Authorities discovered the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult in a San Diego mansion, victims of a mass suicide tied to the Hale-Bopp comet.

NBA star Dennis Rodman was fined and suspended after headbutting a referee during a Chicago Bulls game, one of his many disciplinary flare-ups.

Apple Computer, hemorrhaging money and market share, reports a staggering quarterly loss on its way to a fiscal year that pushes the company toward the brink of bankruptcy.

IBM's chess computer Deep Blue defeated world champion Garry Kasparov in the deciding sixth game of their rematch, the first time a computer beat a reigning champion in a full match.

European Union leaders concluded negotiations on the Treaty of Amsterdam, expanding EU powers over justice, immigration, and foreign policy coordination.

At midnight, Britain formally handed Hong Kong back to China after 156 years of colonial rule, ending under the 'one country, two systems' framework.

At midnight, Britain handed sovereignty of Hong Kong to China after 156 years of colonial rule, ending one empire's chapter and opening another's.

James Cameron's Titanic surpassed Star Wars to become the highest-grossing film in box office history at the time.

Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris after her Mercedes collided with a pillar while fleeing paparazzi.

NASA's Mars Pathfinder mission, which had landed months earlier, continued sending back groundbreaking data on the Martian surface as its Sojourner rover explored nearby terrain.

An estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide watched the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, at Westminster Abbey, following her death in a Paris car crash days earlier.

NASA launched the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft from Cape Canaveral on a seven-year journey to study Saturn and its moon Titan.

More than 120 countries signed the Ottawa Treaty in Oslo banning the use, production, and stockpiling of anti-personnel landmines, days after Jody Williams won the Nobel Peace Prize for the campaign.

Delegates from over 150 nations adopted the Kyoto Protocol, the first international treaty setting binding targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.