Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s - 1990s - 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s
Years: 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 - 1995 - 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Beginning of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995-2005): http://www.unesco.org/culture/indigenous/
Events
- January 1 - Austria, Finland and Sweden enter the European Union
- January 1 - World Trade Organization is established to replace GATT
- January 9 - Valeri Poliakov[?] completes 366 days in space while aboard the Mir space station breaking a duration record.
- January 12 - Malcolm X's daughter, Qubilah Shabazz, is arrested for conspiring to kill Louis Farrakhan
- January 17 - A magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurred near Kobe, Japan, causing great property damage and killing over 5,000.
- January 18 - In southern France near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc a network of caves are discovered that contain paintings and engravings that are 17,000 to 20,000 years old.
- January 22 - Israeli-Palestinian conflict: In central Israel, two suicide bombers from the Gaza Strip blow themselves up at a military transit point killing 19 Israelis.
- January 24 - The prosecution delivers its opening statement in the O.J. Simpson murder trial[?].
- January 25 - World War III: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after a Norwegian missile launch for scientific research is detected and thought to be an attack on Russia. Norway had notified the world that it would be making the launch, but the Russian Defense Ministry had neglected to notify those monitoring Russia's nuclear defense systems.
- January 30 - Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventative treatment for sickle cell anaemia.
- January 31 - President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.
- February 15 - Hacking: Kevin Mitnick is arrested by the FBI and charged him with breaking into some of the United States' most "secure" computers systems.
- February 17 - Colin Ferguson is convicted of six counts of murder for the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings and later receives a 200+ year sentence.
- February 21 - Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan[?], Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
- February 26 - United Kingdom's oldest investment banking firm, Barings PLC collapses after a securities broker lost $1.4 billion by gambling on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
- March 2 - In Moscow, Russian anti-corruption journalist Vladislav Listyev is killed by a gunman.
- March 2 - Nick Leeson is arrested for his role in the collapse of Barings Bank.
- March 3 - In Somalia, the United Nations peacekeeping[?] mission ends.
- March 14 - Astronaut Norman Thagard[?] becomes the first American to ride to space on-board a Russian launch vehicle.
- March 20 - Terrorist incident: Members of the Aum Supreme Truth release sarin gas in the Tokyo on five separate subway trains killing 12 and injuring around 5,500.
- March 22 - Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov[?] returns after setting a record for 438 days in space.
- April 19 - Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma city was bombed. 168 people, including 8 Federal Marshals, were killed.
- May 11 - In New York City, more than 170 countries decide to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions.
- May 14 - The Dalai Lama proclaims 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima[?] as the eleventh reincarnation of the Panchen Lama[?].
- May 17 - Jacques Chirac assumes the presidency of France
- May 23 - The Java programming language was announced to the world.
- May 23 - Oklahoma City bombing: In Oklahoma City the remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building[?] are imploded.
- May 27 - In Charlottesville, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition.
- May 28 - Neftegorsk[?], Russia is hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake killing at least 2000 people (2/3rd of the towns population).
- June 2 - Captain Scott O'Grady[?] of the U.S. Air Force is shotdown while flying a routine sortie over war-torn Bosnia. O'Grady survives on bugs and grass until he is rescued.
- June 8 - Captain Scott O'Grady[?] is rescued in Bosnia.
- Summer - Iraq disarmament crisis: According to UNSCOM, the unity of the UN Security Council begins to fray, as a few countries, particularly France and Russia, are starting to become increasingly more interested in making financial deals with Iraq than disarming the country.
- July 1 - Iraq disarmament crisis: In response to UNSCOM's evidence, Iraq admits for first time the existence of an offensive biological weapons program, but denies weaponization.
- July - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq threatens to end all cooperation with UNSCOM and IAEA, if sanctions against the country are not lifted by August 31, 1995
- August - Iraq disarmament crisis: Following the defection of his son-in-law, Hussein Kamil al Majid[?], minister of industry and military industrialisation, Saddam Hussein makes new revelations about the full extent of Iraq's biological and nuclear weapons programs. Iraq also withdraws its last UN declaration of prohibited biological weapons and turns over a large amount of new documents on its WMD programs.
- October 4 - OJ Simpson is found innocent. (He would be found liable in a second civil trial in 1996)
- November 10 - Iraq disarmament crisis: With help from Israel and Jordan, UN inspector Ritter intercepts 240 Russian gyroscopes and accelerometers on their way to Iraq from Russia.
- December 16 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi scuba divers, under the direction of UNSCOM, dredge the Tigris River near Baghdad. The divers find over 200 prohibited Russian made missile instruments and components.
- December 28 - CompuServe sets a precedent by blocking access to sex-oriented newsgroups after being pressured by German prosecutors.
- December 31 - The publication of the last new Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip.
Art, Culture & Fashion
Births
Deaths
- January 9 - Peter Cook, comedian, satirist and writer
- January 22 - Rose Kennedy, matriarch of the Kennedy family
- January 31 - George Abbott, writer, director, producer
- February 2 - Donald Pleasence, actor
- February 4 - Patricia Highsmith, author
- February 12 - Robert Bolt, writer (+ 1995)
- February 21 - Calder Willingham[?], writer
- February 26 - Bill Hicks
- March 5 - Vivian Stanshall, comedian, writer, artist, broadcaster, musician, performer, frontman for Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
- March 27 - Maurizio Gucci[?]
- April 25 - Ginger Rogers, actress, dancer
- May 15 - Eric Porter[?], actor
- May 18 - Elizabeth Montgomery[?], actress
- May 18 - Alexander Godunov[?], ballet dancer, actor
- May 18 - Elisha Cook Jr.[?], actor
- May 26 - Friz Freleng, animator
- June 20 - Emil Cioran[?], Romanian-born French philosopher and essayist
- June 30 - Georgi Beregovoi, cosmonaut
- July 4 - Eva Gabor, actress
- August 9 - Jerry Garcia, musician and lead guitarist of The Grateful Dead.
- August 19 - Pierre Schaeffer, composer and pioneer of musique concrete
- November 21 - Noel Jones, British diplomat
- December 2 - Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist
- Murray Rothbard , American economist
Nobel Prizes