1994

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1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1994th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 994th year of the 2nd millennium, the 94th year of the 20th century, and the 5th year of the 1990s decade.

The year 1994 was designated as the "International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations.

In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitting December 31.

This was due to an adjustment of the International Date Line by the Kiribati government to bring all of its territories into the same calendar day.

Clockwise from top-left: the 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer , Norway ; an earthquake strikes the San Fernando Valley , killing 57 people and becoming one of the costliest earthquakes on record ; a model of the MS Estonia , which sank in the Baltic Sea ; Nelson Mandela casts his vote in the South African general election , in which he was elected South Africa 's first president , and which effectively brought Apartheid to an end; NAFTA , which was signed in 1992 , comes into effect in Canada , the United States , and Mexico ; the first passenger rail service to utilize the newly-opened Channel Tunnel ; the 1994 FIFA World Cup is held in the U.S. and is won by Brazil ; skulls from the Rwandan genocide , in which over half a million Tutsi people were massacred by Hutus .
The February 1994 photo of Pluto and Charon from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Brown spots mark impact sites of the Shoemaker–Levy Comet on Jupiter 's southern hemisphere.
Hurricane John near peak intensity to the south of Hawaii on August 23
The Netscape Navigator web browser as it first appeared in December 1994
The Nobel Prize medallion.
The Nobel Prize medallion.