All Events

Civil war begins in Kosovo with a guerrilla campaign by Albanians in the Kosovo Liberation Army

Steps are taken to end Sudan's fifteen-year civil war, with an undated government promise of a referendum in the south

Brutal reprisals by Serb troops against Albanians in Kosovo include systematic ethnic cleansing

The first module is launched of the International Space Station, a cooperative venture by five space agencies (USA, Russia, Japan, Canada, Europe)

Thomas Hales proves the Kepler Conjecture, named after the astronomer who first put it forward in his 1611 paper On the six-cornered snowflake

Michel Houellebecq publishes Les Particules élémentaires ("The Elementary Particles"), a picture of a future without love where humans are cloned

Eleven of the nations in the European Union adopt the euro as a shared single currency

President Clinton escapes impeachment when the Senate divides 55-45 and 50-50 on the two charges, well short of the required two thirds majority

Moderate Shiite cleric Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr and two of his sons are assassinated in the Iraqi city of Najaf

A fire in the Mont Blanc road tunnel kills 39 people and closes the tunnel for three years

Andrew Hamilton and David Baulcombe discover the small interfering RNA involved in RNA-mediated gene silencing (it wins them the Nobel Prize in 2006)

The lawn and gardens surrounding Garrick's Temple are re-landscaped and replanted to replicate something of its appearance in Garrick's day

Two teenage boys in Littleton, Colorado, open fire on their fellow students in Columbine High School, killing twelve and one teacher

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the new president of Algeria, reveals that as many as 100,000 people have died in seven years of civil war and massacre

UNITA's widespread advance in Angola's long civil war brings terror and starvation

Buena Vista Social Club, a nostalgic documentary by Wim Wenders, triggers a cult for Cuban music

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