Kofi Annan, a native of Ghana, was sworn in as the UN's new secretary general, replacing Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who was not reelected due in large part to pressure from the United States.
The G7 met and expressed concern over the continuing rise of the U.S. dollar, especially in relation to the Japanese yen. The group threatened to intervene in international currency markets to stabilize the dollar.
Deep Blue, a computer program developed by IBM, defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a highly publicized match by a score of 3½ to 2½ games.
Sixty heads of state and delegates from 180 countries attended a UN conference on the environment called Earth Summit. Considerable tension between richer and poorer nations heightened divisions, however, and little was actually decided.
The UN held a global warming summit in Kyoto, Japan, setting the first global limits on greenhouse gas emissions to standards below then-current levels.
