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Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar).

The year 1996 was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. It was also the Chinese New Year of the Rat, a year traditionally feared for natural disasters.

• January 5 - Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash is killed by an Israeli-planted booby-trapped cell phone.
• January 7 - One of the worst blizzards in American history hits the eastern states, killing more than 100 people.
• January 8 - A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital Kinshasa - 350 dead.
• January 9 - Art forger Eric Hebborn is assassinated in Rome, Italy.

Yasser Arafat

• January 14 - Jorge Sampaio is elected president of Portugal.
• January 19 - North Cape Oil Spill occurs as an engine fire forces the tugboat "Scandia" ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The North Cape Barge is pulled along with it and leaks 820,000 gallons of home heating oil.
• January 20 - Yasser Arafat is re-elected president of the Palestinian Authority.
• January 22 - Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece, resigns due to health problems; a new government forms under Costas Simitis.
• January 23 - The first version of the Java programming language is released.
• January 24 - Polish Premier Jozef Oleksy resigns amid charges that he spied for Moscow.
• January 26 - Whitewater scandal: U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton testifies before a grand jury.
• January 26 - U.S. millionaire John Dupont shoots wrestler David Schultz.
• January 27 - Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane, in a military coup.
• January 28 - The Dallas Cowboys become the first NFL franchise to win 3 Super Bowls in a span of 4 seasons, as they defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-17 in Super Bowl XXX at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. It is the Cowboys 5th Super Bowl championship.
• January 29 - President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French nuclear testing.
• January 29 - Fire destroys La Fenice, Venice's opera house.
• January 29 - Imia-Kardak crisis: A Greek flag is hoisted on a small rocky island named Imia (Greek) / Kardak (Turkish).
• January 30 - Irish National Liberation Army leader Gino Gallagher is killed in an internal feud, while in line for his unemployment benefits.
• January 30-February 5 - Sarah Balabagan is caned in the United Arab Emirates.
• January 31 - An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.

• February 8 - An IRA ceasefire ends with a 1-ton bomb in London's Canary Wharf District, killing 2 and causing over 1 billion pounds worth of damage.
• February 9 - Discovery of the element Ununbium
• February 10 - Chess computer "Deep Blue" defeats world chess champion Garry Kasparov for the first time.
• February 15 - In south-west Wales, the Sea Empress oil tanker runs aground, spilling 73,000 tonnes of crude oil, killing many birds.
• February 15 - The U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece comes under mortar fire.
• February 15 - A Long March 3 at the Xichang launch site in China crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing 500.
• February 17 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Garry Kasparov beats "Deep Blue" in a second chess match.

The Long March rocket carrying the Intelsat 708 satellite begins to deviate from its course immediately after launch in these images from the report of the Cox Commission, which investigated the disaster for the U.S. Congress.

• February 18 - An IRA briefcase bomb in a bus kills the bomber and injures 9 in the West End of London.
• February 29 - In Lumberton, North Carolina, Daniel Green is convicted of the murder of James Jordan, the father of basketball star Michael Jordan.

• March 1 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi forces refuse UNSCOM inspection teams access to 5 sites designated for inspection. The teams enter the sites only after delays of up to 17 hours.
• March 2 - John Howard is elected Prime Minister of Australia in a landslide, over the Labor Party's Paul Keating.
• March 2 - Ranabima Royal College, Sri Lanka, is established.
• March 9 - Jorge Sampaio is the new Portuguese president.
• March 13 - The Dunblane Massacre: Unemployed former shopkeeper Thomas Hamilton walks into the Dunblane Primary School in Scotland and opens fire, killing 16 students and 1 teacher before fatally shooting himself.
• March 17 - Sri Lanka wins the Cricket World Cup by storming to a famous victory against the tournament favourite Australia.
• March 19 - Sarajevo becomes a united city again when Bosniak authorities take control of the last district held by Serbs.
• March 20 - In Los Angeles, California, Lyle and Erik Menendez are found guilty of first-degree murder for the shotgun killing of their parents.
• March 20 - The British Government announces that Bovine spongiform encephalopathy has been likely transmitted to people.
• March 23 - The Republic of China on Taiwan holds its first direct elections for president; Lee Teng-hui is re-elected.
• March 25 - An 81-day long standoff between antigovernment Freemen in Jordan, Montana and federal officers begins.
• March 26 - The International Monetary Fund approves a $10.2 billion loan to Russia for economic reform.
• March 28 - Fire breaks out at the Pasar Anyar shopping centre in Bogor, West Java. The first death toll estimate is 78 until rescuers notice that 68 of them are mannequins.
• March 28 - Three British soldiers are found guilty of the manslaughter of Danish tour guide Louise Jensen in Cyprus. Allan Ford, Justin Fowler and Geoffrey Pernell receive life sentences for their crime, which was committed in September 1994.
• March 30 - The Jeff Kennett government is re-elected in Victoria with a 30 seat majority.

• April 1 - The Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia is created.
• April 2 - U.S. Mafioso John Gotti is found guilty of murdering Paul Castellano.
• April 3 - A plane carrying United States Commerce Secretary Ron Brown crashes near Dubrovnik, Croatia.
• April 3 - Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski is arrested at his Montana cabin.
• April 3 - A Lunar eclipse occurs.
• April 6 - Major League Soccer kicks off in front of an overflow crowd of 31,683 packed Spartan Stadium to witness the historic first game. San Jose Clash forward Eric Wynalda scored the league's first goal in a 1-0 victory over D. C. United.
• April 12 - Jessica Dubroff, aged 7, is killed in a crash near Cheyenne, Wyoming while attempting to set a record as the youngest person to pilot an airplane across the United States.
• April 16 - The NBA's 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls, with Michael Jordan's lead, go on to set a new NBA record for the most wins in a season, achieving their 70th win.
• April 18 - Qana Massacre: Over 100 Lebanese civilians are killed after Israel shells the UN compound in Qana.
• April 28 - Port Arthur massacre: Martin Bryant kills 35 people at the Port Arthur, Tasmania tourist site, Australia.

• Iraq disarmament crisis: UNSCOM supervises the destruction of Al-Hakam, Iraq's main production facility of biological warfare agents.
• May 8 - dedication of the Keck 2 telescope
• May 10 - A sudden storm engulfs Mount Everest with several climbing teams high on the mountain, leaving 8 dead. By the end of the month, at least 4 other climbers die in the worst season of fatalities on the mountain to date.
• May 11 - After takeoff from Miami, Florida, a fire started by improperly-handled oxygen canisters in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 on board.
• May 13 - Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600.
• May 20 - Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules (Romer v. Evans) against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of homosexuals.
• May 21 - The MV Bukoba sinks in Tanzanian waters in Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1,000 in one of Africa's worst maritime disasters.
• May 21 - The Trappist Martyrs of Atlas are executed.
• May 23 - Swede Göran Kropp reaches the Mount Everest summit alone without oxygen, after having bicycled there from Sweden.
• May 27 - First Chechnya War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire in the war.
• May 31 - FIFA decides to give the FIFA World Cup 2002, the first World Cup in Asia, to Japan and South Korea, becoming the first World Cup with co-host countries in the history of the event.

• Iraq disarmament crisis: As Iraq continues to refuse inspectors access to a number of sites, the U.S. fails in its attempt to build support for military action against Iraq in the UN Security Council.
• June 7 - An IRA gang murders Detective Garda Jerry McCabe during a botched armed robbery in Adare, County Limerick.
• June 8 - Steffi Graf defeats Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the longest ever women's final at the French Open to win her 19th Grand Slam title.
• June 10 - Peace talks begin in Northern Ireland without Sinn Féin.
• June 10 - The Colorado Avalanche win their first Stanley Cup in their first season based out of Denver, Colorado, defeating the Florida Panthers 4 games to none. Avalanche captain Joe Sakic wins the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
• June 12 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a panel of federal judges blocks a law against indecency on the internet. The panel says that the 1996 Communications Decency Act would infringe upon the free speech rights of adults.
• June 13 - An 81-day standoff between the Montana Freemen and FBI agents ends with their surrender in Montana.
• June 15 - In Manchester, UK, a massive IRA bomb injures over 200 people and devastates a large part of the city centre.
• June 16 - The Chicago Bulls win their 4th NBA Championship by defeating the Seattle Supersonics in the best-of-7 series 4 games to 2.
• June 23 - The Nintendo 64 video game system is released in Japan.
• June 25 - The Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia kills 19 U.S. servicemen.
• June 26 - Journalist Veronica Guerin is shot and killed in her car just outside Dublin.
• June 29 - The Prince's Trust concert is held in Hyde Park, London, and is attended by 150,000 people. The Who headlines the event in their first performance since 1989.
• June 30 - Costas Simitis is elected President of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Greece.
• June 30 - Germany beats the Czech Republic 2-1 with a Golden goal to win Euro 96.

• Iraq disarmament crisis: U.N. Inspector Scott Ritter attempts to conduct surprise inspections on the Republican Guard facility at the airport, but is blocked by Iraqi officials.
• The Prague Manifesto declares the principles of the Esperanto movement.
• July 1 - The Northern Territory in Australia legalises voluntary euthanasia.
• July 5 - Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell, is born at the Roslin Institute in Midlothian, Scotland.
• July 8 - Martina Hingis becomes the youngest person in history (age 15 years and 282 days) to win at Wimbledon in the Ladies' Doubles event.
• July 17 - Paris-bound TWA Flight 800 (Boeing 747) explodes off the coast of Long Island, New York, killing all 230 on board.
• July 18 - Howard Hughes is sentenced to life imprisonment at Chester Crown Court for the rape and murder of 7-year-old Sophie Hook at Llandudno 12 months previously. The trial judge recommends that Hughes, 31, should never be released.
• July 19 - The 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States, is opened by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
• July 21 - Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River in Quebec, in one of Canada's most costly natural disasters.
• July 27 - The Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics kills 1 and injures 111.
• July 29 - The child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act (1996) is struck down as too broad by a U.S. federal court.

The electron microscope revealed chain structures in meteorite fragment ALH84001

• August 1 - Sarah Balabagan returns to the Philippines.
• August 4 - The 1996 Summer Olympics conclude.
• August 6 - NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms.
• August 6 - The Australian census is conducted.
• August 7 - Heavy rains kill more than 80 campers near Huesca, Spain.
• August 11 - The British rock band Oasis plays the biggest free-standing concert in UK history at Knebworth, Hertfordshire.
• August 13 - Data sent back by the Galileo space probe indicates there may be water on one of Jupiter's moons.
• August 15 - Bob Dole is nominated for President, and Jack Kemp for Vice President, at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, California.
• August 23 - Osama bin Laden writes "The Declaration of Jihad on the Americans Occupying the Country of the Two Sacred Places," his first open call for war.
• August 28 - Their Royal Highnesses, the Prince and Princess of Wales, are formally divorced at the High Court of Justice in London. Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales is restyled Diana, Princess of Wales.
• August 29 - U.S. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore are renominated at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
• August 31 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi forces launch an offensive into the northern No-Fly Zone and capture Arbil.
• August 31 - The Big 12 Conference is inaugurated with a football game between Kansas State University and Texas Tech University in Manhattan, Kansas.

• September 1 - The Fitzroy Football Club (established 1883) plays its last game ever in the Australian Football League, against Fremantle at Subiaco Oval. The following season the club merges with the Brisbane Bears, ending a long history of the club in the VFL/AFL.
• September 2 - A permanent peace agreement is signed at the Malacañang Palace between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front.
• September 3 - The U.S. launches Operation Desert Strike against Iraq in reaction to the attack on Arbil.
• September 4 - War on Drugs: The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia attack a military base in Guaviare, Colombia, starting 3 weeks of guerrilla warfare that will claim the lives of at least 130 Colombians.
• September 7 - Rap legend Tupac Shakur is shot in Las Vegas, Nevada following the Mike Tyson bout; he died 6 days later on September 13.
• September 19 - The scoreboard at Buffalo's US$127.5 million dollar HSBC Arena falls to the ice just hours before a National Hockey League game; no one is injured.
• September 22 - The Panhellenic Socialist Movement under the leadership of Costas Simitis succeeds in the 1996 Greek legislative election.
• September 24 - U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.
• September 25 - The last of the Magdalen Asylums is closed in Ireland.
• September 27 - In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city of Kabul, after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.

• October 2 - The Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments are signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
• October 2 - The former prime minister of Bulgaria, Andrei Lukanov, is assassinated.
• October 14 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 40.62 to close at 6,010.00, the Dow's first close above 6,000.
• October 23 - The O.J. Simpson civil trial begins in Santa Monica, California.
• October 29 - The New York Yankees defeat the Atlanta Braves in 6 games to win their 23rd World Series title. John Wetteland is named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the series.
• October 30 - Fighting erupts when Banyamulenga Tutsis of Laurent Kabila in Zaire seize Uvira and proceed to kill Hutu refugees.

Bill Clinton

• Iraq disarmament crisis: UNSCOM inspectors uncover buried prohibited missile parts. Iraq refuses to allow UNSCOM teams to remove remnants of missile engines for analysis outside of the country
• November 5 - U.S. presidential election, 1996: Democrat incumbent Bill Clinton defeats Republican challenger Bob Dole to win his second term.
• November 7 - A devastating category 4 Cyclone strikes Andhra Pradesh, India. The storm surge sweeps fishing villages out to sea, over 2,000 people die. 95 percent of the crops are completely destroyed.
• November 7 - NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor.
• November 10 - Rapper Yaki Kadafi, born Yafeu Fula, is shot to death in New Jersey at the age of 19.
• November 12 - Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 has a mid-air collision with Kazakhstan Airlines Il-76, resulting in the loss of 349 lives.
• November 15 - State Street in Chicago is re-opened to pedestrian traffic.
• November 16 - Mother Teresa receives honorary U.S. citizenship.
• November 18 - World-renowned bird expert Tony Silva is sentenced to 7 years in prison without parole for leading an illegal parrot smuggling ring.
• November 18 - Martyn Bryant is sentenced to life imprisonment, 2 weeks after confessing to murdering 35 people in Tasmania earlier this year.
• November 19 - STS-80: was the longest mission of the Space Shuttle program, flew by Space Shuttle Columbia.
• November 21 - A propane explosion at the Humberto Vidal shoe store and office building in San Juan, Puerto Rico kills 33.
• November 21 - Demonstrations in Zagreb for survival of Radio 101.
• November 23 - The Republic of Angola officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Angola.

This image is a candidate for speedy deletion. It will be deleted after Sunday, 16 December 2007.

• November 23 - Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 is hijacked, then crashes into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 125.
• November 24 - The Toronto Argonauts defeat the Edmonton Eskimos 43-37 to win the 84th Grey Cup at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario. The game is notable for the heavy snowfall that took place which the game was dubbed "The Snow Bowl" as a result.
• November 25 - An ice storm strikes the U.S., killing 26 directly, hundreds more from accidents. A powerful windstorm blasts Florida; winds gust to 90 mph.
• November 25 - The U.S. stock market, especially the Dow Jones Industrial Average, gains at an incredibly fast pace following the 1996 Presidential election. It gains 10 days in a row during the month.

• December 2 - U.S. President Bill Clinton signs the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments.
• December 5 - Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan gives a speech in which he suggests that "irrational exuberance" may have "unduly escalated asset values".
• December 12 - Uday Hussein is seriously injured in an assassination attempt.
• December 17 - The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement takes 72 hostages in the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru.
• December 20 - Steve Jobs's company NeXT is bought by Apple Computer, the company co-founded by Jobs.
• December 26 - Start of the largest strike in South Korean history.
• December 26 - Six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey is murdered in the basement of her parents' home in Boulder, Colorado.
• December 27 - Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram air base, which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul.
• December 29 - Guatemala and the leaders of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union sign a peace accord that ends a 36-year civil war.
• December 30 - In the Indian state of Assam, a passenger train is bombed by Bodo separatists, killing 26.
• December 30 - Proposed budget cuts by Benjamin Netanyahu spark protests from 250,000 workers, who shut down services across Israel.
• December 31 - The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway is merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, making it one of the largest railroad mergers in U.S. history.

• General Motors EV1 launched. The EV1 is the first electric car to go into mass production.
• Apocalyptica, a Finnish instrumental band

• The search-engine revolution.

The following are references to year 1996 in fiction:

• The 1991 film Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man starting Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson takes place in 1996.