News and Events of 1994

Year by Year: 1900-2012 View a 1994 calendar

World Events

World Statistics

Population: 5.602 billion
population by decade

Nobel Peace Prize:
Yasir Arafat (Palestine), Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin (both Israel)

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Serbs' heavy weapons pound Sarajevo (Jan. 5-6).
Thousands dead in Rwanda massacre (April 6).
South Africa holds first interracial national election (April 29); Nelson Mandela elected President.
Israel signs accord with Palestinians (May 4), peace treaty with Jordan (Oct. 17).
IRA declares cease-fire in Northern Ireland (Aug. 31). Ulster Protestants declare cease-fire (Oct. 13).
Aristide returns to Haiti (Oct. 4), forms Government with Prime Minister and full Cabinet (Nov. 9).
US sends forces to Persian Gulf (Oct. 7).
Russians attack secessionist Republic of Chechnya (Dec. 11 et seq.).

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U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

President: William J. Clinton
Vice President: Albert Gore, Jr.
Population: 260,289,237
Life expectancy: 75.7 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 53.7
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000): 46.6

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Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan attacked (Jan. 6); three arrested in attack (Jan. 13).
Aldrich Ames, high C.I.A. official, charged with spying for Soviets (Feb. 22).
Four convicted in World Trade Center bombing (March 4).
Clinton accused of sexual harassment while Governor of Arkansas (May 6).
O. J. Simpson arrested in killings of wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and friend, Ronald Goldman (June 18).
US Supreme Court approves limit on abortion protests (June 30).
Senate confirms Stephen G. Breyer for Supreme Court (July 29).
Major league baseball players strike (Aug. 13).
Newt Gingrich named House Speaker (Dec. 5).

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Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars):   $6,947.00 billion
Federal spending:   $1460.84 billion
Federal debt:   $4643.7 billion
Median Household Income
(current dollars):  $32,264
Consumer Price Index:   148.2
Unemployment:   6.1%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.29

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Sports

Sports Links

Pro Football Summary

Pro Basketball Summary

Pro Baseball Summary

Super Bowl

Dallas d. Buffalo (30-13)

World Series

Not Held

NBA Championship

Houston d. New York (4-3)

Stanley Cup

NY Rangers d. Vancouver (4-3)

Wimbledon

Women: Conchita Martinez d. M. Navratilova (6-4 3-6 6-3)
Men: Pete Sampras d. G. Ivanisevic (7-6 7-6 6-0)

Kentucky Derby Champion

Go For Gin

NCAA Basketball Championship

Arkansas d. Duke (76-72)

NCAA Football Champions

Nebraska (13-0-0)

World Cup

Brazil d. Italy (3-2 (shootout))

1994 Winter Olympics

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx
Music: Of Reminiscences and Reflections, Gunther Schuller
Drama: Three Tall Women, Edward Albee

Oscars awarded in 1994
Academy Award, Best Picture: Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen and Branko Lustig, producers (Universal)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Kenzaburo Oe (Japan)

1994 Emmy Awards

1994 Tony Awards

Grammys awarded in 1994
Record of the Year: "I Will Always Love You," Whitney Houston
Album of the Year: The Bodyguard—Original Soundtrack Album, Whitney Houston (Arista)
Song of the Year: "A Whole New World" (Theme From Aladdin), Alan Menken and Tim Rice, songwriters

Miss America: Kimberly Clarice Aiken (SC)

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Events

Kurt Cobain kills himself. He was 27.
Ninety-five million viewers watch O. J. Simpson and Al Cowlings drive along Los Angeles freeways in history's most exciting low-speed chase.
Steven Spielberg wins his first directing Oscar for Schindler's List.
Woodstock '94 commemorates the original weekend-long concert. Green Day and Nine Inch Nails join Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers.
For the first time in history, chain bookstores outsell independent stores, signaling what many fear to be the death of smaller booksellers at the hands of superstores.
Tom Hanks wins his second consecutive Best Actor Oscar. He won in 1993 for his role in Philadelphia and in 1994 for Forrest Gump.
ER and Friends debut on NBC, establishing NBC's dominance of the Thursday-night lineup.

Movies

Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, Quiz Show, Nobody's Fool

Books

James Kelman, How Late It Was, How Late
Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: George A. Olah (US), University of Southern California in Los Angeles, for research that opened new ways to break apart and rebuild compounds of carbon and hydrogen

Physics: Clifford G. Shull (US) and Bertram N. Brockhouse (Canada), for adapting beams of neutrons as probes to explore the atomic structure of matter

Physiology or Medicine: Alfred G. Gilman and Martin Rodbell (both US), for discovery of G-proteins that help cells respond to outside signals

White House launches Web page. Initial commerce sites are established and mass marketing campaigns are launched via email, introducing the term "spamming" to the Internet vocabulary. Background: Computers and Internet
Dr. Ned First (US) clones calves from cells of early embryos. Background: Cloning Milestones
The FDA approves the Flavr Savr tomato, the first genetically-engineered food product.