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Józef Pińkowski

Józef Pińkowski

Józef Pińkowski (1929-2000) was a Polish Communist politician who served as Prime Minister from 1980 to 1981. Pińkowski, Józef

1929

1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January

- January 2 - Canada and the United States agree on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls.
- January 9 - The Seeing Eye is established with the mission to train dogs to assist the blind (Nashville, Tennessee).
- January 10 - Tintin, a comic book character created by Hergé, makes his debut. He went on to be published in over 200 million comic books in 40 languages, and loved across the world.
- January 15 - First issue of Annales d'histoire économique et sociale published in France by Armand Collin.
- January 17 - Popeye, a comic strip character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, makes his debut.
- January 18 - Leon Trotsky expelled from Soviet Union; he moves to Turkey January 29 and applies for sanctuary in France and Germany
- January 29 - Seeing Eye Dog organization is formed.

February

- February 11 - Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty
- February 11 - Eugene O'Neill's Dynamo premieres in New York
- February 14 - St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven gangsters rivalling Al Capone are murdered in Chicago, Illinois.
- February 18 - First Academy Awards are announced
- February 26 - The Grand Teton National Park is created.

March

- March 3 - Revolt attempt of Generals José Gonzalo Escobar and Jesús María Aguirre fails in Mexico.
- March 4 - Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as the 31st President of the United States, succeeding Calvin Coolidge.

May

- May 13 - National Crime Syndicate founded in Atlantic City.
- May 14 - Wilfred Rhodes takes his 4000th first-class wicket during a performance of 9 for 39 at Leyton.
- May 31 - British general election returns a hung parliament yet again - Liberals will determine who has power.

June

- June 7 - In Britain Tories concede power rather than risk courting Liberals for fragile majority
- June 8 - Ramsay MacDonald founds new Labour government.
- June 21 - agreement brokered by US ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow ends the Cristero War in Mexico. In June 27, church bells ring for the first time in years

July

- July 5 - Scotland Yard seizes 12 nude paintings of D.H. Lawrence from the Mayfair gallery on grounds of indecency
- July 24 - French prime minister Raymond Poincaré resigns for medical reasons - he is succeeded by Aristide Briand
- July 24 - The Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect (it was first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928 by most leading world powers).

August

- August 8 - The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight (will end on August 29).
- August 19 - The radio comedy show Amos and Andy makes its debut starring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll.

September

- September 5 - Aristide Briand presents his plan of the United States of Europe
- September 7 - Steamboat Kuru sinks in Näsijärvi, Tampere, Finland - 136 drowned
- September 17 - Coup ousts Augustinas Voldemaras in Lithuania; new president is Antanas Smetona

October

- October 11 - JC Penney opens Store #1252 in Milford, Delaware, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 states.
- October 22 - Government of Aristide Briand falls in France
- October 24 - Great Depression begins: Black Thursday and then Black Tuesday (October 29) - The New York Stock Exchange crashes, ushering in what will be a world-wide economic crisis.

November

- November 7 - In New York City, the Museum of Modern Art opens to the public.
- November 18 - 1929 Grand Banks earthquake: Off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake centered on Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula area, killing 28. As of 1997, it is Canada's most lethal earthquake.[http://www.shunpiking.com/ol0103/1929_Tsunami_in_NF.pdf]
- November 29 - US Admiral Richard Byrd becomes the first person to fly over the South Pole.

December

- December 2 - First phone booths in London
- December 3 - Great Depression: US President Herbert Hoover announces to U.S. Congress that the worst effects of the recent stock market crash are behind the nation and the American people have regained faith in the economy.
- December 29 - All India Congress in Lahore demands Indian independence
- December 31 - Guy Lombardo plays Auld Lang Syne for the first time

Unknown dates

- Third Geneva Convention
- The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis is proposed.
- Greatest number of fatal civil aircraft crashes in US history.
- Civil war in Afghanistan
- Lapua Movement in Finland
- Branch Davidian sect founded in Los Angeles
- Start of the Soviet-Chinese Conflict
- May - Wickersham Commission began investigation of alcohol prohibition in U.S.
- Vladimir Zworykin takes out the first patent for colour television.

Births

January-March

- January 3 - Sergio Leone, Italian director (d. 1989)
- January 6 - Babrak Karmal, third President of Afghanistan (d. 1996)
- January 15 - Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1968)
- January 17 - Jacques Plante, Canadian hockey player (d. 1986)
- January 20 - Fireball Roberts, American race car driver (d. 1964)
- January 23 - John Charles Polanyi, Canadian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- January 26 - Jules Feiffer, American cartoonist and writer
- January 28 - Acker Bilk, American jazz clarinetist
- January 28 - Claes Oldenbourg, Swedish sculptor
- January 29 - Gastón Suárez, Bolivian novelist and dramatist (d. 1984)
- January 31 - Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- January 31 - Jean Simmons, English actress
- February 5 - Luc Ferrari, French composer (d. 2005)
- February 5 - Fred Sinowatz, Austrian politician
- February 6 - Pierre Brice, French actor
- February 14 - Vic Morrow, American actor (d. 1982)
- February 15 - Graham Hill, English race car driver (d. 1975)
- February 17 - Chaim Potok, American rabbi and author (d. 2002)
- February 17 - Patricia Routledge, English actress
- February 18 - Len Deighton, British author
- February 28 - Hayden Fry, American football coach
- February 28 - Frank Gehry, Canadian-born architect
- March 1 - Georgi Markov, Bulgarian dissident (d. 1978)
- March 4 - Bernard Haitink, Dutch conductor
- March 9 - Desmond Hoyte, Prime Minister and President of Guyana (d. 2002)
- March 17 - Peter L. Berger, Austrian-born sociologist
- March 23 - Sir Roger Bannister, British runner

April-June

- April 1 - Milan Kundera, Czech-born author
- April 5 - Ivar Giaever, Norwegian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 6 - André Previn, German-born pianist, composer, and conductor
- April 8 - Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (d. 2000)
- April 10 - Max von Sydow, Swedish actor
- May 4 - Audrey Hepburn, Belgian actress (d. 1993)
- May 4 - Sydney MacDonald Lamb, American linguist
- May 6 - Paul Lauterbur, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- May 10 - Antonine Maillet, Canadian author
- May 14 - Gump Worsley, Canadian hockey player
- May 14 - Henry McGee, English actor
- May 21 - Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist
- May 25 - Beverly Sills, American soprano
- June 1 - Nargis, Indian actress (d. 1981)
- June 2 - Norton Juster, American author and architect
- June 3 - Werner Arber, Swiss microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- June 6 - Sunil Dutt, Indian actor and politician (d. 2005)
- June 10 - Harald Juhnke, German entertainer (d. 2005)
- June 12 - Brigid Brophy, English author (d. 1995)
- June 12 - Anne Frank, German diarist (d. 1945)
- June 13 - Alan Civil, English French horn player (d. 1989)
- June 16 - Ramon Bieri, American actor (d. 2001)
- June 17 - Tigran Petrosian, Russian chess player (d. 1984)
- June 23 - June Carter Cash, American singer (d. 2003)
- June 26 - Milton Glaser, American graphic designer

July-September

- July 1 - Gerald Edelman, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- July 2 - Imelda Marcos, First Lady of the Philippines
- July 4 - Bill Tuttle, baseball player
- July 5 - Tony Lock, English cricketer (d. 1995)
- July 9 - King Hassan II of Morocco (d. 1999)
- July 11 - Hermann Prey, German bass-baritone (d. 1998)
- July 18 - Dick Button, American figure skater
- July 18 - Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins, American musician (d. 2000)
- July 24 - Oriana Fallaci, Italian journalist and author
- July 25 - Somnath Chatterjee, Indian politician
- July 26 - Alexis Weissenberg, Bulgarian-French pianist
- July 29 - Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, wife of John F Kennedy
- August 1 - Hafizullah Amin, second President of Afghanistan (d. 1979)
- August 16 - Helmut Rahn, German footballer (d. 2003)
- August 24 - Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 2004)
- August 26 - Maurice Tempelsman, Belgian diamond merchant and financier
- August 28 - Istvan Kertesz, Hungarian conductor (d. 1973)
- September 1 - Anne Ramsey, American actress (d. 1988)
- September 5 - Bob Newhart, American comedian and actor
- September 5 - Andrian Nikolayev, cosmonaut (d. 2004)
- September 6 - Yash Johar, Indian film producer (d. 2004)
- September 8 - Christoph von Dohnanyi, German conductor
- September 9 - Claude Nougaro, French singer (d. 2004)
- September 15 - Murray Gell-Mann, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- September 20 - Anne Meara, American comedienne and actress
- September 21 - Bernard Williams, British philosopher (d. 2003)
- September 25 - Ronnie Barker, British comedian (d. 2005)
- September 25 - Barbara Walters, American journalist
- September 28 - Lata Mangeshkar, Indian playback singer

October-December

- October 14 - Yvon Durelle, Canadian boxer
- October 22 - Lev Yashin, Soviet footballer (d. 1990)
- October 24 - George Crumb, American composer
- October 24 - Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian writer and playwright (d. 2004)
- November 2 - Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, President of Pakistan
- November 2 - Richard E. Taylor, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 4 - Doris Roberts, American actress
- November 7 - Eric R. Kandel, Austrian-born neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- November 8 - Lal Krishna Advani, Indian politician
- November 9 - Imre Kertesz, Hungarian writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 11 - LaVern Baker, American singer (d. 1997)
- November 12 - Grace Patricia Kelly, American actress and Princess of Monaco (d. 1982)
- November 19 - Norman Cantor, Canadian medieval scholar (d. 2004)
- November 30 - Dick Clark, American television entertainer
- December 6 - Nikolaus Harnoncourt, German-born conductor
- December 9 - Bob Hawke, twenty-third Prime Minister of Australia
- December 16 - Nicholas Courtney, British actor
- December 16 - James Moore, British author
- December 17 - Jacqueline Hill, British actress (d. 1993)
- December 28 - Terry Sawchuk, Canadian hockey player (d. 1970)
- December 28 - Brian Redhead, English journalist and broadcaster (d. 1994)

Deaths

- January 5 - Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov, Grand Duke of Russia (b. 1856)
- January 13 - Wyatt Earp, American gunfighter (b. 1848)
- January 30 - La Goulue, French dancer (b. 1866)
- February 8 - Maria Christina of Austria, Queen Regent of Spain (b. 1858)
- February 12 - Lillie Langtry, British singer and actress (b. 1853)
- February 14 - Tom Burke, American runner (b. 1875)
- March 20 - Ferdinand Foch, French commander of allied forces in World War I (b. 1851)
- April 4 - Karl Benz, German automotive pioneer (b. 1844)
- April 24 - Caroline Rémy, French feminist (b. 1855)
- May 21 - Archibald Primrose, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1847)
- June 8 - Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (b. 1861)
- June 11 - William Dickson Boyce, American entrepreneur and founder of the Boy Scouts of America (b. 1858)
- June 28 - Edward Carpenter, English poet (b. 1844)
- July 15 - Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian writer (b. 1874)
- August - Mary MacLane, Canadian feminist writer (b. 1881)
- August 3 - Thorstein Veblen, Norwegian-born economist (b. 1857)
- August 3 - Emil Berliner, German-born inventor (b. 1851)
- August 5 - Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist and feminist (b. 1847)
- August 26 - Sir Ernest Satow, British diplomat and scholar in East Asia (b. 1843)
- August 27 - Herman Potočnik Noordung, Slovenian rocket engineer (b. 1892)
- September 12 - Rainis, Latvian poet and playwright (b. 1865)
- September 23 - Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- October 1 - Antoine Bourdelle, French sculptor (b. 1861)
- October 3 - Jeanne Eagels, American actress (b. 1890)
- October 3 - Gustav Stresemann, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1878)
- October 28 - Bernhard von Bülow, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1849)
- November 24 - Georges Clemenceau, Premier of France (b. 1841)
- December 10 - Harry Crosby, American publisher and poet (b. 1898)
- December 20 - Émile Loubet, 7th President of France (b.1838)

Nobel Prizes

- Physics - Prince Louis-Victor Pierre Raymond de Broglie
- Chemistry - Arthur Harden, Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin
- Physiology or Medicine - Christiaan Eijkman, Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins
- Literature - Thomas Mann
- Peace - Frank Kellogg

External links

- About.com: [http://mutualfunds.about.com/od/1929marketcrash/ 1929 Stock Market Crash]
- [http://www.stock-market-crash.net/1929.htm Stock Market Crash of 1929]-Learn about the disastrous crash that lead to the Great Depression Category:1929 ko:1929년 ms:1929 ja:1929年 simple:1929 th:พ.ศ. 2472

2000

This article is about the year 2000. For other uses of 2000, see 2000 (number) or 2000 (breakdancing move). 2000 (MM) is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. Popular culture also holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium. By strict interpretation of the Gregorian Calendar, however, this distinction falls to the year 2001. This is due to the fact that the first century began with the year 1, and there does not exist a year zero. The first century (or first 100 years AD) was from January 1, in the year one (1 AD) through December 31, in the year one-hundred (100 AD). The second century began on January 1, in the year one-hundred and one (101 AD). The year 2000 is also marked as:
- The International Year for a Culture of Peace.
- The World Mathematical Year. See also Wikipedia's almanac of events for this year.

Events

January

- January 1 - Millennium celebrations take place throughout the world. Y2K passes without the serious, widespread computer failures and malfunctions that had been predicted.
- January 5-January 8 - The 2000 al-Qaida Summit
- January 6 - The last remaining Pyrenean Ibex is found dead.
- January 10 - America On-line announces an agreement to buy Time Warner for $162 billion. This is the largest-ever corporate merger.
- January 11 - the armed wing of Islamic Salvation Front concludes its negotiations with the government for an amnesty and disbands in Algeria.
- January 11 - The trawler Solway Harvester sinks off the Isle of Man.
- January 14 - A United Nations tribunal sentences five Bosnian Croats up to 25 years for the 1993 killing of over 100 Bosnian Muslims in a Bosnian village.
- January 16 - In Sacramento, California a commercial truck carrying evaporated milk is driven into the state capitol building killing the driver.
- January 24 - God's Army, Karen militia group led by twins Johnny and Luther Htoo, take 700 hostages at a Thai hospital near the Burmese border.
- January 30 - St. Louis Rams 23 defeat the Tennessee Titans 16 to win the Super_Bowl_XXXIV
- January 30 - Off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169. Within a day, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashes off the California coast into the Pacific Ocean, killing 88.
- January 31 - Dr. Harold Shipman in sentenced to life in prison for murder of at least 15 of his patients out of 365 suspected victims.

February

- February 4 - German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with sabotage of German railway lines.
- February 6 - Tarja Halonen is elected the first Finnish female president.
- February 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published.
- February 14 - The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker entered orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.

March

- March 1 - The Constitution of Finland is rewritten.
- March 2 - Hans Blix assumes the position of Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC.
- March 8 - Tokyo train disaster.
- March 9 - FBI arrests suspected purveyor of art forgeries, Ely Sakhai, in New York City.
- March 10 - The NASDAQ Composite Index reaches an all-time high of 5048. ([http://dynamic.nasdaq.com/dynamic/IndexChart.asp?symbol=IXIC&desc=NASDAQ+Composite&sec=nasdaq&site=nasdaq&months=84])
- March 18 - 2000 Taiwanese presidential election: Chen Shui-bian is elected President of the Republic of China (Taiwan).
- March 20 - Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther, is captured after gun battle that left a sheriff's deputy dead.
- March 21 - Pope John Paul II began the first office visit by a Roman Catholic pontiff to Israel.
- March 21 - US Supreme Court ruled the goverment lacked authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug, throwing out the Clinton administration's main anti-smoking initiative.
- March 26 - Presidential elections in Russia: Vladimir Putin elected President.
- March 30 - America's Cup 2000 retained by Team New Zealand near Auckland. Prada Challenge 2000 lost 0-5 in a "best-of-9".

April

April.]]
- April 1 - Japanese prime minister Keizo Obuchi suffers a stroke and falls into a coma.
- April 3 - United States v. Microsoft: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.
- April 5 - Yoshiro Mori replaces Obuchi as prime minister of Japan.
- April 7 - Attack submarine ex-Trepang completes being recycled.
- 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.
- April 22 - In a predawn raid, federal agents seize six-year old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida and fly him to his Cuban father in Washington, DC ending one of the most publicized custody battles in US history.
- April 25 - The State of Vermont passes HB847, legalizing Civil Unions for same-sex couples.

May

- May 3 - A rare conjunction occurs on the New Moon including all seven of the traditional celestial bodies known from ancient times up until 1781 with the discovery of Uranus. The May 2000 conjunction consisted of: the Sun and Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
- May 3 - Computer pioneer Datapoint Corporation files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- May 12 - The Tate Modern opens in London.
- May 13 - In Enschede a heavy fireworks explosion kills 20 and leaves an entire neighborhood in ruins.
- May 18 - Boo.com collapses due to lack of funds after six months.
- May 25 - Israel withdraws IDF troops from southern Lebanon after 22 years.
- May 28 - The volcano Mount Cameroon erupts.

June

- June 1 - Mark Mendlan, professional wrestler known by his ring name "Kid Gorgeous," is killed while wrestling at a show in New Hampshire.
- June 7 - U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson of the 4th circuit ordered the breakup of Microsoft Corp.
- June 10 - The New Jersey Devils defeat the Dallas Stars 4 games to 2 to win the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals.
- June 10 - The 2000 European Football Championship begins, hosted jointly by Belgium and the Netherlands.
- June 21 - Section 28, a law preventing the promotion of homosexuality is repealed by the Scottish Parliament.
- June 23 - Palace Backpackers Hostel fire in Childers, Queensland, Australia, kills 15 people.
- June 30 - During a set of the band Pearl Jam at the Roskilde Festival near Copenhagen, 9 die and 26 are injured in the crowd.

July

July
- July 2 - France beat Italy 2-1 to win the 2000 European Football Championship with a golden goal.
- July 2 - Presidential election of Mexico. Vicente Fox wins the Presidency as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party).
- July 10 - In southern Nigeria, a leaking petroleum pipeline explodes killing about 250 villagers who were scavenging gasoline
- July 10 - Death of Denis O Conor Donn, died 10th July 2000, aged 88; succeded by his son, Desmond as The O Connor Donn
- July 18 - Alex Salmond resigns as the leader of the Scottish National Party
- July 25 - A Concorde carrying Air France Flight 4590 crashes just after takeoff from Paris killing all 109 aboard and 5 on the ground.

August

- August 1 - The Santa Cruz Operation announced that it will sell its Server Software and Services Divisions, as well as UnixWare and OpenServer technologies, to Caldera Systems,Inc.
- August 8 - Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor.
- August 12 - The Russian submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, resulting in the deaths of all 118 men on board.
- August 14 - The first comic of Megatokyo goes online. This webcomic will later become one of the most popular comics on the web (in terms of page views) and spawn numerous imitators.
- August 25 - the Emulex hoax - wire services publish fraudulent bad news about Emulex
- August 27 - The Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed.

September

- September 5 - Tuvalu joins the United Nations.
- September 6 - In New York City, the United Nations Millennium Summit begins with more than 180 world leaders present.
- September 6 - The last wholly Swedish-owned arms manufacturer, Bofors, is sold to American arms manufacturer United Defense
- September 7–14 - The UK fuel protests take place, with refineries blockaded, and supply to the country's network of petrol stations halted.
- September 8 - Albania officially joins the World Trade Organization.
- September 15 - The 2000 Summer Olympics are opened in Sydney, Australia.
- September 16 - Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze is last seen alive; this day is taken as the commemoration date of his death.
- September 24 - The American Family Association begins lobbying the U.S. Congress to eradicate the National Endowment for the Arts for funding the controversial book One of the Guys by Robert Clark Young
- September 26 - Anti-globalization protests in Prague (some 15,000 protesters) turned violent during the IMF and World Bank summits.
- September 28 - Ariel Sharon leads several hundred armed Israelis in a visit to the Temple Mount. Palestinian civil disorder increases into the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
- September 29 - The Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland is closed.

October

- October 2 NBC Today Show expanded it to three hours (7:00–10:00 A.M. Eastern Time/Pacific Time; 6:00–9:00 A.M. Central Time/Mountain Time)
- October 5 - President Slobodan Milošević leaves office after widespread demonstrations throughout Serbia and the withdrawal of Russian support.
- October 11 - 250 million gallons of coal sludge spill in Martin County, Kentucky. Considered a greater environmental disaster than the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
- 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 21 15 Arab leaders convened in Cairo, Egypt, for their first summit in four years; the Libyan delegation walked out, angry over signs the summit would stop short of calling for breaking ties with Israel.
- October 22 – Mainichi Shinbun exposes Japanese archeologist Shinichi Fujimura as a fraud; Japanese archaeologists had based their treatises of his findings.
- October 26 - Pakistani authorities announce that their police have found an apparently ancient mummy of a persian princess in the province of Baluchistan. Iran, Pakistan and the Taliban all claim the mummy until Pakistan announces it is a forgery in April 17 2001
- October 31 - Singapore Airlines Flight 006 collides with construction equipment in the Chiang Kai Shek International Airport - 83 dead.
- October 31 - The last Jeremy clone has shut down.

November

November
- November - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq rejects new U.N. Security Council weapons inspections proposals
- November 1 - Yugoslavia's new democratic government joined the United Nations after eight years of U.N. ostracism under former strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
- November 3 - Widespread flooding throughout England and Wales after days of heavy rain
- November 4 - President Clinton vetoed a bill that would have criminalized the leaking of government secrets.
- November 7 - U.S. presidential election, 2000: Republican challenger George W. Bush defeats Democrat Vice President Al Gore, but the final outcome is not known for over a month because of disputed votes in Florida.
- November 7 - Criminal gang raids the Millennium Dome to steal The Millennium Star diamond but police surveillance catches them in the act
- November 7 - Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected to the United States Senate, becoming the first First Lady of the United States to win public office
- November 11 - Kaprun disaster, Austria, where 155 skiers and snowboarders die when a cable car catches fire in an alpine tunnel.
- November 13 - Richard C. Duncan presents his paper, "The Peak Of World Oil Production And The Road To The Olduvai Gorge", on the Olduvai theory (about the collapse of the industrial civilization), at the Summit 2000 Pardee Keynote Symposia of the Geological Society of America)
- November 14 - Netscape version 6.0 is launched following two years of open source development creating a stable Mozilla web browser upon which it is based
- November 16 - Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting US President to visit Vietnam
- November 17 - Catastrophical landslide in Log pod Mangartom,Slovenia, kills 7, and causes millions of SIT of damage. It is one of the worst catastrophies in Slovenia in the past 100 years.
- November 17 - Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru
- November 27 - Canada - Parliamentary elections - Jean Chrétien re-elected as Prime Minister as Liberal Party increases majority in House of Commons
- November 28 - Ukrainian politician Oleksander Moroz touches off the Cassette Scandal by publicly accusing President Leonid Kuchma of involvement in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.

December

- December 1 - Mexico - Vicente Fox becomes the first opposition President to take office since Francisco I. Madero in 1911. He wins the Presidency as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party).
- December 28 - U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years.
- December 30 - Rizal Day Bombings: A series of bombs explode in various places in Metro Manila, Philippines, within a span of a few hours killing 22 and injuring about a hundred.

Unknown Date

- Limited reintroduction of routinely armed police in the UK for the first time since 1936.
- Scientists at University of Szeged's laboratory were first in the world to produce artificial heredity material.
- Millie I. Webb elected president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Births

- February 23 - Max & Sam Christy, American actors
- March 15- Amy and Emily Walton, English actresses
- April 25 - Jacob & Joshua Rips, American actors
- October 6 - Amanda Pace, American actress
- October 20 - Cooper and Oliver Guynes, American actors
- November 8 - Madison and Marissa Poer, actresses

Deaths

January

- January 2 - Patrick O'Brian, English writer (b. 1914)
- January 15 - Fran Ryan, American actress (b. 1916)
- January 19 - Bettino Craxi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1934)
- January 19 - Hedy Lamarr, Austrian actress (b. 1913)

February

- February 9 - Beau Jack, American boxer (b. 1921)
- February 11 - Roger Vadim, French film director (b. 1928)
- February 12 - Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins, American musician (b. 1929)
- February 12 - Tom Landry, American football coach (b. 1924)
- February 12 - Charles M. Schulz, American comic strip artist (b. 1921)
- February 23 - Sir Stanley Matthews, English footballer (b. 1915)

April

- April 6 - Habib Bourguiba, President of Tunisia (b. 1903)
- April 16 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, King of Malaysia (b. 1920)
- April 25 - David Merrick, American stage producer (b. 1911)
- April 29 - Phạm Văn Ðồng, Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1906)

May

- May 11 - Paula Wessely, Austrian actress (b. 1907)
- May 12 - Adam Petty, American race car driver (b. 1980)
- May 14 - Keizo Obuchi, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)
- May 17 - Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1909)
- May 19 - Yevgeny Khrunov, cosmonaut

Poland

The Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska) is a country located in Central Europe, between Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania, and Russia (in the form of the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave) to the north. The Polish state was formed over 1,000 years ago under the Piast dynasty, and reached its golden age near the end of the 16th century under the Jagiellonian dynasty, when Poland was one of the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful countries in Europe. In 1791 the Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth voted for the Constitution of May 3, Europe's first modern codified constitution, and the second in the world after the Constitution of the United States. Soon afterwards, the country ceased to exist after being partitioned by its neighbours Russia, Austria, and Prussia. It regained independence in 1918 in the aftermath of the First World War as the Second Polish Republic. Following the Second World War it became a communist satellite state of the Soviet Union known as the People's Republic of Poland. In 1989 the first partially-free elections in Poland's post-World War II history concluded the Solidarity (Solidarność) movement's struggle for freedom and resulted in the defeat of Poland's communist rulers. The current Third Polish Republic was established, followed a few years later by the drafting of a new constitution in 1997. In 1999 Poland acceded to NATO, and in 2004 it joined the European Union.

Name

:See the name 'Poland' in other languages, in Wiktionary. Poland's official name in Polish is Rzeczpospolita Polska. The names of the country, Polska, and of the nationality, the Poles, are of Slavic origin. Their name derives from the tribal name Polanie - people living around Lake Gopło - the cradle of Poland mentioned as Glopeani having 400 strongholds circa 845 (Bavarian Geographer). Common opinion holds that the name Polska comes from the Slavic Polanie tribe who established the Polish state in the 10th century (Greater Poland). The conventional etymology of the ethnic name of the Poles relates it to these Polish Polanie, "dwellers of the field"; pole, "field", analogous to Russian polyî, "open land", from Indo-European pelè-, "flat" + -anie, "inhabitants", analogous to Latin -anus, "originating from" (please compare Yuriev-Polsky). In old Latin chronicles the terms terra Poloniae (land of Poland) or Regnum Poloniae (kingdom of Poland) appear. Parallel to this terminology, another one, Lechia, came into use, thought to derive from the tribe name Lędzianie. It gave rise to an alternative name for "Pole": Lęch, Lęchowie in Old Church Slavonic, Lechia, Lechites in Latin, Lach in Ruthenian, Lyakh in Russian, as well as to old German Lechien, Hungarian Lengyelorszag, Lengyel, Lithuanian Lenkija, lenkas and Turkish Lechistan (from Persian Lehestan).

History

Poland began to form into a recognizable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty. Poland's first historically documented ruler, Mieszko I, was baptized in 966, adopting Catholic Christianity as the country's new official religion, to which the bulk of the population converted in the course of the next century. In the 12th century Poland fragmented into several smaller states, which were later ravaged by the Mongol armies of the Golden Horde in 1241. In 1320 Władysław I became the King of reunified Poland. His son Kazimierz Wielki repaired the Polish economy, built new castles and won the war against the Russian dukedom (Lwow become a Polish City). Under the Jagiellon dynasty, Poland forged an alliance with its neighbour Lithuania. A golden age occurred in the 16th century during its union (Lublin Union) with Lithuania in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The citizens of Poland took pride in their ancient freedoms and parliamentary system, although the Szlachta monopolised most of the benefits. Since that time Poles have regarded freedom as their most important value. Poles often call themselves the nation of the free people. freedom In the mid-17th century a Swedish invasion rolled through the country in the turbulent time known as "The Deluge" (potop). Numerous wars against the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Cossacks, Transylvania and Brandenburg-Prussia ultimately came to an end in 1699. During the following 80 years, the waning of the central government and deadlock of the institutions weakened the nation, leading to anarchistic tendencies and a growing dependency on Russia. In Polish Democracy every member of parliament was able to break any work or project by shouting 'Liberum Veto' during the session. Russian tsars took advantage of this unique political vulnerability by offering money to Parliamentary traitors, who in turn would consistently and subversively block necessary reforms and new solutions. The Enlightenment in Poland fostered a growing national movement to repair the state, resulting in the first written constitution in Europe, the Constitution of May 3 in 1791. The process of reforms ceased with the partitions of Poland between Russia, Prussia, and Austria in 1772, 1793 and 1795 which ultimately dissolved the country. Poles resented their shrinking freedoms and several times rebelled against their oppressors (see List of Polish Uprisings). Napoleon recreated a Polish state, the Duchy of Warsaw, but after the Napoleonic wars, Poland was split again by the Allies at the Congress of Vienna. The eastern part was ruled by the Russian tsar as a Congress Kingdom, and possessed a liberal constitution. However, the tsars soon reduced Polish freedoms and Russia eventually de facto annexed the country. Later in the 19th century, Austrian-ruled Galicia became the oasis of Polish freedom. During World War I all the Allies agreed on the restitution of Poland that United States President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed in point 13 of his Fourteen Points. Shortly after the surrender of Germany in November 1918, Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic (II Rzeczpospolita Polska). A new threat, Soviet aggression, arose in the 1919 (Polish-Soviet War), but Poland succeeded in defending its independence. Polish-Soviet War The Second Polish Republic lasted until the start of World War II when Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland. Poland surrendered on September 28 1939 and suffered greatly in the period that followed as a General Government. Of all the countries involved in the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: over 6 million perished, half of them Polish Jews. In its conclusion, Poland's borders shifted westwards, pushing the eastern border to the Curzon line and the western border to the Oder-Neisse line. After the shift, Poland emerged 20% smaller by 77,500 km² (29,900 mi²); although the important cities of Gdańsk, Szczecin and Wrocław were all incorporated into its post-war borders. The shift also involved the migration of millions of people – Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, Jews. As a result of these events, Poland became, for the first time in history, an ethnically unified country. A Polish minority is still present in neighbouring countries of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, as well as in other countries (see Poles article for the population numbers). The largest number of ethnic Poles outside of the country can be found in the United States. The Soviet Union instituted a new communist government in Poland, analogous to much of the rest of the Eastern Bloc. Military alignment within the Warsaw Pact throughout the Cold War was also part of this change. In 1948 a turn towards Stalinism brought in the beginning of the next period of totalitarian rule. The People's Republic of Poland (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa) was officially proclaimed in 1952. In 1956 the régime became more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms. In 1970 the government was changed. It was a time when the economy was more modern, and the government had large credits. Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union, "Solidarity", which over time became a political force. It eroded the dominance of the Communist Party; by 1989 it had triumphed in parliamentary elections, and Lech Wałęsa, a Solidarity candidate, eventually won the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement greatly contributed to the soon-following collapse of Communism all over Eastern Europe. A shock therapy program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe. Despite a regression in social and economic standards, there were numerous improvements in other human rights (free speech, functioning democracy and the like). Poland was the first post-communist country to regain pre-1989 GDP levels. Poland joined the NATO alliance in 1999 along with the Czech Republic and Hungary. Polish voters then said yes to the EU in a referendum in June 2003. Poland joined the European Union on 1 May 2004.

Politics

Poland is a democratic republic. Its current constitution dates from 1997. The government structure centres on the Council of Ministers, led by a prime minister. The president appoints the cabinet according to the proposals of the prime minister, typically from the majority coalition in the bicameral legislature's lower house (the Sejm). The president, elected by popular vote every five years, serves as the head of state. The current president is Aleksander Kwaśniewski. Polish voters elect a two house parliament, consisting of a 460 member lower house Sejm and a 100 member Senate (Senat). The Sejm is elected under a proportional representation electoral system similar to that used in other parliamentary political systems while the Senate is elected under a comparatively rare first past the post bloc voting. With the exception of ethnic minority parties, only political parties receiving at least 5% of the total national vote can enter Sejm. When sitting in joint session, members of Sejm and Senate form the National Assembly, (Polish Zgromadzenie Narodowe). The National Assembly is formed on three occasions: taking oath by the new president, bringing an indictment against the President of the Republic to the Tribunal of State, declaration of the President's permanent incapacity to exercise his duties due to the state of his health. The judicial branch plays an important role in decision-making. Its major institutions include the Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy), the Supreme Administrative Court (Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny) (judges appointed by the president of the republic on the recommendation of the National Council of the Judiciary for an indefinite period), the Constitutional Tribunal (Trybunał Konstytucyjny) (judges chosen by the Sejm for nine-year terms) and the Tribunal of State (Trybunał Stanu) (judges chosen by the Sejm for for the current term of office of the Sejm, except for the position of chairperson which is held by the First President of the Supreme Court). The Sejm (on approval of the Polish Senate) appoints the Ombudsman or the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection (Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich) for a five-year term. The Ombudsman has the duty of guarding the observance and implementation of the rights and liberties of the human being and of the citizen, the law and principles of community life and social justice.

Geography

judicial branch The Polish landscape consists almost entirely of the lowlands of the North European Plain, at an average height of 173 metres (568 ft), though the Sudetes (including the Karkonosze) and the Carpathian Mountains (including the Tatra mountains, where one also finds Poland's highest point, Rysy, at 2,499 m [8,199 ft]) form the southern border. Several large rivers cross the plains; for instance, the Vistula (Wisła), Oder (Odra), Warta the (Western) Bug. Poland also contains over 9,300 lakes, predominantly in the north of the country. Masuria (Mazury) forms the largest and most-visited lake district in Poland. Remains of the ancient forests survive: see list of forests in Poland. Poland enjoys a temperate climate, with cold, cloudy, moderately severe winters and mild summers with frequent showers and thunder showers.

Big Cities

climate climate climate climate] climate

Administrative division

climate climate Poland is subdivided into sixteen administrative regions known as voivodships (województwa, singular - województwo): Lower levels of administrative division are:
- powiats (counties)
- gminas (commune)

Economy

gmina gmina gmina] Since its return to democracy, Poland has steadfastly pursued a policy of liberalising the economy and today stands out as one of the most successful and open examples of the transition from a partially state-capitalist market economy to a primarily privately owned market economy. The privatisation of small and medium state-owned companies and a liberal law on establishing new firms have allowed for the rapid development of an aggressive private sector, followed by a development of consumer rights organisations later on. Restructuring and privatisation of "sensitive sectors" (e.g., coal, steel, railways, and energy) has begun. The biggest privatisations so far were a sale of Telekomunikacja Polska, a national telecom to France Telecom (2000) and an issue of 30% shares of the biggest Polish bank, PKO BP, on the Polish stockmarket (2004). Poland has a large agricultural sector of private farms, that could be a leading producer of food in the European Union now that Poland is a member. Challenges remain, especially under-investment. Structural reforms in health care, education, the pension system, and state administration have resulted in larger-than-expected fiscal pressures. Warsaw leads Central Europe in foreign investment and allegedly needs a continued large inflow. GDP growth had been strong and steady from 1993 to 2000 with only a short slowdown from 2001 to 2002. The prospect of closer integration with the European Union has put the economy back on track, with growth of 3.7% annually in 2003, a rise from 1.4% annually in 2002. In 2004 GDP growth equalled 5.4%. Annual growth rates broken down by quarters:
- 2003: Q1 - 2.2% | Q2 - 3.8% | Q3 - 4.7% | Q4 - 4.7%
- 2004: Q1 - 6.9% | Q2 - 6.1% | Q3 - 5.8% | Q4 - 5.9%
- 2005: Q1 - 2.1% | Q2 - 2.8% | Q3 - 3.7% | Although the Polish economy is currently undergoing an economic boom there are many challenges ahead. The most notable task on the horizon is the preparation of the economy (through continuing deep structural reforms) to allow Poland to meet the strict economic criteria for entry into the European Single Currency. There is much speculation as to just when Poland might be ready to join the Eurozone, although the best guess estimates put the entry date somewhere between 2009 and 2013. For now, Poland is preparing to make the Euro its official currency (as other countries of the European Union), and the Złoty will eventually be abolished from the modern Polish economy. Since joining the European Union, many young Polish people have left their country to work in other EU countries becouse of high unemployment rate (about 17%). Poland produces: clothes, electronics, cars, buses (Autosan, Jelcz SA, Solaris, ) helicopters (PZL Świdnik), planes (PZL Mielec), ships, military engineering (including tanks), medicines (Polpharma, Polfa, etc), food, chemical products etc.

Science, technology and education

The education of Polish society was a goal of rulers as early as the 12th century. The library catalog of the Cathedral Chapter of Kraków dating back to 1110 shows that already in the early 12th century Polish intellectuals had access to the European literature. In 1364, in Kraków, the Jagiellonian University, founded by King Kazimierz Wielki, became one of Europe's great early universities. In 1773 King Stanisław August Poniatowski established his Commission on National Education (Komisja Edukacji Narodowej), the world's first state ministry of education. Today, Poland has more than a hundred institutions of post-secondary education: technical, medical, economics, as well as the traditional universities to be found in its major cities; e.g., Gdańsk, Bydgoszcz, Katowice, Kraków, Lublin, Łódź, Poznań, Rzeszów, Warsaw, Wrocław yielding over 61 thousand scientists. Furthermore, there are about 300 research and development institutes, with about 10 thousand more researchers. In addition, there is a number of smaller laboratories. In sum, there are 91 thousand scientists in Poland today.

Telecommunication and IT

The share of the telecom sector in the GDP is 4.4% (end of 2000 figure), compared to 2.5% in 1996. Nevertheless, despite high expenditures for telecom infrastructure (the coverage increased from 78 users per 1000 inhabitants in 1989 to 282 in 2000)
the coverage mobile cellular is 660 users per 1000 people (2005)
- Telephones - mobile cellular: 25.3 million (Raport Telecom Team 2005)
- Telephones - main lines in use: 12.5 million (Raport Telecom Team 2005)

Transportation

- Rail: The Polish State Railways (PKP) is one of the larger railway systems of central and western Europe, with 23,420 kilometres (14,552 mi) in its network (1998). Refurbishment of the network has commenced to bring standards into line with western European railway networks. [http://www.plk-sa.pl/]
- Road: By Western European standards, Poland has a relatively poor infrastructure of expressways/highways. The Government has undertaken a programme to improve the standard of a number of significant national highways by 2013. The total length of expressways/highways is 364,657 kilometres (226,587 mi). There are a total of 9,283,000 registered passenger automobiles, as well as 1,762,000 registered trucks and buses (2000). PKP
- Air: Poland has eight major airports (in decreasing order of traffic: Warsaw, Kraków, Katowice, Gdańsk, Poznań, Wrocław, Szczecin and Rzeszów), a total of 123 airports and airfields, as well as three heliports. The number of passenger at Polish airports has consistently increased since 1991.
- Marine: The total length of navigable rivers and canals is 3,812 kilometres (2,369 mi). The merchant marine consists of 114 ships, with an additional 100 ships registered outside the country. The principal ports and harbours are: Port of Gdańsk, Port of Gdynia, Port of Szczecin, Port of Swinoujscie, Port of Ustka, Port of Kolobrzeg, Gliwice, Warsaw, Wroclaw.

Tourism and holidays

Wroclaw
- Tourism in Poland
- Holidays in Poland
- [http://wikitravel.org/en/Poland Poland on Wikitravel]

Demographics

Poland formerly played host to many languages, cultures and religions. However, the outcome of World War II and the following shift westwards to the area between the Curzon line and the Oder-Neisse line gave Poland an appearance of homogeneity. Today 36,983,700 people, or 96.74% of the population considers itself Polish (Census 2002), 471,500 (1.23%) declared another nationality. 774,900 people (2.03%) didn't declare any nationality. The officially recognised ethnic minorities include: Germans, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Jews and Belarusians. The Polish language, a member of the West Slavic branch of the Slavic languages, functions as the official language of Poland. Most Poles adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, and 75% count as practising Catholics. The rest of the population consists mainly of Eastern Orthodox (about 509 500), Jehovah's Witnesses (about 123 034) and various Protestant (about 86 880 in the largest Evangelical-Augsburg Church and about as many in smaller churches) religious minorities. [http://www.stat.gov.pl/opracowania_zbiorcze/maly_rocznik_stat/2003/rocznik4/relig.htm]

Culture

Evangelical-Augsburg Church]] Polish culture has more then 1000 years of history. Poland situated between Western and Eastern cultural spaces and got influences from both. For example the traditional costumes include also Islamic influences. Polish culture developed actively and always been as part of western (Western Europe) culture. We can see that today - architecture, folklore, art etc. Also Poland influenced to near situated countries.

UNESCO World Heritage in Poland

- Warszawa (Old Town)
- Kraków (Old Town)
- Wieliczka (Salt mine)
- Malbork (Biggest Brick Stone Castle)
- Zamość (Renaissance Town)
- Toruń (Gothic Town)
- Oświęcim (Auschwitz concentration camp)
- Jawor (Baroque Peace Church)
- Świdnica (Baroque Peace Chruch)
- Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (Pilgrim´s Place)
- Białowieża Forest (National Park - largest remaining primeval forest in Europe)
- Dębno (Gothic Wooden Chruch)
- Słowiński Park Narodowy (highest sand hills)

International rankings

- Human Development Index 2005: Rank 36th out of 177 countries.
- Reporters Without Borders world-wide press freedom index 2004: Rank 32nd out of 167 countries.
- Index of Economic Freedom 2005: Rank 41st out of 155 countries.

External links

Governmental websites

- [http://www.sejm.gov.pl/english.html Sejm] - Sejm - lower chamber of the Parliament
- [http://www.senat.gov.pl/indexe.htm Senat] - Senate - upper chamber of the Parliament
- [http://www.president.pl/x.node?id=479 Prezydent] - President of the Republic of Poland
- [http://www.kprm.gov.pl/english/index.html KPRM] - Prime Minister's Office
- [http://www.sn.pl/english/index.html Sąd Najwyższy] - Supreme Court
- [http://www.tryb