1996 January 3
German President Roman Herzog announces that January 27 has been designated as the official day of memory for the six millions Jews killed during the Holocaust. January 27 was the day Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Russians in 1945; no mention is made of November 9.
1996 January 5
Kozyrev resigns as Russian foreign minister and is replaced by former KGB Chief Primakov.
1996 January 15
Five of the largest African American congregations in the United States announce the formulation of Revelation Corporation of America, a for-profit company designed to improve the buying power of African American consumers.
1996 January 18
Lisa Marie Presley files for divorce from her husband, pop singer Michael Jackson in Los Angeles, California.
1996 January 27
The first annual German memorial day for Jewish victims of the Holocaust is commemorated in Berlin on the 51st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Russian army in 1945.
1996 January 30
Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Earvin (Magic) Johnson announces his return to the NBA after retiring in 1991.
1996 February 3
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Andrei Kokoschin warns that NATO expansion would doom the existing arms control agreements.
1996 February 20
Kweisi Mfume is sworn in as the top executive of the NAACP in Washington, D.C.
1996 March 1
The U.S. Congress Handbook polls all 540 members of Congress. 349 list their religion as Protestant, 146 as Catholic, 33 as Jewish and 12 with no religious affiliation.
1996 March 10
Felix Habsburg-Lothringen crosses the Austrian border and holds a press conference to demonstrate his defiance of a law barring the former royal family from Austria. Felix Habsburg is 79 years old.
1996 March 17
General Valentin I. Varennikov, former commander of the Soviet ground forces who supported the abortive coup against Gorbachev in 1991 and now a leading member of the Communist Party tells audience "Keep in mind the party has an unpublished ‘MAXIMUM PROGRAM’ which he says will be resuscitated after the June elections. The term ‘Maximum Program’ was used by the Bolsheviks to describe their long-term goal of establishing a Communist world order.
1996 March 17
Austrian President Thomas Kiestil tells an interviewer that the old anti-Habsburg laws are anachronistic and that the aging sons of the last emperor pose no threat to Austria.
1996 March 20
In Prague, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher tells the foreign ministers of 12 Central and Eastern European countries that NATO will proceed with plans to incorporate former Soviet bloc countries despite the objections of Russia, but hints Russia could also join if it became more democratic. Sixteen nations are members of NATO at this time.
1996 March 21
NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana tells a news conference in Moscow that NATO expansion will go on as planned despite any Russian objections.
1996 March 21
Croatian Serbs in Vukovar, Croatia, stone U.S. Ambassador Madelaine Albright’s motorcade breaking several windows. The ambassador is unharmed.
1996 March 22
U.S. Secretary of State Christopher meets with Yeltzin and Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov in Moscow. Christopher discusses the NATO situation "at length" with Primakov, but reportedly doesn’t "bring it up " in talks with Yeltzin. Presidential candidate Zyuganov and others are invited to a discussion with Christopher at the U.S. Ambassadors residence in Moscow.
1996 March 25
Yeltzin in Oslo, Norway warns against NATO expansion, but brushes aside worries about the rebirth of the Soviet Union. Norway is the only NATO nation sharing a border with Russia.
1996 March 28
At the end of the business day, the U.S. national debt exceeds $5 trillion for the first time in history ($5,029,951,000,000). That same day, President Clinton signs legislation raising the debt limit from $4.9 trillion to $5.5 trillion. The U.S. debt limit was $49 billion in 1940 and has risen more than a hundredfold in the last 55 years. There have been 77 limitation increases since 1940.
1996 March 29
Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan sign integration accords in Moscow.
1996 April 1
Despite pleas from North Korea, the U.S. State Department announces it will not replace a $2 million shipload of food assistance that sank in high seas off Taiwan in March. The U.N.-chartered ship was carrying food donations from other countries as well. No mention was made of any insurance coverage.
1996 April 2
Russia and Belarus sign "Agreement on the Formation of a Community."
1996 April 3
U.S. Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown (Ron Brown) and a group of distinguished American business leaders are killed in the crash of an Air Force CT-43 near Dubrovnik, Croatia. A total of 35 are killed.
1996 April 15
Just after sundown, observance of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, begins in New York and around the world. It continues throughout the following day. A few Jewish leaders complain that the Holocaust is becoming an "ersatz" religion and may ultimately be a harmful influence on traditional Jewish values, culture and heritage.
1996 April 15
The New York Times announces that the Russians are still building a huge underground military complex inside Yamantau mountain in the southern Urals near the Kazakhstan border. The mammoth complex is said to be as large as the Washington area inside the beltway and is served by a railroad, a modern highway and tens of thousands of workers and their families.
1996 April 17
U.S. President Bill Clinton signs a joint declaration on security cooperation with Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto pledging to maintain American military levels in Japan and elsewhere in Asia.
