Editing 1996 (section)

===January===
* [[January 8]] &ndash; A [[Zaire]]an cargo plane [[1996 Air Africa crash|crashes into a crowded market]] in the center of the capital city of the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], [[Kinshasa]], killing around 300 people.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2001-02-28 |title=An Airplane Crash into Type-K Ndolo Market: What Lesson for the Future?" (abstract) |url=http://pdm.medicine.wisc.edu/Mainzabstracts.html#airplane |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010228015010/http://pdm.medicine.wisc.edu/Mainzabstracts.html#airplane |archive-date=2001-02-28 |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=pdm.medicine.wisc.edu}}</ref>
* [[January 9]]–[[January 20|20]] &ndash; Serious fighting breaks out between Russian soldiers and rebel fighters in [[Chechnya]].
* [[January 11]] &ndash; [[Ryutaro Hashimoto]], leader of the [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]], becomes [[Prime Minister of Japan]].
* [[January 13]] &ndash; [[Prime Minister of Italy|Italy's Prime Minister]], [[Lamberto Dini]], resigns after the failure of all-party talks to confirm him. New talks are initiated by President [[Oscar Luigi Scalfaro]] to form a new government.
* [[January 14]] &ndash; [[Jorge Sampaio]] is elected President of Portugal.
* [[January 16]] &ndash; President of [[Sierra Leone]] [[Valentine Strasser]] is deposed by the chief of defence, [[Julius Maada Bio]]. Bio promises to restore power following elections scheduled for February.
* [[January 19]]
** The [[North Cape oil spill|''North Cape'' oil spill]] occurs as an engine fire forces the tugboat ''Scandia'' ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, [[Rhode Island]]. The ''North Cape'' Barge is pulled along with it and leaks 820,000 gallons of home heating oil.
** An [[Indonesia]]n ferry sinks off the northern tip of [[Sumatra]], drowning more than 100 people.
* [[January 20]] &ndash; [[Yasser Arafat]] is re-elected president of the [[Palestinian Authority]].
* [[January 21]] &ndash; France undertakes its [[List of nuclear weapons tests of France|last nuclear weapons test]].
* [[January 22]] &ndash; [[Andreas Papandreou]], [[Prime Minister of Greece]], resigns due to health problems; a new government forms under [[Costas Simitis]].
* [[January 24]] &ndash; Polish Premier [[Józef Oleksy]] resigns amid accusations that he spied for [[Moscow]]. He is replaced by [[Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz]].
* [[January 27]] &ndash; Colonel [[Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara]] deposes the first democratically elected President of [[Niger]], [[Mahamane Ousmane]], in a military coup.
* [[January 31]]
** [[Colombo Central Bank bombing]]: an explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank in [[Colombo]], [[Sri Lanka]], killing at least 86 people and injuring 1,400.
** [[Yuji Hyakutake|An amateur astronomer from southern Japan]] discovers [[Comet Hyakutake]]; it will pass very close to the Earth in March.