1996

1996	England [fiction]	The English writer Doris Lessing publishes her novel Love, Again.
1996	Canada [fiction]	The Canadian writer Margaret Atwood publishes her novel Alias Grace, based on the 19th-century case of a 16-year-old girl convicted of murder.
1996	USA, Europe, Australia, New Zealand [health and medicine]	The death rate from AIDS in the USA falls from 15.6 per 100,000 people to 11.6, a 26% decline. It is the first decline in the 15 years since the pandemic began. AIDS is no longer the main killer of adults between the ages of 25 and 44 but it remains so for African-Americans in that age group. The number of AIDS cases in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand also reaches a plateau or decreases.
1996	USA [health and medicine]	Two US dentists discover a new muscle running from the jaw to just behind the eye socket. About 3 cm/1 in long, it helps to support and raise the jaw.
1996	Spain, Europe [sports]	The Spanish bullfighter Christina Sanchez becomes the first female matador in Europe.
1996	Antarctica [technology]	Scientists from the Scott Polar Institute, using data from the European Space Agency's ERS-1 satellite, discover a 14,000-sq-km/5,400-sq-mi, 125-m/410-ft-deep lake, 4 km/2.5 mi under the Antarctic ice sheet. Called Lake Vostok after the Russian ice-drilling station it lies beneath, the ice sheet, which acts as a blanket, and a pressure of 300–400 atmospheres allow the water to remain liquid.
8 January 1996	Liberia [football]	The Liberian footballer George Weah of A C Milan, Italy, becomes the first African to be voted FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Footballer of the Year. He was also the 1995 European and African Footballer of the Year.
8 January 1996	France [births and deaths]	François Mitterrand, Socialist president of France 1981–95 dies in Paris, France (79).
9 January 1996	Chechnya, Russia [political events]	Rebels from the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya take 3,000 people hostage in the Russian town of Kizlar, demanding withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. The following day 2,870 hostages are released, and the remainder transported towards Chechnya.
15 January 1996	Russia, Chechnya [political events]	Russian government troops attempt to end the Chechen hostage crisis by force; over 60 people are killed and some rebels escape with their hostages from the attack on the village of Pervomaiskoye; nine days later, on 24 January, 46 remaining hostages are freed.
19 February 1996	Spain [political events]	One million people demonstrate in Madrid, Spain, against the violence of the Basque separatist group ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna, ‘Basque Nation and Liberty’).
24 March 1996	World [astronomy]	The comet Hyakutake makes its closest approach, passing within 15.4 million km/9.5 million mi of Earth. It is the brightest comet for decades, with a tail extending over 12 degrees of the sky.
25 March 1996	Europe, UK [law and government]	The European Union (EU) bans the export of British beef abroad following anxiety over the potential for transmission of the BSE infection to humans as CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease).
15 April 1996	South Africa [law and government]	The Truth and Justice Commission, set up to investigate political crimes committed by all sides during the apartheid era, opens in Johannesburg, South Africa; it is chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
29 April 1996	Netherlands, Yugoslavia [crime and punishment]	A United Nations (UN) war crimes tribunal opens in The Hague, the Netherlands, to investigate allegations of crimes against humanity committed during the Yugoslavian civil war.
10 May 1996	Netherlands, England [football]	The Dutch footballer Ruud Gullit is named as Chelsea's player–manager. He is the first black manager of an English Football Association premiership side.
21 May 1996	UK, Europe [political events]	Britain begins a policy of noncooperation with its European partners in response to the European Union (EU) ban on British beef exports, disrupting the running of the EU and the Intergovermental Conference to plan the future development of Europe.
4 June 1996	Europe, French Guiana [space exploration]	The European Space Agency's Arianespace launches the new Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana, after ten years of development work. It veers off course immediately after takeoff on its maiden flight and is blown up for safety reasons, setting the European space programme back several years.
10 June 1996	Northern Ireland [political events]	All-party talks on the future of Northern Ireland begin at Stormont Castle, Belfast, Northern Ireland; Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), is not admitted because of the IRA's ceasefire violations.
18 June 1996	Israel [political events]	Binyamin Netanyahu of the Likud Party forms a government in Israel, following the defeat of the Labour Party in elections.
21 June 1996	Europe, Italy, UK [international organizations]	At a European Union (EU) summit in Florence, Italy, a deal is made for the lifting of the export ban on British beef (involving the slaughter of 147,000 at-risk cattle); in return, Britain ends its obstruction of EU business.
July 1996	USA [technology]	The US engineers Theodore O Poehler and Peter C Searson announce the invention of the first all-plastic battery. It uses polymers instead of conventional electrode materials and has implications for military and space applications as well as its use in consumer devices such as hearing aids and wristwatches.
2 July 1996	USA [space exploration]	The US aerospace company Lockheed Martin unveils plans for the X-33, a $1 billion wedge-shaped rocket ship. Called the Venture Star, it will be built and operated by Lockheed Martin and will replace the US space shuttle fleet by the year 2012.
1 August 1996	USA, France [Olympic Games]	At the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, Michael Johnson of the USA becomes the first man to win both the 200 metres and 400 metres titles at the same Games. In the 200 metres final he sets a new 200 metres world record time of 19.32 sec, breaking his own old record by.34 sec. On the same day, Marie-José Pérec of France becomes only the second woman to achieve the women's 200 metres and 400 metres double.
6 August - 8 August 1996	Chechnya, Russia [political events]	Chechen rebels launch a major offensive on Grozny, capturing key points in the capital of the disputed Russian republic.
29 August 1996	Chechnya, Russia [political events]	A peace deal ending the war in the Russian breakaway republic of Chechnya postpones a decision on the question of sovereignty until the year 2001.
10 September 1996	UK, Switzerland [banking and finance]	British Foreign and Commonwealth Office documents show that $500 million worth of gold ($6 billion in today's prices) from unknown sources were deposited in Swiss banks during World War II; there is speculation that some belonged to Holocaust victims.
17 October 1996	USA [health and medicine]	US researchers from the University of Texas and the Beckman Research Institute based in Hope, California, announce the discovery that cigarette smoke alters a gene which suppresses the uncontrolled growth of cells that cause tumours. It is the first direct evidence for the statistical link between cigarette smoking and cancer.
5 November 1996	USA [elections]	Bill Clinton is re-elected president of the USA, defeating Republican nominee Bob Dole with 379 electoral college votes to 159. The popular vote is Clinton 45,590,703; Dole 37,816,307; Reform candidate Ross Perot 7,866,284. The Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
15 November 1996	Zaire, Rwanda [political events]	The refugee crisis in Zaire and Rwanda is defused without the need for outside help after Tutsi rebels defeat extremist Hutu militiamen, allowing 700,000 Hutus under their control to return to Rwanda.
5 December 1996	USA [political events]	Madeleine Albright becomes the first female US secretary of state.
6 December 1996	Russia [agriculture]	Cosmonauts aboard the Mir spaceship successfully harvest a small wheat crop, the first plants to be successfully cultivated from seed in space.