This day in history. Read about what happened today. A short and interesting account of historical events and facts about this day as well as any other day of the year. Find historical birthdays, deaths, tragedies, war events, disasters and sports events.

This year in history
In the year 1996

	January 23th	The Java programming language was first released.
	January 28th	American cartoon artist, Jerry Siegel, died at the age of 81. He was the co-creator of Superman.
	January 29th	After worldwide outrage over its nuclear tests in the pacific, France acceded to halting any further nuclear testing.
	January 30th	NBA superstar, Magic Johnson, played his first game for the Los Angeles Lakers after retiring in 1991 when he was diagnosed with the HIV virus.
	January 31st	A truck filled with explosives rammed the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka. 86 people died in the explosion and more than 1000 were injured.
	February 2nd	American dancer and actor, Gene Kelly, died at the age of 84. Along with Fred Astaire, he was one of the most celebrated musical actors of the 20th century.
	February 6th	A Turkish Airlines passenger jet crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of the Dominican Republic, resulting in the death of 189 people.
	February 10th	Chess grandmaster, Garry Kasparov, was defeated by the IBM supercomputer called Deep Blue.
	February 29th	A Peruvian passenger jet crashed in the Andes. All 123 people on board died in the crash.
	February 29th	The siege of the city of Sarajevo came to an end. The siege lasted four years and is the longest siege in modern history.
	March 13th	A serial killer executes 16 children and 1 adult teacher in Dunblane, Scotland, before committing suicide.
	March 26th	American engineer and businessman, David Packard, died at the age of 84. He was the cofounder of the Hewlett-Packard Corporation.
	April 3rd	Theodore Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber, was arrested at his Montana cabin. He is known for his campaign of mail bombings which claimed the lives of 3 people and injured another 23.
	April 11th	Panathinaikos becomes the first Greek basketball team to ever win the European champions league. Panathinaikos defeated Barcelona in the Paris finals.
	April 12th	Internet based company, Yahoo!, had its initial public offering. It sold 2.6 million shares at 13 dollars each.
	April 18th	In Lebanon, 102 innocent people were killed after Israeli forces fired shells in the UN compound of Qana. The incident was deemed an accident by the Israeli government.
	May 4th	Jose Maria Aznar was elected Prime Minister of Spain with the Christian Democratic party, ending 13 years of Socialist party rule. He was prime minister for 2 terms, between 1996 and 2004, when the socialists came back to power.
	May 11th	A flight of ValuJet airways from Miami to Atlanta crashed in the Florida Everglades killing all 110 on board.
	May 13th	A series of severe thunderstorms as well as a tornado killed over 600 people in Bangladesh.
	June 15th	A bomb set by the IRA exploded in Manchester, UK, injuring more than 200 people while also causing extensive damage to the city center.
	June 15th	American singer, Ella Fitzgerald, died at the age of 78. Nicknamed, the First Lady of Song, she was one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century.
	June 23th	Greek politician, Andreas Papandreou, died at the age of 76. He served three terms as Prime Minister of Greece and is considered as one of the most influential, and controversial, politician of modern day Greece.
	June 25th	20 people were killed in a terrorist attack on the Khobar Towers residence in Saudi Arabia. Overall 19 US servicemen and one Saudi citizen were killed, and more than 350 more injured.
	July 17th	A TWA passenger flight on route to Paris exploded off the coast of Long Island, New York, resulting in the death of all 230 people on board.
	August 28th	Britain's Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, were divorced after 15 years of marriage.
	August 29th	A Russian, Vnukovo Airlines passenger flight crashed into a mountain on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen. All 141 people aboard were killed in the crash.
	September 7th	Rap artist, Tupac Shakur, was shot several 5 times after attending a boxing match, he died six days after the shooting.
	September 20th	Hungarian mathematician, Paul Erdos, died at the age of 83. He is considered as one of the most important mathematicians of the century who published over 1500 scientific papers. He was addicted to amphetamines which he continued using until a heart attack claimed his life.
	September 25th	The last of the Magdalen Asylums was closed in Ireland. Under the orders of the Roman Catholic Church the Asylums were originally created to help women who had turned to prostitution due to their background. In time and with the guidance of the church these institutions were turned to prison like establishments which to this day are another dark chapter in the history of the Catholic Church and an example of human cruelty.
	September 27th	In Afghanistan, the Taliban captured the capital city Kabul. The Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001. The Taliban state was recognized only by three other states, those of the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.
	October 31st	A Brazilian passenger plane crashed into several houses in Sao Paulo, Brazil resulting in the death of all 98 on board and 2 more on the ground.
	November 5th	Democrat presidential candidate Bill Clinton defeated Republican challenger Bob Dole and was elected for a second term.
	November 7th	A Nigerian passenger jet crashed into a lagoon approximately 40 miles south-east of Lagos, resulting in the death of 143 people.
	November 22nd	The first Tomb Raider game was released. Is is considered as one of the most successful computer games ever made, which even spawned two feature movies starring Angelina Jolie.
	November 23th	An Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet was hijacked and later crashed into the Indian Ocean. 123 people died in the crash.
	December 13th	Kofi Annan was elected as Secretary General of the United Nations. He replaces Boutros Boutros Gali when his re-election was vetoed by the United States, supposedly because of a UN report that had been published which criticized Israel's military actions in southern Lebanon.
	December 19th	Italian actor, Marcello Mastroianni, died at the age of 72. He was one of the most popular Italian actors of the 20th century who was able to achieve international fame by starring in several hit movies. He also stared in Federico Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita', and '8 1/2'.

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