Events, Verisoph

20 November 1998 First module of the space station launched 0 cit. The Russian-built Zarya module became the first piece of the International Space Station in orbit. Over the next decade the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada assembled the outpost. politics / science / technology ●●●●

November 1998 Scientology's Flag Service Organization is charged over McPherson's death 0 cit. Florida prosecutors indicted the church's Flag Service Organization on felony charges of abusing or neglecting a disabled adult and practicing medicine without a license. The charges were dropped in 2000 after the cause of death was reclassified. politics ●●●

8 October 1998 CIA Inspector General reports on Contra drug ties 0 cit. The CIA Inspector General's Hitz report found the agency had worked with Contra-related figures tied to drug trafficking and had not cut ties or reported them. It confirmed a pattern of tolerance rather than a single plot to sell drugs. politics / society ●●●●

16 October 1998 Pinochet arrested in London 0 cit. Augusto Pinochet was arrested in London on a Spanish warrant for human rights crimes, a landmark moment for international justice. He was later released on health grounds but faced charges in Chile. politics / society ●●●

c. 1998 China launches the Golden Shield Project 0 cit. China's Ministry of Public Security began the Golden Shield Project in 1998 to build a nationwide system of internet surveillance and filtering. The blocking side of the system became widely known as the Great Firewall. politics / technology ●●●●●

1998 Al Qaeda Bombs U.S. Embassies in East Africa ai_extracted 2 cit. On August 7, 1998, Al Qaeda operatives under Osama bin Laden's direction bombed the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing over 200 people. ●●

November 1998 Russia and America build the space station together 0 cit. The old rivals join to build the International Space Station, with Russian and American modules linked in orbit. The programs born as Cold War weapons became a symbol of post-Cold-War cooperation. diplomacy / science ●●●

December 1998 Global Witness report exposes the diamond trade's role in African wars 0 cit. The advocacy group Global Witness published 'A Rough Trade,' documenting how diamonds mined in rebel-held Angola were being sold through De Beers's buying network and financing UNITA's war effort. The report was widely credited with putting the term 'conflict diamonds' into public use and pressuring the industry toward reform. economy / war ●●

12 June 1998 UN Security Council bans purchase of UNITA diamonds 0 cit. The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1173, prohibiting the direct or indirect import of diamonds from Angola not certified by the government, in an effort to cut off UNITA's main source of funding. It was one of the first international measures explicitly targeting conflict diamonds. diplomacy / war ●●

December 1998 Confinity founded 0 cit. Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek founded Confinity, a company built initially around cryptography for handheld devices. Confinity soon pivoted to a money-transfer product that became PayPal. economy / technology ●●

17 August 1998 Russian financial crisis and sovereign default 0 cit. The Russian government devalued the ruble and defaulted on its domestic debt, triggering a banking collapse and a further collapse in ordinary living standards. The crisis discredited the economic team associated with the 1990s reforms and deepened public disillusionment with the market transition and the businessmen who had prospered from it. economy ●●●

11 September 1998 Primakov appointed prime minister 0 cit. Yevgeny Primakov, a former foreign intelligence chief, became prime minister in the aftermath of the default, forming a government seen as less friendly to the oligarchs. He was dismissed by Yeltsin the following May, reportedly after launching anti-corruption inquiries that touched the president's inner circle. politics ●

25 July 1998 Putin appointed director of the FSB 0 cit. Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer who had worked in East Germany and later in the St. Petersburg mayor's office, was appointed head of the FSB, the Soviet KGB's main successor agency. The post gave him control over Russia's domestic security services and put him firmly inside Yeltsin's trusted circle. politics ●●

December 1998 The Salt Lake City bid bribery scandal breaks 0 cit. Reports reveal that Salt Lake City's bid committee gave IOC members cash, scholarships, medical care, and gifts worth over a million dollars to win the 2002 Winter Games. The scandal led to the expulsion or resignation of ten IOC members and forced the first major reform of Olympic bidding rules. economy / politics ●●●

c. February 1998 Government mandates Masonic membership declaration 0 cit. Following the Committee's recommendation, Home Secretary Jack Straw requires that new appointees to the judiciary, magistracy, police, and legally qualified staff of the Crown Prosecution Service, Probation Service, and Prison Service declare membership of Freemasonry as a condition of appointment. A subsequent government survey identifies at least 247 judges and 1,097 magistrates who declared Masonic membership. politics ●●●

c. February 1998 Government Mandates Masonic Membership Declaration for Judiciary and Police 0 cit. Home Secretary Jack Straw announced that new appointees to the judiciary, magistracy, police, Crown Prosecution Service legal staff, Probation Service, and Prison Service would have to declare Masonic membership as a condition of appointment, implementing the Home Affairs Committee's 1997 recommendation. A government survey later found roughly 5 percent of judges and 7 percent of magistrates had declared membership, while police compliance was markedly lower. Local councillors were not included in this requirement, which fed directly into the later debate about extending disclosure to local government. politics ●●

1998 Special Branch replaced by NSIS 0 cit. Parliament passed the National Security Intelligence Service Act, formally separating intelligence functions from the police and creating the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS) as a distinct civilian agency reporting to the president. The reform was intended to professionalize intelligence work, though critics noted it did little on its own to end political surveillance practices inherited from the Special Branch era. politics ●

10 April 1998 Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement signed 0 cit. The British and Irish governments and most of Northern Ireland's political parties signed the Good Friday Agreement, establishing a power-sharing assembly, cross-border institutions, and a framework for policing and human rights reform. The agreement enshrined the principle that Northern Ireland's constitutional status could only change with the consent of a majority of its population. It is generally regarded as the foundational document of the Northern Ireland peace process. diplomacy / politics ●●●

22 May 1998 Good Friday Agreement referendums 0 cit. Voters in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland approved the Good Friday Agreement in simultaneous referendums, with 71 percent support in Northern Ireland and 94 percent in the Republic. The Republic's vote also approved amending its constitution to remove its territorial claim over Northern Ireland. The results gave the agreement a strong democratic mandate on both sides of the border. politics / society ●●

29 October 1998 TRC hands first five volumes of final report to Mandela 0 cit. Archbishop Tutu handed the first five volumes of the TRC's final report to President Nelson Mandela. The report found the apartheid state, principally through its security forces, was responsible for the great majority of gross human rights violations, and also found the ANC and other liberation movements responsible for abuses, including of detainees in ANC camps. The report described apartheid itself as a crime against humanity. politics / society ●●●

1 July 1998 Akiwumi Commission appointed to inquire into tribal clashes 0 cit. President Daniel arap Moi appointed a judicial commission under Justice Akilano Akiwumi to investigate ethnic clashes in Kenya between 1991 and 1998, particularly the 1997 violence in Coast Province. Over eleven months the commission heard testimony from more than 200 witnesses. politics / society ●●

29 January 1998 Saville Inquiry established into Bloody Sunday 0 cit. Prime Minister Tony Blair established a new public inquiry, chaired by Lord Saville, into the killing of 13 unarmed civilians by British soldiers in Derry on 30 January 1972, an event known as Bloody Sunday. It replaced the earlier 1972 Widgery Tribunal, whose findings were widely regarded as a whitewash that had largely exonerated the army. The Saville Inquiry became the longest and most expensive public inquiry in British history. politics / war ●●

c. 1998 Carabinieri and the rise of stability policing 0 cit. In the late 1990s Italy's Carabinieri pioneered Multinational Specialized Units in the Balkans, armed police formations deployed to fill the gap between soldiers and civilian police in peacekeeping zones. This role, often called stability policing, drew directly on the gendarmerie tradition of a force that can face both crowds and armed threats. It spread to NATO and EU missions and later informed the founding of a joint European Gendarmerie Force in 2004. diplomacy / politics / war ●

August 1998 The Second Congo War, the Great War of Africa 0 cit. When Kabila turned against his Rwandan and Ugandan backers, a wider war erupted that drew in around nine African countries and many armed groups, often fighting over the Congo's minerals. It became the deadliest conflict since the Second World War and is sometimes called the Great War of Africa. A peace deal in 2002 and a transitional government in 2003 formally ended the war, though violence continued in the east. politics / war ●●●

21 May 1998 Suharto resigns amid the Asian crisis 0 cit. After the Asian financial crisis wrecked Indonesia's economy and mass protests filled the streets, Suharto steps down after more than three decades in power. His fall opened the way for democratic reform and, later, independence for East Timor. Investigations put the wealth taken by his family and circle among the largest of any modern ruler. economy / politics ●●

16 October 1998 Pinochet is arrested in London 0 cit. British police detain Augusto Pinochet on a Spanish warrant seeking his extradition for torture and murder. Though he was eventually sent home on health grounds, the arrest established that a former head of state could be pursued abroad for human rights crimes. It marked a turning point in the idea that such rulers might one day face justice. diplomacy / politics ●●

c. 1998 The Jubilee 2000 campaign for debt cancellation 0 cit. A global coalition of churches, charities, and activists demands cancellation of unpayable poor-country debt by the year 2000, drawing on the biblical idea of a jubilee. Mass petitions and a human chain around a G8 summit pushed leaders to widen relief and helped shape the enhanced HIPC scheme. Campaigners argued that much of the debt was odious and had already been repaid many times over in interest. economy / religion ●●

17 July 1998 The Rome Statute creates a permanent international court 0 cit. Nations agreed to create the International Criminal Court to try genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It marked a step toward global justice reaching above national borders. Major powers including the United States, Russia, and China stayed outside it, showing that even the strongest push for world governance still bends around great-power will. diplomacy / politics ●●

27 July 1998 Kabila breaks with his Rwandan and Ugandan sponsors 0 cit. Resented at home as a puppet of foreigners, Kabila publicly thanked and then expelled the Rwandan and Ugandan troops who had installed him, ordering all foreign forces to leave. The move cut him loose from his patrons but stripped away the military backbone of his new state. Within days his former allies moved to remove him. diplomacy / politics ●●●

2 August 1998 The RCD rebellion and the second invasion begins 0 cit. A mutiny in the east gave rise to the Rally for Congolese Democracy, or RCD, a rebel movement backed openly by Rwanda and Uganda. Kigali and Kampala again sent their armies into Congo, this time to overthrow the man they had made president a year earlier. The second war had begun barely fourteen months after the first ended. politics / war ●●●

c. August 1998 The Kitona airlift and the dash for Kinshasa 0 cit. In a bold stroke, Rwanda airlifted troops across the country to the Kitona base near the Atlantic coast, aiming to seize Kinshasa from the west. The force advanced to the city's edge and cut its power, nearly ending the war in weeks. The gamble failed only when other African states intervened to save Kabila. war ●●

August 1998 Angola, Zimbabwe, and Namibia intervene for Kinshasa 0 cit. Angola, Zimbabwe, and Namibia sent troops, aircraft, and armor to rescue Kabila and drive the invaders back from the capital. Angola wanted to deny its UNITA rebels a Congolese sanctuary, while Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe sought influence and mining wealth. Their intervention turned a rebel offensive into a war between states. diplomacy / war ●●●

c. 1998 Chad and Sudan join the pro-Kinshasa coalition 0 cit. Chad sent a contingent to help Kabila in the north, and Sudan lent support against Uganda, its regional rival. The Chadian force performed poorly and withdrew within months amid friction and losses. Their brief involvement showed how the war pulled in states from across the continent, each pursuing its own quarrels. diplomacy / war ●

March 1998 The apologies that came later 0 cit. In 1998 President Bill Clinton stood at Kigali airport and expressed regret for the world's failure to act, and the UN and Belgium later issued their own apologies. In 2021 a French commission led by historian Vincent Duclert found France bore heavy and overwhelming responsibilities but no complicity in the killing, and President Macron acknowledged France's role while stopping short of a formal apology. The reckonings were real but came only after the dead were buried. diplomacy / politics ●●

c. 1998 The Big Eight shrink to the Big Four 0 cit. A wave of mergers cut the world's leading audit firms from eight to five, and the criminal collapse of Arthur Andersen after Enron in 2002 left four. Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG came to audit nearly every large public company on earth, a concentration that regulators warn leaves the system dangerously dependent on a handful of firms. economy ●●●

August 1998 Puntland declares autonomy in the northeast 0 cit. In 1998 leaders of the northeastern regions, mostly of the Darod-Harti clans, set up the autonomous state of Puntland. Unlike Somaliland, Puntland did not seek independence but a federal place within a future Somali state. Its formation carved out another self-governing zone and helped set the pattern for the federal model Somalia later adopted. politics / society ●●

May 1998 The Ethiopian-Eritrean border war 0 cit. A dispute over the small town of Badme flared into a full war between the former allies, fought with trench lines and heavy artillery in a style recalling the First World War. Estimates of the dead on both sides run to roughly 70,000 to 100,000 over two years. A 2000 peace deal and boundary ruling largely favoured Eritrea, but Ethiopia refused to hand over Badme, leaving the two states locked in a frozen standoff for years. diplomacy / war ●●

10 February 1998 The Philippines Visiting Forces Agreement 0 cit. After the Philippine Senate rejected a new bases treaty in 1991 and the United States left Subic Bay and Clark, the two governments sign a Visiting Forces Agreement in 1998 to allow rotating US troops back in. It keeps American personnel under US jurisdiction, which becomes contentious in cases such as the 2005 Subic rape case and the 2014 killing of Jennifer Laude. The agreement lets US forces return without permanent bases. diplomacy / politics ●●

1998 The Akiwumi Commission investigates the clashes 1 cit. President Moi appointed a judicial commission under Justice Akilano Akiwumi to inquire into the tribal clashes of the 1990s. Its report named politicians, administrators, and security officers who should be investigated for their roles and documented how the violence was organized rather than random. Almost none of those named were prosecuted, and the report's call for accountability was largely ignored. The commission and its findings are documented public record. politics / society ●

1998 U.S. launches cruise missile strikes against bin Laden ai_extracted 1 cit. On August 20, 1998, in retaliation for the embassy bombings, the U.S. fired seventy-five Tomahawk cruise missiles at bin Laden's Zawhar Kili camps in Afghanistan and thirteen more at the al Shifa plant in Sudan. At least twenty-one jihadists died, but bin Laden was not among them. ●●●

1998 Abacha's billions surface in foreign banks 0 cit. After Nigerian military ruler Sani Abacha died in 1998, investigators traced an estimated 2 to 5 billion dollars in stolen state funds into accounts in Switzerland, Britain, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Jersey. The exact total remains an estimate, but the trail through named banks is documented. Switzerland and other countries have since returned more than a billion dollars to Nigeria in stages. economy / politics ●●

12 August 1998 Swiss banks settle the dormant-accounts claims 0 cit. After years of pressure over Holocaust-era accounts left dormant and heirs turned away, Switzerland's two largest banks agreed to pay 1.25 billion dollars to settle claims brought by survivors and their families. The scandal exposed how the country's banking secrecy had also buried the assets of the murdered. The settlement was one of the first large financial reckonings with Switzerland's wartime conduct. economy / society ●●●

26 January 1998 PNAC's open letter to President Clinton on Iraq 0 cit. PNAC sends an open letter to President Clinton urging him to remove Saddam Hussein from power, arguing that containment was failing and that Iraq's weapons programs were a growing threat. Signatories included Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Armitage, John Bolton, Zalmay Khalilzad, and Richard Perle. The letter set out the regime-change goal the group would press for years. diplomacy / politics ●●●●

29 May 1998 The 1998 letter to Gingrich and Lott 0 cit. PNAC writes to House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, pressing Congress to make the removal of Saddam Hussein a stated aim of American policy. It asked the leaders to fund and support opposition to the Iraqi government. The push helped shape the Iraq Liberation Act that Congress passed later that year. diplomacy / politics ●●●

c. 1998 Deflation and stagnation define the lost decades 0 cit. From the late 1990s Japan slid into mild but persistent deflation, with falling prices, weak demand, and near-zero growth. What was first called the lost decade stretched into two and then three. Government stimulus and public debt piled up while output barely moved. economy / society ●●●●

1998 Ehret reads East African history out of words 0 cit. In An African Classical Age, Christopher Ehret reconstructed the vocabulary of proto-languages to recover how people lived. Words that can be traced back to an ancestral tongue for cattle, grains, or ironworking show what its speakers knew and did. Loanwords passing between Cushitic, Nilotic, and Bantu speakers mark centuries of contact on the East African highlands. His later survey, The Civilizations of Africa, carried the method to a wider audience. science / society ●●●●

c. 1998 Killing the Vote documents election violence as a state tool 2 cit. Kenya Human Rights Commission's Killing the Vote did not treat the 1991-98 clashes as random tribal rage. It called them state-sponsored violence and a handy election tool: government surrogate agents killed, displaced and terrorized opposition communities in the Rift Valley, Western Kenya and Coast so the state could reassert dominance without admitting direct responsibility. politics / society / war ●●●●●

26 August 1999 to 16 April 2009 Second Chechen War wikidata 0 cit. war in Chechnya ●●●●

February 1999 Zero interest rate policy introduced ai_extracted 1 cit. In February 1999 the Bank of Japan guided the overnight call rate down to 0.1 percent, a stance dubbed the zero interest rate policy, after cutting it to a record low 0.33 percent in October 1998. ●●●

1999 to 2001 Short-lived recovery of 1999 and relapse ai_extracted 1 cit. The economy staged a sharp recovery in 1999 with the Tokyo stock market rising more than 50 percent, but the market peaked in the first quarter of 2000 and both market and economy slumped again in mid-2000 and 2001. ●●

1999 BoJ credit withdrawal strengthens the yen despite record interventions ai_extracted 1 cit. In 1999 the Bank of Japan withdrew credit from the economy at a record pace, strengthening the yen to close to 100 per dollar by year-end and oversterilizing new record foreign exchange interventions ordered by MoF. ●●●

1999 Bank of Japan withdraws credit in 1999 ai_extracted 1 cit. The Bank of Japan sharply reduced its credit creation in 1999, actively withdrawing credit for most of the year; the yen returned toward 100 per dollar and the 1999 recovery stalled in 2000. ●●●

February 1999 Public money injected into Japanese banks ai_extracted 1 cit. In February 1999 Japanese banks received around 10 trillion yen in public and third-party money, part of the resources that allowed the bubble-era primary bad debts to be largely written off. ●●●

May 1999 to June 1999 Asian leaders call for currency union ai_extracted 1 cit. In May 1999 the head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority argued that Asia should move toward currency union, a call endorsed in June 1999 by the president of the Philippines. ●●

1 January 1999 European Central Bank begins operations ai_extracted 1 cit. The European Central Bank, described by the Maastricht Treaty as independent of any government or elected assembly, started operations as scheduled on January 1, 1999. ●●●●

1999 Tax money injected into Japanese banks ai_extracted 1 cit. Public tax money was injected into Japanese banks in early 1999, and the Koizumi government proposed further injections in late 2002. ●●●

23 July 1999 Omnibus Act abolishes cartel exemptions ai_extracted 1 cit. With the promulgation on July 23, 1999 of the Omnibus Act to Repeal and Reform Cartels and other exempted systems, the number of legal cartels in Japan basically reached zero. ●●●

February 1999 Zero interest rate policy adopted ai_extracted 1 cit. In February 1999 the Bank of Japan let the overnight call rate fall to 0.1 percent, a stance called the zero interest rate policy, after cutting it to 0.33 percent in October 1998. ●●●

26 September 1999 Founding of the G20 0 cit. G7 finance ministers announce a new Group of Twenty of major advanced and emerging economies after the Asian financial crisis, with an inaugural meeting in Berlin that December. It became a leaders' summit in 2008. diplomacy / economy / politics ●●●

1 January 1999 Launch of the euro 0 cit. Eleven European Union countries fix their currencies to the new euro, managed by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. The single currency creates the world's second most important monetary area. economy / politics ●●●

28 June 1999 Founding of Alibaba 0 cit. Former English teacher Jack Ma and 17 co-founders launch Alibaba from his Hangzhou apartment. Its Taobao and Tmall marketplaces make it the dominant force in Chinese e-commerce, and its 2014 IPO is then the largest ever. economy / technology ●●●●

30 November 1999 Formation of ExxonMobil 0 cit. Exxon and Mobil, the two largest fragments of Standard Oil, complete an 81 billion dollar merger. It reunites much of Rockefeller's empire and creates what is then the world's largest company. economy ●●●

c. 9 September 1999 Moscow apartment bombings 0 cit. A series of apartment block bombings across Russia killed about 300 people. The attacks were blamed on Chechen militants and helped trigger the Second Chechen War. politics / war ●●●

1 June 1999 Napster launches file sharing 0 cit. Shawn Fanning released Napster, which let people swap MP3 files directly with each other. It threw the record industry into crisis and changed how people expected to get music. technology ●●●●

12 November 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act repeals Glass-Steagall 0 cit. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act removed the wall between commercial and investment banking set up in 1933. It allowed large financial conglomerates that combined banking, securities and insurance. economy / politics ●●●●

26 September 1999 Group of Twenty founded 0 cit. Finance ministers and central bankers of major advanced and emerging economies formed the G20 in the wake of financial crises. It broadened economic coordination beyond the wealthy G7 nations. economy / politics ●●●

1 January 1999 The euro is introduced 0 cit. Eleven European countries adopted the euro as an accounting currency, fixing their exchange rates and pooling monetary policy under the European Central Bank. It was the largest voluntary currency union in modern history. economy / politics ●●●●

1999 Krupp merges with Thyssen to form ThyssenKrupp 0 cit. In 1999 the Krupp group merged with rival Thyssen to create the industrial company ThyssenKrupp. The deal ended Krupp's separate existence after nearly two centuries. economy ●●●

20 December 1999 Handover of Macau 0 cit. Portugal returned Macau to China, ending more than four centuries of Portuguese presence and the last European colony in Asia. Like Hong Kong, it became a special administrative region. politics ●●

c. 1999 Scholars measure the scale of the trade 0 cit. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, drawing on tens of thousands of voyage records, estimates about 12.5 million people were embarked and roughly 10.7 million survived to reach the Americas. It is the most detailed accounting of the trade's human cost. science / society ●●●●

c. 1999 The sovereignty and policy-space critique contested 0 cit. Critics argue that detailed loan conditions strip borrowing governments of room to choose their own economic path, from tariffs to public ownership. Defenders say countries remain free to decline the loans and their terms. economy / politics ●●●

1999 The enhanced HIPC initiative 0 cit. Under pressure from the Jubilee campaign, the G7 and the two institutions widened and sped up HIPC relief and tied it to poverty-reduction spending. Critics still faulted the slow pace and the conditions attached. economy / politics ●●●

1999 Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers replace adjustment 0 cit. The Bank and Fund replaced structural adjustment loans with Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers meant to be written by borrowing countries themselves. Critics argued the underlying policy conditions changed less than the language did. economy / politics ●●●

c. 1999 The post-Asian-crisis rethink 0 cit. After the Asian crisis the IMF faced sustained criticism, including from within, and began to soften its stance on rapid capital-account liberalization. The episode marked the start of a slow reassessment of the Washington Consensus. economy / politics ●●●

1999 Joel Osteen and the megachurch message contested 0 cit. Joel Osteen took over Lakewood Church and built the largest congregation in the United States on an upbeat message that God wants believers to prosper and live their best life now. Supporters find it encouraging while critics say it softens or omits traditional teaching on sin and the cross. culture / religion ●●●

1999 NYX Cosmetics is named for the Greek goddess of night 0 cit. NYX Cosmetics, founded in Los Angeles in 1999, is named after Nyx, the Greek goddess of the night. culture / economy / religion ●●

1999 LUNA bars are named for the Roman goddess of the moon 0 cit. Clif Bar launched its LUNA nutrition bar for women in 1999, named after Luna, the Roman goddess who personified the moon. culture / economy / religion ●

1999 Poland reforms its schools before its PISA rise 0 cit. Poland's 1999 reform added a new lower-secondary stage and delayed tracking of students. Within a decade Polish PISA scores rose sharply, cited as evidence that structural reform can lift results. politics / society ●●●

1999 European universities launch the Bologna Process 0 cit. Education ministers signed the Bologna Declaration to align degree structures and credits across Europe. It created a common higher-education area and made the shared model easier to compare and copy. politics / society ●●●

4 February 1999 Amadou Diallo killed by NYPD officers 0 cit. Four plainclothes NYPD officers fired 41 shots at Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant, after mistaking his wallet for a weapon in the vestibule of his apartment building. All four officers were acquitted of criminal charges in 2000, and the case became a flashpoint in debates over the NYPD's Street Crime Unit and its stop-and-frisk practices. The city later settled a civil suit with Diallo's family for 3 million dollars. politics ●●

September 1999 Rampart scandal exposes LAPD corruption 0 cit. Investigation into LAPD officer Rafael Perez, who was caught stealing cocaine from an evidence room, uncovered widespread corruption in the department's Rampart Division anti-gang unit, including planted evidence, unjustified shootings, and beatings of suspects. More than 100 criminal convictions were overturned as a result, and the city paid out roughly 125 million dollars in civil settlements. The scandal led to a federal consent decree placing the LAPD under court-monitored reform from 2001 to 2013. politics ●●

June 1999 Mandela steps down after one term 0 cit. Nelson Mandela retired from the presidency after a single term, honoring his commitment to democratic transition rather than seeking to entrench personal power, and was succeeded by Thabo Mbeki. His decision to step down after one term set a norm for peaceful transfer of power. Mandela remained an internationally revered figure until his death in 2013. politics ●●

March 1999 X.com founded by Elon Musk 0 cit. Elon Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and email-payments company, using proceeds from the earlier sale of his company Zip2. X.com set out to build a full online bank. economy / technology ●●

9 August 1999 Putin named prime minister of Russia 0 cit. Yeltsin appointed the little-known Putin as prime minister, his fourth in eighteen months, and named him as his preferred successor. Boris Berezovsky and other members of Yeltsin's inner circle, known as 'the Family', are widely reported to have backed Putin's elevation, believing he would protect their interests. politics ●●●

4 September 1999 Apartment bombings in Russian cities 0 cit. A series of bomb attacks on apartment buildings in Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk killed nearly 300 people over several weeks. The Russian government blamed Chechen separatists and used the attacks to justify launching the Second Chechen War, but journalist Alexander Litvinenko and other critics have alleged, without conclusive proof, that the FSB itself was involved in a false-flag operation; the claim remains disputed and has never been substantiated by an independent investigation. politics / war ●●●

23 September 1999 Second Chechen War begins 0 cit. Russian forces launched a large-scale military campaign in Chechnya following an incursion by Chechen and Dagestani militants into Dagestan and the apartment bombings blamed on Chechen separatists. Putin's uncompromising handling of the war as prime minister sharply boosted his public approval ahead of the presidential succession. war ●●●

31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigns, Putin becomes acting president 0 cit. Boris Yeltsin resigned unexpectedly in a New Year's Eve television address, handing power to Prime Minister Putin as acting president. Putin's first act was to sign a decree granting Yeltsin and his family immunity from criminal prosecution. politics ●●●

c. 1999 Jubilee 2000 campaign pressures G7 on debt cancellation 0 cit. The international Jubilee 2000 campaign, drawing on the biblical concept of periodic debt forgiveness, pressured G7 leaders meeting in Cologne to expand debt relief for the poorest countries, arguing much of the debt was odious, having been contracted by unaccountable or dictatorial regimes with little benefit to ordinary citizens. The campaign helped push the G7 to expand the HIPC framework later that year, though full cancellation the campaign sought was not achieved. diplomacy / economy ●

December 1999 The IOC adopts reform after Salt Lake City 0 cit. Following the Salt Lake City bribery revelations, the IOC adopts a package of reforms including term limits, age limits, bans on member visits to bid cities, and an ethics commission. The reforms were real but critics noted the IOC still polices itself, since no outside body has authority over its conduct. politics ●●

c. March 1999 Home Affairs Committee Reports on Freemasonry in Public Life 0 cit. The Home Affairs Committee's Second Report, 'Freemasonry in Public Life', extended its inquiry to local government, examining whether councillors should also be required to declare Masonic membership. The committee highlighted Pembrokeshire County Council, where about 41 percent of the council's independent members were found to be current or former Freemasons, as an example of concentration that could raise legitimate concern about undue influence, while stressing this was not itself proof of wrongdoing. The committee recommended councils adopt disclosure rules, but unlike the police and judiciary requirement, this recommendation was never made compulsory for local government. politics ●●●

27 May 1999 Pembrokeshire Freemasonry Disclosure Debate Reported 0 cit. Following the Home Affairs Committee's findings on Pembrokeshire County Council, the Local Government Chronicle reported on renewed calls for councils to extend Masonic disclosure rules to elected members. The concentration of Masonic membership among the council's independent group was cited by campaigners as evidence that local government needed the same scrutiny already applied to police and judges, though no wrongdoing on the council was established by the committee. politics ●

19 August 1999 Akiwumi Commission submits report on ethnic clashes 0 cit. The Akiwumi Commission submitted its report to President Moi, finding that senior ruling-party politicians had incited and fuelled ethnic clashes since 1991 and recommending that several former cabinet ministers and officials be investigated and prosecuted. The government kept the report secret; it was only released by the Attorney General on 18 October 2002, more than three years after it was submitted. politics / society ●●●

24 February 1999 Macpherson Report on the murder of Stephen Lawrence 0 cit. Sir William Macpherson's inquiry into the Metropolitan Police's failed investigation of Stephen Lawrence's murder concluded that the force was 'institutionally racist', defining the term as the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate service to people because of their race. The report made 70 recommendations covering police training, recruitment, stop-and-search and the definition of a racist incident. It became a defining document in British debates on policing and race. politics / society ●●●

9 August 1999 Putin becomes prime minister 0 cit. Yeltsin named Putin acting prime minister and publicly signalled him as his preferred successor. Parliament confirmed the appointment days later. Putin was still largely unknown to the public, but his handling of the renewed war in Chechnya over the following months sharply raised his standing. Within five months he would be acting president. politics ●●●

31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigns and Putin becomes acting president 0 cit. On the last day of 1999 Yeltsin resigned and handed the presidency to Putin as acting head of state. One of Putin's first acts was a decree granting Yeltsin and his family immunity from prosecution. The handover gave Putin the advantages of incumbency ahead of the election. It marked the arrival of a former intelligence officer at the top of the Russian state. politics ●●●

9 September 1999 The Russian apartment bombings unproven 0 cit. In September 1999 a series of bombings destroyed apartment blocks in Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk, killing around 300 people and spreading fear across Russia. The official investigation blamed militants linked to the war in the North Caucasus, and several people were later convicted. The bombings helped rally public support for a new war in Chechnya and for Putin, then prime minister. Critics and some former officials have alleged FSB involvement in staging the attacks; these allegations are disputed, denied by the Russian authorities, and have never been proven. politics / society / war ●●●

22 September 1999 The Ryazan incident 0 cit. Days after the apartment bombings, residents of Ryazan reported men planting sacks in the basement of their building, and local police said field tests indicated the explosive hexogen. The FSB later stated the sacks contained sugar and that the episode had been a training exercise to test public vigilance. Sceptics, including some journalists and opposition figures, treat the incident as evidence for the disputed claim that the security services were behind the bombings. The competing accounts remain contested and unresolved. politics / society ●●

October 1999 Musharraf's Pakistan in the war on terror 0 cit. General Pervez Musharraf seized power in a coup and, after the 2001 attacks, became a key US partner in the war on terror. Washington lifted sanctions and gave billions in aid in return for cooperation against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, despite doubts about Pakistan's double game. Musharraf's rule shows the pattern renewed in a new era. politics / war ●●

c. 1999 Africa's World War splits the continent 0 cit. At its height the conflict drew in the armies of some nine African states and a shifting web of militias, earning the names Africa's World War and the Great War of Africa. Kabila's coalition of Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Chad, and Sudan faced Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, and their proxy rebels. It became the widest interstate war in modern African history. politics / war ●●●

c. 1999 Proxy militias fracture the east 0 cit. The war splintered into a mosaic of proxy forces: the RCD divided into a Rwandan-backed and a Ugandan-backed wing, Jean-Pierre Bemba's MLC fought in the north with Ugandan help, and local Mai-Mai militias resisted the foreign occupiers. Front lines froze while armed groups carved out fiefdoms and preyed on civilians. Control of territory increasingly tracked control of mines and trade routes. politics / war ●●