1976

January 1976 January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. January 18 – Full diplomatic relations are established between Bangladesh and Pakistan 5 years after the Bangladesh Liberation War. January 27 The United States vetoes a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state. The First Battle of Amgala breaks out between Morocco and Algeria in the Spanish Sahara. February 1976 February 4 The 1976 Winter Olympics begin in Innsbruck, Austria. The 7.5 Guatemala earthquake affects Guatemala and Honduras with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 23,000 dead and 76,000 injured. February 9 – The Australian Defence Force is formed by unification of the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. February 13 General Murtala Mohammed of Nigeria is assassinated in a military coup. February 19 – Former Tower of Power vocalist Rick Stevens is arrested in the United States for murdering three men during a botched drug deal. He ultimately serves 36 years of a life sentence. February 24 – Cuba's constitution of 1976 is enacted. February 26 – The Spanish Armed Forces withdraw from Western Sahara. February 27 – The Polisario Front, Western Sahara's national liberation movement, declares independence of the territory under the name "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic". On February 28, Madagascar becomes the first country to recognise it. March 1976 March – The Cray-1, the first commercially developed supercomputer, is released by Seymour Cray's Cray Research, with the first purchaser being the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) in Los Alamos, New Mexico. March 1 U.K. Home Secretary Merlyn Rees ends for those sentenced for scheduled terrorist crimes relating to the civil violence in Northern Ireland. Bradford Bishop allegedly murders five of his family members in Bethesda, Maryland.