1995

1995	UK, Singapore, Netherlands [banking and finance]	Britain's oldest merchant bank, Barings, collapses (in administration 26 January) after Nicholas Leeson, a futures trader based in Singapore, accumulates losses of 625 million Greek drachmas; Barings's main operating sections and liabilities for Far East losses are sold to the Netherlands-based Internationale Nederlanden Groep NV for 1 Greek drachma (6 March); Leeson is arrested at Frankfurt Airport, Germany (2 March), and eventually agrees to return to Singapore (29 October) where he pleads guilty to two charges of deception (he is sentenced to 6½ years in prison on 2 December).
1995	UK [business and economics]	There are 777 supermarkets in Britain, compared to 524 in 1976, and only 31,382 small independent shops, compared to 51,494 in 1976.Supermarkets have 65% of the grocery trade.
1995	USA [computing]	The US firm Sun Microsystems develops the computer programming language ‘Java’, which is used to construct World Wide Web sites.
1995	USA [health and medicine]	Less than 25% of people in the USA smoke, compared to around 40% in the 1960s.
1995	UK [law and government]	Sunday shopping laws are modified in England and Wales, permitting shops to open for a maximum of six hours.
1995	USA [music]	The US composer Steve Reich completes his City Life, which employs sounds taken from everyday life such as boat horns, street noises, and so on.
1995	UK [popular music]	‘Britpop’ comes to the fore in Britain – white, guitar-based bands, such as Blur, Oasis, and Pulp, playing song-based pop-rock, often influenced by the Beatles and 1960s British pop.
1995	USA [statistics and demography]	According to the US Census Bureau, the average size of a US household is 2.65 people, down from 3.33 people in 1960.
1995	USA [statistics and demography]	In the USA, 23% of people older than 25 have a college degree, up from 11% in 1970.
1995	USA [statistics and demography]	In the USA, 64% of married women with children under six work, as opposed to 45% in 1980 and 19% in 1960.
1995	USA [statistics and demography]	The average per capita income in the USA is $22,788, up from $18,666 in 1990.
1995	USA [statistics and demography]	In the USA, 33.7 million people subscribe to cellular phone services.
1995	USA [toys and games]	The US electronics companies CyberMaxx and Virtual 10 launch virtual reality headsets for home use in the USA.
1 January 1995	Austria, Finland, Sweden, Europe [political events]	Austria, Finland, and Sweden join the European Union (EU), increasing the Union's population from 345 million to 368 million.
1 January 1995	Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay [political events]	The Southern Common Market or Mercosur, the world's fourth-largest free-trade grouping comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, comes into existence.
24 January 1995	USA [crime and punishment]	The trial opens of the US former football star O J Simpson for the murder of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman (on 12 June 1994); Simpson is acquitted on 3 October after claims of racial bias in the investigating police force.
2 February 1995	England [births and deaths]	Fred (Frederick John) Perry, English lawn-tennis player who dominated men's singles tennis in the mid-1930s and was the last Briton to win the men's singles at Wimbledon (1936), dies in Melbourne, Australia (85).
8 February 1995	Russia, Chechnya [political events]	The president of the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya, Dzhokhar Dudayev, announces that he and his military units are leaving the capital Grozny, conceding its loss; fighting continues to the south and east of the city.
28 February 1995	Somalia [United Nations]	United Nations (UN) troops withdraw from Somalia, having been unable to end its civil war.
26 March 1995	Europe [political events]	Seven members of the European Union (Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain) remove internal border controls in line with the 1985 Schengen Agreement.
24 May 1995	England [births and deaths]	Harold Wilson, Labour prime minister of Britain 1964–70, 1974–76, dies in London, England (79).
25 May 1995	Bosnia-Herzegovina [Balkan conflicts (c. 1991–2000)]	NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) launches airstrikes against the Serbs following their refusal to surrender artillery; in response, Serbs kill 67 people in attacks on the United Nations (UN) safe haven of Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
26 May 1995	Bosnia-Herzegovina [Balkan conflicts (c. 1991–2000)]	Bosnian Serbs begin seizure of United Nations (UN) troops as hostages, in response to the threat of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) air strikes; by June over 377 troops have been taken (they are released 2–18 June).
13 June 1995	France, Pacific [political events]	President Jacques Chirac of France announces a series of eight nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll in the Pacific (breaking France's self-imposed halt in testing of April 1992).
11 July 1995	Bosnia-Herzegovina [wars]	Serbs capture the United Nations (UN)-designated safe area of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina; Muslim women and children are moved to Tuzla while men are held back and massacred.
20 July 1995	Bosnia-Herzegovina [wars]	Serbs and allies attack the United Nations (UN) safe haven of Bihac in northwestern Bosnia-Herzegovina; on 27 July, Croat troops enter Bosnia to relieve pressure on Bihac.
23 July 1995	USA [astronomy]	US astronomers Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp discover the Hale-Bopp comet. The brightest periodic comet, its icy core is estimated to be 40 km/25 mi wide.
30 July 1995	Chechnya, Russia [political events]	Chechen and Russian representatives sign a peace agreement in Grozny, the capital of the breakaway republic of Chechnya.
August 1995	USA [computing]	Microsoft launches Windows 95, a new computer operating system.
August 1995	UK [energy]	The world's first commercial wave-powered electricity generator begins operating on the River Clyde, Scotland. Known as ‘Osprey’, it generates 2 megawatts of electricity.
15 August 1995	Japan [political events]	On the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama of Japan expresses a ‘feeling of deep remorse’ and offers a ‘heartfelt apology’ for Japan's actions in the war.
28 August 1995	Bosnia-Herzegovina [wars]	Serb troops in Bosnia-Herzegovina bombard Sarajevo market place, killing 37 people.
30 August 1995	Bosnia-Herzegovina [international organizations]	NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) aircraft begin large-scale attacks on Serbian positions in Bosnia; 300 sorties are flown in the first 12 hours, and by 13 September over 800 missions have been completed.
11 September 1995	Bosnia-Herzegovina [wars]	Bosnian government forces launch an offensive in western and central Bosnia-Herzegovina, which reduces Serb-controlled territory from 70% to 50%.
22 October 1995	England [births and deaths]	Kingsley Amis, English writer, dies in London, England (73).
30 October 1995	USA [statistics and demography]	A survey finds that 17% of adults in the USA and Canada have access to the Internet and that 11% of adults have used the Internet in the previous three months. The survey also finds that two-thirds of Internet users are men.
1 November 1995	Cameroon [political events]	The former French colony of Cameroon is admitted to the British Commonwealth.
17 November 1995	UK [newspapers]	The last edition of the British newspaper Today, launched in 1986, is published. Its owner, News International, blames its demise on continuing losses (£11 million in its final year).
14 December 1995	Bosnia-Herzegovina, France [treaties]	The formal signing of the peace plan for Bosnia-Herzegovina takes place at the Elysée Palace, Paris, France; it creates two entities within Bosnia-Herzegovina, a Muslim-Croat federation with 51% of territory and a Serb republic with 49%; a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping force will be replaced by a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) implementation force.