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Ibrahim Babangida

Ibrahim Babangida

General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (born August 17 1941), popularly known as IBB, was the military ruler of Nigeria from August 1985 until his departure from office under heavy popular pressure in 1993, after his annulment of elections held that year which were widely held to have been the freest and fairest in Nigeria's post-independence history.

Early career and rise to power

Ibrahim Babangida hails from the Gwari ethnic group and was born in Minna in Niger State, the city in which he has resided since his departure from office. He joined the Nigerian Army's officer corps in 1962, and served in an administrative capacity under the 1976-1979 military government of Olusegun Obasanjo. Babangida once again took up a political position under the administration of General Muhammadu Buhari, whose regime he overthrew on 27 August, 1985, promising at the time to bring to an end the human rights abuses perpetuated by Buhari's government, and to hand over power to a civilian government by 1990.He was instrumental to the culture of "settlement" in Nigeria. Settlement is a slogan for bribery and corruption in Nigeria.

Babangida's economic policies

Babangida issued a referendum to garner support for austerity measures suggested by the IMF and the World Bank, and subsequently launched his "Structural Adjustment Program" (SAP) in 1986. The policies entailed under the SAP were the deregulation of the agricultural sector by abolishing marketing boards and the elimination of price controls, the privatisation of public enterprises, the devaluation of the Naira to aid the competitiveness of the export sector, and the relaxation of restraints on foreign investment put in place by the Gowon and Obasanjo governments during the 1970s. Between 1986 and 1988, when these policies were executed as intended by the IMF, the Nigerian economy actually did grow as had been hoped, with the export sector performing especially well, but the falling real wages in the public sector and amongst the urban classes, along with a drastic reduction in expenditure on public services, set off waves of rioting and other manifestations of discontent that made sustained commitment to the SAP difficult to maintain. Babangida subsequently returned to an inflationary economic policy and partially reversed the deregulatory initiatives he had set in motion during the heyday of the SAP, and economic growth slowed correspondingly, as capital flight resumed apace under the influence of negative real interest rates.

IBB as politician

On the political front, Babangida proved far more adept at accommodating and manipulating public opinion than Buhari or any other Nigerian military ruler before or since. Wherever possible he preferred to buy off opposition, only resorting to outright force on the rare occasions when opposition could neither be bought off nor ignored. At the beginning of his rule, Babangida did try to live up to his self-bestowed mantle as a restorer of human rights, releasing many politicians detained under the Buhari regime, but this patina wore off as time went by. Despite his initial promises to do so, Babangida never did get around to abolishing the notorious State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree Number 2, which established the right of the government to detain for six months any individual deemed dangerous solely on his say-so, without any right to a trial or even habeas corpus. To the contrary, he made increasing use of the decree himself as time went by to muzzle trade unions, student groups, journalists and other individuals who proved irritating to his regime. One step Babangida did take early in his rule that proved less deft than usual, and which still reverberates to this day, was his unilateral decision to upgrade Nigeria's role in the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) from observer status to full-fledged membership, despite the fact that at best only half on Nigerians were adherents of Islam. This act helped stoke religious tensions that could be contained easily enough under military dictatorships willing to use any means necessary to stifle religious extremism, especially when Nigeria was still being run by Northern Muslims who the most extreme advocates of Sharia could regard as "one of them", but have now boiled over under a civilian government lacking recourse to brute force unrestrained by judicial oversight. On April 22, 1990, Babangida's government was almost toppled by a coup attempt led by Major Gideon Orkar. During the brief interlude during which Orkar and his collaborators controlled radio transmitters in Lagos, they broadcasted a vehement critique of Babangida's government, accusing it of widespread corruption and autocratic tendencies, and they also threatened to expel the five northernmost, predominantly Hausa-Fulani, Nigerian states from the union, accusing them of seeking to perpetuate their rule at the expense of the predominantly Christian peoples of Nigeria's middle-belt.

The botched transition to civilian rule

In 1989, seemingly in keeping with his promise to hand over power to a civilian government by 1992, Babangida legalized the formation of political parties, and after a census was carried out in November 1991, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) announced on January 24, 1992 that both legislative elections to a bicameral National Assembly and a presidential election would be held that year. The legislative elections went ahead as planned, with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) winning majorities in both houses of the National Assembly, but on August 7, 1992, the NEC annulled the first round of presidential primaries, alleging widespread irregularities. January 4 1993 saw the announcement by Babangida of a National Defense and Security Council, of which Babangida himself was to be President, while in April 1993 the SDP nominated Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO) as its presidential candidate, with the National Republican Convention (NRC) choosing Bashir Othma Tofa to run for the same position. On June 12, 1993, presidential elections were finally held, but the results were mysteriously held back, although it soon leaked that Abiola had in fact won 19 of the 30 states, and therefore the presidency. Rather than allow the announcement of the results to proceed, the NDSC decided to annul the elections, and Babangida then issued a decree banning the presidential candidates of both the NRC and the SDP from running in new presidential elections that he planned to have held. Widespread acts of civil disobedience then began to occur, particularly in the Southwest region from which Abiola hailed, but these were soon quashed by the security forces and the army. On July 6, 1993, the NDSC issued an ultimatum to the NDSC to join an interim government or face yet another round of elections, and Babangida then announced that the interim government would be inaugurated on August 27, 1993. On August 26, amidst a new round of strikes and protests that had brought all economic activity in the country to a halt, Babangida declared that he was stepping down from the presidency, and handing over the reins of government to Ernest Shonekan. Ominously, General Sani Abacha was left behind to "watch over" Shonekan's interim government, and within 3 months of the handover Abacha seized control of the government, while Babangida himself was conveniently in the midst of a visit to Egypt.

External links

- [http://countrystudies.us/nigeria/73.htm US Library of Congress - Country Studies - The Babangida Government]
- [http://www.dawodu.com/orkar.htm Gideon Orkar's 1990 speech] Babangida, Ibrahim Babangida, Ibrahim The Actual words used by Babangida in 1993 was that he was "stepping aside", a phrase which made many Nigerians suspect that he still nursed the hope of returning to political power sometime in the future.

August 17

August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 136 days remaining.

Events

- 1427 - First band of gypsies visits Paris, according to an account of the citizen of Paris
- 1807 - Robert Fulton's first American steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
- 1850 - Argentine's War of Independence hero, General José de San Martín, dies in Boulogne-sur-Mer (France), at the age of 77.
- 1862 - Indian Wars: Lakota (Sioux) uprising begins in Minnesota as desperate Lakota attack white settlements along the Minnesota River. They will be overwhelmed by the U.S. military six weeks later.
- 1863 - American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter. Bombardment will not end until December 31, 1863.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Confederate forces defeated Union troops at the Battle of Gainesville.
- 1877 - Arizona blacksmith F.P. Cahill is fatally wounded by Billy the Kid. Cahill will die the next day, becoming the first person killed by the Kid.
- 1883 - Dominican Republic the first public performance of the Dominican National Anthem, Quisqueyanos valientes
- 1896 - London - Bridget Driscoll becomes the first person in the world to die in an automobile accident after being struck by a car travelling about 4 MPH.
- 1914 - World War I: The German army of General Hermann von Francois defeats the Russian force commanded by Pavel Rennenkampf at the Battle of Stalluponen.
- 1915 - Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Atlanta, Georgia.
- 1918 - Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.
- 1943 - World War II: The US 7th Army under General George S. Patton arrive in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
- 1945 - Indonesia proclaims itself independent from the Netherlands.
- 1953 - Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.
- 1960 - Gabon gains independence from France.
- 1962 - East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin. He thus became the first victim of the wall.
- 1963 - A ferry linking remote islands off the coast of Okinawa sinks, killing 112.
- 1969 - Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing $1.5 billion in damage.
- 1970 - Venera program: Venera 7 is launched. It will later becomes the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet, Venus.
- 1978 - Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.
- 1979 - Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156
- 1980 - Azaria Chamberlain disappears, likely taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history.
- 1988 - Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and US Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
- 1991 - Wade Frankum starts his killing spree in Strathfield, Australia, an event that was later dubbed the Strathfield Massacre.
- 1998 - Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about his relationship.
- 1999 - A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes Izmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
- 2002 - In Santa Rosa, California, the Charles M. Schulz Museum opens to the public.
- 2004 - MD5 collision found by Chinese researchers.
- 2004 - The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Boze Pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country.
- 2005 - The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, starts.

Births

- 1473 - Richard, Duke of York, one of the Princes in the Tower (d. 1483?)
- 1562 - Hans Leo Hassler (baptised), German composer (d. 1612)
- 1578 - Francesco Albani, Italian painter (d. 1660)
- 1601 - Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (d. 1665)
- 1629 - King John III of Poland (d. 1696)
- 1786 - Davy Crockett, frontiersman, soldier (d. 1836)
- 1828 - Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist (d. 1897)
- 1844 - Emperor Menelek II of Ethiopia (d. 1913)
- 1866 - Julia Marlowe, nee Sarah Frost, Shakespearean actress (d. 1950)
- 1882 - Samuel Goldwyn, Hollywood producer (d. 1974)
- 1887 - Marcus Garvey, Jamaican leader, Rastafari prophet (d. 1940)
- 1887 - Emperor Charles I of Austria (d. 1922)
- 1893 - Mae West, American actress and playwright (d. 1980)
- 1904 - Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist
- 1911 - Mikhail Botvinnik, chess player (d. 1995)
- 1913 - W. Mark Felt, FBI associate director and Deep Throat Watergate informant
- 1913 - Rudy York, baseball player (d. 1970)
- 1920 - Maureen O'Hara, actress
- 1926 - Jiang Zemin, former President of the People's Republic of China
- 1929 - Francis Gary Powers, U-2 pilot (d. 1977)
- 1930 - Glenn Corbett, actor (d. 1993)
- 1930 - Ted Hughes, English poet (d. 1998)
- 1932 - V. S. Naipaul, West Indian-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1935 - Oleg Tabakov, Russian actor
- 1939 - Luther Allison, blues musician, guitarist
- 1943 - Robert De Niro, actor
- 1948 - Rod MacDonald, musician
- 1951 - Alan Minter, boxer
- 1952 - Nelson Piquet, Brazilian formula one driver
- 1952 - Guillermo Vilas, Argentinian tennis player
- 1954 - Eric Johnson, guitarist
- 1958 - Belinda Carlisle, singer and guitarist
- 1958 - Kirk Stevens, Canadian snooker player
- 1959 - David Koresh, American cult leader (d. 1993)
- 1960 - Sean Penn, actor, director
- 1962 - Gilby Clarke, American musician Guns N' Roses
- 1964 - Colin James, blues musician
- 1966 - Rodney Mullen, American skateboarder
- 1966 - William E. Dudley, American poet
- 1968 - Ed McCaffrey, American football player
- 1969 - Donnie Wahlberg, American actor and singer
- 1970 - Jim Courier, American tennis player
- 1971 - Jorge Posada, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
- 1977 - Thierry Henry, French footballer
- 1977 - Tarja Turunen, Finnish singer (Nightwish)
- 1977 - William Gallas, French footballer
- 1980 - Lene Marlin, Norwegian singer

Deaths

- 1153 - Eustace IV of Boulogne, son of Stephen of England
- 1304 - Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (b. 1243)
- 1510 - Edmund Dudley, English statesman
- 1657 - Robert Blake, British admiral (b. 1599)
- 1676 - Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen, German novelist
- 1673 - Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1641)
- 1720 - Anne Lefèvre, French scholar (b. 1654)
- 1723 - Joseph Bingham, English scholar (b. 1668)
- 1768 (N. S.) - Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (b. 1703)
- 1785 - Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of the Colony and the state of Connecticut (b. 1710)
- 1786 - King Frederick II of Prussia (b. 1712)
- 1834 - Husein Gradaščević, Bosniak rebel leader (b. 1802)
- 1850 - Don José de San Martín, Argentine general
- 1875 - Wilhelm Bleek, linguist
- 1880 - Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist
- 1896 - Bridget Driscoll, world's first automobile fatality
- 1901 - Edmond Audran, French composer (b. 1842)
- 1925 - Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer of Romanian origin
- 1954 - Billy Murray, recording artist (b. 1877)
- 1969 - Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
- 1973 - Jean Barraqué, French composer
- 1973 - Paul Williams, American singer (The Temptations)
- 1973 - Conrad Aiken, American author (b. 1889)
- 1979 - Vivian Vance, actress
- 1983 - Ira Gershwin, American lyricist
- 1987 - Rudolf Hess, Nazi deputy (b. 1894)
- 1988 - Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, President of Pakistan (b. 1924)
- 1990 - Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (b. 1918)
- 1992 - Al Parker, actor
- 2004 - Gérard Souzay, French baritone (b. 1918)
- 2005 - John Bahcall, astrophysicist

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/17 BBC: On This Day] ---- August 16 - August 18 - July 17 - September 17 -- listing of all days ko:8월 17일 ja:8月17日 simple:August 17 th:17 สิงหาคม

List of Presidents of Nigeria

This page contains a list of presidents and other heads of state of Nigeria since 1963. See also:
- Politics of Nigeria
- list of Governors-General of Nigeria
- lists of incumbents,

Prime Ministers of Nigeria, 1960-1966

- Abubakar Tafawa Balewa: 1 October 1960 - 15 January 1966

Presidents of Nigeria, 1963-1966

- Nnamdi Azikiwe: 1 October 1963 - 16 January 1966

Heads of the Federal Military Government of Nigeria, 1966-1979

- Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi: 16 January - 29 July 1966
- Yakubu Gowon: 1 August 1966 - 29 July 1975
- Murtala Mohammed: 29 July 1975 - 13 February 1976
- Olusegun Obasanjo: 13 February 1976 - 1 October 1979

Presidents of Nigeria, 1979-1983

- Shehu Shagari: 1 October 1979 - 31 December 1983

Chairmen of the Supreme Military Council of Nigeria, 1983-1985

- Muhammadu Buhari: 31 December 1983 - 27 August 1985

Presidents of the Armed Forces Ruling Council of Nigeria, 1985-1993

- Ibrahim Babangida: 27 August 1985 - 26 August 1993

Interim Presidents of Nigeria, 1993

- Ernest Shonekan: 26 August - 17 November 1993

Chairmen of the Provisional Ruling Council of Nigeria, 1993-1999

- Sanni Abacha: 17 November 1993 - 8 June 1998
- Abdulsalami Abubakar: 8 June 1998 - 29 May 1999

Presidents of Nigeria, 1999-present

- Olusegun Obasanjo: 29 May 1999 - Nigeria, List of Presidents of

1985

:This article is about the year. For the song by Bowling for Soup, see 1985 (song). For the album by Rufio, see MCMLXXXV. 1985 (MCMLXXXV) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January-February

- January 1 - The first British mobile phone call is made (by Ernie Wise to Vodafone).
- January 3 - Finnish government announces that a Soviet cruise missile has fallen into Inarinjärvi lake in Finnish Lapland
- January 17 - British Telecom announces it is going to phase out its famous red telephone boxes.
- January 20 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan is sworn in for a second term in office.
- January 23 - A debate in the British House of Lords is televised for the first time.
- February 1 - AM stereo broadcasting starts in Australia.
- February 5 - Australia cancels its involvement in U.S.-led MX missile tests.
- February 7 - "New York, New York" becomes the official city anthem of New York City.
- February 11 - Pakistani bowler Wasim Akram takes ten wickets in his second Test cricket match, but New Zealand still wins.
- February 14 - CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is freed from captivity in Lebanon.
- February 19 - William Schroeder becomes the first artificial heart patient to leave hospital.
- February 26 - US federal grand jury indicts 15 members of New York Mafia for racketeering

March

- March 2 - Government of John Cain reelected in Victoria for second consecutive term.
- March 4 - The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS, used since then for screening all blood donations in the United States.
- March 11 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and de facto leader of the Soviet Union.
- March 11 - Mohammed Al Fayed buys the London-based department store company, Harrods.
- March 11 - The Prague Appeal by Jiří Dienstbier, Czech dissident.
- March 14 - Five lionesses at the Singapore Zoo are put on birth control because the lion population had increased from two to 16.
- March 15 - José Sarney takes oath as acting president of Brazil, because the president-elect Tancredo Neves becomes severely ill.
- March 15 - The first .com domain name, symbolics.com, is registered by the Symbolics corporation. However, in this early stage of the rollout of domain names, .edu domains, for educational institutions, still predominate over the commercial .com ones.
- March 16 - Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He would later be released on December 4, 1991.
- March 17 - Serial killer Richard Ramirez (the "Night Stalker") commits his first two murders in Los Angeles, California.
- March 20 - Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod dog sled race.
- March 31 - Wrestlemania I occurs at Madison Square Garden, New York. The Main Event features Hulk Hogan and Mr. T with Jimmy Snuka vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff with Bob Orton, Jr.

April

- April 1 - Villanova University's "perfect upset" of Georgetown University and Patrick Ewing for the NCAA Basketball Championship.
- April 1 - Sports Illustrated magazine publishes an article about the non-existent baseball prodigy Sidd Finch.
- April 15 - South Africa ends its ban on interracial marriages.
- April 21 - Tancredo Neves, president-elect of Brazil, dies after 38 days of illness that prevented him to take oath.
- April 23 - Coca-Cola company changed its recipe/formula and packaging to New Coke (not successfully)
- April 24 - Secular Organizations for Sobriety formed.
- April 26 - High Court judge Justice Lionel Murphy is committed to stand trial on charges of trying to pevert the course of justice.
- April 28 - Australian Nuclear Disarmament Party (NDP) splits.

May-June

Nuclear Disarmament Party
- May 8 - New Coke is released on the 99th anniversary of Coca-Cola. It will later become a major flop with consumers.
- May 11 - The FBI brings charges against suspected heads of the five Mafia families in New York City
- May 11 - Fire breaks in Valley Parade stadium in Bradford, England - 56 dead
- May 13 - Philadelphia's mayor orders police to storm the radical group's MOVE headquarters to end a stand-off. The police drop an explosive device into the headquarters killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 61 city residents in the resulting fire and leaving 250 people homeless.
- May 15 - Unabomber bomb injures John Hauser at UC Berkeley
- May 17- United Airlines Pilots go on strike for 29 days.
- May 20 - Propaganda: Radio Marti begins broadcasting to Cuba.
- May 23 - Thomas Patrick Cavanagh is sentenced to life in prison for attempting to sell stealth bomber secrets to the Soviet Union.
- May 25 - Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge which kills approximately 10,000 people.
- May 29 - In the Heysel Stadium disaster at the European Cup final in Brussels, 39 football (soccer) fans die and hundreds are injured.
- May 31 - The US-Canadian Outbreak: 41 tornadoes hit in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario. By its end, 76 perish.
- June 6 - The body of Josef Mengele is located and exhumed in Brazil.
- June 9 - Thomas Sutherland is kidnapped in Lebanon (he is not released until 1991).
- June 10 - Claus von Bulow is acquitted on charges of trying to kill his wife.
- June 13 - In Auburn, Washington, police defuses an Unabomber bomb sent to Boeing
- June 14 - TWA Flight 847 is hijacked by Hezbollah.
- June 23 - Air India Flight 182, a Boeing 747, blows up 31,000 feet (9,500 m) above the Atlantic Ocean, south of Ireland, killing all 329 aboard.

July

- July 4 - 13-year-old Ruth Lawrence achieves a first in Mathematics at Oxford University, by becoming the youngest British person ever to earn a first-class degree and the youngest known graduate of Oxford University.
- July 10 - The Greenpeace vessel, the Rainbow Warrior, is bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour by French DGSE agents.
- July 10 - After a storm of controversy surrounding a change in its cola's formula (see New Coke), Coca-Cola re-introduces the old formula as "Coca-Cola Classic".
- July 13 - Live Aid pop concerts in Philadelphia and London raise over £50 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.
- July 19 - U.S. Vice President George H. W. Bush announces that New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe will become the first schoolteacher to ride aboard the Space Shuttle.
- July 20 - The main ship wreck site of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha (which sank in 1622) is found 40 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida by treasure hunters who soon begin to raise $400 million in coins and silver.

August-September

- August 2 - Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashes in Dallas, Texas, killing 137 people.
- August 6 - In Hiroshima, tens of thousands mark the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city.
- August 7 - Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts.
- August 12 - Japan Airlines Flight 123, a Boeing 747SR-46 plane en route from Tokyo to Osaka, crashed northwest of Tokyo, killing 520 of the 524 people on board.
- August 22 - 55 people killed at in the Manchester air disaster at Manchester International Airport when a British Airtours Boeing 737 burst into flames after the pilot aborts the takeoff.
- August 31 - Richard Ramirez arrested for the "Night Stalker" murders.
- September 1 - A joint American-French expedition locates the wreck of the RMS Titanic.
- September 5 - John Howard replaces Andrew Peacock as Australian Federal Opposition Leader.
- September 6 - Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105, a Douglas DC-9 crashes just after takeoff from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, killing 31.
- September 15 - U.S. hostage Benjamin Weir released in Lebanon.
- September 19 - 8.1 Richter scale earthquake strikes Mexico City. More than 9,000 people are killed, a further 30,000 injured, and 95,000 lose their homes.

November

- November 6 - In Colombia, leftist guerrillas of the M-19 movement seize control of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá. By the next day, 115 people are dead, including 11 Supreme Court justices.
- November 15 - In separate events, mail bombs kill two people in Salt Lake City, Utah; a third bomb explodes the next day, injuring Mark Hoffman. The ensuing police investigation leads to the arrest of Hoffman for these murders, as well as forgery.
- November 16 - When 1,800 staff of Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, South Africa go on strike for better pay, they are dismissed and troops called in to help run the hospital.
- November 18 - First Calvin and Hobbes comic strip printed in a handful of newspapers; the strip is not carried in the hometown newspaper of its creator, Bill Watterson.
- November 19 - Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.
- November 19 - Pennzoil wins a $10.53 billion verdict from Texaco in the largest civil verdict in U.S. history (Texaco established a signed contract to buy Getty Oil after Pennzoil entered into an unsigned, yet still binding, buyout contract with Getty).
- November 20 - Microsoft Corporation releases the first version of Windows, Windows 1.0.
- November 21 - United States Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard is arrested for spying (he was caught giving Israel classified information on Arab nations and was eventually sentenced to life in prison).
- November 23 - Gunmen hijack EgyptAir Flight 648 while en route from Athens to Cairo when the plane lands in Malta, Egyptian commandos storm the hijacked jetliner but 60 people die in the raid).
- November 25 - Man wearing a chicken suit walks into the Australian House of Representatives and sits on the government front bench. He is later removed
- November 26 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs over rights to his autobiography to Random House for a record US$3 million.
- November 28 - Gerard Hoarau, exile political leader from the Seychelles, assassinated in London

December

- Ford Taurus released. It would become one of Ford's biggest successes ever.
- December 12 - Arrow Air Flight 1285 DC-8 crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing 256, 248 of whom were U.S. servicemen returning from overseeing a peacekeeping force in Sinai.
- December 16 - In New York City, Mafia bosses Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead in front of Sparks Steak House, making hit organizer John Gotti the leader of the powerful Gambino organized crime family.
- December 23 - Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov returns to Moscow after 7 years of internal exile
- December 27 - Rome and Vienna Airport Attacks - Groups of Abu Nidal members open fire in the airports of Rome and Vienna - 18 dead, 120 injured
- December 27 - American naturalist Dian Fossey is found murdered in Rwanda.
- December 31 - Last issue of The Columbus Citizen-Journal is distributed.

Environmental and weather change

- Asian tiger mosquito, an invasive species is first found in Houston, Texas
- November 13 - The volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupts in Colombia, killing an estimated 23,000 people.
- Ethiopian famine continues - Live Aid attempts to raise funds for famine relief.

Unknown date

- Victoria celebrates its 150th anniversary.
- Capital gains tax introduced to Australia.
- Buckyballs discovered by Harold Kroto, Robert Curl and Richard Smalley.
- GNU Manifesto first written by Richard Stallman.
- Western Sahara is admitted to the Organization of African Unity; Morocco, which claims Western Sahara, leaves in protest.
- Solarquest, space age real estate game, first published by Golden.
- Free Software Foundation founded.
- Norma Phillips Thornworth elected president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Births

- February 5 - Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese footballer
- February 9 - Rachel Melvin, American actress
- February 10 - Anette Sagen, Norwegian ski jumper
- February 18 - Lee Boyd Malvo, American serial killer
- February 19 - Haylie Duff, American actress and singer
- February 28 - FeFe Dobson, Canadian singer
- March 2 - Robert Iler, American actor
- March 13 - Emile Hirsch, American actor
- March 15 - Antti Autti, Finnish snowboarder
- March 24 - Haruka Ayase, Japanese actress and model
- March 26 - Keira Knightley, English actress
- May 2 - Sarah Hughes, American figure skater
- June 26 - Urgyen Trinley Dorje, Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader
- June 27 - Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russian tennis player
- June 28 - Phillip Bardsley, English footballer
- June 30 - Michael Phelps, American swimmer
- July 2 - Ashley Tisdale, American actress
- July 24 - Teagan Presley, American actress
- July 25 - James Lafferty, American actor and athlete
- September 14 - Aya Ueto, Japanese actress
- October 11 - Michelle Trachtenberg, American actress
- October 22 - Zachary Hanson, American musician
- October 24 - Wayne Rooney, English footballer
- October 25 - Ciara, American singer
- November 8 - Jack Osbourne, English actor
- November 30 - Kaley Cuoco, American actress
- November 18 - Rex Goudie, Canadian singer
- December 3 - Amanda Seyfried, American actress
- December 5 - Frankie Muniz, American actor
- December 10 - Raven Symone, American actress
- December 23 - Harry Judd, English drummer

Deaths

- January 4 - Sir Brian Horrocks, British general (b. 1895)
- March 10 - Konstantin Chernenko, Soviet politician (b. 1911)
- March 12 - Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor (b. 1899)
- March 28 - Marc Chagall, Russian-born painter (b. 1887)
- April 11 - Enver Hoxha, Albanian dictator (b. 1908)
- May 5 - Sir Donald Bailey, British civil engineer (b. 1901)
- May 8 - Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (b. 1918)
- May 9 - Edmond O'Brien, American actor (b. 1915)
- May 10 - Chester Gould, American cartoonist (b. 1900)
- May 12 - Jean Dubuffet, French artist (b. 1901)
- May 16 - Margaret Hamilton, American actress (b. 1902)
- May 17 - Abe Burrows, American songwriter, composer, and writer (b. 1910)
- June 11 - Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (b. 1954)
- June 15 - Andy Stanfield, American athlete (b. 1927)
- July 2 - David Purley, British race car driver (b. 1945)
- July 9 - Jimmy Kinnon, Scottish founder of Narcotics Anonymous (b. 1911)
- July 16 - Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
- July 19 - Janusz A. Zajdel, Polish writer (b. 1938)
- August 6 - Forbes Burnham, President of Guyana (b. 1923)
- August 12 - Manfred Winkelhock, German race car driver (b. 1951)
- August 25 - Samantha Smith, American schoolgirl activist (b. 1972)
- August 31 - Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Australian biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
- September 6 - Isabel Cox-Meighen, First Lady of Canada (b. 1882)
- September 6 - Little Brother Montgomery, American musician
- September 7 - Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1917)
- September 8 - John Franklin Enders, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1887)
- September 9 - Paul Flory, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
- September 11 - William Alwyn, English composer (b. 1905)
- September 19 - Italo Calvino, Italian writer (b. 1923)
- October 2 - Rock Hudson, American actor (b. 1925)
- October 6 - Nelson Riddle, American bandleader (b. 1921)
- October 10 - Yul Brynner, American actor (b. 1915)
- October 11 - Orson Welles, American film director (b. 1915)
- October 12 - Johnny Olson, American game show announcer (b. 1910)
- October 22 - Thomas Townsend Brown, American scientist (b. 1905)
- October 31 - Poul Reichhardt, Danish actor (b. 1913)
- November 5 - Spencer W. Kimball, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1895)
- November 24 - Big Joe Turner, American blues singer (b. 1911)
- December 7 - Robert Graves, English writer (b. 1895)
- December 23 - Ferhat Abbas, Algerian nationalist (b. 1899)
- December 24 - Robert Lincoln Beckwith, last direct descendant of President Abraham Lincoln (b. 1904)
- December 27 - Dian Fossey, American biologist (b. 1932)
- December 31 - Ricky Nelson, American singer and actor (b. 1940)

Nobel Prizes

- Physics - Klaus von Klitzing
- Chemistry - Herbert A. Hauptman, Jerome Karle
- Literature - Claude Simon
- Peace - International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
- Economics - Franco Modigliani

Templeton Prize

- Sir Alister Hardy

Right Livelihood Award

- Theo van Boven, Cary Fowler / Pat Mooney / Rural Advancement Fund International, Lokayan / Rajni Kothari and Duna Kör Category:1985 als:1985 ko:1985년 ja:1985年 simple:1985 th:พ.ศ. 2528

1993

1993 (MCMXCIII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003).

Events

January

Wikipedia:Categorization#Year categories.]]
- January 1 - Czechoslovakia divides. Establishment of independent Slovakia and Czech Republic.
- January 3 - In Moscow, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
- January 5 - Washington State executes Westley Allan Dodd by hanging (the first legal hanging in America since 1965)
- January 9 – Jean-Claude Romand kills his family and tries to burn himself with his home in France
- January 11 - First edition of WWF Monday Night RAW appears on the USA Network
- January 15 - Salvatore Riina, the Mafia boss known as 'The Beast', is arrested in Sicily after three-decades as a fugitive
- January 18 - For the first time, Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is officially observed in all 50 American states.
- January 19
- IBM announces a $4.97 billion loss for 1992 which is the largest single-year corporate loss in United States history
- Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq refuses to allow UNSCOM inspectors to use its own aircraft to fly into Iraq, and begins military operations in the demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait, and the northern No-Fly Zone. US forces fire approximately 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Baghdad factories linked to Iraq's illegal nuclear weapons program. Iraq then informs UNSCOM that it will be able to resume its flights
- January 20 - Bill Clinton succeeds George H. W. Bush as President of the United States of America
- January 25
- Catherine Callbeck becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island, becoming the first female Premier to be elected in Canada. (Rita Johnston was Canada's first female Premier but was not elected)
- Mir Aimal Kasi fires a rifle and kills two employees outside CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, USA
- January 26 - Václav Havel elected President of the Czech Republic

February

- February 8 - General Motors sues NBC after Dateline NBC allegedly rigged two crashes showing that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settles the lawsuit the following day.
- February 11
- Janet Reno is selected by President Clinton as US Attorney General.
- February 12 - 11-year-old boys Robert Thompson and John Venables kill 2-year-old James Bulger in Liverpool.
- February 17 - Ferry in Haiti sinks - 285 survivors of maybe 1500 passengers
- February 23 - Gary Coleman wins a $1,280,000 lawsuit against his parents.
- February 26 - World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a van bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center goes off, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand.
- February 28 - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest cult leader David Koresh on federal firearms violations. Four agents and five Davidians die in the raid and a 51-day standoff begins.

March

- March - First issue of Wired magazine.
- March 4 - Authorities announce the capture of suspected World Trade Center bombing conspirator Mohammad Salameh
- March 9 - Rodney King testifies at the federal trial of four Los Angeles, California police officers accused of violating King's civil rights when they beat him during an arrest
- March 11 - Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn-in the next day becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States
- March 12 - Several bombs explode in Bombay, India killing about 300 and injuring hundreds more. See Bombay bombings (1993)
- March 12 - North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea says that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites
- March 13 - The Great Blizzard of 1993 strikes the eastern U.S., bringing record snowfall and other severe weather all the way from Cuba to Québec
- March 16 - The blizzard is reported to have killed 184, including many surprised and stranded people along the Appalachian Trail
- March 20 - Warrington bomb attacks: IRA bomb explodes in Warrington Town Centre and kills two children, Johnathan Ball and Tim Parry
- March 27 - Jiang Zemin becomes President of the People's Republic of China.
- March 28 - Gaullists win legislative election in France and Édouard Balladur becomes prime minister of France.
- March 31 - A bug in a program written by Richard Depew sends an article to 200 newsgroups simultaneously. The term spamming is coined by Joel Furr to describe the incident.

April

- April - The Kuwaiti government claims to uncover an Iraqi assassination plot against former US President George H. W. Bush shortly after his visit to Kuwait. Two Iraqi nationals, caught with smuggled hashish and alcohol inside Kuwait, confess to driving a car-bomb into Kuwait on behalf of the Iraq Secret Service [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/content/?020930fr_archive02]
- April 6 - Russian nuclear accident at Tomsk 7
- April 6 - HMS Richmond launched for the Royal Navy
- April 7 - Attack submarine ex-Queenfish completes being recycled
- April 10 -ANC activist Chris Hani assassinated in South Africa
- April 22 - In Washington, DC, the Holocaust Memorial Museum is dedicated
- April 22 - Murder of Stephen Lawrence, London, UK
- April 23 - WHO declares tuberculosis a Global Emergency
- April 24 - Bishopsgate Bomb explodes in the City of London - 1 dead, 50 injured
- April 30 - The World Wide Web was born at CERN

May

- May 1 - Former prime minister of France Pierre Bérégovoy commits suicide
- May 1 - A Tamil Tigers suicide bomber assassinates President Ranasinghe Premadasa of Sri Lanka
- May 24 - Eritrean independence
- May 27 - A car bomb in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence - 5 dead - Mafia suspected

June

- June 6 - Mongolia holds its first direct presidential elections
- June 8 - Assassination of Rene Bousquet, the Vichy France police chief, at his Paris home
- June 9 – Los Angeles Police Department raids the home of Hollywood Madame Heidi Fleiss
- June 9 - Montreal Canadiens win their 24th Stanley Cup
- June 14? - Tansu Ciller becomes prime minister of Turkey
- June 18 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq refuses to allow UNSCOM weapons inspectors to install remote-controlled monitoring cameras at two missile engine test stands.
- June 22 - Japan's New Party Sakigake breaks away from the Liberal Democratic Party.
- June 23 - Lorena Bobbitt cuts off the penis of her husband John Wayne Bobbitt.
- July 23 - Candelaria massacre - police shoot number of street kids in Candelaria Church in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- June 8 - In Paris, Christian Didier breaks into the home of Rene Bousquet, banker and former Vichy France administrator and shoots him dead
- June 22 - Unabomber bomb injures Charles Epstein in Tiburon, California
- June 24 - Unabomber bomb injures computer scientist David Gelernter in Yale University
- June 25 - Kim Campbell becomes Canada's nineteenth and first female Prime Minister
- June 27 - US President Bill Clinton orders a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in the Al-Mansur District, Baghdad, in response to the attempted assassination of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush during his visit to Kuwait in mid-April
- June 27 - In Bad Kleinen, Germany, GSG-9 troopers arrest terrorists Birgit Hogefeld and Wolfgang Grams

July

- July 1 - Gian Luigi Ferry shoots 8 and injures 6 in "Pettit and Martin" law firm in San Francisco, then shoots himself
- July 5 - Iraq disarmament crisis: UN inspection teams leave Iraq. Iraq then agrees to UNSCOM demands and the inspection teams return
- July 12 - A magnitude 7.8 earthquake off Hokkaido, Japan launches a devastating tsunami, killing 202 on the small island of Okushiri, Hokkaido
- July 20 - White House deputy counsel Vincent W. Foster Jr commits suicide in Virginia
- July 23 - Candelaria Massacre ? Brazilian police officers kill 8 street kids in Rio de Janeiro
- July 29 - The Israeli Supreme Court acquits accused Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.
- July 31 - Windows NT 3.1 has been released with the support of NTFS file system.

August

- August 4 - A federal judge sentences LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 30 months in prison for violating motorist Rodney King's civil rights
- August 6 - Louis Freeh is confirmed by the United States Senate to be the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
- August 9 - King Albert II of Belgium is sworn into office nine days after the death of his brother, King Baudouin
- August 21 - NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Observer orbiter three days before the spacecraft is scheduled to enter orbit around Mars

September

Mars and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, with US President, Bill Clinton.]]
- September 13 - PLO leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin shake hands in Washington D.C., after signing a peace accord.
- September 13 - Norwegian parliamentary election, 1993
- September 23 - The IOC selects Sydney, Australia to host the 2000 Summer Olympics.
- September 29 - An earthquake centred on Killari, Maharashtra, India kills nearly 10,000 people.

October

- Polly Klaas is kidnapped at knifepoint from her home in Petaluma, California. She was later strangled by Richard Allen Davis
- October 3 - Large scale battle between US forces and local militia in Mogadishu, Somalia
- October 13 - Andreas Papandreou begins his second term as Prime Minister of Greece.
- October 25 - Jean Chrétien and his Liberal Party defeat the governing Progressive Conservative Party in the Canadian federal election.
- October - Internal Revenue Service of the United States granted full religious recognition and tax exemption to all Scientology Churches, missions and social betterment groups[http://www.religioustolerance.org/scientol1.htm].

November

- November 1 - The Maastricht Treaty activates, formally establishing the European Union
- November 4 - Jean Chrétien becomes Canada's twentieth Prime Minister.
- November 9 - The Stari Most, or Old Bridge of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, is destroyed by tank fire in the fights between Bosnian Croat and Bosnian Muslim forces.
- November 18 - In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution.
- November 20 - Savings and Loan scandal: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his "dealings" with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating.
- November 24 - In the United Kingdom, 11-year-olds Robert Thompson and Jon Venables are convicted of the child murder of 2-year-old James Bulger of Liverpool (they were sentenced to "indefinite detention")
- November 28 - The Observer reveals a channel of communications has existed between the IRA and the British government, despite the government's persistent denials.
- November 30 - US President Bill Clinton signs the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (the Brady Bill) into law

December

- December 2 - Shuttle program: STS-61 - NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair an optical flaw in the Hubble Space Telescope.
- December 2 - War on Drugs: Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is gunned down in Medellín when the police try to arrest him
- December 7 - Colin Ferguson opened fire with his Ruger 9mm pistol on a Long Island Railroad train, killing six and injuring 19. The event was dubbed "The Long Island Railroad Massacre."
- December 12 - Earthquake hits Flores, Indonesia - 2200 dead
- December 15 - Downing Street Declaration - United Kingdom commits itself to the search for an answer to the problems of Northern Ireland
- December 30 - Israel and the Vatican establish diplomatic relations

Unknown dates

- The second World Parliament of Religions is held in Chicago, Illinois
- US President Bill Clinton sends 6 American warships to Haiti to enforce United Nations trade sanctions against the military-led regime in that country
- The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers flood large portions of the American Midwest.
- The Late Show with David Letterman premieres on CBS.
- Dominos Pizza Abolishes the 30-minute gaurantee on Pizza Delivery

Births

- March 17 - Julia Winter, Swedish actress
- April 3 - Dakoda Dowd, American golfer
- August 16 - Cameron Monaghan, American actor
- December 6 - Elián González, Cuban refugee
- December 8 -