The North Cape oil spill occurs as an engine fire forces the tugboat Scandia ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The North Cape Barge is pulled along with it and leaks 820,000 gallons of home heating oil.
An Indonesian ferry sinks off the northern tip of Sumatra, drowning more than 100 people.
The element copernicium is created by fusing a 208Pb nucleus with a 70Zn nucleus, forming 278Cn. Given the placeholder name "ununbium", the element is not named until 2010.
February 10–Bosnian Serbs break off contact with the Bosnian government and with representatives of Ifor, the NATO localised force, in reaction to the arrest of several Bosnian Serb war criminals.
The American Embassy in Athens, Greece, comes under mortar fire.
Begum Khaleda Zia is re-elected as Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The country's second democratic election is marred by low voter turnout, due to several boycotts and pre-election violence, which has resulted in at least thirteen deaths.
The Cuban government recognises the Concilio Cubano pro-democracy group.[2]
March
March 1–Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi forces refuse UNSCOM inspection teams access to five sites designated for inspection. The teams enter the sites only after delays of up to seventeen hours.
March 3–4– Two suicide bombs explode in Israel, killing 32 people. The Yahya Ayyash Units admit responsibility, and Palestinian president Yasser Arafat condemns the killings in a televised address. Israel warns of retaliation.
March 13–Dunblane massacre: Unemployed former shopkeeper Thomas Hamilton walks into the Dunblane Primary School in Scotland and opens fire, killing sixteen infant school pupils and one teacher before committing suicide.
March 14– An international peace summit is held in Egypt in response to escalating terrorist attacks in the Middle East.
First Liberian Civil War: fighting breaks out in Monrovia, Liberia, between various rebel factions struggling for power in the country's interrupted civil war. Several foreign nationals leave the nation.
April 11– The Israeli government launches Operation Grapes of Wrath, consisting of massive attacks on Lebanon, in retaliation for "terrorist attacks", and sparking off a violent series of retaliations.
April 18–Qana massacre: Over 100 Lebanese civilians are killed after Israel shells the United Nations compound in Qana. In reaction, an Islamist group in Egypt opens fire on a hotel, killing eighteen Greek tourists and injuring seventeen others.
April 26– Shanghai Five group, predecessor of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, is created with the signing of the Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions in Shanghai by the heads of states of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.[8]
South Africa's National Party pulls out of the coalition government formed two years earlier, and the African National Congress assumes full political control.
Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni wins a landslide victory in the country's first direct presidential elections, securing 75% of the vote.
1996 Everest disaster: A sudden storm engulfs Mount Everest with several climbing teams high on the mountain, leaving eight people dead. By the end of the month, at least four other climbers die in the worst season of fatalities on the mountain to date.
June –Iraq disarmament crisis: As Iraq continues to refuse inspectors access to a number of sites, the United States fails in its attempt to build support for military action against Iraq in the UN Security Council.
An explosion in a São Paulo suburban shopping centre kills 44 people and injures more than 100.
A peace convoy carrying Chechen separatist leaders and international diplomats is targeted by a series of remotely controlled land mines; eight people are killed.
Iraq disarmament crisis: U.N. Inspector Scott Ritter attempts to conduct surprise inspections on the Republican Guard facility at the airport but is blocked by Iraqi officials.
The Indian government officially renames the city of Madras, restoring the name Chennai.[13]
July 12–Hurricane Bertha: made landfall in North Carolina as a Category2 storm, causing $270million in damage ($525million in present-day terms[14]) to the United States and its possessions and many indirect deaths.
July 16– An outbreak of E. colifood poisoning in Japan results in 6,000 children being ill, including two deaths, after a group of school children eat contaminated lunches.
August 6–NASA announces that the Allan Hills 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, may contain evidence of primitive lifeforms; further tests are inconclusive.
August 14– A rocket ignited during a fireworks display in Arequipa, Peru knocks down a high-tension power cable into a dense crowd, electrocuting 35 people.
August 16–Brookfield Zoo, Chicago. After a 3-year-old boy falls into the 20-foot (6.1m) deep gorilla enclosure, Binti Jua, a female lowland gorilla sits with the injured boy until his rescue.
August 23–Osama bin Laden writes "The Declaration of Jihad on the Americans Occupying the Country of the Two Sacred Places," a call for the removal of American military forces from Saudi Arabia.
September 5–Hurricane Fran makes landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina as a Category 3 storm with 115mph (185km/h) sustained winds. Fran caused over $3billion in damages ($5.83billion in present-day terms[14]) and killed 27 people, mainly in North Carolina. The name "Fran" was retired due to the extensive damage.
October 2–Aeroperú Flight 603 crashes into the Pacific Ocean when the instruments fail just after takeoff from Lima Airport, killing all 70 people on board.
October 6– The government of New Zealand agrees to pay $130million worth of compensation for the loss of land suffered by the Māori population between the years of 1844 and 1864.
November–Iraq disarmament crisis: UNSCOM inspectors uncover buried prohibited missile parts. Iraq refuses to allow UNSCOM teams to remove remnants of missile engines for analysis outside of the country.
Martin Bryant is sentenced to 35 consecutive sentences of life imprisonment plus 1,035 years without parole for murdering 35 people in a shooting spree in Tasmania earlier this year.
Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Organization (CTBTO) established.
November 25– An ice storm strikes the U.S. killing 26 directly and hundreds more from accidents. A powerful windstorm blasts Florida with winds gusts up to 90mph.
Kempster, Norman; Risen, James (April 4, 1996). "Ron Brown Feared Dead in Crash". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved August 18, 2024.
Official Journal of the European Communities: Debates of the European Parliament. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. 1996. pp.278–279.
Henderson, Taylor (November 1, 2022). "Slayyyter Talks New Music, the Gays, & Her Upcoming Tour With Tove Lo". out.com. Out. Archived from the original on August 29, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2023. The 26-year-old commands the Austin City Limits music festival stage with her unmistakable brand of chaos pop, a glitzy exclamation of sex, drugs, and queer euphoria.