protestants of Ireland, together with representatives of the Irish Republic and the United Kingdom, signed a major peace accord. US envoy former Senator Mitchell brokered the accord, and it was hoped it would bring to an end the bloodshed in Northern Ireland.
1998 Republicans lose seats in Congressional elections Much to the surprise of political pundits, the Republicans did not pick up any seats in the Congressional elections of 1998. In fact, in a precedent-breaking election, the Democrats, who were the party of the President, actually gained seats in a Congressional election during the second term of the Presidency. Many analysts explained the results as a repudiation of the Republican efforts to impeach President Clinton.
1998 US Embassies Bombed Simultaneously On August 7, 1998, bombs exploded simultaneously at US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar el Islam, Tanzania. The bombings killed a total of 224 people. The bombings were said to be done by international terrorist Osama bin Laden. The United States responded by bombing terrorist sites in Afghanistan and the Sudan.

1999

1999 Kosovo Before the rise of Milosevic in Yugoslavia, the province of Kosovo, which was primarily populated by Moslem ethnic Albanians, had been granted extensive autonomy. Milosevic rescinded that autonomy, which resulted in growing resentment of Serbian control. It led to the rise of the KLA, which was dedicated to Kosovo independence. In order to avoid the slaughter that had taken place in Bosnia, NATO became actively involved in negotiating a peace settlement between the KLA and the Serbs. An agreement was reached between the KLA and the Serbs, which was accepted by the KLA and rejected by the Yugoslav government. NATO demanded that the Serbs accept the agreement and, when they refused, NATO began a bombing campaign that lasted 79 days. During the campaign, the Serbs engaged in an active campaign of ethnic cleansing of Kosovo, killing at least 10,000 ethnic Albanians. The bombing campaign, in which the US lost only two planes and no pilots, achieved its goal, and the Serbs withdrew from Kosovo, to be replaced by NATO peace-keeping forces.
1999 Free Parliamentary Elections in Indonesia On June 7, Indonesia held free parliamentary elections. The opposition leader, Megawati Sukarnoputri, won the most support. Her "Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party - Struggle" (PDI-P) won 33.7% of the vote, followed by the ruling "Golkar Party" of President B.J. Habibie with 22.4%.
1999 Ehud Barak wins the elections by a landslide Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu lost his re-election bid to the "Israel One" canidate– Ehud Barak. Barak won a landslide victory, after campaigning to move the peace process forward. After his election Barak kept his promise and on September 4th, 1999 he signed a revised agreement with the PLO to implement further Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank. That agreement included a blueprint for final status negotiations aimed at a final peace accord.
1999 Nelson Mandela Retires On June 16, 1999, Nelson Mandela stepped down from the Presidency of South Africa. He was replaced by Thabo Mbeki, the new leader of the African National Congress. The ANC had won parliametary elections on June 2.
1999 President Clinton Impeached President Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives in a straight party-line vote. The President was accused of lying to a Grand Jury and giving false testimony in his deposition in the Paula Jones lawsuit. Paula Jones accused the President of improper advances while he was governor of Arkansas, and the President was accused of lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. When the case went to the Senate, the Senate voted to acquit on a vote of 50 to 50; 66 votes were needed to find the President guilty.

2000

Jan 07 An exhausted 14-year-old Tibetan Buddhist leader reaches India after trekking across the snowy Himalayas, a defection that embarrassed Chinese leaders who used him as a symbol of their rule over Tibet.
Jan 19 Film star Hedy Lamarr, 86, found dead in her Florida home
Jan 17 Almost 50,000 people marched in Columbia, S.C., to protest the flying of the Confederate battle flag over the state Capitol.
Jan 17 Almost 50,000 people marched in Columbia, S.C., to protest the flying of the Confederate battle flag over the state Capitol.
Jan 06 Quebec Central Railway takes over the former CPR Quebec Central Lines. Service between Sherbrooke and Vallee Jonction resumed 24 June 2000. The new Quebec Central is operated by Express Marco Inc
Jan 20 Moveable Media, internet pioneer, is founded
Feb 28 A 6.8 earthquake shook the Pacific Northwest resulting in injuries and over 1 billion dollars damage.
Feb 12 Former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry dies at age 75 after battling leukemia for nine months.
Feb 12 Peanuts creator Charles Schulz dies of colon cancer in his Santa Rosa, California, home at age 77.
Feb 01 Scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico say they have traced the origin of the AIDS virus to around 1930.
Feb 03 Natalie Rasmussen and Ryan Crump start dating
Feb 14 Tornadoes rip through southwestern Georgia just after midnight, killing 19 people and injuring more than 100 others.
Apr 02 French archaeologists announce they have discovered the remains of a 4,000-year-old queen's pyramid south of Cairo, complete with texts of special prayers previously found only with kings
Apr 03 62nd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship at RCA Dome Indianapolis
Nov 18 A major fire at the 350 room Marriot Mountain REsort in Vale Colorado starts no deaths
Nov 27 The Liberal government in Canada is re-elected for another 5 years, HO Well
Nov 29 Thieves steal a helicopter from a building near Manning in Northern Alberta, pushing it outside and taking off
Nov 20 A 17 year old student is stabbed and dies at a Calgary High School
Nov 30 South and North Korean relatives who have been separated for half a century are reunited in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
Sep 11 Scientists confirm the long held suspicion It can take just a few cigarettes to become addicted. Research shows some 12 and 13-year-olds show signs of addiction within days of their first cigarette.
Sep 20 Terrorists launch a small missile at Britain's MI6 intelligence headquarters in London.
Sep 11 Scientists confirm the long held suspicion: It can take just a few cigarettes to become addicted. Research shows some 12 and 13-year-olds show signs of addiction within days of their first cigarette.
Jun 04 In Southern Sumatera, Indonesia a 7.9 quake resulted in at least 103 people killed, 2,174 injured, extensive damage (VI) and landslides in the Bengkulu area; minor injuries and damage on Enggano
Jun 08 Pultizer Prize Winning cartoonist Jeff MacNelly, creator of the comic strip Shoe, dies of cancer at age 52.
Jan 16 Ricardo Lagos is elected Chile's first socialist president since Salvador Allende, whose government was toppled in a bloody 1973 military coup led by Gen Augusto Pinochet.
Jan 20 Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., warned the U.N. Security Council that the United States would withdraw from the world body if it failed to respect American sovereignty.
Jan 07 An exhausted 14-year-old Tibetan Buddhist leader reaches India after trekking across the snowy Himalayas, a defection that embarrassed Chinese leaders who used him as a symbol of their rule over Tibet.
Jan 06 Quebec Central Railway takes over the former CPR Quebec Central Lines. Service between Sherbrooke and Vallee Jonction resumed 24 June 2000. The new Quebec Central is operated by Express Marco Inc.

Jun 19 The last rail on the order books of Sysco (Sydney Steel) is rolled.
Aug 21 British troops are rushed on to Belfast streets after two men are killed in a violent feud between Protestant guerrilla groups.
Aug 15 A group of 100 separated family members from North Korea arrive in South Korea for temporary reunions with relatives they have not seen for half a century.
Aug 16 Heather breaks up with Wayne for good after 5 years and she says, " I'M FINALLY FREE!! "
Aug 23 A Gulf Air Airbus jetliner with 140 aboard crashes into the Persian Gulf near Bahrain shortly after takeoff, leaving no survivors.
Aug 23 In a 'reality TV' record an estimated 51 million US viewers tuned in for the finale of CBS' series Survivor, in which contestant Richard Hatch won the $US1 million prize.
Aug 05 Sir Alec Guinness, revered as one of Britain's most versatile actors, dies at 86.
Oct 12 USS Cole (Destroyer) was bombed while refuling in Aden, Yemen 17 sailors lost their lives
Oct 26 An Ilyushin-18 aircraft ploughs into a mountain in ex-Soviet Georgia, killing more than 80 people.
Oct 06 Heather and Brent started going out
Dec 28 Montgomery Ward announces it is closing 250 stores and laying off 37,000 workers
Dec 25 A bank machine in a supermarket in the town of Antibes France paid double the withdrawal amount while only recording the correct amount (Merry Christmas)
Dec 25 A Christmas day fire killed 309 people at a dance hall in the central Chinese city of Luoyang

Oct 25 Stormy seas prevent divers from entering the nuclear submarine Kursk a day after naval officials reveal evidence that more than 23 seamen had survived the initial explosions that sank the vessel.
Oct 17 Pope John Paul and Britain's Queen Elizabeth meet and speak of their hopes for Christian unity. It is her first visit to the Vatican in 20 years