2000

2000 (MM) was a century leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2000th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 1000th and last year of the 2nd millennium, the 100th and last year of the 20th century, and the 1st year of the 2000s decade.

2000 was designated as:
International Year for the Culture of Peace World Mathematical Year Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium due to a tendency of grouping the years according to decimal values, as if year zero were counted. According to the Gregorian calendar, these distinctions fall to the year 2001, because the 1st century was retroactively said to start with year AD 1. Since the calendar does not have year zero, its first millennium spanned from years 1 to 1000 inclusively and its second millennium from years 1001 to 2000. (See more at Century and Millennium.)

The year 2000 is sometimes abbreviated as "Y2K" (the "Y" stands for "year", and the "K" stands for "kilo" which means "thousand"). The year 2000 was the subject of Y2K concerns, which were fears that computers would not shift from 1999 to 2000 correctly. However, by the end of 1999, many companies had already converted to new, or upgraded, existing software. Some even obtained Y2K certification. As a result of massive effort, relatively few problems occurred.

January 18 – The Tagish Lake meteorite impacts the Earth. January 30 – Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes off the coast of Ivory Coast into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169. February 13 – The final original Peanuts comic strip is published, following the death of its creator, Charles M. Schulz. A Zenit-3SL launch fails due to a software bug. March 13 – The United States dollar becomes the official currency of Ecuador, replacing the Ecuadorian sucre. April 3 – United States v. Microsoft Corp.: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors. May 3 – In San Antonio, Texas, computer pioneer Datapoint files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. May 4 – The 7.6 Mw Central Sulawesi earthquake affects Banggai, Indonesia, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong), leaving 46 dead and 264 injured. May 5 After originating in the Philippines, the ILOVEYOU computer virus spreads quickly throughout the world. A rare conjunction of seven celestial bodies (Sun, Moon, planets Mercury–Saturn) occurs during the new moon. June 17 – A centennial earthquake (6.5 on the Richter scale) hits Iceland on its national day. June 26 – A preliminary draft of genomes, as part of the Human Genome Project, is finished. It is announced at the White House by President Clinton. July 7 – The draft assembly of Human Genome Project announced at the White House by President Bill Clinton, Francis Collins, and Craig Venter. July 14 – A powerful solar flare, later named the Bastille Day event, causes a geomagnetic storm on Earth. July 25 – Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde aircraft, crashes into a hotel in Gonesse just after takeoff from Paris, killing all 109 aboard and 4 in the hotel. August 8 – The 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 during one of the largest Russian naval exercises since the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, resulting in the deaths of all 118 men on board. September 6 – The last wholly Swedish-owned arms manufacturer, Bofors, is sold to American arms manufacturer United Defense. September 10 – Operation Barras: A British military operation to free five soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment that were held captive for over two weeks during the Sierra Leone Civil War, all of which were rescued. September 13 – Steve Jobs introduces the public beta of Mac OS X for US$29.95.[14] September 15 – October 1 – The 2000 Summer Olympics, held in Sydney, Australia, is the last Olympic Games of the 20th century. September 16 – Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze is last seen alive; this day is taken as the commemoration date of his death. October 12 – In Aden, Yemen, USS Cole is badly damaged by two Al-Qaeda suicide bombers, who place a small boat laden with explosives alongside the United States Navy destroyer, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39. October 22 – The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper exposes Japanese archeologist Shinichi Fujimura as a fraud; Japanese archaeologists had based their treatises on his findings. October 26 Pakistani authorities announce that their police have found an apparently ancient mummy of a Persian Princess in the province of Balochistan. Iran, Pakistan and the Taliban all claim the mummy until Pakistan announces it is a modern-day fake on April 17, 2001. October 30 – This is the final date during which there is no human presence in space; on October 31, Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station. The ISS has been continuously crewed since. November 2 – The first resident crew enters the International Space Station. November 7 – In London, a criminal gang raids the Millennium Dome to steal the Millennium Star diamond, but police surveillance catches them in the act. December 15 – The third and final reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down and the station is shut down completely.

M-0 Galaxy
The Saran / Pan Saran civil war is fizzling along. Neither side is engaged in any active engagement. The Shiss invite the Nul for peace talks and suggest co-operation (the begin of the "Big Deceive")