Top News Stories from 1999
World Events
World Statistics
Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade
Nobel Peace Prize: Yasir Arafat (Palestine), Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin (both Israel)
More World Statistics...
Serbs' heavy weapons pound Sarajevo (Jan. 5-6).
Thousands dead in Rwanda massacre (April 6).
South Africa holds first interracial national election (April 29); Nelson Mandela elected President.
Israel signs accord with Palestinians (May 4), peace treaty with Jordan (Oct. 17).
IRA declares cease-fire in Northern Ireland (Aug. 31). Ulster Protestants declare cease-fire (Oct. 13).
Aristide returns to Haiti (Oct. 4), forms Government with Prime Minister and full Cabinet (Nov. 9).
US sends forces to Persian Gulf (Oct. 7).
Russians attack secessionist Republic of Chechnya (Dec. 11 et seq.).
U.S. Events
U.S. Statistics
President: William J. Clinton
Vice President: Albert Gore, Jr.
Population: 260,289,237
Life expectancy: 75.7 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 53.7
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000) 46.6
More U.S. Statistics...
Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan attacked (Jan. 6); three arrested in attack (Jan. 13).
Aldrich Ames, high C.I.A. official, charged with spying for Soviets (Feb. 22).
Four convicted in World Trade Center bombing (March 4).
Clinton accused of sexual harassment while Governor of Arkansas (May 6).
O. J. Simpson arrested in killings of wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and friend, Ronald Goldman (June 18).
US Supreme Court approves limit on abortion protests (June 30).
Senate confirms Stephen G. Breyer for Supreme Court (July 29).
Major league baseball players strike (Aug. 13).
Newt Gingrich named House Speaker (Dec. 5).
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $6,947.00 billion
Federal spending: $1460.84 billion
Federal debt $4643.7 billion
Median Household Income(current dollars): $32,264 billion
Consumer Price Index: $148.2
Unemployment: 6.1%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.29
More Economics...
Sports
Sports Links
Pro Football Summary
Pro Basketball Summary
Pro Baseball Summary
Super Bowl
Dallas d. Buffalo
World Series
Not Held
NBA Championship
Houston d. New York
Stanley Cup
NY Rangers d. Vancouver
Wimbledon
Women: Conchita Martinez d. M. Navratilova (6-4 3-6 6-3)
Men: Pete Sampras d. G. Ivanisevic (7-6 7-6 6-0)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Go For Gin
NCAA Basketball Championship
Arkansas d. Duke
NCAA Football Champions
Nebraska (13-0-0)
World Cup
Brazil d. Italy
Entertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx
Music: Of Reminiscences and Reflections, Gunther Schuller
Drama: Three Tall Women, Edward Albee
Academy Award, Best Picture: Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen and Branko Lustig, producers (Universal)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Kenzaburo Oe (Japan)
Record of the Year: "I Will Always Love You," Whitney Houston
Album of the Year: The Bodyguard—Original Soundtrack Album, Whitney Houston (Arista)
Song of the Year: "A Whole New World" (Theme From Aladdin), Alan Menken and Tim Rice, songwriters
Miss America: Kimberly Clarice Aiken (SC)
More Entertainment Awards...
Events
Kurt Cobain kills himself. He was 27.
Ninety-five million viewers watch O. J. Simpson and Al Cowlings drive along Los Angeles freeways in history's most exciting low-speed chase.
Steven Spielberg wins his first directing Oscar for Schindler's List.
For the first time in history, chain bookstores outsell independent stores, signaling what many fear to be the death of smaller booksellers at the hands of superstores.
Tom Hanks wins his second consecutive Best Actor Oscar. He won in 1993 for his role in Philadelphia and in 1994 for Forrest Gump.
ER and Friends debut on NBC, establishing NBC's dominance of the Thursday-night lineup.
Woodstock '94 commemorates the original weekend-long concert. Green Day and Nine Inch Nails join Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers.
Movies
Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, Quiz Show, Nobody's Fool
Books
James Kelman, How Late It Was, How Late
Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: George A. Olah (US), University of Southern California in Los Angeles, for research that opened new ways to break apart and rebuild compounds of carbon and hydrogen
Physics: Clifford G. Shull (US) and Bertram N. Brockhouse (Canada), for adapting beams of neutrons as probes to explore the atomic structure of matter
Physiology or Medicine: Alfred G. Gilman and Martin Rodbell (both US), for discovery of G-proteins that help cells respond to outside signals
More Nobel Prizes in 1998...
White House launches Web page. Initial commerce sites are established and mass marketing campaigns are launched via email, introducing the term "spamming" to the Internet vocabulary. Background: Computers and Internet
Dr. Ned First (US) clones calves from cells of early embryos. Background: Cloning Milestones
The FDA approves the Flavr Savr tomato, the first genetically-engineered food product.
Death
Richard Milhous Nixon 4/22/1994
Cab Calloway
Burt Lancaster
John Candy
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Tip O'Neill
Jessica Tandy
