1995 - What happened in 1995 ?

January 1995

Thursday 12:

Malcolm X's daughter, Qubilah Shabazz, is arrested for conspiring to kill Louis Farrakhan.

Tuesday 17:

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake called "the Great Hanshin earthquake" occurs near Kobe, Japan, causing extensive property damage and killing 6,433 people.

Sunday 22:

Israeli-Palestinian conflict: In central Israel, two suicide bombers from the Gaza Strip blow themselves-up at a military transit point killing 19 Israelis.

Tuesday 24:

The prosecution delivers its opening statement in the O. J. Simpson murder trial.

Monday 30:

Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.

February 1995

Wednesday 01:

Manic Street Preachers lyricist Richey James Edwards goes missing from the Embassy Hotel in London, UK.

Friday 17:

The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends on a cease-fire brokered by the UN.

Tuesday 21:

Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.

Thursday 23:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 30.28 to close at 4,003.33, closing above 4,000 for the first time.

Friday 24:

The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.

March 1995

Friday 03:

In Somalia, the United Nations peacekeeping mission ends.

Tuesday 14:

Manned space mission: Astronaut Norman Thagard becomes the first American astronaut to ride to space on-board a Russian launch vehicle.

Monday 20:

1995 – Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway killing 12 and wounding 1300 persons.

Saturday 25:

Ward Cunningham opens the first wiki, the Portland Pattern Repository.

Friday 31:

Popular Tex-Mex singer Selena Quintanilla is murdered by her assistant Yolanda Saldivar in a Corpus Christi, Texas motel after a heated discussion where the latter was accused of ripping off the artist's fan club.

April 1995

Wednesday 19:

Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, is bombed, killing 168.

Monday 24:

The last Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 rolls off the assembly line.

May 1995

Sunday 14:

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama proclaims six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the eleventh reincarnation of the Panchen Lama.

Wednesday 17:

After 18 years as the mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac takes office as President of France.

Thursday 18:

Alain Juppé becomes Prime Minister of France.

Thursday 25:

The Bosnian Serb Army kills 72 youngsters in the Bosnian city of Tuzla.

Sunday 28:

The Russian town of Neftegorsk is hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that kills at least 2,000 people, 2/3 of total population.

June 1995

Friday 02:

United States Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady's F-16 is shot down over Bosnia while patrolling the NATO no-fly zone.

Monday 05:

Bose-Einstein condensate is first created.

Tuesday 13:

French president Jacques Chirac announces the resumption of nuclear tests in French Polynesia.

Friday 16:

1995 - The APOD was born

Tuesday 27:

Jodi Huisentruit, an anchorwoman in Mason City, Iowa disappears, presumably abducted.

July 1995

Sunday 09:

Musical group The Grateful Dead perform the last concert of their 30-year career at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

Tuesday 11:

A Cubana de Aviacion Antonov AN-24 crashes into the Caribbean off southeast Cuba killing 44 people.

Saturday 15:

Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought by Douglas Hofstadter becomes the first item sold on Amazon.com

Tuesday 18:

On the Caribbean island of Montserrat, the Soufriere Hills volcano erupts. Over the course of several years, it devastates the island, destroying the capital and forcing most of the population to flee.

Friday 28:

Network Solutions announces a new policy to help companies protect their trademarks on the Internet.

August 1995

Friday 04:

Operation Storm begins in Croatia.

Saturday 05:

The city of Knin, a significant Serb stronghold, is liberated by Croatian forces during Operation Storm. The date is celebrated as the day of victory ("Homeland Thanksgiving Day") in Croatia.

Wednesday 09:

Netscape launches IPO.

Thursday 10:

Oklahoma City bombing: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are indicted for the bombing. Michael Fortier pleads guilty in a plea-bargain agreement for his testimony.

Tuesday 29:

NATO launches Operation Deliberate Force against Bosnian Serb forces.

September 1995

Saturday 02:

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland, Ohio.

Monday 04:

The Fourth World Conference on Women opens in Beijing with over 4,750 delegates from 181 countries in attendance.

Wednesday 06:

Cal Ripken Jr. breaks Lou Gehrig's record of playing 2131 consecutive baseball games.

Saturday 09:

The Sony Playstation is released in the United States

Wednesday 27:

The Government of the United States unveils the first of its redesigned bank notes with the $100 bill featuring a larger portrait of Benjamin Franklin slightly off-center.

October 1995

Tuesday 03:

O. J. Simpson found not guilty of murder.

Monday 09:

An Amtrak Sunset Limited train is derailed by saboteurs near Palo Verde, Arizona.

Friday 13:

Microsoft releases Windows 95.

Sunday 15:

Saddam Hussein gains 99.96% of votes in Iraq's presidential elections.

Friday 27:

Stock markets around the world crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 554.26 points to 7,161.15. For the first time, the New York Stock Exchange activated their "circuit breakers" twice during the day eventually making the controversial move of closing the Exchange early (see October 27, 1997 mini-crash).

November 1995

Friday 03:

At Arlington National Cemetery, U.S. President Bill Clinton dedicates a memorial to the victims of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing.

Friday 10:

In Nigeria, playwright and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa along with eight others from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop) are hanged by government forces.

Tuesday 14:

A budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress forces the federal government to temporarily close national parks and museums, and run most government offices with skeleton staffs.

Tuesday 21:

1995 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 5,000 (5,023.55) for the first time.

Tuesday 28:

US President Bill Clinton signs a highway bill that ends the federal 55 mph speed limit.

December 1995

Thursday 14:

The Dayton Agreement was signed in Paris to end the Yugoslav wars.

Friday 15:

The European Communities Court of Justice passes the Bosman ruling

Thursday 28:

CompuServe sets a precedent by blocking access to sex-oriented newsgroups after being pressured by German prosecutors.

Saturday 30:

The lowest ever UK temperature of -27.2°C was recorded at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands. This equalled the record set at Braemar, Aberdeenshire on February 11, 1895 and January 10, 1982.

Sunday 31:

The publication of the last new Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip.