WHAT ALL HAPPENED OCTOBER TO DECEMBER 1999
Find out what all happened October to December 1999

Five hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed. (31. December 1999)

Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup. (12. October 1999)

The storm Lothar sweeps across Central Europe, killing 137 and causing US$1.3 billion in damage. (26. December 1999)

The former Autonomous Soviet Republic of Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia (12. October 1999)

The Ladbroke Grove rail crash in west London kills 31 people. (5. October 1999)

Gunmen open fire in the Armenian Parliament, killing Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Parliament Chairman Karen Demirchyan, and 6 other members. (27. October 1999)

Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509, a Boeing 747-200F crashes shortly after take-off from London Stansted Airport due to pilot error. All 4 crew members are killed. (22. December 1999)

The United States Government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties. (31. December 1999)

British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems merge to form BAE Systems, Europe's largest defense contractor and the fourth largest aerospace firm in the world. (30. November 1999)

Maurice Papon, an official in the Vichy France government during World War II, is jailed for crimes against humanity. (22. October 1999)

In Seattle, Washington, United States, demonstrations against a World Trade Organization meeting by anti-globalization protesters catch police unprepared and force the cancellation of opening ceremonies. (30. November 1999)

Macau is handed over to China by Portugal. (20. December 1999)

NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT. (18. December 1999)

Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted. (31. October 1999)

The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive. (2. December 1999)

Glenbrook Rail Accident: Seven passengers are killed when two trains collide near Sydney, New South Wales. (2. December 1999)

Torrential rains cause flash floods in Vargas, Venezuela, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, the destruction of thousands of homes, and the complete collapse of the state's infrastructure. (14. December 1999)

Australians vote to keep the Head of the Commonwealth as their head of state in the Australian republic referendum. (6. November 1999)

The Düzce earthquake strikes Turkey with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale. (12. November 1999)

The United Nations establishes the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to commemorate the murder of three Mirabal sisters for resistance against the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. (25. November 1999)