Top News Stories from 1995
World Events
World Statistics
Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade Nobel Peace Prize: Joseph Rotblat and Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs (UK)
More World Statistics... - US rescues Mexico's economy with $20-billion aid program (Feb. 21).
- Russian space station Mir greets first Americans (March 14). US shuttle docks with station (June 27).
- Nerve gas attack in Tokyo subway kills eight and injures thousands. The Aum Shinrikyo ("Supreme Truth") cult is to blame (March 20). Background: International Terrorism
- Death toll 2,000 in Rwanda massacre (April 22).
- Fighting escalates in Bosnia and Croatia (May 1). Warring parties agree on cease-fire (Oct. 5); sign peace treaty (Dec. 14).
- France explodes nuclear device in Pacific; wide protests ensue (Sept. 5). Background: nuclear weapons
- Israelis and Palestinians agree on transferring West Bank to Arabs (Sept. 24). Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin slain by Jewish extremist at peace rally (Nov. 4).
U.S. Events
U.S. Statistics
President: William J. Clinton
Vice President: Albert Gore, Jr.
Population: 262,764,948
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 52.8
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000) 45.9
More U.S. Statistics... - Criminal trial of O. J. Simpson opens in California (Jan. 24).
- Scores killed as terrorist's car bomb blows up block-long Oklahoma City federal building (April 19); Timothy McVeigh, 27, arrested as suspect (April 21); authorities seek second suspect, link right-wing paramilitary groups to bombing (April 22).
- Los Angeles jury finds O. J. Simpson not guilty of murder charges (Oct. 3).
- Pope John Paul II visits US on whirlwind tour (Oct. 4-8).
- Million Man March draws hundreds of thousands of black men to capital (Oct. 16).
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $7,269.60 billion
Federal spending: $1519.13 billion
Federal debt $4921.0 billion
Consumer Price Index: $152.4
Unemployment: 5.6%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.32 (as of 1/1/95)
Sports
Super Bowl
San Francisco d. San DiegoWorld Series
Atlanta Braves d. Cleveland (4-2)NBA Championship
Houston d. OrlandoStanley Cup
New Jersey d. DetroitWimbledon
Women: Steffi Graf d. A.S. Vicario (4-6 6-1 7-5)Men: Pete Sampras d. B. Becker (6-7 6-2 6-4 6-2)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Thunder GulchNCAA Basketball Championship
UCLA d. ArkansasNCAA Football Champions
Nebraska (12-0-0)Entertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes Fiction:
The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields
Music: Stringmusic, Morton Gould
Drama: The Young Man from Atlanta, Horton Foote
Academy Award, Best Picture: Forrest Gump, Wendy Finerman, Steve Tisch and Steve Starkey, producers (Paramount)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Seamus Heaney (Ireland)
Record of the Year: "All I Wanna Do," Sheryl Crow
Album of the Year: MTV Unplugged, Tony Bennett (Columbia)
Song of the Year: "Streets of Philadelphia" (Theme from Philadelphia), Bruce Springsteen, songwriter
Miss America: Heather Whitestone (AL)
More Entertainment Awards... Events
- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum opens in Cleveland. Renowned architect I. M. Pei designed the ultra-modern, 150,000 square-foot building.
- Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia dies.
- An estimated 150 million people watch as the not guilty verdict is read in the O. J. Simpson verdict.
- The Metropolitan Opera installs screens on audience seats that display captions, to attract a wider audience.
Movies
- Babe, Braveheart, Leaving Las Vegas, The Usual Suspects, Dead Man Walking
Books
- Pat Barker, The Ghost Road
- Richard Ford, Independence Day
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: F. Sherwood Rowland, Mario Molina (both US), and Paul Crutzen (Netherlands), for their pioneering work in explaining the chemical processes that deplete the earth's ozone shield
Physics: Martin L. Perl and Frederick Reines (both US), for their discoveries of "two of nature's most remarkable subatomic particles"—the tau and the neutrino
Physiology or Medicine: Edward B. Lewis, Eric F. Wieschaus (both US), and Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (Germany), for studies of the fruit fly that will help explain congenital malformations in humans
More Nobel Prizes in 1998... - First solo transpacific balloon flight. Steve Fossett made a flight of more than 5,430 mi. from Seoul, South Korea, to Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, in a helium-filled balloon. Also set record for distance (Feb. 18–21, 1995). Background: Famous Firsts in Aviation
- Drs. Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell (UK) create the world's first cloned sheep, Megan and Morag, from embryo cells. Background: Cloning Milestones
Death
- Howard Cosell
- Jerry Garcia
- Rose Kennedy
- Howard Koch
- Mickey Mantle
- Ginger Rogers
- Terry Southern
- Selena Quintanilla
