Editing 1999 (section)

===December===
* [[December 3]]
** After rowing for 81 days and 5,486 kilometers (2,962 nautical miles), [[Tori Murden]] becomes the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by [[rowboat]] alone, when she reaches [[Guadeloupe]] from the [[Canary Islands]].
** [[NASA]] loses radio contact with the [[Mars Polar Lander]], moments before the spacecraft enters the [[Atmosphere of Mars|Martian atmosphere]].
* [[December 5]] &ndash; [[1999 Bolivian municipal elections|Bolivian municipal elections]], the first election contested by [[Evo Morales]]' [[Movimiento al Socialismo]].
* [[December 18]] &ndash; NASA launches the Terra platform into orbit, carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including [[Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer|ASTER]], [[Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System|CERES]], [[Multi-angle imaging spectroradiometer|MISR]], [[Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer|MODIS]] and [[MOPITT]].
* [[December 20]] &ndash; [[Handover of Macau]] from the [[Portuguese Republic]] to the People's Republic of China after 442 years of Portuguese rule in the settlement.
* [[December 26]] &ndash; [[Cyclone Lothar]] kills 140 people as it crosses France, southern Germany, and Switzerland.
* [[December 27]] &ndash; A day after Cyclone Lothar, [[Cyclone Martin (1999)|Cyclone Martin]] causes additional damage throughout France, Spain, Switzerland and Italy, including an emergency due to [[1999 Blayais Nuclear Power Plant flood|flooding at the Blayais Nuclear Power Plant]].
* [[December 31]] &ndash; [[Boris Yeltsin]] resigns as [[president of Russia]], leaving [[Prime Minister of Russia|Prime Minister]] [[Vladimir Putin]] as the acting president.