2000


International Year for a Culture of Peace -- Occasionally the 2000s are
abbreviated 00s.

Events:

   * Y2K does not cause the world's computers to fail.
   * Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome sequenced.
   * Mexico - Vicente Fox becomes the first opposition President to take
     power since Francisco I. Madero in 1911. He won the Presidency as
     candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party).
   * January 3 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published
   * January 10 - America On-line announces an agreement to buy Time Warner
     for $162 billion. This is the largest-ever corporate merger.
   * January 14 - A United Nations tribunal sentences five Bosnian Croats up
     to 25 years for the 1993 killing of over 100 Muslims in a Bosnian
     village.
   * January 16 - In Sacramento, California a commercial truck carrying
     evaporated milk is driven into the state capitol building killing the
     driver.
   * February 21 - David Letterman returns to the Late Show, over a month
     after having an emergency quintuple heart bypass surgery.
   * March 20 - Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther, is captured
     after gun battle that left a sheriff's deputy dead.
   * March 26 - Presidential elections in Russia, Vladimir Putin elected
     President.
   * April 3 - Microsoft antitrust case: Microsoft is ruled to have violated
     United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its
     competitors.
   * April 7 - Mars Odyssey is launched.
   * April 22 - In a predawn raid, federal agents seize six-year old Elian
     Gonzalez from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida and fly him to his
     Cuban father in Washington, DC ending one of the most publicized
     custody battles in US history.
   * April 23 Easter (very late this year).
   * April 25 - The State of Vermont passes HB847, legalizing Civil Unions
     for same-sex couples.
   * May 3 - Computer pioneer Datapoint Corporation files for Chapter 11
     bankruptcy.
   * May 12 - The Tate Modern opens in London
   * June 21 - Section 28 repealed in Scotland with a 99 to 17 vote.
   * July 10 - In southern Nigeria, a petroleum pipeline explodes killing
     about 250 villagers who were scavenging gasoline.
   * July 25 - A Concorde supersonic passenger jet crashes just after
     takeoff from Paris killing all 109 aboard and 5 on the ground.
   * August 8 - Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface
     after 136 years on the ocean floor.
   * September 6 - In New York City, the United Nations Millennium Summit
     begins with more than 180 world leaders present.
   * September 28 - Ariel Sharon leads several hundred armed Israelis in a
     visit to the Temple Mount, provoking an increase in Palestinian civil
     disorder which developed into the Al-Aqsa_Intifada.
   * October 12 - In Aden, Yemen, the USS Cole is badly damaged by two
     suicide bombers who placed a small boat laden with explosives
     along-side the United States Navy destroyer, killing 17 crewmembers and
     wounding at least 39.
   * November - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq rejects new U.N. Security
     Council weapons inspections proposals.
   * November 7 - US - In a highly controversial election, George W. Bush
     defeats Al Gore to become the 43rd President of the United States of
     America.
   * November 17 - Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of
     Peru
   * November 27 - Canada - Parliamentary elections - Jean Chretien
     re-elected as Prime Minister as Liberal Party increases majority in
     House of Commons
   * December 13 - The Texas 7 escape from their prison unit in Kenedy,
     Texas and start a crime spree.
   * December 14 - The Texas 7 rob a Radio Shack in Pearland, Texas. They
     would use the police scanners they stole in their ensuing heist.
   * December 24 - The Texas 7 robs a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police
     officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot dead.
   * December 30 - Rizal Day Bombings: A series of bombs explode in various
     places in Metro Manila, Philippines within a span of a few hours
     killing 22 and injuring about a hundred.
   * The last wholly Swedish-owned arms manufacturer, Bofors, is sold to
     American arms manufacturer United Defence.

Historical Relic and Ancient Remain

   * Gardens in Suzhou, China were added to the list of the World Heritage
     Sites.
   * The Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, China were listed by the UNESCO among
     the World Heritage Sites.

Deaths:

   * January 4 - Tom Fears, American football star
   * January 10 - Sam Jaffe, actor
   * January 19 - Bettino Craxi, 65, Italian prime minister (1983-1987)
   * January 19 - Hedy Lamarr, actress
   * January 26 - A.E. van Vogt, science fiction author
   * January 26 - Don Budge, tennis player
   * January 31 - Gil Kane, comic book writer
   * February 7 - Big Pun, singer
   * February 7 - Doug Henning, magician
   * February 11 - Roger Vadim, 72, French movie director
   * February 12 - Charles Schulz, 77, creator of the Peanuts comic strip
   * February 12 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins, 70, American rock musician
   * February 12 - Tom Landry, American football coach
   * February 19 - Friedensreich Hundertwasser, 71, Austrian artist
   * February 22 - Fernando Buesa, Basque politician (*1946)
   * March 20 - Gene "Eugene" Andrusco, actor, singer
   * March 26 - Alex Comfort, author (The Joy of Sex)
   * March 27 - Ian Dury, 57, English rock musician
   * March 28 - Anthony Powell, British novelist
   * April 6 - Habib Bourguiba, president of Tunisia (1957-1997)
   * April 13 - Giorgio Bassani, 84, Italian writer (The Garden of the
     Finzi-Continis)
   * April 25 - David Merrick, producer
   * May 7 - Douglas Fairbanks Jr., actor
   * May 19 - Yevgeny Khrunov, cosmonaut
   * May 20 - Jean Pierre Rampal, flutist
   * May 21 - Sir John Gielgud, 96, British actor
   * May 21 - Barbara Cartland, romance novel author
   * May 27 - Maurice Richard, ice hockey player (*1921)
   * June 10 - Hafez al-Assad, 69, president of Syria (1971-2000)
   * June 29 - Vittorio Gassmann, 78, Italian actor
   * July 1 - Walter Matthau, 79, American actor
   * July 30 - Bertil Karlberg, 58, Swedish politician
   * August 5 - Sir Alec Guinness, 86, British actor
   * August 25 - Carl Barks, 99, illustrator of Donald Duck
   * September 20 - Gherman Titov, 65, Cosmonaut
   * September 28 - Pierre Trudeau, 80, prime minister of Canada (1968-1979
     and 1980-1984)
   * October 11 - Donald Dewar, main author of the Scotland Act and initial
     First Minister of the Scottish Parliament
   * October 30 - Steve Allen, comedian, composer, talk show host, author
   * November 6 - David R. Brower, founder of many environmentalist
     organizations
   * November 11 - Hugh Paddick, British actor
   * December 23 - Victor Borge, 91, Danish/American humorist and pianist
   * December 24 - Aubrey Hawkins, Irving, Texas police officer.
   * December 25 - Willard Van Orman Quine, 92, American philosopher

Computing -

   * The New Year, people, companies, countries and much of the world was
     fearing the worst, planes falling out of the sky, electricity grids and
     essential services collapsing. What people feared was not the
     apocalypse but the Y2K bug - a computer problem that many feared would
     result in many computers not recognising the new year. The more
     important problem for computer-related companies this year, however,
     was the dotcom collapse that started in February and lasted well into
     2001.

Nobel Prizes

   * Physics - Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, Herbert Kroemer, Jack S Kilby
   * Chemistry - Alan J Heeger, Alan G MacDiarmid, Hideki Shirakawa
   * Medicine - Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard, Eric R Kandel
   * Literature -Gao Xingjian
   * Peace - Kim Dae Jung
   * Economics- James Heckman, Daniel McFadden