1967
February 22 - Suharto takes power from Sukarno in Indonesia.

March 12 - Indonesian State Assembly takes all presidential powers from Sukarno and names Suharto as acting president.

April 15 - Large demonstrations against the Vietnam War in New York City and San Francisco

April 28 - Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses military service to join Vietnam.

May 8 - The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.

July 18 - United Kingdom announces closing of its military bases in Malaysia and Singapore. Australia and USA do not approve

August 7 - Vietnam War: The People's Republic of China agrees to give North Vietnam and undisclosed amount of aid in the form of a grant

August 8 - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded to counter communism.

August 9 - Vietnam War: Operation Cochise initiated - United States Marines begin a new operation in the Que Son Valley
August 21 - The People's Republic of China announces that it has shot down American planes violating its airspace.

September 3 - Nguyen Van Thieu is elected President of South Vietnam

September 4 - Vietnam War: Operation Swift begins - The United States Marines launch a search and destroy mission in Quang Nam and Quang Tin Provinces. The ensuing 4-day battle in Que Son Valley kills 114 Americans and 376 North Vietnamese

October 12 - Vietnam War: US Secretary of State Dean Rusk states during a news conference that proposals by the U.S. Congress for peace initiatives were futile because of North Vietnam's opposition

October 21 - Ten of thousands of Vietnam War protesters march in Washington DC.

November 2 - Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson holds a secret meeting with a group of the nation's most prestigious leaders ("the Wise Men") and asks them to suggest ways to unite the American people behind the war effort. They conclude that the American people should be given more optimistic reports on the progress of the war

November 3 - Vietnam War: Battle of Dak To begins - Around Dak To (located about 280 miles north of Saigon near the Cambodian border) heavy casualties are suffered on both sides (the Americans narrowly won the battle on November 22).

November 11 - Vietnam War: In a propaganda ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, three American prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong and turned over to "new left" antiwar activist Tom Hayden

November 17 - Vietnam War: Acting on optimistic reports he was given on November 13, US President Lyndon B. Johnson tells his nation that, while much remained to be done, "We are inflicting greater losses than we're taking...We are making progress." (two months later the Tet Offensive made him regret his words)

November 21 - Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland tells news reporters: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing."

November 24 - Cambodian triple agent Inchin Lam killed

November 29 - Vietnam War: US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announces his pending resignation and that he will become president of the World Bank. This action was the result of US President Lyndon B. Johnson's outright rejection of McNamara's early November recommendations to freeze troop levels, stop bombing North Vietnam and hand over ground fighting to South Vietnam

December 4 - Vietnam War: US and South Vietnamese forces engage Viet Cong troops in the Mekong Delta (235 of the 300-strong Viet Cong battalion were killed).

December 5 - Benjamin Spock and Allen Ginsberg arrested for protesting against Vietnam War

1968
January 23 - North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship violated its territorial waters while spying.

January 30 - Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive begin when Viet Cong forces launch series of a surprise attacks in South Vietnam.

January 31 - Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon

February 1 - Vietnam War: A Viet Cong officer is executed by Nguyen Ngoc Loan a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. The execution was videotaped and photographed and helped sway public opinion against the war.

February 24 - Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted - South Vietnam recaptures Hué

March 7 - Vietnam War: The First Battle of Saigon begins.

March 16 - Vietnam War: My Lai massacre American troops kills scores of women and children

July 26 - Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Truong Dinh Dzu is sentenced to five years hard labor for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war

October 8 - Vietnam War: Operation Sealords - United States and South Vietnamese forces launched a new operation in the Mekong Delta

October 14 - Vietnam War: The United States Department of Defense announces that the United States Army and United States Marines will be sending about 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours

October 31 - Vietnam War: Citing progress with the Paris peace talks, US President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective November 1.

November 11 - Vietnam War: Operation Commando Hunt initiated - The goal of the operation is to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, through Laos into South Vietnam (by the end of the operation, 3 million tons of bombs were dropped on Laos, which slowed but did not seriously disrupt trail operations).

1969
March 1 - John Kerry officially leaves active duty in Vietnam

May 13 - May 13th Incident: Race riots occur in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

June 2 - Australian aircraft carrier Melbourne collides with the US destroyer Frank E. Evans in the South China Sea - 74 US sailors dead

July 8 - Vietnam War: The very first U.S. troop withdrawals are made

July 25 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This was the start of the "Vietnamization" of the war

July 30 - Vietnam War: US President Richard M. Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyen Van Thieu and with US military commanders

September 5 - My Lai Massacre: Lt. William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai

November 3 - Vietnam War: US President Richard M. Nixon addresses his nation on television and radio asking the "silent majority" to join him in solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to support his policies

Vietnam War: The Cleveland Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam

November 25 - John Lennon returns his OBE to protest the British government's support of the US war in Vietnam

1970
March 18 - Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.

April 29 - U.S. invades Cambodia to hunt out Viet Cong. Massive protests against the war continue in the U.S.

May 4 - The Kent State shootings: Four students at Kent State University in Ohio are killed by National Guardsmen at a demonstration protesting against the incursion into Cambodia.

June 28 - US ground troops withdraw from Cambodia.

September 5 - Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins - The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thua Thien Province (operation ends in October 1971).

September 7 - An anti-war rally is held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, attended by John Kerry, Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.

September 10 - Cambodian government forces break the blockage around Kompong Tho after a 3-month siege.

September 20 - End of term for Ismail Nasiruddin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Zainal Abidin III as the 4th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

September 21 - Tuanku Al-Mutassimu Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, Sultan of Kedah becomes the 5th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

October 9 - The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.

October 12 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.

October 30 - In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes large floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.

November 5 - Vietnam War: United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24 soldiers died that week, which was the fifth consecutive week the death toll was below 50; 431 were reported wounded that week, however).

November 18 - US President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for US$155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government (US$85 million was for military assistance in order to help prevent the overthrow of the government of Premier Lon Nol by the Khmer Rouge and North Vietnam).

November 21 - Vietnam War: Operation Ivory Coast - A joint Air Force and Army team raids the Son Tay prison camp in an attempt to free American POWs thought to be held there (there were zero Americans killed, but the prisoners had already moved to another camp; All US POWs were moved to a handful of central prison complexes as a result of this raid).

1971
January 19 - Representatives of 23 western oil companies begin negotiations with OPEC in Tehran to stabilize oil prices. February 14 they sign a treaty with six Persian Gulf countries

February 13 - Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.

April 5 - In Ceylon, group calling himself People’s Liberation Front begins a rebellion against Bandaranaike government
April 8 - Right-wing coup attempt exposed in Laos

April 20 - Cambodian Prime Minister Lon Nol resigns

April 24 - 500.000 people in Washington DC and 125.000 in San Francisco march against the Vietnam War

May 1 - Ceylonese government promises amnesty for those guerillas who surrender before April 5

May 2 - in Ceylon left-wing guerillas launch a series of assaults against public buildings

May 6 - Ceylon government begins a major offensive against the People's Liberation Front

June 1 - Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace, claiming to represent the majority of U.S. veterans who served in southeast Asia, speak against war protests

June 10 - USA ends trade embargo of China

June 25 - Madagascar accuses USA of being connected to the plot to oust the current government - USA recalls its ambassador

July 9 - United Kingdom increases its troops in Northern Ireland to 11.000

August 9 - India signs a twenty year treaty of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union.

August 18 - Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam

September 29 - Cyclone and tsunami in the Bay of Bengal in Orissa State in India kills 10,000.

October 29 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The total number of American troops still in Vietnam drops to a record low of 196,700 (the lowest level since January 1966)

November 10 - In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attack the city Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging nine airplanes.

November 12 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - US President Richard M. Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.

November 23 - The People's Republic of China is given the Republic of China's (Taiwan) seat on the United Nations Security Council

December 1 - Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray, 10 kilometers northeast of Phnom Penh

December 3 - The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 begins as Pakistan attacks eight India airbases. The next day India launches a massive invasion of East Pakistan.

December 8 - US President Richard Nixon orders the 7th Fleet to move towards the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.

December 16 - Victory Day of Bangladesh (Pakistan Army surrenders to the Mitro Bahini, ending Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 simultaneously).

1972
January 30 - Bloody Sunday - the British Army kills 13 unarmed Roman Catholic civil rights marchers in Northern Ireland.

February 2 - Anti-British riots throughout the Republic of Ireland take place. The British Embassy in Dublin is burned to the ground as are several British owned offices and shops.

February 21 - February 27 - President Richard M. Nixon makes an unprecedented eight-day visit to the People's Republic of China and meets with Mao Zedong.

March 1 - Thai province of Yasothon created after being split off from the Ubon Ratchathani Province

March 24 - In a bid for peace, Britain takes over direct rule of Northern Ireland.

March 30 - Vietnam War: The Eastertide Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.

June 17 - Return of Okinawa from United States' control to Japan

June 23 - Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House chief of staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins.

June 28 - US president Nixon announces that no new draftees will be sent to Vietnam

June 29 - Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is unconstitutional.

August 11-12 - Last US ground troops withdrawn from Vietnam

September 1 - Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky in Reykjavík Chess match and becomes the first American chess champion.

September 21 - Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos issued Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire country under martial law.

September 29 - Sino-Japanese relations: Japan normalized diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China after breaking official ties with the Republic of China.

November 11 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The United States Army turns over the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam

November 22 - Vietnam War: The United States loses its first B-52 Stratofortress of the war

November 30 - Vietnam War: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press that there will be no more public announcements concerning American troop withdrawals from Vietnam due to the fact that troop levels are now down to 27,000.

December 7 - Imelda Marcos is stabbed and seriously wounded by an assailant; her bodyguards shoot him

1973
January 15 - Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President of the United States Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.

January 17 - Ferdinand Marcos becomes President for Life of the Philippines.

January 23 - President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.

January 27 - U.S. involvement in Vietnam War ends with the signing of peace pacts.

February 11 - Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.

March 29 - The last United States soldiers leave Vietnam.

August 15 - The U.S. bombing of Cambodia ends, marking the official halt to 12 years of combat activity in Southeast Asia.

October 17 - A worldwide oil shortage, the 1973 energy crisis, followed an Arab Oil Embargo against several countries which gave support to Israel.

November 17 - Watergate scandal: In Orlando, Florida, US President Richard Nixon tells 400 Associated Press managing editors "I am not a crook."

December 1 - Papua New Guinea gains self government from Australia.

December 23 - OPEC doubles the price of crude oil.

1974
March 18 - Oil embargo crisis: Most OPEC nations end a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.

April 28 - Last Americans evacuated from Saigon

May 18 - Nuclear test: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.

November 21 - George W. Bush is discharged from the US Air Force Reserve

1975
January 10 - Japanese WWII soldier Teruo Nakamura surrenders on the Indonesian Island of Morota

March 10 - Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Me Thout, South Vietnam, on their way to capturing Saigon.

April 17 - Pol Pot proclaims the "Democratic Republic of Kampuchea" in Cambodia and becomes its Prime Minister (1975-1979).

April 25 - Vietnam War: As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.

April 30 - Vietnam War: The Vietnam War ends as Communist forces take Saigon and South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally.

May 12 - Mayaguez incident: The Cambodian navy seizes the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters

May 15 - The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued in operation by U.S. Navy and Marines. 38 are killed.

May 16 - India annexes Sikkim

September 20 - End of term for Tuanku Al-Mutassimu Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah as the 5th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

September 21 - Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra, Sultan of Kelantan becomes the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

September 22 - President Ford survives a second assassination attempt, again by a female.

October 16 - Five Australian-based journalists are killed at Balibo by Indonesian forces during an incursion into Portuguese Timor.

November 28 - Portuguese Timor declares its independence from Portugal as East Timor

December 7 - East Timor is invaded by Indonesia on the order of General Suharto.

1976
January 12 - UN Security Council votes 11-1 to admit the Palestinian Liberation Organization

February 20 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands

April 4 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest

July 2 - North Vietnam and South Vietnam united to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - a Communist country

July 17 - East Timor is declared the 27th province of Indonesia

July 28 - Earthquake flattens Tangshan, China, killing 242,769 people, and 164,851 people are heavily injured

August 18 - In North Korea at Panmunjom, two US soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the DMZ which had obscured their view

1977
May 23 - Moluccan terrorists take over a school in Bovensmilde, northern Netherlands (105 hostages) and a passenger train in Bovensmilde-Assan route nearby (90 hostages) at the same time. June 11 Dutch Royal Marines storm the train - six terrorists and two hostages are killed

July 22 - The purged Chinese communist leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power as the "Gang of Four" is expelled from the Communist Party of China.

December 4 - A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737 is hijacked and then blown up in mid-air over the Straits of Johor, killing 100.

1978
January 1 - Air India's Boeing 747 explodes near Bombay - 213 dead.

February 13 - Hilton bombing: A bomb explodes outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two garbagemen, a policeman and several others. Many believe that ASIO was responsible.

April 27 - President of Afghanistan, Daud Khan is killed during a military coup - Mohammed Takain succeeds him.

April 30 - The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan is proclamed, under pro-communist leader Nur Mohammed Taraki.

October 1 - Vietnam invades Cambodia

December 25 - Vietnam launches a major offensive against Khmer Rouge of Cambodia

1979
January 1 - Sino-American relations: United States and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations

January 7 - Vietnam and Vietnam-backed Cambodian insurgents announce the fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodian capital, and the collapse of the Pol Pot regime. Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge retreat to Thailand

February 14 - In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.

February 17 - The People's Republic of China invades northern Vietnam, launching the Sino-Vietnamese War.

March 29 - Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra, 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia dies in office. He is replaced by Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Mustain Billah ibni Almarhum Sultan Sir Abu Bakar Riayatuddin Al-Muadzam Shah, Sultan of Pahang.

April 6 - President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed

June 1 - The first black-led government of Rhodesia in 90 years takes power, ousting Ian Smith

October 16 - 23 people die in Nice, France, when the coastal town is hit by a tsunami

November 1 - Iran hostage crisis: Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini urged his people to demonstrate on November 4 and to expand attacks on United States and Israeli interests

November 4 - Iran hostage crisis begins: 3000 Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the United States embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (63 of whom are American). They demand that the United States send the former Shah back to Iran to stand trial.

November 12 - Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, US President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all oil imports into the United States from Iran

November 14 - Iran hostage crisis: US President Jimmy Carter issues Executive Order 12170, freezing all Iranian assets in the United States and US banks in response to the hostage crisis

November 17 - Iran hostage crisis: Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran.

November 21 - The United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan is attacked by a mob and set afire, killing four.

December 24 - Soviet Union invades Afghanistan

December 27 - The Soviet Union seizes control of Afghanistan and Babrak Karmal replaces overthrown and executed President Hafizullah Amin.

1980
June 23 - Sanjay Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi, dies in an air crash

November 4 - U.S. presidential election, 1980: Republican challenger Ronald Reagan defeats incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter by a wide margin.

November 23 - A series of earthquakes in southern Italy kills approximately 4,800 people.

1981
Febuary 14 Australia withdraws recognition of the Pol Pot Regime in Cambodia

May 30 - Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman assassinated in Chittagong.

June 5 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that five homosexual men in Los Angeles, California have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems (these were the first recognized cases of AIDS).

December 15 - A car bomb destroys the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 61 people. This is the first modern suicide bombing. Syrian intelligence is blamed.

1982
March 26 - A ground breaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is held in Washington, DC

1983
September 1 - Cold War: Korean Air Flight KAL-007 is shot down by a Soviet jet fighter when the commercial aircraft entered Soviet airspace. All 269 on board die.

1984
January 1 - Brunei becomes a fully independent state

January 7 - Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

March 5 - Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi orders an attack on the Golden Temple, the Sikh holy spot.

April 25 - End of term for Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Mustain Billah ibni Almarhum Sultan Sir Abu Bakar Riayatuddin Al-Muadzam Shah as the 7th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

April 26 - Baginda Almutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail, Sultan of Johor becomes the 8th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

June 5 - The Indian government begins Operation Blue Star, the planned attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

June 6 - Indian troops storm the Golden Temple at Amritsar, the Sikh's holiest shrine, killing an estimated 1000 people

August 21 - Half a million people in Manila demonstrate against the regime of Ferdinand Marcos

September 26 - United Kingdom and People's Republic of China sign initial agreement to return Hong Kong to China in 1997

October 31 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two Sikh security guards (riots soon broke out in New Delhi and nearly 2,000 innocent Sikhs were killed).

November 30 - The Tamil Tigers begin the purge of the Singalese from North and East Sri Lanka - 127 killed

December 3 - Bhopal Disaster: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, kills more than 2,000 people outright and injures anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 others (some 6,000 of whom would later die from their injuries) in one of the worst industrial disasters in history.

December 31 - Rajiv Gandhi becomes prime minister of India

1985
March 11 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and de facto leader of the Soviet Union.

June 23 - A Boeing 747 carrying Air India Flight 182 blew-up 31,000 feet (9500 m) above the Atlantic Ocean, South of Ireland, killing all 329 aboard.

July 10 - The Greenpeace vessel, the Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland Harbour by French DGSE agents.

1986
February 25 - EDSA Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president

February 28 - Corazon Aquino sworn in as the President of the Philippines

September 5 - Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport

1987
February 11 - Constitution of the Philippines goes into effect.

May 28 - 19-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet air defense and lands a private plane on Red Square in Moscow. He is immediately detained and will later be released on Wednesday, August 3, 1988.

1988
December 2 - Cyclone in Bangladesh leaves 5 million homeless - thousands dead

February 29 - Nazi document implicates Kurt Waldheim in WWII deportations

April 14 - In Geneva Agreement, Soviet Union commits itself to withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan

May 15 - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdraw from Afghanistan

July 3 - Iran Air Flight 655 shot down by missiles launched from the USS Vincennes ship

August 17 - Pakistan President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq and US Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.

December 2 - Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state

December 21 - Pan Am flight 103 is blown up by Libyan terrorists over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 on board and 11 on the ground

Al-Qaida established by Osama bin Laden

1989
January 7 - Akihito becomes Emperor of Japan following the death of Hirohito. The Heisei period begins

March 7 - Iran breaks off diplomatic relations with United Kingdom over Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses"

April - Emperor Akihito of Japan apologies to China for the suffering caused to it by Japanese aggression. The existence of this apology has still not been widely reveled in China.

April 25 - End of term for Baginda Almutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail as the 8th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia

April 26 - Sultan Azlan Muhibbudin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Yusuff Izzudin Shah Ghafarullahu-lahu, Sultan of Perak becomes the 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

May 30 - Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators

June 3 - The Ayatollah Khomeini dies

June 4 - Suppression of the Tiananmen Square massacre takes place in Beijing and is covered live on television

July 20 - Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi placed under house arrest

November 4 - Typhoon Gay devastates the Thai province of Chumphon.

December 29 - Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.

1990
March 15 - Gulf War: Iraqis hang British journalist Farzad Bazoft for spying. Daphne Parish, a British nurse, is sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment as an accomplice

March 20 - Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering

June 22 - Underwater volcano Mount Didicas erupts in the Philippines

July 2 - Stampede in a pedestrian tunnel leading to the Mecca - 1426 pilgrims dead

July 16 - In the Philippines, an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter Scale kills over 1600

July 28 - Alberto Fujimori becomes president of Peru

August 2 - Gulf War: Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.

October 3 - German re-unification, East Germany became part of Germany

December 9 - Slobodan Milosevic becomes President of Serbia

February 23 - Thailand: General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.

February 27 - Gulf War: Kuwait is liberated, and a ceasefire is declared, after 100 hours of ground fighting. Iraq accepts the terms of the ceasefire, which call for the country to disarm.

May 21 - In Madras, former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a terrorist bomb hidden in a bouquet of flowers

May 26 - In Thailand, a Lauda Air Boeing 767 crashes near Bangkok killing all 223 people on-board

July 1 - The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved.

August 18 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is put under house arrest while vacationing in the Crimea. The putsch is led by eight high-ranking hard-liners, and will collapse in less than 72 hours.

August 20 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: Estonia declares its independence from the Soviet Union and more than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup that deposed President Mikhail Gorbachev

August 21 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: Latvia declares its independence from the Soviet Union

August 24 - Ukraine declares independence from Soviet Union

September 1 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: Uzbekistan declares its independence from the Soviet Union

September 6 - The Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltic States.

October 11 - KGB is replaced by the SVR

November 14 - Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk returns to Phnom Penh after 13 years of exile

December 19 - Paul Keating replaces Bob Hawke as Australian prime minister

1992
January 13 - Japan apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.

February 1 - Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal Disaster case, and orders the Indian government to press for an extradition from United States

July 10 - In Miami, Florida, former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug and racketeering violations

July 22 - Near Medellín, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes from his luxury prison fearing extradiction to the United States.

October 29 - Zee TV, the first Hindi satellite channel is launched.

November 3 - Bill Clinton defeats George H. W. Bush and H. Ross Perot in the U.S. presidential election

November 30 - A murder trial of 14 South Vietnamese accused of murder of 24 North Vietnamese begins in Hong Kong (ends November 29, 1994)

December 6 - Hindu activists destroy the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, India, triggering religious violence around the country.

1993
February 26 - World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a van bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center goes off, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand.

March 4 - Authorities announce the capture of suspected World Trade Center bombing conspirator Mohammad Salameh

March 12 - Several bombs explode in Bombay, India killing about 300 and injuring hundreds more

March 12 - North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea says that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites

March 27 - Jiang Zemin becomes President of the People's Republic of China.

May 1 - A suicide bomber assassinates President Premadasa of Sri Lanka

July 12 - A magnitude 7.8 earthquake off Hokkaido, Japan launches a devastating tsunami, killing 202 on the small island of Okushiri

September 29 - An earthquake centred on Killari, Maharashtra, India kills nearly 10,000 people.

December 12 - Earthquake hits Flores, Indonesia - 2200 dead

1994
January 1 - North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect

March 4 - Four terrorists are convicted for their roles in the World Trade Center bombing which killed six and injured more than a thousand.

April 25 - End of term for Sultan Azlan Muhibbudin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Yusuff Izzudin Shah Ghafarullahu-lahu as 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

April 26 - Tuanku Jaafar ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan becomes the 10th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

April 30 - Formula One Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger dies at the age of 32 in a high-speed, single-car crash in the practise session for the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy

May 1 - Formula One Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna dies at the age of 34 in a high-speed, single-car crash in the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy

May 9 - Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president

November 29 - Two-year murder trial of 14 south Vietnamese accused of murder of 24 north Vietnamese ends in Hong Kong - all defendants are acquitted

December 2 - Australian government agrees to pay reparations to aborigines that were displaced during the nuclear tests in 1950s and 1960s

December 11, 1994 - A small bomb explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman. The bombing was a field test done by Ramzi Yousef to test explosives that would have been used in Project Bojinka, a terrorist attack plan that would be exposed after an apartment fire.

1995
January 1 - World Trade Organization is established to replace GATT

January 6 to January 7 - A chemical fire occurs in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines. Policemen led by watch commander Aida Fariscal and investigators find a bomb factory and a laptop computer and disks that contain plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack. The mastermind, Ramzi Yousef, is arrested one month later

January 17 - A magnitude 7.3 earthquake called "the Great Hanshin earthquake" occurs near Kobe, Japan, causing great property damage and killing 6,433 people

February 26 - The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking firm, Barings Bank collapses after a securities broker Nick Leeson in Singapore has lost $1.4 billion by speculating on the Tokyo Stock Exchange

March 2 - Nick Leeson is arrested in Singapore for his role in the collapse of Barings Bank. March 20 - Terrorist incident: Members of the Aum Supreme Truth release sarin gas in the Tokyo on five separate subway trains killing 12 and injuring around 500; 59 people: Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.

March 24 - For the first time in twenty six years, no British soldiers patrol the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

April 19 - Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma city was bombed. 168 people, including 8 Federal Marshals and 19 children, were killed.

May 14 - The Dalai Lama proclaims 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the eleventh reincarnation of the Panchen Lama.

May 16 - Japanese police besieges the headquarters of Aum Shinrikyo near Mount Fuji and arrest cult leader Shoko Asahara.

June 13 - French president Jacques Chirac announces the resumption of nuclear tests in French Polynesia.

October 1 - 10 people are found guilty for bombing the World Trade Center in 1994

October 16 - The Million Man March is held in Washington D.C.. The event was conceived by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

November 4 - After attending a peace rally in Tel Aviv's Kings Square, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is mortally wounded by a right-wing Israeli gunman. (He later died on the operating table at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv)

November 22 - Eilat, Israel, Egypt, and much of the North African Mediterranean is struck by the strongest earthquake in Israel's history - 7.2 mw. Curiously, within a week there is attempted historical revisionism downwards to 6.2 with Gulf of Aqaba architects and engineers holding the bag for alleged 'shoddy construction'. A 6.2 mw earthquake is only 1/100th the magnitude of a 7.2 quake.

November 30 - Javier Solana is unanimously picked as surprise dark horse candidate to be new head of NATO. Fifty two USA congress members send telegram to White House objecting because of Solana's previous alleged pro-Castro policies in his position as Spanish foreign minister.

1996
January 31 - An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.

February - Iraq disarmament crisis: Recently defected Iraqi weapons program leader and son-in-law to Saddam Hussein, Hussein Kamel, returns to Iraq. Within days of his return, he is murdered along with his brother, father, sister and her children. Kamel had forced Iraq to reveal portions of its illegal nuclear and chemical weapons programs.

March 11 - John Howard becomes the twenty-fifth Prime Minister of Australia.

March 23 - The Republic of China on Taiwan holds its first direct elections for president. Lee Teng-hui is reelected.

May 27 - First Chechnya War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire in the war.

June 25 - 19 U.S. servicemen are killed at Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia.

July 8 - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a hand-delivered document, "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Security the Realm," spelling out how Israel could abrogate the Oslo Accords, and pursue a permanent annexation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, among other policies. The paper had been prepared for him by Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld, Doug Feith, David Wurmser and John Bolton.

August 1 - Sarah Balabagan returns to the Philippines

September 27 - In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture capital city Kabul after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.

December 12 - Uday Hussein is seriously injured in an assassination attempt.

December 17 - Tupac Amaru takes 5000 hostages in Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru

December 27 - Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram air base which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul.

December 30 - In the Indian state of Assam, a passenger train is bombed by Bodo separatists killing 26.

1997
February 19 - The last of the People's Republic of China's major revolutionaries, Deng Xiaoping dies at 92, this was followed by weeks of mourning for the leader.

April 22 - A 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, Peru ends after government commandos storm and capture the building rescuing 71 hostages. One hostage dies of a heart attack, two soldiers are killed from rebel fire and all 14 Tupac Amaru rebels are slain

May 12 - The Russian-Chechen Peace Treaty signed.

June 2 - Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

June 5 - Kim Hyun Chul, son of Kim Young Sam, president of South Korea, is charged with bribery and corruption related to the awarding of government contracts

June 10 - Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot orders the killing of his defense chief Son Sen and 11 of Sen's family members before Pol Pot flees his northern stronghold (the news did not reach outside Cambodia for three days)

July 1 - The United Kingdom hands sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China

July 25 - K.R. Narayanan is sworn-in as India's 10th president and the first member of the Dalits caste to hold this office.

August 31 - Diana, Princess of Wales is taken to a hospital after a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris. She is pronounced dead at 4:00 the next morning.

September 11 - Scotland votes to create its own Parliament after 290 years of union with England

September 26 - 234 die in air crash in Indonesia. Probable cause is the smoke rising from numerous forest fires in the area

November 12 - Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

November 16 - After nearly 18 years of incarceration, the People's Republic of China releases Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy dissident, from jail for medical reasons.

December 29 - Hong Kong begins to kill all the chickens within its territory (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain

1998
January 8 - Ramzi Yousef is sentenced to life in prison for planning the World Trade Center bombing.

January 17 - Paula Jones accuses President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.

Lewinsky scandal: On American television, Bill Clinton denies he had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

January 28 - Gunmen hold at least 400 children and teachers hostage for several hours at an elementary school in Manila, Philippines.

February 4 - An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.

February 23 - Osama bin Laden publishes fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders.

April 6 - Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of hitting India

May 7 - Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.

May 11 - Nuclear testing: In the Rajasthan Desert, India conducts its second series of underground nuclear tests (the first were in 1974) and inflaming its rival neighbor Pakistan (who already has nuclear weapons).

May 13 - Following India's second round of nuclear tests the United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on the nation.

May 21 - Suharto resigns, after 32 years as Indonesian President and 7th consecutive re-election by the Indonesian Parliament (MPR). Suharto's hand-picked Vice President, B. J. Habibie, became Indonesia's third president.

May 28 - Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of Indian nuclear tests with six of its own in Chaghi (Baluchistan)prompting the United States, Japan and other nations to impose economic sanctions

May 30 - Nuclear testing: Pakistan conducted two more Nuclear Explosions following its first test.

May 30 - A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits northern Afghanistan killing up to 5,000.

July 7 - US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania are bombed - 190 dead

July 17 - A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake destroys 10 villages in Papua New Guinea killing an estimated 1,500, leaving 2,000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless

August 7 - 1998 U.S. embassy bombings: Bombing of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya kills 224 people and injures over 4,500. The bombings were linked to Osama Bin Laden.

August 20 - 1998 U.S. embassy bombings: The United States military launches cruise missile attacks against alleged Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum is destroyed in the attack

August 31 - North Korea reportedly launches Kwangmyongsong, their first satellite. Although North Korea reports that it reached stable orbit, NORAD was never able to confirm this assertion

September 7 - Google Inc. is founded.

October 28 - An Air China jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan. After landing the plane safely, Yuan Bin was arrested.

November 20 - A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin" in regards to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

December 29 - Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million in the 1970s.

Also Chia Thye Poh becomes a free man after 32 years in Singapore dentention without trial and house arrest.

1999
January 4 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque killing 16 people injuring 25

February 16 - In Uzbekistan a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov.

February 16 - Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.

February 22 - Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.

April 5 - Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 are handed over to Scottish authorities for eventual trial in the Netherlands. The United Nations suspends sanctions against Libya

April 25 - End of term for Tuanku Jaafar ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman as the 10th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

April 26 - Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah Al-Haj, Sultan of Selangor becomes the 11th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

April 30 - Cambodia joins the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bringing the total members to 10.

October 12 - A military coup led by Pakistani Army Chief General Pervaiz Musharraf takes control of Pakistan and ousts the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif

October 31 - EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board

November 20 - The People's Republic of China launches the first Shenzhou spacecraft

December 20 - Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.

December 24 - Indian Airlines Flight 814, which was enroute from Kathmandu, Nepal to Delhi, India was hijacked and taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan

December 31 - 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.

2000
March 18 - 2000 Taiwanese presidential election: Chen Shui-bian is elected President of the Republic of China.

April 1 - Japanese prime minister Obuchi Keizo suffers a stroke and falls into a coma.

April 16 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, Raja of Perlis dies after a reign of 55 years. He was the longest reigning monarch in the world since the death of Prince Franz Joseph II of Liechtenstein.

April 17 - Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin becomes Raja of Perlis.

August 12 - Russian submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea. All 118 men aboard die.

September 28 - Ariel Sharon leads several hundred armed Israelis in a visit to the Temple Mount, provoking an increase in Palestinian civil disorder which developed into the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

October 12 - In Aden, Yemen, the USS Cole is badly damaged by two suicide bombers who placed a small boat laden with explosives along-side the United States Navy destroyer, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.

October 31 - Singapore Airlines Flight 6 collides with construction equipment in the Chiang Kai Shek International Airport - 83 dead.

November 16 - Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting US President to visit Vietnam

November 17 - Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru

January 26 - An earthquake hits Gujarat, India. More than 20,000 deaths and most of the historical city is destroyed.

January 31 - The Scottish Court in the Netherlands convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

February 20 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia for 15 years.

April 1 - An American EP-3E spyplane collides with a Chinese F-8 fighter jet and is forced to make an emergency landing in Hainan, China. The U.S. crew was detained for 10 days and the Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, went missing and presumed dead.

June 1 - Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal kills his father, the king, his mother and other members of the royal family with an assault rifle and then shoots himself. He dies three days later

June 20 - Pervez Musharraf takes over as President of Pakistan.

September 4 - Google Inc. is awarded a patent, number 6,285,999, for the PageRank search algorithm used in the Google search engine

September 5 - Peru's attorney general files homicide charges against ex-President Alberto Fujimori

September 9 - Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, is assassinated in Afghanistan

September 11 - Around 3,000 killed in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and rural Pennsylvania.

October 7 - The American attack on Afghanistan begins. The United Kingdom participates.

October 10 - War on Terrorism: US President George W. Bush presents a list of 22 most wanted terrorists

October 12 - War on Terrorism: Prompted by a request by US President George W. Bush, an episode of America's Most Wanted aired featuring 22 most wanted terrorists

October 14 - Ukrainian military missile shoots down an Israeli passenger plane over Black Sea - 76 dead

November 12 - 2001 Attack on Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, ahead of advancing Northern Alliance troops (Northern Alliance fighters took Kabul on November 14)

November 13 - War on Terrorism: In the first such act since World War II, US President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against any foreigners suspected of having connections to terrorist acts or planned acts on the United States

December 3 - Officials announce that one of the Taliban prisoners captured after the prison uprising at Mazar-e Sharif is John Walker Lindh, an American citizen.

December 11 - The United States government indicts Zacarias Moussaoui for involvement in the attacks on September 11th.

December 13 - The Indian Parliament is attacked by terrorists, but there are no casualties. This brings India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

December 22 - Hamid Karzai is sworn in as head of the interim government in Afghanistan.

2003
January 1 - Introduction of euro banknotes and coins in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, and Portugal.

January 13 - President George W. Bush faints after choking on a pretzel.

January 16 - A student shoots 6 people at the Appalachian School of Law, killing three. John Ashcroft announces that American Taliban member John Walker Lindh would be tried in the United States.

The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the Taliban.

January 17 - Eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.

February 27 - Ethnic conflict in India: 59 Hindu pilgrims die aboard a train burned by a Muslim mob in Godhra, India, sparking a series of riots, leaving hundreds dead.

March 1 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: In eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda begins. 28 people die in continuing violence in Ahmedabad. Police shoot and kill five while attempting to control rioters.

March 19 - US Attack on Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 1) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities

March 21 - In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh along with three other suspects are charged with murder for their part in the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl

May 20 - Restoration of East Timor independence

June 14 - Twelve are killed and 50 injured by a car bomb explosion in front of the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.

July 15 - So-called "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and for the possession of explosives during the commission of a felony. Lindh agrees to serve 10 years in prison for each of the charges

August 2 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq invites chief weapons inspector Hans Blix to Iraq for discussions on remaining disarmament issues.

August 19 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The U.N. Secretary General rejects Iraq's August 2 proposal as the "wrong work program", and instead recommends that Iraq allow weapons inspectors to return to the country, in accordance with previous U.N. resolutions.

September 12 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush, addresses the U.N. and challenges its members to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Iraq or stand aside as the United States and likeminded nations act.

October 12 - Bali bombing: Terrorists detonate massive bombs in two nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and injuring over 300.

November 7 - Iran bans advertising of US products.

November 18 - Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.

December 7 - Iraq disarmament crisis: As required by the recently passed U.N. resolution, Iraq files a 12,000 page weapons declaration with the U.N. Security Council. Although it is supposed to be a complete declaration, it is seen as incomplete by the Security Council and weapons inspectors.

December 27 - Suicide truck-bomb attack destroys headquarters of Chechnya's Moscow-backed government, killing 72 people.

December 29 - Communist New People's Army blows up a bust of Ferdinand Marcos in Benguet, Philippines.

February 5 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell addresses the UN Security Council on Iraq.

February 15 - Global protests against war on Iraq - more than six million people protest in over 600 cities worldwide, the largest war protest to take place before the war occurred.

2004
February 26 - An American businessman is admitted to the Vietnam France Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam. WHO doctor Carlo Urbani reports the unusual highly contagious disease to WHO. Both the businessman and Carlo Urbani die of SARS in March.

War on Terrorism: Authorities in Pakistan capture Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks along with money man Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi.

March 15 - Hu Jintao becomes president of the People's Republic of China, replacing Jiang Zemin.

March 19 - First American bombs dropped on Baghdad, Iraq. President Saddam Hussein and his sons do not comply with President Bush's 48 hour mandate demanding their exit from Iraq.

March 29 - WHO doctor Carlo Urbani, who first identified SARS, dies of the disease.

April 21 - Retired U.S. Army General Jay Garner becomes Interim Civil Administrator of Iraq.

May 1 - George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, in a Lockheed S-3 Viking, where he gave a speech announcing end of major combat in the Iraq war.

May 12 - Suicide truck-bomb attack kills at least 60 at a government compound in northern Chechnya.

May 14 - Female suicide bomber blows up explosives strapped to her waist in crowd of thousands of Muslim pilgrims, killing at least 18 people in Chechnya.

June 5 - Female suicide bomber detonates bomb near a bus carrying soldiers and civilians to a military airfield in Mozdok, a major staging point for Russian troops in Chechnya, killing at least 16 people.

July 1 - 500,000 Hong Kong people march to protest Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, which redefined treason controversially.

July 5 - SARS is declared to be contained by WHO. Double suicide bombing at a Moscow rock concert kills the female attackers and 15 other people.

July 18 - The body of Dr. David Kelly's, a scientist at the Ministry of Defence, is found a few miles from his home, leading to the Hutton inquiry

August 1 - Suicide bomber rams truck filled with explosives into a military hospital near Chechnya, killing 50 people, including Russian troops wounded in Chechnya.

September 10 - Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh is stabbed in a Stockholm department store and dies the next day.

September 16 - Two suicide bombers drive a truck laden with explosives into a government security services building near Chechnya, killing three people and injuring 25.

October 15 - China launches Shenzhou 5, their first manned space mission.

October 31 - Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia after 22 years in power.

November 12 - Occupation of Iraq: In Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 Iraq war are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.

November 15 - Two car bombs explode simultaneously in Istanbul, Turkey targeting two synagogues, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 300; Al-Qaida claims responsibility.

November 23 - Georgian Rose Revolution ends with overwhelming victory - president Eduard Shevardnadze resigns following weeks of mass protests over fraudulent elections.

December 5 - Suicide bombing on commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people. President Vladimir Putin condemns attack as bid to destabilize the country two days before parliamentary elections.

December 9 - Female suicide bomber blows herself up outside Moscow's National Hotel, across from the Kremlin and Red Square, killing five bystanders.

December 13 - Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, is captured in Tikrit by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.

December 20 - Libya admits that it was building a nuclear bomb.

December 24 - A BSE outbreak in Washington State is announced. Several countries including Brazil, Australia and Taiwan place a ban on the import of beef from the United States of America.

December 24 - At the request of the US Embassy in Paris, the French Government orders Air France to cancel several flights between France and the US in response to terrorist concerns.

December 25 - The President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, escapes the second assassination attempt in two weeks.

December 26 - A massive earthquake devastates southeastern Iran. Over 40,000 people are reported to have been killed in the city of Bam.

2004
January 1 - Pervez Musharraf gets the vote of confidence from Parliament and provincial assemblies to continue as President of Pakistan.

January 28 - The findings of the Hutton Inquiry are published in London. The British Government is found not to have falsified information in the "sexed up dossier". The report criticises the BBC's role in the death of David Kelly, a weapons expert on Iraq.

February 1 - A Hajj stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills 251 pilgrims.

February 3 - The CIA admits that there was no imminent threat from weapons of mass destruction before the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

February 6 - A suicide bomber kills 41 people on a metro car in Moscow.

February 14 - Riots break out between police and Aboriginal residents of Redfern, a suburb of Sydney, Australia.

February 24 - 6.5 Richter scale earthquake in Northern Morocco hits in the Rif mountains near the city of Al Hoceima - over 400 dead. Ait Kamara is destroyed. 517 dead.

February 26 - The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.

March 2 - John Kerry effectively clinches the U.S. Democratic Party presidential nomination, 2004 by winning nine out of 10 "Super Tuesday" primaries and caucuses.

March 11 - Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid kill 190 people.

March 12 - Following the terrorist attacks in Madrid on March 11, millions of protesters take to the streets of Spanish cities against terrorism.

March 14 - Two suicide bombers kill eleven Israeli civilians in Ashdod, Israel.
The Spanish parliamentary elections of 2004 take place. The incumbent government led by José María Aznar is defeated by the Socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
Presidential elections in Russia are held. Vladimir Putin easily wins a second term.

March 20 - President Chen Shui-bian wins the Taiwanese presidential election by 0.2% of the vote. The day before, he and Vice President Annette Lu were 'shot'. Lien Chan refuses to concede and demands a recount. A controversial 'peace referendum' opposed by the People's Republic of China is invalidated.

March 21 - The 2004 Malaysian general election takes place. The incumbent Barisan Nasional party wins 198 out of 219 seats in the Malaysian Parliament.

March 25 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair visits Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, in return for the dismantling of Libya's WMD programme in December 2003 - the first time a major western leader has visted the nation in several decades.

April 3 - A bomb explosion in a Madrid flat kills a Spanish policeman and five terrorists suspected of responsibility for the Madrid train bombings on March 11.

April 4 - Serious fighting breaks out in Najaf, Sadr City, and Basra in Iraq as Shia insurgents supporting Muqtada al-Sadr rise against coalition forces.

April 17 - Israeli helicopters fire missiles at a convoy of vehicles in the Gaza Strip, killing the Gaza leader of Hamas, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi.

April 21 - Mordechai Vanunu, who revealed an Israeli nuclear weapons programme in the 1980s, is released from prison in Israel after an 18 year term for treason.

April 28 - Abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is revealed on the television show 60 Minutes II.

May 9 - Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed by landmine placed under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial parade in Grozny.

May 12 - An American civilian contractor in Iraq, Nick Berg, is shown being decapitated by a group allegedly linked to al-Qaida on a web-distributed video.

May 30 - Thousands of people in Hong Kong take to the streets to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

August 6 - A United Nations report that blames the government of Sudan for crimes against humanity in Darfur is released.

August 12 - Singapore's prime minister Goh Chok Tong hands over his position to Lee Hsien Loong.

August 24 - Two airliners in Russia, carrying a total of 89 passengers, crash within minutes of each other after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, leaving no survivors. Authorities suspect suicide attacks by rebels from Chechnya to be the cause of the crashes.

August 31 - Two suicide attacks on buses in Beer Sheva, Israel, kill at least 16 people and injure at least 60. Hamas claims responsibility for the attacks. A woman commits a suicide attack near a subway station in northern Moscow, Russia, killing at least 10 people and injuring at least 50. Authorities hold Chechen rebels responsible.

September 1 - Chechen rebels take between 1,000 and 1,500 people hostage, mostly children, in a school in Beslan, Northern Ossetia. The hostage-takers demand the release of Chechen rebels imprisoned in neighbouring Ingushetia and the independence of Chechnya from Russia.

October 8 - Direct elections for president held for the first time in Afghanistan. Interim president Hamid Karzai is eventually declared the winner.

October 10 - Abdullahi Yusuf is chosen as the new transitional president of Somalia.

October 14 - Prince Norodom Sihamoni is chosen as the new king of Cambodia.

October 19 - General Khin Nyunt is replaced by Lieutenant-General Soe Win as Prime Minister of Myanmar.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono becomes the first directly-elected President of Indonesia.

October 29 - A videotape of Osama Bin Laden speaking airs on Arabic TV, in which he threatens terrorist attacks on the USA, and taunts the president, George W. Bush, over the September 11 Terrorist attacks.

November 2 - U.S. presidential election: Incumbent President George W. Bush defeats Senator John Kerry. Republicans make gains in the House and Senate.

November 14 - American Secretary of State, Colin Powell submits his resignation. He was replaced by Condoleezza Rice after her confirmation from the United States Congress.

November 16 - The People's Republic of China to invest $20 billion dollars in Argentina, a deal signed days before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be held in the City of Santiago in Chile.

December 6 - Terrorists attack the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing several people.

December 26 - The strongest earthquake in 40 years originates from the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Sumatra island in Indonesia, measuring 9.3 on the Richter Scale and creating tsunami tidal waves that sweep across much of the coastlines of Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. At least 290,000 people from South Asia to as far as Somalia in Africa are confirmed to be dead.

2005
January 9 - Mahmoud Abbas is elected to succeed Yasser Arafat as Palestinian Authority president in the Palestinian general election.

January 30 - The first Parliamentary elections in Iraq since the overthrow of the Ba'ath Party government led by Saddam Hussein take place. A Royal Air Force Hercules transport plane crashes in Iraq, killing 10 British servicemen. Iraqi insurgents release a video claiming to have shot the aircraft down using a missile.

February 10 - North Korea announces that it possesses nuclear weapons as a protection against the hostility it feels from the United States. Saudi Arabia holds it first ever elections for municipal authorities, only men are allowed to vote.

February 14 - A massive suicide bomb blast in central Beirut killed Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri and at least 15 other people. At least 135 other people were also hurt. Around 59 people have been killed and 200 injured in a fire at mosque in Tehran, Iran.

February 16 - The Kyoto Protocol comes into effect, without the support of the United States and Australia.

February 26 - Hosni Mubarak the president of Egypt ordered the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections before September 2005 by asking parliament to amend Article 76 of the Egyptian constitution.

March 10 - Resignation of Tung Chee-hwa, the chief executive of Hong Kong, China.

March 14 - The People's Republic of China ratifies an anti-secession law aimed at preventing Taiwan from declaring independence. Nearly one million people gathered for an opposition rally in Beirut, a month after the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The largest rally in Lebanon history.

March 16 - Suspects Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri in the bombing of the Air India Flight 182 in 1985 are found to be not guilty on all accounts.

March 19 - A suspected suicide bomber killed one Briton and injured about 12 other people. The blast happen at the Doha Players theatre opposite the Doha English Speaking school in the Khalifa district outside the capital Doha, in Qatar. A time bomb exploded in a Muslim shrine in Quetta, southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 29 people and wounding 40.

March 20 - At least 250 people in Japan have been injured and at least one killed by when a powerful earthquake struck west of Kyushu Island, just 9km (5.5 miles) below the ocean floor. The quake - which had a magnitude of seven - damaged buildings and cut utility supplies.

March 28 - The 2005 Sumatran earthquake struck off Sumatra, 3 months after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. At a magnitude of 8.7 it is the second largest earthquake since 1965.

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