- January 7
- The barge Morris J. Furhman runs aground off the northern side of Puerto Rico capital city harbor, spilling 2.8 million litres of heavy fuel oil, which spreads over a 9.6km stretch of shoreline. [522]
- January 8
- Lady Caithness, wife of British undersecretary, commits suicide. [1]
- Russian manned space craft TM-18 is launched into orbit. Valeri Polyakov begins his 437.7 day orbit on the Mir space station, eventually setting the world record for days spent in orbit. [1] [30]
- January 10
- Ukraine says it will give up world's third largest nuclear arsenal. [1]
- Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan agree to abolish trade tariffs. [1]
- January 11
- Irish government announces end of a 20-year broadcasting ban on Irish Republican Army. [1] (15-year ban [30])
- The Superhighway Summit is held in Los Angeles, California. It is the first conference to discuss the growing information superhighway and is presided over by U.S. Vice President Al Gore. [30]
- January 13
- Italian government of Ciampi resigns. [1]
- Erich Honecker leaves Germany for Chile. Honecker had been the leader of German Democratic Republic. After the reunification there was the possibility of trying him for crimes against humanity, but due to his cancer he was allowed to leave Germany. [37]
- The Barona Indian tribe in the USA opens the largest tented casino in the world, at the Barona Casino near Lakeside, California, with a total of 105,000 square feet, including almost 1000 video gaming machines. [1006.58]
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- January 14
- U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Kremlin Accords, which stop the preprogrammed aiming of nuclear missiles toward each country's targets, and also provide for the dismantling of the nuclear arsenal in Ukraine. [30]
- January 15
- Hague motorist with 0.51 percent alcohol in blood, breaks Dutch record (0.47 percent). [1]
- Queen Elizabeth falls off her horse and breaks her left wrist. [1]
- January 16
- In Pennsylvania, a magnitude 4.6 earthquake occurs. Felt throughout southeastern Pennsylvania and as far as Baltimore, Maryland and New York City. Also felt at Toronto, Canada. [53]
- January 17
- In Northridge, California, a magnitude 6.6-6.8 earthquake occurs. Sixty people are killed, more than 7,000 injured, 20,000 homeless and more than 40,000 buildings damaged in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange and San Bernardino Counties. Severe damage occurred in the San Fernando Valley. Collapsed overpasses close sections of the Santa Monica Freeway, the Antelope Valley Freeway, the Simi Valley Freeway and the Golden State Freeway. Cracks in weld joints are reported in over 100 steelframed buildings. Total damage: US$30 billion. [1] [30] [53] [720.196]
- January 18
- In Cando, Spain, a minute-long fireball and explosion over a hillside gouges out 200 cubic metres of terrain. [30] [521]
- January 21
- In Halmahera, Indonesia, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurs. Seven people killed, 40 injured and 550 houses damaged in the Kau area. [53]
- January 22
- 5.5 earthquake strikes Sumatra, Indonesia. [1]
- January 24
- Dow Jones closes above 3,900 for first time (3,914.48). [1]
- January 25
- Mine fire at Asansol, India, kills 55. [1]
- January 26
- A man fires two blank shots at Charles, Prince of Wales in Sydney, Australia. [30]
- January 27
- Carlos Reina succeeds President Callejas in Honduras. [1]
- Romanian social-democrats form government with anti-Semites. [1]
- January 30
- Péter Lékó becomes the youngest chess grand master. [5]
- January 31
- In Spain, the Barcelona opera theater Gran Teatro del Liceo burns down. [1]
- German luxury car manufacturer BMW announces the purchase of Rover from British Aerospace. [30]
- February 1
- Large meteorite falls near Kusaie, Pacific Ocean. [1]
- February 4
- Twenty die in armed assault on mosque in Khartum, Sudan. [1]
- February 6
- José Maria Figueres elected President of Costa Rica. [1]
- Martti Ahtisaari elected President of Finland. [1]
- A Bosnian Serb Army mortar shell kills 68 civilians and wounds about 200 in a Sarajevo marketplace. [30]
- February 9
- Israeli minister Shimon Perez signs accord with Palestinian Liberation Organization's Arafat. [1]
- The Vance-Owen Peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina is announced. [30]
- February 12
- 20th century premiere of six restored Haydn-sonatas in Boston. [1]
- Edvard Munch's painting The Scream is stolen in a 50-second robbery of a museum in Oslo, Norway. (The painting is recovered May 7.) [1] [30] [129]
- February 13
- Ship disaster near Ranong, Thailand, kills 200. [1]
- February 15
- US asks Aristide to adopt a peace plan from Haiti. [1]
- In Southern Sumatera, Indonesia, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurs. At least 207 people killed, more than 2,000 injured, 75,000 homeless and extensive damage from landslides, mudslides and fires in Lampung Province. Damage estimated to be about US$169 million. [53] (February 16 [1])
- February 16
- Premier Alfonso Bustamente ends government in Peru. [1]
- February 20
- Three Afghans take 70 Pakistani children hostage. [1]
- Pope John Paul II demands juristic discrimination of homosexuals. [1]
- February 22
- Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged with spying for the Soviet Union by the United States Department of Justice. (Ames will later be convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment and his wife will receive five years in prison.) [30]
- February 23
- A US District Court rules that Microsoft violated patents held by Stac Electronics, in data compression used in Microsoft's DoubleSpace in DOS 6. Microsoft is ordered to remove or replace the technology, and pay US$120 million in damages. The court also finds that Stac illegally used access to Microsoft's trade secrets to make Stacker compatible with DOS 6.0. Microsoft is awarded US$13.6 million in damages. [4]
- February 25
- Israeli Kahanist Baruch Goldstein opens fire inside the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank. He kills 29 Muslims before worshippers beat him to death. [1] [30]
- Peruvian Yak-40 crashes into mountain near Tingo Maria, kills 31. [1]
- Yann Piat, French Member of Parliament (FN/PR), murdered at age 44. [1]
- February 27
- Maronite church near Beirut bombed, ten killed. [1]
- February 28
- United States F-16 pilots shoot down four Serbian fighter aircraft over Bosnia-Herzegovina for violation of the Operation Deny Flight and its no-fly zone. [30]
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