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In England, notorious murderer and serial killer Frederick West commits suicide in prison aged 53.

A report funded by The Department of Health in England finds that the convicted serial killer, former GP Harold Shipman, may have killed in excess of 300 of his patients.

In one of the closest fought American Presidential elections in history, Vice President Al Gore presides over a joint session of Congress that certifies George W. Bush as the winner of the 2000 election.

Disgraced former Cabinet Minister Jonathan Aitken is released from jail after serving less than half of his 18 month sentence.

Aitken had been convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice after his libel case against the Guardian Newspaper and Granda Television collapsed.

In Britain, the High Court rules that the identities of the two boys who murdered toddler James Bulger in 1993 are to be permanently kept secret.

Voting in the Palestinian Presidential Elections draws to a close. Early exit polls indicate that Mahmoud Abbas has won a significant majority.

United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar sets off for Baghdad in a final diplomatic effort to avoid war with Iraq.

In Italy, Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II, is released from prison. He served nearly 20 years in jail.

San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, is hit by a huge earthquake, leaving over 1,000 people feared dead.

After losing his seat at the 1983 British General Election, Tony Benn wins Labour's nomination for the Chesterfield by-election. Benn subsequently won the by-election and retained his seat until he retired from the House of Commons in 2001.

In North Wales, baby twins are taken into care by social services from a couple who bought the children for £8000 from America over the internet.

Photographs of prisoners being held at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay by the U.S. military are published. The photographs heighten speculation that the prisoner’s human rights are being abused.

The United Nations orders Libya to hand over the intelligence agents accused of the Lockerbie and French airliner bombings.

Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia. He is the first indigenous president of Bolivia.

In Kiev, Viktor Yushchenko is sworn in as the President of the Ukraine.

In Britain, Peter Mandelson, the Northern Ireland Secretary, resigns from the cabinet over a row concerning a passport application from an Indian billionaire. It the second time Mandelson has had to reign from the Cabinet.

The second NASA rover, sent to explore Mars, lands on the surface of the planet, where it will look for signs of water.

Condoleezza Rice is confirmed as the US Secretary of State. She is the highest ranking African-American woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet.

Germany observers its first Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In Britain, the Hutton Report – an enquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly – is published.

In Britain, solicitor Sally Clark is cleared by the Court of Appeal of murdering her two sons. Clark had already served more than three years of a life sentence.

In America, British-born 'shoe bomber' Richard Reid is sentenced to life in prison after he attempted to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami.

The hundredth British soldier is killed in Iraq since the invasion in 2003.

South Korean scientists announce they have successfully cloned the world's first human embryo. However, in 2006 it emerges that the results had been faked.

British boy band, Take That, announce they are splitting up.

The Philippines is hit but three separate bomb attacks, believed to have been carried out by al-Qaida linked militants.

In Britain, the Arms-to-Iraq report is published.

In Cambodia, former Khmer Rouge commander Chhouk Rin loses a final appeal against his conviction in connection with the 1994 murder of three Western tourists.

Seven people are arrested and more than £2 million is recovered by Irish police investigating the £26 million Northern Bank robbery, which touch place in Belfast in December 2004.

Writer Gerd Heidemann meets in secret with the directors of German publishing conglomerate Gruner + Jahr, to sell them what Heidemann claims are Adolph Hitler's diaries. The dairies are later proved to be fakes and Hediemann is sentenced to four years in jail.

Fifteen Egyptian commandos are killed in a gun battle with Greek Cypriot soldiers at Larnaca airport in Cyprus, whilst trying to solve a hostage crisis.

In a national referendum Spain votes in favour of endorsing the European Union Constitution.

The European Green Party is formed.

Thieves break into a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent stealing £53 million, in Britain’s largest every robbery.

Uganda holds its first multi-party parliamentary and presidential elections for the first time in twenty five years.

Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo places the country in a state of emergency after an alleged military coup fails.

In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni is re-elected for a third term.

The British government sues former British spy David Shayler for breaking the official secrets act.

Architect Daniel Libeskind wins the competition to design the former World Trade Centre site.

In Selby, North Yorkshire a train crashes into a car which had veered off the motorway, killing ten people.

Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to the European Union, which they join in 2007.

In a court case in South Africa, former deputy president Jacob Zuma is cleared of rape.

In a referendum the People of Northern Ireland vote in favour of accepting the Good Friday peace agreement.

The Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claims responsibility for organised the Beslan school siege in which at least 320 hostages were killed.

As a precondition to the restoration of diplomatic relations with Britain, the Iranian government states that it will no longer seek to harm author Salman Rushdie.

In Northern Ireland, General John de Chastelain, the head of the arms decommissioning body, announces that the IRA has put all of its weapons beyond use.

Cambodia’s parliament passes legalisation to enable the creation of a UN supported tribunal to put on trial former leaders of the Khmer Rouge.

British Home Secretary Michael Howard announces stringent new gun controls following the mass shooting of children at a school in Dunblane, Scotland.

Having first appeared in 1950, the last daily Peanuts comic strip is published as Charles Schulz retires. The comic strip followed the exploits of Charlie Brown and friends and his dog Snoopy.