events - 1980-1999

1 January 2000,� Saturday (+19,961) In the UK it became illegal for retailers to sell in anything but metric units.

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31 December 1999, Friday (+19,960) Boris Yeltsin resigned as President of Russia and was replaced by Vladimir Putin. Putin, 47, was elected President on 26/3/2000.

30 December 1999, Thursday (+19,959) Former Beatle member George Harrison was stabbed several times in the chest by an intruder who broke into his house in Oxfordshire, England. He survived and lived another 2 years before dying of ;lung cancer.

27 December 1999, Monday (+19,958)

23 December 1999, Thursday (+19,954) In Cote D�Ivoire, President Bedie was overthrown by the military, and General Robert Guei took power.

22 December 1999, Wednesday (+19,951) A Korean Air Boeing 747 cargo plane crashed shortly after taking off from London Stansted Airport.

20 December 1999, Monday (+19,949) Macau was handed back to China by Portugal.

15 December 1999, Wednesday (+19,944) Two weeks of heavy rain in Venezuela led to catastrophic floods and mudslides, killing 30,000 and leaving 100,000 homeless.

12 December 1999, Sunday (+19,941) Joseph Heller, author, died.

11 December 1999,� Saturday (+19,940) The Sistine Chapel, Vatican, reopened after 20 years restoration work and cleaning.

10 December 1999, Friday (+19,939) Franjo Tudjman, President of Croatia, died.

7 December 1999, Tuesday (+19,936)

3 December 1999, Friday (+19,932) NASA lost contact with the probe Mars Polar Lander at it attempted to touch down at the south pole of Mars.

2 December 1999, Thursday (+19,931) The UK government devolved power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive. Dublin withdrew its territorial claim to Northern Ireland.

1 December 1999, Wednesday (+19,930)

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30 November 1999, Tuesday (+19,929) In Seattle, a large-scale protest by the anti-globalisation movement caught the authorities unaware and forced the cancellation on a WTO meeting.

29 November 1999, Monday (+19,928) The Northern Ireland power-sharing executive was set up.

28 November 1999, Sunday (+19,927) Russian forces began a three-day bombardment of Grozny, Chechnya, killing some 500 people.

23 November 1999, Tuesday (+19,922)

22 November 1999, Monday (+19,921) (Space exploration) China launched a manned spacecraft.

21 November 1999, Sunday (+19,920) Quentin Crisp, actor, died.

17 November 1999, Wednesday (+19,916) The IRA promised to decommission its weapons.

14 November 1999, Sunday (+19,913) The UN Security Council voted to impose sanctions on Afghanistan to force the ruling Taleban to hand over Osama bin Laden.

12 November 1999, Friday (+19,911) A 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Duzce, north-west Turkey, killing 845 and injuring 4,948.

11 November 1999, Thursday (+19,910) 752 hereditary peers lost their voting rights in the House of Lords. They had formed a majority of the 1330 House. However 92 of the hereditaries had a stay of execution, until reforms of the House of lords were completed.

6 November 1999, Saturday (+19,905) The Australians voted to keep the British queen as Head of State.

1 November 1999, Monday (+19,900) Walter Peyton, US footballer, died.

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31 October 1999, Sunday (+19,899) EgyptAir flight 990 from New York to Cairo crashed into the Atlantic Ocean 97 km south of Nantucket Island, killing all 217 on board.

29 October 1999, Friday (+19,897) A cyclone hit Orissa, NE India, killing over 9,600 people and making thousands more homeless.

27 October 1999, Wednesday (+19,895) Brothels were legalised in The Netherlands.

12 October 1999, Tuesday (+19,880) (1) According to the UN, the world population reached 6 billion.

(2) General Pervez Musharraf (born 1943) took control of Pakistan in a military coup. Nawaz Sherif was deposed.

10 October 1999, Sunday (+19,878) The London Eye was erected.

5 October 1999, Tuesday (+19,873) A serious rail crash at Ladbroke Grove, outside Paddington, London, killed 31 people. Over 100 were injured. The 8.06 from Paddington to Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, was cut in half by the express from Cheltenham at 8.11 am. The newly-privatised rail companies were criticised for not spending enough on signalling.

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30/9/1999, Thursday (+10,868) Russian forces invaded Chechnya, to avenge their humiliation of 1996. Putin gained popularity in Russia.

23/9/1999, Thursday (+10,861) NASA lost contact with its Mars probe Climate Orbiter

21/9/1999, Tuesday (+19,859) Central Japan was hit by an earthquake; 2,400 were killed.

20/9/1999, Monday (+19,858) Timor L�Este appealed for help from the international community.

13/9/1999, Monday (+19,851) A bomb exploded in an apartment building in Moscow. This was the second blast in the city in 2 weeks, with a total of 200 killed. Chechen rebels were blamed.

9/9/1999, Thursday (+19,847) The Patten Report on policing in Northern Ireland was published. It proposed measures to make the police force less Protestant-dominated.

7/9/1999, Tuesday (+19,845) A magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit Athens, killing 143 people and injuring over 2,000.

3/9/1999, Friday (+19,841) After an 18-month French judicial inquiry, paparazzi press were cleared of responsibility for the car crash which killed Diana.

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30/8/1999, Monday (+19,837) In a referendum, East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia. Pro-Indonesian militias then went o the rampage, with the connivance of the Indonesian Army, until UNH peacekeepers arrived on 20/9/1999.

26/8/1999, Thursday (+19,833) Russia began the Second Chechen War following the invasion of Dagestan.

19/8/1999, Thursday (+19,826) In Belgrade, thousands of demonstrators demanded the resignation of President Slobodan Milosevic.

17/8/1999. Tuesday (+19,824) 17,800 killed as an earthquake hit the Turkish cities of Izmit and Istanbul. The quake measured 7.4 on the Richter Scale.� 17,000 were killed and 44,000 injured.

15/8/1999, Sunday (+19,822) Sir Hugh Casson, artist, died.

12/8/1999, Thursday (+19,819) Local sheep farmers in Millau, S France, led by Mr. Jose Bove, attacked and demolished a partly-built McDonalds restaurant. This was in response to US restrictions on the import of Roquefort cheese, which was itself in retaliation for European restrictions on imports of hormone-fed beef, which affected US farmers. Roquefort production employed some 1,300 people in the Millau area and annual sales to the US were 440 tonnes. The US imposed a 100% import duty on Roquefort, sending its price in Washington DC up from US$ 30 to US$ 60 per kilo, and US sales of this cheese dwindled to zero.

11/8/1999, Wednesday (+19,818) A total eclipse of the Sun was visible in south west England. However the weather was cloudy.

10/8/1999, Tuesday (+19,817) A Pakistani plane intruding into Indian airspace was shot down.

9/8/1999, Monday (+19,816) (1) Russian President Yeltsin again dismissed the Prime Minister (Primakov), and Vladimir Putin became Prime Minister.

(2) Charles Kennedy, 39, was elected as new leader of the Liberal Democrats, succeeding Paddy Ashdown.

8/8/1999, Sunday (+19,815) �Who Wants to be a Millionaire� was first screened; contestants could win up to US$1,000,000.

1/8/1999, Sunday (+19,808) In China the Yangtze River burst its banks, making 5 million homeless.

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22/7/1999, Thursday (+19,798) China cracked down on the Falun Gong religious movement, which claimed to have 70 million followers.

20/7/1999, Tuesday (+19,796) The death of King Hassan II of Morocco prompted widespread mourning across the Arab world.

16/7/1999, Friday (+19,792) John F Kennedy Jr., journalist and magazine publisher, died.

12/7/1999. Monday (+19,788) The three richest men in the world, Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and Warren Buffett, were collectively richer than the world�s poorest 43 nations.

11/7/1999, Sunday (+19,787) India recaptured the town of Kargil from Pakistan, after two months of conflict.

7/7/1999, Wednesday (+19,783) In Tehran, university students demanded liberal reforms. This led to rioting as Islamist vigilantes, the Ansar-e-Hezbollah, attacked the campus, killing 8. Pro-democracy protestors marched in Tehran on 12/7/1999.

1/7/1999, Thursday (+19,777) Queen Elizabeth II opened the Scottish Assembly. The average UK house price was �71,122.

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29/6/1999, Tuesday (+19,775) In Turkey, Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan was sentenced to death.

26/6/1999. Saturday (+19,772) There were problems at the UK�s Passport Office, with queues for passports reaching a record 530,000.

20/6/1999, Sunday (+19,766) Ethnic Albanians started to return to Kosovo. They began their own ethnic cleansing against Serbians. A UN peacekeeping force was sent to Kosovo.

18/6/1999, Friday (+19,764) Anti-Globalisation protests in many cities around the world, some of which became riots.

16/6/1999, Wednesday (+19,762) Screaming Lord Sutch (born 1940), committed suicide.

12/6/1999, Saturday (+19,758) The UN and NATO peacekeeping force KFOR entered Kosovo.

11/6/1999, Friday (+19,757) Serbia completed its withdrawal from Kosovo.

10/6/1999, Thursday (+19,756) NATO suspended air strikes against the Serbs after Slobodan Milosevic agreed to withdraw his forces from Kosovo.

9/6/1999, Wednesday (+19,755) In the Kosovo War, Yugoslavia and NATO signed a peace treaty.

8/6/1999, Tuesday (+19,754) Jonathan Aitken, former British Government Minister, was jailed for perjury.

7/6/1999, Monday (+19,753) In the USA, the FBI placed Osama bin Laden on its �Ten Most Wanted� list and offered a US$ 5 million reward for his capture.

5/6/1999, Saturday (+19,751) Mel Torme, singer and musician, died.

3/6/1999, Thursday (+19,749) Yugoslav President Milosevic agreed to evacuate Kosovo, in favour of ethnic Albanians.

2/6/1999, Wednesday (+19,748) (1) Thabo Mbeki became President of South Africa.

(2) After decades of resisting external technological influences such as television, the King of Bhutan allowed TV broadcasts in the Kingdom for the first time, to coincide with his silver jubilee.

1/6/1999, Tuesday (+19,747) Napster was released, enabling users to share music files and changing forever the music industry.

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27/5/1999, Thursday (+19,715)� (1) In Israel, former Premier Binyamin Netanyahu resigned as leader of the opposition Right-wing Likud Party, and was replaced by Ariel Sharon.

(2) Nelson Mandela retired as President of South Africa. He was replaced by Thabo Mbeki.

26/5/1999, Wednesday (+19,741) (1) The first Welsh Assembly for 600 years opened in Cardiff.

(2) Indian air force planes attacked Pakistani intruders in Kashmir, sparking the Kargil War.

20/5/1999, Thursday (+19,735) Bluetooth was announced.

17/5/1999, Monday (+19,732) Ehud Barak was elected President of Israel.

13/5/1999, Thursday (+19,728) The World Trade Organisation, having condemned the EU ban on imports of hormone-treated beef, had set a deadline of this day for the EU to revoke the ban. This deadline was not met, see 12/8/1999.

12/5/1999, Wednesday (+19,727) Russian President Boris Yeltsin dismissed Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, whose popularity had risen as he stabilised the economy. The Russian Duma (Parliament) discussed impeaching Yeltsin, but the witnesses they required failed to appear and the motion was lost. Sergei Stepashin became the new Prime Minister but see 9/8/1999.

11/5/1999, Tuesday (+19,726)

9/5/1999, Sunday (+19,724) Widespread protests in cities across China over the US accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.

8/5/1999, Saturday (+19,723) British film star Dirk Bogarde died, aged 78.

7/5/1999, Friday (+19,722) In Yugoslavia, three Chinese Embassy workers were killed and twenty wounded when a NATO aircraft mistakenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.

6/5/1999, Thursday (+19,721) Elections to the new Welsh and Scottish Assemblies were held. A large vote for the Nationalists in both countries prevented Labour from gaining a majority, and coalition Governments were formed.

5/5/1999, Wednesday (+19,720) Microsoft released Windows 98 Second edition.

3/5/1999, Monday (+19,718) A tornado in Oklahoma City registered the fastest winds so far recorded on Earth, at 318 mph.

1/5/1999, Saturday (+19,716) Oliver Reed, actor, died.

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30/4/1999, Friday (+19,715) (1) Cambodia joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), bringing the total number of members to ten.

(2) Another nail bomb exploded, (see 17/4/1999), in the Admiral Duncan pub in Old Compton Street, Soho, London.� A pregnant woman and two friends were killed, and seventy injured.� This was part of a hate campaign against gays and ethnic minorities by David Copeland.

28/4/1999, Wednesday (-19,713) Alf Ramsey, footballer, died (born 22 January 1920).

26/4/1999, Monday (+19,711) BBC TV presenter Jill Dando was shot dead on the doorstep of her Fulham house in London. Barry George, a loner obsessed with guns and celebrities, was convicted of the murder in 2001.

20/4/1999, Tuesday (+19,705) US teenagers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold took two submachine guns to Columbine High School, for an attack planned for Hitler�s birthday. 15 children were killed or injured before the two killed themselves.

19/4/1999, Monday (+19,704) The German Parliament returned to the new Reichstag buildings in Berlin.

17/4/1999, Saturday (+19,702) A nail bomb exploded in a busy market in Brixton, south London.� See 30/4/1999.

14/4/1999, Wednesday (+19,699) Following the Indian test, Pakistan also carried out a successful test of its ballistic missile.

12/4/1999, Monday (+19,697) Chancellor Gerhardt Schroder became leader of the German Social democratic Party ()SDP)

11/4/1999, Sunday (+19,696) India carried out a successful test of a ballistic missile.

9/4/1999, Friday (+19,694) The President of Niger, Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, was assassinated by his own guards. His Guard Commander, Major Douad Malam Wanke, took power.

6/4/1999, Tuesday (+19,691) The UK Government scrapped PEPs (Personal Equity Plans) in favour of ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts).

5/4/1999, Monday (+19,690) Two Libyans suspected of the bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie in 1988 were handed over to the Scottish authorities for eventual trial in The Netherlands.� The UN suspended sanctions against Libya.

4/4/1999, Sunday (+19,689) Easter Sunday.

1/4/1999, Thursday (+19,686) (1) The UK introduced a National Minimum wage, of �3.60 an hour, or �3,00 for those aged 18-21.

(2) Nunavut, an Inuit homeland, part of the Northwest Territories, was formed.

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26/3/1999, Friday (+19,680) The Melissa worm attacked the Internet.

25/3/1999, Thursday (+19,679) (1) The European Union adopted the Common Agricultural Policy, at a meeting in Berlin.

(2) A fire in the Mont Blanc road tunnel killed 39 people.� The tunnel was closed for nearly three years.

24/3/1999, Wednesday (+19,678) (1) NATO launched air strikes against Yugoslavia.� This was the first attack by NATO on a sovereign country. In Kosovo, there was escalating violence between Serbs and ethnic Albanians, and President Slobodan Milosevic was accused of ethnic cleansing, driving thousands of Albanians from their homes. NATO�s Operation Allied Force was to curb Serbian military activities.

(2) Britain�s trade deficit was at an all-time high of �2.8 billion.

23/3/1999, Tuesday (+19,677)

22/3/1999, Monday (+19,676) Jack Kevorkian, pro-euthanasia doctor, went on trial for murder in Pontiac, Michigan.� He was later convicted of second-degree murder.

21/3/1999, Sunday (+19,675) Ernie |Wise, comedian, died.

20/3/1999, Saturday (+19,674) Serbs launched an offensive in Kosovo.

16/3/1999, Tuesday (+19,670) The 240-acre Bluewater Shopping centre opened near Dartford, Kent; it was then Europe�s largest retail and leisure centre. It stood on the site of the former Blue Circle chalk quarry.

12/3/1999, Friday (+19,666) Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic joined NATO.

8/3/1999, Monday (+19,662) Monica Lewisnky arrived in Britain for a book-signing tour, beginning at Harrods.

7/3/1999, Sunday (+19,661) Stanley Kubrick, film director, died.

2/3/1999, Tuesday (+19,656) Dusty Springfield, singer, died.

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24 February 1999, Wednesday (+19,650) 38 died when two avalanches hit the Alpine town of Galtuer in Western Austria.

18 February 1999, Thursday (+19,644) The UK Government decided GM crops would not be grown commercially until field trials proved they were harmless.

15 February 1999, Monday (+19,641) Turkish agents in Kenya captured Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan and took him to Turkey to stand trial. His supporters then planted bombs in Turkey, in 3/1999.

12 February 1999, Friday (+19,638) (USA) President Clinton was acquitted at his impeachment trial.

10 February 1999, Wednesday (+19,637) Avalanches in the French Alps killed 10 people.

9 February 1999, Tuesday (+19,635) The last Khmer Rouge troops in Cambodia surrendered to Government forces.

8 February 1999, Monday (+19,634) Iris Murdoch, author, died.

7 February 1999, Sunday (+19,633) King Hussein of Jordan (born 1935) died of cancer.� His son became King Adbullah II of Jordan.

5 February 1999, Friday (+19,631) The Russian economist Wassily Leontief, Nobel Prize winner, born 1906, died.

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28 January 1999, Thursday (+19,623) The Ford car company announced it was buying the Volvo car company for US$ 6.45 billion.

25 January 1999, Monday (+19,620) A magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit western California, killing over 1,000 people.

23 January 1999, Saturday (+19,618) In India, radical Hindus killed US Christian missionaries Graham Stewart Baines and his two sons. The act was blamed on the militant group bajrang Dal, who opposed the conversion of Hindus to Christianity or Islam.

20 January 1999, Wednesday (+19,615) China announced restrictions on Internet use, aimed especially at Internet cafes.

18 January 1999, Monday (+19,613) Canaan Banana, former President of Zimbabwe, was convicted in absentia of sodomy and sentenced to 10 years prison. However he had already fled the country.

15 January 1999, Friday (+19,610) (Yugoslavia) Massacre at Racak, Kosovo, during the Yugoslav civil war.

10 January 1999, Sunday (+19,605) Robert Mugabe arrested 32 soldiers and accused them of plotting a coup, along with two journalists. There were doubts over the validity of this legal process.

7 January 1999, Thursday (+19,602) The impeachment trial of US President Bill Clinton began in Washington DC

6 January 1999, Wednesday (+19,601) Four days of border fighting began between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

3 January 1999, Sunday (+19,598) (Space exploration) The USA launched the MPL probe, to investigate the surface of Mars.

1 January 1999, Friday (+19,596) The Euro currency was introduced. 11 countries adopted it.

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29 December 1998, Tuesday (+19,593) Khmer Rouge leaders publically apologised for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians during the 1970s.

18 December 1998, Friday (+19,582) In the US, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Clinton.

17 December 1998, Thursday (+19,581) General Motors completed a new car factory in Shanghai, China.

16 December 1998, Wednesday (+19,580) Unscom withdrew weapons inspectors from Iraq after continued obstruction from visiting various sites. Between 16 and 19 December, US and Britain bombed Iraq� (Operation Desert Fox) to destroy its nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programmes.

11 December 1998, Friday (+19,575) (Space exploration) The Mars Climate Orbiter was launched from Cape Canaveral; the craft was later lost because one team was using metric and another using imperial measurements.

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26 November 1998, Thursday (+19,560) (1) Japan and China signed a joint declaration of friendship and economic development.

(2) Tony Blair became the first UK Prime Minister to address the Irish Parliament.

23 November 1998, Monday (+19,557) European Agriculture Ministers met to lift the ban on UK beef exports that had followed the BSE crisis.

20 November 1998, Friday (+19,554) (Space exploration) The first launch of the components for the International Space Station.

19 November 1998, Thursday (+19,553) The US Senate began impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair.� President Clinton was impeached on 19 December 1998.

3 November 1998, Tuesday (+19,537) Bob Kane, cartoonist, creator of Batman, died.

1 November 1998, Sunday (+19,535) The European Court of Human Rights was instituted.

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31 October 1998, Saturday (+19,534) Iraq ceased all co-operation with the UN Special Commission which was set up to oversee the destruction of Iraq�s Weapons of Mass Destruction (Unscom).

29 October 1998, Thursday (+19,532) (Space exploration) John Glenn, US astronaut, returned to space.

28 October 1998, Wednesday (+19,531) Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate since 1984, died.

26 October 1998, Monday (+19,529) Peru and Ecuador signed a treaty demarcating the ;last 48 miles of common border.

24 October 1998, Saturday (+19,527) (Space exploration) The USA launched the Deep Space ion propulsion space probe.

23 October 1998, Friday (+19,526) Dr Barnett Slepian was shot dead outside his home by anti-abortionist activist James Charles Kopp.

20 October 1998, Tuesday (+19,523)

18 October 1998, Sunday (+19,521) 700 people died in a fire in southern Nigeria as they scavenged oil leaking from a pipeline.

17 October 1998, Saturday (+19,520) US Airways placed a record-sized order for 276 Airbus A319s.

16 October 1998, Friday (+19,519) British police placed Augusto Pinochet under house arrest during his medical treatment in Britain. Spain wanted to charge him with crimes of murder and torture.

15 October 1998, Thursday (+19,518)

14 October 1998, Wednesday (+19,517) Labour announced its intention to remove the 700 year old voting rights of the hereditary peers in the House of Lords. Of the 1,165 members of the House of Lords, 476 were committed Tories against 175 for Labour, Amongst the hereditary peers, there were 304 for the Tories against 18 regular Labour supporters. In 1999 Labour announced a compromise whereby 91 hereditary peers could remain in a �transition� House of Lords, whilst a Royal Commission decided its eventual form.

13 October 1998, Tuesday (+19,516) Gunpei Yoko,� creator of Gameboy, died.

8 October 1998, Thursday (+19,511) Oslo�s new Gardermoen Airport opened, replacing the smaller Fornebu Airport.

5 October 1998, Monday (+19,508) The US Congressional Committee debated whether to impeach president Clinton overt the Monica Lewinsky affair, over allegations he had abused power and tampered with witnesses.

3 October 1998, Saturday (+19,506)Al Qaeda joined with local Somali tribesmen in battle with US forces, and shot down two US helicopters, an incident known as �Black Hawk Down�.

2 October 1998, Friday (+19,505) Gene Autry, singer, died.

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29/9/1998, Tuesday (+19,502) (1) New Zealand scientists announced that the Ozone Hole had grown to 28 million square km.

(2) The US passed the Iraq Liberation Act, stating the US intention to remove Saddam Hussein from power and replace his regime with a democratic government.

27/9/1998, Sunday (+19,500) In German Parliamentary elections, the governing Centre-Right CDU/CSU-FDP coalition lost its overall majority. Gerhardt Schroder became Chancellor at the head of a �red-green� coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens.

26/9/1998, Saturday (+19,499) Betty Carter, singer, died.

24/9/1998, Thursday (+19,497) Tehran lifted the fatwa imposed on author Salman Rushdie for his book The Satanic Verses.

21/9/1998, Monday (+19.494) President Clinton admitted on TV that he had had sex with Monica Lewinsky. He had denied this in January 1998.

18/9/1998, Friday (+19.491) ICANN, the Internet naming company, was formed.

16/9/1998, Wednesday (+19,489) The Basque guerrilla group ETA announced a �total and indefinite ceasefire� to take effect from 18/9/1998

11/9/1998, Friday (+19,484) In the US, the Starr Report into the Monica Lewinsky affair concluded that President Clinton had committed 11 impeachable offences.

8/9/1998, Tuesday (+19,481) The splinter group Real IRA announced a ceasefire, declaring a halt to its violence. However they continued to meet and train.

7/9/1998, Monday (+19,480) Google was founded.

6/9/1998, Sunday (+19,479) Akira Kurosawa, film director, died.

2/9/1998, Wednesday (+19,475) Swissair flight 111, flying from New York to Geneva, crashed into the Atlantic, killing all 229 on board.

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31/8/1998, Monday (+10,473) (1) North Korea test-fired a ballistic weapon over Japan as a show of strength. There were fears that North Korea was covertly building nuclear weapons.

(2) As the Russian Rouble collapsed in value, Boris Yeltsin tried to reinstate Viktor Chernomyrdin as Prime Minister. However the Russian Duma (Parliament) blocked this.� Eventually Yevgeny Primakov became Prime Minister.

22/8/1998, Saturday (+19,464) (Football) Madjeski Stadium, home of Reading Football Club, opened. It was named after the Club�s Chairman, John Madjeski.

21/8/1998, Friday (+19,463) In South Africa, former President PW Botha was fined and given a suspended prison sentence for contempt of court. He had refused to testify before the Government�s truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was examining misdeeds committed during the Apartheid era.

20/8/1998, Thursday (+19,462) The USA launched attacks against the Al Shifa pharmaceuticals and chemical plant� in Sudan and cruise missile attacks against Al Quaeda bases in Afghanistan in retaliation for the 7/8/1998 embassy bombs.

17/8/1998, Monday (+19,459) President Bill Clinton gave evidence to a Grand Jury about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. He admitted to �inappropriate physical contact� with Monica Lewinsky and apologised for misleading people, including his wife.

15/8/1998, Saturday (+19,457) The Real IRA detonated a car bomb in Omagh, County Tyrone, killing 29 and injuring over 200.

13/8/1998, Thursday (+19,455) UK authorities warned of a rat invasion, saying there were 750,000 rat-infested homes in Britain.

7/8/1998. Friday (+19,449) (1) Osama Bin Laden�s Al-Qaeda terrorists bombed the USA embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, and wounding over 4,000.

(2) The Yangtse River in China flooded, killing 12,000 people.

5/8/1998, Wednesday (+19,447) Iraq suspended all co-operation with UNSCOM officials.

3/8/1998, Monday (+19,445) The Taleban took Mazar-e-Sharif, the last city outside their control.

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31/7/1998, Friday (+19,442) Serbian forces now occupied the whole of Kosovo, displacing some 100,000 ethnic Albanians.

30/7/1998, Thursday (+19,441) The conviction of Derek Bentley fir the murder of a policeman in 1952 was posthumously rescinded; Bentley was hanged in 1953.

23/7/1998, Thursday (+19,434) A team of scientists at the University of Hawaii, led by Ryuzo Yanagimachi, announced they had produced three generations of cloned mice.

15/7/1998, Wednesday (+19,426) Orangemen were forcibly removed from their positions in Northern Ireland, following a week long standoff which ensued when they had tried to march down the predominantly Catholic Garvahy Road, Portadown, on the Orange day Parades of 6/7/1998, This event had triggered a week of violence across Northern Ireland.

7/7/1998, Tuesday (+19,418) German car manufacturer Volkswagen AG agreed to pay compensation to those who were used as slave labour during World War Two.

6/7/1998, Monday (+19,417) The new airport at Chek Lai Kok, Hong Kong, opened.

1/7/1998, Wednesday (+19,412) 500g of streaky bacon cost �2.10� 500g of beef cost �1.99.� 250g of cheddar cheese cost �1.25.� 250g of butter cost 85p.� 500g of margarine cost 83p.� 1 kg old potatoes cost 77p.� 125g of loose tea cost 76p.�� 6 eggs cost 76p.� 1 kg granulated sugar cost 67p.� 800g sliced white bread cost 52p. The average UK house price was �65,201.

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25/6/1998, Thursday (+19,406) Microsoft released Windows 98 (first edition).

23/6/1998, Tuesday (+19,404) (Education, Schools) In Britain, Labour Education and Employment Secretary David Blunkett announced plans for a �75 million joint business and Government initiative for 25 �education action zones�. Schools, in these zones of poor educational performance, would experiment with longer teaching hours and more use of IT.

22/6/1998, Monday (+19,403) Tony Blair praised the �758 million London Millennium Dome, erected on a former gasworks site, as a �symbol of Britain�s creativity.

16/6/1998, Tuesday (+19,397) The Taleban closed down the last girl�s school in the territory they controlled. This territory expanded in the next 2 months.

12/6/1998, Friday (+19,393) (Brazil) Transpetro, the largest oil and gas pipeline transportation company in Brazil, was established.

11/6/1998, Thursday (+19,392) The UN officially declared a famine in Ethiopia, as one million faced starvation.

10/6/1998, Wednesday (+19,391) (Education, Schools) In Britain, the Government started a programme to promote laptop use by schoolchildren, called Anytime Anywhere Learning.

8/6/1998, Monday (+19,389) (1) Nigerian dictator General Abacha died suddenly.

(2) (Aviation) British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced plans for the privatisation of Britain�s Air Traffic Control.

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30/5/1998, Saturday (+19,380) (1) Pakistan conducted further nuclear tests.

(2) A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit northern Afghanistan, killing 5,000 people.

28/5/1998, Thursday (+19,378) Pakistan test-exploded five nuclear devices in retaliation for India�s nuclear tests earlier in the month.� The US, Japan, and other nations imposed sanctions on Pakistan.

25/5/1998, Monday (+19,375) Serbia launched a major offensive against the secessionist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which then held some 40% of Kosovo.

24/5/1998, Sunday (+19,374) In the first legislative elections in Hong Kong since China took control, pro-democracy Parties took 60% of the vote.

23/5/1998, Saturday (+19,373) Andreas Liebenberg, South African military commander, died aged 60.

22/5/1998, Friday (+19,372) Voters approved the Good Friday Agreement of 10/4/1998 by a majority of 71.12%, in Northern Ireland and by 94.39% in the Republic of Ireland.

21/5/1998, Thursday (+19,371) President Suharto of Indonesia resigned as the country�s economy worsened. He had ruled since 1967/ he was replaced by Bacharuddin Habibie.

20/5/1998, Wednesday (+19,370) Jamie Chadwick, English racing car driver, was born.

19/5/1998, Tuesday (+19,369) Uno Sosuke, Japanese Prime Minister, died.

18/5/1998, Monday (+19,368) In Britain, the New Labour Government announced that the new Minimum Wage would be �3.60 per hour, coming into force in April 1999.

17/5/1998, Sunday (+19,367) In Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu lost Prime Ministerial elections to the Labour Party under Ehud Barak.

16/5/1998, Saturday (+19,366) Ariel Waller, Canadian child actress, was born.

15/5/1998, Friday (+19,365) Frank Sinatra died.

14/5/1998, Thursday (+19,364) The US sitcom Seinfeld was first broadcast.

13/5/1998, Wednesday (+19,363) The US and Japan imposed economic sanctions on India because of its nuclear test.

12/5/1998, Tuesday (+19,362) Hermann Lenz, German writer, died aged 75.

11/5/1998, Monday (+19,361) India conducted a nuclear test in the Rajasthan Desert, its first such test since 1974.� Pakistan, which already had nuclear weapons, was angered.

10/5/1998, Sunday (+19,360) Members of Sinn Fein, political wing of the IRA, voted to accept the Good Friday peace agreement.

9/5/1998, Saturday (+19,359) Alice Faye (Leppert), US actress died aged 83.

8/5/1998, Friday (+19,358) The US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Microsoft Corporation, claiming it had abused its monopoly power by tying its Web browser, Internet Explorer, to its operating system, Windows.

7/5/1998, Thursday (+19,357) Daimler-Benz and Chrysler merged.

6/5/1998, Wednesday (+19,356) Tensions between Eritrea and Ethiopia escalated into a border war. The issue was sovereignty over a small area around the border towns of Badame and Sheraro; 70,000 died in the conflict across both sides.

5/5/1998, Tuesday (+19,355) Syd Lawrence, British bandleader (Syd Lawrence Orchestra), died aged 74.

4/5/1998, Monday (+19,354) Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, received 4 life sentences.

3/5/1998, Sunday (+19,353) The EU confirmed that the new Eurozone, or European Monetary Union, would start from 1 January 1999. 11 countries, all the EU members except Britain, Denmark, Sweden and Greece, would be part of it.

2/5/1998, Saturday (+19,352) Cambodian refugees entered Thailand as Government forces claimed to have almost destroyed the Khmer Rouge.

1/5/1998, Friday (+19,351) The former Rwandan Prime Minister, Jean Kambanda, pleaded guilty at The Hague to six counts of genocide, at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

====================================================================================

30/4/1998, Thursday (+19,350) The US Senate voted to admit Hungary, Poland and the Czech republic to NATO.

29/4/1998, Wednesday (+19,349) Yugoslav Government foreign assets were frozen by the West.

27/4/1998, Monday (+19,347) Carlos Castaneda, writer, died.

23/4/1998, Thursday (+19,343) James Earl Ray, assassin of Martin Luther King, died.

20/4/1998, Monday (+19,340) In Germany, the Red Army Faction announced that it was ceasing operations and winding up, as it no longer had a political reason to exist.

19/4/1998, Sunday (+19,339) Octavio Paz, writer, died.

17/4/1998, Friday (+19,337) A satellite detected that a 200 square km piece of the Larsen B ice shelf had broken off. Global Warming was blamed.

15/4/1998, Wednesday (+19,335) Pol Pot died, aged 70. He had been dictator of Kampuchea (Cambodia), and murdered thousands of people.

12/4/1998, Sunday (+19,332) Easter Sunday.

11/4/1998, Saturday (+19,331) The worst floods for 50 years hit central and southern England, killing 5 people and causing �500 million damage.

10/4/1998, Friday (+19,330) The Good Friday agreement was signed. Two years of negotiation produced an agreement on plans for a Northern Ireland Assembly and cross-border co-operation with the Irish Republic. A referendum for the proposals was scheduled for May 1998.

8/4/1998, Wednesday (+19,328)

6/4/1998, Monday (+19,326) Wendy O Williams, singer, died.

5/4/1998, Sunday (+19,325) The longest suspension bridge in the world to date opened in Japan, linking Honshu to Shikoku. The main span was 1.25 miles 92.2 km) long. Construction cost US$ 3.6 billion and took ten years.

2/4/1998, Thursday (+19,322) In Bordeaux, France, Maurice Papon was convicted of complicity in Nazi crimes against humanity committed under the Vichy regime., He was sentenced to 10 years prison.

===================================================================================

31/3/1998, Tuesday (+19,320) (1) The New Zealand Government introduced a Bill to compensate the Maori Ngai Tahu people for land stolen from them in the 1800s.

(2) The RAF withdrew its nuclear bombs from service, leaving submarine-based Trident missiles as the UK�s only nuclear deterrent.

(3) The UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Yugoslavia to force President Milosevic to negotiate a a peaceful settlement with the Kosovan Albanians.

27/3/1998, Friday (+19,316) Ferry Porsche, car manufacturer, died.

25/3/1998, Wednesday (+19,314) (Earthquake) A magnitude 8.1 earthquake was recorded in Antarctica, near Balleny Island. This was not attributable to fault activity and may have been caused by glacial rebound.

23/3/1998, Monday (+19,312) (1) Russian President Boris Yeltsin dismissed his entire Cabinet. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin was replaced by 35-year-old Sergei Kiriyenko.

(2) Sinn Fein was readmitted to Northern Ireland peace talks.

15/3/1998, Sunday (+19,304) Benjamin Spock, author and paediatrician, died.

14/3/1998, Saturday (+19,303) A magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit south eastern Iran.

10/3/1998, Tuesday (+19,299) Former dictator of Chile, Augusto Pinochet, stepped down as Chief of the Armed Forces and became Senator for life. On 16 October 1998, on a visit to London he was arrested when Spain wanted to charge him, but he was released on grounds of ill-health on 18 February 2000.

6/3/1998, Friday (+19,295) The South Crofty tin mine closed, the last tin mine in Cornwall. The 800 metre deep mine had bee operating since the 16^th century and tin had been mined on Cornwall for 3,000 years. In 1983 the tin industry in Cornwall had employed 20,000, but the collapse in world tin prices had ruined the industry.

5/3/1998, Thursday (+19,294) The NASA Satellite Lunar Prospector discovered ice beneath the lunar surface at the South Pole.

4/3/1998, Wednesday (+19,293) (Britain) The Countryside March was held, as 250,000 people marched through central London to protest at issues facing the UK countryside. Points of protest included the ban on hunting with dogs and Government policies on farming.

3/3/1998, Tuesday (+19,292) Panggih Prio Sembodho, Indonesian footballer, was born.

2/3/1998, Monday (+19,291) Data sent from the Galileo probe indicated that Jupiter�s Moon Europa had an ocean of liquid water beneath a frozen crust of ice.

1/3/1998, Sunday (+19,290) (1) Serbia sent paramilitary forces into its southern province of Kosovo to seek out ethnic Albanian guerrillas. Serb forces attacked Albanian villages, killing men, women and children. On 2/3/1998 there was a 50,000-strong anti-Serb demonstration in the Kosovan capital, Pristina.

(2) 250,000 pro-foxhunting demonstrators marched through the centre of London.

====================================================================================

28 February 1998, Saturday (+19,289) Dermot Morgan, actor and comedian, died.

26 February 1998, Thursday (+19,287) A jury rejected a lawsuit by Texas cattle farmers that remarks on TV by Oprah Winfrey about Mad Cow Disease had caused beef prices to plummet., costing them millions of Dollars.

24 February 1998, Tuesday (+19,285) Elton John, pop star, was knighted.

23 February 1998, Monday (+19,284) Osama bin Laden issued a fatwa from Afghanistan calling for Muslims to kill Americans anywhere, and to liberate Jerusalem from Westerners.

17 February 1998, Tuesday (+19,278)

16 February 1998, Monday (+19,277) A China Airlines plane crashed into a residential area near Chiang Kai Shek Airport, killing all 196 on board and 6 on the ground.

14 February 1998, Saturday (+19,275) In Northern Ireland, police accused the IRA of two murders. The IRA�s political wing, Sinn Fein, was suspended from peace talks.

13 February 1998, Friday (+19,274) (1) In Sierra Leone a Nigerian-led force of West African peacekeepers overthrew the military government of Major Johnny Paul Koroma and reinstated President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.

(2) In Australia, delegates at a Constitutional Convention in Canberra voted 89 to 52 to replace The Queen as Head of State by a President chosen by a bipartisan Parliamentary majority. They decided to have a Referendum in 1999 on this change.

10 February 1998, Tuesday (+19,271) Voters in Maine repealed a gay rights law made in 1997, becoming the first US State to abandon such a law.

8 February 1998, Sunday (+19,269) Women�s ice hockey was first played at the Winter Olympics.

6 February 1998, Friday (+19,267) Carl Wilson, musician (The Beach Boys), died.

4 February 1998, Wednesday (+19,265) A 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit north-east Afghanistan, killing over 5,000 people.

3 February 1998, Tuesday (+19,264) The FTSE 100 closed at a record high of 5612.8; the companies on the index were valued at over UK� 1,000 billion for the first time ever.

=====================================================================================

29 January 1998, Thursday (+19,259) (1) Tony Blair announced an inquiry into the �Bloody Sunday� events in Londonderry on 30 January 1972.

(2) Shell announced that Brent Spar would be disposed of on shore, and used as the foundations for a new ferry terminal.

27 January 1998, Tuesday (+19,257) (Military) In response to w worldwide movement against landmines, the UK Government said it would destroy its stocks of these weapons.

26 January 1998, Monday (+19,256) Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese music teacher, died.

24 January 1998, Saturday (+19,254)

22 January 1998, Thursday (+19,252) Theodore Kaczynski, Unabomber, pleaded guilty and was told he would serve life with no parole.

21 January 1998, Wednesday (+19,251) US President Clinton denied he had any sexual relationship with 24-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. Rumours had circulated in the Press of an 18-month affair in 1995. There were allegations that Clinton had asked Lewinsky to lie under oath and deny any affair with him.

19 January 1998, Monday (+19,249) Food riots broke out in Zimbabwe as the price of maize meal rose by over 20%. Land confiscations and general mismanagement by Mugabe had crippled the economy. Despite government repression, there was a General Strike 3-4March 1998.

16 January 1998, Friday (+19,246) For safety reasons, Russia closed own over 200 small airlines that had started up since 1992. 315 airlines were pared down to just 53.

15 January 1998, Thursday (+19,245) (Smoking, USA) Five cigarette manufacturers agreed a settlement with the State of Texas for US$ 7.25 billion in compensation for the treatment costs of tobacco-related diseases. This was the largest payment in history. However this settlement was dwarfed on 20 November 1998 by a settlement of US$206 billion by the 4 largest US tobacco firms to agree claims by all US States.

12 January 1998, Monday (+19,242) 19 European nations agreed to forbid human cloning after an announcement by Richard Seed that he would use techniques from Dolly the Sheep to clone humans.

10 January 1998, Saturday (+19,240) An earthquake in China killed 50 and injured 10,000.

8 January 1998, Thursday (+19,238) Scientists announced that the expansion rate of the universe was increasing.

7 January 1998, Wednesday (+19,237) In Canada, the Minister of Indian Affairs, Jane Stewart, officially apologised to indigenous Americans and Inuit people for centuries of mistreatment and injustice.

6 January 1998, Tuesday (+19,236) (Space exploration) The USA launched the Lunar Prospector space probe, to map the lunar surface.

5 January 1998, Monday (+10,235) Kenya�s President, Daniel Arap Moi, who had ruled since 1978, was sworn in for a further 5-year term.

3 January 1998, Saturday (+19,233)

1 January 1998, Thursday (+19,231) California banned smoking in all its bars and restaurants.

=====================================================================================

31 December 1997, Wednesday (+19,230) The US retail chain Wal-Mart announced its intention to expand into Europe, by acquiring the German retailer Werkauf with its 21 supermarkets.

29 December 1997, Monday (+19,228) (1) Violence marred elections in Kenya. President Arap Moi won a further term, in elections widely seen as flawed.

(2) The Hong Kong Government ordered a mass slaughterof its entire chicken population, to prevent the spread of avian flu to humans. The virus had already caused severe illness in 18 people, of whom 6 had died. 1.2 milliomn chockens were killed, as well as large numbers of ducks, geese, quail and other poultry. Farmers and vendors were compensated.

24 December 1997, Wednesday (+19,223) A violent storm began in Britain, with 80 mph winds in southern England, killing 13 people. The storm ended on 26 December 1997, but another storm on 3-4 January 1998 hit the UK, with winds up to 100 mph, killing 2 people.

23 December 1997, Tuesday (+19,222) Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal was sentenced to life imprisonment, after being arrested in Sudan.

22 November 1997, Monday (+19,221) Michael Hutchence, singer (INXS), died.

20 December 1997, Saturday (+19,219)

18 December 1997, Thursday (+19,217) Donald Dewar, Secretary of State for Scotland, unveiled a Bill to give Scotland its own Parliament.

17 December 1997, Wednesday (+19,216) In South Africa, Thabo Mbeki became President of the Africa National Congress (ANC), However Nelson Mandela remained as the national President.

16 December 1997, Tuesday (+19,215) On Japanese TV, 20 minutes into an episode of the popular children�s� programme Pok�mon, the screen exploded with a rapid succession of red and blue light, causing nausea, blurred vision, and in some cases even epileptic fits and loss of consciousness, 685 children were seriously affected; most quickly recovered although 150 were admitted into hospital. The episode, entitled �Electric Soldier Porygon;�, was never broadcast again anywhere in the world.

11 December 1997, Thursday (+19,210) At the Kyoto Climate Conference, delegates agreed to reduce CO2 emissions by 5.2% of 1990 levels by 2012.

7 December 1997, Sunday (+19,206) Billy Bremner, footballer, died (born 9 December 1942).

3 December 1997, Wednesday (+19,202) (Food) UK Agriculture Secretary Jack Cunningham announced a ban on sales of beef on the bone as a measure against BSE causing CJD in humans,

1 December 1997, Monday (+19,200) Stephane Grappelli, violinist, died.

====================================================================================

28 November 1997, Friday (+19,197) In India the Congress Party withdrew from the coalition, which then collapsed.

17 November 1997, Monday (+19,186) The terrorist group Jamaat al Islamiyah massacred 58 foreign tourists and 4 Egyptians at Luxor.

9 November 1997, Sunday (+19,178) (Broadcasting) BBC1 began broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Previously TV had closed down at night.

8 November 1997, Saturday (+19,177) The main channel of China�s Yangtze River was blocked as construction work continued on the Three Gorges Dam.

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31 October 1998, Friday (+19,169)

29 October 1997, Wednesday (+19,167) Iraq banned UN weapons inspectors from its territory.

21 October 1997, Tuesday (+19,159) Elton John�s �Candle in the Wind�, a tribute to Diana Princess of Wales, sold 31.8 million copies, the best seller ever.

15 October 1997, Wednesday (+19,153) (1) Andy Green drove the land vehicle, Thrust SSC,� at faster than sound, in the Nevada Desert. He achieved 763.035 mph, and produced a sonic boom.

(2) The Cassini space probe was launched towards Saturn. It plunged into the planet�s atmosphere to destruction on 15/9/2017.

13 October 1997, Monday (+19,151) Tony Blair shook hands with Gerry Adams at Stormont Castle, the first meeting between a British Prime Minister and a Sinn� Fein leader since the signing of the Anglo-Irish treaty in 1921.

12 October 1997, Sunday (+19,150) John Denver, singer, died.

9 October 1997, Thursday (+19,147) Hurricane Pauline hit Acapulco, Mexico, killing 250 people.

2 October 1997, Thursday (+19,140) (1) (European Union) The treaty of Amsterdam was signed, further integrating the European Union.

(2) (Food) UK scientists Moira Bruce and (independently) John Collinge proved that new-variant brain disease CJD in humans was the same as BSE in cows.

1 October 1997, Wednesday (+19,139) Fiji was readmitted to the Commonwealth. It had been expelled in 1987 because of discriminatory legislation against Indians.

====================================================================================

29/9/1997, Monday (+19,137) Roy Lichtenstein, artist, died.

27/9/1997, Saturday (+19,135) The Pathfinder probe on Mars ceased functioning, after 2 months on the planet�s surface.

25/9/1997, Thursday (+19,133) The British Thrust supersonic car set a new world land speed record of 714.1 mph in Nevada.

19/9/1997, Friday (+19,127) An inter-city express collided with a freight train at Southall, west London, killing 7 people.

18/9/1997, Thursday (+19,126) Wales voted in favour of devolution and a National Assembly. The �yes� vote was much narrower than in Scotland, with a majority of just 6,721 votes in favour.

17/9/1997, Wednesday (+19,125) Red Skelton, comedian, died.

15/9/1997, Monday (+19,123)

12/9/1997, Friday (+19,120) Jiang Zemin was confirmed as Chinese Communist party general secretary by the Party�s 15^th Congress. The liberalising policies started by the late Deng Xiaoping were to continue.

11/9/1997, Thursday (+19,119) Scotland voted in favour of a devolved Assembly. In Scotland, 73.4% of those voting favoured a National Assembly, and 63.5% favoured the Assembly having tax-raising powers.

9/9/1997, Tuesday (+19,117)

8/9/1997, Monday (+19,116) The Boeing 777-300 was unveiled. It was 77 metres long, the longest aircraft to date.

6/9/1997, Saturday (+19,114) Funeral of Diana Princess of Wales in Westminster Abbey.� It was watched on television worldwide by over one billion people.

5/9/1997, Friday (+19,113) Mother Teresa died in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, aged 87.

3/9/1997, Wednesday (+19,111) 300 troops were dispatched from Moroni, the Comoros capital on Grande Comore, to put down the secession movement on Anjouan. Rebels, helped by foreign mercenaries, put up fierce resistance and the Government troops withdrew. France declined to intervene., the OAU sponsored peace talks. Later in 1997 the Comoros President appointed an Anjouan as his Prime Minister.

===================================================================================

31/8/1997, Sunday (+19,108) Death of Diana, Princess of Wales, born 1961, along with Dodi Al Fayed, born 1955, in a car �accident� in a road tunnel in Paris. See 28/8/1996.

29/8/1997, Friday (+19,106) In London, work began on the Millennium Dome.

27/8/1997, Wednesday (+19,104) Norway and Sweden admitted that, between 1934 and 1967, they sterilised thousands of people deemed �substandard�, including the disabled.

20/8/1997, Wednesday (+19,097) Guerrillas massacred 60 and kidnapped 15 women in the town of Souhane, Algeria. This resulted in a mass abandonment of the town, reducing its population from 4,000 to 103.

15/8/1997, Friday (+19,092) Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to die by lethal injection. He had killed 168 people.

11/8/1997, Monday (+19,088) The UN relief force had now left Albania.

2/8/1997, Saturday (+19,079) US writer William Burroughs died.

1/8/1997, Friday (+19,078) Sbviatoslav Richter, Russian pianist, died.

===================================================================================

30/7/1997, Wednesday (+19,076) Hamas suicide bombers killed 13 in Jerusalem. Peace talks were jeopardised as Israel took retributive action against the Palestinian economy.

25/7/1997, Friday (+19,071) Ben Hogan, golfer, died.

23/7/1997, Wednesday (+19,069) (1) Slobodan Milosevic became president of �Yugoslavia� (by then consisting of just Serbia and Montenegro).

(2) (Education, University) The UK Government announced plans to start charging university students �1,000.

19/7/1997, Saturday (+19,065) (1) The IRA announced a new ceasefire, the second in three years. It said this was the �unequivocal restoration of the August 1994 ceasefire�, broken in February 1996.

(2) Charles Taylor was elected President of Liberia. He was backed by Libya.

17/7/1997, Thursday (+19,063) The global Internet system crashed for the first time.

15/7/1997, Tuesday (+19,061) Gianni Versace, clothes designer, was shot dead at the age of 50. The chief suspect was Andrew Cunanan, a gay serial killer; the FBI believed Versace was shot in revenge for infecting other men with HIV. Cunanan was found dead on a houseboat at Miami Beach, having committed suicide when the police arrived. However there were rumours of a mafia money-laundering connection, and that Cunanan had been killed to hide the true killer�s identity.

14/7/1997, Monday (+19,060) (1) In India KR Narayanan was elected President. He was the first President to come from the �untouchable� caste.

(2) In California a Bill was signed allowing women to breast feed in public.

8/7/1997, Tuesday (+19,054) NATO invited the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance.

6/7/1999, Sunday (+19,052) Joaquin Rodrigo, composer, died.

5/7/1997, Saturday (+19,051) A truce mediated by Gabon ended the worst of the fighting in Congo-Brazzaville but sporadic conflict continued.

4/7/1997, Friday (+19,050) NASA�s Pathfinder probe landed on the surface of Mars.

3/7/1997, Thursday (+19,049) Sir Gordon Downey�s report into the �cash for questions� scandal in the found that two former Conservative ministers, Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith, received payment from Mohammed el Fayed in return for asking questions in the House of Commons.

2/7/1997, Wednesday (+19,048) �(1) The British Medical Association announced that drugs derived from cannabis were to be made legally available for cancer patients and others suffering from debilitating diseases.

(2) Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, gave Labour�s first Budget speech for 18 years.

(3) (SE Asia) The Thai Baht abruptly fell 25% overnight, as the East Asian Crisis got underway.

1/7/1997, Tuesday (+19,047) (1) Hong Kong was handed back to China.�

(2) A pint of milk cost 35p.� A dozen large eggs cost �1.59.� A loaf of white sliced bread cost 52p.� A kg of minced beef cost �3.72.� A kg of potatoes cost 20p.� A kg of apples cost 51p.� A pint of beer cost �1.63.� 20 cigarettes cost �2.94. Road tax for a car cost �145. The average UK house price was �58,403. A 6-bed house in Wimbledon cost �775,000 (13.27 x average). 2 weeks in Lucerne cost �815. A ,man�s watch cost �29.50. The Observer newspaper cost �1.00.

======================================================================================

28/6/1997, Saturday (+19,044)

26/6/1997, Thursday (+19,042) (1) In Ireland (see 6/6/1997), Bertie Ahern of Fianna Fail formed a coalition with the Progressive Democrats, replacing John Bruton as Taoiseach (Prime Minister).

(2) Harry Potter and the Philosopher�s Stone was published. It rapidly gained popularity through word of mouth, and enabled JK Rowling to break publishing records.

25/6/1997, Wednesday (+19,041) Jacques Cousteau, French underwater explorer, died.

22/6/1997, Sunday (+19,038) Gerard Pelletier, Canadian politician, died.

19/6/1997, Thursday (+19,035) (1) Following the resignation of John Major as Conservative leader, William Hague, 36, became its youngest leader since 1783.

(2) The fast food chain McDonalds won a partial victory in its McLibel case against two environmental campaigners.� The judge decided it was true that McDonalds targeted its advertising at children, who then pestered their parents to visit McDonalds.

12/6/1997, Thursday (+19,028) The new Globe Theatre, London, opened.

11/6/1997, Wednesday (+19,027) The UK Parliament voted for a total ban on handguns.

6/6/1997, Friday (+19,022) In general elections in the Republic of Ireland, no Party won a majority, see 26/6/1997. 2/6/1997, Monday (+19,018) (1) Alban Maginness of the SDLP became the first Catholic to be elected Mayor of Belfast.

(2) Timothy McVeigh was convicted on 15 charges of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Alfred P Murragh building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.� On 13/6/1997 he was sentenced to death.

(3) In Canada the governing Liberal Party of Prime Minister Jean Chretien narrowly won general elections.

1/6/1997, Sunday (+19,017) The Socialist Party won French elections starting a period of �cohabitation� (cooperation) between a Left-wing Parliament and a Right-wing President. Socialist leader Lionel Jospin became Prime Minister.

======================================================================================

29/5/1997, Thursday (+19,014) NATO and Ukraine signed an agreement on mutual co-operation and security, similar to the one signed with Russia on 27/5/1997.

27/5/1997, Tuesday (+19,012) NATO and Russia signed the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security.

25/5/1997, Sunday (+19,010) In Sierra Leone, the civilian Government of Ahmed Kebbah was ousted in a coup. Major Johnny Paul Koroma replaced him. Other African States warned they may use force to reinstate civilian rule.

24/5/1997, Saturday (+19,009) McDonalds opened its forst branch in Kiev, Ukraine.

23/5/1997, Friday (+19,008) (1) Russia and Belarus agreed a Union Charter, aimed at eventual union between the two countries.

(2) In Iran, Hojjat al-Islam Seyyed Khatami was elected President. He won a landslide victory gaining 22 million out of 30 million votes.

20/5/1997, Tuesday (+19,005) The British intelligence agency MI5 first advertised to recruit trainee spies, in The Times and The Guardian.

16/5/1997, Friday (+19,001) In Zaire, the Mobutu regime collapsed. Rebel forces under Laurent Kabila had captured the capital, Kinshasa. Mobutu fled the country, which was renamed as the Democratic Republic of Congo.

12/5/1997, Monday (+18,997) Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a peace treaty with President Aslan Maskhadov of Chechnya. Both sides agreed to renounce the use of force, but Chechnya�s eventual status remained unresolved.

10/5/1997, Saturday (+18,995) An earthquake near Ardekul, north east Iran, killed over 2,400 people.

9/5/1997, Friday (+18,994) An Australian study suggested that some mice, after prolonged exposure to cell phone radiation, showed an increase in lymphoma cancer.

8/5/1997, Thursday (+18,993) Moldova signed a Peace Memorandum with the breakaway Dneister Republic.

7/5/1997, Wednesday (+18,992) The International war Crimes Tribunal in The Hague� convicted Dusan Tadic, a Bosnian Serb reserve policeman, of war crimes committed during the Bosnian War. This was the first such conviction since World War Two.

6/5/1997, Tuesday (+18,991) Labour Chancellor Gordon Brown granted the Bank of England independence in setting interest rates.

5/5/1997, Monday (+18,990) (Space exploration) The USA launched the Iridium satellites, for global communications.

4/5/1997, Sunday (+18,989) Having lost to world chess champion Gary Kasparov in 1996, the computer Deep Blue was upgraded and this day beat Kasparov.

3/5/1997, Saturday (+18,988) (1) Tony Blair was officially sworn in as Prime Minister. Tony�s father was the son of music hall artists Charles Parsons and Gussie Bridson. He was illegitimate however, so was adopted by a Glasgow shipyard worker, James Blair.

(2) The former Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Heseltine, was admitted to hospital with chest pains days after the General Election. It was announced that he would not be contesting the Conservative leadership.

1/5/1997, Thursday (+18,986) (1) New Labour won the UK general election, defeating John Major�s Conservative Party. Tony Blair, 43, became the youngest Prime Minister since 1812, with a majority of 179. Labour won 410 seats against the Conservative�s 169. Labour won 44.4% of the vote; the Conservatives got 31.4%. The Conservative administration had, at 18 years, been the longest serving government of the 20^th century.

(2) Tasmania became the last Australian State to decriminalise homosexuality.

==========================================================================

25/4/1997, Friday (+18,980) The UN Security Council voted 4-1 against the new Israeli building in east Jerusalem (see 18/3/1997), but the US vetoed the Resolution.

23/4/1997, Wednesday (+18,978) (Russia) In Moscow, Chinese President Jiang Zemin met Russian President Boris Yeltsin. They called for a pluralistic world order where no one nation was dominant.

22/4/1997, Tuesday (+18.977) The siege of the Japanese Embassy in Peru by Tupac Amaru guerrillas was ended violently by government troops. 14 guerrillas and one Japanese citizen were killed; the remaining 71 hostages were rescued. The guerrillas wanted the release of 440 of their comrades.

21/4/1997, Monday (+18,976) In Algeria, Islamists massacred 93 at a farming community at Baouch Bouchelef-Khemisti.

20/4/1997, Sunday (+18,975) In India the minority 13-Party United Front Government led by HD Deve Gowda fell when the Congress party withdrew support. A new United Front government was formed with Congress party backing under former Foreign Minister Kumar Gujral.

18/4/1997, Friday (+18,973)

15/4/1997, Tuesday (+18,970) A fire in a tent camp at the Haj in Mecca killed 340 and injured over 1,500.

14/4/1997, Monday (+18,969) Former Nazi SS Captain Eric Priebke was retried; on 22/7/1997 he was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

13/4/1997, Sunday (+18,968) (1) An Italian-led UN public order force arrived in Albania. It was to lay the ground for elections in 6/1997.

(2) 21 year old Tiger Woods became the youngest ever winner of the US Masters.

9/4/1997, Wednesday (+18,964) In Zaire, Tutsi rebel forces under Laurent Kabila captiured the key town of Lubumbashi.

6/4/1997, Sunday (+18,961) In Algeria, Islamists massacred 52 people in the village of Thalit, near Algiers.

5/4/1997, Saturday (+18,960) Allen Ginsberg, poet, died.

1/4/1997, Tuesday (+18,956)

====================================================================================

31/3/1997, Monday (+18,955) The Pioneer space probe ended its useful life 6 billion miles from Earth.

30/3/1997, Sunday (+18,954) Easter Sunday. In Britain, Channel Five was launched.

28/3/1997, Friday (+18,952) Alarmed by a� flood of refugees out of Albania, the United Nations authorised a 7,000 strong relief force to restore order in the country.

26/3/1997, Wednesday (+18,950) Two IRA bombs exploded near Wilmslow railway station, injuring no-one.

24/3/1997, Monday (+19,048) The Australian Federal Government overturned the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act, allowing voluntary euthanasia, which had been passed by the Northern Territory in 1996.

23/3/1997, Sunday (+19,047) Comet Hale-Bopp made its closest approach to Earth, 196 million km away.

22/3/1997, Saturday (+18,946) Tara Lipinski, aged 14, became the youngest ever world women�s figure skating champion.

18/3/1997, Tuesday (+18,942) Palestinians, already angry at the slow pace of Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, were further enraged when a new Jewish building project began in Arab east Jerusalem. See 25/4/1997.

11/3/1997, Tuesday (+18,935) Sir Paul McCartney, musician, was knighted.

7/3/1997, Friday (+18,931) Albania dissolved into chaos, and military firearms depots were looted.

3/3/1997, Monday (+18,927) Camila Cabello, singer, was born

====================================================================================

28 February 1997, Friday (+18,924) Major earthquake in NW Iran, close to the Azerbaijan border.

27 February 1997, Thursday (+18,923) (1) In Britain a discredited and divided Tory party lost its Parliamentary majority with a by-election defeat in Wirral. This was a prelude to their defeat by New Labour in general elections on 1/5/1997.

(2) (Ireland, Women�s Rights) Divorce became legal in Ireland.

26 February 1997, Wednesday (+18,922)

25 February 1997, Tuesday (+18,921) Tiit Vahi, Prime Ministe4r of Estonia, resigned following a corruption scandal, he was replaced by Mart Siiman.

24 February 1997, Monday (+18,920) The cloned sheep, Dolly, was presented to the public. She had been cloned from a single cell of her mother at the Royal Institute in Edinburgh. There was moral panic about the possibility of cloning humans, but some saw it as a useful way to create organs for transplant.

19 February 1997, Wednesday (+18,915) The last of the Chinese revolutionaries, Deng Xiaoping, died aged 92 (born 1904); weeks of mourning followed.

17 February 1997, Monday (+18,913) The Pakistan Muslim league won general elections. Nawaz Sharif became prime Minister.

12 February 1997, Wednesday (+18,908) (Space exploration) Japan launched the Haruka satellite, for radio astronomy observations.

11 February 1997, Tuesday (+18,907) A week of rioting in the southern Albanian towns of Fier and Vlore had ensued, following the collapse of high-risk pyramid schemes into which many Albanians had invested. The protestors believed that the Government of Sali Berisha was to blame for the collapse.

10 February 1997, Monday (+18,906) State of Emergency was declared in Albania as mass rioting broke out when a pyramid savings scheme collapsed.

4 February 1997, Tuesday (+18,900) President Milosevic of Serbia ordered his Government to recognise Opposition gains in the local elections held 11/1996.

======================================================================================

30 January 1997, Thursday (+18,895) An underground protest came to an end as the last protestor, known as Swampy, emerged from a tunnel under the proposed A.30.

27 January 1997, Monday (+18,892) It was revealed that French museums contained nearly 2,000 pieces of artwork looted by Nazis.

24 January 1997, Friday (+18,889) The Archers celebrated its 12,000^th episode. The Radio 4 series drew an average of 4.5 million listeners each week.

23 January 1997, Thursday (+18,888) Following the discovery of Nazi gold in Swiss banks, the Swiss Government established a fund to compensate Holocaust victims.

22 January 1997, Wednesday (+18,887) Madeleine Albright became the first female US Secretary of State after confirmation of her appointment by the US Senate.

21 January 1997, Tuesday (+18,886) Colonel Tom Parker, manager of Elvis Presley, died.

20 January 1997, Monday (+18,885) President Clinton began his second term of office.

19 January 1997, Sunday (+18,884) Yasser Arafat returned to Hebron after an absence of over 30 years.� There were major celebrations as the Israelis handed over the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.

18 January 1997, Saturday (-18,883) Boerge Ousland of Norway made the first solo unaided crossing of Antarctica.

15 January 1997, Wednesday (+18,880) A belated agreement for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the West bank city of Hebron was signed by PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. However Arab-Israeli tensions remained high.

8 January 1997, Wednesday (+18,873) Melvin Calvin, US chemist and Nobel prize winner, died.

3 January 1997, Friday (+18,868) The death toll in Europe�s big freeze hit 220 as temperatures plunged to �10 C from Britain to central Russia.

2 January 1997, Thursday (+18,867) The US State of California extended its smoking ban to bars and other drinking establishments.

1 January 1997, Wednesday (+18,866)

=====================================================================================

29 December 1996, Sunday (+18,863) (Guatemala) The Guatemalan Civil war ended after 36 years. The Government and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union signed a peace deal.

27 December 1996, Friday (+18,861) Taliban forces retook the important Bagram air base, consolidating their territory around Kabul.

23 December 1996, Monday (+18,857) After significant intervention by the UN, President Imomali Rakhmanov of Tajikistan (Russian backed) signed a ceasefire agreement with the Tajik rebel leader Sayed Abdullah, Tajikistan had been a key staging point in supplies for Russian troops fighting in Afghanistan. However fighting continued.

20 December 1996, Friday (+18,854) Carl Sagan, astronomer, died.

17 December 1996, Tuesday (+18,851) (1) Kofi Annan from Ghana became the first Black African UN Secretary General.

(2) Tupac Amaru, a Leftist guerrilla group whom Fujimori believed he had defeated, resurfaced and took 400 hostages at a party at hosted by the� Japanese Ambassador. The siege was drawn-out because Japan insisted on aiming for a negotiated settlement.

15 December 1996, Sunday (+18,849) Boeing took over McDonnell-Douglas.

13 December 1996, Friday (+18,847) Kofi Anan became the 7^th Secretary General of the UN.

12 December 1996, Thursday (+18,846) After Labour won the Barnsley East by election, the Conservatives no longer had a majority in the House of Commons.

10 December 1996, Tuesday (+18,844) South Africa�s new democratic and non-racial Constitution was signed into law by President Mandela.

4 December 1996, Wednesday (+18,838) NASA launched the Pathfinder probe towards Mars.

3 December 1996, Tuesday (+18,837) Algerian Islamic Fundamentalists exploded a bomb on the Paris Metro at Port Royal Station, at 6.05pm in the rush hour, killing 2 and injuring 50 others. Algerian fundamentalists had carried out 7 attacks on the Paris Metro in 1995. They were protesting at a referendum in Algeria, backing a crackdown on fundamentalist political Parties.

1 December 1996, Sunday (+18,835)

====================================================================================

30 November 1996, Saturday (+18,834) In Sierra Leone, Government and rebel forces signed a peace agreement, ending a 5-year civil war.

29 November 1996, Friday (+18,833) Drazen Erdemovic, Bosnian Croat who had participated in the massacre of Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995, was sentenced at The Hague to 10 years prison.

28 November 1996, Thursday (+18,832) Algerians endorsed a new Constitution recognising the Islamic, Algerian and Berber cultures as the main constituents of the Algerian nation. It also effectively banned political Parties with an Islamic foundation, thereby igniting Fundamentalist anger.

23 November 1996, Saturday (+18,827) Ethiopian Airlines flight 9061 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, Kenya, was hijacked by 3 Ethiopian men and ordered to fly to Australia. It ran out of fuel and crashed into the Indian ocean off the Comoros islands. 123 of the 175 on board died.

20 November 1996, Wednesday (+18,824) The Japanese toy company Bandai released the Tamagotchi, a �virtual pet� comprising an LCD display in an egg-shaped pendant attached to a key ring. The owner pressed various buttons to satisfy its �needs� tpo be cleaned, played with, petted, fed etc. If not �cared for�, the Tamagotchi could �die� prematurely.

18 November 1996, Monday (+18,822) Serious fire on Channel Tunnel train. The train was 12 miles inside the Tunnel, and the open latticework of the lorry carriages may have had a blowtorch effect on the fire which could have started before the train entered the Tunnel. Eight people suffered smoke inhalation injuries and the Tunnel was closed for months.

17 November 1996, Sunday (+18,821) Protests in Belgrade after President Slobodan Milosevic refused t recognise Opposition victories in municipal elections.

15 November 1996, Friday (+18,819) Mass migration as Hutu refugees returned to Rwanda.

7 November 1996, Thursday (+18,811) (Space exploration) The USA launched the MGS (Mars Global Survey) space probe.

6 November 1996, Wednesday (+18,810) A cyclone hit Andhra Pradesh, India, killing 2,000.

5 November 1996, Tuesday (+18,809) (1) Bill Clinton won the US elections. He was re-elected for a second term, seeing off a challenge by the Republican Bob Dole. Clinton was better at attracting the female than male vote. However only 49% of the electorate bothered to vote at all, the lowest turnout since 1924.

(2) The Pakistan President dismissed Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto after she and her Government were accused of corruption and mismanagement.

=====================================================================================

24 October 1996, Thursday (+18,797) Rioting in Florida after a Black youth, Tyron Lewis, was shot dead by police.

20 October 1996, Sunday (+18,793) Arnoldo Aleman Lacayo of the Constitutional Liberal Party defeated Ortega and the Sandinistas, who also lost the election of 2001.

16 October 1996, Wednesday (+18,789) Proposals to ban most handguns in the UK, in the aftermath of the Dunblane massacre.

=====================================================================================

26/9/1996, Thursday (+18,769) (1) The Taleban captured Kabul. They drove out the former President, Burhanuddin Rabbani and executed Mohammad Najibullah. See 3 November 1994.

(2) The first death under legalised euthanasia in Australia.

24/9/1996, Tuesday (+18,767) The USA and other nuclear powers signed a treaty halting all testing of nuclear weapons, above or below ground. The USA alone had conducted 1,030 such t4ests since 1945, creating serious health hazards both locally and globally.

21/9/1996, Saturday (+18,764) The USA prohibited same-sex marriages under the Defence of Marriage Act.

19/9/1996, Thursday (+18,762) The US spacecraft Atlantis docked with the Russian space station Mir.

14/9/1996, Saturday (+18,757) In Bosnia-Hercegovina a Muslim, President Izetbegovic, was elected as Chairman of the thre-man collective Presidency. He was joined by a Bosnian Serb and a Bosnia Croat.

11 October 1996, Wednesday (+18,754) Ford Motor Company purchased the naming rights to Detroit, Michigan�s indoor American Football stadium, calling it Ford Field.

7/9/1996, Saturday (+18,750) 7In Las Vegas, Nevada, US rapper Tupac Shakur was shot four times, allegedly by a gang of rival rappers. He died 6 days later, aged 25, and his murderers were never found.

3/9/1996, Tuesday (+18,746) The US extended the southern Iraq no-fly-zone, established on 26/8/1992 south of 32 degrees, up to 33 degrees, just south of Baghdad.

2/9/1996, Monday (+18,745) President Ramos of the Philippines signed a peace deal with the Moro national Liberation Front (MNLF), a Muslim separatist group. This ended� a 26 year rebellion by the Moro people of southern Philippines islands.

====================================================================================

31/8/1996, Saturday (+18,743) (1) Iraqi forces launched a major offensive into the northern no-fly-zone and captured the city of Erbil from the Kurds.

(2) Russia and Chechnya signed a peace accord, under which the separatist Chechens agreed to put aside their demands for independence for 5 years.

29/8/1996, Thursday (+18,741) British forces began to leave Hong Kong.

28/8/1996, Wednesday �(+18,740) (1) The Prince of Wales, Charles, and Princess, Diana Spencer, divorced. See 31/8/1997.

(2) Phyllis Pearce, who pioneered the modern London A-Z, died.

26/8/1996, Monday (+18,738) The courts in Sweden heard their first ever case of dangerous handling of a shopping trolley.

23/8/1996, Friday (+18.735) (Islam) Osama bin Laden issued a 30-page Fatwa declaring war on the USA.

9/8/1996, Friday (+18,721) Boris Yeltsin became Russia�s first democratically-elected head of State.

6/8/1996, Tuesday (+18,718) Separatist Chechens stormed the capital Grozny and other towns in Chechnya.

1/8/1996, Thursday (+18,713) (1) (Food) The UK Central Veterinary Laboratory published findings that Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis could be transmitted from mother cow to calf.

(2) In Somalia, General Muhammad Farrah Aidid, of the Hawiye Clan, died of battle wounds.

=====================================================================================

30/7/1996, Tuesday (+18,711) Claudette Colbert, actress, died.

29/7/1996, Monday (+18,710) England striker Alan Shearer was transferred from Blackburn to Newcastle United for a record �15 million transfer fee.

27/7/1996, Saturday (+18,708) A nail bomb exploded at the Atlanta Olympics, killing two people and injuring over 100.

25/7/1996, Thursday (+18,706) A coup by the Burundian Army deposed the moderate Hutu President, Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, who fled to the UN Ambassador�s residence for safety. Pierre Buyoya was installed as President in his place.

19/7/1996, Friday (+18,700) Muhammad Ali lit the flame for the 26^th Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

18/7/1996, Thursday (+18,699) A TWA jet exploded at New York, killing all 230 people on board.

17/7/1996, Wednesday (+18,698) In France, convicted war criminal Paul Touvier died in Fresnes Prison, of prostate cancer, see 17/3/1994.

14/7/1996, Sunday (+18,695) US racing car driver Jeff Krosnoff was killed in a racing accident.

12/7/1996, Friday (+18,693) Saddam Hussein, Iraqi President, was reported to have foiled a coup attempt by 50 military officers. There were mass executions following this event.

11/7/1996, Thursday (+18,692) The War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic and Bosnian Serb military commander General Ratko Mladic.

9/7/1996, Tuesday (+18,690) Rioting in Northern Ireland after the RUV blocked the route of a planned Orange March through a Nationalist area of Portadown. Finally Sir Hugh Annesley, Chief Constable of the RUC, decided to permit the March to proceed under RUC supervision. This decision provoked further disturbances.

7/7/1996, Sunday (+18,688) The German town of Konstanz elected a Green Mayor.

5/7/1996, Friday (+18,686) Dolly the sheep became the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult stem cell. Lamb 6LL3 was named after Dolly Parton. The animal died prematurely in February 2003.

3/7/1996, Wednesday (+18,684) UK PM John Major promised that the Stone of Scone would be returned from Westminster to Scotland.

1/7/1996, Monday (+18,682) (1) The Northern Territory in Australia legalised voluntary euthanasia.

(2) The average wage in the UK was �18,307 per year. GPs got �44,304, 242% of average. Teachers got �23,088, 126% of average. Train drivers got �22,308, 122% of average. Factory workers got �14,612, 80% of average. The average UK house price was �53,394.

=====================================================================================

30/6/1996, Sunday (+18,681) Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic resigned.

29/6/1996, Saturday (+18,680)

27/6/1996, Thursday (+18,678) In Northern Ireland, journalist Veronica Guerin was murdered during her investigation into drug-dealing.

26/6/1996, Wednesday (+18,677) Veronica Guerin, Irish journalist, died.

25/6/1996, Tuesday (+18,676) Bin Laden�s Al Qaeda group bombed the Khobar Towers HQ of the US Air Force in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. 19 Americans died.

24/6/1996, Monday (+18,675)

23/6/1996, Sunday (+18,674) Andreas Papandreou, Greek statesman, born 1919, died.

22/6/1996, Saturday (+18,673) The Quake computer game was released. It was both realistic and violent.

18/6/1996, Tuesday (+18,669) In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu formed a Likud-dominated coalition government with some smaller religious Parties.

16/6/1996, Sunday (�18,667) In the first round of Presidential voting in Russia, Boris Yeltsin soundly beat Communist challenger Gennady Zyuganov into second place.

15/6/1996, Saturday (+18,666) A large IRA bomb destroyed Manchester city centre. However nobody was killed.

13/6/1996, Thursday (+18,664) Mercedes car designer Friedrich Geiger died this day aged 88.

11/6/1996, Tuesday (+18,662) (1) A damning US Senate report on the Whitewater Affair accused Hillary Clinton of complicity in a� fraudulent land deal in Arkansas in the 1980s.

(2) Russian troops began to withdraw from Chechnya.

10/6/1996, Monday (+18,661) Talks on the future of Northern Ireland opened at Stormont Castle; the Sinn Fein was excluded until the IRA renewed its ceasefire.

8/6/1996, Saturday (+18,659) US President Clinton established the 1.9 million acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Park in Utah.

6/6/1996, Thursday (+18,657) (Football) British Premier League Clubs and BskyB and the BBC signed a �743 million deal for four years� coverage of League matches.

5/6/1996, Wednesday (+18,656) (Roads) The second Severn Road Crossing (Prince of Wales Bridge) opened near Bristol.

4/6/1996, Tuesday (+18,655) The European Space Agency�s �565 million Ariane 5 rocket exploded during liftoff.

1/6/1996, Saturday (+18,652)

=====================================================================================

31/5/1996, Friday (+18.651) Timothy :Leary, philosopher, died.

29/5/1996, Wednesday (+18,649) Benjamin Netanyahu was elected Prime Minister of Israel, narrowly defeating Shimon Peres of the Labour Party. Netanyahu was a hard-line Right-winger of the Likud Party, who did not subscribe to Labour�s land for peace policy. This imperilled the future of the peace process.

28/5/1996, Tuesday (+18,648) Jim and Susan McDougal, former business associates of President Clinton, were found guilty� of fraud and conspiracy in the Whitewater scandal, involving property deals in Arkansas.

27/5/1996, Monday (+18,647) Russian President Boris Yeltsin met Chechnya rebels for the first time and negotiated a ceasefire.

20/5/1996, Monday (+18,640) The USA and Iraq signed an agreement where the revenue from Iraqi oil sales could be exchanged for humanitarian aid, known as the �Oil for Food program�.

17/5/1996, Friday (+18,637) Kevin Gilbert, singer and composer, was born.

11/5/1996, Saturday (+18,631) Yoweri Kaguta Museveni won the first free Presidential elections in Uganda.

8/5/1996, Wednesday (+18,628) South Africa approved a new Constitution guaranteeing equal rights foir all races.

2/5/1996, Thursday (+18,622) In the UK, the Conservative�s loss of popularity continued as they won just 28% of the vote at local government elections.

=====================================================================================

29/4/1996, Monday (+18,619) In The Hague, Netherlands, the War crimes Tribunal opened, to try cases relating to the war in former Yugoslavia.

28/4/1996, Sunday (+18,618) Gunman Martin Bryant opened fire at Port Arthur, a tourist area in Tasmania Australia, killing 35 and wounding 37. He was sentenced to ;life without parole.

23/4/1996, Tuesday (+18,613) Filippo Florio, Italian footballer, was born.

21/4/1996, Sunday (+18,611) Chechen separatist leader Dzhokhar Dudayev was killed in a Russian rocket attack.

19/4/1996, Friday (+18,609) Erma Brombeck, writer, died.

18/4/1996, Thursday (+18,608) Israeli helicopters attacked Qana refugee camp, Lebanon, an alleged Hezbollah base. This, and an earlier attack (11/4/1996) Hezbollah bases in Beirut, Lebanon, was in retaliation for Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel.

17/4/1996, Wednesday (+18,607) In Para, Brazilian troops opened fire on a demonstration by the Landless Workers Movement. 23 people were killed.

15/4/1996, Monday (+18,603) The USA returned some of its bases to Japan and promised to enforce better discipline amongst its troops, following a scandal in 1995 in which a child was raped.

11/4/1996, Thursday (+18,601) A treaty establishing Africa as a nuclear-free zone was signed in Cairo.

7/4/1996, Sunday (+18,597) Easter Sunday.

3/4/1996, Wednesday (+18,593) Theodore Kaczynski, a former mathematics professor, was arrested and charged with being the Unabomber. Overall he was reckoned to have committed 16 bombings, killing 23. His motive was to persuade the world of the unsustainability of modern technology as a threat to the planet.

2/4/1996, Tuesday (+18,592) Minnie Pearl, hillbilly comedienne, died.

1/4/1996, Monday (+18,591) (Food) In the UK Douglas Hogg, Agriculture Minister, announced plans to cull all British cattle over 6 years old, 4.6 million cows, to eradicate the threat from Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis.

=====================================================================================

31/3/1996, Sunday (+18,560) (1) Boris Yeltsin announced a ceasefire in Chechnya and the imminent withdrawal of Russian troops.

(2) (Crime) Crumlin Road Prison, Belfast, closed.

29/3/1996, Friday (+18,588)

27/3/1996, Wednesday (+18,586) (1) The European Commission imposed a total ban on the export of UK beef, worldwide, in the wake of the fatal CJD outbreak, linked to BSE or �mad cow� disease.

(2) A civil war in northern Mali between the Government and the Tuareg ended.

26/3/1996, Tuesday (+18,585) The International Monetary Fund approved a US$ 10.2 billion loan to Russia for economic reforms.

25/3/1996, Monday (+18,584) The UK Government admitted there was a link between BSE (Mad Cow Disease) and CJD in humans.

22/3/1996, Friday (+18,581) The War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague made its first indictment; three Muslims and a Croat were charged with torture, rape, and murder of Serbs.

19/3/1996, Tuesday (+18,578) Sarajevo was reunited when Bosniak authorities took control of the last district occupied by Serbs.

16/3/1996, Saturday (+18,575) Dutch aircraft maker Fokker went bankrupt after 77 years in business.

15/5/1996, Friday (+18,574) (Food) In the UK, home-produced beef was banned from schools and hospitals as concerns rose over Bovine Spongiform Encelopathy.

14/3/1996, Thursday (+18,573)

13/3/1996, Wednesday (+18,572) The Dunblane Massacre in Scotland; 16 children and a teacher died; a further 12 children were injured. The unstable misfit Thomas Hamilton, 43, entered Dunblane Primary School and shot a teacher and 16 children in the gym, injured another teacher and 5 children, then shot and killed himself. This began a debate in the UK and other countries on banning handguns.

12/3/1996, Tuesday (-18,571) In Barcelona, Spain, the World Health Authority launched a taskforce to tackle obesity worldwide.

10/3/1996, Sunday (+18,569)

9/3/1996, Saturday (+18,568) George Burns, actor, died.,

8/3/1996, Friday (+18,567) China conducted military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, to intimidate Taiwanese voters in their upcoming elections. In these elections the pro-independence candidate Lee Teng-Hui won, but there was no subsequent formal declaration of independence.

7/3/1996, Thursday (+18,566) Genetically-modified sheep Megan and Morag were introduced to the world.

6/3/1996, Wednesday (+18,565)

5/3/1996, Tuesday (+18,564) Further Hamas suicide bombings killed 32 people in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv (see 25 February 1996). In revenge for these attacks, Israel declared all-out war on Hamas. This put the Peace Process in jeopardy.

4/3/1996, Monday (+18,563) UN forces left Rwanda as the UN mandate ended.

2/3/1996, Saturday (+18,561) In Australia the Labour Party finally lost an election, having won the previous five contests, in 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990 and 1993.

====================================================================================

29 February 1996, Thursday (+18,559) (1) The siege of Sarajevo ended.

(2) Bailiffs began evicting the Newbury by-pass protestors who had been protesting that the route ran through environmentally-sensitive areas. Contractors had been due to start work on 10 January 1996.

28 February 1996, Wednesday (+18,558) (1) Russia became a member of the Council of Europe.

(2) The Princess of Wales, Diana, announced that she had agreed to divorce Prince Charles.

25 February 1996, Sunday (+18,555) In revenge for the killing of Yahyah Ayyash (6 January 1996), Hamas suicide bombers killed 26 people in Jerusalem and Ashkelon. See 3/3/1996.

20 February 1996, Tuesday (+18,550) Solomon Asch, psychologist, died.

19 February 1996, Monday (+18,549) In Madrid, Spain, one million people demonstrated against violence by the Basque separatist group ETA.

18 February 1996, Sunday (+18,548) The World Health Organisation sent experts to Gabon where ten people had died of the Ebola virus.

17 February 1996, Saturday (+18,547) (Space exploration) The USA launched the NEAR space probe, to rendezvous with an asteroid.

15 February 1996, Thursday (+18,544) Hamas suicide bomber attacks on Jerusalem and Ashkelon, killing 25. The Palestinians wished to derail a Peace Agreement that would leave them with just a fraction of their former lands.

13 February 1996, Tuesday (+18,543) A Maoist insurgency broke out in rural areas of Nepal; weak central government.

12 February 1996, Monday (+18,542) Klein Stanley Eden Cristobal, Trinidadian footballer, was born.

11 February 1996, Sunday (+18,541)

10 February 1996, Saturday (+18,540) The computer programme Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov at chess, the first victory by a computer over a human.

9 February 1996, Friday (+18,539) The IRA ended its ceasefire with a bomb in London�s Docklands. The bomb contained about half a ton of explosive and was planted under the Docklands Light railway at South Quays, exploding at 7.01 p.m. 2 people were killed and at least 100 injured. The widespread damage to houses, shops, and offices amounted to over �100 million. UK Prime Minister John Major said �there is now a dark shadow of doubt where optimism had been�.

8 February 1996, Thursday (+18,538)

6 February 1996, Tuesday (+18,536) A Dominican Alas Nacionales Boeing 757-225 crashed after take-off into the Atlantic Ocean off the Dominican republic, killing 189 passengers.

5 February 1996, Monday (+18,535) The first privately-run trains for nearly 50 years ran on British Railways. South West Trains and Great Western won the first franchises; under the 1993 Railway Act. A third franchise, London Tilbury and Southend, was cancelled amidst allegations of ticketing fraud. British Railways had been nationalised on 1 January 1948.

3 February 1996, Saturday (+18,533)

2 February 1996, Friday (+18,532) Harry Billy Winks, English footballer, was born.

1 February 1996, Thursday (+18,531) The US Government offered to help a UN food assistance programme in famine-hit North Korea.

====================================================================================

31 January 1996, Wednesday (+18,530)

29 January 1996, Monday (+18,528) (Atomic, France) France bowed to international pressure and announced it had ended the current series of atomic tests at Mururoa Atoll in the south Pacific.

28 January 1996, Sunday (+18,527) Joseph Brodsky, Russian poet, died.

25 January 1996, Thursday (+18,524) In the UK, the results of the first National School Tests sat in May 1995 showed that over 50% of 11-year-olds failed to reach expected standards in English and Maths.

24 January 1996, Wednesday (+18,523) The report of the international decommissioning agency for Northern Ireland under US Senator George Mitchell dismissed British demands that the IRA hand over its weapons before joining talks.

22 January 1996, Monday (+18,521) Near� Brcko, Bosnia, a mass grave containing the bodies of some 3,000 Muslims and Croats killed in �ethnic cleansing� by Bosnian Serbs in 1992 was discovered.

20 January 1996, Saturday (+18,519) Yasser Arafat was re-elected President of the PLO.

18 January 1996, Thursday (+18,517) A service in Coventry Cathedral marking the centenary of the motor car was disrupted by a naked woman claiming to be Lady Godiva protesting about the thousands of deaths caused by motor vehicles.

9 January 1996, Tuesday (+18,508) Chechen insurgents seized 3,000 civilian hostages. They demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya. Most of the hostages were released the following day, and the rest were rescued by Russian forces on 24 January 1996.

8 January 1996, Monday (+18,507) President Mitterrand, (born 1916) died of cancer. He was President of France 1981-95.

6 January 1996, Saturday (+18,505) Palestinian bomb-maker Yahya Ayyash was killed, allegedly by Israeli security forces, see 25 February 1996.

2 January 1996, Tuesday (+18,501) UN troops entered Bosnia on a peacekeeping mission.

1 January 1996, Monday (+18,500)

===================================================================================

25 December 1995, Monday (+18,493) Dean Martin, actor, died.

17 December 1995, Sunday (+18,485) Rene Preval was elected President of Haiti.

15 December 1995, Friday (+18,483) In Northern Ireland, the Arms Decommissioning Panel, headed by former US Senator George Mitchell, began work.

14 December 1995, Thursday (+18,482) The Dayton Peace Accord was signed in Paris, ending the Yugoslav conflict.

13 December 1995, Wednesday (+18,481) The death of a Black man in police custody led to rioting in Brixton, London. This was 3rd riot in 15 years in the area ;linked to racial tensions.

12 December 1995, Tuesday (+18,480) Andrew Ollie, Australian journalist, died.

10 December 1995, Sunday (+18,478)

8 December 1995, Friday (+18,476) Rock band The Grateful Dead disbanded, 4 months after the death of their lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, 30 years after they formed.

7 December 1995, Thursday (+18,475) (1) A link was revealed between BSE in cattle and CJD in humans.

(2) The space probe Galileo entered orbit around Jupiter, and sent a probe into the planet�s atmosphere.

4 December 1995, Monday (+18,472) NATO troops landed in the Balkans.

2 December 1995, Saturday (+18,470) (1) The USA launched SOHO, a space probe to monitor solar activity.

(2) In Singapore, rogue trader Nick Leeson was sentenced to 6 � years in prison. He had been extradited from Germany and pleaded guilty to fraud and forgery.

=====================================================================================

30 November 1995, Thursday (+18,468) US President Bill Clinton visited Northern Ireland.

28 November 1995, Tuesday (+18,466) Britain�s Turner Prize for Contemporary Art, worth �20,000, was awarded to Damien Hurst for his four glass tanks containing the divided carcass of a cow and its calf, entitled Mother and Child Divided.

27 November 1995, Monday (+18,465) (Ireland, Women�s Rights) In Ireland, voters narrowly approved a limited no-fault provision for divorce, for couples who had lived apart for four of the previous five years, by a majority of 9,114 out of 1.63 million votes. There had been a constitutional ban on divorce since 1937.

25 November 1995, Saturday (+18,463) A ceasefire was declared in the Republics of former Yugoslavia, following a peace agreement signed at Dayton, Ohio. Bosnia would be a united Republic comprising the Muslim-Croat areas and the Serb Republic, unifying the city of Sarajevo. Individuals charged with war crimes were banned from holding public office.

23 November 1995, Thursday (+18,461) French film director Louis Malle died.

22 November 1995, Wednesday (+18,460) (1) A magnitude 7.2 quake hit Israel, Egypt, and was felt over much of the Mediterranean and North Africa.

(2) Rosemary West, aged 41, was sentenced to life for killing 10 women and girls, including her daughter and stepdaughter. Lodgers at their house at 25 Cromwell Street Gloucester had also been murdered. Rosemary�s husband Fred West, 53, had hanged himself whilst in custody at Winson Green prison, Birmingham, on 1 January 1995.

21 November 1995, Tuesday (+18,459) Jim Eanes, musician, died (born 6 December 1923).

20 November 1995, Monday (+18,458) Sergio Grinko, figure skater, died.

19 November 1995, Sunday (+18,457)

17 November 1995, Friday (+18,455) (Space exploration) The European Space Agency launched ISO, an Infared space observatory.

16 November 1995, Thursday (+18,454) The UN tribunal charged Radovan Karadic and Ratko Mladic with genocide during the Bosnian War.

15 November 1995, Wednesday (+18,453) The Today newspaper ceased publishing.

14 November 1995, Tuesday (+18,452)

13 November 1995, Monday (+18,451) Seven died as a bomb exploded at a US military base in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

12 November 1995, Sunday (+18,450) The Northern Ireland Peace Process was faltering, with disagreement over whether to begin all-party talks before the IRA had decommissioned its weapons. All sides were keen to make progress before US President Bill Clinton visited on 30 November 1995.

10 November 1995, Friday (+18,448) (1) The Nigerian military government hanged the dissident Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists. They had been protesting against the exploitation of the Ogoni people and their lands by large oil companies. In particular, an oil leak from an old pipeline in August 1995 had polluted Ogoni lands. Oil and gas had been discovered in the Niger delta in 1957 and commercial exploitation began a year later. In 1995 oil accounted for 80% of Nigerian government earnings and 90% of foreign exchange earnings.

(2) Iraqi disarmament crisis; the UN intercepted 240 Russian gyroscopes and accelerometers en route from Russia to Iraq.

7 November 1995, Tuesday (+18,445)

4 November 1995, Saturday (+18,442) Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Labour Prime Minister, was assassinated. Moments after attending a peace rally in the Square of the Kings, he was killed by a 27 year old Jewish law student, Yigal Amir. Mr Rabin had been the target of a hate campaign since he shook hands with Mr Yasser Arafat, PLO leader, on the steps of the White House. Rabin�s successor, Shimon Peres, promised to continue the peace process. The assassin, Yigal Amir, was sentenced on 11/4/1996, to life imprisonment.

3 November 1995, Friday (+18,441) Queen Elizabeth II gave Royal Assent to a law restoring land to the indigenous Tainui Maori people, New Zealand.

2 November 1995, Thursday (+18,440) Canadian novelist Robertson Davies died.

1 November 1995, Wednesday (+18,439) Participants in the Yugoslav War began negotiations at the Wright� -Patterson air force base, Ohio, USA.

===================================================================================

30 October 1995, Monday (+18,437) Quebec separatists narrowly (by just 1%) lost a referendum to regain independence from Canada.

22 October 1995, Sunday (+18,429) Kingsley Amis, British author, died.

18 October 1995, Wednesday (+18,425) DNV presented the results of their audit on Brent Spar; it did not contain anything like 5,500 tons of crude oil.

16 October 1995, Monday (+18,423) The Million Man March was held in Washington DC.� It was conceived by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

15 October 1995, Sunday (+18,422) The road bridge between Skye and the Scottish mainland opened.

12 October 1995, Thursday (+18,419)

9 October 1995, Monday (+18,416) Sir Alec Douglas Home, British Conservative Prime Minister 1963-4, died (born 2/7/1903).

8 October 1995, Sunday (+18,415) US President Bill Clinton announced the start of a 60-day ceasefire in Bosnia-Hercegovina.

6 October 1995, Friday (+18,413) Michael Mayor and Didier Queloz announced the discovery of the first extra-solar planet, 51 Pegasi b.

3 October 1995, Tuesday (+18,410) Former American football star OJ Simpson was acquitted of the murder of his wife

=====================================================================================

29/9/1995, Friday (+18,406) Former Barings Brothers trader Nick Leeson agreed to return to Singapore to face trial for deception. On 2 December 1995 he was sentenced to 6 � years in prison.

24/9/1995, Sunday (+18,401) Israel and the PLO agree to extend self-rule to most of the West Bank.

11/9/1995, Monday (+18,388) After 9 months conflict, the Mexican government and the Zapatista national Liberation Army (ENZL) agreed an accord to settle some of the Zapatista�s grievances.

8/9/1995, Friday (+18,385) In Geneva, the framework for a peace agreement in Bosnia Hercegovina was worked out between the warring factions and Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the USA.

5/9/1995, Tuesday (+18,382) (1) Greenpeace admitted their claim that Brent Spar contained 5,500 tonnes of crude oil was inaccurate and apologised to Shell.

(2) France exploded a 10-kiloton nuclear device under the Pacific atoll of Mururoa. Anti-French riots broke out in Papeete, the capital of Tahiti, necessitating French paratroopers to be sent in to maintain order. Australia and New Zealand condemned the test, and there were fears of a worldwide boycott of French exports.

4/9/1995, Monday (+18,381) The alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl in Japan by three US servicemen caused widespread resentment against the US military presence in Japan.

2/9/1995, Saturday (+18,379) The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum opened in Cleveland, Ohio.

======================================================================================

31/8/1995, Thursday (+18,377) The London Meteorological Office announced that August 1995 had been the hottest month since 1659.

30/8/1995, Wednesday (+18,376) UN forces attacked key Serb positions in Bosnia.� The NATO campaign continued into October.

29/8/1995, Tuesday (+18,375)

28/8/1995, Monday (+18,374) Serbian mortar bomb near Sarajevo market killed 37 civilians.

27/8/1995, Sunday (+18,373) The International Rugby Football Board, the Governing Body of Rugby Union, voted unanimously to end the game�s amateur status.

24/8/1995, Thursday (+18,370) Microsoft launched Windows 5. It replaced Windows 3.x.

18/8/1995, Friday (+18,364) The largest traditional stone-built Hindu temple in the world outside India opened in Neasden, N W London.

13/8/1995, Sunday (+18,359) Mickey Mantle, baseball player, died.

10/8/1995, Thursday (+18,356) Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were indicted on 11 charges relating to the Oklahoma bombing.

9/8/1995, Wednesday (+18,355) Croat forces had now overrun the Serb-held areas of Croatia; Krajina and West Slavonia. 150,000 Croatian Serbs had fled to Serbia and Serb-held areas of Bosnia-Hercegovina. Croatian forces also held off a Serb attack on the �safe haven� of Bihac, in eastern Bosnia.

8/8/1995, Tuesday (+18,354)

6/8/1995, Sunday (+18,352) British licensing laws were relaxed to allow pubs to open from 12 noon on Sundays onwards.

5/8/1995, Saturday (+18,351) Croatian forces captured the town of Knin.

4/8/1995, Friday (+18,350) Croatians launched Operation Storm, against Serbian forces in Krajina, compelling them to retreat to Bosnia.

======================================================================================

29/7/1995, Saturday (+18,344)

26/7/1995, Wednesday (+18,341) Keanu Neal, US football linebacker, was born.

25/7/1995, Tuesday (+18,340) A bomb exploded on a train at the St Michel Metro station in Paris, killing seven people.

21/7/1995, Friday (+18,336)

18/7/1995, Tuesday (+18.,333) The oldest known musical instrument, a bear bone with 4 holes made along it, dated to 45,000 years ago, was discovered in the Indrijca River Valley, Slovenia.

17/7/1995, Monday (+18,332) Argentinean car driver Juan Manuel Fangio died aged 84.

15/7/1995, Saturday (+18,330) Amazon sold its first book.

12/7/1995, Wednesday (+18,327) Shell commissioned an independent Norwegian consultancy, Det Norske Veritas, to conduct an audit of the materials contained in the Brent Spar, to check Greanpeace�s allegations.

11/7/1995, Tuesday (+18,326) (1) Bosnian Serbs marched into Srebrenica as Dutch UN peacekeepers left. Later; large numbers of Bosniak men and boys were massacred.

(2) US resumed full diplomatic relations with Vietnam.

10/7/1995, Monday (+18,325) Burmese Nobel Peace prize winner, Aung San Kyi, was released, from six years house arrest. Amnesty International reported that the Human Rights situation in Burma remained �desperate�.

9/7/1995, Sunday (+19,324) In Portadown, Northern Ireland, the first of what would become an annual series of stand-offs between Protestant Orange marchers and local residents began when RUC officers prevented the marchers from taking their traditional route along the Garvaghy Road. The marchers refused to disperse or take an alternative route, eventually an uneasy compromise was reached as the marchers were allowed to walk silently along the road.

8/7/1995, Saturday (+18,323) Volcanic eruption began on the island of Montserrat.

7/7/1995, Friday (+18,322) Norway granted permission to moor the Brent Spar in Erfjord whilst options for its disposal were considered.

4/7/1995, Tuesday (+18,319) John Major won the battle to lead the Conservative Party, beating John Redwood by 218 votes to 89.

1/7/1995, Saturday (+18,316)� The average UK house price was �51,245.

====================================================================================

30/6/1995, Friday (+18,315) (1) Military accord to end fighting in Chechnya.

(2) Eleven states called for a moratorium on sea disposal of decommissioned offshore installations; the motion was opposed by Britain and Norway.

29/6/1995, Thursday (+18,314) The space shuttle Columbia docked for the first time with the Russian Mir space station.

26/6/1995, Monday (+18,311)

25/6/1995, Sunday (+18,310) Ernest Walton, winner of the Nobel Physics Prize in 1951 for his work in subatomic physics, died.

23/6/1995, Friday (+18,308) Jonas Salk, medical researcher, died.

22/6/1995, Thursday (+18,307) John Major, UK Conservative Prime Minister, resigned I order to trigger a leadership contest, in a� bid to bolster his authority over his divided Party. He went on to defeat right-wing Eurosceptic John Redwood, but his Party remained divided.

20/6/1995, Tuesday (+18,305) Shell Oil Company caved in to international pressure and agreed not to dump the Brent Spar oil platform in the Atlantic.

15/6/1995, Thursday (+18,300) German Chancellor Helmut Kohl protested to the British Prime Minister John Major at the G7 Summit about the planned sinking of the Brent Spar.

14/6/1995, Wednesday (+18,299) A week of protests across Germany began against Shell petrol stations; protestors threatened to firebomb 200 Shell filling stations. 50 were actually damaged, two fire-bombed, and one raked with bullets.

11/6/1995, Sunday (+18,296) Shell began to tow the Brent Spar out to the disposal site.

9/6/1995, Friday (+18,294) Russia and Ukraine agreed to divide the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet.

7/6/1995, Wednesday (+18,292) Australian prime Minister Paul Keating declared his aim that Australia should be a Republic by the year 2001.

5/6/1995, Monday (+18,290) Bose-Einstein condensate was created.

3/6/1995, Saturday (+18,288) UN rapid intervention force sent to Bosnia.

=====================================================================================

30/5/1995, Tuesday (+18,284) Edward Drake, footballer, died (born 16/8/1912).

28/5/1995, Sunday (+18,282) Neftegorsk, Russia, was hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that killed 2,000 people, 2/3 of the town�s population.

26/5/1995, Friday (+18,280)

25/5/1995, Thursday (+18,279) Serbian forces attacked the safe haven of Tuzla, killing 67 civilians. On 16/5/1995 the Serbs had resumed shelling Sarajevo, after a major anti-Serb offensive by Bosnians.

24/5/1995, Wednesday (+18,278) (1) Harold Wilson, British Prime Minister 1964-70 and 1974-76, born 11/3/1916, died.

(2) All Tuareg groups had now signed a peace deal with the Niger Government, and an amnesty was granted with imprisoned Tuaregs being released.

21/5/1995, Sunday (+18,275) Les Aspin, US Secretary of Defense, died.

18/5/1995, Thursday (+18,272) Elizabeth Montgomery, actress, died.

16/5/1995, Tuesday (+18,270) (1) Jacques Chirac became President of France.

(2) Japanese police besieged the headquarters of the Aum Shrnrinko cult near Mount Fuji, and arrested the leader Shoko Asuhara.

(3) An Ebola outbreak in Zaire had now killed 77. The disease kills victims so fast they have little time to pass it on, so does not cause major pandemics.

14/5/1995, Sunday (+18,268) Carlos Menem was elected as President of Argentina.

13/5/1995, Saturday (+18,267) A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit the Greek Macedonian city of Kozani; nobody was injured.

12/5/1995, Friday (+18,266) Giorgio Belladonna, bridge champion, died.

11/5/1995, Thursday (+18,265) In New York City, 170 nations agreed to extend the nuclear non-proliferation treaty indefinitely, without conditions.

10/5/1995, Wednesday (+18,264) The British Government held the first Ministerial talks with Sinn Fein since 1972.

9/5/1995, Tuesday (+18,263) The German Ministry of the Environment protested about the plans to sink the Brent Spar.

7/5/1995, Sunday (+18,261) (1) UK betting shops opened on Sundays for the first time.

(2) Jacques Chirac was elected President of France. He defeated the Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin. Alain Juppe became Prime Minister of France.

5/5/1995, Friday (+18,259) (1) The Conservative Party did badly in local council elections, losing control in 62 councils in England and Wales, retaining control in just 8, whilst Labour gained 42 to control a total of 155, and the Liberal Democrats gained 14 to control a total of 44. The Conservatives had also done badly in the Scottish local council elections of 6/4/1995, failing to gain a single one of 29 unitary authorities there. Prime Minister John Major faced a challenge to his leadership.

(2) The UK Government granted a disposal licence to Shell to sink the Brent Spar.

4/5/1995, Thursday (+18,258) Louis Krasner, violinist, died.

3/5/1995, Wednesday (+18,257) (Mathematics) Fermat�s Last Theorem was finally proved in generality, for all values of n. It was proposed by Pierre de Fermat (ca. 1607 � 1665) in 1637, that aⁿ + bⁿ = cⁿ had no solution for any value of n greater than 2.

1/5/1995, Monday (+18,255)

=====================================================================================

30/4/1995, Sunday (+18,254) Greenpeace asserted that Bremt Spar still contained 5,500 tonnes of crude eoil.

29/4/1995, Saturday (+18,253) Tony Blair got the Labour Party to drop Clause 4, which had called for common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange. In a modernising move, away from Socialism, the change to a commitment to work for a just society, dynamic economy, and healthy environment was backed by 65.23% of votes.

25/4/1995, Tuesday (+18,249) Ginger Rogers, US actress, died.

20/4/1995, Thursday (+18,244) Robert Wyatt,� cricketer, died (born 2/5/1901).

19/4/1995, Wednesday (+18,243) A car bomb in Oklahoma City killed 168 including 12 children. The bomb hidden in a truck contained 4,000 lb of explosive and blew up in front of the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building, where the Federal ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) was housed, and also a children�s nursery. Timothy McVeigh was later convicted of the bombing.

18/4/1995, Tuesday (+18,242) Artuto Frondizi, President of Argentina, died.

16/4/1995, Sunday (+18,240) Easter Sunday.

14/4/1995, Friday (+18,238) (1) British troops prepared to leave Northern Ireland.

(2) The UN allowed Iraq to resume partial exports of its oil to pay for essential food and medicine. Iraq did not implement this until December 1996.

4/4/1995, Tuesday (+18,228) In Burundi, Tutsi soldiers massacred 400 Hutu women and children (see 9/3/1995).

1/4/1995, Saturday (+18,225) Daewoo began selling cars in the UK.

=====================================================================================

30/3/1995, Thursday (+18,223) Tony Lock, cricketer, died.

28/3/1995, Tuesday (+18,221) Serbians took UN peacekeepers hostage, to deter further NATO airstrikes.

26/3/1995, Sunday (+18,219) In Europe, the Schengen Convention came into force, allowing free movement between countries,

24/3/1995, Friday (+18,217) The House of Representatives, USA, passed welfare reforms denying state benefits to immigrants, unmarried mothers, and those who refused to work.

23 February 1995, Thursday (+18,216) The Taiwanese Parliament approved compensation payments to� relatives of indigenous Taiwanese massacred by �Kuomintang troops after they evacuated from mainland China in February 1947.

22/3/1995, Wednesday (+18,215) (Space exploration) Valeri Polyakov returned to earth from the longest stay in space by a human, 437 days, 18 hours.

20/3/1995. Monday (+18,213) (1) A ceasefire in Bosnia-Hercegovina, from 31 December 1994, broke down. Bosnian troops attacked Serb positions.

(2) Nerve gas was released on the Tokyo Subway by the Ayum Shrinkyo religious cult.� Five separate trains were affected; 12 died and 5,500 were injured.

17/3/1995, Friday (+18,210) Ronnie Kray died.

16/3/1995, Thursday (+18,209) (Ireland) US President Bill Clinton met with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams at the White House.

15/3/1995, Wednesday (+18,208) (1) (Aviation) Jet plane manufacturers Lockheed and Martin merged to become the Lockheed Martin Corporation.

(2) (Sport) Harlow greyhound racing stadium, Essex, UK, opened.

12/3/1995, Sunday (+18,205)

9/3/1995, Thursday (+18,202) Hutu leader Ernest Kabushemeye was assassinated in Burundi. There were immediate reports of genocide and a refugee crisis, amidst fears of a repeat of the violence in 1994 in Rwanda. See 4/4/1995.

8/3/1995, Wednesday (+18,201) UK Government agreed to direct meetings between ministers and Sinn Fein before an IRA arms surrender.

6/3/1995, Monday (+18,199) Russia announced it had gained control of the Chechen capital Grozny.

3/3/1995, Friday (+18,196) The UN peacekeeping mission in Somalia ended.

2/3/1995, Thursday (+18,195) Financial dealer Nick Leeson was arrested at Frankfurt Airport after a week-long manhunt. The derivatives trader, working for Barings Bank, see 26 February 1995, had bet on the Japanese futures market, and assumed that the Nikkei would rise; it fell, especially after the Kobe earthquake. Barings lost �860 million. Later in December 1995, after apparently striking a deal with the Singapore authorities, Leeson was sentenced to six and a half years.

====================================================================================

28 February 1995, Tuesday (+18,193) Denver International Airport opened. 23 miles from Denver city centre, it covered 53 square miles, cost US$ 4.9 billion, and replaced the 65-year-old Stapleton Airport.

26 February 1995, Sunday (+18,191) The 200 year old Barings Bank went into receivership. One of its brokers, Nick Leeson, had lost US$1.4 billion speculating on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. See 2/3/1995.

23 February 1995, Thursday (+18,188) James Herriot, writer, died.

22 February 1995, Wednesday (+18,187) British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Prime Minister John Bruton agreed a framework for all-party talks on a political settlement for Northern Ireland. A �North-South body� would be set up to harmonise agreed areas, Northern Ireland would have an elected devolved Parliament, and the South would amend its constitution to drop territorial claims to the North. Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, was happy that the �ethos of the agreement was for one Ireland�. The Unionists were less pleased, saying �Northern Ireland has been given an eviction notice from the UK�.

17 February 1995, Friday (+18,182) Peru and Ecuador settled their border dispute (see 26 January 1995).

8 February 1995, Wednesday (+18,173) Russian workers staged a 24-hour strike, over unpaid wages.

4 February 1995, Saturday (+18,169) Godfrey Brown, runner, died (born 21 February 1915).

3 February 1995, Friday (+18,168) Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins became the first female space shuttle pilot, as Discovery took off from Cape Kennedy, Florida,

2 February 1995, Thursday (+18,167) Frederick Perry, tennis champion, died (born 18/5/1909).

1 February 1995, Wednesday (+18,166) Major floods hit northern Europe during January and February. The Netherlands and Germany were worst hit.

====================================================================================

31 January 1995, Tuesday (+18,165)

30 January 1995, Monday (+18,164) Gerald Durrell, naturalist, died.

29 January 1995, Sunday (+18,163) Richard Burnell, champion rower, died (born 26/7/1917).

26 January 1995, Thursday (+18,160) (1) Baring Brothers, Britain�s oldest merchant bank, went into receivership after one of its futures traders, Nick Leeson, racked up losses of over �800 million.

(2) Heavy fighting began along the Peru-Ecuador border.

24 January 1995, Tuesday (+18,158) The trial of former US football star OJ Simpson, for the murder of his wife, began.

22 January 1995, Sunday (+18,156) 22 Israelis died in Tel Aviv in a suicide bombing by Palestinians.

19 January 1995, Thursday (+18,153) Russian troops seized the Presidential palace in Grozny, Chechnya.

18 January 1995, Wednesday, (+18,152) In France, a large cave system with many prehistoric paintings was discovered near Vallon Pont d�Arc.

17 January 1995, Tuesday (+18,151) (Earthquake, Japan) 5.46 am, local time, earthquake in Kobe, southern Japan, killed 6,433, and injured 27,000. The quake measured 7.2 on the Richter Scale and made 300,000 homeless. Cost of damage was estimated at �63 billion. It was the worst quake to hit Japan since Tokyo, 1923.

15 January 1995, Sunday (+18,149) The British Army ended daylight patrols in Belfast, after 25 years.

9 January 1995, Monday (+18,143) Peter Cook, writer, was born.

7 January 1995, Saturday (+18,141) Harry Golombek, chess player, died (born 1/3/1911).

6 January 1995, Friday (+18,140) South African Communist leader Joe Slovo died.

4 January 1995, Wednesday (+18,138)

2 January 1995, Monday (+18,136) Graham Sharpe, champion figure skater, died (born 19 December 1917).

1 January 1995, Sunday (+18,135) (1) Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the European Union.

(2) (International) The World Trade Organisation was created to replace GATT.

(3) Fred West, accused of mass murder, hanged himself inside Winson Green prison, Birmingham.

(4) Mercosur, comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, came into existence.

=====================================================================================

31 December 1994, Saturday (+18,134) (1) A four-month ceasefire was agreed by the combatants in Bosnia-Hercegovina.

(2) Britain began using the Trident nuclear deterrent on its submarines.

(3) Russian forces attacked the Chechen capital Grozny.

30 December 1994, Friday (+18,133)

28 December 1994, Wednesday (+18,131) James Woolsey, director of the CIA, resigned after allegations that the organisation was vulnerable to double agents.

27 December 1994, Tuesday (+18,130) Peter May, cricketer, died (born 31 December 1929).

26 December 1994, Monday (+16,129) Djibouti signed a peace agreement with FRUD (Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy). FRUD was an Afar guerrilla group.

25 December 1994, Sunday (+18,128) Protests by indigenous villagers of Papua against mine pollution (see 1936) were met with military attacks, killing three protestors,

24 December 1994, Saturday (+18,127) British playwright John Osborne died.

22 December 1994, Thursday (+18,125) Silvio Berlusconi resigned after allegations of busoiness corruption.

19 December 1994, Monday (+18,122) (1) A financial meltdown began in Mexico, unleashing the �Tequila Crisis� on world markets.� The Clinton administration bailed out Mexico with US$50,000 billion.

(2) Civil unions between homosexuals were made legal in Sweden.

17 December 1994, Saturday (+18,120) Eurotunnel announced that the fare for the Channel Tunnel was to be �49 day return for a car.

16 December 1994, Friday (+18,119) Mary Durack, poet, died.

15 December 1994, Thursday (+18,118) (1) In Ireland, Fine Gael formad a coalition Government with the Labour Party. John Bruton became Taoiseach (Prime Minister).

(2) The Web browser Netscape 1.0 was launched.

14 December 1994, Wednesday (+18,117) In Australia the Wollemi pine, a relic from the age of the dinosaurs, was discovered growing in the Blue Mountains.

11 December 1994, Sunday (+18,114) Boris Yeltsin ordered troops into Chechnya.

9 December 1994, Friday (+18,112) The first official talks between the British Government and Sinn Fein for 22 years began.

8 December 1994, Thursday (+18,111) (USA, International) US President Clinton signed for the USA to agree to the Uruguay Round of the GATT trade liberalisation agreement, This replaced GATT by the WTO in 1995.

6 December 1994, Tuesday (+18,109)

3 December 1994, Saturday (+18,106) Elizabeth Glaser, campaigner on AIDS, died.

2 December 1994, Friday (+18,105) The Australian Government agreed to pay compensation to indigenous Australians who were displaced during the nuclear tests at Maralinga in the 1950s and 60s.

1 December 1994, Thursday (+18,104)

====================================================================================

29 November 1994, Tuesday (+18,102) Russian aircraft bombed the Chechen capital, Grozny.

28 November 1994, Monday (+18,103) Norwegians, in a referendum, rejected membership of the EU, for a second time.

23 November 1994, Wednesday (+18,096) The Taliban captured Kandahar, Afghanistan. See 26/9/1996.

21 November 1994, Monday (+18,094) NATO launched airstrikes against Serb forces near Bihac.

20 November 1994, Sunday (+18,093) The Angolan Government and UNITA signed the Lusaka Protocol.

19 November 1994, Saturday (+18,092) First National Lottery draw in the UK. Seven people shared the UK� 15.8 million jackpot prize. 25 million people bought tickets, over half the adult population, raising UK� 45 million, half of which went on �good causes�.

18 November 1994, Friday (+18,091) Cab Calloway, band leader, died.

17 November 1994, Thursday (+18,090) Ireland�s coalition Government fell apart when Labour broke with Fianna Fail over the issue of extradition of a paedophile priest. Albert Reynolds resigned as Taoiseach.

13 November 1994, Sunday (+18,086) (1) In a referendum, Swedish voters chose to join the European Union.

(2) The first passengers travelled through the Channel Tunnel.

8 November 1994, Tuesday (+18,081) The Republicans gained control of the US Congress.

1 November 1994, Tuesday (+18,074) Sydney Dernley, Britain�s last surviving executioner, died aged 73.

=====================================================================================

31 October 1994, Monday (+18,073) The Duke of Edinburgh became the first member of the British Royal Family to visit Israel.

26 October 1994, Wednesday (+18,068) Israel and Jordan signed a symbolic peace treaty, ending 46 years of war, at a ceremony attended by US President Clinton.

22 October 1994, Saturday (+18,064) In the USA, the Rhinoceros and Tiger Act came into force. It was intended to assist the preservation of these animals in countries where their habitat is.

21 October 1994, Friday (+18,063) North Korea agreed to international inspection of its nuclear facilities in return for political and economic benefits.

20 October 1994, Thursday (+18,062) Burt Lancaster, US film actor, died.

17 October 1994, Monday (+18,059) Augustus Risman, rugby player, died (born 21/3/1911).

15 October 1994, Saturday (+18,057) The UN demanded that Iraq withdrew military units positioned near the border with Kuwait. Iraq complied.

14 October 1994, Friday (+18,056) The Nobel Peace prize was awarded jointly to Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Yasser Arafat.

13 October 1994, Thursday (+18,055) Ulster�s three main Loyalist terrorist groups announced a ceasefire.

12 October 1994, Wednesday (+18,054) The Magellan mission to Venus ended when radio contact with the probe was lost and the spacecraft burnt up in the atmosphere of the planet.

9 October 1994, Sunday (+18,051) The main Tuareg opposition organisation, the Co-ordination of Armed Resistance (CRA) signed a peace deal with the Niger Government.

7 October 1994, Friday (+18,049) Neils Kaj Jerne, immunologist.

5 October 1994, Wednesday (+18,047) Fifty members of the Solar Temple cult were found dead in Switzerland.

3 October 1994, Monday (+18,045) Fernando Henrique Cardoso was elected President of Brazil.

=====================================================================================

28/9/1994, Wednesday (+18,040) The car ferry Estonia sank off Uto Island in the Baltic during a heavy storm on its way to Sweden. Waves 10 metres high had ripped off the bow doors used for loading vehicles; only 140 of the 1,047 passengers and crew survived, the worst ferry disaster in Europe since World War Two. There were similarities to the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster on 7/4/1987. Ferry operators had been slow to follow recommendations for watertight bulkhead doors on the car deck.

22/9/1994, Thursday (+18,034) The US TV show Friends premiered. It ran until 2004, when its 6 main actors wanted to pursue movie roles; the final episode in 2004 was viewed by over 52 million in the USA.

19/9/1994, Monday (+18,031) (1) US troops went to Haiti to overthrow the military junta led by Raoul Cedras. Former President Jean Bertrand Aristide returned after a three-year exile on 15 October 1994, but was ousted in 2004.

(2) The medical drama ER premiered on US TV.� Its main star was George Clooney, playing Dr Doug Ross.

13/9/1994, Tuesday (+18,025) The unmanned Ulysses probe passed the Sun�s south pole, revealing much information about our star.

12/9/1994, Monday (+18,024) In Canada the Parti Quebecois won an overall majority in the State legislature.

11/9/1994, Sunday (+18,023) Jessica Tandy, actress, died.

10/9/1994, Saturday (+19,022)

9/9/1994, Friday (+18,021) US President Clinton, faced with an influx of 20,000 Cubans, renegotiated with Fidel Castro the return of travel restrictions on Cubans wishing to emigrate to the USA (see 11/8/1992).

8/9/1994, Thursday (+18,020) The last British forces left Berlin.

7/9/1994, Wednesday (+18,019) The American flag was lowered over the US HQ in Berlin, formally ending American presence on the city after almost 50 years.

3/9/1994, Saturday (+18,015) The USSR and China agreed to stop targeting nuclear missiles at each other.

=====================================================================================

31/8/1994, Wednesday (+18,012) IRA announced a ceasefire in Northern Ireland. The British were concerned about the omission of the word �permanent� from the ceasefire declaration.

29/8/1994, Monday (+18,010) In Britain, large shops were allowed to open legally for the first time on a Sunday.

28/8/1994, Sunday (+18,009) Tokyo hosted Japan�s first gay pride parade.

26/8/1994, Friday (+18,007) In Britain, a man aged 62 received the world�s frist battery-powered heart,

21/8/1994, Sunday (+18,002) In Bosnia-Hercegovina, Serbian forces captured the Muslim-dominated city of Bihac.

14/8/1994, Sunday (+17,995) Carlos the Jackal was arrested in Sudan.

11/8/1994, Thursday (+17,992) Fidel Castro of Cuba lifted restrictions on emigration, prompting a surge of 20,000 Cubans leaving for the USA. However see 9/9/1994.

5/8/1994, Friday (+17,986) NATO air strike on Bosnian Serb positions near Sarajevo.

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25/7/1994, Monday (+17,975) Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty, formally ending a state of war between them that had existed since 1948.

21/7/1994, Thursday (+17,971) Tony Blair was elected leader of the UK Labour Party. At age 41 he was the youngest leader ever. John Prescott was elected Deputy Leader.

20/7/1994, Wednesday (+17,970) South Africa was readmitted to the Commonwealth, after 33 years of exclusion.

18/7/1994, Monday (+17,968) Fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy were observed by the Hubble telescope crashing into Jupiter.

9/7/1994, Saturday (+17,959) China announced its intention to abolish Hong Kong�s Legislative Council once it took back the territory from the UK in 1997.

8/7/1994, Friday (+17,958) North Korean President Kim Il Sung (born 1912) died. His son Kim Jong Il succeeded him after a power struggle.

7/7/1994, Thursday (+17,957) Troops from North Yemen occupied Aden.

6/7/1994, Wednesday (+17,956)

5/7/1994, Tuesday (+17,955) Yasser Arafat became the first President of the Palestinian Authority, which had been created under the Cairo Agreement of 1994.

4/7/1994, Monday (+17,954) Kigali fell to the Rwandan Patriotic Front. After the Rwandan President was killed in an air crash (see 6/4/1994) violence occurred against the Tutsi minority. Half a million died and 1.5 million refugees were created.

3/7/1994, Sunday (+17,953)

2/7/1994, Saturday (+17,952) Andres Escobar, Colombian footballer, whose own-goal in the USA eliminated his country form the World Cup, was shot on his return to Medellin.

1/7/1994, Friday (+17,951) (1) PLO leader Yasser Arafat returned to Gaza to lead the new Palestinian Authority. it was the first time he had been in Palestine for 25 years.

(2) 1 kg old potatoes cost 40.5p. The average UK house price was �51,634.� A second class return rail fare London to Glasgow cost �69.00

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22/6/1994, Wednesday (+17,942) Russia joined NATO�s �partnership for peace.

17/6/1994, Friday (+17,937) A car driven by former football star OJ Simpson was chased by helicopters through Los Angeles. Simpson was later charged with murder.

15/6/1994, Wednesday (+17,935) Israel and The Vatican established full diplomatic relations.

12/6/1994, Sunday (+17,932) In European Parliamentary elections, the Tories won only 18 seats to Labour�s 62.

7/6/1994, Tuesday (+17,927) SW Colombia was hit by an earthquake that set off an avalanche. 1,000 died and many more were left homeless.

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29/5/1994, Sunday (+17,918) Erich Honecker, leader of East Germany, (born 1912) died.

27/5/1994, Friday (+17,916) Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia.

25/5/1994, Wednesday (+17,914) The UN Security Council lifted a ban on weapons exports from South Africa, ending the last of its Apartheid-era sanctions.

24/5/1994, Tuesday (+17,913) 4 men convicted of bombing the New York Trade centre were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.

22/5/1994, Sunday (+17,911)

20/5/1994, Friday (+17,909) William Kitchen, speedway champion, died.

19/5/1994, Thursday (+17,908) After 5 year�s development by biotech company Calgene,� the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first genetically modified tomato.

16/5/1994, Monday (+17,905)

13/5/1994, Friday (+17,902) Israel began to withdraw its forces from Jericho and the Gaza Strip, in accordance with the Israeli-Palestinian agreement of 13/9/1993.

12/5/1994, Thursday (+17,901) In the UK, Labour party leader John Smith died suddenly of a heart attack, aged 55. On 17/7/1994 Tony Blair was elected leader of the Labour Party.

10/5/1994, Tuesday (+17,899) Nelson Mandela was sworn in as the first Black president of South Africa (see 2/5/1994). Nelson Mandela voted for the first time in his life on elections held between 26 and 29 April and his Africa National Congress Party won an overwhelming 62.6% of the vote. The National Party won 20.4%.

8/5/1994, Sunday (+17,897) George Peppard, actor, died.

7/5/1994, Saturday (+17,896) Clement Greenberg, art critic, died.

6/5/1994, Friday (+17,895) The Channel Tunnel was opened by Queen Elizabeth II and President Mitterand.� 50 kilometres long, it had taken� 15,000 workers 7 years to complete and cost UK� 10 billion. Construction of the Tunnel was started in November 1987, and workers met in the middle three years later. An earlier Channel Tunnel proposal in 1907 had been withdrawn after the British military feared it would be used for invasion.

5/5/1994, Thursday (+17,894) In Yemen, after preliminary skirmishes, fulol scale hostilities began between President Abdullah Saleh, representing conservative northern interests, and Vice President Ali Saleh al Beidh, representing the Marxist south. The conflict was mostly a power struggle between these two men, whereas most Yemenis welcomed the unification of the country. However Saudi Arabia began supporting President Saleh, whereas al Beidh allied with Iraq.

3/5/1994, Tuesday (+17,892)

2/5/1994, Monday (+17,891) South African President F W de Klerk conceded defeat to Nelson Mandela in the country�s first truly democratic elections, see 10/5/1994.

1/5/1994, Sunday (+17,890) Formula One driver Ayrton Senna (born 1960) died in a crash in Italy.

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28/4/1994, Thursday (+17,887) CIA double agent Aldrich Ames was jailed for life after pleading guilty to selling secrets to the USSR, later to Russia.

26/4/1994, Tuesday (+17,885) First multiracial elections in South Africa. See 10/5/1994.

22/4/1994, Friday (+17,881) Richard Nixon, 37^th US President, (born 1913) died.

21/4/1994, Thursday (+17,880) The Red Cross estimated that 100,000 had died in the Rwandan Genocide.

20/4/1994, Wednesday (+17,879) In France, Paul Touvier was found guilty of ordering the massacre of 17 Jews whilst serving in the Vichy France Milice.

18/4/1994, Monday (+17,877)

17/4/1994, Sunday (+17,876) Despite NATO action, Gorazde fell to the Serbs. Allegations of massacres by Serb forces followed.

16/4/1994, Saturday (+17,875) In a referendum in Finland, voters decided to join the European Union.

15/4/1994, Friday (+17,874) John Curry, figure skater, died (born 9/9/1949).

10/4/1994, Sunday (+17,869) NATO air strikes against the Serbs around Gorazde. This was in accordance with earlier warnings to Serbia over its attacks on UN �safe havens� in March 1994.

6/4/1994, Wednesday (+17,865) An air crash killed the Presidents of both Rwanda (President Juvenal Habyarimana) and Burundi (President Cyprien Ntaryamira). The Rwandan Patriotic Front was suspected but so were Hutu extremists opposed to the Arusha Agreement. See 5 October 1993 and 4/7/1994. On 7/4/1994 the Hutu militia, known as the Interhamwe, began organising the killing of many Tutsis.

5/4/1994, Tuesday (+17,864) US rock star Kurt Cobain, frontman of Nirvana, shot himself aged 27.

3/4/1994, Sunday (+17,862) Easter Sunday.

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31/3/1994, Thursday (+17,859) In Bosnia, Serb artillery bpmbarded the UN �safe havens� of Gorazde and Srebrenica. See 10/4/1994.

28/3/1994, Monday (+17,856) (Italy) Silvio Berlusconi became Prime Minister of Italy He led a short-lived Rightist government. There were concerns over possible conflicts of interest between Berlusconi�s political responsibilities and his widespread business� interests.

25/3/1994, Friday (+17,853) US forces withdrew from Somalia,

24/3/1994, Thursday (+17,852) Allegations made in US Congress that President Clinton and his wife behaved improperly in dealings with the Whitewater Development Corporation. Later on this was to prove electorally damaging to President Clinton.

23/3/1994, Wednesday (+17,851)

22/3/1994, Tuesday (+17,850) Talks between North and South Korea, aimed at averting nuclear capability by the North, broke down and a full military alert was set up in the South. The crisis was defused when former US President Jimmy Carter visited Pyongyang on 15/6/1994.

19/3/1994, Saturday (+17,847)

17/3/1994, Thursday (+17,845) In France the trial of Paul Touvier, head of the Vichy militia during World War Two, began. In April 1994 he was sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in prison on 17/7/1996.

16/3/1994, Wednesday (+17,844) Terms were agreed for Norway to join the European Union, subject to a Norwegian referendum.

15/3/1994, Tuesday (+17,843)

13/3/1994, Sunday (+17,841) (Yugoslavia) In former Yugoslavia, Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Muslims formed an anti-Serb alliance.

12/3/1994, Saturday (+17,840) The Church of England ordained its first women priests. 32 were ordained.

11/3/1994, Friday (+17,839) Riots in South African Black Homeland of Bophutatswana.

9/3/1994, Wednesday (+17,837) The IRA launched a mortar attack at London Heathrow Airport.

6/3/1994, Sunday (+17,834) A referendum in Moldova showed the electorate opposed to possible unification with Romania.

4/3/1994, Friday (+17,832) John Candy, comedian, died.

1/3/1994, Tuesday (+17,829) South Africa ceded Walvis Bay to Namibia.

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28 February 1994, Monday (+17,828) Four Serbian planes shot down by US F-16 pilots over Bosnia, for violating the US-imposed no-fly zone there.

27 February 1994, Sunday (+17,827)

26 February 1994, Saturday (+17,826) Russia announced an amnesty for political p0risoners, including those� involved in the 1991 coup that brought down the Soviet Union.

25 February 1994, Friday (+17,825) Kahanist Baruch Goldstein opened fire in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, killing 29 Muslims, before worshippers overpowered him and beat him to death.

24 February 1994, Thursday (+17,824) Police in Gloucester began excavating the property of Frederick West at 25 Cromwell Street.� He and his wife were arrested on 28 February 1994.

23 February 1994, Wednesday (+17,823) Dakota Fanning, actress, was born.

21 February 1994, Monday (+17,821) In Britain, Parliament voted to lower the age of consent for homosexuals from 21 to 18.

19 February 1994, Saturday (+17,819) English film director Derek Jarman died.

13 February 1994, Sunday (+17,813) Liverpool FC signed record �4m shirt sponsorship deal with Danish brewers Carlsberg.

9 February 1994, Wednesday (+17,809) The Vance-Owen peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina was announced.

6 February 1994, Sunday (+17,806) Joseph Cotton, author, died.

5 February 1994, Saturday (+17,805) 70 killed and 200 injured in a Serb mortar attack on Sarajevo marketplace.

3 February 1994, Thursday (+17,803) US President Clinton lifted trade sanctions against Vietnam; In December 1992 President Bush had allowed US companies to open offices in Vietnam but the embargo meant they could not yet trade there.

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31 January 1994, Monday (+17,800) German car manufacturer BMW announced the purchase of Rover from British Aerospace for US$ 800 million.

26 January 1994, In Australia, David Kang fired 2 blank shots at Prince Charles as he was handing out Australia Day awards in Sydney. He said he was highlighting the plight of the Cambodian boat people. Sentenced to 500 hours community service, Kang later became a barrister specialising in criminal and medical law.

22 January 1994, Saturday (+17,791) Telly Savalas, actor, died.

21 January 1994, Friday (+17,790) In the USA Lorena Bobbitt was cleared on grounds of temporary insanity of malicious wounding after cutting off her husband�s penis.

20 January 1994, Thursday (+17,789) Sir Matthew Busby, footballer, died (born 26/5/1909).

19 January 1994, Wednesday (+17,788) Jane Brown, headmistress of a school in Hackney, London, barred pupils from seeing Romeo and Juliet because it was �too heterosexual�.

18 January 1994, Tuesday (+17,787) Arthur Altman, songwriter, died aged 83.

17 January 1994, Monday (+17,786) A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit Northridge in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles.

16 January 1994, Sunday (+17,785) Canadian rock musician Bryan Adams performed in front of 2,500 people in Ho Chi Minh City. He was the first Western entertainer to perform in Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War, 1975.

15 January 1994, Saturday (+17,784) In a Virginia, USA, Court, Lorena Bobbitt said she could not remember the moment she cut off her husband�s penis, after an alleged rape by him; she leaded temporary insanity. The member was successfully reattached by surgeons.

14 January 1994, Friday (+17,783) US President Clinton and Soviet President Boris Yeltsin signed the |Kremlin Accords. Treaties aimed ending the preprogrammed targetimng of nuclear missiles.

13 January 1994, Thursday (+17,782) In London, Westminster Council faced criticism for gerrymandering election boundaries 1987-89. The Conservative Government was tarnished by association.

12 January 1994, Wednesday (+17,781) Samuel Bronston, film producer died aged 85.

11 January 1994, Tuesday (+17,780) The Irish government ended a 15-year old broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm, Sinn Fein.

10 January 1994, Monday (+17,779) UK Prime Minister John Major started his �Back to basics� campaign, calling for a return to old-fashioned family values.

8 January 1994, Saturday (+17,777) Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov left for the Mir Space Station. He remained there until 22/3/1985, a record 437 days in space.

6 January 1994, Thursday (+17,775) US figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was injured on her right leg in an attack ordered by her rival Tonya Harding.

1 January 1994, Saturday (+17,770) (1) The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into force.

(2) In Mexico�s Chiapas State, near the Guatemalan border, campesinos, mostly indigenous peoples, rebelled. They named themselves Zapatistas, after Emilio Zapatista, a hero of the 1910 Revolution. They seized control of some large estates and turned them into communal farms. Chiapas was the poorest State in Mexico. 26.4% of its people were of Mayan origin (average for Mexico was 7.5%). The State had large areas unserved by electricity, despite containing dams that generated it for other areas of Mexico, A third of the people in Chiapas did not speak Spanish, and nearly 60% of Chiapas workers earned under US$3.33 an hour in 1990, the National Minimum Wage for Mexico at that time. 19% of the labour force were unwaged, working on subsistence agriculture. The main cash crop, coffee, had fallen in price considerably. 1 January 1994 was the day NAFTA came into effect, and the Zapatistas described NAFTA as the �death certificate� for Mexico, unable to compete with US and Canadian enterprises. The army was deployed to counter the rebellion; casualties were low by past Mexican standards, with some 150-400 killed. Eventually Salinas entered negotiations with the rebels.

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30 December 1993, Thursday (+17,768) Israel and The Vatican recognised each other.

28 December 1993, Tuesday (+17,766) The Russian government announced that nearly 50% of the economy had been privatised.

27 December 1993, Monday (+17,765) In Cairo, Muslim militants opened fire on a tourist bus, wounding 16, including 8 Australians.

26 December 1993, Sunday (+17,764) Belgian racing car driver Andre Pilette died, aged 75.

25 December 1993, Saturday (+17,763) Death of US (Russian-born, 8 February 1940) chess champion, Boris Kogan.

24 December 1993, Friday (+17,762)

22 December 1993, Wednesday (+17,760) Indigenous Australian Rights were strengthened by the Mative Title legislation, passed this day with effect from 1 January 1994.

21 December 1993, Tuesday (+17,759) Guy des Cars, French novelist died (born 1911)

20 December 1993, Monday (+17,758) Charles Smirke, champion jockey, died (born 23/9/1906).

19 December 1993, Sunday (+17,757) Several people were inured in an IRA bomb blast in Londonderry.

18 December 1993, Saturday (+17,756) The first corrected images from the Hubble Telescope were taken.

17 December 1993, Friday (+17,755) Warring parties in Bosnia agreed to a ceasefire from the 23^rd December to the 3^rd January. However despite the ceasefire, on 25 December 1993, Serb gunmen fired over 1,300 rounds into Sarajevo, killing 6 civilians.

16 December 1993, Thursday (+17,754) Ratu Penaia Ganilau, President of Fiji (1987-93), died aged 75.

15 December 1993, Wednesday (+17,753) (1) (UK, Ireland) The Downing Street Declaration; the UK committed itself to finding a solution to the problem of Northern Ireland. Prime Ministers John Major of the UK and John Reynolds of Ireland discussed the possibility of a future united Ireland.

(2) (International) Completion of the GATT Uruguay Round (began 1986 in Punta del Este, Uruguay). 117 countries signed the economic liberalisation agreement in Marrakesh, Morocco.

14 December 1993, Tuesday (+17,752) (1) The Russian elections produced a move to the Right. Around 50% voted for Conservative-Nationalist parties with Vladimir Zhirinovsky (Liberal Democrat) emerging as overall leader. Yeltsin remained President of Russia. The Baltic States feared revenge from Zhirinovsky for their precipitating the collapse of the old USSR.

(2) Yasser Arafat, PLO leader, made his first official visit to Britain.

13 December 1993, Monday (+17,751) A fire in textile factory in Fuzjou China, killed 60.

12 December 1993, Sunday (+17,750) An earthquake hit Flores, Indonesia, killing 2,200.

11 December 1993, Saturday (+17,749) Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, leader of the Coalition for Democracy, was elected President of Chile.

10 December 1993, Friday (+17,748) (1) The Hubble telescope was successfully repaired in space by Shuttle astronauts. Its mirror had been slightly misshapen, blurring its vision of deep space. The Shuttle landed safely on 13 December 1993.

(2) Builders of the Channel Tunnel officially handed over the keys to the operators, Eurotunnel.

9 December 1993, Thursday (+17,747) Foreigners began leaving Algeria after death threats by Islamic militants.

8 December 1993, Wednesday (+17,746) The House of Commons voted to allow large British shops to open for six hours on Sundays. High Street shops now prepared for a price war with the supermarkets.

7 December 1993, Tuesday (+17,745) Felix Houphouet Boigny, President of Cote d�Ivoire, died.

5 December 1993, Sunday (+17,743)

4 December 1993, Saturday (+17,742) Frank Zappa, US rock musician, died.

3 December 1993, Friday (+17,741) Diana Princess of Wales announced her retirement from public life.

2 December 1993, Thursday (+17,740) (1) The Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched on a mission to repair flaws in the Hubble Space Telescope.

(2) A planned merger between Renault of France and Volvo of Sweden fell through.

1 December 1993, Wednesday (+17,739) Georgian and Abkhaz representatives met in Geneva to sign an accord to end their conflict.

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28 November 1993, Sunday (+17,736) The Observer revealed that the UK Government had a secret channel of communication with the IRA despite UK denials.

25 November 1993, Thursday (+17,733) English author and composer Anthony Burgess died, aged 76.

24 November 1993, Wednesday (+17,732) Two 11 year old boys, John Venables and Robert Thompson, were found guilty of the murder of 2-year-old James Bulger in Liverpool. Judge Michael Moreland suggested watching violent video films had contributed to the boy�s actions.� They were sentenced to �indefinite detention�.

23 November 1993, Tuesday (+17,731) US President Bill Clinton apologised to the indigenous Hawaiians for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in the 19^th century.

21 November 1993, Monday (+17,729) Bill Bixby, actor and director, died.

20 November 1993, Saturday (+17,728)

18 November 1993, Thursday (+17,726) �The Georgian President extended the country�s state of emergency indefinitely.

17 November 1993, Wednesday (+17,725) The US Congress voted for NAFTA.

15 November 1993, Monday (+17,723)

12 November 1993, Friday (+17,720) Britain refused to join a worldwide ban on dumping nuclear waste at sea.

11 November 1993, Thursday (+17,719) The USA imposed new sanctions on Libya for refusing to handover two suspects wanted for the Lockerbie bombing of a Pan Am plane.

10 November 1993, Wednesday (+17,718) Euro Disney announced losses of US$ 900 million after its first year of business. Europe-wide recession, high interest rates, and high unemployment were blamed by management for the losses. The 10,000 staff fear further job cuts on top of the 950 already dismissed, but must keep smiling to welcome the visitors (both of them).

9 November 1993, Tuesday (+17,717) (1) The UN said the number of refugees worldwide rose from 2.5 million in 1973 to 19.7 million today.

(2) The historic 16^th century Mostar Bridge was demolished by a barrage of shells from Croat forces fighting Muslims.

8 November 1993, Monday (+17,716) In Stockholm, Sweden, thieves cut through the roof of the Museum of Modern Art and stole artworks, some by Picasso and Braque. The value of the uninsured paintings was estimated at US$ 60 million.

5 November 1993, Friday (+17,713)

4 November 1993, Thursday (+17,712) A forest fire in the Santa Monica Mountains near Los Angeles was finally brought under control. It had begun pon 2 November 1993, killed 3, and destroyed 400 homes. Arsonists had lit many fires in the area..

1 November 1993, Monday (+17,709) The European Union (formerly EC) came into existence as the Maastricht Treaty came into effect for its 12 members.

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31 October 1993, Sunday (+17,708) River Phoenix, US actor, died.

28 October 1993, Thursday (+17,705)

25 October 1993, Monday (+17,702) In Canada the Liberal Party won a decisive victory in the general election. The Progressive Conservative Party, which had been in office since 1984, retained only 2 seats. The Bloc Quebecois became the second-largest Party.

24 October 1993, Sunday (+17,701) Jo Grimond, UK Liberal Party leader, died.

23 October 1993, Saturday (+17,700) An IRA bomb in Belfast killed 9.

22 October 1993, Friday (+17,699) Innes Ireland, motor racing champion, died (born 12/6/1930).

21 October 1993, Thursday (+17,698) Gary Kasparov defeated Nigel Short in the chess championships.

20 October 1993, Wednesday (+17,697) Pakistan elected Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007) as Prime Minister.

19 October 1993, Tuesday (+17,696) The UK Post Office began selling self-adhesive stamps that didn�t need licking.

18 October 1993, Monday (+17,695) As part of UK defence cuts, the privatisation of Devonport and Rosyth naval dockyards was announced.

15 October 1993, Friday (+17,692) Nelson Mandela and President F W De Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize.

12 October 1993, Tuesday (+17,689) The 1 millionth Toyota Camry was manufactured.

5 October 1993, Tuesday (+17,682) The UN created a body to oversee the Arusha agreement, see 4/8/1993 and 6/4/1994.

4 October 1993, Monday (+17,681) Russian rebels surrendered at Moscow �White House�. Troops loyal to President Yeltsin opened fire on rebels in the White House who wanted a return to old-style Communism. 146 people died in the� conflict; Yeltsin pardoned the ringleaders.

3 October 1993, Sunday (+17,680) US troops fought large-scale land battles with local militiamen in Mogadishu, Somalia.

2 October 1993, Saturday (+17,679) Tara Lynne Barr, US actress, was born.

1 October 1993, Friday (+17,678) Buckingham Palace closed after being open to the public for 8 weeks. 400,000 people visited, raising some �2.2 million.

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30/9/1993, Thursday (+17,677) Earthquake in southwest India killed 10,000.

29/9/1993, Wednesday (+17,676) Alfred Ellaby, rugby player, died (born 24 November 1902).

28/9/1993, Tuesday (+17,675) Abkhaz rebels took the Georgian Black Sea port and resort city of Sukhumi. Georgian President Eduard Sheverdnadze accused Moscow of helping the rebels.

27/9/1993, Monday (+17,674) (Georgia) Abkhaz separatists, backed by Russia, captured the Georgian city of Sukhumi, which they had been besieging.

24/9/1993, Friday (+17,671) (1) The USA and Commonwealth lifted trade sanctions against South Africa.

(2) In the Philippines, Imelda Marcos was jailed for 18 years for corruption.

22/9/1993, Wednesday (+17,669) The Albanian national football team were banned from swapping shirts with their opponents, because the authorities couldn�t afford replacements.

21/9/1993, Tuesday (+17,668) (1) (Russia) In Russia, President Yeltsin suspended the Constitution and scrapped Parliament.

(2) (Cambodia) Cambodian elections were won by the Royalist, Funcinpec. Sihanouk became King.

(3) US Grunge band Nirvana released their third and final album In Utero. It topped the charts around the world and sold over 6 million copies

15/9/1993, Wednesday (+17,662) The USA, Britain, and other Western countries agreed to sanctions on Jonas Savimbi�s UNITA forces fighting the Angolan government.

13/9/1993, Monday (+17,660) Israel and the PLO signed a peace accord in Washington. Shimon Peres, the Israeli Foreign Minister, shook hands with Mahmoud Abbas, the PLO deputy chief, and Palestinian self-rule was promised. Then the PLO leader, Yassser Arafat, held out his hand to the Israeli PM, Yitzhak Rabin. After a slight hesitation and a nudge from the US President, Bill Clinton, the two shook hands. On 14/9/1993 Israel and Jordan signed an agreement to negotiate a peace treaty.

9/9/1993, Thursday (+17,656) Israel and the PLO recognised each other�s right to exist, a major step forward in the peace process.

1/9/1993, Wednesday (+17,648) In the UK, British Sky Broadcasting began transmissions.

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30/8/1993, Monday (+17,646) The Israeli Government approved the granting of self-rule to Palestinians living on the West Bank and in Jericho. The PLO signed this plan on 9/9/1993.

28/8/1993, Saturday (+17,644) William Stafford, writer, died.

23/8/1993, Monday (+17,639) US Police� raided singer Michael Jackson�s home after a 13-year old boy made allegations of child abuse.

21/8/1993, Saturday (+17,637) Millie Bright, footballer, was born.

20/8/1993, Friday (+17,636) Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Peace Accord.

18/8/1993, Wednesday (+17,634)

16/8/1993, Monday (+17,632) South Africa agreed to return Walvis Bay, its last colonial possession, to Namibia.

15/8/1993, Sunday (+17,631) Massacre of members of the Yanomami tribe in Brazil by gold and tin miners.

14/8/1993, Saturday (+17,630) Armenia launched a big offensive inside Azerbaijan near the Iranian border. Azerbaijan was also contending with another separatist movement, also near the Iranian border, at Lenkoran.

13/8/1993, Friday (+17,629) Firebombs planted by the IRA in Bournemouth caused damage but no injuries.

7/8/1993, Saturday (+17,623) Buckingham Palace, London, opened to the public for the first time ever. 4,314 visited on the first day, paying an �8 entrance fee.

4/8/1993, Wednesday (+17,620) The President of Rwanda�s Hutu-dominated government, Juvenal Habyarima, signed the Arusha Peace Agreement with the opposition Rwandan Patriotic Front, whose mainly Tutsi forces were closing in on the capital, Kigali. A ceasefire was agreed and plans made for power-sharing. 2,500 UN troops were pledged to oversee� the implementation of the agreement. But on 4/8/1993 Kigali�s Radio television Libre des Milles Collines began broadcasting Hutu-supremacist, anti-Tutsi, propaganda. See 5 October 1993.

2/8/1993, Monday (+17,618) The UK ratified the Maastricht Treaty.

1/8/1993, Sunday (+17,617) Major flooding hit the Midwest Mississippi area of the USA.

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31/7/1993, Saturday (+17,616) King Baudouin I of Belgium died.

25/7/1993, Sunday (+17,610) Israeli air strikes on pro-Iranian Hizbullah positions in southern Lebanon.

23/7/1993, Friday (+17,608) Megan Taylor, figure skating champion, died.

19/7/1993, Monday (+17,604) A poll in the UK showed only 37% of Britons believed Prince Charles was fit to be King.

18/71993, Sunday (+17,603) In Japan the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost power after a 38-year rule. Corruption scandals were a major factor in this defeat. Morihiro Hosokawa, leader of the Japan New Party, formed a coalition that dod not include the LDP/

16/7/1993, Friday (+17,601) St Louis, Missouri, flooded as the Mississippi broke its banks.

13/7/1993, Tuesday (+17,598) (1) Rolls Royce opened its first showroom in Russia.

(2) Tajik rebels, helped by Afghani guerrillas from across the border in Afghanistan, attacked Russian troops in Tajikistan who were there to prop up the local government clinging to power against Muslim fundamentalists.

12/7/1993, Monday (+17,597) A magnitude 7.8 earthquake off Hokkaido caused a major tsunami to hit Okushuri island, killing 202 people.

10/7/1993, Saturday (+17,595)

6/7/1993, Tuesday (+17,591) Georgia steeped up resistance to Abkhazian rebels, who were seeking their own Muslim state, around the Black Sea resort of Sukhumi.

5/7/1993, Monday (+17,590) Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, major cuts were announced to Britain�s Royal Navy.

4/7/1993, Sunday (+17,589)

2/7/1993, Friday (+17,587) In Turkey, 40 died in an arson attack on a hotel by Islamist terrorists protesting against Salman Rushdie�s book The Satanic Verses.

1/7/1993, Thursday (+17,586) The average UK house price was �51,211.

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29/6/1993, Tuesday (+17,584)

27/6/1993, Sunday (+17,582) US forces launched cruise missile attack on Baghdad Intelligence HQ in retaliation for an attempted assassination of US President George Bush in April 1993.

26/6/1993, Saturday (+17,581) Jack Bittner, entertainer, died.

25/6/1993, Friday (+17,580) Kim Campbell (born 1947) became Canada�s first female Prime Minister (Progressive Conservative Party). In October 1993 her Party were defeated in an election by the Liberal Party, led by Jean Chretien, and in December 1993 Campbell resigned as Party leader.

24/6/1993, Thursday (+17,579) (1) Israel announced plans to build a US$ 13 million fence around the Occupied Territories.

(2) Ireland legalised gay sex with an equal age of consent as for homosexuals, 17.

23/6/1993. Wednesday (+17,578) The US lowered the Stars and Stripes for the last time at the Tempelhof airbase in Berlin after 48 years of military service there.

22/6/1993, Tuesday (+17,577) Hannah Troy, fashion designer, died.

21/6/1993, Monday (+17,576) (1) In Britain, government Minister Michael Heseltine suffered a heart attack.

(2) Basque separatists set off a car bomb in Madrid, killing 5 senior military officers in a minibus. Two others were also killed, and 24 injured.

20/6/1993, Sunday (+17,575) Benjamin Mascolo, singer, was born

19/6/1993, Saturday (+17,574) The US recognised the Government in Angola.

18/6/1993, Friday (+17,573) In a second referendum, Denmark narrowly approved the Maastricht Treaty.

17/6/1993, Thursday (+17,572) In Somalia, UN ground troops along with US helicopters launched a dawn raid on the HQ of General Mohammed Farrah Aidid, in retaliation for an attack that left 24 Pakistani peacekeepers dead 12 days earlier. Aidid escaped capture or death.

16/6/1993, Wednesday (+17,571) Lindsay Hassett, Australian cricketer, died.

15/6/1993, Tuesday (+17,570) The last Russian troops left Cuba.

14/6/1993, Monday (+17,569) Tansu Ciller became Turkey�s first woman president.

13/6/1993, Sunday (+17,568) Serb shells hit a hospital in the Muslim town of Gorazde, killing 50 people.

12/6/1993, Saturday (+17,567) Sarah Peralta, US author, died.

11/6/1993, Friday (+17,566) Ali Akbar Rafsanjani was re-elected for a second term as President of Iran.

10/6/1993, Thursday (+17,565) Scott McLaughlin, racing driver, was born.

9/6/1993, Wednesday (+17,564) In Britain, Norman Lamont made a bitter attack on John Major in the Commons.

6/6/1993, Sunday (+17,561) In Liberia, 270 civilians were massacred when rebel forces of the Patriotic National Front attacked a rubber plantation near Monrovia.

3/6/1993, Thursday (+17,558) (1) Holbeck Hall, Scarborough�s only 4-star hotel, began to collapse into the sea, with its extensive gardens. The collapse took several days.

(2) Prime Minister John Major�s ratings were also falling fast. His popularity rating fell to 21%, the lowest for ant PM since polling began in the UK in the 1930s.

==========================================================================

30/5/1993, Sunday (+17,554) Neo-Nazi skinheads attacked and set fire to a hostel housing Turkish migrant workers in the German steel town of Solingen. This was the worst of several such attacks on migrant workers. The German government responded with a crackdown on Neo-Nazis and more controls on immigration.

28/5/1993, Friday (+17,552) Charles Barnett, cricketer, died.

27/5/1993, Thursday (+17,551) Norman Lamont resigned as UK Chancellor; Kenneth Clarke replaced him.

26/5/1993, Wednesday (+17,550) US First :Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton made a speech denouncing price gougers and profiteering in medicine.

25/5/1993, Tuesday (+17,549)

24/5/1993, Monday (+17,548) (Ethiopia-Eritrea) Eritrea became independent. from Ethiopia, after 32 years of war between them. In 1961, to gain Ethiopia as an ally against the Soviets, Western powers had insisted on a federation of Ethiopia with Eritrea, although Eritrea was supposed to retain its own government, Shortly afterwards, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie annexed Eritrea as a mere province. However in 1974 Haile Selassie was deposed and the country became pro-Soviet. In 1991,with Soviet support ended, Eritrean rebels were making headway and they managed to capture the Eritrean capital, Asmara, in 5/1991. A referendum on independence in Eritrea produced a majority of 99.81% in favour.

23/5/1993, Sunday (+17,547) Eseosa Mandy Aigbogun, Swiss footballer, was born.

20/5/1993, Thursday (+17,544) In the USA, an estimated 93 million people watched the final episode of Cheers on NBC.

18/5/1993,Tuesday (+17,542) The Danes voted yes to the Maastricht Treaty.

13/5/1993, Thursday (+17,537) The USA decided to discontinue the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI), also known as �Star Wars�.

10/5/1993, Monday (+17,534) An explosion at a doll factory in Bangkok, Thailand killed 187.

9/5/1993, Sunday (+17,533) Freya Stark, author, died.

8/5/1993, Saturday (+17,532)

6/5/1993, Thursday (+17,530) In Britain, the Conservatives did badly in elections. In a by-election, they lost Newbury on a 29% swing to the Liberals. They also did badly in county council elections the same day.

5/5/1993, Wednesday (+17,529) Asil Nadir, Chairman of Polly Peck, jumped bail and fled to Cyprus.

3/5/1993, Monday (+17,527)

1/5/1993, Saturday (+17,525) President Ranasinghe Premadasa of Sri Lanka was assassinated by a suicide bomber.

================================================================================

30/4/1993, Friday (+17,524) CERN posted the source code for the Internet for free, for anyone to use.

29/4/1993, Thursday (+17,523) Queen Elizabeth II announced she would open Buckingham Palace to tourists. The �8 entrance fee was to raise money for the rebuilding of Windsor Castle, damaged by fire in 1992.

27/4/1993, Tuesday (+17,521) The Ethiopian province of Eritrea voted overwhelmingly for independence.

25/4/1993, Sunday (+17,519) Pope John Paul II made the first Papal visit to Albania, until then the world�s only officially atheist state.

24/4/1993, Saturday (+17,518) IRA bomb exploded at Bishopsgate in the City of London. The bomb was hidden in a truck close to the Nat West Tower and left a crater of 14 square yards. One person was killed and 44 injured, and one million square feet of office space made un-useable. Insurance claims were estimated at �1 billion.

23/4/1993, Friday (+17,517) The World Health Organisation declared tuberculosis a global emergency, saying TB could kill 30 million people by 2003.

22/4/1993, Thursday (+17,516) A Black teenager, Stephen Lawrence, 18, was stabbed to death in Eltham, south east London, in a racist attack.

20/4/1993, Tuesday (+17,514)

19/4/1993, Monday (+17,513) The siege at Waco, Texas, ended after 51 days. On 28 February 1993 the Branch Davidian sect, led by David Koresh, was visited by US Federal Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms personnel to arrest Koresh for suspected firearms offences. Sect members opened fire, killing four Federal Agents and injuring a dozen more. US government troops and armoured cars surrounded the sect�s ranch. On 19 April the wooden compound was set alight by cult members as troops fired tear gas into the buildings. 86 people, including David Koresh and 17 children, died.

18/4/1993, Sunday (+17,512) The Muslim town of Srebrenica surrendered to Serb forces.

17/4/1993, Saturday (+17,511) Two Los Angeles policemen were convicted of beating up Rodney King.

15/4/1993, Thursday (+17,509)

11/4/1993, Sunday (+17,505) Easter Sunday.

10/4/1993, Saturday (+17,504) Iran said income from tourism rose by 50% over the past year.

9/4/1993, Friday (+17,503) Wouter Perquin, Dutch MP (KVP), died aged 74.

8/4/1993, Thursday (+17,502) Marian Anderson, US musician, died.

7/4/1993, Wednesday (+17,501) The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia joined the United Nations.

6/4/1993, Tuesday (+17,500) Queen Elizabeth became liable for Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.

5/4/1993, Monday (+17,499) Republican Guards killed 64 in Chad.

4/4/1993, Sunday (+17,498) Armenian forces now occupied a tenth of Azerbaijan. Armenia laid claim to the enclave of Nagorny-Karabakh and was occupying territory separating the enclave from Armenia.

3/4/1993, Saturday (+17,497) Animal Rights activists disrupted the Grand National at Aintree, Liverpool.

2/4/1993, Friday (+17,496) 1st test flight of Fokker 70.

1/4/1993, Thursday (+17,495)� (1) Britain agreed to send aircraft to enforce the no-fly zone over Bosnia.

(2) A survey showed a record 69% of Australians wanted their country to become a Republic.

=================================================================================

30/3/1993, Tuesday (+17,493)

29/3/1993, Monday (+17,492) Two Hoover executives were fired by the American parent company Maytag after the free-flights fiasco. The deal whereby any Hoover purchase over �100 entitled the customer to a flight worth �400 was vastly over-subscribed and cost Hoover over �20 million.

28/3/1993, Sunday (+17,491) Type II supernova detected in M81.

27/3/1993, Saturday (+17,490) Ziang Zemin became President of the People�s Republic of China.

25/3/1993, Thursday (+17,488)

23/3/1993, Tuesday (+17,486) The UN stated that record low levels of ozone had been registered over large areas of the Western Hemisphere.

22/3/1993, Monday (+17,485) (1) South Africa officially abandoned its nuclear weapons programme. President de Klerk announced that the country's 6 warheads had already been dismantled in 1990.

(2) Intel introduced the Pentium 80586 processor.

21/3/1993, Sunday (+17,484) Pope John Paul II declared Duns Scotus a saint.

20/3/1993, Saturday (+17,483) An IRA bomb exploded in Warrington, killing a child. A second child died of his injuries later. On 28/3/1993 thousands joined a peace rally in Dublin.

19/3/1993, Friday (+17,482) UN relief convoy reached Srebrenica, Yugoslavia.

18/3/1993, Thursday (+17,481) Kenneth E Boulding, US economist and activist, died (born 1910).

17/3/1993, Wednesday (+17,480) In Britain, protests over Budget plans to impose VAT on domestic fuel, initially at 8%, and at 17.5% from 1995.

16/3/1993, Tuesday (+17,479) A patent was granted for �repositionable pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet material�, or Post-It Notes.

14/3/1993, Sunday (+17,477) Severe storms along the east coast of the USA killed 66 people.

12/3/1993, Friday (+17,475) 257 people were killing in a bombing in Mumbai, India.

11/3/1993, Thursday (+17,474) North threatened to withdraw from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, but did not in fact leave.

10/3/1993, Wednesday (-17,473) Dr David Gunn, gynaecologist, was murdered by an anti-abortion campaigner.

9/3/1993, Tuesday (+17,472)

7/3/1993, Sunday (+17,470) Vin�cius de Freitas Ribeiro, Brazilian footballer, was born.

6/3/1993, Saturday (+17,469) Ning Zetao, champion Chinese swimmer was born in Zhengzhou.

5/3/1993, Friday (+17,468) Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was banned from the sport for life after failing a drugs test. In 1988 he had been banned for 2 years after using steroids at the Olympics.

4/3/1993, Thursday (+17,467) In Britain, a reform of the Honours System was announced, to give greater reward for merit.

3/3/1993, Wednesday (+17,466) (1) Rolls Royce announced plans to open a showroom in China.

(2) Tony Bland, in a vegetative state since becoming a victim of the Hillsborough soccer disaster on 15/4/1989, was allowed to die by doctors.

2/3/1993, Tuesday (+17,465) Paul Zimmerman, US screenwriter, died (born 3/7/1938).

1/3/1993, Monday (+17,464) Funeral of two-year-old James Bulger, abducted from Bootle shopping centre on 12 February 1993 and later murdered by two youths on a Liverpool railway line; his body was found by the tracks on 16 February 1993. Two boys aged ten from Walton, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, were charged with the murder on 20 February 1993. The case provoked a moral panic about social breakdown in society and �loss of values�.

====================================================================================

28 February 1993, Sunday (+17,463) In Cairo, a caf� used by foreigners was bombed by Muslim extremists. 4 were killed and 16 injured. Americans, Swedes, and Germans were amongst the injured.

27 February 1993, Saturday (+17,462) Alphonse Areola, footballer, was born.

26 February 1993, Friday (+17,461) Bomb exploded beneath World Trade Centre, New York. Six were killed and hundreds injured when a bomb exploded� in an underground car park, planted by Muslim fundamentalists.

25 February 1993, Thursday (+17,460) The USA announced it was to drop food and medicine to Muslims besieged by Serbs in Bosnia.

24 February 1993, Wednesday (+17,459) Brian Mulroney resigned as Canadian Prime Minister.

23 February 1993, Tuesday (+17,458) Jae Curtis, guitarist, was born/

22 February 1993, Monday (+17,457) The UN Security Council voted to establish a War Crimes tribunal, to try cases arising from the Yugoslav civil war.

21 February 1993, Sunday (+17,456) A poll revealed that nearly 50% of Britons would emigrate if they could, the highest since 1948.

20 February 1993, Saturday (+17,455) Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian auto-designer (Lamborghini), died aged 76

19 February 1993, Friday (+17,454) UK Prime Minister John Major rejected the idea of a posthumous pardon for First World War soldiers executed for cowardice or desertion on the grounds that it would be �rewriting history�.

18 February 1993, Thursday (+17,453) In the UK, Prime Minister John Major faced anger in Parliament after UK unemployment rose to 3,062,065 in January, the highest since April 1987.

17 February 1993, Wednesday (+17,452) Heavy fighting in Lebanon between Israeli forces and pro-Iranian guerrillas.

16 February 1993, Tuesday (+17,451)

14 February 1993, Sunday (+17,449) Iran again called on Britain to hand over Salman Rushdie, sentenced to death by Ayatollah Khomeini on 14 February 1989 for his book The Satanic Verses.

13 February 1993, Saturday (+17,448) A second three-day meeting between the PLO and Israel in Oslo, Norway, concluded with a draft Declaration of Principles. See 23 January 1993 and 20/8/1993.

12 February 1993, Friday (+17,447) James Bulger, two year old toddler, was abducted and murdered by two youths in Liverpool, see 1/3/1993.

11 February 1993, Thursday (+17,446) Buckingham Palace announced the Queen would pay income tax in April.

10 February 1993, Wednesday (+17,445) The Pope, John Paul II, called for an end to the persecution of Christians in Sudan.

9 February 1993, Tuesday (+17,444)

7 February 1993, Sunday (+17,442) Algeria announced that the state of emergency imposed a year ago because of Islamic fundamentalism would continue indefinitely.

6 February 1993, Saturday (+17,441) Joseph Mankiewicz, film producer, died.

5 February 1993, Friday (+17,440)

3 February 1993, Wednesday (+17,438) Statistics showed French women had the highest life expectancy in Europe at 81.1 years, 8 years more than French men.

2 February 1993, Tuesday (+17,437) US tennis player Arthur Ashe died of AIDS.

1 February 1993, Monday (+17,436) (1) The EC began formal talks on admitting Austria, Sweden, and Finland by 1995.

(2) The Cambodian government began an offensive against Khmer Rouge rebels in western and north-central Cambodia.

=====================================================================================

31 January 1993, Sunday (+17,435)

29 January 1993, Friday (+17,433) The US Census Bureau announced that the number of women in managerial jobs had risen 95% between 1980 and 1990, to 6.2 million.

28 January 1993, Thursday (+17,432) The IRA bombed Harrods for the third time in 20 years. Four people were injured. The bomb, one pound� of Semtex, was in a litter bin, one of several removed on the advice of the police but reinstated by Kensington and Chelsea Council because of the litter problem left by shoppers at a Harrods sale. The last IRA attack on Harrods had been in 1984, killing six people.

27 January 1993, Wednesday (+17,431) A DC-3 crashed in Kinshasa, killing 12.

26 January 1993, Tuesday (+17,430) Vaclav Havel became the first president of the new Czech Republic. He was a centre-right candidate, opposed by Communists and the extreme-right Republican Party.

25 January 1993, Monday (+17,429) President Mubarak of Egypt vowed to end Muslim fundamentalism.

24 January 1993, Sunday (+17,428) In Poland the ferry boat John Heweliusz sank, with 52 killed.

23 January 1993, Saturday (+17,427) A three-day secret meeting between representatives of the PLO and Israel concluded in Oslo, Norway. See 13 February 1993.

22 January 1993, Friday (-17,426) The UK government announced plans for privatising British Rail. Passenger services were to be franchised out to up to 40 different operators, who would hold the franchises for 5 years of more. There was Labour, and some Tory, opposition, and investors were wary of large losses in the rail industry.

21 January 1993, Thursday (+17,425) Abe Kobo, Japanese writer, died (born 7/3/1924).

20 January 1993, Wednesday (+17,424) (1) Bill Clinton sworn in as the 42^nd US President. Prayers were said by the Reverend Billy Graham. The Iraqi official media advised former President Bush to commit suicide.

(2) Jonas Savimbi�s UNITA rebels took the important Angolan oil refining town of Sayo.

19 January 1993, Tuesday (+17,423) The space shuttle Endeavour landed after a 6-day mission.

18 January 1993, Monday (+17,422) Eleanor Hibbert, English writer, died (born 1/9/1906).

17 January 1993, Sunday (+17,421) Bookmakers cut the odds of the UK monarchy being abolished before the year 2000 from 100-1 to 50-1.

16 January 1993, Saturday (+17,420) Florence Desmond, English actress, died (born 31/5/1905).

15 January 1993, Friday (+17,419) The situation in Somalia continued tense despite a ceasefire brokered and enforced by US troops.

14 January 1993, Thursday (+17,418) (1) Despite calls for his arrest on manslaughter charges, the former East German leader, Eric Honecker, 80 years old and with terminal liver cancer, was allowed to depart for Chile because of his failing health.

(2) The UK aircraft carrier Ark Royal set sail for the Adriatic as part of British reinforcements for peacekeeping troops in Bosnia. Also today the first British soldier was killed, shot by a sniper, in Bosnia, whilst escorting an ambulance.

(3) Ramiro de Leon Carpio was sworn in as President of Guatemala.

13 January 1993, Wednesday (+17,417) Official statistics from Canada showed that Chinese was the country�s third most common language, after English and French.

12 January 1993, Tuesday (+17,416) (1) London�s first refuge for battered husbands opened.

(2) The Burmese military junta said it would hold opposition leader and Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi indefinitely.

11 January 1993, Monday (+17,415) Richard Branson won a legal victory after British Airways apologised for a �dirty tricks� campaign against Virgin Atlantic Airways.

10 January 1993, Sunday (+17,414) Press reports emerged that Princess Diana, already separated from her husband Prince Charles, wanted to divorce him.

9 January 1993, Saturday (+17,413) Sir Paul Hasluck, Governor General of Australia died (born 1/4/1905).

8 January 1993, Friday (+17,412) President Saddam Hussein of Iraq continued to defy calls by Britain, France, The USA, and Russia to move surface-to-air missiles away from the air exclusion zone in southern Iraq.� Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz was defiant; however the missiles were in fact soon moved, to a location unknown to the Allies due to poor weather.

7 January 1993, Thursday (+17,411) (1) The British Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, became the first Cabinet Minister to visit Argentina since the Falklands War of 1982. He met Argentine President Carlos Menem, and the still disputed question of ownership of the Falkland Islands was avoided. Oil exploration and fishing issues were discussed,

(2) Ford unveiled its new family car, the Mondeo.

(3) In the USA, the Environmental Protection Agency released the results of a 4-year study proving that second-hand cigarette smoke was killing 3,000 non-smokers a year through lung cancer, as well as causing asthma attacks and respiratory infections in babies.

6 January 1993, Wednesday (+17,410) President Alberto Fujimori restored constitutional government in Peru.

5 January 1993, Tuesday (+17,409) The oil tanker MV Braer ran aground off Shetland after losing power in a storm, and began leaking all her cargo of 84,700 tons of crude oil. However fears that the Shetland Islands would be polluted for years to come were allayed as the storm waves dispersed the oil.

4 January 1993, Monday (+17,408) (1) Muslim fundamentalists killed two Coptic Christians in Egypt.

(2) P & O European Ferries announced the closure of its passenger services between Dover and Boulogne after 170 years.

3 January 1993, Sunday (+17,407) President Bush of the USA and Yeltsin of the USSR signed the START II (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks) Treaty.

2 January 1993, Saturday (+17,406) Alden Richards, TV actor, was born.

1 January 1993, Friday (+17,405)� (1) The European Single Market came into operation. Apart from the UK, Ireland, Denmark, and Greece, passports would not be needed at frontiers within the EU. British shoppers began to take advantage of more much relaxed limits on the amount of alcohol and tobacco they could bring back from France.

(2) Czechoslovakia split into the Czech and Slovak Republics, in a �velvet divorce�.

======================================================================================

31 December 1992, Thursday (+17,404) The Queen described 1992 as an �annus horibilis�, one of the worst years for the UK monarchy since the abdication crisis of 1936. The Duke and Duchess of York had separated, Princess Anne had divorced, the Prince of Wales had reportedly attempted suicide through marital difficulties, and then separated from Diana, and Windsor Castle had suffered a major fire, on 20 November 1992. There was extensive damage to rooms, artwork, furniture, and other effects. There was public condemnation when it emerged the restoration cost would be met from the public purse. Six days after the fire the Prime Minister John Major announced that the Queen was reconsidering the scope of the Civil List and might end her exemption from income tax.

30 December 1992, Wednesday (+17,403) All Soviet troops have left Mongolia.

25 December 1992, Friday (+17,398)

20 December 1992, Sunday (+17,393) (1) The Folies Bergere, Paris music hall which opened in 1869, closed down.

(2) Slobodan Milosevic, widely seen as the instigator of Serb �ethnic cleansing� in Croatia and Bosnia, was re-elected as President of Serbia.

19 December 1992, Saturday (+17,392) (Taiwan) The first democratic General Elections in Taiwan (see 1986). The incumbent Kuomintang won, with 53% of the vote, but the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) made significant inroads. See 2000.

18 December 1992, Friday (+17,391)

16 December 1992, Wednesday (+17,389) (1) Israel ordered the deportation of 415 Palestinians to Lebanon. The intifada, or Palestinian uprising, was now in its sixth year. However Lebanon refused to accept the deportees and they remained stranded in a no-mans-land between Lebanon and the barbed wire border of Israel�s self-declared security zone.

(2) The IRA disrupted Christmas shopping with two bombs in Oxford Street. Four people were injured.

15 December 1992, Tuesday (+17,388) El Salvador�s 12-year civil war, which had killed 75,000, officially ended.

14 December 1992, Monday (+17,387) In Algeria, Muslim extremists ambushed and killed five policemen.

13 December 1992, Sunday (+17,386) KC Irving, Canadian industrialist, died (born 14/3/1899).

12 December 1992, Saturday (+17,385) An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hit just offshore from Flores Island, Indonesia. At least 1,500 were killed as 80% of the buildings in the island�s capital, Maumere, were destroyed.

11 December 1992, Friday (+17,384) An Edinburgh Summit of EC heads of State discussed Denmark�s� rejection of the Maastricht Treaty.

10 December 1992, Thursday (+17,383) Melissa Roxburgh, Canadian actress, was born.

9 December 1992, Wednesday (+17,382) The UK Prime Minister announced �to the House of Commons that Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer were to separate.

8 December 1992, Tuesday (+17,381) Yui Yokoyama, Japanese actress, was born.

7 December 1992, Monday (+17,380) (1) Three Israeli soldiers were shot by Islamic militants on the Gaza Strip.

(2) Religious riots swept India after Hindu fanatics destroyed the Babri Masjid mosque.

6 December 1992, Sunday (+17,379) (India) Riots followed a Hindu attack on the Ayodha Mosque, India. This mosque was built by the first Moghul Emperor Babur in the early 16^th century; Hindus contended that it was built on top of a Hindu temple marking the birthplace of the Hindu god, Rama. India appeared to be abandoning its secular legacy in favour of a militant Hinduism.

5 December 1992, Saturday (+17,378) Hilary Tindall, English actress (born 14/8/1938) died.

4 December 1992, Friday (+17,377) US troops landed in Somalia. Rival warlord�s factions were causing chaos on Somali capital Mogadishu and hundreds of thousands were starving in the countryside. The US sent 28,000 troops to help relief efforts, codenamed �Restore Hope�.

3 December 1992, Thursday (+17,376) (1) The IRA set off two bombs in Manchester.

(2) The oil tanker Aegean Sea ran aground near La Coruna, Spain, making an oil slick 20 kilometres long.

2 December 1992, Wednesday (+17,375) The Prime Minister of Greece, Constantine Mitsotakis, dismissed his entire Cabinet after dissent over austerity measures broke out.

1 December 1992, Tuesday (+17,374) Two C-141B Starlifters collided in Montana and crashed, 13 died.

======================================================================================

30 November 1992, Monday (+17,373) SWAPO won a landslide victory in elections in Namibia.

28 November 1992, Saturday (+17,371)

27 November 1992, Friday (+17,370) (Universities) Bournemouth University was inaugurated.

26 November 1992, Thursday (+17,369) In Britain, the Queen announced she would pay income tax on her private income.

25 November 1992, Wednesday (+17,368) (1) The Czechoslovak National Assembly voted for the country to split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, on 1 January 1993.

(2) Norway began an application to join the EU.

20 November 1992, Friday (+17,363) A fire broke out in the private chapel at Windsor Castle. The fire burned for 15 hours, causing major damage.� The cause was a spotlight left in contact with a curtain.

18 November 1992, Wednesday (+17,361) In Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto was put under house arrest after police broke up a political demonstration.

17 November 1992, Tuesday (+17,360) In France, cave paintings were discovered at Cosquer that were estimated to date from 25,000 BC.

16 November 1992, Monday (+17,359) A brain-dead woman had been artificially kept alive to allow her foetus to be born; however she miscarried and the life support was turned off.

13 November 1992, Friday (+17.356)

12 November 1992, Thursday (+17,355) In northern Canada, a referendum amongst the Inuit people produced a majority for a semi-autonomous territory to be called Nunavut.

11 November 1992, Wednesday (+17,354) (Christian) The UK General Synod voted for ordination of women. Several hundred male clergy left the Church in protest and even in 2000 there were some 1,000 Church of England congregations that were refusing to accept female priests. The first female priests were ordained in 1994 and by 2001 around 20% of the Church of England clergy was female. Some saw this as progressive, others as blasphemous.

10 November 1992, Tuesday (+17,353) In the UK, an inquiry into the Matrix-Churchill affair was announced.

9 November 1992, Monday (+17,352)

3 November 1992, Tuesday (+17,346) Bill Clinton, 46 year old Governor of Arkansas, was elected 42^nd US President, winning decisively over the incumbent, Republican President George Bush. Clinton got 43.7 million votes, Bush got 38.2 million and the independent Ross Perot got 19.2 million.

2 November 1992, Monday (+17,345) Iran increased the reward for killing Salman Rushdie.

1 November 1992, Sunday (+17,344) Reece Brown, English footballer, was born.

======================================================================================

31 October 1992, Saturday (+17,343) The Vatican admitted that Galileo was right when he said the Earth revolved around the Sun.

30 October 1992, Friday (+17,342) A Middle East peace conference began in Madrid, Spain.

29 October 1992, Thursday (+17,341) The Muslim town of Jajce fell to the Serbs.

28 October 1992, Wednesday (+17,340) The American Galileo spacecraft made a close approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first space probe to visit an asteroid.

27 October 1992, Tuesday (+17,339) Turkey sent tanks into northern Iraq as a security measure against Kurdish separatist guerrillas.

26 October 1992, Monday (+17,338) In a referendum,, Canadians rejected the Charlotte-town reform which would have granted concessions to French-speaking Quebec.

25 October 1992, Sunday (+17,337) Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin confirmed that Israel did not intend to withdraw from the Golan Heights.

20 October 1992, Tuesday (+17,332)

18 October 1992, Sunday (+17,330) More violence on the West Bank, as a Palestinian killed an Israeli woman and injured nine other Israelis.

17 October 1992, Saturday (+17,329) Hermann Johannes, Indonesian politician and independence fighter against the Dutch, died.

16 October 1992, Friday (+17, 328) Shirley Booth, actress, died.

15 October 1992, Thursday (+17,327) Vincent Martella, US actor, was born in Rochester, New York

14 October 1992, Wednesday (+17,326) (Poland, Russia) The Russian KGB handed over documents to Poland�s Lech Walesa revealing that the Russians killed Polish officers in 1940 in the Katyn Forest Massacre. The Kremlin had previously insisted it was the Germans who had done this.

13 October 1992, Tuesday (+17,325) British Coal announced 31 pit closures and the loss of 31,000 jobs.

12 October 1992, Monday (+17,324) Earthquake hit Cairo. It was 5.9 on the Richter scale, with an epicentre 19 miles from Cairo, tremors were felt in Jerusalem 250 miles away. There was panic as at least 160 buildings collapsed and many were trampled to death in the ensuing chaos. Fortunately the Aswan Dam was not breached.

11 October 1992, Sunday (+17,323) In Cameroon�s first multi-party elections, President Biya won a slim majority.

10 October 1992, Saturday (+17,322) Tens of thousands rallied in Washington, D. C., calling on the government to dedicate more funding to combating HIV/AIDS.

9 October 1992, Friday (+17,321) Two IRA bombs exploded in London, to coincide with the Conservative Party Conference.

8 October 1992, Thursday (+17,320) Willy Brandt, Chancellor of West Germany, died.

7 October 1992, Wednesday (+17,319) In Peru, the Shining Path leader Abimael Guzman was convicted of treason and sentenced to life in prison.

6 October 1992, Tuesday (+17,318) A truce in the 16-year-old civil war in Angola looked fragile after UNITA disputed election results giving the MPLA government, under President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos a 51% to 39% lead over Jonas Savimbi.

5 October 1992, Monday (+17,317) In Guyana, general elections produced a narrow victory for the People�s Progressive Party, ending the 28-year rule of the People�s National Congress.

4 October 1992, Sunday (+17,316) (1) An Israeli El Al cargo plane crashed into a block of flats in Amsterdam shortly after take-off, killing 75 people.

(2) Chissano signed the Rome Peace Agreement with Renamo. This ended the Mozambique conflict.

3 October 1992, Saturday (+17,315) Matthew Little, actor, was born.

2 October 1992, Friday (+17,314) In the USA, IBM announced it was to lay off 40,000 workers, 25% of its workforce.

1 October 1992, Thursday (+17,313) Pittsburgh�s new International Airport opened.

====================================================================================

30/9/1992, Wednesday (+17,312) (1) Britain introduced a new and lighter 10p coin.

(2) In Angola�s first democratically-held elections, Jose Eduardo dos Santos defeated Jonas Savimbi.

29/9/1992, Tuesday (+17,311) (1) Racism was on the rise in Germany. 28% of Germans aged between 16 and 24 had racist views, compared with 15% in 1990.

(2) �Pope John Paul II visited Ireland for a 3-day visit. 1.2 million people, a third of the population, attended his Mass in Phoenix Park, Dublin.

27/9/1993, Sunday (+17,309)

24/9/1992, Thursday (+17,306) The National Heritage Minister David Mellor resigned after a sex scandal.

23/9/1992, Wednesday (+17,305) Abimael Guzman Reynoso Shining Path leader, was arrested in Peru after 12 years as a wanted man..

20/9/1992, Sunday (+17,302) The Maastricht issue split the EC, with France voting narrowly for it but Denmark voting narrowly against it. The idea was to further integrate Europe. British politics was also split with �Euro-sceptics� on the Conservative back benches harassing John Major, Prime Minister.

16/9/1992, Wednesday (+17,298) �Black Wednesday� as Britain was forced out of the ERM by currency speculators betting on a fall in the pound.� The Italian Lira was also ejected.� George Soros, financier, had �sold short� more than UK� 5 billion in the currency markets.

12/9/1992, Saturday (+17,294) A Los Angeles traffic warden ticketed a Cadillac without noticing that the driver inside was dead. He had been shot in the back of the head 13 hours earlier.

11/9/1992, Friday (+17,293) Hurricane Iniki devastated Hawaii, with winds up to 145 mph (235 kph). It killed 6 people and caused US$ 2 billion damage.

10/9/1992, Thursday (+17,292)

8/9/1992, Tuesday (+17,,290) The Japanese Cabinet approved sending peacekeeping troops to Cambodia. This was the first overseas deployment of Japanese forces since 1945.

7/9/1992, Monday (+17,289) The first hanging in over 20 years took place in Afghanistan, with around 3,000 spectators.

5/9/1992, Saturday (+17,287) Pop star Prince became the highest paid performer to date when he signed a US$ 100 million contract with Warner Bros.

3/9/1992, Thursday (+17,285) (Georgia) After Georgian forces had pulled out of the Gagra region, following an agreed ceasefire, Abkhaz forces under Shamil Basayev began an ethnic cleansing of the local Georgian population, killing 30,000 Georgians and causing many others to flee.

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31/8/1992, Monday (+17,282) The UN announced that 2,000 people were dying every day in Somalia, as the state of anarchy that had followed the overthrow of Mohammed barre made aid distribution impossible.

27/8/1992, Thursday (+17,278) The US established a �no-fly� zone over southern Iraq, south of latitude 32 degrees.

24/8/1992, Monday (+17,275) Florida suffered major damage., as Hurricane Andrew hit.

19/8/1992, Wednesday (+17,270) Right wing rioting began in Rostock, Germany. Hundreds of right wing youths, throwing paving stones and firebombs, attacked an immigrant hostel, cheered on by local people, in the poor Lichtenhagen area of the city. Thousands of police were drafted in to restore order, which had broken down when many Romanian refuges, unable to secure a place in the hostel, had camped outside it. The asylum seekers were evacuated but fighting between police and youths continued for days and spread to other German cities. Germany had seen both a rise in asylum seekers and increased unemployment in the east since reunification, as eastern industries were exposed to competition from the more efficient west.

18/8/1992, Tuesday (+17,269) (Georgia) After five days of fighting, Georgian forces took control of the separatist Abkhazian capital, Sukhumi.

17/8/1992, Monday (+17,268)

15/8/1992, Saturday(+17,266) The new Premier League, of elite English football clubs, was launched.

14/8/1992, Friday (+17,265) After Abkhaz Separatists wanting to secede from Georgia had attacked Georgian Government buildings in 6/1992, this day the Georgian police and National Guard entered the Abkhaz capital, Sukhumi, to restore authority. Georgian forces were bolstered by prisoners who had been offered freedom if they fought the Abkhaz.

13/8/1992, Thursday (+17,264) Jan Elburg, poet, died.

12/8/1992, Wednesday (+17,263) US composer John Cage died, aged 79.

11/8/1992, Tuesday (+17,262) The biggest shopping mall in the USA opened in Minnesota. It had over 300 stores, covering 4.2 million square feet.

10/8/1992, Monday (+17,.261) (Space exploration) The European Space Agency launched Topex/Poseidon, a geodetic mapping satellite.
9/8/1992, Sunday (+17,260) The Barcelona Olympic Games closed.

3/8/1992, (1) Monday (+17,254) Reports from Bosnia told of Nazi-style concentration camps and ethnic cleansing.

(2) The US began forces manoeuvres in Kuwait, as a warning to Iraq.

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31/7/1992, Friday (+17,251) The 25^th Olympic Games were held in Barcelona. Black market tickets to the Olympics had been selling for $1,500.

29/7/1992, Wednesday (+17,249) Herr Honecker, former leader of East Germany, was forced to leave the Chilean Embassy in Moscow where he had taken refuge, to face manslaughter charges over the deaths of people trying to escape over the Berlin Wall to West Germany.

28/7/1992, Tuesday (+17,248) Afghanistan banned women, even wearing veils, from being seen on TV.

27/7/1992, Monday (+17,247) Max Dupain, photographer, died.

23/7/1992, Thursday (+17,243) The UK saw riots in Bristol, Carlisle, Blackburn, Burnley, and Huddersfield. 62 youths were arrested.

20/7/1992, Monday (+17,240) Vaclav Havel resigned as President of Czechoslovakia. This was after a proclamation of sovereignty by Slovakia, which was to split the country in two.

18/7/1992, Saturday (+17,238) John Smith elected leader of the British Labour Party.

17/7/1992, Friday (+17,237) Following the June elections, Slovakian MPs voted for independence.

15/7/1992, Wednesday (+17,235) British MPs gave themselves a 40% rise on their expenses.

13/7/1992, Monday (+17,233) Britain�s former executioner, Albert Pierrepoint, died.

10/7/1992, Friday (+17,230) Ex-President Noriega of Nicaragua, forcibly brought into the USA, was sentenced to 40 years on drugs charges.

9/7/1992, Thursday (+17,229) (1) Chris Patten, last British Governor of Hong Kong, took office; the colony was to be handed back to China in 1997.

(2) El Dorado was first broadcast on BBC1.

8/7/1992, Wednesday (+17,228) Thomas Klestil became President of Austria

7/7/1992, Tuesday (+17,227) Iraq again obstructed UNSCOM weapons inspectors, refusing them access to the Ministry of Agriculture, where there may have been details of Iraq�s chemical weapons programme.

6/7/1992, Monday (+17,226) French lorry drivers blockaded roads, causing chaos.

5/7/1992, Sunday (+17,225) UN forces arrived in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, to help with food distribution.

4/7/1992, Saturday (+17,224) Joe Newman, US Jazz trumpeter, died (born 1922).

3/7/1992, Friday (+17,223) Crystal Dunn, US soccer player, was born.

2/7/1992, Thursday (+17,222) Ali Kafi became the new President of Algeria.

1/7/1992, Wednesday (+17,221) The average UK house price was �51,815.

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30/6/1992, Tuesday (+17,220) Fidel Ramos became President of the Philippines.

29/6/1992, Monday (+17,219) The 73 year old President of Algeria, Mohammed Boudiaf, was assassinated whilst making a speech at a political rally.

28/6/1992, Sunday (+17,218) California had its strongest earthquake for 40 years. Measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale, the epicentre was in a sparsely-populated area of the Mojave Desert, 100 miles from Los Angeles, and the only casualty was a child killed by a falling chimney.

27/6/1992, Saturday (+17,217) Allan Jones, US actor, died aged 84.

26/6/1992, Friday (+17,216) Joel Campbell, footballer, was born.

25/6/1992, Thursday (+17,215) William E Harris, entertainer, died.

24/6/1992, Wednesday (+17,214) The family of US woman Rose Cipollone, who died of lung cancer after 42 years of smoking, succeeded in a lawsuit against the cigarette companies.

23/6/1992, Tuesday (+17,213) In South Africa the ANC withdrew from constitutional talks in protest at the Boipatong violence.

22/6/1992, Monday (+17,212) Reginald Harris, cycling champion, died.

21/6/1992, Sunday (+17,211) Max Schneider, actor, was born.

20/6/1992, Saturday (+17,210) Police fired on Black residents in Boipatong.

19/6/1992, Friday (+17,209) Kathleen Godfree, tennis player, died (born 7/5/1896).

18/6/1992, Thursday (+17,208) 39 people were killed in South Africa in the Boipatong Massacre, which was allegedly by Inkatha supporters.

17/6/1992, Wednesday (+17,207) Ryan Allsop, English footballer, was born.

16/6/1992, Tuesday (+17,206) In the Philippines, Cory Aquino was defeated in elections by General Fidel Ramos.

11/6/1992, Thursday (+17,201) The last survivor of the Titanic disaster, Marjorie Robb, died in Boston, USA, aged 103.

7/6/1992, Sunday (+17,197) NASCAR stock car racing co-founder Bill France Sr. died aged 82.

6/6/1992, Saturday (+17,196) In Czechoslovak elections, Parties favouring independence did well in Slovakia whereas Parties favouring continued federation prevailed in Chechia.

5/6/1992, Friday (+17,195)

3/6/1992, Wednesday (+17,193) (1) The Earth Summit began in Rio de Janeiro. Delegates agreed to protect biodiversity and combat global warming. This led to the UN Framework Convention oin Climate Change, which came into force in 1994. This Framework called for developed countries to reduce CO2 emissions to 1990, and provided for technological assistance to developing countries. These measures were strengthened by the Kyoto Protocol, 1997.� The USA, however, refused to sign the agreement on biodiversity, seeing it as a threat to its economic growth.

(2) Australia overturned its terra nullius policy, which had stated that the land was empty before European setlters arrived. This move opened the way to Indigenous land claims and compensation.

2/6/1992, Tuesday (+17,192) Denmark, in a referendum, rejected the Maastricht Treaty.

1/6/1992, Monday (+17,191) Terrorist Carlos the Jackal was sentenced to life imprisonment in France.

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30/5/1992, Saturday (+17,189) The UN agreed wide-ranging sanctions against what was left of Yugoslavia as the Belgrade �Serbian government suppressed other races and attempted to establish a �greater Serbia� by force. When in January 1992 the EC recognised Croatian and Slovenian independence, a third of Croatia was occupied by Serb forces. A new phrase entered the language � �ethnic cleansing�, as Bosnian Muslims and other non-Serbs were forcibly expelled from villages overrun by Serb forces. Images of concentration camps reminded people, of the horrors of World War Two as pictures of skeletal Bosnian detainees behind barbed wire reached the West. By mid-July 1992 the Bosnian capital Sarajevo had been under siege for over 100 days, shelled by Serb gunners in the hills above the city, and snipers roamed freely in the streets. Civilian casualties were appalling, and by the end of September 1992 relief efforts stalled. Winter loomed, and with it the spectre of mass starvation in the heart of Europe.

28/5/1992, Thursday (+17,187) The US prison population reached a record high of 823,414. One in three was being held for a drugs-related offence.

25/5/1992, Monday (+17,184) Oscar Salfaro was elected President of Italy.

23/5/1992, Saturday (+17,182) In Italy, Judge Giovanni Falcone, the principal anti-Mafia investigator, was killed by a massive car bomb.

22/5/1992, Friday (+17,181) Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia joined the United Nations

17/5/1992. Sunday (+17,176) The Black May disturbances in Thailand. Pro-democracy protests began against authoritarian rule. New elections were promised for September 1992.

11/5/1992, Monday (+17,170) Carlos Herrera, inventor of the Margarita cocktail, died.

9/5/1992, Saturday (+17,168) William Nevett, horse racing champion, died (born 26/3/1906).

6/5/1992, Wednesday (+17,165) Marlene Dietrich, German actress, died in Paris aged 90. She was born on 27 December 1901 in Berlin, and left Germany for the USA in 1930. Her role in the film The Blue Angel brought her to fame. She became a US citizen in 1937, rejecting attempts by Hitler to bring her talents back to Germany. She played a major role in entertaining the wartime Allied troops. In 1960, on only her second post-war visit to Germany, she encountered hostility from pro-Nazi sympathisers. She subsequently remained hostile to the ideas of returning to Germany again, until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and chose the city as her final resting place.

5/5/1992, Tuesday (+17,164) Jean Claude Pascal, actor, died.

1/5/1992, Friday (+17,160)

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30/4/1992, Thursday (+17,159) In April and May, Los Angeles saw the worst rioting in the US for more than 25 years. The racial unrest began after 4 policemen were acquitted of assaulting a Black motorist, Rodney King, despite TV footage showing him being kicked and beaten. The trial had been held in a white area of town and the jury did not include a single Black person. In the riots, over 50 were killed, 4,000 injured, and four days of looting and arson saw 12,000 arrests and over US$ 1 billion of damage. 10,000 troops and National guardsmen had to be drafted in to restore order. There were also smaller riots in other US cities such as Atlanta and Las Vegas.

29/4/1992, Wednesday (+17,158) (1) The autocratic Siaka Stevens regime in Sierra Leone was overthrown, by a group led by Captain Valentine Strasser.

(2) New interim Government formed in Afghanistan, supposedly uniting several resistance fighter groups. However infighting continued, rendering the government ineffective.

28/4/1992, Tuesday (+17,157) The French composer Olivier Messiaen died aged 83. Also this day the English painter Francis Bacon died in Madrid, aged 82.

27/4/1992, Monday (+17,156) Betty Boothroyd became the first woman Speaker in the House of Commons.

26/4/1992, Sunday (+17,155) Worshippers celebrated Easter at the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow for the first time in 74 years.

25/4/1992, Saturday (+17,154) Kabul, Afghanistan, fell to Mujaheddin forces.

24/4/1992, Friday (+17,153) Sean Rademaker, US actor, was born in Washington, DC.

23/4/1992, Thursday (+17,152) Scientists in the USA announced the discovery of �ripples� in the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation of the universe. This helped account for the present-day uneven distribution of matter in the Universe.

22/4/1992, Wednesday (+17,151) Gas leaked into sewers in Guadalajara, Mexico, then exploded, killing 230.

21/4/1992, Tuesday (+17,150) Vladimir Romanov, the Pretender to the Russian throne, died aged 74.

20/4/1992, Monday (+17,149) The comedian Benny Hill died.

19/4/1992, Sunday (+17,148) Easter Sunday.

18/4/1992, Saturday (+17,147) Misa Eguchi, Japanese tennis player, was born.

17/4/1992, Friday (+17,146) Hank Penny, country music singer, died aged 73 of heart failure

16/4/1992, Thursday (+17,145) President Najibullah of Afghanistan was overthrown. Mujaheddin rebels closed in on Kabul.

15/4/1992, Wednesday (+17,144) UN sanctions imposed on Libya (authorised by the UN, 31/3/1992) came into effect. These were because of Libya�s refusal to hand over two men suspected of the Lockerbie bombing.

14/4/1992, Tuesday (+17,143) In Florida, an 11-year old boy successfully �divorced� his parents in court.

13/4/1992, Monday (+17,142) (1) An earthquake rocked Roermond in The Netherlands, along the Peel fault.

(2) Neil Kinnock resigned as leader of the UK Labour Party, following the Conservative victory of 9/4/1992.

12/4/1992, Sunday (+17,141) Euro-Disney opened just east of Paris. The $4 billion, 4,800 acre, complex could accommodate up to 60,000 visitors a day. It had 6 hotels with a total of 5,200 rooms, and a total of 14,000 staff, or �cast members�. On 4/6/1992 Euro-Disney reported that it had received 1.5 million visitors, or 30,000 per day.

11/4/1992, Saturday (17,140) Eve Merriam, US poet, died (born 19/7/1916).

10/4/1992, Friday (+17,139) A massive IRA bomb exploded at 9.25 p.m. in the City of London. The 100 lb device killed 3 and injured 91.� It blew out every window in the Commercial Union Tower, and many more windows in other office blocks. Another IRA bomb went off at Staples Corner on the North Circular, causing no injuries, but closing the flyover for some months.

9/4/1992, Thursday (+17,138) The Conservatives under John Major won the UK General Election. This prompted Neil Kinnock�s resignation as Labour Party leader.

8/4/1992, Wednesday (+17,137) Punch magazine published its last issue.

7/4/1992, Tuesday (+17,136) The EC and USA recognised Bosnia-Hercegovina�s independence.

6/4/1992, Monday (+17,135) (1) Serbian troops began the siege of Sarajevo, after Serbs in Bosnia objected to Bosniaks and Croats seeking independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina from Serbia.

(2) Isaac Asimov, science fiction writer, born 2 January 1920, died.

5/4/1992, Sunday (+17,134) (1) Germany�s extreme right gained in elections, over the issue of immigrants from eastern Europe.

(2) Samuel Moore Walton, born 29/3/1918, founder of Wal-Mart, died.

2/4/1992, French Prime Minister Edith Cresson resigned, and was replaced by

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30/3/1992, Monday (+17,128)

28/3/1992, Saturday (+17,126) The Government of Finland began an application to join the European Union.

27/3/1992, Friday (+17,125) Martin Engelman, Dutch artist, died.

26/3/1992, Thursday (+17,124) Mike Tyson was sentenced to 10 years in jail after being found guilty of rape.

25/3/1992, Wednesday (+17,123) (1) United Newspapers announced the closure of Punch magazine, after 150 years of publication.

(2) Barbara Harmer, 39, became the first woman pilot of Concorde.

24/3/1992, Tuesday (+17,122) Jeremy Rosado, US singer, was born.

23/3/1992, Monday (+17,121) Freidrich Hayek, economist, born 8/5/1899, died.

22/3/1992, Sunday (+17,120) The developers of Canary Wharf, London Docklands, Olympia and York, were on the verge on bankruptcy. The UK recession, and poor transport links to Docklands, meant 40% of its offices stood empty.

21/3/1992, Saturday (+17,119) The US Census Bureau officially estimated the world population to be 5.4 billion, of whom 1.2 billion were Chinese. It projected a world population of over 8 billion by 2020.

20/3/1992, Friday (+17,118) Avonne Taylor, actress, died.

19/3/1992, Thursday (+17,117) It was announced that the Duke and Duchess of York were to separate.

18/3/1992, Wednesday (+17,116) Anthony Barr, footballer, was born.

17/3/1992, Tuesday (+17,115) (1) A suicide bomber with a 200lb bomb destroyed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility, saying the attack was in revenge for the killing of Sheikh Abbas Mussawi in an Israeli helicopter ambush last month. 29 were killed and 242 injured.

(2) South African Whites voted for constitutional change.

16/3/1992, Monday (+17,114) The Nikkei had a bad day, dropping over 3% in one day to below 20,000. It closed at 19,837, compared to nearly 40,000 three years previously. In January 2002 it fell below 10,000.

15/3/1992, Sunday (+17,113) Jack Washburn, actor, died aged 62.

14/3/1992, Saturday (+17,112) The Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber al Ahmed al Sabah, returned home.

13/3/1992, Friday (+17,111) (1) A major quake in eastern Turkey, 6.8 on the Richter scale, killed an estimated 1,000 people.

(2) In Rwanda, fighting broke out between the Hutus, who held power, and the Tutsis.

12/3/1992, Thursday (+17,110) Mauritius broke its links with the British Crown and became fully independent.

9/3/1992, Monday (+17,107) Menachem Begin, Israeli politician, died.

6/3/1992, Friday (+17,104) British Telecom announced 25,000 job cuts, over 10% of the workforce.

5/3/1992, Thursday (+17,103) In Belgium, Christian Democrat Jean-Luc Dehaene agreed to form a coalition government after a three-month political crisis.

4/3/1992, Wednesday (+17,102) The Supreme Court of Algeria declared the Islamic Salvation Front illegal. It was poised to win control of the Parliament of Algeria in runoff elections.

3/3/1992, Tuesday (+17,101) Russian troops began withdrawing from Lithuania.

2/3/1992, Monday (+17,100) Violent clashes in Sarajevo between Serbs, Croats and Muslims.

1/3/1992, Sunday (+17,099) A referendum in Bosnia-Hercegovina, boycotted by Serbs, produced a majority in favour of independence from Yugoslavia.

======================================================================================

29 February 1992, Saturday (+17,098) Ruth Pitter, English poet (born 7 November 1897) died.

28 February 1992, Friday (+17,097) Baghdad was still obstructing UN weapons inspectors teams, until sanctions are relaxed.

27 February 1992, Thursday (+17,096) Marinus Ruppert, Dutch Trade Unionist, died aged 80.

26 February 1992, Wednesday (+17,095) The Supreme Court of Ireland ruled that a 14-year-old rape victim could visit the UK to get an abortion.

25 February 1992, Tuesday (+17,094) Riots in Albania over food shortages.

24 February 1992, Monday (+17,093) Kay Loring, actress, died.

23 February 1992, Sunday (+17,092) A ceasefire was agreed in Somalia.

22 February 1992, Saturday (+17,091) The Pope visited Goree Island, near Dakar, Senegal, to commemorate the �forgotten holocaust� of the estimated 15 million slaves who passed through this way on route to slavery in the Americas.

21 February 1992, Friday (+17,090) The UN Security Council approved Resolution 743 and decided to send peacekeeping troops to Yugoslavia.

18 February 1992, Tuesday (+17,087)

15 February 1992, Saturday (+17,084) US composer William Schuman died, aged 81.

14 February 1992, Friday (+17,083) Michael Heseltine promised that the UK would phase out CFCs, which were destroying the ozone layer. Earlier on 11 February 1992 President Bush had made a similar commitment.

13 February 1992, Thursday (+17,082) Carl Bildt announced the end of Sweden�s policy of neutrality.

12 February 1992, Wednesday (+17,081) (Mongolia) Mongolia adopted a new Constitution, cementing new human rights and freedoms. The new Constitution also created a single legislative chamber, the Great State Khural (GSKh).

10 February 1992, Monday (+17,079)

7 February 1992, Friday (+17,076) The Maastricht Treaty was signed, founding the European Union.

6 February 1992, Thursday (+17,075) The Basque separatist group ETA set off a bomb in the centre of Madrid.

5 February 1992, Wednesday (+17,074) Laura Liddell, English actress died aged 83.

4 February 1992, Tuesday (+17,073) Venezuelan Lieutenant-Colonel Hugo Chavez, originating from a poor background, founded the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement (MRB). Named after Venezuela�s independence hero, Simon Bolivar, the MRB sought to overthrow the Venezuelan Government. On this day MRB-affiliated Army units entered Caracas and attempted a coup. However at the end of a day the coup had failed and Chavez was in prison. Nevertheless, the coup attempt made Chavez a folk hero amongst the poor and he went on to win the Presidential election of 1998.

3 February 1992, Monday (+17,072) The discovery of the lost city of Ubar, dated around 2000 BC, in the Arabian desert on the Omar-Yemen border, was announced.

2 February 1992, Sunday (+17,071) Serbia accepted the UN Peace Plan. This provided for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of the Yugoslav Federal Army from Croatia, and the deployment of 10,000 UN peacekeeping troops in Krajina and eastern and western Slavonia, whilst a permanent political arragment could be worked out.

1 February 1992. Saturday (+17,070) UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar brokered a peace deal in El Salvador.

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31 January 1992, Friday (+17,069) Boris Yeltsin, leader of Russia, made a speech at the UN calling for America and Russia to develop a joint �star wars� shield against missiles from rogue nations.

30 January 1992, Thursday (+17,068) In Ireland, Charles Haughey, Prime Minister, resigned over allegations of phone tapping. On 6 February 1992 Charles Reynolds became Prime Minister.

29 January 1992, Wednesday (+17,067) US President Bush announced a US$50 package of defence cuts, as part of the peace dividend�.

26 January 1992, Sunday (+17,064) The EU lifted sanctions against South Africa.

24 January 1992, Friday (+17,062) South African President FW de Klerk announced plans for power-sharing with the Africa National Congress (ANC).

22 January 1992, Wednesday (+17,060) Roberta Bondar became the first Canadian woman in space, also the first neurologist. She spent 8 days on the International Space Station, orbiting the Earth 129 times.

19 January 1992, Sunday (+17,057) Zhelyu Zhelev was elected President of Bulgaria.

18 January 1992, Saturday (+17,056) (1) (China) Chinese leader Deng Xiao Ping stated that China should continue to focus on improving its economy, even at the �cost of embracing certain capitalistic models and ideas�. This was a marked reversal of the ideas of Chairman Mao.

(2) Faced with a new outbreak of terrorism, the UK government decided to send more troops to Northern Ireland.

17 January 1992, Friday (+17,055) IBM announced its biggest ever loss, US$ 564 million,

15 January 1992, Wednesday (+17,053) As the old Yugoslavia broke up, the EC recognised Slovenian and Croatian independence.

13 January 1992, Monday (+17,051) The Speaker of the Russian Duma (Parliament) called on Boris Yeltsin to resign, after his free-market policies in Russia had sparked massive price rises.� However on 24 January 1992 Yeltsin managed to get austerity measures passed by the Duma, cooling the inflation.

12 January 1992, Sunday (+17,050) Russia and Ukraine agreed to divide the Black Sea fleet.

11 January 1992, Saturday (+17,049) The Algerian Army, alarmed by the electoral victory of the Islamists (see 26 December 1991), mounted a military coup, forcing Benjedid to resign.

8 January 1992, Wednesday (+17,046) Bosnian Serbs declared their own Republic within Bosnia and Hercegovina in protest at Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats decision to seek recognition from the EC.

6 January 1992, Monday (+17,044) Dizzy Gillespie, jazz trumpeter, died.

3 January 1992, Friday (+17,041) Civil war continued in Somalia.

2 January 1992, Thursday (+17,040) Figures from the UK showed that the richest 1% of the population owned 18% of the marketable wealth, whilst the poorest 60% owned 6%.

1 January 1992, Wednesday (+17,039) Butros Butros Ghali, a 69-year-old Egyptian, became the 6^th General Secretary of the United Nations.

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30 December 1991, Monday (+17,037)

26 December 1991, Thursday (+17,033) (Algeria) The Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) easily won Algerian elections.

25 December 1991, Wednesday (+17,032) Above the Kremlin, Moscow, the old Soviet flag was lowered and the new Russian flag was raised.

24 December 1991, Tuesday (+17,031)

20 December 1991, Friday (+17,027) President Boris Yeltsin said he wanted Russia to join NATO.

19 December 1991, Thursday (+17,028) Paul Keating challenged Australian Labour Party Prime Minister Bob Hawke for Party leadership. Keating subsequently won the contest.

18 December 1991, Wednesday (+17,025) The World Bank, the European Commission and the Group of Seven leading industrial nations granted Brazil US$ 250 million for conservation work in the Amazon rainforest. $ 100 million of that sum was for scientific research; the rest was for the establishment of national parks, tribal reserves, and promoting non-destructive use of Amazon Forest, such as rubber tapping and brazil-nut harvesting.

17 December 1991, Tuesday (+17,024) Joseph Robert Smallwood, Canadian politician who took Newfoundland into the Canadian Federation in 1949 and became its first Prime Minister, died just before his 91^st birthday.

16 December 1991, Monday (+17,023) (1) Kazakhstan became independent from the former USSR.

(2) An IRA bomb exploded near Clapham Junction station, SW London.

(3) In London, Stella Rimington became the first female to head MI5, and the first director-general to be publically named.

15 December 1991, Sunday (+17,022) (1) Wildlife investigators uncovered an illegal plot to sell 15,000 elephant tusks for �6 million, in defiance of the international ban on the ivory trade. The 83 tons of ivory had been bought from the Government of Burundi by 2 South African businessmen, to sell in the Far East. 80% of Africa�s elephants had been slaughtered for their tusks in the previous 10 years.

(2) More than 470 drowned when a ferry carrying returning Egyptian pilgrims and overseas workers sank in the Red Sea.

(3) F W de Klerk was under pressure at it emerged that the South African Government had given money and other assistance to the Zulu Inkatha organisation, an arch-enemy of the ANC, and had organised for Inkatha members to travel to Israel for military training.

14 December 1991, Saturday (+17,021) The industry lobby in Europe blocked a carbon dioxide tax.

13 December 1991, Friday (+17,020) The UN ended a ban on sporting, scientific and academic links with South Africa.

12 December 1991, Thursday (+17,019) The Russian Parliament voted to replace the USSR with a looser confederation to be known as the CIS or Confederation of Independent States.

11 December 1991, Wednesday (+17,018) Artur Lundkvist, Swedish writer (born 3/3/1906) died.

10 December 1991, Tuesday (+17,017) The marriage rate in England and Wales was less than half what it was 20 years ago, as nearly a third of couples in their 20s chose to cohabit, not marry. At least 10% of marriages ended in divorce within 5 years.

9 December 1991, Monday (+17,016) �420 million was found to be missing from pension funds controlled by the late Robert Maxwell, who died on 5 November 1991.

8 December 1991, Sunday (+17,015) The leaders of the republics of Russia, Byelorussia (Belarus), and Ukraine formed a commonwealth of independent states (CIS), after the dissolution of the USS