WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO JUNE 1996
Find out what all happened January to June 1996

The European Union's Veterinarian Committee bans the export of British beef and its by-products as a result of mad cow disease (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy). (25. March 1996)

Space Shuttle program: STS-72 launches from the Kennedy Space Center marking the start of the 74th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th flight of Endeavour. (11. January 1996)

The U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud. (28. May 1996)

Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President. (23. March 1996)

First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launch a raid against the helicopter airfield and later a civilian hospital in the city of Kizlyar in the neighboring Dagestan, which turns into a massive hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians. (9. January 1996)

Comet Hyakutake is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake. (31. January 1996)

Whitewater controversy: President Bill Clinton gives a 4½ hour videotaped testimony for the defense. (28. April 1996)

In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is passed into law. (24. April 1996)

Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people. (13. May 1996)

Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski is captured at his cabin in Montana, United States. (3. April 1996)

Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in 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 gays and lesbians. (20. May 1996)

Birgenair Flight 301 crashed off the coast of the Dominican Republic, and all 189 people inside the airplane are killed. This is the worst accident/incident involving a Boeing 757. (6. February 1996)

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, world champion Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match. (17. February 1996)

NASA's Discovery Program begins as the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft lifts off on the first mission ever to orbit and land on an asteroid, 433 Eros. (17. February 1996)

A nightclub fire in Quezon City, Philippines killed 162 people. (18. March 1996)

Faucett Flight 251 crashes in the Andes, all 123 passengers and crew died. (29. February 1996)

At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3 rocket, carrying an Intelsat 708, crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing many people. (15. February 1996)

The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared. (6. May 1996)

Dunblane massacre: in Dunblane, Scotland, 16 primary school children and one teacher are shot dead by spree killer Thomas Watt Hamilton who then commits suicide. (13. March 1996)

The Motorola StarTAC, the first flip phone and one of the first mobile phones to gain widespread consumer adoption, goes on sale. (3. January 1996)