Hi there and Welcome to my Time Line... it is by no means a complete time line of EVERYTHING  that has ever happened , we all know that would be a very long document indeed! This time line represents world news events that have happened since I was born in Feb 1970 and it goes until this very date April 2006. I will probably add to it some other time, as enough years pass or any Major events happen, but until then this is what I have found.

1970

4 students killed on University Campus
May 4, 1970....National Guardsmen opened fire on a group of students, wounding many, 4 fatally, on the campus of Kent State University. Today, memorials to the four students stand near the place of the shootings.

World Trade Center is completed

First New York City marathon

First successful oil well in the North Sea found

Canadian October Crisis
Two Canadian leaders were kidnapped by Front de liberation du Quebec, a Quebec seperatist movement. This resulted in martial law being declared in the Quebec province. One of the leaders, Pierre Laporte was killed by his captors, the other freed.

Apollo 13 mission suffers a huge setback
A ruptured air tank on their way to the moon almost sealed the fate of the three astronauts on board the spacecraft.

Charles Manson Convicted of Murdering Sharon Tate
Charles Manson, the leader of a bizzare cult, and 4 of his followers were convicted of the murders of several people including actress Sharon Tate and her unborn baby.

Federal Elections
18 year olds are given the right to vote in federal elections.

The introduction of bar codes
Bar codes are introduced for retail and industrial use in England.

1971

The microprocessor is introduced
The foundation of all computers, or just about anything electric

End of the Gold Standard for American Currency
Gold payments ended in 1971 in an attempt to halt the increasing inflation America was seeing.

NASA and the Soviets send probes to Mars
The NASA Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet on November 14th. The Soviets Mars 2 and Mars 3 arrived a month later, and sent a probe down to the planet (which unfortunately didn't work for long).

Three cosmonauts die after record breaking trip
After a record breaking 24 days in space, the cosmonauts died on their return to Earth when their cabin depressurized.

Bangladesh is created
East Pakistan and West Pakistan split, and after a civil war which involved India and the US as well, the country was formed.

Cigarette ads are banned on TV

The first floppy disc is created for computers

Direct dial between New York and London

Attica State Prision riot in Buffalo, New York
The 1200 inmates took the 30 guards and other employees prision in an attempt for reforms. It ended in bloodbath four days later with 28 inmates and 9 guards killed, all by police gunfire when they took the prision back.

Supreme Court rules desegregation constitutional

South Vietnam & The US invades Laos
In an attempt to shut down the Ho Chi Minh trail, the North Vietnam supply route. It wasn't successful.

CAT scanning was introduced
Computerizes Axial Tomograpghy (CAT), was the most important medical breakthrough since the X-ray

Black Admiral
Captain Samuel Lee Gravely, Jr. becomes the first black American Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy.

Cellular Phone Battery Invented
African-American Henry Thomas Sampson invents the gamma electric cell (US Patent # 3,591,860).

1972

Vietnamization fails
The process of allowing South Vietnam to defend itself without US intervention proved to be a mistake, the 120,000 North Vietnamese soldiers stormed into South Vietnam, surprising the 6000 US troops still in the country.

Attempts for Vietnam peace fail
In October North Vietnam offered a comprimise if Communist troops were allowed to stay in South Vietnam, it wouldn't expell the South Vietnam government and try to reach a new agreement with them. The US agreed, and declared that peace "was at hand." Once Nixon was re-elected, Kissinger reversed himself on the issue of troops remaining and bombing of Hanoi resumed.

Idi Amin orders all Asians out of Uganda
In order to distract the people from the collapsing economy, Idi Amin ordered all asian non-citizens out of the country and confiscated their businesses.

Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland
13 protesters were shot by the British Army, touching off riots which led to the suspension of the Northern Ireland parliment.

Israeli athletes taken hostage/killed at Olympics
The PLO group Black September in revenge for the 1970 defeat of Palestinian guerrillas, broke into the Olympic Village and killed two coaches and took nine hostages. It later ended in the death of the hostages and the commandos as they tried to leave the country.

The european Airbus takes its maiden flight
The first European wide-body passenger plane, designed in part by five different countries. By 1992, the Europeans had gained 30 percent of the aircraft industry.

HBO (Home Box Office) subscription cable TV launch

First commercially successful game (Pong) released

Nike running shoes hit the market

George Wallace shot while campaigning
While campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, he was shot and permanently paralyzed. He was well known for physically barring black students from entering the University of Alabama in 1963.

Last Apollo mission to the moon

Richard Nixon visits the Soviet Union
Richard Nixon becomes the first US president to visit the Soviet Union and begins talks on arms control, penning the SALT I treaties, which restricted the development of nuclear arms and helped ease US-Soviet relations.

Anwar al-Sadat expells 15,000 Soviet troops

EPA bans use of DDT

Federal Express is founded

Supplimental Security Income (SSI)
Aid for the aged, blind, and disabled

Watergate burglarly
The act that felled the President two years later, was commited in June of 1972 by five men, among them ex-FBI man G. Gordon Liddy and ex-CIA man E. Howard Hunt.

Bobby Fischer beats Soviet Spassky
The 15 year old Chicago born chess prodigy openly took on the Soviets in an attempt to reverse the Soviet dominated chess masters.

Supreme Court rules against death penalty
Ruling 5-4, it determined the death penalty as it was administered, was cruel and unusual punishment.

Chinese pandas at the Washington Zoo
Chinese Giant Pandas HSING HSING and LING LING made their debut at the Washington Zoo in April of 1970, following Nixon's visit to China in February. The pandas were a gift from the chinese government as a gesture of peace and friendship between the United States and China. It also let us know about the plight of the panda and how it was in danger of becoming extinct. They were the first pandas to ever be introduced to a zoo in the United States.

1973

OPEC doubles price of oil
Thus beginning the gas crisis of the 70s, it was only the first step in rising prices. Oil went from $1.50 a barrel to $11.56 a barrel over the course of a few months. This was in retaliation for the support of Isreal. Most of the shortages in the US however were caused by the gas companies who used this as an excuse to raise prices.

Roe vs. Wade abortion law decided by Supreme Court
This overturned state laws prohibiting first and second trimester abortions.

Sidney opera house opened
The famous building with the roof resembling sails opens after 16 years of construction

Rabies vaccine requiring five arm shots
Replaced the 14-21 shot abdominal procedure

Sears Tower in Chicago finished
1454 feet tall, the world's largest building at the time constructed.

War Powers Act passed by Congress
It prevents the president from commitment of US forces abroad for more than 60 days without Congressional approval

The Bahamas gain their independence from Britian

Endangered Species act passed

1974

Nixon resigns
Once the articles of impeachment had been drawn up, Nixon was required to release more tapes, which clearly tied him to the Watergate coverup. On August 8th, he resigned.

Gerald Ford pardons Nixon

Patricia Hearst is abducted
The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was a terrorist group which ordered the wealthy Hearst family to distribute $2 million in free food to the area's poor. After the demands were met, they got a picture of their daughter with a machine gun that stated she was staying on to fight with the group. When she was caught a year later, it was argued that she had been brainwashed. She was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prision (later commuted by President Carter).

Speed limits decreased to 55 mph on highways

Heimlich maneuver developed

Stephen Hawking proposes new Black Hole theory
Hawking proposed the theory that radiation was able to escape the pull of a black hole, which ran counter to Einstein's theory that nothing, not even light, can escape the pull of a blackhole.

Henry Aaron beats Babe Ruth's homerun record

Ford grants limited amnesty to draft dodgers

Freedom of Information act passed over Ford's veto

Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union

India tests it's first nuclear bomb

1975

Lebanon civil war begins
Sparked by Christians killing a busload of Palestinians and other Muslims, the country was quickly thrown into a war between the privlidged christians and the poor muslims.

Saigon falls to communism
America suspended it's aid two years after removing it's military forces. In April, US official ordered the remaining 1000 US citizens to evacuate to the embasssy in Saigon. This lead to the now famous image of citizens climbing the ladder to helicoptors to be airlifted out of the city.

The Altair, the first home computer is introduced
No screen, no printer, not a single luxury. A kit computer you had to assemble parts for yourself, based on the Z-80 microprocessor.

Computerized Supermarket checkouts begin to appear

Disposable razors are introduced

Catalytic converters are introduced on cars

Lyme disease first discovered

Jimmy Hoffa disappears

Ford assasination attempts
Lynette "Squaky" Fromme, a Charles Manson follower, pointed a gun at Ford, though no shots were fired. This was followed by Sara Jane Moore 17 days later to shoot the president in a crowd.

8,000 ceramic warriors discovered in China
Life sized statues of warriors, and over 10,000 artifacts of gold, jade, silk and iron were discovered in the tomb of emperor Shih Huang-ti, ruller from 221 to 206 BC

Mayaguez Incident
The United States' merchant ship, the SS Mayaguez, was seized in 1975 by the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia because of alledged contraband. The 39 crew members were held captive for three days, until a rescue attempt was made by President Gerald Ford that resulted in the death of 41 American marines.

1976

First artifical gene
Capable of working in a living cell, it was the first living cell created entirely in a test tube without any other gene as a template.

Apple Computer is launched

Legionnaire's disease strikes 182, kills 29
The first appearance of the flu like disease struck at an American Legion convention in Philadelphi

Tall Ships celebration in New York Harbor
To celebrate the bicentennial of the country.

Courts allow removal of life support
Karen Ann Quinlan had been in a coma for over a year before her parents won the right to remove the life support equipment keeping her alive. It took 9 years for her to die afterwards.

First Cray Supercomputer

Betamax and VHS VCRs released

1977

Neutron bomb funding began
The Neutron bomb was an atomic weapon designed to spread radiation to kill people and leave buildings intact.

Red Dye No. 2 isbanned
It was found to cause cancer, so it's use was discontinued, but led to a red dye scare.

MRI is first used
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is used to map the brain and other parts of the body.

Son of Sam murderer arrested
His arrest ended a 12 month long killing spree. He was clinically paranoid and believed the 1000 year old spirit of a black dog named Sam ordered him to kill people.

Treaty to signover Panama Canal passed
Control was given back to the country of Panama on December 31, 1999.

The first Concorde SST leaves from New York City
Despite design setbacks and environmental protests, a flight route was established between New York and Pairs.

Alaskian pipeline is completed

New York City blackout
July 13th saw a 25 hour blackout in the city, resulting in widespread looting.

1978

Jonestown massacre
The suicide and murder of 900 people who drank cyanide-flavored fruit drink, the leader shot himself.

First test tube baby - In vitro fertilization

Camp David accords for Middle East peace
Egypt, Israel and the US met in the presidential retreat in Maryland to hammer out a peace agreement between the two leaders.

Ultrasound first used

Atlantic City permits gambling

Garfield the Cat is syndicated

Love Canal in New York declared federal disaster

Hustler Publisher Larry Flynt Shot & Paralyzed
Larry Flynt, publisher of the hardcore porno mag HUSTLER, was shot and paralyzed from the waist down by an unknown assailant. There are rumours that the assailant was infuriated by a multi-racial photo spread in one issue of HUSTLER.

1979

The Shah flees Iran
The Ayatollah Khomeini assumes power an introduces Islamic law

Iranian students storm the US embassy
They held 52 of the 66 people in the embassy hostage for 444 days, which helped to undermine Jimmy Carters re-election efforts in the 1980.

Margaret Thatcher becomes British PM
The Conservatives had taken over the Parliment, and Margaret Thatcher became the first woman to hold the highest office in a European country.

The Soviets invade Afghanistan

The Sony Walkman is introduced

Moral Majority is begun by Jerry Falwell

Susan B Anthony dollar coin

Skylab fell into the Indian Ocean

Diplomatic ties with China formalized

Three Mile Island partial meltdown

In March a series of mechanical and human errors caused a near meltdown of the reactor at one of the plants in Three Mile Island Pennsylvania near Harrisburg.

Sioux Nation awarded $100 million in land claim

Ayatollah Khomeini
Ayatollah took power in Iran on February 11, 1979.

1980

Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR, The US boycotts

Post-It Notes are introduced by 3-M

The first all news service started by Turner Cable Network begins

John Lennon is assassinated by Mark David Chapman

Ronald Reagan is elected, defeating Jimmy Carter, and takes credit for freeing the Iranian hostages in his innaugural speech.

Poland has massive strikes, eventually the unions become legal, censorship is lessened.

About 125,000 Cubans leave Cuba for America, most are criminals hand picked by Castro's men, only a few are relatives of those in America.

RU-486, the abortion pill is released in France.

The US Supreme Court allows patents on living organisms.

Mt. Saint Helens erupts, killing 60 people.

CNN is launched as the first all news network

ABSCAM, FBI agents pose as rich arabs and bribed politicians with cash for favors.

Richard Pryor gets badly burned trying to freebase cocaine.

Small pox is considered eradicated by the World Health Orginization.

Sadam Hussein launches war against Iran for close to a decade over oil rights.

Japan passes the US as the largest automaker

Bill Gates licenses MS-DOS to IBM, makes next to nothing on the deal. The pair buys the rights to a simple operating system manufactured by Seattle Computer Products and use it as a template. The money is made later from licensing it to third party clone makers.

Genetic Engineering of insulin began clinical trials.

US suspends grain sales to the Soviet Union in respond to their support of the war in Afghanistan.

President Carter attempted a  rescue of the hostages in Iran, failing miserably.

US hockey team beat Russia for the gold in the Winter Olympics.

1981

The 1st launch of a space shuttle (Columbia)

Reagan fires the striking air traffic controllers and breaks up their union.

Pope shot by insane Turk, May 13.

Sandra Day O'Connor becomes first female Supreme Court Justice

Prince Charles and Diana Spencer marry on July 29

The US Agriculture Department trys making ketchup a school lunch vegetable

The first IBM-PC's begin to roll of the lines.

August 1, The birth of MTV, the 24 hour-a-day music television station

Private satelite dishes are given the ok by the FCC

First DeLorean rolls off assembly line

Fruit fly break out in California.

Regan starts toying with the Libyains, and deploys ships in the Gulf of Sidra, which Libya claimed rights to even though no one else recognized it as theirs.

Pac-Man is introduced in the US and sparks a huge craze.

Spain allows legal divorces.

Poland government crushes the Solidarity movement.

The first reports of homosexual men dying due to a mysterious breakdown of the bodies' immuminzation system. Later it becomes known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, aka AIDS and researches realize it can strike anyone.

52 American hostages released in January after 14 months in captivity in Iran

Antigua gained its independence November 1,1981

Assasination attempt on Ronald Regean on March 30, 1981 by John Hinkley

1982

Michael Jackson's "Thriller" sells 20 million albums to become the largest selling record ever.

Argentina invades the Falklands (UK); Argentina has to withdraw its troops after two months.

Italy wins the Soccer World Cup in Spain

The Reverend Sun Myung Moon marries 4,150 of his "Moonie" followers at Madison Square Garden.

Tylenol Scare, October 5th

Nancy Reagan appears at a Washington benefit dressed as a bag lady to protest criticism of her expensive outfits.

Princess Grace of Monaco dies when her car hurtles over a cliff.

John Belushi dies March 5 of cocaine and herion.

Prince William is born to Charles and Di.

Mexico's economy collapses.

Liposuction is introduced.

The Equal Rights Amendment dies, three states short of ratification.

The Vietnam Memorial is erected in Washington D.C.

The first artificial heart transplant takes place, the receipent lives 112 days.

Delorean Motor Company goes bankrupt

Larry Walters on July 2nd ties 42 weather balloons to a lawn chair and flies as high as 16 thousand feet before shooting the balloons with a pellet gun and landing about 90 minutes later. The FAA fined him $1,500.

1983

Ronnie introduces 'Star Wars'

"Just Say No" is the new tool to combat growing drug use in the US.

Thatcher's second term as PM

USSR shoots and destroys South Korean flight 007.

Camcorders are introduced.

US invades Grenada after coup on the island, more medals are handed out during the invasion than during the entire Vietnam war.

Karen Carpenter dies of anorexia nervosa at the age of 32, February 4th.

The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, advertising cost more than during the Super Bowl that year, and surpassing the record Dallas set for most viewers.

Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space, June 18th on the Challenger

Compact discs are first released.

U.S Embasy is bombed in Beirut, killing 40 people.

Hackers invade sensitive military computers such as Los Alamos National Labratory.

Australia wins the America's Cup for the first time in 132 years.  

Bob Hawke becomes Prime Minister of Australia. The first Labor PM in nine years.

French scientist Dr. Luc Montagnier discovered HIV.

1984

Indira Gandhi is assassinated.

Chemical disaster in Bhopal, India, December 3rd.

Reagan re-elected in landslide election, Walter Mondale is never heard from again.

Congress cuts off aid to Nicaragua, illegal guns sales start to fund the contras.

Stonewashed jeans are introduced.

The first megabit chip is made at Bell Labs

Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, US. The Soviets boycott.

Mary Lou Retton wins two gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

Vanessa Williams becomes first African American Miss America

Old nude photos of Vanessa Williams, the current Miss America. She is forced from her throne.

The AIDS virus is discovered

The first infomercials appear on TV due to de-regulation by the FCC.

The first all rap radio format is introduced at LA's KDAY

Run-D.M.C. are the first ever rap group to have an album certified gold.

The term cyberspace is coined by William Gibson in his novel "Neuromancer"

Bob Geldof and Band Aid release "Do They Know It's Christmas"

In 1984 Reagan makes famous joke: "My fellow Americans, I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." He supposedly didn't know the mic was on.

Apple Computer releases the Macintosh personal computer.

Calling themselves the PMRC (Parents' Music Resource Coalition), concerned parents, including Tipper Gore, wife of then-Tennessee Senator Albert Gore, Susan Baker, wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker, Georgie Packwood, wife of Oregon Senator Robert Packwood, and Nancy Thurmond, wife of South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, construct a campaign designed to 'educate' parents about certain alarming new trends in rock music

1985

"We Are The World" is recorded by USA for Africa, America's response to the British "Do They Know It's Christmas"

LIVE AID in London and Philadelphi, beamed around the world

Crack coccaine starts to appear.

Brussels, Belgium: 39 dead, 250 wounded during a soccer match between Liverpool and Juventus

Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior is bombed by the French goverment during protests of it's nuclear testing in the Pacific

Earthquake in Mexico / Volcano erupts in Colombia; 1000s killed

New coke is introduced in April and quickly replaced with original Coke

Titanic wreckage found and filmed by robotic camera in July

Hole in the ozone layer, first detected in 1977, is now indisputable.

In October, the worlds largest atom smasher goes online in Illinois.

Nintendo home entertainment system introduced.

Extra second added to the calender year.

Leaded gas is officially banned in the US

Rock 'n' Roll Hall of fame is opened.

Rock Hudson, the first major public figure to die to AIDS, dies on October 2.

Karen Ann Quinlan, coma patient, dies of pneumonia. She was the first person to die in the "right-to-die" controversy debate.

1986

January 28, the Challenger explodes

Worst nuclear disaster ever in Chernobyl, USSR, April.

In Nyos, Cameroon, a cloud of carbon dioxide rumbled out of the nearby lake Nyos on August 21 and killed approximently 1,700 people.

US vs Lybia's Col. Khadafi

Argentina wins Soccer World Cup in Mexico

Fox Network starts in America

Mandatory recycling programs started in Rhode Island.

Iran Contra Scandal (Who can forget Ollie North?

Vice President George Bush's broccoli incident, tons of the stuff is delivered to the White House.

Return of Haley's Comet

Hands Across America, May 25, 1986

Statue of Liberty celebrates the 100th Anniversary and gets a face lift in the process.

"A.M. Chicago" changes its name to the "Oprah Winfrey Show" and goes national September 8th.

Turner Broadcasting begins to colorize black and white classics.

John McCarthy, a British journalist was kidnapped by Islamic Jihad. Remained in captivity for a staggering 5.5 years.

America celebrates national holiday Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day for the first time.

Supermodel Gia, after years of heroin addiction, dies of AIDS. She is the first woman to sucumb to the AIDS virus in the US.

Election of Corazon Aquino ends corrupt Marcos regime in the Philippines. "Win or lose, we go shopping after the election." - Imelda Marcos

1987

"Baby Jessica," Jessica McClure falls down the well and is later rescued. Wednesday October 14th, 1987 --9:30am cst through Friday October 16th, 1987--8:30pm cst

Battle for "Baby M" begins. William and Eilizabeth Stern of New Jersey hired Mary Beth Whitehead to carry a baby to term for them. After it was all over, surrogate contracts were declared illegal and the Sterns won the right to bring "Baby M" up and allow Mrs. Whitehead visitation rights.

Herald of Free Enterprise sinks in North Sea; 189 die

German lands airplane on Red Square, Moscow

Thatcher re-elected (again)

The INF agreement between the US and the USSR

Black Monday - Stock market drops 22% on October 19th.

Condom commericals begin to appear on TV for the first time.

US budget reaches the trillion dollar mark.

Jessica Hahn is implicated in the Jim Baker scandal

Gary Hart scandal with model Donna Rice destroys his career.

Klaus Barbie is convicted of Nazi war crimes and sentenced to life in prision. On a similar note, Rudolf Hess strangled himself at age 93 after having been in prision since 1941. He was the sole prisioner at the facility.

The last California Condor was taken in to captivity. There were only 27 in captivity at that point. By 1992 57 were in captivity and were beginning to be re-released into the wild.

The marriage of Charles and Diana starts to deteriorate, they begin living alone.

World Population reaches 5 billion

The largest stock-market drop in Wall Street history occurred on "Black Monday" -- October 19, 1987 -- when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508.32 points, losing 22.6% of its total value. That fall far surpassed the one-day loss of 12.9% that began the great stock market crash of 1929 and foreshadowed the Great Depression

The year that Lane Frost won the PRCA World Championship in Bull Riding.

Les Miserables is awarded 8 Tony awards, including Best Musical.

1988

CDs outsell vinyl for the first time ever.

Soviets leave Afghanistan

Jimmy Swaggart admits to being with prostitutes.

Summer Olympics in Seoul, South-Korea; Ben Johnson caught for steriods after setting a World Record in the 100 meter dash.

Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland; Lybian terrorists are suspected of planting the bomb

Earthquake in the USSR

Prozac is introduced as an anti-depresent.

US advertising is permitted on Soviet TV

The first plutonium pacemaker is made.

World's longest undersea tunnel is completed. Work begins on the Chunnel which will then become the world's longest undersea tunnel.

Sonny Bono becomes Mayor in Palm Springs.

Benazir Bhutto becomes the first woman to head an Islamic nation

Dukakis loses to the "Read My Lips" guy, he's never heard from again.

McDonalds in the USSR (might have been 1989)

Long Island beaches close due to medical waste coming ashore July 6th.

Iran-Iraqi war ends in August.

Human Genome project begins.

Soviets withdraw from Afghanastan.

Australia celebrates it's bicentenary

Supreme Court case, California v. Greenwood, tested the Bill of Rights 4th Amendment, addressing search and seizure in trash.

Fires in Yellowstone National Park. The rains didn't come when expected but months later.

1989

The fall of the Berlin wall on November 9th.

Cold fusion is announced in March and then denounced at the end of summer as clumsy science.

Arsenio Hall becomes first African-American to host a nightly talk show January 3rd.

The "beginning of the end" for the communist rulers in Eastern Europe; the Cold War comes to an end

Exxon Valdez oil disaster in Alaska in March. This catastrophe would kill thousands of animals, contaminate shorelines for hundreds of miles and cause millions of dollars in damages. As with many tragedies, man had a significant role in this disaster.

Lucille Ball dies April 26.

Sheffield, UK: 96 dead, 170 wounded during a soccer match between Liverpool and Sheffield in April.

Students protest on Tienanmen Square, Beijing, China - the army intervenes; 3000-7000 killed, June 3rd.

Worldwide ban of ivory

The Fourteenth Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989

The stealth bomber is finished.

Panama invasion, loud rock music drives Manuel Noreiga from his asylum.

Rob Lowe is spotted in a soft porn video with an underage girl.

The parents of the Menendez brothers are found murdered, Lyle and Erik are later accused of the murders.

Geraldo Riveria gets his nose broken on his show by a violent guest

Pete Rose is banned from baseball for betting on games, August 24.

Collin Powell is appointed Joint Cheifs of Staff, highest army post to ever be held by a black officier.

October 17th quake disrupts the third game of the world series between San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics.

TV Guide releases a picture of a newly slim Oprah Winfrey which turns out to be her head on Ann-Margret's body.

Vietnam withdraws from Cambodia, September 26, after almost 11 years of occupation.

Pan Am files chapter 11

Burma changes it's name to Myanmar

Earthquake hits Newcastle, N.S.W. Australia in December. Several people died with more injured. Millions of dollars of damage.

Soviet Union begins fully withdraws from Afghanistan after 10 years of fighting with Afghan mujihadeen forces.

Vance vs. Judas Priest: Parents of two teenaged Judas Priest fans who attempted suicide in December 1985 sue the band, claiming that a subliminal message in the song "Better by You, Better than Me" influenced their actions. (Justice Jerry Carr Whitehead will rule in favor of the band in 1993.)

1990

First Elections in Romania
The first free elections in 53 years occured in May.

German Reunification
After the wall fell, the push towards reuniting the two Germany's was set, October 3, 1990.

Gene Therapy debuts
In Bethesda Mayland on September, used to treat ADA deficiency

Margaret Thatcher Resigns
After passing a flat tax called the "poll tax" which lead to rioting, and trying to block the EC's plan for a common currency, her rivals began calling for her resignation. She resigned in November and was replaced by John Major.

Contraceptive Implant Approved by FDA
Norplant is the first implant contraceptive approved by the FDA.

Smoking on Domestic Airplane Flights is Banned

New movie rating
NC-17 is passed in order to allow for an adults-only rating without the stigma of an X rating.

Spotted Owl Added to the threatened species list
The timber industry was of course quite outraged, since this would protect the old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest and cost jobs.

Sandinistas voted out of Nicaragua,
Chamorro was elected president, the first female president of Central America

Iraq invades Kuwait
Saddam Hussein accuses Kuwait of undercutting Iraq's petroleum revenues and of stealing from a border oil field. Kuwait's offers concessions considered inadequate to Hussein, so he sends in 100,000 troops. Kuwait's army flees along with the king. Iraq is then condemmed by the Arab League, the Soviets and especially the US who sends in 500,000 troops to defend Saudi Arabia and prepare for an invasion.

Three Tenors perform duing World Cup Soccer Finals
Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti unite to perform, and later record an album and a video. The album reaches 43 on the US pop charts, the highest a classical album reaches on a US pop chart since the 1960s. Their performance is however widley panned by music critics who label them "past their prime"

Liberia is invaded by Charles Taylor
A former junta member who was driven out of the country accused of embezzlement, he invades the country with 150 Libyan trained guerrillas. The government responds by attacking the Gio and Mano groups, which then retaliate against the goverment, ripping apart the country.

Mapplethorpe show results in controversy
Cincinnati files obscenity charges against museum director Dennis Barrie for displaying Robert Mapplethorpe's work, some of which featured children's genitals and sadmomasochistic sex. This occurs at a time when Jesse Helms begins his crusade against goverment funding of artwork.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian assists his first
June 1990, he assists 54 year old Janet Adkins, who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. This goes against the Hippocratic oath, "I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked nor suggest any such counsel"

The Hubble space telescope is launched into orbit
At a cost of $1.5 million, the telescope was launched with a lot of expectations of success. Once in orbit however, one of the mirrors was discovered to be incorrectly ground, resulting in blurred pictures. In 1993 it was repaired by a Space Shuttle mission.

Clean Air Act passed

Manuel Noreiga turns himself in to US Military
Ending his stand-off inside the Vatican embassy, he returned to the US to face drug trafficing charges.

Nelson Mandela is freed

Africanized Honey Bees first enter U. S.
The Africanized Honey Bees, the agressive honey bees which escaped from Brazil in 1957, were first discovered in the United States at the border town of Hidalgo, Texas in October of 1990. They later would spread throughout all of the Southwest U. S.

Mayor Busted!
Mayor of Washington, D.C. Marion Shepilov Barry, Jr. is arrested by the FBI in a drug "sting" operation and later convicted of misdemeanor drug possession. Barry served 6 months in prison.

1991

Iraq is attacked by UN forces
January 16, 1991 signalled the start of an air campaign against Iraq. February 27, after 100 hours of ground fighting, Kuwait was liberated, and a ceasefire was declared. 200,000 Iraqis were dead, including hundreds of civilians, 148 UN allies were killed.

Yugoslavia falls apart
June 1991, Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic blocked croatian leader Stipe Mesic from assuming the presidency, Croatia and Slovenia seceded. The Yugoslav army moved into both republics. In July they left Slovenia, but began "ethnic cleansing" in Croatia until January 1992 when a UN supervised ceasefire took place. 25,000 were dead.

Macedonia declared independence in September 1991, though Greece requested they find a different name since they also had an area named Macedonia.

Lithuania , Latvia, and Estonia leave Soviet Union
Lithuania tried to leave the Soviet Union in January 1991, but is attacked by the Soviets. After a coup against Gorbachev failed in August, the Baltic states again declare their independence. This time, the Kremlin acknoledged them as seperate countries.

Albania refugees flee their country
The summer of 1991 saw over 40,000 people leave thier country for Italy. Aprroximately 20,000 were able to stay, most were flown back. As a result of the great exodus, autocrat Ramiz Alia was forced to begin reforming the government.

The Soviet Union Ends
Yeltsin, president of the Russian republic, lead a revolution against Gorbachev inorder to preserve the crumbling Soviet Union power structure. Yeltsin however didn't lose much, after the failed revolt, the 15 seperate republics were granted their independence and Yeltsin remained the president of the newly independent republic.

FDA approves ddl
AIDS treatment

USA Sanctions Against South Africa lifted

First address to US Congress by a British monarch
May 16, 1991 Queen Elizabeth II gives a speech in the US Congress.

US President Zachary Taylor is exhumed
In order to discover whether his death was caused by arsenic poisoning instead of acute gastrointestinal illness. No arsenic was found.

Biosphere II is launched
Later the subject of a bad Pauly Shore film, the Biosphere II is sealed with four men and four women in the Arizona desert. The expirement was being conducted in order to determine whether or not a self-sustaned ecosystem could be maintained without outside influences. It was a failure, several food crops died, and fresh air needed to be pumped in at one point.

Earvin 'Magic' Johnson tests HIV positive
Magic retired November 7th after learning of his test results, and became an AIDS spokesperson.

Tailhook Association Scandal
The 4,000 person convention of top naval fliers is revealed to have been the gathering for rowdy men who groped, pinched, and fondled women and even had some cases of women being stripped by men. The Navy initially tried to discredit the accusations and tried to block an investigation.

Jeffery Dahlmer is arrested
Over a 13 year period, this serial killer was responsible for at least 17 deaths. He would lure young men home for sex, and would then drug and kill them. He would then continue to have sex with the corpses, and would sometimes dismember and eat his victims. He was sentenced to 15 consective life terms, but was killed two years into his sentence by a prison inmate.

Bank of Credit and Commerce International closed
Banking regulators from 69 countries shut down the BCCI claiming it laundered money, dealt in illegal arms, and was reponsible for smuggling, fraud, extortion and bribery. $12 billion was claimed to have disappeared within it's walls. BCCI was responsible for Iran-Contra transfers, providing nuclear weapons technology to Iraq, and secretly buying three American banks.

Chlorea outbreak in Peru
It was the first outbreak since the 19th century, and it spread to Ecuador and Colombia.

Robert Maxwell dies, discovered to be a con-man
The British tabloid tycoon disappeared, and turned up dead in the Atlantic Ocean. An investigation into his business turned up that he had stolen nearly $2 billion from the pension funds of his companies. He was also $4 billion in debt. Due to poor lending practices by major international banks, he was able to take out larges loans without anything to back them up.

Pablo Escobar Gaviria turns himself into jail
The drug lord of Colombia surrendered in June of 1991. Turns out, he was allowed to build his own jail, complete with unsupervised visits. When they tried to crack down on this policy, Escobar fleed into the jungles, and was responsible for terrorizing the country, even blowing up a Colombian airliner at one point. He was killed in 1993.

Clarence Thomas sexual harrasment hearings
Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas is accused by Anita Hill of sexual harrasment when she worked for him 10 years earlier. He was appointed anyways, 52-48 by the Senate, despite having no real qualifications for the post.

Rodney King
A videotape of black man (Rodney King) being beaten by four white police officers makes national headlines. It shows King being beaten and kicked, without offering any resistence.

Rajiv Gandhi assasinated
Rajiv Gandhi former Prime minister of India was killed in a bomb explosion in south India, while campaigning for reelection. His mother, Indira Gandhi, was assasinated in 1984, and his brother, Sanjay, was killed in a plane crash in 1980.

Harmelin v. Michigan
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Harmelin v. Michigan (501 U.S. 957, 994-997), that a sentence of life imprisonment for drug possession while cruel is not unusual and thus does not violate the 8th Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

Princess Diana and Prince Charles split.
It is announced from Buckingham Palace that, with regret, the Prince and Princess of Wales have decided to seperate. They have no intention to divore and will both continue to have an active role in their boys' lives.

Mt Pinatubo Volcano Erupts
Volcanic eruption in Philippines. Clark Air Base is evacuated and then abandoned. World weather patterns effected.

1992

Night Tracks cancellation
Night Tracks final airing May 30, 1992

President Clinton elected
In November, Democrat Bill Clinton becomes 42nd president of the United States, defeating Republican incumbant George Bush.

The 1992 Los Angeles riots, also known as the Rodney King uprising or the Rodney King riots, was sparked on April 29, 1992 when a mostly white jury acquitted four police officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King. Thousands of people in Los Angeles, mainly young black and Latino males, joined in what has often been characterized as a race riot, involving mass law-breaking, including looting, arson and murder. In all 50 to 60 people were killed during the 7 day riots.

Bosnia and Hercegovina Secede from Yugoslavia
April 1992, pretty much leaving Serbia and Macedonia as the last provinces of Yugoslavia

Peace in El Salvador
In February, El Salvador signed peace agreements between the leftist rebels and the rightist government. Open elections followed two years later.

Quebec votes to remain part of Canada
Quebec had been campaiging for many years to become independent, but the vote fell short of what was needed for the change to happen.

Minnesota's Mall of America completed, 78 acres, with the largest indoor amusment park,Mall of America has a gross area of 4.2 million ft² (390,000 m²), with 2.5 million ft² (230,000 m²) available as retail space. The mall is a nearly symmetrical building, with a roughly rectangular floor plan. Over 520 stores are arranged along three levels of pedestrian walkways on the sides of the rectangle, with a fourth level on one side. Four "anchor" department stores are located at the corners. The mall employs over 12,000 workers. Two nearly identical seven story parking ramps on east and west sides provide approximately 13,000 parking spaces. Parking lots on the north and south of the building, along with nearby overflow parking, bring the total number of spaces up to approximately 20,000.

Nicoderm, first nicotine transdermal patch
The first patch for smokers to quit smoking...

John Gotti is Convicted
Guilty on 13 counts, including racketeering and murder. The "Teflon Don" was convicted primarily on testimony by a close member of his crime syndicate, "Sammy the Bull" Gravano.

Hurricane Andrew hits Florida
Killing 14, it left 250,000 people homeless, and was one of the costliest hurricanes in history.

Congress Bank Check Fiasco
The congress voted in October to close the US House of Representatives Bank, the only clients were the congressmen. Over 8000 bad checks had been written by the members of the bank. They also owed over $300,000 in the House restaurant.


Johnny Carson leaves the Tonight Show
Bette Midler was his his last guest, Jay Leno was his replacement. David Letterman then left for CBS and beat him in ratings for a year or so.

Amy Fisher pleads guilty
Amy Fisher plead guilty to shooting her lover's wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco. "The Long Island Lolita" was a 16 year old at the time, which lead to Joey Buttafuoco being convicted on statutory rape charges.

Mike Tyson is found guilty of rape
In July Tyson was sentenced for 6 years for raping 18 year old Miss Black America contestant Desiree Washington.

Brazil president resigns
Impeachment precedings helped to force the corrupt president out of power, after charges that he stole more than $32 million from the government.

Fire at Windsor Castle

British Monarchy Divorces
Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson divorced first, then Princess Anne divorced her husband. The final and most noticable divorce was Princess Di and Prince Charles.

First Black Female Astronaut.
Dr. Mae C. Jemison becomes the first African-American woman astronaut, spending more than a week orbiting Earth in the space shuttle Endeavor.

1993

Flood of '93 in the Midwest
The Mississippi and Missouri flooded.

Israel and PLO Sign Peace Accord
PLO leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin shoke hands in Washington D.C., September 13, 1993 adter 45 years of fighting.

NAFTA ratified
North American Free Trade Agreement, it eliminated trade tariffs between Mexico, the US, and Canada. The biggest fears were that jobs would go south to Mexico, and that the environment would suffer.

Czechoslovakia splits
The Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic were formed in the split.

Legal euthanasia in the Netherlands

Waco Tragedy
The ATF raids the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas and a seige results. The seige lasts for several weeks until a fire breaks out (I have heard some reports that the Davidians themselves started it and some reports that the Federal agents started it) killing most of the cult members including leader David Koresh and several children.

Combat roles for women in the US military

Paid public admission to Buckingham Palace

Explosion at the World Trade Center in New York
February 26, Muslim funamentalists tried to destroy the World Trade Center, killing five people and trapping tens of thousands of office workers in the tower. In March, four men connected with Egyptian sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman were convicted and sentanced to 240 years.

Abortion doctor killed by fanatic
An antiabortion protester shot Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, Floria outside his abortion clinic in March. 17 months later, his sucessor was also shot.

Michael Jordon retires
After his father was killed, and allegations of gambling, Michael Jordon retires to play minor league baseball. 17 months later he returns to basketball.

European Treaty ratified in October

Iraq is bombed again
Refusal by Iraq to obey a no-fly zone over it's country, and to dismantle plants capable of nuclear weapon production led to bombing of military and industrial sites.

The Lorena Bobbatt Trial
Lorena Bobbatt, who claimed to be a battered wife at the time, was given a suspended sentence for amputating her husband's penis. Lorena, who was on trial for felonious assault, claimed to have no memory of the event in question? About six months after the trial they divorced.

New Kids Call It Quits.
Summer 1993: After much speculation the Boston quintet New Kids on the Block finally called it quits after 7 years together and 6 albums. The boys decided that they were too burned out to continue with touring and persued interests in other lines of work which include solo singing careers, acting, real-estate and music producing.

The Final Episode Of Cheers.
After many years and many Daytime Emmys, Cheers finally closed its doors in March of 1993. Ted Danson, Sam Mallone, ended the series with final scene in which he said "WE'RE CLOSED!"

Warships To Haiti
U.S. President Bill Clinton sends 6 American warships to enforce United Nations trade sanctions against the military-led regime in Haiti.

1994

South African Black Get to Vote, April
Mandela got 60 percent of the vote, far more than FW de Klerk who began dismantling aparthaid 5 years earlier. The flag was also changed to help erase some of their past.

Civil war in Rwanda
The spark that ignited a bloody civil war (500,000 people killed) was started by Hutu troops, which shot down a plan carrying the president of Rwanda and Burundi in revenge for allowing the Tutsi to share power.

North Korean nuclear violations suspected
The North Koreans' barred a UN agency from investigating security breaches at one of their reactors. This started a tense year of negotiations, in which Jimmy Carter helped to begin a dialog by getting North Korea to suspend it's bomb program.

IRA peace talks result in a cease-fire

An Israeli fanatic kills 29 Palestinians
As a result, it sparked further retalations on both sides. It didn't prevent the turning over of Jerihco and the Gaza strip. Arafat returned from his exile and began to run the new country.

Israel and the Vatican begin diplomatic relations

Existence of black holes proved.
The Hubble telescope reveals conclusive evidence of the existence of black holes, which had been purely theoretical up until this point.

Major League baseball players strike
As a result the World Series was canceled.

NHL locked out players over salaries

Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the back of the knee
In January, one month before the 1994 Winter Olympics, her rival's boyfriend, attacked her after a skating meet. Tonya Harding would still go on to face Nancy at the Olympics, but failed to even place after a miserable performace. She was later banned from the professional skating world.

Whitewater scandal begins to be investigated

Chunnel opens, May 1994
Bridging England and France, it took 15,000 workers over seven years to create the tunnel which now allows passengers to travel between the two countries in 35 minutes.

Haiti's president returns from exile
After three years of exile in the US, Aristide returned on October 15th.

Mass suicide by Order of the Solar Temple
53 members of the cult carried out the mass murder-suicide in Switzerland and Canada.

The Order of the Solar Temple hit the headlines in October 1994 when the badly burned bodies of 53 of its members - including that of di Mambro himself - were discovered in Canada and Switzerland. Although it is said that they committed suicide, the victims believing that their souls would be transported to Sirius, there are still many unanswered questions about the tragedy, and there is evidence that at least some of the victims were murdered. Further deaths followed in 1995.

700 paintings looted from Germany revealed
The stash was held in St Petersburg's Hermitage museum, after having been looted in 1945 by Russian soldiers.

Comet hits Jupiter
In July 1994, the planet was pelted by the comet with 21 large fragments over the course of 6 days, creating 2000 mile high fireballs and leaving black bruises in the clouds of the planet.

Run OJ, RUN
On June 13, 1994 Nicole Brown Simpsons and Ronald Goldman were murdered outside Nicole's house in Brentwood, CA. On June 17th, OJ and his friend Al Cowlings took flight from the police in his white Ford Bronco, in a low speed chase which ended up at his mansion where he surrendered.

Los Angeles suffers massive earthquake

Republican majority in both houses of Congress

Another Kennedy Funeral
November 1994. Jackie Kennedy Onassis was laid to rest along side John F Kennedy. What was to be a private family affair turned into a large public spectacle.

Icestorm of '94
Thousands lost their electricity when record low temperatures hit the east coast. Some students missed more than two weeks of school! Ice froze up everything for what seemed like forever.

Susan Smith (the ultimate lie)
She drowned her two sons, then LIED on national television that a black guy kidnapped her two sons. The police, FBI, etc went on a vast nationwide search looking for a black guy with a car with SC plates. Then later in the week, she confesses that she drowned her two sons.

Oldest Human Remains Found.
The oldest known human ancestor (Ardipithecus ramidus) is found in Kenya, East Africa. The find was estimated at 4.4 million years old.

1995

The Oklahoma City Bombing
April 19, 1995: 168 people, including 8 Federal Marshals, were killed in the bombing of a federal building in Oaklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were charged and convicted in this case. For their roles in the bombing Terry Nichols received a life sentence and Timothy McVey was sentenced to death.

1996

Smashing Pumpkins Drummer Arrested
July 1996- Jimmy Chaimberland, the drummer for the rock band Smashing Pumpkins, was arrested for posession of a controlled substance after the body of traveling keyboardist Jonathan Melvoine was discovered in a NYC hotel room. A week later Billy Corgan, D'Arcy Wretsky and James Iha would fire Jimmy saying that "Jimmy's insidious battle with drugs and alcohol has nearly ruined everything we are and stand for."

Massacre in Dunblane school gym

A lone gunman has gone on a shooting spree at a school in Dunblane, Scotland, killing 16 children and their teacher.

The killer sprayed shots at random around the school gym in an attack that lasted just three minutes, but caused carnage in a class of five and six year olds. He then turned the gun on himself.

Twelve other children were taken to hospital in Stirling, where one is reported to have later died of his injuries.

The killer has been named as Thomas Hamilton, 43, a local man, who had once - briefly - been a scout master before being sacked by the Scout Association.

Sheryl Crow Album Banned From Wal-Mart
Sheryl Crow's self--titled album was taken off the shelves of every Wal-Mart department store in the continental US due to some lyrics that the major retail chain didn't like. Some of the head haunchoes at Wal-Mart were offended by the lyric: "Watch our children kill each other with the guns that they brought at the local Wal-Mart." A spokes person for Wal-Mart said that the particular lyric in question basically stated that Wal-Mart: "doesn't take care of their customers!" A spokes person for A&M records called the ban on Sheryl's album: "extreme" and they said that they would stand behind Sheryl!

The unabomber, Kaczynski arrested in Montanna

US Military barracks destroyed in Saudia Arabia
A truck bomb exploded outside the barracks, killing 19, June 27th.

Flight 800 from New York crashes
Killing all aboard, July 18th.

The author of Primary Colors is revealed
The fictional account of a presidental election which resembled the Clinton election, was revealed to be written by Joe Klien of Newsweek.

Olympic Park bombing
After killing one person, a security guard named Richard Jewell came under suspicion initially but was cleared in the incident. No one has been convicted of setting the bomb.

Port Arthur Massacre
The Port Arthur Massacre in Hobart, Australia, when lone gunman Martin Bryant randomly shoots 34 people dead during an 18-hour spree at the historic site in Tasmania. Three of the dead include a mother and her two children, both less than 8. After a seige which lasted well into the night, Bryant is eventually arrested. At his trial, he laughs and giggles before being sentenced to prison forever.

Ebonics
The Oakland, California School board elects to recognize black english, termed Ebonics as a separate language.

O.J. Simpson trial begins
The OJ Simpson trial begins when OJ is charged with murder

Divorce!
Princess Diana and Prince Charles are divorced. She has her 'HRH' removed.

1997

Hong Kong's Independence
England handed Hong Kong to China

Scientists cloned Dolly the sheep
Dolly the cloned sheep was cloned by scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland.

Heaven's Gate Cult mass suicide
A mass suicide in which 39 members of a "Heaven's Gate Cult" in California killed themselves thinking they would be sent up to a spaceship behind the passing Hale Bopp comet. Strange and sad story.

OJ Simpsons loses civil suit for wrongful death

Timothy McVeigh is found guilty of bombing

China resumes control of Hong Kong
July 1, after 156 years of British rule, the colony was turned back over to China.

Mars Pathfinder lands on Mars
The little remote control rover landed and took pictures and samples of the planet surface.

Princess Diana's Funeral.
Millions of mourners gathered outside a London cathedral for the funeral of Princess Diana. Princess Sara and her children showed up in the crowd of mourners. Camilla Parker Bowles, refered to by Diana as a Rottweiler, was the only one who wasn't invited to the funeral. Diana was later laid to rest at the Spencer family plot.

Comet Hale-Bopp 1st spotted
It was considered to be the greatest comet in the 20th century. About 80% of Americans saw it without a telescope.

Jean benet ramsey murder

NYC Police Assualt Haitian Immigrant
4 New York City police officers assault Haitian immigrant Abner Louima while in custody. Louima was beaten severely while handcuffed and had a toilet plunger shoved into his rectum, puncturing his intestine and bladder

California Ban on Affrimative Action
In California, a state ban on all forms of affirmative action was passed. Proposed in 1996, the ban had been delayed in the courts for almost a year before it went into effect. Proposition 209 stated "the state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting."

1998

The unabomber pleads guilty
He accepted a life term without parole and forgoes a right to appeal.

India resumes nuclear testing
May 12th, violating a worldwide ban on nuclear testing

Gunman kills 2 guards in the Capitol building

2 US Embassies in Africa bombed

Clinton admits to Lewinsky affair
After denying the afair for close to a year, the President held a press conference to admit to having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky

The House approves impeachment inquiry
The House of Representatives approved an inquiry into a possible impeachment trial, the Senate later did not approve the inquiry.

America bombs Iraq: AGAIN!
Following a weapons inspector agreement by the UN, on December 17, in the middle of Clinton's impeachment trial, President Clinton orders American and British airstrikes on Iraq.

Louise Woodward returns
Louise Woodward, the young British nanny who was found guilty in the murder of a baby, returned to the U.K.

The Wrath of Mother Nature
1998 was a severe weather season. In the year, Hurricane Mitch devestated the Caribbean Coast, and Hurricane Georges did severe damage to the Florida coastline, the worst since Andrew in 1992. Tornadoes also do a lot of severe damage in the Southeast. A severe heatwave lasted all summer long, killing almost 90 people. Over a billion dollar of damage was due to the weather. It all had to do with El Nino.

Peace in Northern Ireland
A historic agreement was made, which brought a final peace to Northern Ireland.

5,000th Episode
Bob Barker's game show The Price is Right, aired his 5,000th episode on CBS in the summer.

No survivors on Swissair plane crash
Swissair flight 111 took off from New York bound to Geneva. All 229 people on board were killed when the plane crashed off the coast of Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia. The mystery still remains of what caused the plane to crash, or who caused the plane to crash.

Newt Gingrich resigned
Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich stepped down. Bob Livingstone refused to take his place.

Texas Dragging Death
In late June, three men associated with the Ku Klux Klan dragged a black man, James Byrd Jr. to his death. They were later sentenced to death

Clinton's Popularity Very High
During the Clinton sex scandal, the president's approval rating with the public sored to an all-time high at nearly 76%

Italian Ski Jet Disaster
An American military jet accidentially severed a ski tram in Italy, which killed 10 people. President Clinton apologized and later agreed to pay compensation for the victims' families.

Arkansas School Massacre
Two young boys, aged 13 and 14, killed 5 people at a Jonesboro, Arkansas middle school after a hoax fire alarm. They were killed on the playground.

Record High Tempatures
1998's summer tempatures were some of the highest on record. The so-called Texas Heat Wave killed many people, drought on the east coast killed many also, and tempatures went up to nearly 120, the hottest ever recorded.

John Glenn returns to space
In late October, veteran astronaut Senator John Glenn, now 77, returned to space onboard the space shuttle Discovery. He became the oldest person to ever be in space.

Home Run Chase
Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa both chased the homerun recod set by Roger Maris in 1961, in the end, both broke it, with 70 and 66 home runs.

Busing ends in Maryland
An U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte ordered the end to mandatory busing in Prince George's County, Md. concluding a 26-year-old government effort to desegregate the schools

First Commercial Black Female Pilot
Melissa Ward becomes the first African-American female Captain in commercial aviation. Ward is a United Shuttle (B737-300) Captain for United Airlines and has been flying for United since 1992.

5 Become 4
Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice, anounced through her lawyer that she would be leaving the Spice Girls due to differences in the band. She went on to have a successful solo career.

1999

President Clinton is Acquitted
In February, the Senate acquits the president of perjury and obstruction of justice, after the House or Representatives had convicted him.

NATO Begins Bombing Yugoslavia
In March a 78 day offensive by NATO forces in response to Serb attacks on Croatians.

Columbine Tragedy
April 20, 1999, two students go on a shooting rampage in Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. They kill 12 students, 1 teacher and themselves.

Earthquake in Turkey Kills 13,000
In August, one of the most powerful and deadly earthquakes of the century strikes Turkey.

Women's Soccer Team Wins World Cup
One of the most memorable sports moments in years, when Brandi Chastain kicks the final shot, and whips off her shirt and runs around in her sport bra waving it over her head.

NASA loses two Mars bound space probes
The first in October, the Climate Orbiter is lost when a team of scientists fails to covert between English units and the Metric system. The second in December is the Polar Lander, a $165 millon probe.

Egypt Air crashes off the coast of Nantucket
In October a plane carrying 217 people crashes in the ocean off of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Suspicion lies with a co-pilot who may have deliberately crashed the plane.

World Trade Organization protests in Seattle
Over 10,000 people protest the WTO in Seattle, Washington, shutting down the city and leading to hundreds of arrests.

Panama Canal is handed back to Panama

Worcester Cold Warehouse Fire, 6 firefighters lost
Largest amount of firefighters lost in action in Massachusetts in over 30 years.

Pokemon fever grips the US
The hottest toy for children in 1999? Pokemon cards, toys, etc.

The South Park Movie is Released
Rated for the most obscenities per minute, 399 in 80 minutes. Must have been that song about the "Uncle" that puts them over the top. Pulp Fiction had 411 in 154 minutes.

First non-stop world trip in a balloon

Eddie Timanus wins on Jeopardy
Despite being blind since 3, sportswriter Eddie Timanus becomes a five-time Jeopardy champion.

Pamela and Tommy Divorce.
January 1999, Pamela Anderson Lee sought a divorce after her husband Tommy Lee hit her as she held their infant son Dylan in her arms. A month or so later Tommy was convicted of battery and felony child abuse and had undergo anger management. Tommy was also ordered to stay away from Pamela, and their two boys Brandon and Dylan until his angermanagement course was completed according to the courts.

Rickymania Hits North America
Ricky Martin, formerly of the boy group Menudo, struck out on his own last year with his english language self-titled debut album. Hordes and hordes of female followers lined up for hours at autograph sessions just to catch a glimpse of Ricky Martin. Other latin superstars such as Enrrique Iglasias, son of Jullio Iglasias, Marc Anthony, and Jennifer Lopez soon followed suit.

Bon-Fire Log Colapse Kills 12
12 students at A&M University were killed after logs that were being used to fuel a huge celebratory bon-fire colapsed under the weight of several students. 3 other students were injured and were taken to a hospital.

A Colorado grand jury gives up on murder
In October, a grand jury in Colorado received no indictments on the murder of slain 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, seeking a lack of evidence. She was murdered Christmas night 1996 in Boulder, and the mystery since then has remained of who killed her.

George W. Bush announces he'll be a candidate
Texas Governor George W. Bush announced that he would be running for president in the 2000 primaries. He said that his usage of cocaine in college was a political game.

A severe shooting incident in a L.A. Jewish school
White supremacist Burford Furrow Jr. walked into a Los Angeles community center which included a Jewish school. He tried to kill a class, but ended up with the death of a Filipino mail carrier and injuring 5 people. He was then charged after the incident.

Bomb and Shooting in Texas Church Kill 22
In Fort Worth, Texas, Larry Ashbrook threw a bomb into a church, which killed 7, and then he opened fire on 14 people during a teen service, and then killed himself.

Rare Tornados in Oklahoma and Kansas
A rare force-4 tornado in the Witchita-Haysville, Kansas area killed 5 and injured over 100. Then, an extremely rare force-5 tornado struck the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma area killed 46 and injured 800. Millions of dollars in damage was a result of the twisters.

The Elian Gonzales Custody Battle
November 1999: a raft carrying Elian Gonzales his mother Elizabeth, step-father and 10 others capsized off the coast of Miami. For 4 months this boy has been at the Center of an international custody battle between Juan Migel Gonzales, Elian's father, Marsiales Gonzales, Elian's cousin, and Lasaro Gonzales, Elian's Great-Uncle. Attorney General Janet Reno ordered the boy returned to his father but the order was over-turned by a higher court!

Prince Edward and Sophie marry
On June 19, England's Prince Edward and his long-time girlfriend Sophie Rhys-Jones married.

Hurricane Floyd
On September 17, Hurricane Floyd devestated the coast of North Carolina. After making people in Florida evacuate three days earlier, the hurricane came back and did millions of dollars of flooding and damage, only second to Andrew.

Atlanta erupts into violence
In July, the city of Atlanta was the scene of violence as a result of three incidents. On the 12th, a family of six living in an Atlanta suburb were killed by a live-in boyfriend, then he shot himself dead. On the 23rd, two police officers were killed in a gunman standoff. And the worst happened on the 29th, when Mark Barton, a day trader, entered two brokerage firm houses and shot 9 people dead, then himself. 19 people were killed total.

Ex-Beetle Stabbed In His Home.
December 29, 1999: Former Beetle George Harrison was stabbed in the chest by an unknown assailant. The assailant beleived that Harrison was a devil and stabbed George Harrison several times. George's wife wrestled the knife out the assailant's hand before the police arrived. Police are still unsure of how this young man got past the Harrison's elaborate security system?

Y2K Scare
Y2K hype gets everyone paranoid that the end of the world is near. Billions of dollar spent world-wide on Y2K upgrade on computer software. At 4:00 AM on December 31, 1999 as the new year passes on the little island of Fiji we discover that the supposed Y2k Bug will not cause impending doom.

Woodstock 99
Woodstock 99 took place in New York. It was a 3 day concert featuring Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, Red Hot Chilli Peppers,KoRn and many other superstar status bands and singers! There were rapes, mud wars, and fires during the concert. Nobody was seriously injured.

Creation of the Euro
Creation of the european single currency (the Euro) by the European Union. In 2002, notes and coins will circulate throught the union EMU member states (Spain, France, Germany,Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, Finland, Greece, Ireland and Austria). The UK, among other EU states like Denmark, and Sweeden may join the euro later.

Mbeki's elected South African President
South African Thabo Mbeki is elected as the second black President of the Republic of South Africa.

Extremist bombings in England
In England, a neo-Nazi group called the White Wolves declares that "Notice is hereby given that all non-whites (defined by blood, not religion) must permanently leave the British Isles before the year is out. Jews and non-whites who remain after 1999 has ended will be exterminated." The group has claimed responsibility for the bombings in minority areas that has killed 2 and injured 115 British citizens to date.

Wedgewood Baptist Church Shooting
Larry Ashbrook goes on a shooting spree killing seven and injuring 14 and injuring 6 more. His homemade pipe bomb does NOT explode. He then kills himself

2000

2001

U.S. spy plane and Chinese jet collide (April 2); Sino-American relations deteriorate during a standoff. The 24 crew members of the U.S. plane were detained for 11 days and released after the U.S. issued a formal statement of regret.

Without U.S., 178 nations reach agreement on climate accord, which rescues, though dilutes, 1997 Kyoto Protocol (July 23).

U.S. submarine Greeneville sinks Japanese fishing boat, killing 9 (Feb. 9).

Race riots in Cincinnati continue for several days following a shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer (April 7 et seq.).

2002