1993
Related subjects: Years
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| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
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| Centuries: | 19th century – 20th century – 21st century |
| Decades: | 1960s 1970s 1980s – 1990s – 2000s 2010s 2020s |
| Years: | 1990 1991 1992 – 1993 – 1994 1995 1996 |
| 1993 by topic: |
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| Gregorian calendar | 1993 MCMXCIII |
| Ab urbe condita | 2746 |
| Armenian calendar | 1442 ԹՎ ՌՆԽԲ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6743 |
| Bahá'í calendar | 149–150 |
| Bengali calendar | 1400 |
| Berber calendar | 2943 |
| British Regnal year | 41 Eliz. 2 – 42 Eliz. 2 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2537 |
| Burmese calendar | 1355 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7501–7502 |
| Chinese calendar | 壬申年十二月初九日 (4629/4689-12-9) — to — 癸酉年十一月十九日(4630/4690-11-19) |
| Coptic calendar | 1709–1710 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1985–1986 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5753–5754 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 2049–2050 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1915–1916 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5094–5095 |
| Holocene calendar | 11993 |
| Igbo calendar | |
| - Ǹrí Ìgbò | 993–994 |
| Iranian calendar | 1371–1372 |
| Islamic calendar | 1413–1414 |
| Japanese calendar | Heisei 5 (平成5年) |
| Juche calendar | 82 |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 13 days |
| Korean calendar | 4326 |
| Minguo calendar | ROC 82 民國82年 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2536 |
| Unix time | 725846400–757382399 |
1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year that started on a Friday. In the Gregorian calendar, it was the 1993rd year of Anno Domini, or of the Common Era; the 993rd year of the 2nd millennium; the 93rd year of the 20th century; and the 4th of the 1990s.
Events
January
- January 1
- Dissolution of Czechoslovakia:Czech Republic and the Slovakia separate in the so-called Velvet Divorce.
- The European Economic Community eliminates trade barriers and creates a European single market.
- British ITV companies GMTV, Carlton Television, Meridian Broadcasting and Westcountry Television start broadcasting, replacing TV-am, Thames Television, TVS and TSW respectively.
- January 3
- In Moscow, George Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
- The third Star Trek TV series Deep Space Nine premieres in syndication.
- January 5
- The state of Washington executes Westley Allan Dodd by hanging (the first legal hanging in America since 1965).
- US$7.4 million is stolen from Brink's Armored Car Depot in Rochester, New York in the 5th largest robbery in U.S. history. Four men, Samuel Millar, Father Patrick Moloney, former Rochester Police officer Thomas O'Connor, and Charles McCormick, all of whom have ties to the Provisional Irish Republican Army, are accused.
- MV Braer, a Liberian-registered oil tanker, runs aground off the Scottish island of Mainland, Shetland, causing a massive oil spill.
- January 6 – Douglas Hurd is the first high-ranking British official to visit Argentina since the Falklands War.
- January 6– 20 – The Bombay Riots take place in the city now known as Mumbai.
- January 7 – The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated, with Jerry Rawlings as president.
- January 8– 17 – The Braer Storm of January 1993, the most intense extratropical cyclone on record for the northern Atlantic Ocean.
- January 14 – The Polish ferry MS Jan Heweliusz sinks off the coast of Rügen in the Baltic Sea, killing 54 people.
- January 15 – Salvatore Riina, the Mafia boss known as 'The Beast', is arrested in Palermo, Sicily, after 23 years as a fugitive.
- January 19
- Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) signed.
- IBM announces a $4.97 billion loss for 1992, the largest single-year corporate loss in United States history to date.
- Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq refuses to allow UNSCOM inspectors to use its own aircraft to fly into Iraq, and begins military operations in the demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait, and the northern Iraqi no-fly zones. U.S. forces fire approximately 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Baghdad factories linked to Iraq's illegal nuclear weapons program. Iraq then informs UNSCOM that it will be able to resume its flights.
- January 20 – Bill Clinton succeeds George Bush as the 42nd President of the United States.
- January 24 – In Turkey, thousands protest the murder of journalist Uğur Mumcu.
- January 25
- Mir Aimal Kasi fires a rifle and kills two employees outside CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
- Social democrat Poul Nyrup Rasmussen succeeds conservative Poul Schlüter as Prime Minister of Denmark.
- January 26 – Václav Havel is elected President of the Czech Republic.
- January 31 – Super Bowl XXVII: The Buffalo Bills become the first team to lose three consecutive Super Bowls as they are defeated by the Dallas Cowboys, 52–17.
February
- February 4 – Members of the right-wing Austrian FPÖ split to form the Liberal Forum in protest against the increasing nationalistic bent of the party.
- February 5 – Belgium becomes a federal monarchy rather than a unitary kingdom.
- February 8 – General Motors sues NBC, after Dateline NBC allegedly rigged two crashes showing that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settles the lawsuit the following day.
- February 10
- Lien Chan is named by Lee Teng-Hui to succeed Hau Pei-tsun as Premier of the Republic of China.
- Mani Pulite scandal: Italian legislator Claudio Martelli resigns, followed by various politicians over the next two weeks.
- February 11 – Janet Reno is selected by President Clinton as Attorney General of the United States.
- February 12 – Two-year-old James Bulger is abducted, tortured and murdered by two 10-year-old boys, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. Both are later charged. See Murder of James Bulger.
- February 14
- Glafcos Clerides defeats incumbent George Vasiliou in the Cypriot presidential election.
- Albert Zafy defeats Didier Ratsiraka in the Madagascar presidential election.
- February 17 – A ferry sinks in Haiti, killing approximately 1,215 out of 1,500 passengers.
- February 22 – UN Security Council Resolution 808 is voted on, deciding that "an international tribunal shall be established" to prosecute violations of international law in Yugoslavia. The tribunal will is established on May 25 by Resolution 827.
- February 24 – Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney resigns amidst political and economic turmoil. Kim Campbell, his successor, becomes Canada's first female Prime Minister.
- February 26 – World Trade Centre bombing: In New York, New York, a van bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Centre explodes, killing six and injuring over 1,000.
- February 28 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents raid the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, with a warrant to arrest leader David Koresh on federal firearms violations. Four agents and five Davidians die in the raid and a 51-day standoff begins.
March
- March 4 – Authorities announce the capture of suspected World Trade Centre bombing conspirator Mohammad Salameh.
- March 5 – Macedonian Palair Flight 305, a F-100 on a flight to Zurich, crashes shortly after take-off from Skopje killing 83 of the 97 on board.
- March 9 – Rodney King testifies at the federal trial of four Los Angeles, California, police officers accused of violating his civil rights when they beat him during an arrest.
- March 11 – Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States.
- March 12
- 1993 Bombay bombings: Several bombs explode in Bombay, India, killing 257 and injuring hundreds more.
- North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea announces that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites.
- March 13– March 15 – The Great Blizzard of 1993 strikes the eastern U.S., bringing record snowfall and other severe weather all the way from Cuba to Quebec; it reportedly kills 184.
- March 13 – Australian federal election, 1993: The Australian Labor Party stays in power despite poor economic results.
- March 17 – The PKK announces a unilateral ceasefire in Iraq.
- March 20 – Warrington bomb attacks: An IRA bomb explodes in Warrington Town Centre and kills two children, Jonathan Ball and Tim Parry.
- March 22 – The Intel Corporation ships the first P5 Pentium chips.
- March 24
- The Israeli Knesset elects Ezer Weizman as President of Israel.
- South Africa officially abandons its nuclear weapons programme. President de Klerk announces that the country's six warheads had already been dismantled in 1990.
- March 27
- March 28 – French legislative election, 1993: Gaullists win a majority and Édouard Balladur becomes Prime Minister.
- March 29 – The 65th Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, with Unforgiven winning Best Picture.
April
- April – The Kuwaiti government claims to uncover an Iraqi assassination plot against former U.S. President George Bush shortly after his visit to Kuwait. Two Iraqi nationals confess to driving a car-bomb into Kuwait on behalf of the Iraqi Intelligence Service.
- April 1 – The Vatican orders the moving of the Carmelite convent at Auschwitz.
- April 6 – A nuclear accident occurs at Tomsk 7 in Russia.
- April 8 – The Republic of Macedonia is admitted to the United Nations.
- April 10 – African National Congress activist Chris Hani is assassinated in South Africa.
- April 16 – Bosnian War: the enclave of Srebrenica is declared a UN-protected "safe area".
- April 17 – Laurence Powell and Stacey Koon are found guilty in the second Rodney King trial.
- April 19
- A 51-day stand-off at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ends with a fire that kills 76 people, including David Koresh.
- South Dakota governor George Mickelson and seven others are killed when a state-owned aircraft crashes near Dubuque, Iowa.
- April 22
- In Washington, DC, the Holocaust Memorial Museum is dedicated.
- 18-year-old student Stephen Lawrence is stabbed to death in London, England; the attack is believed to have been racially motivated.
- April 23
- The World Health Organization declares tuberculosis a Global Emergency.
- Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
- April 26 – Oscar Luigi Scalfaro appoints Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Prime Minister of Italy.
- April 27
- Eritrea: Eritrean independence was declared as a result of a referendum held with UN verification.
- Yemeni parliamentary election, 1993: The General People's Congress wins a plurality of 121 seats.
- All members of the Zambia national football team die in a plane crash off Libreville, Gabon in route to Dakar, Senegal.
- April 28 – An executive order requires the United States Air Force to allow women to fly war planes.
- April 30 – Tennis star Monica Seles is stabbed in the back by an obsessed fan of rival Steffi Graf at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany.
May
- May 1
- May 4 – UNOSOM II assumes the Somalian duties of the dissolved UNITAF.
- May 9 – Juan Carlos Wasmosy becomes the first democratically elected President of Paraguay in nearly 40 years.
- May 15 – Niamh Kavanagh wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland with " In Your Eyes".
- May 16
- The Grand National Assembly of Turkey elects Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel as President of Turkey.
- After Demirel becomes the president the acting prime minister of Turkey is Erdal İnönü of SHP for 40 days.
- May 24 – Eritrea gains independence from Ethiopia.
- May 27 – Via dei Georgofili Massacre: A car bomb planted outside the Uffizi Gallery in Florence by the Mafia kills five and irretrievably destroys three paintings.
- May 28 – Eritrea and Monaco gain entry to the United Nations.
- May 29 – The first Life Ball takes place in Vienna, Austria. In 2011, the event is named the largest public-charity on HIV and AIDS in Europe.
June
- June 1
- Large protests erupt against Slobodan Milošević's regime in Belgrade; opposition leader Vuk Drašković and his wife Danica are arrested.
- President of Guatemala Jorge Serrano Elías is forced to flee the country after an attempted self-coup.
- Burundian presidential election, 1993: The first multiparty elections in Burundi since the country's independence lead to the election of Melchior Ndadaye, leader of the Front for Democracy in Burundi. The next day's legislative election sees his party win with an overwhelming majority.
- June 5
- June 6
- June 8 – The PKK-declared ceasefire ends in Iraq.
- June 14 – Multipartyists win a referendum on the future of the one-party system in Malawi.
- June 18 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq refuses to allow UNSCOM weapons inspectors to install remote-controlled monitoring cameras at two missile engine test stands.
- June 20
- A 7.5 earthquake hits Japan, killing 385 people.
- John Paxson's 3-point shot in game six of the NBA Finals helps the Chicago Bulls secure a 99–98 win over the Phoenix Suns, and their third consecutive championship.
- June 22 – Japan's New Party Sakigake breaks away from the Liberal Democratic Party.
- June 23 – In Manassas, Virginia, Lorena Bobbitt cuts off the penis of her husband John Wayne Bobbitt.
- June 24
- A Unabomber bomb injures computer scientist David Gelernter at Yale University.
- Andrew Wiles wins worldwide fame after presenting his proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, a problem that had been unsolved for more than three centuries.
- June 25
- Kim Campbell becomes the 19th, and first female, Prime Minister of Canada.
- Tansu Çiller of DYP forms the new government of Turkey.
- Zoran Lilić succeeds Dobrica Ćosić as President of Yugoslavia.
- The litas is introduced in Lithuania.
- Jacques Attali resigns as President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
- June 26– June 28 – Typhoon Koryn causes massive damage to the Philippines, China and Macau.
- June 27
- U.S. President Bill Clinton orders a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in the Al-Mansur District of Baghdad, in response to an Iraqi plot to assassinate former U.S. President George Bush during his visit to Kuwait in mid-April.
- In Bad Kleinen, Germany, GSG 9 troopers arrest Birgit Hogefeld and kill Wolfgang Grams two Red Army Faction terrorists.
July
- July 2 – An integrist mob sets fire to the hotel where The Satanic Verses translator Aziz Nesin resides in Sivas, Turkey, killing 37.
- July 5 – Iraq disarmament crisis: UN inspection teams leave Iraq. Iraq then agrees to UNSCOM demands and the inspection teams return.
- July 7– July 9 – The 19th G7 summit is held in Tokyo, Japan.
- July 7 – Hurricane Calvin lands in Mexico. It is the second Pacific hurricane on record to land in Mexico in July, and kills 34.
- July 12 – A magnitude 7.8 earthquake off Hokkaidō, Japan launches a devastating tsunami that kills 202 on the small island of Okushiri, Hokkaido.
- July 16– July 17 – In Estonia, the majority Russian cities of Narva and Sillamäe organize illegal referendums on "territorial autonomy" to protest new citizenship laws.
- July 19
- Japanese general election, 1993: The loss of majority of the Liberal Democratic Party results in a coalition taking power.
- U.S. President Bill Clinton announces his ' Don't ask, don't tell' policy regarding gays in the American military.
- July 20 – White House deputy counsel Vince Foster commits suicide in Virginia.
- July 23 – Candelária massacre: Brazilian police officers kill eight street kids in Rio de Janeiro.
- July 26
- Miguel Indurain wins the 1993 Tour de France.
- Asiana Airlines Flight 733 crashes into Mt. Ungeo in Haenam, South Korea; 68 die.
- July 27 – Windows NT 3.1, the first version of Microsoft's line of Windows NT operating systems, is released to manufacturing.
- July 29 – The Israeli Supreme Court acquits accused Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.
- July 31 – King Baudouin I of Belgium dies.
August
- August 4
- A federal judge sentences Los Angeles Police Department officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 30 months in prison for violating motorist Rodney King's civil rights.
- The Japanese government issues the Kono Statement, acknowledging the comfort women's (sex slaves) deportation.
- August 5
- The discovery of the Tel Dan Stele, the first archaeological confirmation of the existence of the Davidic line, is announced.
- Magic: the Gathering undergoes its first general release.
- August 6 – According to Japanese government and TBS networks reports, torrential rain and mudslides kill 72 in Kagoshima, Japan.
- August 9 – King Albert II of Belgium is sworn into office nine days after the death of his brother, King Baudouin I.
- August 13 – Over 130 die in the collapse of Royal Plaza Hotel at Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand's worst hotel disaster.
- August 17 – For the first time, the public is allowed inside Buckingham Palace.
- August 19 – In Norway, Varg Vikernes is arrested and charged with the murder of Euronymous, of Mayhem; he receives a 21-year sentence for this and other crimes.
- August 21 – NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Observer orbiter three days before the spacecraft is scheduled to enter orbit around Mars.
- August 28 – Ong Teng Cheong becomes the first President of Singapore elected by the population.
- August 30 – Russia completes removing its troops from Lithuania.
September
- September 13
- Norwegian parliamentary election, 1993: The Labour Party wins a plurality of the seats, and Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland retains office.
- PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin shake hands in Washington D.C., after signing a peace accord.
- September 15 – Giuseppe 'Pino' Puglisi, an Italian priest in the Palermo neighbourhood of Brancaccio, was assassinated in front of his church on his 56th birthday in retaliation for his anti-Mafia activism. One of the hitmen later confessed that Fr. Puglisi's last words as his killers approached were: "I've been expecting you."
- September 15– September 21 – Hurricane Gert (1993) crosses from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean through Central America and Mexico.
- September 17 – Russian troops withdraw from Poland.
- September 19 – Polish parliamentary election, 1993: A coalition of the Democratic Left Alliance and the Polish People's Party led by Waldemar Pawlak comes into power.
- September 22 – Big Bayou Canot train disaster: A bridge collapses as the Sunset Limited crosses it, killing 47.
- September 23 – The International Olympic Committee selects Sydney, Australia to host the 2000 Summer Olympics.
- September 24 – The Cambodian monarchy is restored, with Norodom Sihanouk as king.
- September 26
- The first mission in Biosphere 2 ends after two years.
- PoSAT-1 (the first Portuguese satellite) is launched on board French rocket Ariane 4.
- September 27 – War in Abkhazia – Fall of Sukhumi: Eduard Shevardnadze accuses Russia of passive complicity.
- September 30 – An earthquake centered in Killari, Maharashtra, India kills over 10,000.
October
- October 3 – U.S. Army conducts Operation Gothic Serpent in the city of Mogadishu, Somalia, using Task Force Ranger. Two UH-60 Blackhawks are shot down and the operation leaves over 1000 Somalians dead and over 73 Americans WIA, 19 KIA, and 1 captured. Also known as the Battle of Mogadishu.
- October 4 – The Russian constitutional crisis culminates with Russian military and security forces clearing the White House of Russia Parliament building by force, quashing a mass uprising against President Boris Yeltsin.
- October 5
- China performs a nuclear test, ending a worldwide de facto moratorium.
- The papal encyclical Veritatis Splendor is promulgated.
- October 10 – 292 are killed when the South Korean ferry Seohae capsizes off Pusan, South Korea.
- October 11– October 28 – The UNMIH is prevented from entering Haiti. On October 18, economic sanctions (abolished in August) are reinstated.
- October 13
- Greek legislative election, 1993: Andreas Papandreou begins his second term as Prime Minister of Greece.
- The fifth summit of the Francophonie opens in Mauritius.
- October 19 – Benazir Bhutto becomes the Prime Minister of Pakistan for the second time.
- October 21 – A coup in Burundi results in the death of president Melchior Ndadaye and sparks the Burundi Civil War.
- October 25 – Canadian federal election, 1993: Jean Chrétien and his Liberal Party defeat the governing Progressive Conservative Party, which falls to an historic low of two seats.
- October 30 – Greysteel massacre: Three members of the UDA, a loyalist paramilitary group, attacked a crowded bar in Greysteel, Northern Ireland, with firearms, killing eight civilians and wounding thirteen. The bar was targeted because it was in an Irish nationalist and Catholic area.
November
- November 1 – The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.
- November 5 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Railways Act, setting out the procedures for privatisation of British Rail.
- November 9 – Bosnian Croat forces destroy the Stari most, or Old Bridge of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, by tank fire.
- November 11
- Microsoft releases Windows 3.11 for Workgroups to manufacturing.
- Sri Lankan civil war – Battle of Pooneryn: Over 400 Sri Lankan military are killed.
- November 12 – London Convention: Marine dumping of radioactive waste is outlawed.
- November 17– November 22 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) passes the legislative houses in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
- November 18
- In a status referendum, Puerto Rico residents vote with a slim margin to maintain Commonwealth status.
- In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution.
- The first meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation opens in Seattle.
- November 20
- Savings and loan crisis: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his dealings with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating.
- An Avioimpex Yakovlev Yak-42D crashes into Mount Trojani near Ohrid, Macedonia. The aircraft was on a flight from Geneva, Switzerland to Skopje, but had been diverted to Ohrid due to poor weather conditions at the Skopje airport. All 8 crew members and 115 of the 116 passengers are killed.
- November 28 – The Observer reveals that a channel of communications has existed between the IRA and the British government, despite the government's persistent denials.
- November 30 – Agreement establishing the Permanent Commission for East African Co-operation signed.
December
- December 1 – A train crash at Tattenham Corner railway station lead to the introduction of the current drugs and alcohol policy for railways in the UK.
- December 2
- STS-61: NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair an optical flaw in the Hubble Space Telescope.
- The September 6 merger between Renault and Volvo fails; Volvo CEO Pehr G. Gyllenhammar resigns.
- December 5 – Rafael Caldera Rodríguez is elected President of Venezuela for the second time, succeeding interim president Ramón José Velásquez.
- December 7
- Colin Ferguson opens fire with his Ruger 9 mm pistol on a Long Island Rail Road train, killing 6 and injuring 19.
- The 32-member Transitional Executive Committee holds its first meeting in Cape Town, marking the first meeting of an official government body in South Africa with Black members.
- President of Côte d'Ivoire Félix Houphouët-Boigny dies at 83, the oldest African head of state. He is succeeded three days later by Henri Konan Bédié.
- December 8 – U.S. President Bill Clinton signs into law the North American Free Trade Agreement.
- December 10 – id Software releases Doom, a seminal first-person shooter that uses advanced 3D graphics for computer games.
- December 11
- Chilean presidential election, 1993: Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle is elected with 58% of the vote.
- A variety of Soviet space program paraphernalia are put to auction in Sotheby's New York, and sell for a total of US$6.8M. One of the items is Lunokhod 1 and its spacecraft Luna 17; they sell for $68,500.
- December 12 – Péter Boross becomes Prime Minister of Hungary following the death of József Antall.
- December 13
- Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell resigns as head of the Conservative Party, to be succeeded by Jean Charest.
- The Majilis of Kazakhstan approves the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and agrees to dismantle the more than 100 missiles left on its territory by the fall of the USSR.
- December 15
- Downing Street Declaration: The United Kingdom commits itself to the search for an answer to the problems of Northern Ireland.
- The Uruguay Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) talks reach a successful conclusion after seven years.
- December 16 – Brazil's Supreme Court rules that former President Fernando Collor de Mello may not hold elected office again until 2000 due to political corruption.
- December 18 – Omar Bongo is re-elected as President of Gabon in the country's first multiparty elections.
- December 20
- The United Nations General Assembly votes unanimously to appoint a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
- The first corrected images from the Hubble Telescope are taken.
- December 22 – The interim South African constitution is approved by Parliament 237–45.
- December 29 – Argentina passes a measure allowing President Carlos Menem and all future presidents to run for a second term. It also shortens presidential terms to four years and removes the requirement for the president to be Roman Catholic.
- December 30
Date unknown
- The second World Parliament of Religions is held in Chicago.
- U.S. President Bill Clinton sends six American warships to Haiti, to enforce United Nations trade sanctions against the military-led regime in that country.
- The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers flood large portions of the American Midwest.
- Severe floods hit South Asia, killing over 4,000 people in Bangladesh, India and Nepal.
- The European Exchange Rate Mechanism is put in crisis, mainly from speculation against the French franc.
- Over a dozen people are killed by the new Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome, mainly in the Southwestern United States.
- Wildfires in California destroy over 16,000 acres (65 km2) and 700 homes.
- Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time becomes the longest running book on the bestseller list of The Sunday Times ever.
- The Oslo Accords negotiations begin.
- Many foreigners are murdered by rebel groups in Algeria.
- The Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform succeeds in having the Irish sodomy law reformed.
Deaths
January
- January 5 – Juan Benet, Spanish writer (b. 1927)
- January 6
- January 9 – Paul Hasluck, Australian politician, former Governor-General and Cabinet minister (b. 1905)
- January 13 – René Pleven, French politician, former Prime Minister (b. 1901)
- January 15 – Sammy Cahn, American lyricist (b. 1913)
- January 16 – Glenn Corbett, American actor (b. 1930)
- January 18 – Eleanor Burford (Jean Plaidy, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Ellalice Tate, Anna Percival, Victoria Holt, Philippa Carr), English writer (b. 1906)
- January 20 – Audrey Hepburn, Belgian born British-Dutch actress (b. 1929)
- January 21
- January 22 – Kōbō Abe, Japanese author (b. 1924)
- January 23 – Thomas A. Dorsey, American musician (b. 1899)
- January 24
- January 25 – Hédi Nouira, Tunisian politician, former Prime Minister (b. 1911)
- January 26
- January 27 – André the Giant, French professional wrestler (b. 1946)
- January – László Antal, Hungarian linguist (b. 1930)
February
- February 2 – Alexander Schneider, Lithuanian violinist (b. 1908)
- February 5
- February 6 – Arthur Ashe, American tennis player and civil activist (b. 1943)
- February 8 – Roland Mousnier, French historian (b. 1907)
- February 9
- February 10 – Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury, French politician, former Prime Minister (b. 1914)
- February 11 – Robert W. Holley, American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922)
- February 14 – Pedro Cortina Mauri, Spanish politician, former Foreign Minister (b. 1908)
- February 18 – Kerry Von Erich, American professional wrestler (b. 1960)
- February 20 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian automobile manufacturer (b. 1916)
- February 21
- February 22 – Jean Lecanuet, French politician (b. 1920)
- February 23
- February 24 – Bobby Moore, English footballer (b. 1941)
- February 25 – Eddie Constantine, American-born French singer and actor (b. 1917)
- February 26 – Beaumont Newhall, American curator (b. 1908)
- February 27 – Lillian Gish, American actress (b. 1893)
- February 28
March
- March 3
- March 5 – Cyril Collard, French filmmaker (b. 1957)
- March 8 – Billy Eckstine, American musician (b. 1914)
- March 10 – Dino Bravo, Italian-Canadian pro wrestler (b. 1949)
- March 12 – Wang Zhen, Chinese politician, Vice President of the PRC and one of the Eight Elders of the Communist Party of China (b. 1908)
- March 13 – Ann Way, English actress (b. 1915)
- March 15 – Ricardo Arias Espinosa, Panamanian politician, former President of the Republic (b. 1912)
- March 16
- March 17 – Helen Hayes, American actress (b. 1900)
- March 20
- Polykarp Kusch, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- Paul László, Hungarian-born architect (b. 1900)
- March 24 – John Hersey, American writer and journalist (b. 1914)
- March 26 – Louis Falco, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1942)
- March 27
- March 30 – Richard Diebenkorn, American painter (b. 1922)
- March 31
April
- April 1 – Juan de Borbón y Battenberg, Spanish royal, Count of Barcelona (b. 1913)
- April 2 – Eugenie Leontovich, Russian-born actress (b. 1900)
- April 3 – Pinky Lee, American comedian (b. 1907)
- April 5 – Divya Bharti, Indian actress (b. 1974)
- April 8 – Marian Anderson, American contralto (b. 1897)
- April 10
- April 11 – Rahmon Nabiyev, Tajik politician, former Communist leader and President of the Republic (b. 1930)
- April 12 – George Frederick Ives, last surviving veteran of the Boer Wars (b. 1881)
- April 13
- April 15
- April 17 – Turgut Özal, Turkish statesman, President of the Republic and former Prime Minister (b. 1927)
- April 20 – Cantinflas, Mexican comedian (b. 1911)
- April 22
- April 23
- April 24 – Oliver Tambo, South African anti-Apartheid politician and former president of the ANC (b. 1911)
- April 25 – Rosita Moreno, Spanish film actress (b. 1907)
- April 29 – Mick Ronson, English rock guitarist (b. 1946)
May
- May 1
- May 6
- May 7
- May 8
- May 14 – William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American businessman (b. 1908)
- May 22 – Mieczysław Horszowski, Polish pianist (b. 1892)
- May 30 – Sun Ra, American jazz musician (b. 1914)
June
- June 2 – Tahar Djaout, Algerian writer (b. 1954)
- June 5 – Conway Twitty, American musician (b. 1933)
- June 6 – James Bridges, American screenwriter and director (b. 1936)
- June 7 – Dražen Petrović, Croatian basketball Player (b. 1964)
- June 8
- June 9 – Alexis Smith, Canadian actress (b. 1921)
- June 10
- June 11 – Ray Sharkey, American actor (b. 1952)
- June 12 – Manuel Summers, Spanish film director (b. 1935)
- June 13
- June 15
- June 18 – Craig Rodwell American gay activist (b. 1940)
- June 19
- William Golding, English writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- Szymon Goldberg, Polish-born violinist (b. 1909)
- June 22 – Pat Nixon, First Lady of the United States (b. 1912)
- June 24 – Archie Williams, American athlete (b. 1915)
- June 26 – Roy Campanella, American baseball player (b. 1921)
- June 28 – GG Allin, American punk singer (b. 1956)
- June 29 – Héctor Lavoe, Puerto Rican salsa singer (b. 1946)
- June 30 – Spanky McFarland, American actor (b. 1928)
July
- July 2
- July 3
- July 4
- July 5 – Tom Maguire, Irish Republican (b. 1892)
- July 7 – Mia Zapata, American punk musician (b. 1965)
- July 10 – Masuji Ibuse, Japanese writer (b. 1898)
- July 11 – Mario Bauzá, Cuban musician (b. 1911)
- July 13 – Davey Allison, American stock car driver (b. 1961)
- July 14 – Léo Ferré, French poet and singer-songwriter (b. 1916)
- July 15
- July 18 – Jean Negulesco, Romanian-born film director (b. 1900)
- July 23 – James Jordan, father of basketball superstar, Michael Jordan (b. 1936)
- July 24 – Rene Requiestas, Filipino comedian (b. 1957)
- July 25
- July 26 – Matthew Ridgway, United States Army General (b. 1895)
- July 30 – William Guglielmo Niederland, German-American psychoanalyst (b. 1904)
- July 31 – Baudouin of Belgium, reigning King of Belgium (b. 1930)
August
- August 3
- August 5 – Eugen Suchoň, Slovak composer (b. 1908)
- August 7 – Christopher Gillis, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1951)
- August 10
- August 16
- August 19 – Salah Jadid, Syrian general and Baathist politician (b. 1926)
- August 20 – Bernard Delfgaauw, Dutch philosopher (b. 1912)
- August 21 – Ichiro Fujiyama, Japanese composer and singer (b. 1911)
- August 22 – Kasdi Merbah, Prime Minister of Algeria (b. 1938)
- August 28 – E. P. Thompson, English historian and activist (b. 1924)
- August 30 – Richard Jordan, American actor (b. 1937)
September
- September 4 – Hervé Villechaize, French-born actor (b. 1943)
- September 7 – Christian Metz, French film theorist (b. 1931)
- September 9 – Helen O'Connell, American singer (b. 1920)
- September 11 – Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian conductor (b. 1912)
- September 12
- September 13 – Steve Jordan, American jazz guitarist (b. 1919)
- September 15 – Maurice Yaméogo, Burkinabé statesman, first president of late Upper Volta, current Burkina Faso(b. 1921)
- September 20 – Erich Hartmann, German World War II fighter pilot, highest-scoring fighter ace in world history (b. 1922)
- September 22
- September 24
- September 27 – Jimmy Doolittle, American aviation pioneer and World War II United States Army Air Forces general (b. 1896)
- September 28 – Alexander A. Drabik, American soldier (b. 1910)
- September 29 – Gordon Douglas, American film director (b. 1907)
October
- October 5 – Agnes de Mille, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1905)
- October 7 – Cyril Cusack, Irish actor (b. 1910)
- October 12
- October 13
- Otmar Gutmann, German television director. Creator of Pingu (b. 1937).
- October 17 – Criss Oliva, American Musician (b. 1963)
- October 21
- October 22 – Jiří Hájek, Czech politician and diplomat (b. 1913)
- October 24 – Jo Grimond, British politician, former leader of the Liberal Party (b. 1913)
- October 25
- October 26
- October 27/ 28 – István Rosztóczy, Hungarian microbiologist
- October 28 – Yuri Lotman, Russian formalist critic, semiotician, and culturologist (b. 1922)
- October 29 – Masahiro Makino, Japanese film director (b. 1908)
- October 31
November
- November 1
- November 3 – Léon Theremin, inventor of the theremin (b. 1896)
- November 6 – Torsten Fenslau, German DJ and record producer (b. 1964)
- November 9
- November 10
- November 12
- November 14 – Sanzo Nosaka, Japanese Communist politician (b. 1892)
- November 16
- November 18 – Fritz Feld, German actor (b. 1900)
- November 19 – Leonid Gaidai, Soviet comedy director (b. 1923)
- November 20 – Emile Ardolino, American film director (b. 1943)
- November 21 – Bill Bixby, American actor (b. 1934)
- November 22
- November 28
- November 29 – J. R. D. Tata, Indian aviator and businessman (b. 1904)
December
- December 2 – Pablo Escobar, Colombian drug lord (b. 1949)
- December 3 – Lewis Thomas, American physician and essayist (b. 1913)
- December 4 – Frank Zappa, American guitarist and composer (b. 1940)
- December 5
- December 6 – Don Ameche, American actor (b. 1908)
- December 7
- Wolfgang Paul, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
- Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivoirian president (b. 1905)
- December 12 – József Antall, Hungarian Prime Minister (b. 1932)
- December 14 – Myrna Loy, American actress (b. 1905)
- December 15 – Evelyn Venable, American actress (b. 1913)
- December 16
- December 17
- December 18
- December 22
- December 24 – Norman Vincent Peale, American preacher and writer (b. 1898)
- December 25 – Pierre Victor Auger, French physicist (b. 1899)
- December 28 – William L. Shirer, American journalist and historian (b. 1904)
- December 31
Nobel Prizes
- Chemistry – Kary Mullis, Michael Smith
- Economics – Robert W. Fogel, Douglass North
- Literature – Toni Morrison
- Peace – Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk
- Physics – Russell Alan Hulse, Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr.
- Physiology or Medicine – Richard J. Roberts, Philip Allen Sharp
