- March 11
- The European Union Database Directive passes. [5]
- March 13
- Unemployed former shopkeeper Thomas Hamilton walks into the Dunblane Primary School in Scotland and opens fire, killing 16 students and one teacher before fatally shooting himself. [1] [28]
- March 19
- Sarajevo becomes a united city again when Bosniak authorities take control of the last district held by Serbs. [28]
- In Southern Xinjiang, China, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurs. At least 24 people killed, 128 injured and more than 15,314 houses destroyed. [53]
- A barge ruptures as it sails through the Houston Ship Channel, spilling about 16,000 litres of fuel oil, creating an 8km oil slick in Galveston Bay, Texas. [522]
- March 20
- The British Government announces that Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease) has likely been transmitted to people. [1] [28]
- March 22
- Capcom releases the Resident Evil game for the PlayStation in the US. The game innovates by creating the survival-horror genre. (Total sales: over two million copies.) [9]
- March 23
- The Republic of China on Taiwan holds its first direct elections for president; Lee Teng-hui is re-elected. [28]
- March 25
- Comet C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake) approaches within 0.1018 astronomical units (AUs) of Earth. [1]
- The tobacco millionaire Jan Philipp Reemtsma is kidnapped in Hamburg-Blankenese. [37]
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- March 26
- The International Monetary Fund approves a US$10.2 billion loan to Russia for economic reform. [28]
- March 27
- Because of BSE (mad cow disease) the European Commission stops the import of British beef. [37]
- March 28
- Fire breaks out at the Pasar Anyar shopping centre in Bogor, West Java. The first death toll estimate is 78 until rescuers notice that 68 of them are mannequins. [28]
- Three British soldiers are found guilty of the manslaughter of Danish tour guide Louise Jensen in Cyprus. Allan Ford, Justin Fowler and Geoffrey Pernell receive life sentences for their crime, which was committed in September 1994. [28]
- In Ecuador, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurs. At least 27 people killed, 100 injured, several thousand homeless. [53]
- March 31
- Radio Canada International's final shortwave broadcast. [1]
- Wrestlemania XII: Shawn Michaels beats Brett Hart for WWF title. [1]
- April 3
- A Lunar eclipse occurs. [28]
- A plane carrying United States Commerce Secretary Ron Brown crashes near Dubrovnik, Croatia, killing him. [1] [28]
- April 7
- Pakistan beats Sri Lanka to win Singer Cup in Singapore. [1]
- April 11
- A construction accident leads to the burning of the Düsseldorf airport in Germany. [37]
- April 12
- Jessica Dubroff, aged 7, is killed in a crash near Cheyenne, Wyoming, while attempting to set a record as the youngest person to pilot an airplane across the United States. [28]
- April 15
- The treasure of Primos found by Heinrich Schliemann in 1873 in Troy and taken from Berlin in 1945 by Russians is exhibited in Moscow for the first time. Prior to 1996 the Soviet Union had denied knowledge of the whereabouts of the hundreds of thousands of artifacts. [37]
- April 18
- Over 100 Lebanese civilians are killed after Israel shells the United Nations compound in Qana. [28]
- April 28
- Martin Bryant kills 35 people at the Tasmania tourist site in Port Arthur, Australia. [1] [28]
- April 30
- Dutch/Italian Beppo-SAX launches from Cape Canaveral. [1]
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