- January 8
- A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital Kinshasa - 350 dead. [28]
- January 9
- Art forger Eric Hebborn is assassinated in Rome, Italy. [28] (January 11 [1])
- January 10
- Israel frees hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. [1]
- January 11
- Space Shuttle STS 72 (Endeavour 10), launches into space. [1]
- January 12
- Russian troops arrive in Bosnia (joint operation with US). [1]
- January 14
- Jorge Sampaio is elected president of Portugal. [28]
- January 17
- 9-year-old Amber Hagerman is found dead four days after kidnapping in Arlington, Texas, USA. (This incident leads to the creation of the AMBER alert system.) [1441.46]
- January 20
- Yasser Arafat is re-elected president of the Palestinian Authority. [28]
- January 22
- Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece, resigns due to health problems; a new government forms under Costas Simitis. [28]
- January 23
- The first version of the Java programming language is released. [28]
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- January 24
- Polish Premier Jozef Oleksy resigns amid charges that he spied for Moscow. [28]
- January 25
- The Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Helmut Kohl, is awarded the Gold Medallion for Humanitarian Service of the international Jewish organization, B'nai B'rith. [37]
- January 26
- Les Miserables opens at Musichall Theatre, Duisburg. [1]
- January 27
- Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane, in a military coup. [28]
- Fifteen-day old siamese twins separated; Sarah Morales survives, Sarahi dies. [1]
- Catherine Roskam becomes the first New York female Episcopal bishop. [1]
- France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island. [1]
- Germany celebrates its first Holocaust Remembrance Day. [1]
- January 29
- 6,138th performance of Cats is held in London, surpassing record of Broadway's longest-running musical, A Chorus Line. [1]
- President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French nuclear testing. [5] [28]
- Fire destroys La Fenice, Venice's opera house. [28]
- A Greek flag is hoisted on a small rocky island named Imia (Greek) / Kardak (Turkish). [28]
- January 30
- Comet Hyakutake is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake. [5]
- Irish National Liberation Army leader Gino Gallagher is killed in an internal feud, while in line for his unemployment benefits. [28]
- January 31
- Corel purchases WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, and the PerfectOffice application suite from Novell for US$180 million in cash, stock, and future licensing royalties. [4]
- An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400. [28]
- February 2
- Apple Computer's board of directors names Gilbert Amelio as new CEO, replacing Michael Spindler. [4]
- February 3
- In Yunnan, China, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake occurs. At least 322 people killed, 3,925 seriously injured and 13,000 slightly injured. About 358,000 housing units collapsed and 654,000 others were damaged. More than 320,000 people were left homeless. [53]
- February 5
- Netscape Communications ships Netscape Navigator 2.0 web browser for Windows 3.1, 95, NT, and the Macintosh. Price is US$49. It features support for JavaScript, Java applets, streaming audio, and 3D. [4]
- February 8
- An Irish Republican Army ceasefire ends with a one-ton bomb in London's Canary Wharf District, killing two and causing over one billion pounds worth of damage. [28]
- The massive Internet collaboration "24 Hours in Cyberspace" takes place. [5]
- February 9
- Discovery of the element Ununbium. [28]
- February 10
- IBM's chess computer "Deep Blue" defeats world chess champion Gary Kasparov in the first game of a regulation six-game match. [1] [28] [129]
- February 15
- The Liberian-registered tanker Sea Empress hits rocks near the port of Milford Haven, Wales, leaking about 46.6-85 million litres of light crude oil, creating a 6km oil slick. [28] [522]
- The U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece comes under mortar fire. [28]
- A Long March 3 rocket at the Xichang launch site in China crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing 500. [28]
- February 17
- In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Garry Kasparov beats IBM's "Deep Blue" computer in a second chess match. [28]
- In Irian Jaya Region, Indonesia, a magnitude 8.2 earthquake occurs. At least 164 people killed or missing, 423 injured, 5,043 houses destroyed or damaged. Extensive damage from the tsunami, which reached heights of 7 metres. [53]
- February 18
- An Irish Republican Army briefcase bomb in a bus kills the bomber and injures nine in the West End of London. [28]
- February 19
- In Canada, the Royal Canadian Mint releases a $2 circulating coin, depicting a polar bear on an ice flow. The coin is Canada's first bi-metallic coin, with a core of aluminum bronze, and an outer ring of pure nickel. At the same time, the Bank of Canada ceases production of $2 notes. [3]
- February 21
- Off the coast of Northern Peru, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurs. [53]
- February 22
- Disney launches the Disney.com web site on the Internet. Primary purpose of the site is to provide travel info on Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and to promote Disney merchandise. [6]
- February 24
- Cuba downs two US planes. [1]
- February 26
- Silicon Graphics makes a cash tender offer of US$30 per share for 75 percent of Cray Research stock, for a total cost of US$576 million. The merger is expected to be completed by June. [4]
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