Science: Genome of C. elegans sequenced
Yogi Totsuka determines nutrinos have mass
Hubble Space Telescope sends image of planet outside of our system
Temperature changes in late Precambrian suggested as spur for evolution
Astronomers detect giant explosion in space
The Athena probe finds frozen water on the moon
Crew of Space Shuttle Endeavour connects first two modules of international space station
Technology: Google founded Microsoft sued for stifling innovation
Allen Burgess comes up with Y2K bug breakthrough
Deaths: Frank Sinatra, Gene Autry, Sonny Bono, Florence Griffith Joyner, Akira Kurosawa, Octavio Paz Mexican writer, Junior Wells blues vocalist
Africa
Congo: Basanga football team killed when field struck by lightning – all opposing team lives
Second Congo War begins (Coltan War) - Deadliest war following WWII with between 3 and 8 million dead
Egypt: Restoration of the Great Sphinx of Giza completed
Kenya: Flooding US embassy bombed
Nigeria: Dictator Sani Abacha dies from heart attack caused by ingestion of large quantities of Viagra
Sudan: US cruise missiles hit base in retalliation for embassy bombings - reported to ba aspirin plant
Tanzania: US embassy bombed
Americas
General: Nicaragua and Honduras hit with Hurricane Mitch killing 9000
Freak cold current in Gulf of Mexico kills fish as canyon water upwells
Brazil: Amazon fire
Canada: Montreal ice storm
Chile: Former dictator Augusto Pinochet arrested in London
Colombia: Pedro López "The Monster of the Andes" arrested for killing at least 300 in Ecuador and Colombia
Peru: Flooding
Asia
Bangladesh: Flooding
China: Earthquake
India: Nuclear tests Heat wave kills over 2500
Indonesia: Dictator Suharto steps down
Pakistan: Nuclear tests
Europe
General: Europeans agree on cingle currency and the Euro is created
Great Britain: Northern Ireland starts sharing power between Catholics and Protestants and tentative peace ensues - Good Friday
Italy: Pietro Pacciani the monster of Florence dies after arrest for killing eight couples
Russia: Verge of financial collapse
Yugoslavia: Serbs battle Albanians in Kosovo – NATO on verge of air strikes – settlement with ruler Milosevic
Middle East
General: Wye Mills Agreement between Netanyahu of Israel and Palestine representative Arafat moves peace talks forward
Afghanistan: US cruise missiles hit bases in Afghanistan as regalliation for bombed bases in Africa Earthquake
Iraq: Cease of cooperation with UN arms inspectors – US orders air strikes
Pacific
Australia: Flooding
Tom and Eileen Lonergan stranded off Great Barrier Reef when scuba boat fails to do headcount – bodies never recovered