1994

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Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century – 20th century – 21st century
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s – 1990s – 2000s 2010s 2020s
Years:	1991 1992 1993 – 1994 – 1995 1996 1997

1994 by topic:
Subject
Archaeology Architecture Art Aviation Awards Comics Film Home video Literature ( Poetry) Meteorology Music ( Country, Heavy metal) Rail transport Radio Science Spaceflight Sports Television Video gaming
By country
Australia Canada People's Republic of China Ecuador France Germany Greece India Ireland Israel Italy Japan Luxembourg Malaysia Mexico New Zealand Norway Pakistan Philippines Russia Singapore South Africa United Kingdom United States Zimbabwe
Leaders
Sovereign states State leaders Religious leaders Law
Birth and death categories
Births Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments Disestablishments
Works and introductions categories
Works Introductions

1994 in other calendars
Gregorian calendar	1994 MCMXCIV
Ab urbe condita	2747
Armenian calendar	1443 ԹՎ ՌՆԽԳ
Assyrian calendar	6744
Bahá'í calendar	150–151
Bengali calendar	1401
Berber calendar	2944
British Regnal year	42 Eliz. 2 – 43 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2538
Burmese calendar	1356
Byzantine calendar	7502–7503
Chinese calendar	癸酉年十一月二十日 (4630/4690-11-20) — to — 甲戌年十一月廿九日 (4631/4691-11-29)
Coptic calendar	1710–1711
Ethiopian calendar	1986–1987
Hebrew calendar	5754–5755
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2050–2051
- Shaka Samvat	1916–1917
- Kali Yuga	5095–5096
Holocene calendar	11994
Igbo calendar
- Ǹrí Ìgbò	994–995
Iranian calendar	1372–1373
Islamic calendar	1414–1415
Japanese calendar	Heisei 6 (平成6年)
Juche calendar	83
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4327
Minguo calendar	ROC 83 民國83年
Thai solar calendar	2537
Unix time	757382400–788918399

1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year that started on a Saturday. In the Gregorian calendar, it was the 1994th year of the Common Era, or of Anno Domini; the 994th year of the 2nd millennium; the 94th year of the 20th century; and the 5th of the 1990s. The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations.

Events

January

January 1
- The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is established.
- The Zapatista Army of National Liberation begins their war in Chiapas, Mexico.
January 6 – In Detroit, Michigan, Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the right leg by an assailant, under orders from figure skating rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband.
January 8 – Soyuz TM-18: Valeri Polyakov begins his 437.7 day orbit, eventually setting the world record for days spent in orbit.
January 11
- The Irish government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the Provisional Irish Republican Army and its political arm Sinn Féin.
- The Superhighway Summit is held at UCLA's Royce Hall. It is the first conference to discuss the growing information superhighway and is presided over by U.S. Vice President Al Gore.
January 14 – U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Kremlin accords, which stop the preprogrammed aiming of nuclear missiles toward each country's targets, and also provide for the dismantling of the nuclear arsenal in Ukraine.
January 15 – The SS American Star breaks tow in the Atlantic Ocean and is beached at Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands a few days later.
January 17 – The 1994 Northridge earthquake, magnitude 6.7, hits the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles at 4:31 a.m., killing 72 and leaving 26,029 homeless.
January 19 – Record cold temperatures hit the eastern United States. The coldest temperature ever measured in Indiana state history, −36°F (−38°C), is recorded in New Whiteland, Indiana.
January 20 – In South Carolina, Shannon Faulkner becomes the first female cadet to attend The Citadel, but soon drops out.
January 21 – Lorena Bobbitt is found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of mutilating her husband John.
January 25 – U.S. President Bill Clinton delivers his first State of the Union address, calling for health care reform, a ban on assault weapons, and welfare reform.
January 26 – A man fires 2 blank shots at Charles, Prince of Wales in Sydney, Australia.

February

William Perry

February 1 – In Portland, Oregon, Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly pleads guilty for his role in attacking figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. He accepts a plea bargain, admitting to racketeering charges in exchange for testimony against Harding.
February 3 – William J. Perry is sworn in as the United States Secretary of Defense.
February 4 – The Federal Open Market Committee raises the Fed Funds target rate for the first time since May 1989. The rate is raised by 25 basis points to 3¼ percent .
February 5 – Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
February 6 – Markale massacres: A Bosnian Serb Army mortar shell kills 68 civilians and wounds about 200 in a Sarajevo marketplace.
February 9 – The Vance-Owen Peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina is announced.
February 12
- Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream" is stolen in Oslo (and is recovered on May 7).
- The 1994 Winter Olympics begin in Lillehammer.
February 22 – Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged with spying for the Soviet Union by the United States Department of Justice. Ames is later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment; his wife receives 5 years in prison.
February 24 – In Gloucester, local police begin excavations at 25 Cromwell Street, the home of Fred West, a suspect in multiple murders. On February 28, he and his wife are arrested.
February 25 – Israeli Kahanist Baruch Goldstein opens fire inside the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank; he kills 29 Muslims before worshippers beat him to death.
February 27 – Australian Federal Sports & Environment Minister Ros Kelly resigns over "The Sports Rorts Affair", where it was alleged that she apportioned money for community sporting projects in a pork barreling fashion.
February 28 – 4 United States F-16s shoot down 4 Serbian J-21s over Bosnia and Herzegovina for violation of the Operation Deny Flight and its no-fly zone.

March

Mary Ellen Withrow

March 1
- A lone terrorist kills Ari Halberstam during an attack on 14 Jewish students on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City.
- South Africa cedes Walvis Bay to Namibia.
- Mary Ellen Withrow begins her term of office as Treasurer of the United States, serving under President Bill Clinton.
March 6 – A referendum in Moldova results in the electorate voting against possible reunification with Romania.
March 7 – Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that parodies of an original work are generally covered by the doctrine of fair use.
March 12
- A photo by Marmaduke Wetherell, previously touted as 'proof' of the Loch Ness monster, is confirmed to be a hoax.
- The Church of England ordains its first female priests.
March 14 – Apple Computer, Inc. releases the first Macintosh computers to use the new PowerPC Microprocessors. This is considered to be a major leap in personal computer, as well as Macintosh history.
March 15 – U.S. troops are withdrawn from Somalia.
March 16 – In Portland, Oregon, Tonya Harding pleads guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for trying to cover-up an attack on figure skating rival Nancy Kerrigan. She is fined $100,000 and banned from the sport.
March 20 – Italian journalist Ilaria Alpi and TV cameraman Miran Hrovatin are assassinated in Somalia.
March 21 – The 66th Academy Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. Steven Spielberg's Holocaust drama, Schindler's List, wins 7 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director (Spielberg).
March 23 – Green Ramp disaster: Two military aircraft collide over Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina causing 24 fatalities.
March 27
- TV tycoon Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing coalition wins the Italian general election.
- The biggest tornado outbreak in 1994 occurs in the southeastern United States; 1 tornado hits a Goshen United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Alabama, killing 22 people.
- The Eurofighter takes its first flight in Manching, Germany.
March 28 – Shell House Massacre: Inkatha Freedom Party and ANC supporters battle in central Johannesburg South Africa.
March 31 – The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull (see Human evolution).

April

April 2 – The National Convention of New Sudan of the SPLA/M opens in Chukudum
April 6 – Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira die when a missile shoots down their jet near Kigali, Rwanda. This is taken as a pretext to begin the Rwandan Genocide.
April 7
- The Rwandan Genocide begins in Kigali, Rwanda.
- FedEx Flight 705 experiences an attempted suicidal hiajcking. The crew manages to subdue the attacker and land at the airport.
April 8
- Michelangelo's Universal Judgement is reopened to the public after 10 years of restorations.
- Kurt Cobain, songwriter and frontman for the band Nirvana, is found dead at his Lake Washington home, apparently of a single self-inflicted gunshot wound.
April 16 – Voters in Finland decide to join the European Union in a referendum.
April 19 – A Los Angeles jury awards $3.8 million to Rodney King for violation of his civil rights.
April 20 – Paul Touvier is found guilty of ordering the execution of 7 Jews when he served in the Vichy France Milice.
April 21 – The Red Cross estimates that hundreds of thousands of Tutsi have been killed in Rwanda.
April 25
- Sultan Azlan Muhibbudin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Yusuff Izzudin Shah Ghafarullahu-lahu ends his term as the 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- The largest high school arson ever in the United States is started at Burnsville High School, in Burnsville, Minnesota, resulting in over 15 million dollars in damages. The same arsonist also goes on to set arsons at Edina High School and Minnetonka High School.
April 26
- Tuanku Jaafar ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan, becomes the 10th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- China Airlines Flight 140, an Airbus A300, crashes while landing at Nagoya, Japan, killing 264 people.
April 27 – South Africa holds its first fully multiracial elections, marking the final end of apartheid.
April 29 – Commodore International declares bankruptcy.
April 30 – Formula One driver Roland Ratzenberger is killed while qualifying for the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

May

May 1 – Three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy.
May 5 – The Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan was signed, effectively freezing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
May 6 – The Channel Tunnel, which took 15,000 workers over 7 years to complete, opens between England and France, enabling passengers to travel between the 2 countries in 35 minutes.
May 10
- Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.
- Illinois executes serial killer John Wayne Gacy by lethal injection for the murder of 33 young men and boys.
- An annular eclipse of the sun is visible across much of North America.
May 12 – Ice hockey becomes Canada's official winter sport.
May 17 – Malawi holds its first multiparty elections.
May 20 – After a funeral in Cluny Parish Church, Edinburgh attended by 900 people and after which 3,000 people lined the streets, John Smith is buried in a private family funeral on the island of Iona, at the sacred burial ground of Reilig Odhráin, which contains the graves of several Scottish kings as well as monarchs of Ireland, Norway and France.
May 21 – Italian former minister and Christian Democrat leader Giulio Andreotti is accused of Mafia allegiance by the court of Palermo.
May 22 – Pope John Paul II issues the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis from the Vatican, expounding the Catholic Church's position requiring "the reservation of priestly ordination to men alone."

June

June 1 – Republic of South Africa rejoins the British Commonwealth after the first democratic election.
June 6– June 8 – Ceasefire negotiations for the Yugoslav War begin in Geneva; they agree to a 1-month cessation of hostilities (which does not last more than a few days).
June 12 – Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are murdered outside the Simpson home in Los Angeles, California. O.J. Simpson is later acquitted of the killings, but is held liable in a civil suit.
June 14 – Hacker Kevin Poulsen pleads guilty to 7 counts of mail fraud, wire and computer fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice.
June 14 – The New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup, in 7 Games over the Vancouver Canucks. It was New York's first Stanley Cup since 1940.
June 15 – Israel and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations.
June 17 – NFL star O.J. Simpson and his friend Al Cowlings flee from police in his white Ford Bronco. The low-speed chase ends at Simpson's Brentwood, Los Angeles, California mansion, where he surrenders.
June 20 – Dean Mellberg, an ex- U.S. Air Force member, entered the hospital at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, shot and killed five people, and wounded nineteen.
June 23 – The International Olympic Committee celebrates their first centennial.
June 24 – U.S. Air Force pilot Bud Holland crashes a B-52 at Fairchild Air Force Base, as a result of pilot error. It's unclear if the event of four days previous (above) was a contributing factor.
June 26 – Microsoft announces it will no longer sell or support the MS-DOS operating system, which had been its mainstay since 1980.
June 28 – Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult execute the first sarin gas attack at Matsumoto, Japan, killing 8 and injuring 200.
June 30 – An Airbus A330 crashes during a test flight near Toulouse, France, where Airbus is based, killing the seven-person crew. The test was meant to simulate an engine failure at low speed with maximum angle of climb.

July

Brown spots mark impact sites of the Shoemaker-Levy Comet on Jupiter's southern hemisphere.

July 2 – Colombian footballer Andrés Escobar, 27, is shot dead in Medellín. His murder is commonly attributed as retaliation for the own goal Escobar scored in the 1994 FIFA World Cup against the United States.
July 6 – Fourteen firefighters die in the South Canyon wildfire on Storm King Mountain in Colorado. The event inspires the 1999 book Fire on the Mountain.
July 7 – 1994 civil war in Yemen: Aden is occupied by troops from North Yemen.
July 15– July 21 – The planet Jupiter is hit by 21 large fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 over the course of 6 days.
July 17 – Brazil wins the 1994 FIFA World Cup, defeating Italy by 3–2 in penalties (full-time 0–0).
July 18 – In Buenos Aires, a terrorist attack destroys a building housing several Jewish organizations, killing 85 and injuring many more (see AMIA Bombing).
July 19 – Four 26-pound ceiling tiles fall from the roof of the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington, just hours before a scheduled Seattle Mariners game.
July 20 – Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's Fragment Q1 hits Jupiter.
July 25 – Israel and Jordan sign the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace, which formally ends the state of war that has existed between the nations since 1948.

August

August 1
- Fire destroys the Norwich Central Library in the United Kingdom, including most of its historical records.
- The University of London founds the School of Advanced Study, a group of postgraduate research institutes.
August 5 – Groups of protesters spread from Havana, Cuba's Castillo de la Punta ("Point Castle"), creating the first protests against Fidel Castro's government since 1959.
August 12
- The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike is called, ending the 1994 MLB Season
- Woodstock '94 begins in Saugerties, New York. It is the 25-year anniversary of Woodstock in 1969.
August 18 – Irish mobster Martin Cahill is assassinated in Dublin.
August 20 – In Honolulu, Hawaii, during a circus international performance, an elephant named Tyke crushes her trainer Allen Campbell to death before hundreds of horrified spectators, at the Neal Blaisdell Arena.
August 23 – Eugene Bullard is posthumously commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, 33 years after his death, and 77 years to the day after his rejection for U.S. military service in 1917.
August 31
- The Provisional Irish Republican Army announces a "complete cessation of military operations."
- The Russian army leaves Estonia.

September

September 3 – Cold War: Russia and the People's Republic of China agree to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other.
September 4 – Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan opens. All international services are transferred from Itami to Kansai.
September 5 – New South Wales State MP for Cabramatta John Newman is shot outside his home, in Australia's first political assassination since 1977.
September 8 – USAir Flight 427, a Boeing 737 with 132 people on board, crashes on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport; there are no survivors.
September 10 – Wollemia nobilis (the 'Wollemi Pine'), previously known only from fossils, is discovered living in remote rainforest gorges in the Wollemi National Park of New South Wales by canyoner David Noble, 150 km from Australia's largest city.
September 13 – President Bill Clinton signs the Assault Weapons Ban, which bans the manufacture of new weapons with certain features for a period of 10 years.
September 17 – Heather Whitestone becomes the first hearing impaired contestant to win the Miss America entitlement. Whitestone becomes Miss America 1995.
September 19 – American troops stage a bloodless invasion of Haiti in order to restore the legitimate elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to power.
September 28 – The car ferry MS Estonia sinks in the Baltic Sea, killing 852 people.
September 28 – Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, Mexican politician, is assassinated on orders of Raul Salinas de Gortari.
September–October – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq threatens to stop cooperating with UNSCOM inspectors and begins to once again deploy troops near its border with Kuwait. In response, the U.S. begins to deploy troops to Kuwait.

October

October 1
- In Slovakia, populist leader Vladimir Meciar wins the general election.
- Palau gains independence from the United Nations Trusteeship Council
October 4 – In Switzerland, 23 members of the Order of the Solar Temple cult are found dead, a day after 25 of their fellow cultists are similarly discovered in Morin Heights, Quebec.
October 5 – UNESCO inaugurates World Teachers' Day to celebrate and commemorate the signing of the Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers on October 5, 1966.
October 8 – Iraq disarmament crisis: The President of the United Nations Security Council says that Iraq must withdraw its troops from the Kuwait border, and immediately cooperate with weapons inspectors.
October 12 – NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus (the spacecraft presumably burned up in the atmosphere either October 13 or October 14).
October 15
- After 3 years of U.S. exile, Haiti's president Aristide returns to his country.
- Iraq disarmament crisis: Following threats by the U.N. Security Council and the U.S., Iraq withdraws troops from its border with Kuwait.
October 29 – Francisco Martin Duran fires over 2 dozen shots at the White House; he is later convicted of trying to kill President Bill Clinton.
October 31
- American Eagle Flight 4184 ATR 72 crashes in Roselawn, Indiana, after circling in icy weather, killing 64 passengers.
- The Duke of Edinburgh attends a ceremony in Israel, where his late mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg (Princess Andrew of Greece), is honoured as " Righteous among the Nations" for sheltering Jewish families from the Nazis in Athens, during World War II.

November

November 3
- A French magazine publishes photo of President François Mitterrand's secret daughter.
- The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 is enacted in the UK. The whole of Part V, which covers collective trespass and nuisance on land, includes sections against raves, including the "succession of repetitive beats" definition.
November 4
- San Francisco: The first conference devoted entirely to the subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web opens. Featured speakers include Marc Andreessen of Netscape, Mark Graham of Pandora Systems, and Ken McCarthy of E-Media.
- Sydney's third runway opens, ensuring protests about noise levels.
November 5
- A letter by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, announcing that he has Alzheimer's disease, is released.
- George Foreman wins the WBA and IBF World Heavyweight Championships by KO'ing Michael Moorer becoming the oldest heavyweight champion in history.
- Johan Heyns, an influential Afrikaner theologian and critic of apartheid, is assassinated.
November 6 – A flood in Piedmont, Italy, kills dozens of people.
November 7 – WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provides the world's first internet radio broadcast.
November 8 – Georgia Representative Newt Gingrich leads the United States Republican Party in taking control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in midterm congressional elections, the first time in 40 years the Republicans secure control of both houses of Congress. George W. Bush is elected Governor of Texas.
November 13
- Voters in Sweden decide to join the European Union in a referendum.
- The first passengers travel through the Channel Tunnel.
- Michael Schumacher wins his first Formula One World Championship in controversial circumstances at the Australian Grand Prix.
November 16 – A Federal judge issues a temporary restraining order, prohibiting the State of California from implementing Proposition 187, that would have denied most public services to illegal aliens.
November 19 – Malawi recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
November 20 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol.
November 28 – Voters in Norway decide not to join the European Union in a referendum.
November 30 – The National Football League announces that the Jacksonville Jaguars will become the league's 30th franchise.

December

December 1 – Ernesto Zedillo takes office as President of Mexico.
December 2 – The Australian government agrees to pay reparations to indigenous Australians who were displaced during the nuclear tests at Maralinga in the 1950s and 1960s.
December 3 – The Sony's Playstation is released in Japan.
December 11
- Russian president Boris Yeltsin orders troops into Chechnya.
- A small bomb explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman. The bombing was a field test done by Ramzi Yousef to test explosives that would have been used in Project Bojinka.
December 13
- The trial of former President Mengistu begins in Ethiopia.
- Fred West, 53, a builder living in Gloucester, is remanded in custody, charged with murdering 12 people (including two of his own daughters) whose bodies are mostly found buried at his house in Cromwell Street. His wife Rose West, 41, is charged with 10 murders. Police believe that the murders took place between 1967 and 1987, and suspect that they may have killed up to 30 people.
December 14
- A Learjet piloted by Richard Anderson and Brad Sexton misses an elementary school and crashes into an apartment complex in Fresno, California, killing both pilots and injuring several apartment residents.
- A runaway Santa Fe freight train rear ends a Union Pacific train at the bottom of Cajon Pass, California.
- British Home Secretary Michael Howard announces that Myra Hindley will serve a whole life tariff for the Moors Murders of the 1960s.
- Construction commences on the Three Gorges Dam, at Sandouping, Yiling, Hubei, China.
December 15 – The first version of web browser Netscape Navigator is released.
December 19
- A planned exchange rate correction of the Mexican Peso to the US Dollar, becomes a massive financial meltdown in Mexico, unleashing the ' Tequila' effect on global financial markets. This prompts a US$ 50 billion 'bailout' by the Clinton Administration.
- The Whitewater scandal investigation begins in Washington, DC.
- Civil unions between homosexuals are legalized in Sweden.
December 26 – French anti-terrorist police storm a hijacked jet at Marseille and kill 4 Islamist terrorists.
December 31 is skipped by the Phoenix Islands to switch from the UTC−11 time zone to UTC+13, and by the Line Islands to switch from UTC−10 to UTC+14. The latter becomes the earliest time zone in the world, one full day ahead of Hawaii.

Date unknown

Tropical Storm Alberto and Hurricane Gordon cause very damaging floods, intense winds and extensive problems directly over the Southeastern United States and the Caribbean Islands. The death tolls are unusually severe and damages are extreme in both tropical storms.

Pyroclastic flows – clouds of scalding gas, pumice, and ash – rapidly descend an erupting Mount Merapi volcano in central Java, causing sixty deaths.