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Jan 1 In Mexico the Zapatistas declare war against the Mexican government, take hold of five municipalities in the state of Chiapas and announce plans to march towards Mexico City.

Jan 1 Rudy Giuliani becomes Mayor of New York City.

Jan 6 Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's national police surround the Bhutto family mansion and clash with supporters of her mother, Nusrat Bhutto.

Jan 6 Nancy Kerrigan, U.S. skating champion, is clubbed on the knee in a conspiracy involving skating rival Tonya Harding.

Jan 14 Prime Minister Bhutto responds to angry charges from her mother, saying that her mother does it "to damage me and pave the way for the son that she feels should be, in her own words, the heir."

Jan 14 Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin sign the Kremlin Accords, which end the aiming of nuclear missiles at each other and provide for the dismantling of the nuclear arsenal in Ukraine.

Jan 25 President Clinton delivers his first State of the Union address, calling for health care reform, a ban on assault weapons and welfare reform. He boasts that his administration has "replaced drift and deadlock with renewal and reform."

Feb 3 The U.S. lifts its trade embargo against Vietnam.

Feb 25 In the West Bank, an Israeli medical doctor, Baruch Goldstein, 37, shoots and kills 29 Muslims who were at prayer. Then he is subdued with a fire extinguisher and beaten to death.

Feb 28 U.S. fighter pilots down four Serbian fighter aircraft flying in the prohibited zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Mar 4 Four terrorists are convicted for their roles in the World Trade Center bombing.

Mar 25 The UN Security Council has passed Resolution 897 redefining the UN mission in Somali, emphasizing peacemaking and reconstruction rather than coercion. President Clinton has withdrawn all U.S. troops from Somalia - as he promised he would by March 31. Twenty-thousand UN troops remain.

Apr 5 The siege of Sarajevo begins its third year.

Apr 6 Some Hutu are opposed to peace accords ending a three-year civil war between the government and Tutsi-led rebels, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Rwanda's Hutu President Juvénal Habyarimana is assassinated as his plane is landing at Rwanda's Kigali airport.

Apr 7 The Rwandan armed forces and a Hutu paramilitary group, the Interahamwe, begin killing Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Apr 11 UN soldiers protecting 2,000 Tutsis at a school are ordered to withdraw to Kigali airport. The Tutsis left behind are slaughtered.

Apr 14 Belgium withdraws its troops from the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda.

Apr 21 The UN reduces its troops in Rwanda by 90 percent, to 270. The International Red Cross estimates that those slaughtered now add to more than 100,000.

Apr 22 Former U.S. President Richard Nixon dies in New York City.

Apr 27 In South Africa multiracial elections are held for the first time.

May 6 Paula Jones has waited three years to file a civil suit against President Clinton, accusing him of "sexually harassing and assaulting" her and defaming her with denials.

May 7 The UN Security Council agrees to send 5,500 troops to Rwanda to defend civilians. Deployment is delayed by disagreements between the US and UN over financing of the operation.

May 10 In South Africa, Nelson Mandela is inaugurated president.

May 16 The International Red Cross estimates that 500,000 Rwandans have been killed.

May 17 Malawi holds its first multi-party elections.

Jun 12 In the Los Angeles area, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are stabbed to death outside Simpson's home.

Jun 17 O.J. Simpson, football hero and actor, fails to turn himself into police as planned. Police approach a car with Simpson and a former teammate in the driver's seat. The friend yells to police to back off because Simpson has a gun to his own head. A 60-mile freeway journey with police close behind and helicopters overhead ends at Simpson's home, where he surrenders to police. O.J. is arrested and soon to be indicted for murder.

Jul 4 The Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) takes control of the Kigali airport and the southern town of Butare. Its leadership says it intends to form a government on the basis of the Arusha Accords.

Jul 13-14 Hutus fleeing the RPF flood into Zaire, creating a refugee crisis.

Jul 18 The Rwanda Patriotic Front announces that the war is over, declares a cease-fire and declares Pastor Bizimungu as president with Faustin Twagiramungu as prime minister.

Jul 18 In Buenos Aires a terrorist attack destroys a building housing several Jewish organizations, killing 85 and injuring many more. Members of Buenos Aires Provincial Police will be tried but found not guilty. The presiding judge will be impeached for irregularities regarding the case.

Jul 24 Newt Gingrich, Republican leader (whip) in the U.S. House of Representatives, has organized his political party against passage of a Democratic Party effort at health reform. He says he hopes "to use the issue as a springboard to win Republican control of the House." He predicts that the Republicans will pick up thirty-four House seats in the November elections.

Jul 25 Israel and Jordan formally end the state of war that has existed between them since the founding of Israel in1948.

Aug 31 The Provisional Irish Republican Army announces its "complete cessation of military operations."

Aug 31 The last of Russian troops leave Estonia.

Sep 3 Russia and China agree to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other.

Sep 13 The Federal Assault Weapons Ban is signed into law by President Clinton. It prohibits certain kinds of semi-automatic "assault weapons" manufactured after this day to be sold to civilians. The ban is to expire in ten years.

Sep 19 U.S. troops go ashore in Haiti, intending to restore to power Haiti's elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Sep 28 In the U.S. on the steps of the capital building, with flags waving and a band playing, Republican candidates for the upcoming congressional elections, including all but two incumbents, file past a table and sign a "Contract with America," a creation led by Newt Gingrich and the conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation. The contract includes elimination of waste, fraud and abuse in Congress, term limits, tax cuts, a balanced budget and fixing social security among other things.

Oct 5 In Quebec a few days ago, members of the Solar Temple cult identified an infant as the anti-Christ described in the Bible. The infant was killed: stabbed repeatedly with a wooden stake. Today it is reported that bodies have been found in Quebec and in the cult's temples in Switzerland. It will be determined that some killed themselves with poison, some had bullet wounds and some were smothered.

Nov 8 In the U.S., elections give Republicans control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate for the first time in 40 years. Republicans gained, and the Democrats lost, 54 seats in the House and 8 seats in the Senate. It is to be called the Republican Revolution. Analysts describe the Republican success as the result of perceptions that House leadership has been corrupt, dislike for President Clinton's support for health care reform and gun control measures and homosexuals in the military. Some Republicans consider Rush Limbaugh, popular radio talk show host, as instrumental in the Republican landslide.

Nov 8 In an election in Texas, George W. Bush defeats the incumbent governor, Ann Richards, 53 to 46 percent. Richards was supported by fellow Texan Ross Perot, but it is said that she was burdened by the unpopularity of President Clinton and her having vetoed a citizen concealed weapons bill. Bush was helped by the campaigning of his parents. The impact of a whispering campaign regarding Richards embracing lesbians and gay men is unknown.

Nov 13 In a referendum, Swedes choose to join their country to European Union.

Nov 13 The first passengers travel through the Channel Tunnel.

Dec 4 In the U.S., two Republican leaders, Senator Dole and Congressman Newt Gingrich, ridicule UN peacekeeping effort in Bosnia and call for a bombing campaign against Serbian troops in Bosnia. President Clinton's Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, describes their strategy as a prescription for a major ground war that would require thousands of American troops.

Dec 11 Russia's Boris Yeltsin sends troops and planes to Chechnya, a largely Muslim region. He hopes to crush what began in 1992 in Chechnya with a new constitution that included a declaration of independence.

Dec 12 Since 1972, Harvard University's Institute of Politics has been conducting issues briefings for new members of Congress. This year, Newt Gingrich is directing Republicans to an alternative: the Heritage Foundation. There, 73 Republic freshmen listen to Rush Limbaugh warn them about Washington's press corps. "You will never ever be their friends," he says. "They don't want to be your friends. Some female reporter will come up to one of you and start batting her eyes and ask you to go to lunch. And you'll think, 'Wow! I'm only a freshman. Cokie Roberts wants to take me to lunch. I've really made it!' "

Dec 19 Investigation of decades-old real estate dealings of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their associates with the failed Whitewater Development Corporation begins. The prosecutor leading the investigation is Kenneth Starr, a judiciary committee's appointment as Special Counsel.

Dec 19 Civil unions for same sex couples has been created in Denmark and Israel, including equal employment benefits with opposite-sex couples. And today civil unions for same sex couples becomes law in Sweden.