1995 CE

The Oklahoma City bombing kills 168 people, the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history; Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv; O. J. Simpson is found not guilty of murder; Windows 95 is released by Microsoft; the Sampoong Department Store collapse in Seoul kills over 500 people; the Srebrenica massacre takes place during the Bosnian War; the Great Hanshin earthquake strikes Kobe, Japan, killing over 6,000 people; American Airlines Flight 965 crashes into a mountain near Cali, Colombia, killing 151 people; and Tejano singer Selena is murdered by the president of her fan club.

In the 1990s, the 20th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 1 – Austria, Finland and Sweden join the European Union.source
  • February 25 – The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) (Organización del Tratado de Cooperación Amazónica [OTCA]) is formed.source
  • March 1 – Julio María Sanguinetti is sworn in as President of Uruguay for his second term.source
  • March 1 – Polish Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak resigns from Parliament and is replaced by ex-communist Józef Oleksy.source
  • March 10 – Konstantinos Stephanopoulos was sworn in as President in the Hellenic Parliament and succeeding Konstantinos Karamanlis.Greecesource
  • May 7 – Jacques Chirac is elected president of France.source
  • May 11 – More than 170 countries agree to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions.source
  • May 14 – The Dalai Lama proclaims 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, but 3 days later the boy is detained by Chinese authorities and not seen again.source
  • May 20 – English football team Everton win the FA Cup, beating reigning champions Manchester United with a score of 1 – 0. A goal at 30 minutes by Paul Rideout secured the win for Everton their first major trophy in 8 years and also constituted their last title ever since.source
  • July 4 – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom John Major is re-elected as leader of the Conservative Party, ending an internal challenge to his position.source
  • July 11 – President Clinton announces the restoration of United States–Vietnam relations twenty years after the Vietnam War.source
  • 23 July – A constitutional referendum was held in the country.Gabonsource
  • 17 September - 1995 Hong Kong legislative election is held.Hong Kongsource
  • 28 September – The Oslo II Accord is officially signed at a public ceremony in Washington, DC by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and witnessed by US President Bill Clinton, which includes provision for the transfer of control of Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilya, Ramallah, Tulkarm and some 450 villages to the Palestinian Authority.Palestinesource
  • September – The European Parliament elects the first European Ombudsman, Jacob Söderman, who takes up office this month.source
  • October 5 – Tansu Çiller of DYP forms the new government of Turkey (51st government), a minority government which lasts for less than a month.source
  • 15 October – The first Iraqi presidential referendum is held, asking Iraqis to vote on their approval of the government.Iraqsource
  • October 30 – Tansu Çiller of DYP forms the new government (52nd government) of Turkey.source
  • October 30 – Quebec independentists narrowly lose a referendum for a mandate to negotiate independence from Canada.source
  • 12 November - Adoption of Constitution of AzerbaijanAzerbaijansource
  • November 21 – The Dayton Agreement to end the Bosnian War is reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, United States (signed December 14).source
  • November 28 – Twenty-seven nations sign the Barcelona Treaty, creating the Union for the Mediterranean.source
  • November – The Indian government officially renames the city of Bombay, restoring the name Mumbai.source
  • December 14 – The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris, officially ending the Bosnian War.source
  • 7th - Presidential and parliamentary elections held.Ghanasource
  • Mekong River Commission created with Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand as the membersLaossource

Conflict & Security

  • February 13 – Twenty-one Bosnian Serb commanders are charged with genocide and crimes against humanity in the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, a tribunal on human rights violations during the Wars in the Balkans.source
  • March 3 – United Nations Operation in Somalia II, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Somalia, ends.source
  • 3 March – The Iraqi National Congress, backed by the CIA, along with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan attack the city of Kirkuk, the incursion increased the opposition's foothold in northern Iraq but did not meaningfully change the map as the expected US support didn't materialize.Iraqsource
  • April 7 – First Chechen War: Samashki massacre – Russian paramilitary troops begin a massacre of at least 250 civilians in Samashki, Chechnya.source
  • May 17 – 1995 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.source
  • May 24 – AFC Ajax wins the UEFA Champions League at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna by defeating A.C. Milan 1–0.source
  • June 2 – A United States Air Force F-16 piloted by Captain Scott O'Grady is shot down over Bosnia and Herzegovina while patrolling the NATO no-fly zone. O'Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines six days later.source
  • June 29 – Iraq disarmament crisis: According to UNSCOM, the unity of the U.N. Security Council begins to fray as a few countries, particularly France and Russia, become more interested in making financial deals with Iraq than in disarming the country.source
  • July 1 – Iraq disarmament crisis: In response to UNSCOM's evidence, Iraq admits for first time the existence of an offensive biological weapons program, but denies weaponization.source
  • July 10 – Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi is freed from house arrest.source
  • July 11 – Srebrenica 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.source
  • July 11 - Srebrenica massacre occurred during the Bosnian War.Bosnia and Herzegovinasource
  • July 21–26 – Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The Chinese People's Liberation Army fires missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.source
  • July – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq threatens to end all cooperation with UNSCOM and IAEA if sanctions against the country are not lifted by August 31. Following the defection of his son-in-law, Hussein Kamel al-Majid, Saddam Hussein makes new revelations about the full extent of Iraq's biological and nuclear weapons programs. Iraq also withdraws its last U.N. declaration of prohibited biological weapons and turns over a large amount of new documents on its WMD programs.source
  • August 4 – Croatian 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.source
  • 21 August – La Gabarra massacre.Colombiasource
  • August 29 – Eduard Shevardnadze, the Georgian head of state, survives an assassination attempt in Tbilisi.source
  • August 30 – Operation 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.source
  • September 1 - Gaddafi orders the expulsion of 30,000 Palestinians living in Libya, as a gesture of his opposition to the Oslo II Accord process between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel. The expulsion process went badly, with many Palestinians sent to poorly-equipped refugee camps on the Egyptian border or stranded in Cyprus, and the process was temporarily halted in late October 1995. It resumed in 1996, halving the number of Palestinians living in Libya.Libyasource
  • 16 September – Nationwide strikes take place across Bangladesh in protest against the government of Khaleda ZiaBangladeshsource
  • September 19 – The Washington Post and The New York Times publish the Unabomber Manifestosource
  • 22 September – Nagerkovil school bombing: The Sri Lankan Air Force bombs the Nagar Kovil Maha Vidyalayam school in Jaffna, resulting in the deaths of roughly 34–71 Sri Lankan Tamil civilians based on multiple accounts.Sri Lankasource
  • September 27–28 – Bob Denard's mercenaries capture President Said Mohamed Djohar of the Comoros; the local army does not resist.source
  • October 16 – The Million Man March is held in Washington, D.C. The event was conceived by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.source
  • November 1 – Participants in the Yugoslav Wars begin negotiations at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.source
  • November 2 – The Supreme Court of Argentina orders the extradition of ex-S.S. captain Erich Priebke.source
  • November 20 – A car bomb explosion outside the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan destroys the façade of the building, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens more.source
  • November 30 – Operation Desert Storm officially ends.source
  • December 3 – Former President Chun Doo-hwan was arrested on charges of leading bloody suppression in Coup d'état of December Twelfth, Gwangju Democratic Uprising.South Koreasource
  • 12 December – The city of Nablus passes from Israeli to Palestinian Authority control.Palestinesource
  • December 20 – NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 21 – Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.source
  • 27 February – The Union Bank of Finland opened a branch in Estonia, being the first foreign bank to open a branch in Estonia.Estoniasource
  • Early February – The Philippine Navy discovers ships and structures being built, all by the Chinese, in Mischief Reef (Panganiban Reef) in the Spratly Archipelago (Kalayaan Island Group), South China Sea off Palawan; such occupation since the previous year causes the Government to take legal diplomatic actions against China and further tensions between two countries, especially in May when two Chinese ships will block that of the Department of National Defense attempting to approach the area.Philippinessource
  • March 26 – The Schengen Agreement, easing cross-border travel, goes into effect in several European countries.source
  • 23 June – The Pacific Ocean Games begins in Cali.Colombiasource
  • June 29 – English yachtswoman Lisa Clayton completes her 10-month solo circumnavigation from the Northern Hemisphere.source
  • July – The A13 motorway extension from Biff to Rodange, bypassing Pétange, opens.Luxembourgsource
  • 5 November – The second phase of the Seletar Expressway was opened.Singaporesource
  • 15th - President Rawlings starts an 11-day visit U.S. to promote investment and trade.Ghanasource
  • U.S. lifted 20-year aid embargoLaossource
  • 15–17 May – German president Roman Herzog visits Romania. He is the first German president to do so since 1980.Romaniasource

Religion & Belief

  • January 12–16 – Second pastoral and state visit of Pope John Paul II in the country, coinciding with the 10th World Youth Day (WYD) and marking the fourth centenary of the Archdiocese of Manila and the Dioceses of Cebu, Caceres and Nueva Segovia. On Jan 15, the Mass he led in Luneta, marking the end of WYD, draws a crowd of an estimated 4-million, the largest gathering at such papal Mass at that time. —"Pope John Paul II to visit the Philippines in 1995" UCA News. July 14, 1993.Philippinessource
  • 11 April – The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting is held. The assembled Premiers and territory leaders endorse a program of reforms envisaged by Professor Fred Hilmer's National Competition Policy Review.Australiasource
  • June – Pope John Paul II visits Belgium.Belgiumsource
  • July 20 – In Hill v. Church of Scientology of Toronto the Supreme Court upholds Canada's largest ever libel award.Canadasource
  • July – The Tengku Tengah Zaharah Mosque in Kuala Terengganu was fully constructed. This was the first floating mosque in Malaysia.Malaysiasource
  • 21 September – Reports of the Hindu milk miracle surface.Indiasource
  • October 12: The bishop of the Universal Church, Sérgio von Helder, kicks a statue of Our Lady of Aparecida, the country's patron saint; during two programs on Rede Record.Brazilsource
  • December 8 – Five-year-old Gyaincain Norbu is enthroned as the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama at Tashilhunpo Monastery.source
  • Best Cover: Alec Bathgate / Chris Knox - 3 EPs (Tall Dwarfs)New Zealandsource

Economy & Finance

  • January 1 – The World Trade Organization (WTO) is established to replace the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).source
  • 1 January – The G3 Free Trade Agreement between Colombia, México, and Venezuela goes into effect.Colombiasource
  • January 31 – Mexican peso crisis: U.S. President Bill Clinton invokes emergency powers to extend a $20 billion loan to help Mexico avert financial collapse.source
  • February 26 – The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking firm, Barings Bank, collapses after securities broker Nick Leeson loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.source
  • 16 June – McDonald's opens its first restaurant in Romania, inside the Unirea S.A. building in Bucharest.Romaniasource
  • 23 June – The National Parks Autonomous Agency is formed.Spainsource
  • June - the government announced policies that backtracked on earlier commitments to reduce the fiscal deficit and lower import tariffs.Pakistansource
  • 20 August – The Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) was announced to unlock economic value for residential buildings. On the same day, the Executive Condominium scheme was introduced to meet Singaporeans' aspirations for condominium living, which may be too expensive for some.Singaporesource
  • September – Nationwide inflation rate increases to 11.8%, the highest in 45 months, which has caused by rice and sugar crises.Philippinessource
  • October 27 – Former President Roh Tae-woo made a public apology about secret funds scandal.South Koreasource
  • Bangladesh participated in the 1995 Asia Cup held in Sharjah, UAE and lost all 3 of their matches.Bangladeshsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • February 16: Correios de Cabo Verde established after the dissolution of Empresa Pública dos Correios e TelecomunicaçöesCape Verdesource
  • March 1 – Yonhap Television News was official start on broadcasting for 24-hours news channel.South Koreasource
  • 28 March – The start of Muzha Refuse Incineration Plant commercial operation in Wenshan District, Taipei.Taiwansource
  • April 30 – The United States government stops funding the NSFNET, making the Internet a wholly privatized system.source
  • 3 May - The launch of the first Internet network at the Azerbaijan National Academy of SciencesAzerbaijansource
  • 21 June - The A3 motorway extension from Croix de Gasperich to Bonnevoie, in Luxembourg City, opens.Luxembourgsource
  • August 24 – Microsoft releases Windows 95 to the public.source
  • 11 November – The Bilbao Metro begins operation.Spainsource
  • The first SampTA conference for mathematicians, engineers and applied scientists is held in Riga, Latvia.source
  • Pacific Access, a supply chain management and an engineering services company is founded.Hong Kongsource
  • Pakistan invests in the private sector to boost power production.Pakistansource

Science & Discovery

  • January 9 – Valeri Polyakov completes 366 days in space while aboard the Mir space station, breaking a duration record.source
  • January 25 – Norwegian rocket incident: A rocket launched from the space exploration centre at Andøya, Norway, is briefly interpreted by the Russians as an incoming attack.source
  • March 14 – Astronaut Norman Thagard becomes the first American to ride into space aboard a Russian launch vehicle (the Soyuz TM-21), lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.source
  • 14 March – Alexandros Panayi represented Cyprus in Eurovision with the song "Sti fotia". It finished 9th with 79 points.Cyprussource
  • March 22 – Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returns after setting a record for 438 days in outer space.source
  • 26 March – Walt Disney Television's Satellite Facility officially opened, marking Disney's first international centre. The facility broadcast Disney programmes to Southeast Asia.Singaporesource
  • 1 April – Malaysian singer, Siti Nurhaliza won Bintang HMI.Malaysiasource
  • April 5 – The Israeli reconnaissance satellite Ofek-3 is launched.Israelsource
  • June 6 – U.S. astronaut Norman Thagard breaks NASA's space endurance record of 14 days, 1 hour and 16 minutes, aboard the Russian space station Mir.source
  • June 13 – French President Jacques Chirac announces the resumption of nuclear tests in French Polynesia.source
  • June 29 – STS-71: Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian Mir space station for the first time.source
  • 5 October - Seamus Heaney is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.Northern Irelandsource
  • October 6 – Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz announce the discovery of 51 Pegasi b, the first confirmed extrasolar planet orbiting an ordinary main-sequence star.source
  • 19 October – SES launches its fifth satellite, Astra 1E.Luxembourgsource
  • October 24 – A total solar eclipse is visible from Iran, India, Thailand and Southeast Asia.source
  • October 24 – The last total solar eclipse of the century is witnessed mostly in Tawi-Tawi, lasting for more than two minutes.Philippinessource
  • November 1 – The last signal is received from NASA's Pioneer 11 spacecraft.source
  • December 7 – NASA's Galileo probe enters Jupiter's atmosphere.source
  • December 31 – Final Calvin and Hobbes comic published by Bill Watterson.source
  • Chile national football team 1995Chilesource

Health & Medicine

  • 1 January – The display of cigarette packets in advertisements was banned by the Malaysian federal government.Malaysiasource
  • January 4 – Naomi Amir (born 1931), American-born Israeli neurologist.Israelsource
  • April 9 - In a series of gubernatorial elections held across Japan, Yukio Aoshima and Knock Yokoyama become governors of Tokyo and Osaka respectively.Japansource
  • June 14–19 — Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisisRussiasource
  • 24 June – Ren Ci Hospital is officially opened.Singaporesource
  • June 27 – Supreme Court orders permanent cease of operations of jai alai frontons in the country. It has decided with finality that the sport is illegal following opposition from the government.Philippinessource
  • 26 November – The Australian Women's Party is launched in Brisbane, Queensland by a group which includes disenchanted Labor women.Australiasource
  • December 6 – The United States Food and Drug Administration approves Saquinavir, the first protease inhibitor to treat HIV/AIDS. Within 2 years of its approval, annual deaths from AIDS in the United States fall from over 50,000 to approximately 18,000.source
  • Estimated population as of 31 December: 3,706,700.New Zealandsource

Crime & Justice

  • 17 March – Flor Contemplacion, a Filipina domestic worker, was hanged for the murder of fellow worker Delia Maga and her three-year-old son, Nicholas Huang which she committed on 4 May 1991.Singaporesource
  • March 31 – Murder 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.source
  • May 16 – Following 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.source
  • May 1995: North Korean forces fire on a South Korean fishing boat, killing three.North Koreasource
  • June 2 – Waffen-SS Hauptsturmführer Erich Priebke is extradited from Argentina to Italy.source
  • June 6 – The Constitutional Court of South Africa abolishes capital punishment in South Africa in the case of S v Makwanyane and Another.source
  • June 22 – Japanese police rescue 365 hostages from a hijacked All Nippon Airways Flight 857 (Boeing 747-200) at Hakodate airport. The hijacker was armed with a knife and demanded the release of Shoko Asahara.source
  • 13 August – Popular daily morning show host Jaime Garzón is shot and killed by two men on a motorcycle while on his way to work.Colombiasource
  • 24 August – Rape and murder of 14-year-old Yasmin Akhter by members of Bangladesh Police resulted in mass protests in Dinajpur.Bangladeshsource
  • 11 September - Raid on warehouse results in the largest bust of an illegal LSD producing factory in Europe to date.Luxembourgsource
  • September 26 – The trial against former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, who is accused of Mafia connections, begins.source
  • October 3 – Murder 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.source
  • November 16 – A United Nations tribunal charges Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić with genocide during the Bosnian War.source
  • November 16 – Former President Roh Tae-woo was arrested on charges of corruption, illegal financing.South Koreasource
  • December 16 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi scuba divers, under the direction of the United Nations Special Commission, dredge the Tigris near Baghdad. The divers find over 200 prohibited Russian-made missile instruments and components.source
  • Sultan of Pahang: Sultan Ahmad ShahMalaysiasource
  • 1 to 11 August – The 18th World Scout Jamboree was held in Dronten.Netherlandssource

Disasters & Accidents

  • 10 February – The first Antonov An-70 prototype aircraft collided with an Antonov An-72 that was assisting with the An-70 test program over Borodianka Raion, killing all 7 crew members of the An-70.Ukrainesource
  • March 20 – Members of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo carry out the Tokyo subway sarin attack, killing 14 people and leading to over a thousand injured.source
  • March 31 – TAROM Flight 371 from Bucharest to Brussels crashes shortly after takeoff killing all 60 people on board.source
  • April 28 – A gas explosion in a subway construction site caused about 100 deaths in Daegu.South Koreasource
  • May 10 – The 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 1,500 ft to the bottom of the 6,900 ft deep shaft, killing 104.source
  • June 29 – Sampoong Department Store collapse in the Seocho-gu district of Seoul, South Korea, kills 502 and injures 937.source
  • July 11 – A Cubana de Aviación Antonov An-24 crashes into the Caribbean off southeast Cuba killing 44 people.source
  • July 28 - The United Nations Security Council extended sanctions on Libya over its role in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and UTA Flight 772.Libyasource
  • August 14 – Nepali Prime Minister Man Mohan Adhikari along with seven other high-ranking officials survives a helicopter crash.source
  • October 9 – 1995 Palo Verde, Arizona, derailment An Amtrak Sunset Limited train derails through sabotage at a trestle near Palo Verde, Arizona, United States, resulting in one death.source
  • October 28 – A fire in Baku Metro, Azerbaijan, kills 289 passengers, becoming the world's worst subway disaster.source
  • 3 November: A series of explosions occur at the Río Tercero Military Factory in Córdoba, resulting in seven fatalities and over 300 injuries. The blast destroys the factory and causes extensive damage to the surrounding city.Argentinasource
  • 3 December – Cameroon Airlines Flight 3701 crashes, killing 71 people.Cameroonsource
  • 5 December - Azerbaijan Airlines Flight A-56 crashes shortly after takeoff from Nakhchivan Airport, killing 52 out of the 82 passengers and crew on board.Azerbaijansource
  • December 20 – American Airlines Flight 965 (Boeing 757) crashes into a mountain near Buga, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, killing 160 of the 164 on board.source
  • 20 December – American Airlines Flight 965 crashes on route to Cali, killing 155 of the 163 people on board.Colombiasource
  • December 23 – Dabwali fire accident: The Rajiv Marriage Palace catches fire in Haryana, India, killing 442 persons.source
  • December – A bomb blast targeting the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad kills 13.Pakistansource
  • Sudden oak death, the tree disease caused by the plant pathogen Phytophthora ramorum, is first observed, in California, United States.source

Climate & Environment

  • January 17 – The 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.source
  • 16 February – The Government of Bangladesh enacted the Bangladesh Environment Conservation ActBangladeshsource
  • April 5 - May 26: Eruption of the volcano Pico do Fogo,Cape Verdesource
  • May 13 – The 6.6 Mw Western Macedonia earthquake strikes northwestern Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), injuring 25 and causing $450 million in damage.source
  • 13 May – The 6.6 Mw Kozani-Grevena earthquake shook the area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), injuring 25 and causing $450 million in damage.Greecesource
  • May 28 – The 7.0 Mw Neftegorsk earthquake strikes northern Sakhalin Island in Russia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 1,967 people dead and 750 injured.source
  • 3 July – The Pacific Ocean Games ends in Cali. The 1995 event was the first and last Pacific Ocean Games.Colombiasource
  • July 26 – Tropical Storm Janis hit near Seoul, South Korea. The storm lasted until the 28th.South Koreasource
  • August 7 – The Chilean government declares a state of emergency in the southern half of the country in response to an event of intense cold, wind, rain and snowfall known as the White Earthquake.source
  • October 26 – An avalanche hits the village Flateyri in Iceland, killing 20 people, the second of two deadly avalanches to occur in Iceland during this calendar year.source
  • November 2–3 – The most destructive of the series of tropical cyclones, Super Typhoon Angela (Rosing) rampages across southern Luzon with strong winds; devastates half of the country's regions including Bicol Region, the hardest hit, as well as the mainland part of the Southern Tagalog Region, Metro Manila, and Bataan. Final data reports 936 deaths and ₱10.829-billion worth of damages. —"Philippines -Typhoon Angela Information Report No. 4" ReliefWeb. November 14, 1995.Philippinessource
  • November 7 – Typhoon 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 130 mph and gusts of 180 mph.source
  • November 22 – The 7.3 Mw 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.source
  • December 30 – The lowest ever United Kingdom temperature of -27.2 °C is recorded at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands. This equals the record set at Braemar, Aberdeenshire in 1895 and 1982.source
  • Weather Underground of Hong Kong website is established for weather and climate information.Hong Kongsource
  • The 7.3 Mw Gulf of Aqaba earthquake shakes Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing eight and injuring 30, and generating a non-destructive tsunami.Jordansource

Culture & Society

  • January 1 – Final The Far Side comic by Gary Larson is published.source
  • January 10–15 – The 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.source
  • 1995 Lunar New Year Cup, an exhibition association football tournament takes place 31 January – 4 February.Hong Kongsource
  • April 28–29, 1995:Pyongyang International Sports and Culture Festival for Peace(Aired in august 4)North Koreasource
  • 12 May – Miss Universe 1995, the 44th Miss Universe pageant, was held at the Windhoek Country Club Resort in Windhoek.Namibiasource
  • May 25 – June 24 – The 1995 Rugby World Cup takes place in South Africa and is won by the host nation after beating New Zealand in the final; this was the Springboks tournament debut after World Rugby lifted their ban following the end of apartheid.source
  • June 16 – The IOC selects Salt Lake City to host the 2002 Winter Olympics.source
  • July 18: Cesária Évora's album Cesária releasedCape Verdesource
  • 14th - Jerry John Rawlings and the first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings attend CBI conference in London.Ghanasource
  • August – The International Rugby Football Board declares that rugby union players may be professional.source
  • September 4–15 – The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing with over 4,750 delegates from 181 countries in attendance.source
  • November 12 – The Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme, a programme to implement the Harare Declaration, is announced by the Commonwealth Heads of Government.source
  • December 3 – Strikes paralyze France's public sector.source
  • 9 December–17 December – The Southeast Asian Games are held in Chiang Mai.Thailandsource
  • The Nazi Boni University opens as the Polytechnic University of Bobo-Dioulasso.Burkina Fasosource
  • 18 to 23 July – The 1995 World Fencing Championships were held in The Hague.Netherlandssource

Births

Deaths

  • January 1 – Fred West, 53, English serial killer, suicide.source
  • January 2 – Siad Barre, 84–85, Somalian military leader and statesman, 3rd President of Somalia, heart attack.source
  • March 31 – Selena, 23, American singer, murdered.source
  • April 19 – Oklahoma 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.source
  • May 8 – Teresa Teng, 42, Taiwanese singer, asthma.source
  • May 24 – Harold Wilson, 79, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Alzheimer's disease and colorectal cancer.source
  • June 14 – Rory Gallagher, 47, Irish blues and rock guitarist, liver failure.source
  • July 9 – Sri Lankan Civil War: 125 civilians are killed in Navaly as result of bombing by the Sri Lanka Air Force.source
  • July 17 – Juan Manuel Fangio, 84, Argentine racing driver.source
  • July 26 – George W. Romney, 88, American politician and 43rd Governor of Michigan and father of Mitt Romney, heart attack.source
  • August 9 – Jerry Garcia, 53, American guitarist (The Grateful Dead), heart attack.source
  • August 28 – Earl W. Bascom, 89, American visual artist, rodeo performer, inventor, and actor, heart failure.source
  • 8 September – Safa Khulusi, Iraqi writer and historian (b.1917)Iraqsource
  • October 9 – Alec Douglas-Home, 92, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.source
  • 14 October – Helen Vlachos, journalist (born 1911)Greecesource
  • November 4 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.source
  • Ephraim Amu, Ghanaian composer, musicologist and teacher (born 1899)Ghanasource
  • Dariya Nikitichna Dobroczajeva, botanist (1 December)Ukrainesource