June 2000 News and Events

Updated July 10, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

World

Clinton and Putin Unable to Agree (June 4): End cordial two-day Moscow conference without compromise on U.S. plans for national missile defense system. Presidents, however, do pledge to destroy 34 metric tons of plutonium.
Suicide Bomber Kills 21 in Sri Lanka (June 7): Cabinet Minister C. V. Goonertne among victims at fund-raising event on nation's first War Heroes Day.
Putin Asserts Rule over Chechnya (June 8): Places civil administration in Chechnya directly under his control. (June 12): Putin appoints Muslim cleric, Mufti Akhmed Kadyrov, a Chechen, to govern breakaway republic.
British Official Assassinated in Greece (June 8): Stephen Saunders gunned down by pair identified as members of November 17, a left-wing terrorist band.
President of Syria Dies at 69 (June 10): Sudden death of Hafez al-Assad dims prospects for peace talks in Middle East.
Italy Pardons Turk Who Shot Pope (June 13): Clears way for Mehmet Ali Agca to face murder charges in Turkey. Agca, 42, tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981.
Media Magnate Arrested in Russia (June 13): Vladimir A. Gusinsky, 47, jailed after weeks of government pressure on his Media-Most news group, which has been critical of the Kremlin.
Korean Leaders Move toward Peace (June 15): Presidents of North and South sign broad accord for peace and unity at summit meeting in North's capital, Pyongyang. Major points agreed on include need for reconciliation and unification.
Ethiopia and Eritrea End War (June 18): Two nations sign a preliminary cease-fire and agree to seek a final settlement, ending one of Africa's most enduring wars.
UN Verifies Israeli Troops Out of Lebanon (June 18): Security Council endorses Secretary General Kofi Annan's declaration that Israel has withdrawn from southern Lebanon. Council concerned about Beirut's charges that Israel continues encroachment.
British Find 58 Bodies on Dutch Truck (June 19): Remains of Asian men and women discovered in airless space with cargo of tomatoes. (June 20): Police seize Perry Wacker, a Dutch truck driver, on suspicion of manslaughter. (June 22): Two more arrested in connection with suffocation of illegal immigrants.
Candidate for President Named in Syria (June 20): Baath Party nominates Bashar al-Assad, 34, an ophthalmologist, to succeed his late father, Hafez al-Assad.
Russia Unveils Economic Program (June 28): Bold plan designed to overhaul faltering economy. Upper house of Parliament rejects President Putin's plan to disband it in favor of an elected senate.
Iraq Resumes Missile Program (June 30): Government report reveals testing of short-range ballistic missile. Tests said to involve liquid-fueled ballistic missile able to carry conventional explosives or chemical and biological weapons.

Nation

Slowdown in Economy Signaled (June 2): Nation's private employers cut 116,000 jobs in May, the first decline since economy began rise in 1990s.
Court Orders Breakup of Microsoft (June 7): Federal judge Thomas Penfield Jackson says corporation seems not to have accepted his ruling that it had broadly violated antitrust law. Order would divide Microsoft into two companies, one for its Windows operating system, and one for its Internet businesses.
E.P.A. Limits Pesticide Use (June 8): Plans to forbid manufacture of chlorpyrifos, widely used for 30 years in agriculture and in products commonly used by exterminators and homeowners. Substance found to pose extreme health risks, especially in children.
Senate Votes Campaign Finance Check (June 8): Seeks to require tax-exempt groups to disclose contributions and spending on political activities.
Compensation for Nixon's Estate (June 12): Justice Department agrees to pay $18 million to cover papers, photographs, and tape recordings confiscated after president's resignation in 1974.
Director of Nuclear Security Confirmed (June 14): Senate approves long-delayed appointment of Gen. John Gordon as head of new National Nuclear Security Administration. Move prompted by furor over lax security at Los Alamos facility. New agency will oversee Los Alamos and other nuclear weapons laboratories.
Microsoft Wins Delay on Penalties (June 20): U.S. judge in antitrust case defers his sweeping restrictions on company's conduct pending higher court action. Judge sends case to Supreme Court for direct review.
No Charges against First Lady (June 22): Independent Counsel Robert W. Ray plans no action against Hillary Rodham Clinton in 1993 dismissal of seven employees from White House travel office.
Cuban Boy Returns Home with Father (June 23): U.S. appeals court rejects plea by Miami relatives to keep custody of Elián González, 6. (June 28): Supreme Court declines to hear arguments in case. Boy and father fly home to Cuba.
Anti-Pollution Program Approved (June 23): U.S. Appeals court backs E.P.A.'s move to sharply reduce the flow of smog from Middle West to the East.
Navy Resumes Puerto Rico Shelling (June 25): Training exercise on Vieques Island is first since fatal accident caused yearlong protest occupation of the range.

Business/Science/Society

Stroke Rehabilitation Reported (June 5): Scientists find that new course of therapy can coax brain into reorganizing circuitry so that nearly full use of paralyzed limbs can be obtained.
Space Map Illuminates Universe (June 6): Robotic telescope in Australia measures 100,000 galaxies to produce first detailed map of Earth's regions.
Nuclear Secrets Reported Missing (June 12): Computer hard drives containing sensitive data reported to have disappeared at Los Alamos National Laboratory. (June 16): Hard drives discovered behind copying machine. Officials call incident suspicious.
Signs of Water Detected on Mars (June 21): Orbiting spacecraft reports grooved surfaces suggesting relatively recent water flow on planet. Survey by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor could redirect efforts to find evidence of past or present life on Mars.
Bush Backs Texas Execution (June 22): Gary Graham, who was convicted of murder in 1983 despite a negligent defense lawyer and weak case by the prosecution, loses final appeal. Governor Bush says “justice is being done.”
Two Food Company Giants to Merge (June 25): Philip Morris, parent of Kraft Foods, plans to buy Nabisco Holdings, maker of Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers, and other classics, for $14.9 billion.
Human Genome Deciphered (June 26): Two rival groups of scientists, led by J. Craig Venter and Francis S. Collins, announce major achievement in solving secrets of hereditary scripts that define the human organism. Understanding the human genome is expected to revolutionize the practice of medicine.