* 1996 – Saddam Hussein's troops seized Irbil after the Kurdish Masoud Barzani appealed for help to defeat his Kurdish rival PUK.

On September 21, 1996, barely three years after the " Don't Ask, Don't Tell " imbroglio, and further straining relations with the LGBT community, Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act ( DOMA ), which defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman.

However, progress in EU-Belarus relations stalled in 1996 after serious setbacks to the development of democracy, and the Drazdy conflict.

Similarly, the USAID phased out a long-standing bilateral partnership with Botswana in 1996, after successful programs emphasizing education, training, entrepreneurship, environmental management, and reproductive health.

The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1996 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his intention to relocate the team to Baltimore.

Modell's team was named the " Baltimore Ravens " after a fan contest and began play in the 1996 season.

Not long after, in 1996, Karmal died from liver cancer.

In 1996, the year after the film was released, the annual three-day " Braveheart Conference " at Stirling Castle attracted fans of Braveheart, increasing the conference's attendance to 167, 000 from 66, 000 in the previous year.

Many of the Yakoma soldiers who left the country after the mutinies in 1996 – 1997 have now returned and must also be reintegrated into the army.

In the Czech Republic, anyone who spent more than six months in the UK or France between the years 1980 and 1996 or received transfusion in the UK after the year 1980 is not allowed to donate blood.

After the Panthers ' success in 1996, Capers led the Panthers through two disappointing seasons: a 7 – 9 season in 1997, and a 4 – 12 season in 1998 which resulted in Capers being fired after four seasons with the team.

Sagan taught a course on critical thinking at Cornell University until he died in 1996 from pneumonia, a few months after finding that he was in remission of myelodysplastic syndrome.

Atkins continued performing in the 1990s, but his health declined after being diagnosed again with cancer in 1996.

The first clash occurred in 1996 after a nearly two-months stand-off.

Star receiver Michael Irvin was suspended by the league for the first five games of 1996 following a drug-related arrest ; he came back after the Cowboys started the season 2-3 ; they finished 10-6 and won the NFC East title, but were eliminated in the divisional round of the playoffs 26-17 by the second-year Carolina Panthers.

The rivalry cooled with the decline of the Cowboys after 1996.

The phrase " Doom clone | Doom clone " was initially popular to describe the style of gameplay in Doom-like games, but after 1996 was gradually replaced by " first-person shooter " By 1998 the phrase " first-person shooter " had firmly superseded " Doom clone "

This facility became more vital after the closure of the Indian Ocean Station in 1996.

In 1996, a man who had been seen in Dublin wearing her photograph around his neck, stabbed himself after being ejected from her parents ' pub in Gweedore, County Donegal.

* 1996 – At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3 rocket, carrying an Intelsat 708, crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing many people.

Relations deteriorated after the Taliban took power in 1996.

Nineteen-year-old Fauziya Kasinga, a member of the Tchamba-Kunsuntu tribe of Togo, was granted asylum in 1996 after leaving an arranged marriage to escape FGM, setting a precedent in U. S. immigration law because FGM was for the first time accepted as a form of persecution.

Unlike Alan Jackson, who refused to return to the UK after being treated in a similar manner by the press, Brooks returned in 1996 for more sold-out concerts, although this time his media appearances were mostly restricted to country radio and interviews with magazines.

The Haitian Ministry of Economy and Finance designed the Haiti economic reforms of 1996 to rebuild the economy of Haiti after significant downturns suffered in the previous years.

Prior to the implementation of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Act 1996 enacted by the British Parliament, Hong Kong represented its interests abroad through the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices ( HKETOs ) and via a special office in the British Embassies or High Commissions, but the latter has ceased after the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to the PRC and became a special administrative region ( SAR ) of the PRC in 1997.

Following the rise of the Taliban in 1996, Massoud, who rejected the Taliban's fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, returned to the armed opposition, serving as the military and political leader of the United Islamic Front ( also known in the West as Northern Alliance ).

Switzerland is an active participant in the OSCE, its foreign minister serving as Chairman-in-Office for 1996.

She also had a long career in the city council of Helsinki, serving there from 1977 to 1996.

Spiro Theodore Agnew (; November 9, 1918September 17, 1996 ) was the 39th Vice President of the United States ( 1969 – 1973 ), serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland ( 1967 – 1969 ).

Its ruins, along with the remnants of the Berghof, were removed in 1996 to make room for a new bus station serving the bus line to the Kehlsteinhaus and a for the new InterContinental Hotel Resort.

On December 5, 1996, Thurmond became the oldest serving member of the U. S. Senate, and on May 25, 1997, the longest-serving member ( 41 years and 10 months ), casting his 15, 000th vote in September 1998.

In the spring of 1996, with Yeltsin's popularity at a low ebb, Chubais and Yeltsin recruited a team of six leading Russian financiers and media barons ( all oligarchs ) who bankrolled the Yeltsin campaign with $ 3 million and guaranteed coverage on television and in leading newspapers directly serving the president's campaign strategy.

From 1985, when Howard Baker of Tennessee retired, until his resignation from the Senate, Dole was the leader of the Senate Republicans, serving as Majority Leader from 1985 until 1987 and again from 1995 to 1996.

On November 6, 1996, Andy Campbell, a ranger serving as Tunnel Mill's caretaker, was shot to death by Roger Caldwell, " a diagnosed, paranoid schizophrenic " who trespassed onto the property while drunk.

In 2001, it was revealed that Perry Willis had worked on behalf of Browne's 1996 campaign while serving as national director of the Libertarian Party.

Prior to 1996, Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Volunteer Fire Department served the town, with Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue serving until 2001, with Broward Sheriff's Office Department of Fire Rescue & Emergency services providing fire suppression services to the town from 2001 until 2008.

The Council members are Barbara Allan who filled a vacancy in 2004, John Keis filled a vacancy in 2006 and served on the Planning Commission from 1991 to 2004, Rick Montour who joined the Council in 2001 after serving on the Planning Commission from 1996 to 2000, and Michael McGraw who was appointed by the mayor, Blesener, after overriding a 2: 2 vote by the city council members.

In 1953, it was leased to the Royal School of Church Music and served as head office for its music publishing operation, as well as serving as a residential college and choir school until 1996, when a private company took it over for development as a conference and banqueting venue, health farm and country club.

The motorway finally received a service station in 1996 with the opening of Birchanger Green Services at junction 8, also serving the A120 road and Stansted Airport.

Ronald Lee " Ron " Wyden ( born May 3, 1949 ) is the senior United States Senator for Oregon, serving since 1996, and a member of the Democratic Party.

However, while running for the Statehouse, he simultaneously was serving as a co-chairman of a committee which, at the time, was attempting to bring the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta.

He served in this role until 1996, when he became a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving until 2000.

Moore has been a member of the Board of Directors of Gilead Sciences since 1996, after serving as a member of the company's Business Advisory Board from 1991 until 1996.

Prodi ran in 1996 as lead candidate of The Olive Tree coalition, winning the general election and serving as Prime Minister of Italy until 1998.

He briefly served as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Planning and Cooperation of Norway in the Jagland cabinet in 1996, and returned to the United Nations, where he again became an Under-Secretary-General, serving as the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority from 1999 to 2004.

Then he moved to provincial politics, serving as leader of the Ontario NDP from February 7, 1982 to June 22, 1996.

Owen was elected Vancouver ’ s 42nd mayor in November 1993, and was re-elected in 1996 and 1999, making him Vancouver ’ s longest serving consecutive-term mayor.

Atiyeh had a long relationship with Forest Grove-based Pacific University, serving as a trustee and trustee emeritus and accepting an honorary doctorate from the university in 1996.

A " secret " memorandum declassified in 1996 detailing the conversation among top-level U. S. military and civilian officials on July 16, 1965 in Tokyo revealed a plan put forward by Reischauer, then serving as the United States Ambassador to Japan, that would enable the U. S. to keep its military bases and the option to introduce nuclear weapons in Okinawa after the reversion of the U. S .- occupied islands to Japanese sovereignty.