January 1 – Strictly speaking, it was the first day of the 3rd millennium and 21st century in the Gregorian calendar, but according to Popular Culture, the first day of these two distinctions was January 1, 2000. A nine foot tall rock was placed by an artist in Seattle's Magnuson Park, like the one in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
January 13 – A strong earthquake hits El Salvador, killing at least 800 (See also February 13).
January 29 – Thousands of students in Indonesia tell President Abdurrahman Wahid that he should give up his job because he was caught doing something bad.
April 1 – An American EP-3E spyplane collides with a Chinese F-8 fighter jet and is forced to make an emergency landing in Hainan, China. The U.S. crew was jailed for 10 days and the Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, went missing and thought to be dead.
June 5-9 – Houston, Texas is devastated by flooding when Tropical Storm Allison hits the city. Texas Medical Center lost years of research and data and thousands of lab animals. Twenty-two people die; damage exceeds five billion American dollars.
September 6 – United States v. Microsoft: The United States Justice Department announces that it was no longer seeking to break-up software maker Microsoft and will instead seek a lesser antitrust penalty.
November 24 - Melanie Thornton, the German-American Pop singer, also the former member of La Bouche, dies in a plane crash going to Zürich, Switzerland, along with Maria Serreno-Serreno and Nathaly Van Het Ende of the German dance band Passion Fruit.
December 2 – Enron scandal: Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection five days after Dynegy canceled a US$8.4 billion buyout bid (At the time this was the largest bankruptcy in the history of the United States).