What happened in 1995

40 events　World 3, Japan 4, North America 10, Europe 7, USSR / Russia 2, Asia 9, Middle East 1, Latin America 2, Africa 2

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Highlights of 1995

World3

  • Feb 25The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) (Organización del Tratado de Cooperación Amazónica [OTCA]) is formed.
  • Nov 22The 7.3 Gulf of Aqaba earthquake shakes the Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia region with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing eight and injuring 30, and generating a non-destructive tsunami.
  • Dec 14The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris, officially ending the Bosnian War.

Japan4

  • Jan 17The 6.9 Great Hanshin earthquake strikes the southern Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan with a maximum Shindo of 7, leaving 5,502–6,434 people dead, and 251,301–310,000 displaced.
  • Mar 20Members of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo carry out the Tokyo subway sarin attack, killing 14 people and leading to over a thousand injured.
  • May 16Following the Tokyo subway sarin attack two months earlier, Japanese police besiege the headquarters of Aum Shinrikyo near Mount Fuji and arrest cult leader Shoko Asahara. Further police operations result in over two hundred arrests and thirteen members of the cult, including Asahara, are sentenced to death.
  • NovWindows 95 released in JapanOn November 23, the release day of the Japanese version, lines formed in Akihabara from late at night. With built-in internet features, it brought the internet into Japanese homes, and the year is called the first year of the internet in Japan.

North America10

  • Mar 31Murder of Selena: Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez is shot and killed by her fan club president Yolanda Saldívar at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas.
  • Apr 19Oklahoma City bombing: 168 people, including eight federal Marshals and 19 children, are killed at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and 680 are wounded by a bomb set off by Timothy McVeigh.
  • May 171995 San Diego tank rampage: In San Diego, Shawn Nelson steals an M60A3 tank from a local California Army National Guard armory and goes on a rampage for 25 minutes, damaging over $149,201 of property. The rampage ended when San Diego police forced the hatch open and fatally shot him.
  • Jun 20Michael Jackson releases his double album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I.
  • Jun 29STS-71: Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian Mir space station for the first time.
  • Sep 19The Washington Post and The New York Times publish the Unabomber Manifesto.
  • Oct 3Murder trial of O. J. Simpson: Former American football star O. J. Simpson is found not guilty of double murder in a criminal trial for the deaths of former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
  • Oct 16The Million Man March is held in Washington, D.C. The event was conceived by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
  • Oct 30Quebec independentists narrowly lose a referendum for a mandate to negotiate independence from Canada.
  • Nov 21The Dayton Agreement to end the Bosnian War is reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, United States (signed December 14).

Europe7

  • Jan 1The World Trade Organization (WTO) is established to replace the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
  • Jan 25Norwegian rocket incident: A rocket launched from the space exploration centre at Andøya, Norway, is briefly interpreted by the Russians as an incoming attack.
  • Mar 31TAROM Flight 371 from Bucharest to Brussels crashes shortly after takeoff, killing all 60 people on board.
  • Jul 11Srebrenica massacre: Units of the Army of Republika Srpska, under the command of General Ratko Mladić, enter Srebrenica with little resistance from Dutch peacekeepers of the United Nations Protection Force, going on to kill thousands of Bosniak men and boys and rape many women.
  • Aug 4Croatian forces, with the cooperation of the ARBiH, launch Operation Storm against rebel forces of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, which subsequently ceases to exist as a political entity.
  • Aug 30Operation Deliberate Force, the NATO bombing campaign against Bosnian Serb artillery positions, begins in Bosnia and Herzegovina, continuing into September. At the same time, ARBiH forces begin an offensive against the Bosnian Serb Army around Sarajevo, central Bosnia and Bosnian Krajina.
  • SepThe European Parliament elects the first European Ombudsman, Jacob Söderman, who takes up office this month.

USSR / Russia2

  • Apr 7First Chechen War: Samashki massacre – Russian paramilitary troops begin a massacre of at least 250 civilians in Samashki, Chechnya.
  • May 28The 7.0 Neftegorsk earthquake strikes northern Sakhalin Island in Russia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 1,967 people dead and 750 injured.

Asia9

  • Jan 10The World Youth Day 1995 festival is held in Manila, Philippines, culminating in 5 million people gathering for John Paul II's concluding mass in Quirino Grandstand.
  • Jun 29Sampoong Department Store collapse in the Seocho-gu district of Seoul, South Korea, kills 502 and injures 937.
  • Jul 9Sri Lankan Civil War: 125 civilians are killed in Navaly as result of bombing by the Sri Lanka Air Force.
  • Jul 21Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The Chinese People's Liberation Army fires missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.
  • Sep 4The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing with over 4,750 delegates from 181 countries in attendance.
  • Oct 24A total solar eclipse is visible from Iran, India, Thailand and Southeast Asia.
  • Oct 28A fire in Baku Metro, Azerbaijan, kills 289 passengers, becoming the world's worst subway disaster.
  • Nov 7Typhoon Angela leaves the Philippines and Vietnam devastated, with 882 deaths and US$315 million in damage. The typhoon is the strongest to strike the Philippines in 25 years, with wind speeds of and gusts of.
  • Dec 23Dabwali fire accident: The Rajiv Marriage Palace catches fire in Haryana, India, killing 442 persons.

Middle East1

  • Nov 4Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

Latin America2

  • Jan 31Mexican peso crisis: U.S. President Bill Clinton invokes emergency powers to extend a $20 billion loan to help Mexico avert financial collapse.
  • Dec 20American Airlines Flight 965 (Boeing 757) crashes into a mountain near Buga, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, killing 160 of the 164 on board.

Africa2

  • May 10The Vaal Reefs mining disaster at Vaal Reefs gold mine in Orkney, South Africa. A runaway locomotive falls into a lift shaft onto an ascending cage and causes it to plunge to the bottom of the deep shaft, killing 104.
  • Jun 6The Constitutional Court of South Africa abolishes capital punishment in South Africa in the case of S v Makwanyane and Another.