1993 - What happened in 1993 ?

January 1993

Friday 01:

A single market within the European Community is introduced.

Saturday 02:

Leaders of the three warring factions in Bosnia meet to discuss peace plans.

Sunday 03:

In Moscow, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

Tuesday 05:

Washington state executes Westley Allan Dodd by hanging (the first legal hanging in America since 1965).

Thursday 14:

David Letterman announces he is moving his television talk show from NBC to CBS.

February 1993

Thursday 04:

First public alpha version, 0.2 of Doom released.

Monday 08:

General Motors sues NBC after Dateline NBC allegedly rigged two crashes showing that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settled the lawsuit the next day.

Tuesday 23:

Gary Coleman wins a $1,280,000 lawsuit against his parents.

Friday 26:

World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center goes off, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand. The buildings would be destroyed in a subsequent attack on September 11, 2001.

Sunday 28:

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest cult leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.

March 1993

Tuesday 09:

Rodney King testifies at the federal trial of four Los Angeles, California police officers accused of violating King's civil rights when they beat him during an arrest.

Thursday 11:

Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn-in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States.

Friday 12:

North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea says that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites.

Saturday 13:

The Great Blizzard of 1993 strikes the eastern U.S., bringing record snowfall and other severe weather all the way from Cuba to Québec.

Saturday 20:

1993 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in Warrington, northwest England, killing two children.

April 1993

Tuesday 06:

Russian nuclear accident at Tomsk 7.

Monday 19:

The 50-day siege of the Branch Davidian building outside Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. Eighty-one people die.

Thursday 22:

1993 - The web browser Mosaic version 1.0 is released.

Friday 23:

Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.

Friday 30:

During a changeover at a tennis tournament in Hamburg, Germany, Monica Seles is stabbed in the back by a deranged fan of rival Steffi Graf. Seles would not play competitively for more than two years after the incident.

May 1993

Thursday 20:

The television sitcom, Cheers ends an 11-year run on NBC.

Monday 24:

Microsoft unveils Windows NT.

June 1993

Sunday 06:

Mongolia holds its first direct presidential elections.

Monday 07:

Prince changes his name to a symbol and comes to be referred to as "The Artist formerly known as Prince".

Monday 14:

A weeklong product tampering scare, later proven to be a hoax, occurs as customers throughout the USA discover syringes in unopened cans of Diet Pepsi Cola.

Tuesday 22:

Dr. Charles Epstein of Tiburon, California, USA is injured by a mail bomb sent by the Unabomber.

Friday 25:

Kim Campbell is chosen as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and becomes the first female Prime Minister of Canada.

July 1993

Saturday 03:

Steffi Graf wins Wimbledon.

Sunday 04:

The Argentine national football team defeats mexico to win the Copa América 1993 in Guayaquil.

Monday 12:

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake off the shore of Hokkaido, Japan launches a devastating tsunami, killing 202 on the small island of Okushiri.

Thursday 29:

The Israeli Supreme Court acquits accused Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.

August 1993

Wednesday 04:

A federal judge sentences LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 30 months in prison for violating motorist Rodney King's civil rights.

Monday 16:

The Debian GNU/Linux distribution is founded by Ian Murdock.

Friday 20:

After rounds of secret negotiations in Norway, the Oslo Peace Accords were signed, followed by a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. the next month.

Saturday 21:

NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.

Monday 30:

The Late Show with David Letterman debuts on CBS.

September 1993

Monday 13:

Norwegian parliamentary election, 1993.

Wednesday 15:

Liechtenstein Prince Hans-Adam II disbands parliament.

Tuesday 21:

Grunge rock band Nirvana releases its album In Utero.

Friday 24:

Brøderbund releases the computer game Myst.

Thursday 30:

An earthquake hits India's Latur and Osmanabad district of Marathwada (Aurangabad division) in Maharashtra state leaving tens of thousands of people dead and many more homeless.

October 1993

Monday 04:

Russian constitutional crisis of 1993: Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders tanks to storm the Russian parliament building.

Wednesday 06:

Michael Jordan makes his first retirement from the NBA.

Monday 18:

Andreas Papandreou begins his second term as Prime Minister of Greece.

Monday 25:

Jean Chrétien becomes prime minister of Canada with a massive majority for his Liberal Party in a general election in which the governing Progressive Conservatives lost 149 of 151 seats in the parliament.

Wednesday 27:

Fires in five counties in southern California destroy more than 500 homes and cause an estimate $1 billion of damage within a week.

November 1993

Tuesday 09:

Stari Most, the "old bridge" in Bosnian Mostar built in 1566, collapses after several days of bombing.

Sunday 14:

Michael Jackson enters a drug rehabilitation program to treat an addiction to painkillers.

Thursday 18:

In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution.

Saturday 20:

Savings and Loan scandal: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his "dealings" with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating.

Tuesday 30:

U.S. President Bill Clinton signs the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (the Brady Bill) into law.

December 1993

Saturday 04:

A truce is concluded between the government of Angola and UNITA rebels.

Tuesday 07:

South Africa transitional executive council established

Wednesday 08:

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is signed into law by US President Bill Clinton.

Friday 10:

Shareware version of Doom is released.

Thursday 30:

Israel and the Vatican establish diplomatic relations.