2000

This page is about the year 2000. For information about the UK comic, see 2000 A.D.

2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar), and also the International Year for a Culture of Peace.

Events

• Y2K passes without the serious, widespread computer failures that had been predicted.
• 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-February

• January 5-8 - The 2000 al-Qaida Summit
• 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 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published
• February 21 - David Letterman returns to the Late Show, over a month after having an emergency quintuple heart bypass surgery.
• February 29 - This leap year day is the last in a turn of the century year until February 29, 2400.

March

• March 18 - 2000 Taiwanese presidential election: Chen Shui-bian is elected President of the Republic of China.
• 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

• April 1 - Japanese prime minister Obuchi Keizo suffers a stroke and falls into a coma.
• April 3 - Microsoft antitrust case: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.
• April 5 - Mori Yoshiro replaces Obuchi as prime minister of Japan.
• April 7 - Mars Odyssey is launched.
• April 16 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, Raja of Perlis dies after a reign of 55 years. He was the longest reigning monarch in the world since the death of Hirohito, Emperor of Japan.
• April 17 - Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin becomes Raja of Perlis.
• April 22 - In a predawn raid, federal agents seize six-year old Elián González 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 23 - Hudson-Bergen Light Rail opens.
• April 25 - The State of Vermont passes HB847, legalizing Civil Unions for same-sex couples.

May-August

• May 3 - Computer pioneer Datapoint Corporation files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• May 12 - The Tate Modern opens in London
• May 25 - Liberation of Lebanese land after 22 years of Israeli occupation.
• June 21 - Section 28 repealed in Scotland with a 99 to 17 vote.
• June 23 - Palace Backpackers Hostel fire in Childers, Australia, kills 15 persons.
• 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.
• August 12 - Russian Submarine Kursk sunk.

September-October

• 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 11 - 250 million gallons of coal sludge spill in Martin County, Kentucky. Considered a greater environmental disaster then the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
• 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 crew members and wounding at least 39.
• October 31 - The last Multics machine was shut down.

November

• November - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq rejects new U.N. Security Council weapons inspections proposals.
• November 7 - U.S. presidential election, 2000: Republican challenger George W. Bush defeats Democrat Vice President Al Gore, but the final outcome is not known for over a month because of disputed votes in Florida.
• November 7 - Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected to the United States Senate, becoming the first First Lady of the United States to win public office.
• November 11 - In Kaprun, Austria, 155 skiers and snowboarders die when a cable car catches fire in an alpine tunnel.
• November 14 - Netscape Navigator version 6.0 is launched following two years of open source development creating a stable Mozilla browser upon which it is based.
• November 16 - Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting US President to visit Vietnam.
• November 17 - Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru
• November 27 - Canada - Parliamentary elections - Jean Chrétien re-elected as Prime Minister as Liberal Party increases majority in House of Commons

December

• 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.
• December 31 - the last day of the 20th Century.

unknown date

• The last wholly Swedish-owned arms manufacturer, Bofors, is sold to American arms manufacturer United Defense.
• Limited reintroduction of routinely armed police in the UK for the first time since 1936.

Year in topic

• 2000 in film
  • Gladiator
  • The latest Joel and Ethan Coen film, O Brother, Where Art Thou? was released to much critical acclaim.
  • Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon breaks records for mass-Western popularity of martial arts movies
• 2000 in literature
• 2000 in music
  • The soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, consisting of bluegrass and country music, is a surprise success
• 2000 in science
• 2000 in sports
  • 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia
  • January 30 - Super Bowl XXXIV Saint Louis Rams (23) defeat Tennessee Titans (16)
  • March 26 - The Seattle Kingdome is imploded to make room for a new stadium.
• 2000 in television
  • Survivor premieres on CBS sparking a trend of "reality TV". Many copy-cat programs follow. The show was based on the Swedish game show, Operation Robinson.

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.

Births

• April 20 - Funny Cide, winner of the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes
• May 20 - Leo Blair, son of the Rt Hon Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Cherie Booth QC.

Deaths

January-February

• January 4 - Tom Fears, American football star
• January 8 - Fritz Thiedemann, German equestrianist
• January 9 - Nigel Tranter, 90, Scottish historian, writer
• January 10 - Sam Jaffe, producer
• January 18 - Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, 102, Austrian architect
• 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 M. 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 (born 1946)

March-June

• 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 16 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, Raja of Perlis and former 3rd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
• April 25 - David Merrick, producer
• May 7 - Douglas Fairbanks Jr., actor
• May 12 - Adam Petty, NASCAR driver (b. 1980)
• May 14 - Obuchi Keizo, Japanese prime minister
• 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, hockey player (b. 1921)
• June 10 - Hafez al-Assad, 69, president of Syria (1971-2000)
• June 26 - Lucien Laurin, Secretariat's Hall of Fame trainer
• June 29 - Vittorio Gassmann, 78, Italian actor

July-December

• 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 25 - R. S. Thomas, Welsh poet (born 1913)
• 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
• December 31 - Rabbi Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, Extreme settler leader (shot in battle)

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 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