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Jan 1 Czechoslovakia divides into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, peacefully.

Jan 5 The Bush administration announces that Iraq has moved surface-to-air-missiles into the southern part of the country - the no-fly zone - that is patrolled by United States and allied warplanes.

Jan 7 In Ghana, Jerry Rawlings is inaugurated President, after having switched from military rule to winning an election described by international observers as free and fair.

Jan 14 A deadline issued by the United States to Iraq to remove anti-aircraft missiles has passed. And Iraq has announcement that it will no longer allow weapons inspectors to be flown into Iraqi territory in United Nations aircraft. U.S., French and British aircraft bomb missile sites in southern Iraq.

Jan 19 Iraq decides to allow UN weapons inspectors to enter Iraq aboard UN aircraft.

Jan 20 William Jefferson Clinton becomes the 42nd President of the United States.

Jan 21 The Clinton administration announces that it will continue the Bush administration's policy of pre-empting attacks on American pilots in Iraq.

Jan 29 President Clinton announces his plan to lift the ban on gays in the military.

Feb 22 The UN Security Council passes Resolution 808, for establishing an international tribunal to prosecute violations of international law in Yugoslavia.

Feb 26 Men connected to Osama bin Laden's network of activists drive a van heavily laden with a bomb into the parking area under the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. They walk away. The truck explodes. They planned to topple one tower onto the other amid a cloud of cyanide gas. It does not work, but six people die and 1,042 are injured. Firefighters learn that they have inadequate communications equipment.

Feb 28 U.S. Cargo planes from Germany drop food, medicine and other supplies to besieged Muslim towns in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Feb 28 In Texas, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid a compound with a warrant to arrest on firearms violations the inhabitants' leader, David Koresh - who claims to be the Final Prophet with a right to many wives, as young as eleven. A firefight erupts. Four agents and 5 followers of Koresh die. The federal agents retreat. The FBI will take over and keep the compound surrounded while trying to talk the occupants into surrendering.

Mar 12 In the city of Bombay several bombs kill 257 and injure hundreds more. The motive will eventually be judged as revenge for Hindus destroying the Babri Masjid mosque in northern India. See December 6, 1992.

Mar 12 North Korea refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites and announces its plan to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Apr 8 The Republic of Macedonia is admitted to the United Nations.

Apr 13 President Clinton reports that NATO air action including U.S. airplanes are enforcing UN ban on unauthorized (Serbian) military flights over Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Apr 16 Niger's first democratically elected president takes office. With freedom of the press, several newspapers will come into existence.

Apr 19 Concluding a 51-days of waiting for David Koresh to surrender, the FBI receives approval from Attorney General Janet Reno to move against his compound militarily. Fire erupts inside the compound, and gunshots are heard from within the compound. Koresh and 75 others die, including 21 children. Some cult members outside the compound expect Koresh to be resurrected in 1996.

Apr 30 The World Wide Web is developed at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, a little northwest of Geneva, Switzerland.

May 1 In Sri Lanka, a Tamil suicide bomber assassinates President Ranasinghe Premadasa.

May 24 After thirty years of war to free itself from attacks from Ethiopia, and after a UN sponsored referendum, Eritrea wins recognition of its independence.

May 28 The UN gains two new members: Eritrea and Monaco.

May 31 In Israel, openly homosexual men and women have begun serving in the military.

Jun 2 The FBI, CIA, and others in the Department of Justice have concluded that during his visit to Kuwait back in mid-April, former president Bush was likely the target of an assassination attempt that originated with the Iraqi government.

Jun 5 In Mogadishu, Somalia, 24 Pakistani members of the UN force are killed in a firefight with people who, it will be reported, are outraged over a rumor that UN troops were planning to occupy the radio station controlled by Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid.

Jun 12-16 U.S. and UN troops attack targets associated with General Aidid.

Jun 27 In response to evidence of the attempted assassination against former president Bush, Bill Clinton orders a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in the Al-Mansur District of Baghdad.

Jul 2 In Turkey a mob calling for death to infidels sets fire to the hotel were Satanic Verses translator and author Aziz Nesin was attending a cultural festival. Nesin escapes but 37 others die.

Jul 10 In Burundi, a progressive intellectual, Melchior Ndadaye, has won 65 percent of the vote for the presidency - a vote, certified as free and fair by international observers. He is a Hutu, replacing what had been a Tutsi dominated government, in a country more than 75 percent Hutu but with a Tutsi dominated military. A coup against Ndadaye has failed and he takes power, becoming Burundi's first Hutu president and its first democratically elected president.

Jul 20 Deputy White House counsel Vince Foster is found dead with a 38 caliber pistol and the kind of damage to his head that results from a shot fired inside the mouth.

Jul 27 Microsoft begins manufacturing Windows NT operating systems.

Aug 8 Clinton signs into law an increase in income tax rate for the highest earners from 35 percent (set by Bush the Elder) to 39 percent. Taxes on corporations are set at 35 percent. The tax on transportation fuels is raised 4.3 cents per gallon. The bill is called the Deficit Reduction Act.

Aug 11 The Justice Department discloses the text of a note left in Vince Foster's briefcase, which reads: "I made mistakes from ignorance, inexperience and overwork ... I did not knowingly violate any law or standard of conduct ... I was not meant for the job or the spotlight of public life in Washington. Here ruining people is considered sport." Money is forthcoming from critics of the Clintons to investigate and publish whether Hillary Clinton is involved in Vince Foster's murder.

Aug 30 Russia withdraws the last of its troops from Lithuania.

Aug 31 The siege of Sarajevo by Serb forces continues. Amid the shelling and sniper fire, Susan Sontag is staging Waiting for Godot.

Sep 13 PLO and Israeli leaders have already worked out an agreement in Oslo Norway. In Washington D.C., in the presence of President Clinton, PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin sign the Oslo Peace Accords and shake hands. Agreed to is the withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of the Gaza Strip and West Bank and in those areas the right of Palestinians to self-government through the creation of a Palestinian Authority.

Sep 17 Russian troops leave Poland.

Sep19 In Poland discontent with market reforms and the increase in unemployment following the collapse of Communism give communists a boost in parliamentary elections. Political power is going to a coalition of left-wing parties that intend to slow the pace of privatization and economic reform.

Sep 22 In Moscow, President Yeltsin orders parliament disbanded and elections for a new legislative body in December. Parliament moves to oust Yeltsin from power.

Sep 24 The Cambodian monarchy is restored, with Norodom Sihanouk as king.

Sep 28 President Yeltsin is surrounding parliament with hundreds of troops, concertina wire, water trucks, and mounted police.

Oct 2 Encouraged by the Oslo Accords, delegates from 43 nations promise the Palestinian Authority $2 billion in aid over the next five years. The U.S. pledges $500 million. U.S. Secretary of State, Warren Christopher speaks of demonstrating the "tangible benefits of peace" and says "we must do so quickly if the advocates of peace are to be strengthened and the enemies of peace are to be isolated and discredited."

Oct 3 In Mogadishu, a battle between U.S. forces and local militia kills 18 U.S. Rangers and 500 Somalis. One of the dead U.S. soldiers is seen on television being dragged through the streets.

Oct 4 President Clinton orders more than 200 troops, tanks, armored personnel carriers and gunships to Somalia.

Oct 5 A Palestinian driving a car packed with explosives attacks an Israeli commuter bus outside the Israeli Army headquarters in the West Bank.

Oct 5 In Moscow, military and security forces clear parliament by force, ending the effort to remove Yeltsin from power.

Oct 6 Rejecting a plea from President Clinton, China has just exploded a nuclear weapon in its western desert. Clinton responds to the opinion that if other nations resume testing the U.S. will need to also, and he orders preparations for a nuclear test in 1994.

Oct 8 President Clinton says he is doubling the size of the U.S. ground forces in Somalia to lay a foundation for stability there. He promises to remove all forces within six months. He adds: "Let us demonstrate to the world, as generations of Americans have done before us, that when Americans take on a challenge, they do the job right."

Oct 12 The Central Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization ratifies the peace accord with Israel. Yasir Arafat is elected to be head of the Palestinian National Authority by a vote of 78 to 0, with 4 abstentions.

Oct 15 In the U.S. Senate, Senator McCain's call for a "prompt and orderly" withdrawal from Somalia is supported by some Democrats and Republicans but defeated.

Oct 20 In Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto's political party has won a plurality in recent elections for seats in parliament. Today she became prime minister again, returning to the office from which she was banished in 1990.

Oct 21 A military coup in Burundi led by the Tutsi includes the murder of President Ndadaye. Another civil war between the Hutu and Tutsi begins.

Nov 7 President Clinton on Meet the Press says, “North Korea cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear bomb.”

Nov 11 In Sri Lanka, the on-again, off-again civil war since 1983 is on again with the Battle of Pooneryn, begun by Tamil guerrillas. They seek Tamil separation and independence.

Nov 14 In Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's candidate for president, Farooq Leghari, a member of her political party, the PPP, wins in the voting in the two houses of parliament. In three years he will dismiss Bhutto on charges of corruption.

Nov 17 President Clinton has been arguing for NAFTA, and the U.S. House of Representatives passes NAFTA legislation.

Nov 28 The London Observer reveals a channel of communications exists between the IRA and the British government, despite government denials.

Dec 30 Israel and the Vatican establish diplomatic relations.