The Jokela school shooting in Jokela, Tuusula, Finland, takes place, resulting in the death of nine people.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration discovers one of the country's largest LSD labs inside a converted military missile silo in Wamego, Kansas.

NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor.

WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, launches the world's first internet radio broadcast.

Mary Robinson becomes the first woman to be elected President of the Republic of Ireland.

Douglas Wilder wins the governor's seat in Virginia, becoming the first elected African American governor in the United States.