01|In the U.S.A., American Airlines Flight 1420, en route from Dallas to Little Rock, Arkansas, skids off a Little Rock National Airport runway while attempting to land during a severe thunderstorm. The jet, a Super MD-80, with 145 passengers and crew aboard, spins out of control and crashes into a steel beacon tower, splitting apart on impact. Eleven people, including the pilot, die, and nearly 80 more are wounded or severely burned when jet fuel spills into the economy class passenger cabin and catches fire.|
01|Pirates, armed with assault rifles and grenades, attack a Mexican ferry on its return trip from Cozumel, the Mexican resort island in the Caribbean, to Playa del Carmen. The passengers, who are primarily foreign tourists, are robbed of their money and valuables, and two security guards are thrown overboard.|
01|In Malaysia, about 300 government staff move to the new capital in Putrajaya. About 15,000 houses and flats will be allocated to civil servants in the new garden city now being built to the south of Kuala Lumpur. The government's move is expected to be complete in 2005. The population of Putrajeya at that time is projected to be about 330,000.|
02|The Australian Bureau of Statistics announces that the country's economy continued to grow in the first quarter of this year, despite the financial crisis in Asia. Domestic consumer spending brought the 12-month growth rate to 4.8 per cent, greatly exceeding government expectations.|
02|An official with the European Union (EU) announces that the EU has ordered the destruction of all chicken and egg products from Belgian poultry farms that used chicken feed contaminated with dioxin, a cancer-causing chemical. The official also reports the resignation of the EU ministers of health and agriculture, both of whom admit to having been aware of the dioxin contamination weeks before banning the sale of Belgian poultry on May 28.|
03|President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia accepts a NATO peace plan to end the conflict in Kosovo. Milosevic and the Serbian parliament agree to all of NATO's demands, including the introduction in Kosovo of a NATO-led, multinational peacekeeping force consisting of 50,000 soldiers. The plan stipulates that the nearly 1 million ethic Albanian Kosovars that were forced out of the province by Serbian troops be allowed to return. The NATO air war against Yugoslavia, which began on March 24, remains in effect until Milosevic withdraws all Serbian forces from Kosovo.|
03|The African National Congress (ANC) party takes nearly two-thirds of all seats in the South African Parliament in a landslide election that guarantees that Thabo Mbeki, deputy president of South Africa, will replace Nelson Mandela as president. The 80-year-old Mandela, who stepped down as head of the ANC in 1997, chose Mbeki to succeed him as both party head and president.|
03|Egypt's 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid, or Pyramid of Cheops, reopens after more than a year of repair and restoration. For the first time, the public is allowed into two burial chambers, which are outfitted with devices to protect the ancient spaces from the wear of human feet and hands and the harmful effects of humidity given off by the human body.|
03|In the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, Indian air force jets strafe guerrilla bases in an attempt to evict them from strategic mountain posts on the Indian side of the cease-fire line dividing the Himalayan region of Kashmir between India and Pakistan. There are also fatalities on both sides in ground combat. India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, since they won independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. Jammu and Kashmir's boundaries remain in dispute.|
04|President Bill Clinton appoints James Hormel, philanthropist heir to the Hormel meat-processing fortune, ambassador to Luxembourg. Hormel, a former dean of the University of Chicago law school, is the first openly gay man to represent the United States as a diplomatic envoy. Senate Republicans, who objected to Hormel's appointment, have blocked voting on his confirmation since his nomination in 1997. Clinton side-stepped Senate opposition by using a constitutional device, the "recess appointment," that is available to presidents only when Congress is in recess.|
05|Venezuela repatriates more than 1,000 Colombians who fled across the border from the eastern Colombian town of La Gabarra after paramilitary troops attacked the city last week. Another 1,500 refugees are expecting to be sent home tomorrow.|
06|NATO steps up its air campaign against Yugoslavia after Serb military leaders walk out of negotiations with NATO commanders. The Serbs refused to order their troops out of Kosovo, claiming they were unable to meet the previously agreed schedule for withdrawing 40,000 Serb soldiers from the Yugoslav province. The Serbs also balked at the NATO plan of moving thousands of multinational soldiers into Kosovo as a peacekeeping force.|
07|More than 130 million citizens of Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, vote in free parliamentary elections for the first time in more than 40 years. Many political experts see the election as a test of Indonesia's ability to maintain a democracy in the face of the economic recession and social unrest that toppled the Suharto presidency in 1998.|
07|Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee accuses Pakistan of violating the 1972 cease-fire line in Kashmir. For the past month, India has been fighting against Islamic militants for control of mountain peaks in the disputed territory. Pakistan rejects Vajpayee's assertion that Pakistan is sending soldiers and Afghan mercenaries into Indian territory. The Pakistan government denies it has any control over the militants, who it says are Kashmiri Muslims fighting for the region's independence from predominantly Hindu India. A Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman says, "India is on the warpath ... We offered peace talks, but they rejected it".|
08|Taiwan joins Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand in banning a variety of European Union (EU) farm products in the wake of revelations that Belgian-produced chicken, eggs, butter, pork, and beef may be contaminated with dioxin, a cancer-causing chemical. In Belgium, supermarket shelves are cleared of cream, butter, cheese, and processed foods having an egg content higher than 2 per cent and an animal fat content in excess of 25 per cent.|
09| NATO and Serb generals, meeting in a tent at a helicopter base in Macedonia, sign an accord requiring all Serb forces to withdraw from the Yugoslav province of Kosovo over an 11-day period that begins on June 10. The Serbs agree to the introduction into Kosovo of a multinational peacekeeping force consisting of 50,000 NATO-led soldiers. The accord ends the largest allied military action in Europe since the close of World War II (1939-1945). NATO's campaign against Yugoslavia, which began on March 24, was the first military action in history waged entirely from the air and fought in the name of human rights.|
10|NATO suspends its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in response to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's withdrawal of Serbian troops from Kosovo. NATO dropped more than 23,000 bombs and missiles in the 78 days of the campaign, which was waged to halt Serbian aggression against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.|
10|In Thailand, the world's largest crocodile celebrates his 27th birthday at the Samut Prakarn Crocodile Farm. According to the Guinness Book of Records, Yai weighs more than 1100 kilograms and is nearly 6 metres long. Hundreds of tourists watch as a procession of monkeys, macaws, and other animals parade past his pen with a banner wishing him a Happy Birthday.|
10|French archaeologists exploring the Chauvet cave in the Ardeche region of southern France, believe they have discovered footprints which were made between 25,000 and 27,000 years ago. The four marks, made by a boy, are believed to be the oldest human footprints in Europe. The cave, which was discovered five years ago by amateur spelunker Jean-Claude Chauvet, is expected to reveal much about the Cro-Magnon way of life. Radiocarbon dating places the origins of wall paintings of prehistoric animals, as well as campfire remains, at between 23,000 and 32,000 years ago.|
11|Russian troops, stationed in Bosnia as part of a peacekeeping force, march into Kosovo, enter Pristina, the provincial capital, before the arrival of NATO forces, and take control of the airport. The Russians are greeted with wild celebration from the Serbs remaining in Pristina. Calling the introduction of Russian troops into Kosovo a "colossal mistake," Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov announced that the soldiers would be ordered to leave.|
12|North Korean patrol boats cross a disputed border in the Yellow Sea and threaten to attack South Korean warships. The threat caps a standoff, which began on June 7, when North Korea demanded that South Korean ships leave the area, a rich fishing ground. South Korea responded to the demand by placing 650,000 troops on alert and sending additional warships into the area.|
13|Voters in Belgium turn the Christian Democrat and Socialist coalition government out of office after 12 years of rule. Two conservative groups, the Liberal Party and the anti-immigrant Vlaams Blok party, together hold the majority of parliamentary seats. Political experts interpret the vote as a stinging rebuke of a government mired in scandals, including the inept handling of a 1996 paedophile and child-murder case and the recent discovery of dioxin, a cancer-causing chemical, in the nation's food supply.|
14|The South African Parliament, meeting in Cape Town, elects Thabo Mbeki the country's next president. The current president, Nelson Mandela, chose Mbeki as his successor. The ruling African National Congress party, founded by Mandela, took 266 of 400 parliamentary seats in a landslide election on June 3.|
14|The median age of U.S. citizens is 35.2 years, the highest in the nation's history, reports the U.S. Census Bureau. West Virginia has the oldest population in the nation, with a median age of 38.6 years. Utah has the youngest population, with a median age of 26.7 years.|
14|In Belgium, people suffer nausea and many are hospitalized after drinking contaminated cans of Coke or its sister products. Fifteen million Coca-Cola drinks are recalled and Coca-Cola closes its Belgian factories.|
14|Pakistan accuses India of using chemical weapons in the ongoing border dispute, and is to test artillery shells for traces of chemicals. India denies using chemical weapons.|
15|South Korean warships fire on North Korean boats in a disputed area of the Yellow Sea, hitting a torpedo boat that catches fire and sinks. All 17 members of the crew are killed. On June 7, North Korea demanded that South Korean ships leave the disputed area, which is a rich fishing ground, and South Korea launched additional warships into the Yellow Sea. The incident is the most violent naval clash between the two countries since the Korean War ended in a truce in 1953.|
15|Tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians refugees return to Kosovo from Macedonia and Albania to find their cities and villages wrecked by Serb forces. In Jakovo, where the population was 99 per cent ethnic Albanian before the war, Serbs soldiers torched hundreds of houses and businesses, including the centuries-old mosque, on March 24, the first night of the NATO air campaign. In Djakovica, NATO troops, accompanied by foreign journalists, confirm widely reported refugee accounts of mass killings and other atrocities committed by Serb soldiers.|
15|A powerful earthquake, registering 6.7 on the Richter scale, rocks central Mexico, and 25 people are killed under falling debris. Although the quake's epicentre is near Huajuapan de Leon in Oaxaca, damage in the neighbouring state of Puebla is worse. Destruction is particularly severe in the city Puebla, where a large number of churches and colonial-era buildings are damaged in the town's centre.|
16|The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI), a statistical measurement of changes in the prices of goods and services, remained unchanged through April and May, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor. The unchanged CPI suggests that there is little or no inflation in the U.S. economy despite strong economic growth.|
16|Thabo Mbeki is inaugurated as president of South Africa.|
17|The U.S. House of Representatives approves a measure by a 218 to 211 vote to regulate the sale of guns at gun shows. The House bill is substantially weaker than the original Senate bill, which was passed in the aftermath of the school shootings in Littleton, Colorado. Political experts see the passage of the House measure as a major victory for the American Rifle Association, which lobbied strongly for a greatly diluted version of the original bill. Earlier in the day, House members passed a measure, 248 to 180, that gives the states the right to permit the display of the Ten Commandments in public places, including schools. The measure is an amendment to a crime bill designed to deter juvenile violence.|
17|After days of ethnic unrest on Guadalcanal, a state of emergency is declared in the Solomon Islands. Three people have died in the troubles, and thousands flee the capital.|
17|At the Tsikliteria International stadium in Athens, American athlete Maurice Greene sets a new world record for the 100 metre sprint of 9.79 seconds.|
18|The United States and Russia agree that 3,600 Russian troops will be integrated into the NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo. The agreement ends three days of negotiations, held in Helsinki, Finland, and a diplomatic crisis that began on June 11 when Russian paratroopers, stationed in Bosnia, entered Kosovo and took control of the airport at Pristina, the provincial capital. U.S. Secretary of Defence William S. Cohen characterizes the agreement as "recognizing the stakes that Russia and NATO share in Europe's future."|
19|Prince Edward, third son of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, marries Sophie Rhys-Jones, a commoner, at the 500-year-old St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, west of London. Earlier in the day, the queen granted him the title of Earl of Wessex. The bride, to be known as Her Royal Highness the Countess of Wessex, wears a dress of ivory silk organza, spangled with 325,000 cut-glass and pearl beads.|
20|The last of approximately 40,000 Serbian troops leave Kosovo ahead of the deadline. As Serbian control of the Yugoslav province of Kosovo ends, NATO Secretary General Javier Solana announces that he has lifted a threat to resume the NATO bombing campaign, bringing an end to the 78-day air war against Yugoslavia.|
21|Moscow authorities report that police fished an average of 13 bodies a day from the city's various bodies of water over the previous long, holiday weekend. In the first 20 days of June, 89 Muscovites drowned. The death rate by drowning across Russia is 8 per 100,000 people, compared with a rate of 1.68 per 100,000 in the United States. Russian pathologists report that 94 per cent of all drowning victims, most of whom were male, were drunk when they died.|
21|A summer solstice observance at the Stonehenge monument on Salisbury Plain, in England, is cancelled when hundreds of people break down barriers in an effort to join a group of Druids celebrating the longest day of the year within the 5,000-year-old stone circle.|
22|In Zimbabwe, state morgues extend their opening hours in a desperate attempt to cope as the national death rate reaches 2,400 a week. Most deaths result from AIDS-related illnesses. An estimated 80,000 people in Zimbabwe are expected to die of AIDS in 1999, report Zimbabwe National Aids Coordination Program. Officials of the World Health Organization believe that at least 25 per cent of the country's approximately 12 million people are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.|
23|Belgium's minister of health, Luc Van den Bossche, ends a recent ban on Coca-Cola products made in Belgian plants. About 250 Belgians this month reported illnesses attributable to drinking Coca-Cola products. The Coca-Cola company attributes its problems to a factory in Antwerp, Belgium, which injected substandard carbon dioxide into its drinks, giving them a "rotten egg" smell and taste. They also attribute a foul smell on some of its cans to a fungicide used on wooden pallets at the Dunkirk, France, plant. The Belgian government permits Coca-Cola to re-open two of its Belgian factories. |
24|Israeli fighter jets bomb bridges, power stations, and guerrilla strongholds in Lebanon in retaliation for a Hezbollah rocket attack on northern Israel. Hezbollah, or Party of Allah, is a Lebanon-based militant Islamic group dedicated to the destruction of Israel. Six Lebanese and two Israelis are killed in the exchange, which occurs only days after Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, who also controls much of Lebanon, announce their mutual intentions to reopen peace negotiations. The retaliatory bombing was ordered by Israel's departing prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.|
24|Ikem, the last octuplet remaining in Texas Children's Hospital, is finally discharged. The six girls and two boys were the world's only living octuplets when born in December 1999. One girl died a week later. Three of Ikem's siblings went home in March and three more followed them in April.|
25|The German parliament, the Bundestag, approves a plan for the creation of a national memorial to victims of the Holocaust (the systematic killing during World War II [1939-1945] of 6 million Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals by Germany's Nazi government). Prior to giving approval to the plan, the Bundestag voted to dedicate the memorial specifically to Jews. The monument, designed by U.S. architect Peter Eisenman, is planned for a site near the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Germany's capital, Berlin. It is to consist of 2 hectares of tombstone-like columns of varying heights. Describing the project, the speaker of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Thierse, said, "We are not building this monument solely for the Jews . . . It will help us confront a chapter of our history."|
25|Across China, about 70 drug traffickers are executed by firing squad on the eve of the United Nations (UN) International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Similar executions have been carried out in recent days. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights which does not favour the death penalty has asked for an end to executions worldwide.|
26|UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern fly to Belfast, to join peace discussions at Stormont. Blair, with Ahern's support, proposes that Sinn Fein be admitted to a coalition government provided that it guarantees total IRA disarmament by May 2000 in accordance with an agreed schedule. Failure to abide by that schedule would result in the disbanding of the executive. Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble rejects Blair's latest proposal, standing firm on his "no guns no government" policy. Mr Blair and Mr Ahern set June 30 as the absolute deadline for saving the Good Friday Peace accord.|
26|India demands that Pakistani forces be withdrawn from the disputed Kashmir region before it will enter into peace talks. Pakistan's army chief tells journalists his troops would not be withdrawn unilaterally, which appears to be his first admission that Pakistan forces are involved in the fighting. Air and ground attacks continue as world leaders renew calls for peace.|
27|The government of Algeria reports that at least 100,000 people have died in the seven-year conflict between the government and Islamic fundamentalist guerrillas. The conflict began in 1992 when Algeria's military-backed government cancelled elections that an Islamic fundamentalist party was expected to win. According to government figures, more than 1 million of Algeria's nearly 30 million people have been affected personally by the insurgency, either through injury, the death of a relative, or the destruction of a house or business.|
28|The Yugoslav Red Cross reports that a quarter of the Serbs living in Kosovo, more than 75,000 people, have fled the province for Serbia since the June 10 withdrawal of Serbian forces. NATO commanders in Kosovo suggest that the Serbs fear vengeance from returning Kosovar Albanians. Since June 10, more than 415,000 ethnic Albanians have returned to Kosovo, where 90 per cent of the population was ethnic Albanian before the war. The refugees entering Serbia are taxing the resources of Slobodan Milosevic's government, which already supplements the income of more than 500,000 Serbian war refugees who arrived from Croatia and Bosnia in the mid-1990's. Serbia's unemployment rate currently stands at 33 per cent.|
29|Tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors and heirs of its victims can now apply for a share of a proposed 1.25 billion-U.S.-dollar Settlement of a class action lawsuit against private Swiss Banks and other Swiss Entities for their alleged conduct related to World War II and the Holocaust. An advert placed in newspapers in 40 countries explains to potential claimants how they should apply to the fund. The web site for potential claimants is www.swissbankclaims.com. Applications must by submitted by Oct. 22. The United States District Court will hold a Fairness Hearing on November 29, 1999 to decide whether or not the Settlement should be given final approval.|
29|Abdullah Ocalan, leader of Turkey's rebel Kurds, is found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Thousands of Armenian and Turkish Kurds living in Europe respond with public protests. Although most demonstrations are peaceful, a Kurdish girl in Istanbul sets herself on fire. Ocalan's arrest in February sparked violent protests and a number of public suicides by Europe's Kurdish population. European Union (EU) member nations, where the death penalty has been abolished, warn the Turkish government that sending Ocalan to the gallows could trigger renewed waves of violence and jeopardize Turkey's chance of gaining entry in the EU.|
30|The Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, raises the prime interest rate, the rate on overnight loans between banks, from 4.75 to 5 per cent. Officials couple the announcement with the information that the Federal Reserve board does not anticipate another increase in 1999 in order to slow the nation's economic growth. The news pushes Dow Jones industrial average stocks on the New York Stock Exchange up 210 points in 13 minutes.|
30|In Belfast, negotiations at Stormont to resolve differences between the various parties and lead to a Protestant-Catholic government in Northern Ireland fail to achieve agreement by the deadline. However, attempts to save the Good Friday Peace accord will continue tomorrow. (See June 26.)|
