date: September 13

text: September 13 – Goiânia accident: Metal scrappers open an old radiation source abandoned in a hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, causing the worst radiation accident ever in an urban area.


date: October 7

section: Health & Medicine

text: October 7 – The U.S. Department of Education announces new guidelines for teaching about AIDS in public schools, emphasizing the importance of abstinence and "appropriate moral and social conduct."

source_section: Events › October


date: December 23

text: December 23 – Nikki Sixx, Mötley Crüe's bassist overdoses on heroin and is declared clinically dead for two minutes before a paramedic revives him with two syringes full of adrenaline.

source_section: Events › December


date: January 16

section: Crime & Justice

text: January 16 – León Febres Cordero, president of Ecuador, is kidnapped for 11 hours by followers of imprisoned general Frank Vargas, who successfully demand the latter's release.

source_section: Events › January


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Terry Waite, the special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lebanon, is kidnapped in Beirut (released November 1991).


date: May 11

text: May 11 – Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.

source_section: Events › May


date: July 3

text: July 3 – Greater Manchester Police in England recover the body of 16-year-old Pauline Reade from Saddleworth Moor, after her killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley help them in their search, almost exactly 24 years since Pauline was last seen alive.

source_section: Events › July


date: July 4

text: July 4 – A court in Lyon sentences former Gestapo boss Klaus Barbie to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity.


date: August 14

text: August 14 – All the children held at Kai Lama, a rural property on Lake Eildon, Australia, run by the Santiniketan Park Association, are released after a police raid.

source_section: Events › August


date: August 17

text: August 17 – Rudolf Hess is found dead in his cell in Spandau Prison. Hess, 93, is believed to have committed suicide by hanging himself with an electrical flex. He was the last remaining prisoner at the complex, which is soon to be demolished.


date: August 19

text: August 19 – ABC News' chief Middle East correspondent Charles Glass escapes his Hezbollah kidnappers in Beirut, Lebanon, after 62 days in captivity.


date: September 4

text: September 4 – In a village in Rajasthan, an 18-year-old widow, Roop Kanwar is burned alive on her husband's funeral pyre, in a banned practice known as Sati. Though the woman's father-in-law is arrested by authorities, thousands of Hindu pilgrims travel to the cremation site in support of the act.

source_section: Events › September


date: October 23

text: October 23 – British champion jockey Lester Piggott is jailed for three years after being convicted of tax evasion.


date: November 8

text: November 8 – Enniskillen bombing: Twelve people are killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb at a Remembrance Day service at Enniskillen.

source_section: Events › November


date: January 4

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: January 4 – 1987 Maryland train collision: An Amtrak train en route from Washington, D.C. to Boston collides with Conrail engines at Chase, Maryland, United States, killing 16 people.


date: January 17

text: January 17 – The Jumalan teatteri ("The theatre of God") theatre students' group cause a huge scandal at the Oulu City Theatre in Oulu, Finland by throwing excrement, eggs and yoghurt on the audience during their two-minute performance.


date: February 6

text: February 6 – The Soviet oil tanker Antonio Gramsci suffers a minor shipwreck in Finnish waters en route to the Neste oil refinery in Porvoo, resulting in an oil spill of approximately 570–650 tons.

source_section: Events › February


date: February 20

text: February 20 – A second Unabomber bomb explodes at a Salt Lake City computer store parking lot in the United States, injuring the owner's son.


date: April 5

text: April 5 – Schoharie Creek Bridge Collapse: I-90 bridge collapse near Fort Hunter leaves 10 people dead. Investigators conclude that the bridge's piers had been weakened by structural flaws and significant scour. The accident leads to stricter safety standards in bridge design and inspection. The body of the 10th victim will ultimately be recovered from the Mohawk River more than two years later.

source_section: Events › April


date: May 9

text: May 9 – A Soviet-made Ilyushin Il-62 airliner, operated by LOT Polish Airlines, crashes into a forest just outside Warsaw, killing all 183 people on board.


date: June 27

text: June 27 – A commercial HS 748 (Philippine Airlines Flight 206) crashes near Baguio, Philippines, killing 50.

source_section: Events › June


date: July 8

text: July 8 – A Delta Air Lines L-1011 strays 60 miles off course and nearly collides with a Continental Airlines 747 over the Atlantic Ocean. The two planes are carrying nearly 600 total passengers and may have come within 100 feet of each other.


date: July 27

text: July 27 – Salvage dives begin on the wreck of the Titanic; survivor Eva Hart likens the salvage teams to "vultures."


date: August 16

text: August 16 – Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (a McDonnell Douglas MD-82) crashes on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan, just west of Detroit, killing all but one (4-year-old Cecelia Cichan) of the 156 people on board.


date: October 19

text: October 19 – Two commuter trains collide head-on on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia; 102 are killed.


date: October 22

text: October 22 – The pilot of a British Aerospace BAE Harrier GR5 registered ZD325 accidentally ejects from his aircraft. The jet continues to fly until it runs out of fuel and crashes into the Irish Sea.


date: November 18

text: November 18 – The King's Cross fire on the London Underground kills 31 people and injures a further 100.


date: November 28

text: November 28 – South African Airways Flight 295 crashes into the Indian Ocean off Mauritius, due to a fire in the cargo hold; the 159 passengers and crew perish.


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Korean Air Flight 858 is blown up over the Andaman Sea, killing 115 crew and passengers. North Korean agents are responsible for the bombing.


date: December 7

text: December 7 – Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 crashes near Paso Robles, California, United States, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-supervisor on the flight, then shoots both pilots.


date: December 8

text: December 8 – Alianza Lima air disaster: A Peruvian Navy Fokker F27 crashes near Ventanilla, Peru, killing 43.


date: December 20

text: December 20 – In history's worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry MV Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1 in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).


date: March 6

section: Climate & Environment

text: March 6 – A 6.9 magnitude earthquake occurs in Napo Province in northeast Ecuador, killing roughly 1,000 people.

source_section: Events › March


date: March 28

text: March 28 – The 1987 Aegean crisis, which occurred near the Greek island of Thasos, was a confrontation between Greece and Turkey that was ultimately resolved peacefully. Turkey agreed to withdraw its vessels under the condition of Greece not pursue oil drills beyond its territorial waters.


date: July 31

text: July 31 – An F4-rated tornado devastates eastern Edmonton, Alberta; hardest hit are an industrial park and a trailer park. 27 people are killed and hundreds injured, with hundreds more left homeless and jobless.


date: October 15

text: October 15–16 – The Great storm of 1987 strikes southern Great Britain and northwestern France. It is one of the strongest storms to affect the region in the past 200 years.


date: November 17

text: November 17 – A tsunami hits the Gulf of Alaska.


date: November 25

text: November 25 – Category 5 Typhoon Nina smashes the Philippines with 265 km/h mph winds and a devastating storm surge, causing destruction and 812 deaths.


date: March 29

section: Culture & Society

text: March 29 – The World Wrestling Federation (later WWE) produces WrestleMania III from the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. The event is particularly notable for the record attendance of 93,173, the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America until February 14, 2010, when the 2010 NBA All-Star Game has an attendance of 108,713 at AT&T Stadium.


date: March 30

text: March 30 – The 59th Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles, with Platoon winning Best Picture.


date: May 4

text: May 4 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Rotary Int'l v. Rotary Club of Duarte that local Rotary Clubs do not have a constitutional right to deny membership to women. Other clubs thereafter comply with the ruling: Lions International begins admitting women in June, and Kiwanis Club in July.


date: May 22

text: May 22 – The inaugural Rugby World Cup hosted by both New Zealand and Australia kicks off. In the opening match of the new tournament, New Zealand beat Italy in the pool stage.


date: May 27

text: May 27 – At the Prater Stadium of Vienna, Porto of Portugal defeats Bayern München of West Germany 2–1 and wins its first European Cup.


date: June 20

text: June 20 – New Zealand wins the inaugural Rugby World Cup after beating France in the final.


date: June 29

text: June 29 – South Korean politician, presidential candidate of the ruling party Roh Tae-woo makes a speech promising a wide program of nationwide reforms, the result of the June Democracy Movement.


date: August 19

text: August 19 – The Order of the Garter is opened to women.


date: August 31

text: August 31 – Michael Jackson releases Bad, his first studio album since Thriller, the best-selling album of all time. The album would produce five number one singles in the US, a record which has not been broken.


date: September 7

text: September 7–21 – The world's first conference on artificial life is held at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States.


date: October 8

text: October 8–November 8 – The 1987 Cricket World Cup is held in India and Pakistan with Australia defeating England in the final.


date: October 25

text: October 25 – The Minnesota Twins won 4 games to 3 in the 1987 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – The Soviet Union celebrates the 70th Anniversary of The October Revolution with a Parade on Moscow's Red Square.


date: January 12

section: Births

text: January 12 – Naya Rivera, American actress and singer (d. 2020)

source_section: Births › January


date: January 17

text: January 17 – Oleksandr Usyk, Ukrainian boxer


date: January 24

text: January 24 – Luis Suárez, Uruguayan football player


date: January 30

text: January 30 – Becky Lynch, Irish professional wrestler


date: February 1

text: February 1 – Ronda Rousey, American martial arts expert, actress and professional wrestler

source_section: Births › February


date: February 11

text: February 11 – Ellen van Dijk, Dutch road and track cycling world champion


date: February 13

text: February 13 – Eljero Elia, Dutch footballer


date: February 16

text: February 16 – Jon Ossoff, American politician, senior senator from Georgia


date: May 22

text: May 22 – Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis player

source_section: Births › May


date: July 3

text: July 3 – Sebastian Vettel, German racing driver, 4-time champions in Formula One

source_section: Births › July


date: July 9

text: July 9 – Rebecca Sugar, American animator and creator of Steven Universe


date: August 18

text: August 18 – Joanna Jędrzejczyk, Polish mixed martial artist and kickboxer

source_section: Births › August


date: September 28

text: September 28 – Hilary Duff, American actress, businesswoman, singer, songwriter, producer, and writer

source_section: Births › September


date: December 9

text: December 9 – Hikaru Nakamura, Japanese born-American chess grandmaster

source_section: Births › December


date: June 17

section: Deaths

text: June 17 – With the death of the last known individual, the dusky seaside sparrow, a subspecies native to the US state of Florida, becomes extinct.


date: July 22

text: July 22 – Palestinian cartoonist Naji Salim al-Ali is shot in London; he dies August 28.


date: February 25

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: February 25 – The constitution of the Sixth Republic of Korea comes into effect.


date: April 14

text: April 14 – In the Geneva Accords, the Soviet Union commits itself to withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan.


date: May 8

text: May 8 – François Mitterrand is re-elected as President of France for 7 years.


date: May 29

text: May 29–June 3 – The Moscow Summit meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev takes place, where the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) was finalized.


date: October 5

text: October 5 – Promulgation of the 1988 Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil.

source_section: Events › October


text: October 5 – Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet loses a national plebiscite on his rule; he relinquishes power in 1990.


date: October 29

text: October 29 – Pakistan's General Rahimuddin Khan resigns from his post as the governor of Sindh, following attempts by the President of Pakistan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, to limit the powers Rahimuddin had accumulated.


date: November 8

text: November 8 – The United States Vice-president and Republican nominee George H. W. Bush defeats the Democratic nominee and Governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis, in the 1988 United States Presidential Election.


date: November 15

text: November 15 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed at the Palestinian National Council meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253–46.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan choose populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister. Elections are held as planned despite head of state Zia-ul-Haq's death earlier in August.


text: November 16 – Singing Revolution: The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR adopts the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in which the laws of the Estonian SSR are declared supreme over those of the Soviet Union. The USSR declares it unconstitutional on November 26. It is the first declaration of sovereignty from the Soviet Union of any Soviet or Eastern Bloc entity.


date: November 23

text: November 23 – Former Korean president Chun Doo-hwan makes a formal apology for corruption during his presidency, announcing he will go into exile.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Carlos Salinas de Gortari takes office as President of Mexico.

source_section: Events › December


date: December 2

text: December 2 – Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.


date: December 6

text: December 6 – The Australian Capital Territory is granted self-government by the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988.


date: December 20

text: December 20 – The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.


date: January 7

section: Conflict & Security

text: January 7–8 – In the Soviet-Afghan War, 39 men of the Soviet Airborne Troops from the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment fight off an attack by 200 to 250 Mujahideen in the Battle for Hill 3234, later dramatized in the Russian film The 9th Company.

source_section: Events › January


date: February 20

text: February 20 – The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and join the Armenian SSR, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.


date: February 23

text: February 23 – Start of Anfal campaign, a genocidal counterinsurgency operation within the Iran–Iraq War carried out by Ba'athist Iraqi forces led by Ali Hassan al-Majid on the orders of President Saddam Hussein that will kill between 50,000 and 182,000 Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan.


date: February 27

text: February 27–29 – Collapse of the Soviet Union: The Sumgait pogrom of Armenians occurs in Sumqayit.


date: March 6

text: March 6 – Operation Flavius: A Special Air Service team of the British Army shoots dead 3 unarmed members of a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) Active service unit in Gibraltar.


date: March 16

text: March 16 – The Halabja chemical attack is carried out by Iraqi government forces.


text: March 16 – Milltown Cemetery attack: Three men are killed and 70 wounded in a gun and grenade attack by loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone on mourners at Milltown Cemetery in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the funerals of the 3 IRA members killed in Gibraltar.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – Eritrean War of Independence – Battle of Afabet: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on 3 sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF).


date: March 19

text: March 19 – Corporals killings in Belfast: Two British Army corporals are abducted, beaten and shot dead by Irish republicans after driving into the funeral cortege of IRA members killed in the Milltown Cemetery attack.


date: March 20

text: March 20 – Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the EPLF enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.


date: April 10

text: April 10 – The Ojhri Camp Disaster occurs in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.


date: April 14

text: April 14 – The USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) strikes a naval mine in the Persian Gulf, while deployed on Operation Earnest Will, during the Tanker War phase of the Iran–Iraq War.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – Soviet–Afghan War: After more than 8 years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

source_section: Events › May


date: May 16

text: May 16–18 – 1988 Gilgit massacre: A revolt by the Shias of Gilgit (in northern Pakistan) is ruthlessly suppressed by the Zia-ul Haq regime.


date: May 27

text: May 27–29 – Somaliland War of Independence: Somali National Movement launches a major offensive against Somali government forces in Hargeisa and Burao, then second and third largest cities of Somalia.


date: June 21

text: June 21 – The Poole explosion of 1988 caused 3,500 people to be evacuated out of the town centre in the biggest peacetime evacuation the United Kingdom had seen since the World War II.


date: June 27

text: June 27 – Villa Tunari massacre: Bolivian anti-narcotics police kills 9 to 12 and injures over a hundred protesting coca-growing peasants.


date: August 5

text: August 5 – The 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis culminates in the ousting of the Lord President of Malaysia, Salleh Abas.

source_section: Events › August


date: August 8

text: August 8 – 8888 Uprising: Thousands of protesters in Burma, now known as Myanmar, are killed during anti-government demonstrations.


date: August 20

text: August 20 – A ceasefire effectively ends the Iran–Iraq War, with an estimated one million lives lost.


date: September 11

text: September 11 – Singing Revolution: In the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, 300,000 people gather to express their support for independence.

source_section: Events › September


date: October 12

text: October 12 – The Birchandra Manu massacre occurs in Tripura, India.


date: October 30

text: October 30 – Jericho bus firebombing: Five Israelis are killed and five wounded in a Palestinian attack in the West Bank.


date: November 3

text: November 3 – 1988 Maldives coup attempt: The People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam, a Sri Lankan Tamil militant group, attempts to overthrow the Maldivian government. At the request of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the Indian military suppresses the coup attempt within 24 hours.

source_section: Events › November


date: January 26

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: January 26 – A re-enactment of the First Fleet arrives in Sydney Harbour to mark the bicentenary of the First Fleet arriving in Australia in 1788.


date: April 30

text: April 30 – World Expo 88 opens in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

source_section: Events › April


text: Zebra mussels, a species originally native to the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine, are found in the Great Lakes of North America.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


section: Religion & Belief

text: January 26 – Upon request of Hubert Michon, archbishop of Rabat, two Trappist monks come to Fez and start a community that will later become the Priory of Our Lady of the Atlas.


date: June 30

text: June 30 – Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrates four bishops at Écône, Switzerland, for his apostolate, along with Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, without a papal mandate.

source_section: Events › June


date: March 16

section: Economy & Finance

text: March 16 – In the United States, the First Republic Bank of Texas fails and enters FDIC receivership, the largest FDIC assisted bank failure in history.

source_section: Events › March


date: March 24

text: March 24 – The first McDonald's restaurant in a country run by a Communist party opens in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. It was later followed by one in Budapest, and in 1990 in Moscow, and Shenzhen, China.


date: November 15

text: November 15 – The first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched by Nico Roozen, Frans van der Hoff and ecumenical development agency Solidaridad in the Netherlands.


date: January 1

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: January 1 – The Soviet Union begins its program of economic restructuring (perestroika) with legislation initiated by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev (though Gorbachev had begun minor restructuring in 1985).


date: July 3

text: July 3 – The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus.

source_section: Events › July


date: July 31

text: July 31 – Thirty-two people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia.


date: November

text: November – TAT-8, the first transatlantic telephone cable to use optical fibers, is completed. This led to more robust connections between the American and European Internet.


text: Near the end of the year, the first proper and official intercontinental Internet connection between North America (through the National Science Foundation Network) and Europe (through NORDUnet) is permanently established between Princeton, New Jersey, United States, and Stockholm, Sweden.


date: February 12

section: Science & Discovery

text: February 12 – The 1988 Black Sea bumping incident: Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy intentionally rams USS Yorktown in Soviet territorial waters while Yorktown claims innocent passage. The accompanying US destroyer escapes damage.

source_section: Events › February


date: June 23

text: June 23 – NASA scientist James Hansen testifies to the U.S. Senate that human-made global warming has begun, becoming one of the first environmentalists to warn of the problem.


date: September 29

text: September 29 – STS-26: NASA resumes Space Shuttle flights, grounded after the Challenger disaster, with Space Shuttle Discovery.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – The Morris worm, the first computer worm distributed via the Internet, written by Robert Tappan Morris, is launched from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S.


text: November 15 – In the Soviet Union, the uncrewed Shuttle Buran is launched by an Energia rocket on its maiden orbital spaceflight (the first and last space flight for the shuttle).


date: October 28

text: October 28 – Abortion: 48 hours after announcing it was abandoning RU-486, French manufacturer Roussel Uclaf states that it will resume distribution of the drug.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – The first World AIDS Day is held.


date: February 17

text: February 17 – U.S. Lieutenant Colonel William R. Higgins, serving with a United Nations group monitoring a truce in southern Lebanon, is kidnapped (and later killed by his captors).


text: March 16 – Iran–Contra affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.


date: April 16

text: April 16 – Israeli commandos kill the PLO's Abu Jihad in Tunisia.


date: October 12

text: October 12 – Walsh Street police shootings: Two Victoria Police officers are gunned down, execution style, in Australia.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – Perennial U.S. presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche is convicted of mail fraud.


date: January

text: January – The cargo ship Khian Sea deposits 4,000 tons of toxic waste in Haiti after wandering around the Atlantic for sixteen months.


text: February 17 – 1988 Oshakati bomb blast: A bomb explodes outside the First National Bank in Oshakati, Namibia, killing 27 and injuring 70.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into the side of the mountains near the Venezuelan border, killing 143 people.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – A bus carrying 54 passengers falls into the Han River in Seoul, South Korea killing 19 and injuring 35.


date: April 5

text: April 5 – Kuwait Airways Flight 422 is hijacked while en route from Bangkok, Thailand, to Kuwait. The hijackers demand the release of 17 Shiite Muslim prisoners held by Kuwait. Kuwait refuses to release the prisoners, leading to a 16-day siege across 3 continents. Two passengers are killed before the siege ends.


date: April 20

text: April 20 – The world's longest skyjacking comes to an end when the remaining passengers of Kuwait Airways Flight 422 are released by their captors.


date: April 28

text: April 28 – Aloha Airlines Flight 243 safely lands after losing its roof in midair, killing a flight attendant and injuring 65 people.


date: June 27

text: June 27 – The Gare de Lyon rail accident occurs in Paris, France as a commuter train headed inbound to the terminal crashes into a stationary outbound train, killing 56 and injuring 57.


date: July 3

text: July 3 – Iran Air Flight 655 is shot down by a missile launched from the , killing a total of 290 people on board.


date: July 6

text: July 6 – The Piper Alpha production platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires, killing 165 oil workers and 2 rescue mariners. 61 workers survive.


date: August 17

text: August 17 – Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Lewis Raphel, are among those killed when a plane crashes and explodes near Bahawalpur.


date: August 28

text: August 28 – Seventy people are killed and 346 injured in one of the worst air show disasters in history at Germany's Ramstein Air Base, when three jets from the Italian air demonstration team, Frecce Tricolori, collide, sending one of the aircraft crashing into the crowd of spectators.


date: September 22

text: September 22 – The Ocean Odyssey drilling rig suffers a blowout and fire in the North Sea (see also July 6), resulting in one death.


date: December 12

text: December 12 – The Clapham Junction rail crash in London kills 35 and injures 132.


date: December 21

text: December 21 – Pan Am Flight 103 is blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing a total of 270 people. Libya is suspected of involvement.


date: February 29

text: February 29 – A Nazi document implicates Kurt Waldheim in World War II deportations.


date: August 21

text: August 21 – The 6.9 Nepal earthquake shakes the Nepal–India border with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 709–1,450 people killed and thousands injured.


date: September 12

text: September 12 – Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica; it turns towards Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula 2 days later, causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.


date: November 6

text: November 6 – The 1988 Lancang–Gengma earthquakes kills at least 938 people when it strikes the China–Myanmar border region in Yunnan.


date: December 2

text: December 2 – A cyclone in Bangladesh leaves 5 million homeless and thousands dead.


date: December 7

text: December 7 – In Soviet Armenia, the 6.8 Spitak earthquake kills nearly 25,000, injures 31,000 and leaves 400,000 homeless.


date: February 13

text: February 13–28 – The 1988 Winter Olympics are held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.


date: March 25

text: March 25 – The Candle demonstration in Bratislava, Slovakia, is the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the socialist government in Czechoslovakia.


date: June 10

text: June 10–14 – Spontaneous 100,000 strong mass night-singing demonstrations in Estonian SSR eventually give name to the Singing Revolution.


text: June 10–25 – West Germany hosts the UEFA Euro 1988 football tournament, which is won by the Netherlands.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – The Soviet Union votes to end the CPSU's monopoly on economic and other non-political power and to further economic changes towards a less rigidly Marxist-Leninist economy.


date: September 15

text: September 15 – The International Olympic Committee awards Lillehammer the right to host the 1994 Winter Olympics.


date: September 17

text: September 17–October 2 – The 1988 Summer Olympics are held in Seoul, South Korea.


date: October 20

text: October 20 – The Los Angeles Dodgers won 4 games to 1 in the 1988 World Series against the Oakland Athletics.


date: February 7

text: February 7 – Matthew Stafford, American football player

source_section: Births › February


date: February 20

text: February 20 – Rihanna, Barbadian pop singer


date: March 4

text: March 4 – Valentina Shevchenko, Kyrgyz born-Peruvian mixed martial artist

source_section: Births › March


date: March 14

text: March 14 – Stephen Curry, American basketball player


date: May 5

text: May 5 – Adele, British singer-songwriter

source_section: Births › May


date: June 2

text: June 2 – Sergio Agüero, Argentine footballer

source_section: Births › June


date: July 14

text: July 14 – Conor McGregor, Irish mixed martial artist

source_section: Births › July


date: July 20

text: July 20 – Julianne Hough, American ballroom dancer, country music singer and actress


date: August 12

text: August 12 – Tyson Fury, British boxer

source_section: Births › August


date: August 18

text: August 18 – G-Dragon, South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter and fashion icon


date: August 21

text: August 21 – Robert Lewandowski, Polish footballer


date: September 26

text: September 26 – James Blake, English electronic music producer and singer-songwriter

source_section: Births › September


date: September 29

text: September 29 – Alexander Volkanovski, Australian mixed martial artist and boxer


date: November 15

text: November 15 – B.o.B., American rapper, singer, record producer and conspiracy theorist

source_section: Births › November


date: January 13

text: January 13 – Vice-president Lee Teng-hui takes over as President of the Republic of China and Chairman of the Kuomintang following the death of Chiang Ching-kuo.

source_section: Events › January


date: February 3

text: February 3 – After a stroke, State President of South Africa P. W. Botha resigns as Leader of the National Party.


date: February 6

text: February 6 – The Government of the People's Republic of Poland holds formal talks with representatives of Solidarity movement for the first time since 1981.


date: February 10

text: February 10 – Ron Brown is elected as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first African American to lead a major United States political party.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – The Berne Convention, an international treaty on copyrights, is ratified by the United States.


date: March 7

text: March 7 – Iran breaks off diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom over Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – 1989 Polish legislative election: Solidarity's victory in the first round is the first of many anti-communist revolutions of 1989 in Central and Eastern Europe.


date: June 18

text: June 18 – In the first Greek legislative election of the year, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, led by Prime Minister of Greece Andreas Papandreou, loses control of the Hellenic Parliament.


date: July 28

text: July 28 – At the Iranian presidential election, electors overwhelmingly elect Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as President of Iran and endorse changes to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, increasing the powers of the president.


date: August 7

text: August 7 – The presidents of five Central American countries agree that the U.S.-backed contras fighting the government of Nicaragua should be disbanded and evicted from their bases in Honduras by December 5.

source_section: Events › August


date: August 10

text: August 10 – United States Army General Colin Powell became the first Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after being nominated by President Bush.


date: August 23

text: August 23 – Singing Revolution: Two million indigenous people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania join hands to demand freedom and independence from Soviet occupation, forming an uninterrupted 600 km human chain called the Baltic Way.


date: September 6

text: September 6 – 1989 South African general election, the last held under the apartheid system, returns the National Party to power with a much-reduced majority.

source_section: Events › September


date: September 28

text: September 28 – The Parliament of Greece indicted former Prime Minister of Greece Andreas Papandreou and four of his ministers in connection to the Koskotas scandal.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Civil union between partners in a same-sex relationship becomes legal in Denmark under a law enacted on June 7, the world's first such legislation.

source_section: Events › October


date: October 23

text: October 23 – The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by President Mátyás Szűrös (replacing the Hungarian People's Republic), exactly 33 years after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – Cold War: The Communist government of East Germany under prime minister Willi Stoph resigns, although SED leader Egon Krenz remains as head of state.

source_section: Events › November


date: November 28

text: November 28 – Cold War: Velvet Revolution – The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announces they will give up their monopoly on political power (elections held in December bring the first non-Communist government to Czechoslovakia in more than forty years).


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist-dominated Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) its monopoly on power. Egon Krenz, the Politburo and the Central Committee resign two days later.

source_section: Events › December


date: December 3

text: December 3 – The entire leadership of the ruling Socialist Unity Party in East Germany, including Egon Krenz, resigns. Hans Modrow becomes de facto the country's last leader.


date: December 10

text: December 10 – Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announces the establishment of Mongolia's democratic movement, that peacefully changes the second-oldest Communist country into a democracy.


date: December 14

text: December 14 – Chile holds its first free election in sixteen years, electing Patricio Aylwin as president. This marks the first time that all Ibero-American nations, except Cuba, have elected constitutional governments simultaneously.


date: December 17

text: December 17 – Brazil holds the second round of its first free election in 29 years; Fernando Collor de Mello is elected to serve as president from 1990.


date: December 28

text: December 28 – Alexander Dubček is elected Chairman of Czechoslovakia's Federal Assembly (Parliament).


date: December 31

text: December 31 – Poland's president signs the Balcerowicz Plan, ending the Communist system in Poland in favor of a capitalist system, leading to abandonment of the Warsaw Pact.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Soviet–Afghan War: The last Soviet Union armoured column leaves Kabul, ending nine years of military occupation since 1979.


date: February 3

text: February 3 – 1989 Paraguayan coup d'état ("La Noche de la Candelaria"): A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.


date: March 9

text: March 9 – Revolutions of 1989: The Soviet Union submits to the jurisdiction of the World Court.

source_section: Events › March


date: March 14

text: March 14 – General Michel Aoun declares a "War of Liberation" to rid Lebanon of Syrian forces and their allies.


text: March 14 – Gun control: U.S. President George H. W. Bush bans the importation of certain guns deemed "assault weapons" into the United States.


date: April 9

text: April 9 – Tbilisi massacre: Georgian demonstrators are massacred by Soviet Army soldiers in Tbilisi's central square during a peaceful rally; 20 citizens are killed, many injured. This causes further protests.

source_section: Events › April


date: April 27

text: April 27 – A major demonstration occurs in Beijing as part of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.


date: May 19

text: May 19 – 1989 Tiananmen Square protests: Zhao Ziyang meets the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.

source_section: Events › May


text: May 19 – 1989 Ürümqi unrest: Uyghur and Hui Muslim protesters riot in front of the government building in Ürümqi, China.


date: May 24

text: May 24 – Milan of Italy wins the European Cup beating Steaua București of Romania 4–0 in Barcelona.


date: May 26

text: May 26 – Arsenal F.C. defeat Liverpool F.C. by 2 goals to nil at Anfield, in the final game of the season, to win the Football League First Division.


date: May 29

text: May 29 – An attempted assassination of Miguel Maza Marquez, director of the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) in Bogotá, Colombia is committed by members of the Medellín Cartel, who kill four and injure 37.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre: A violent military crackdown takes place on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.

source_section: Events › June


date: June 5

text: June 5 – State funeral of Ruhollah Khomeini: Eight people are killed and hundreds injured in a human crush during the viewing of the body of Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini at the Musalla in Tehran, two days after his death at the age of 89 in Tehran.


date: July 6

text: July 6 – The Tel Aviv–Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack, the first Palestinian suicide attack on Israel, takes place.

source_section: Events › July


date: August 31

text: August 31 – In the aftermath of the Chadian–Libyan conflict of 1978–87, representatives of Libya and Chad agree to let the International Court of Justice determine ownership of the Aouzou Strip, which has been occupied by Libya since 1973.


date: September 26

text: September 26 – Vietnam announces that it has withdrawn the last of its troops from the State of Cambodia, ending an eleven-year occupation.


date: November 1

text: November 1 – The President of Nicaragua ends a ceasefire with U.S.-backed contras that has been in effect since April 1988.


date: November 17

text: November 17 – Cold War: Velvet Revolution – A peaceful student demonstration in Prague, Czechoslovakia, is severely beaten back by riot police. This sparks a revolution aimed at overthrowing the Communist government (it succeeds on December 29).


date: November 20

text: November 20 – Cold War: Velvet Revolution – The number of peaceful protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia, swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – A military coup attempt begins in the Philippines against the government of Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino. It is crushed by United States intervention ending by December 9.


date: December 2

text: December 2 – The Second Malayan Emergency concludes with a peace agreement. The Malayan Communist Party disbands and Chin Peng remains in exile in Thailand until his death in 2013.


date: December 20

text: December 20 – The United States invasion of Panama ("Operation Just Cause") is launched in an attempt to overthrow Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.


date: December 22

text: December 22 – After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as President of Romania, ending the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu, who flees his palace in a helicopter after the palace is invaded by rioters. Most of the army has joined with the rioters in Bucharest.


date: May 14

text: May 14 – Mikhail Gorbachev visits China, the first Soviet leader to do so since Nikita Khrushchev in the 1960s, ending the Sino-Soviet split.


date: July 9

text: July 9–12 – U.S. President George H. W. Bush travels to Poland and Hungary, pushing for U.S. economic aid and investment.


date: September 10

text: September 10 – The Hungarian government opens the country's western border (with Austria) to refugees from East Germany.


date: September 30

text: September 30 – Nearly 7,000 East Germans who had come to Prague are allowed to leave for the West on special refugee trains.


date: October

text: October – Cold War: Perestroika – Nathan's Famous opens a hot dog stand in Moscow.


text: November 1 – The border between East Germany and Czechoslovakia is reopened.


date: November 3

text: November 3 – East German refugees arrive at the West German town of Hof after being allowed through Czechoslovakia.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – The first American cosmetics shop in the Soviet Union, an Estée Lauder outlet, opens in Moscow.


date: December 11

text: December 11 – The International Trans-Antarctica Expedition, a group of six explorers from six nations, reaches the South Pole.


date: February 11

text: February 11 – Barbara Harris is the first woman consecrated as a bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (and also the first woman to become a bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion).

source_section: Events › February


date: February 24

text: February 24 – The Satanic Verses controversy: Iran places a $3,000,000 bounty on the head of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.


date: April 26

text: April 26 – Sultan Azlan Muhibbudin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Yusuff Izzudin Shah Ghafarullahu-lahu, Sultan of Perak, becomes the 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, succeeding Baginda Almutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail.


date: June 1

text: June 1–10 – Pope John Paul II visits Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark and Sweden.


date: September 19

text: September 19 – The Catholic Church calls for removal of the Carmelite convent located near the former Auschwitz concentration camp, whose presence has offended some Jewish leaders.


date: November 5

text: November 5 – Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir is attacked by Maronite demonstrators loyal to Michel Aoun and who reject the nomination of Rene Moawad as president of the country. One of the demonstrators asks the Patriarch to kiss the picture of General Aoun raised above his head, and many follow him saying: "Kiss the picture, kiss the picture". The Patriarch refuses. The scene is hysterical and tragic to the point that Archbishop Bechara Boutros al-Rahi leaves the Patriarch's side and heads to the church of the Patriarchate because he can no longer bear the sight.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – In a meeting with Pope John Paul II, General Secretary of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev pledges greater religious freedom for citizens of the Soviet Union.


date: December 6

text: December 6 – Egon Krenz resigns as Chairman of the State Council of the German Democratic Republic, and is replaced by Manfred Gerlach, the first non-Communist to hold that post.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – The Political Party of Radicals, Pacifist Socialist Party, Communist Party of the Netherlands and the Evangelical People's Party amalgamate to form the Dutch political party GroenLinks (GL, GreenLeft).


date: March 4

text: March 4 – Time Inc. and Warner Communications announce plans for a merger, forming Time Warner. (Now Warner Bros. Discovery)


date: March

text: March – Poland begins to liberalise its currency exchange in a move towards capitalism.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax (the poll tax) is introduced in Scotland. It will be introduced in England and Wales the following year.


date: April 14

text: April 14 – The U.S. government seizes the Irvine, California, Lincoln Savings and Loan Association; Charles Keating (for whom the Keating Five are named) eventually goes to jail, as part of the massive 1980s savings and loan crisis which costs U.S. taxpayers nearly $200,000,000 in bailouts, and many people their life savings.


date: April 23

text: April 23 – Zaid al-Rifai resigns as Prime Minister of Jordan in the wake of riots over government-imposed price hikes that began on April 18.


date: April 25

text: April 25 – Noboru Takeshita resigns as Prime Minister of Japan in the wake of a stock-trading scandal.


date: May 29

text: May 29 – Amid food riots and looting set off by inflation, the Government of Argentina declares a nationwide state of siege.


date: August 9

text: August 9 – The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, a measure to rescue the United States savings and loan industry, is signed into law by President Bush, launching the largest federal rescue to date.


date: September 23

text: September 23 – Nintendo Company Ltd. celebrates its 100th anniversary.


date: October 13

text: October 13 – Friday the 13th mini-crash: The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 190.58 points, or 6.91 percent, to close at 2,569.26, most likely after the junk bond market collapses.


date: December 25

text: December 25 – Bank of Japan governors announce a major interest rate hike, eventually leading to the peak and fall of the economic bubble.


date: December 29

text: December 29 – Nikkei 225 for Tokyo Stock Exchange hits its all-time intra-day high of 38,957.44 and closing high at 38,915.87.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – The New York Times discloses involvement of West German company Imhausen and Salzgitter AG in building a chemical weapon plant in Rabta, Libya.


date: January 11

text: January 11 – The Lexus and Infiniti luxury car brands are launched at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit with the unveiling of the 1990 Lexus LS and Infiniti Q45 sedans.


date: February 5

text: February 5 – Eurosport, a multiple-language sports broadcasting station in Europe, begins broadcasting, from Issy-les-Moulineaux, Île-de-France, France.


date: April 21

text: April 21 – The Nintendo Game Boy has its first official release in Japan


text: April 25 – Motorola introduces the Motorola MicroTAC personal cellular telephone, the world's smallest mobile phone at this time.


date: May 2

text: May 2 – The first crack in the Iron Curtain: Hungary dismantles 240 km mi of barbed wire fencing along the border with Austria.


date: May 3

text: May 3 – Cold War: Perestroika – The first McDonald's restaurant in the USSR begins construction in Moscow. It will open on January 31, 1990.


date: May 25

text: May 25 – The Calgary Flames defeat the Montreal Canadiens four games to two to win the franchise's first Stanley Cup in ice hockey.


date: May

text: The Soviet Union issues its first Visa card in a step to digitalise its banking system.


date: June 3

text: June 3 – The world's first high-definition television (test) broadcasts commence in Japan, in analogue.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia kills 575 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.


date: July 17

text: July 17 – The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber makes its first flight, in the United States.


date: August 24

text: August 24 – Indonesia's first commercial television network, RCTI (stands for Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia), is established, and went on air for the first time.


date: August

text: August – Gazprom, an energy production and sales organization in Russia, becomes state-run enterprise, changing from the Soviet Ministry of Gas Industry.


date: November 9

text: November 9 – Cold War and Fall of the Berlin Wall: East German official Günter Schabowski accidentally states in a live broadcast press conference that new rules for traveling from East Germany to West Germany will be put in effect "immediately". Late this evening, East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, allowing its citizens to travel freely to West Germany for the first time in decades. In the first week, travel visas will be issued to around 25% of the East German population. One of several significant events on 9 November in German history.


date: November

text: November – The first commercial dial-up Internet connection in North America is made, by The World STD.


date: December 22

text: December 22 – The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is reopened.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – The first of 24 Global Positioning System satellites is placed into orbit.


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Tim Berners-Lee produces the proposal document that will become the blueprint for the World Wide Web.


date: March 22

text: March 22 – Asteroid 4581 Asclepius approaches the Earth at a distance of 700000 km mi.


date: March 23

text: March 23 – Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce that they have achieved cold fusion at the University of Utah.


date: July 12

text: July 12 – Lotte World, a major recreation complex in Seoul, South Korea, is opened to the public, containing the world's largest indoor amusement park.


date: July 31

text: July 31 – Nintendo releases the Game Boy portable video game system in North America.


date: August 8

text: August 8 – STS-28: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.


date: August 9

text: August 9 – The asteroid 4769 Castalia is the first directly imaged by radar from Arecibo Observatory.


date: August 25

text: August 25 – Voyager 2 makes its closest approach to Neptune and its largest moon Triton.


date: October 9

text: October 9 – An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh.


date: October 18

text: October 18 – NASA launches the uncrewed Galileo orbiter on a mission to study the planet Jupiter, via Atlantis mission STS-34.


date: October 21

text: October 21 – The Commonwealth Heads of Government issue the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment, making environmental sustainability one of the Commonwealth of Nations's main priorities.


date: November 10

text: November 10 – Gaby Kennard becomes the first Australian woman to fly solo around the world.


date: December 2

text: December 2 – The Solar Maximum Mission scientific research satellite, launched in 1980, crashes back to earth.


date: February 1

text: February 1 – In Australia, Joan Kirner becomes Victoria's first female Deputy Premier, after the resignation of Robert Fordham over the VEDC (Victorian Economic Development Co-operation) Crisis.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – A curfew is imposed in Kosovo, where protests continue over the alleged intimidation of the Serb minority.


text: March 22 – Clint Malarchuk of the NHL Buffalo Sabres suffers a near-fatal injury when another player accidentally slits his throat.


date: May 20

text: May 20 – 1989 Tiananmen Square protests: The Chinese government declares martial law in Beijing.


date: May

text: Transhumanism: Genetic modification of adult human beings is tried for the first time, a gene tagging trial.


text: August 8 – Prime Minister of New Zealand David Lange resigns for health reasons and is replaced by Geoffrey Palmer.


date: October 3

text: October 3 – The government of East Germany closes the country's border with Czechoslovakia to prevent further emigration to the West.


date: December 21

text: December 21 – Nicolae Ceaușescu addresses an assembly of some 110,000 people outside the Romanian Communist Party headquarters in Bucharest. Unprecedentedly, most of the crowd turns against him.


date: January 29

text: January 29 – The two longest-imprisoned German WWII war criminals in Western Europe, Ferdinand aus der Fünten and Franz Fischer (collectively known as The Breda Two), were released from Dutch prison.


date: February 17

text: February 17 – South African police raid the home of Winnie Mandela and arrest four of her bodyguards.


date: March 3

text: March 3 – Jammu Siltavuori abducts and murders two eight-year-old girls in the Myllypuro suburb of Helsinki, Finland.


date: April 6

text: April 6 – National Safety Council of Australia chief executive John Friedrich is arrested after defrauding investors to the tune of $235,000,000.


date: April 19

text: April 19 – Central Park jogger case: Trisha Meili is seriously assaulted and raped whilst jogging in New York City's Central Park; the convictions of five teenagers for the crime are vacated in 2002 (the jogger's identity remains secret for years, hence she is referred to as the "Central Park Jogger").


date: May 4

text: May 4 – Oliver North is convicted in the United States on charges related to the Iran–Contra affair. His conviction is vacated on appeal in 1991.


date: July 18

text: July 18 – Actress Rebecca Schaeffer is murdered by an obsessed fan Robert John Bardo, leading to stricter stalking laws in California.


date: July 26

text: July 26 – A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert Tappan Morris for releasing a computer virus, making him the first person to be prosecuted under the United States' 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.


date: July 27

text: July 27 – In the largest prison sentence to date, Thai financial scammer Mae Chamoy Thipyaso and her accomplices are each sentenced to 141,078 years in prison.


date: July 31

text: July 31 – In Lebanon, Hezbollah announces that it has hanged U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins in retaliation for Israel's July 28 kidnapping of Hezbollah leader Abdel Karim Obeid. The same day, the United Nations Security Council passes United Nations Security Council Resolution 638, condemning the taking of hostages by both sides in the conflict.


date: August 5

text: August 5 – Park Avenue Joe is finally declared the winner after finishing in a dead heat with Probe in the Hambletonian Stakes for parimutuel and prize money purposes, based on the two heat and runoff format, based on average finish.


date: August 19

text: August 19–21 – In response to the murder of a judge, a provincial police chief, and presidential candidate Galán, the authorities of Colombia arrest 11,000 suspected Colombian drug traffickers.


date: August 20

text: August 20 – In Beverly Hills, California, Lyle and Erik Menendez shoot their wealthy parents to death in the family's den.


date: August 23

text: August 23 – Murder of Yusef Hawkins in a shooting in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York, sparking racial tensions between African Americans and Italian Americans.


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Standard Gravure shooting: Joseph T. Wesbecker, a pressman on disability for mental illness, enters his former workplace in Louisville, Kentucky, kills eight people and injures twelve before committing suicide after a history of suicidal ideation.


date: September 19

text: September 19 – Burkinabé ministers Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani and Henri Zongo executed following their arrest the previous day.


date: October 15

text: October 15 – Walter Sisulu is released from prison in South Africa.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – Six Jesuit priests are murdered by U.S. trained Salvadoran soldiers.


date: November 30

text: November 30 – Deutsche Bank board member Alfred Herrhausen is killed by a bomb in Bad Homburg (the Red Army Faction claims responsibility for the murder).


date: December 6

text: December 6 – École Polytechnique massacre (or Montreal Massacre): Marc Lépine, an anti-feminist gunman, murders fourteen young women at the École Polytechnique de Montréal.


date: December 23

text: December 23 – Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu are captured in Târgoviște.


date: December 25

text: December 25 – Trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu: Deposed Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife are summarily tried and executed outside Bucharest.


date: January 4

text: January 4 – Gulf of Sidra incident (1989): Two Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are engaged and shot down by two US Navy F-14 Tomcats.


date: January 8

text: January 8 – British Midland Flight 092 (a Boeing 737-400) crashes on an M1 motorway near the East Midlands Airport, 47 people were killed and 79 people survived.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – Union Carbide agrees to pay $470,000,000 to the Indian government for damages in the 1984 Bhopal disaster, a gas leak that killed 3.7 thousand.


date: February 16

text: February 16 – Pan Am Flight 103: Investigators announce that the cause of the 1988 crash was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – United Airlines Flight 811, a Boeing 747, suffers uncontrolled decompression after leaving Honolulu International Airport; nine passengers are blown out of the cabin to their deaths.


date: March 4

text: March 4 – The Purley station rail crash in London leaves five people dead and 94 injured.


date: March 24

text: March 24 – Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Alaska's Prince William Sound, the Exxon Valdez spills 240000 oilbbl m3 of oil after running aground.


date: April 7

text: April 7 – The Soviet submarine K-278 Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea, killing 41.


date: April 15

text: April 15 – The Hillsborough disaster, one of the biggest tragedies in European football, claims the lives of 94 Liverpool F.C. supporters in Sheffield, England, a further three dying later.


date: April 19

text: April 19 – The USS Iowa turret explodes on the U.S. battleship Iowa, killing 47 crew members.


date: May 12

text: May 12–25 – San Bernardino train disaster: Southern Pacific freight locomotive SP 7551 East derails in a residential area of San Bernardino, California, killing four and destroying seven houses. On May 25, as a direct result of the derailment, the Calnev Pipeline explodes, killing an additional two people and destroying eleven more houses and 21 cars.


date: June 8

text: June 8 – The wreck of German battleship Bismarck, which was sunk in 1941, is located about 600 mi km west of Brest, France.


date: July 19

text: July 19 – United Airlines Flight 232 (Douglas DC-10) crashes in Sioux City, Iowa, killing 112; 184 on board survive.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – Philippine Airlines Flight 124 crashes on approach at Ninoy Aquino International Airport while attempting to land and overrun the runway, everyone survives in the crash but eight people are killed on the ground.


date: August 7

text: August 7 – U.S. Representative Mickey Leland (D-TX) and fifteen others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.


date: August 13

text: August 13 – 1989 Alice Springs hot air balloon crash: An accident near Alice Springs, Australia kills thirteen people.


date: August 20

text: August 20 – Marchioness disaster: Fifty-one people die when a pleasure boat collides with a dredger on the River Thames adjacent to Southwark Bridge in London.


date: September 8

text: September 8 – Partnair Flight 394 crashes into the North Sea with the loss of 125 lives. The accident was due to the structural failure of the rudder of the Convair 580 caused by the use of counterfeit aircraft parts.


date: September 19

text: September 19 – UTA Flight 772 explodes over Niger, killing all 171 people on board (the Islamic Jihad Organization claims responsibility).


date: October 23

text: October 23 – The Phillips disaster, a chemical plant explosion, in Pasadena, Texas, kills 23 and injures 314 others.


date: October 28

text: October 28 – Aloha Island Air Flight 1712, a Twin Otter 300, crashed into mountainous terrain at night during an approach to Molokai Airport killing all 20 occupants on board.


date: November 27

text: November 27 – Colombian domestic passenger flight Avianca Flight 203 is bombed by the Medellín drug cartel in an (unsuccessful) attempt to kill presidential candidate for the 1990 elections César Gaviria Trujillo. All 107 people on board as well as three people on the ground are killed.


date: December 12

text: December 12 – Hong Kong begins the forcible repatriation of Vietnamese boat people, starting with a group of 59 who are flown to Hanoi.


date: December 22

text: December 22 – Two tourist coaches collide on the Pacific highway north of Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia, killing 35 people.


date: March 13

text: March 13 – A geomagnetic storm causes the collapse of the Hydro-Québec power grid. 6,000,000 people are left without power for nine hours. Some areas in the northeastern U.S. and in Sweden also lose power, and aurorae are seen as far as Texas.


date: April 26

text: April 26 – The Daulatpur–Saturia tornado, the deadliest tornado ever recorded, kills an estimated 1,300 people in the Dhaka Division of Bangladesh.


date: May 1

text: May 1 – Andrés Rodríguez, who seized power and declared himself President of Paraguay during a military coup in February, wins a landslide victory at a general election marked by charges of fraud.


date: May 2

text: May 2 – The coalition government of Prime Minister of the Netherlands Ruud Lubbers collapses in a dispute about a pollution cleanup plan.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – The last golden toad is seen in Costa Rica; the species is subsequently classified as extinct.


date: June 15

text: June 15 – At the 1989 Irish general election, Fianna Fáil, led by Taoiseach Charles Haughey, fails to win a majority.


date: September 10

text: September 10–11 – Norway's ruling Labour Party loses eight seats in the parliamentary elections, its worst showing since 1945.


date: September 17

text: September 17–22 – Hurricane Hugo devastates the Caribbean and the southeastern United States, causing at least 71 deaths and $8,000,000,000 in damages.


date: October 17

text: October 17 – The 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Sixty-three people are killed and the 1989 World Series in baseball is postponed for ten days as a result of the earthquake.


date: November 4

text: November 4 – Typhoon Gay devastates Thailand's Chumphon Province.


date: December 28

text: December 28 – The Newcastle earthquake affected New South Wales, Australia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 13 people dead and 160 injured.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – Singing Revolution: After 44 years, the Estonian flag is raised at the Pikk Hermann tower in Tallinn.


text: February 24 – The state funeral of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) in Tokyo is attended by leaders and representatives of 160 nations.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – After 74 years, Iceland ends its prohibition on beer; celebrated since as bjórdagur or beer day.


date: March 20

text: March 20 – Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke weeps on national television as he admits marital infidelity.


date: March 29

text: March 29 – The 61st Academy Awards are held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, with Rain Man winning Best Picture, and Jodie Foster wins her first award for Best Actress.


date: April 21

text: April 21 – Students from Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an and Nanjing begin protesting in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.


text: May 15 – Australia's first private tertiary institution, Bond University, opens on the Gold Coast.


date: May 17

text: May 17 – In Stuttgart, Diego Maradona of Napoli wins the Uefa Cup.


text: May 17 – 1989 Tiananmen Square protests: More than 1,000,000 Chinese protesters march through Beijing demanding greater democracy, leading to a crackdown.


date: May 29

text: May 29 – 1989 Tiananmen Square protests: The 10 m ft high Goddess of Democracy statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.


date: June 16

text: June 16 – A crowd of 250,000 gathers at Heroes Square in Budapest for the historic reburial of Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian Prime Minister who had been executed in 1958.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – The University of Limerick and Dublin City University are raised to the status of universities, the first established in Ireland since independence in 1922.


text: June 22 – British police arrest 260 people celebrating the summer solstice at Stonehenge.


date: July 5

text: July 5 – The television sitcom Seinfeld premieres in the United States.


date: July 14

text: July 14 – France celebrated the bicentennial of the French Revolution, notably with a monumental show on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, directed by French designer Jean-Paul Goude. President François Mitterrand acted as host for invited world leaders.


date: August 19

text: August 19 – The Pan-European Picnic, a peace demonstration, is held at the Austro-Hungarian border.


date: September 22

text: September 22 – Doe v. University of Michigan: A Michigan court rules against the hate speech law at the University of Michigan, claiming it unconstitutional.


date: September 27

text: September 27 – The constitutional amendments were approved by Assembly of Socialist Republic of Slovenia which changed the anthem from Naprej zastava slave to Zdravljica and League of Communists of Slovenia ended the monopoly power and reintroduced Parliamentary democracy to the republic.


date: October 7

text: October 7 – The communist Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party votes to reorganise itself as a socialist party, to be named the Hungarian Socialist Party.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – David Dinkins becomes the first African-American mayor of New York City.


date: November 10

text: November 10 – After 45 years of Communist rule in Bulgaria, Bulgarian Communist Party leader Todor Zhivkov is replaced by Foreign Minister Petar Mladenov, who changes the party's name to the Bulgarian Socialist Party.


date: November 17

text: November 17 – Walt Disney Pictures 28th animated film, The Little Mermaid and United Artists's All Dogs Go to Heaven are both released in theatres.


date: December 17

text: December 17 – The first full-length episode of the animated series of The Simpsons, created by Matt Groening made its debut on FOX in the United States with the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".


date: December 19

text: December 19 – Romanian Revolution: Workers in the cities go on strike in protest against the Communist regime. On December 20 about 100,000 occupy Timișoara.


date: January 7

text: January 7 – Emperor Hirohito dies; his son Akihito ascends as the 125th Emperor of Japan, followed by the change in the era name from Shōwa to Heisei on the following day.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – The Satanic Verses controversy: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader of Iran (d. June 3), issues a fatwa calling for the death of Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie and his publishers for issuing the novel The Satanic Verses (1988).


date: April 15

text: April 15 – Hu Yaobang, the former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, dies. The public reaction to his death spawned a chain of events which led to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – 1989 Iranian supreme leader election: Ali Khamenei is elected Supreme Leader of Iran after announcing the death of Ruhollah Khomeini the day before.


date: November 13

text: November 13 – Hans-Adam II becomes Prince of Liechtenstein on the death of his father, Prince Franz Joseph II.


text: Geodeung succeeds Suro of Geumgwan Gaya, as king of the Korean kingdom of Gaya (traditional date).

source_section: Events › By place › Korea


text: Battle of Yijing: Chinese warlord Yuan Shao defeats Gongsun Zan.

source_section: Events › By place › China


text: Emperor Septimius Severus lays siege to the city-state Hatra in Central-Mesopotamia, but fails to capture the city despite breaching the walls.

source_section: Events › By place › Roman Empire


text: Two new legions, I Parthica and III Parthica, are formed as a permanent garrison.


text: Mesopotamia is partitioned into two Roman provinces divided by the Euphrates, Mesopotamia and Osroene.


text: Pope Zephyrinus succeeds Pope Victor I, as the 15th pope.

source_section: Events › By topic › Religion


date: February 7

text: February 7 – Gao Shun, Chinese general and advisor

source_section: Deaths


text: Tian Kai, Chinese official and general


text: Qin Yilu (or Qin Yi), Chinese general


text: Chen Ji, Chinese official, scholar and politician


text: Gongsun Zan, Chinese general and warlord


text: Yuan Shu, Chinese general and warlord


text: Suro of Geumgwan Gaya, Korean ruler


date: February 12

text: February 12 – Representatives of NATO and the Warsaw Pact meet in Ottawa for an "Open Skies" conference. The conference results in agreements about superpower troop levels in Europe and on German reunification.


date: February 15

text: February 15 – The United Kingdom and Argentina restore diplomatic relations after 8 years. The UK had severed ties in response to Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands, a British Dependent Territory, in 1982.


date: February 25

text: February 25 – The Sandinistas are defeated in the Nicaraguan elections, with Violeta Chamorro elected as the new president of Nicaragua (the first elected woman president in the Americas), replacing Daniel Ortega.


date: March 11

text: March 11 – Augusto Pinochet hands over power to the elected president Patricio Aylwin, marking the beginning of the Chilean transition to democracy after 17 years of the military dictatorship of Chile.


date: March 24

text: March 24 – 1990 Australian federal election: Bob Hawke's Labor government is re-elected with a reduced majority, narrowly defeating the Liberal/National Coalition led by Andrew Peacock.


date: March 28

text: March 28 – U.S. President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.


date: April 8

text: April 8 – In the Greek legislative election, the conservative New Democracy wins the most seats in the Hellenic Parliament; its leader, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, becomes Prime Minister of Greece on April 11.


date: April 25

text: April 25 – Violeta Chamorro is sworn in as President of Nicaragua, the first woman elected (February 25) in her own right as a head of state in the Americas.


date: May 4

text: May 4 – Singing Revolution: The Latvian SSR declares independence from the Soviet Union.


date: May 20

text: May 20 – Cold War: The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.


date: May 22

text: May 22 – Cold War: The leaders of the Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen announce the unification of their countries as the Republic of Yemen.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – Cold War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production and begin destroying their respective stocks.


date: June 15

text: June 15 – Dublin Regulation on treatment of applications for right of asylum under European Union law agreed (comes into force 1997).


date: July 12

text: July 12 – Foster v British Gas plc decided in the European Court of Justice, a leading case on the definition of the "state" under European Union law.


date: July 26

text: July 26 – U.S. President George H. W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act, designed to protect disabled Americans from discrimination.


date: July 27

text: July 27 – Cold War: Belarus declares its sovereignty, a key step toward independence from the Soviet Union.


date: August 24

text: August 24 – The Armenian SSR declares its independence from the Soviet Union.


date: September 27

text: September 27 – David Souter is confirmed to serve on the Supreme Court, replacing retiring Justice William J. Brennan Jr..


date: October 22

text: October 22 – Nizhny Novgorod restores its official name from Gorky, Volga Federal District, Russia.


date: November 6

text: November 6 – Nawaz Sharif is sworn in as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – Indian Prime Minister Singh resigns over losing a confidence vote in the Parliament of India, having lost the support of Hindus who want a Muslim mosque in Ayodhya torn down to build a Hindu temple.


date: November 25

text: November 25 – Lech Wałęsa and Stanisław Tymiński win the first round of the first Polish presidential election.


date: December 3

text: December 3 – Mary Robinson begins her term as President of Ireland, becoming the first female to hold this office.


date: December 9

text: December 9 – Slobodan Milošević elected President of Serbia in first round, general elections won by his Socialist Party.


date: January 3

text: January 3 – United States invasion of Panama: General Manuel Noriega is deposed as leader of Panama and surrenders to the American forces.

source_section: Events › January


date: January 15

text: January 15 – Thousands storm the Stasi headquarters in East Berlin in an attempt to view their government records.


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Cold War: Black January – Soviet troops occupy Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, under the state of emergency decree issued by General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, and kill over 130 protesters who were demonstrating for independence. The Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic declares its independence from the USSR.


date: March 31

text: March 31 – "The Second Battle of Trafalgar": A massive anti-poll tax demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, turns into a riot; 471 people are injured, and 341 are arrested.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – Strangeways Prison riot: The longest prison riot in Britain's history begins at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, and continues for 3 weeks and 3 days, until April 25.


date: April 13

text: April 13 – Cold War: The Soviet Union apologizes for the Katyn massacre.


date: May 13

text: May 13 – In the Philippines, gunmen kill two United States Air Force airmen near Clark Air Base on the eve of talks between the Philippines and the United States over the future of American military bases in the Philippines.


text: May 13 – The Dinamo–Red Star riot takes place at Stadion Maksimir in Zagreb, Croatia between the Bad Blue Boys (fans of GNK Dinamo Zagreb) and the Delije (fans of Red Star Belgrade).


date: June 13

text: June 13 – Cold War: The destruction of the Berlin Wall by East Germany officially starts, 7 months after it was opened the previous November.


date: July 25

text: July 25 – Roseanne Barr sings "The Star-Spangled Banner" extremely poorly, causing controversy.


date: August 2

text: August 2 – Gulf War: Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.

source_section: Events › August


date: August 6

text: August 6 – Gulf War: With United Nations Security Council Resolution 661 the United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to its invasion of Kuwait.


date: August 10

text: August 10 – Egypt, Syria, and 10 other Arab states vote to send military forces to Saudi Arabia to discourage an invasion from Iraq.


date: August 21

text: August 21 – The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone send peacekeepers to intervene in the First Liberian Civil War.


date: August 26

text: August 26 – In Sofia, protesters set fire to the headquarters of the governing Bulgarian Socialist Party.


date: September 6

text: September 6 – In Myanmar, the State Law and Order Restoration Council orders the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi and five other political dissidents.

source_section: Events › September


date: September 29

text: September 29–30 – The United Nations World Summit for Children draws more than 70 world leaders to United Nations Headquarters.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – The rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front invades Rwanda from Uganda, marking the start of the Rwandan Civil War.

source_section: Events › October


date: October 4

text: October 4 – Moro conflict: Rebel forces seize two military posts on the island of Mindanao, Philippines before surrendering on October 6.


date: October 6

text: October 6 – White supremacist David Duke receives 44% of the vote in the Louisiana Senate race, but ultimately loses the vote to Bennett Johnson.


date: October 8

text: October 8 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: In Jerusalem, Israeli police kill 17 Palestinians and wound over 100 near the Dome of the Rock mosque on the Temple Mount.


date: October 13

text: October 13 – Lebanese Civil War: Syrian military forces invade and occupy Mount Lebanon, ousting General Michel Aoun's government. This effectively consolidates Syria's 14 year occupation of Lebanese soil and ends the civil war.


date: October 24

text: October 24 – Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti reveals the existence of Operation Gladio, a clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Italy during the Cold War.


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council passes UN Security Council Resolution 678, authorizing military intervention in Iraq if that state does not withdraw its forces from Kuwait and free all foreign hostages by Tuesday, January 15, 1991.

source_section: Events › November


date: March 3

text: March 3 – The International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition, a group of six explorers from six nations, completes the first dog sled crossing of Antarctica.


date: June 17

text: June 17–30 – Nelson Mandela tours North America, visiting 3 Canadian and 8 U.S. cities.


text: October 8 – Globalization: The first McDonald's restaurant is opened in Mainland China in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong. Since 1979, Shenzhen has been a Special economic zone.


date: October 17

text: October 17 – A major financial service of Russia, VTB Bank is founded in Russia SSR, former part of Soviet Union, as predecessor name was Vneshtorg Bank.


date: January 25

text: January 25 – Pope John Paul II begins an eight-day tour of Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad.


date: February 5

text: February 5 – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. excommunicates George Augustus Stallings for starting the controversial Imani Temple congregation.


date: February 21

text: February 21 – Spain grants Protestantism and Judaism legal equality with the Roman Catholic Church.


date: March 25

text: March 25 – Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie announces his intention to retire at the end of the year.


date: May 1

text: May 1 – The former Episcopal Church in the Philippines (supervised by the Episcopal Church) is granted full autonomy and raised to the state of an Autocephalous Anglican province and renamed the Episcopal Church of the Philippines.


date: June 7

text: June 7 – Metropolitan Alexy of Moscow is elected Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'.


date: June 24

text: June 24 – Kathleen Margaret Brown and Irene Templeton are ordained as priests in St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, becoming the first female Anglican priests in the United Kingdom.


date: July 25

text: July 25 – George Carey, Bishop of Bath and Wells, is named as the new Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England.


date: September 1

text: September 1–10 – Pope John Paul II visits Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and Ivory Coast.


date: September 29

text: September 29 – Washington National Cathedral is finished.


date: September 30

text: September 30 – The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible is officially introduced.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – The Soviet Union enacts a law permitting religious freedom, ending government interference in religious activity and permitting Soviet citizens to engage in private religious study in their homes.


date: November 9

text: November 9 – The Parliament of Singapore enacts the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act.


date: January 31

text: January 31 – Globalization – The first McDonald's in Moscow, Russian SFSR opens 8 months after construction began on May 3, 1989. 8 months later the first McDonald's in Mainland China is opened in Shenzhen.


date: February 13

text: February 13 – US investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert files for bankruptcy protection, Chapter 11.


date: March 15

text: March 15 – Fernando Collor de Mello takes office as President of Brazil, Brazil's first democratically elected president since Jânio Quadros in 1961. The next day, he announces a currency freeze and freezes large bank accounts for 18 months.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – The Community Charge (poll tax) takes effect in England and Wales amid widespread protests.


date: April 24

text: April 24 – Cold War: West Germany and East Germany agree to merge currency and economies on July 1.


date: May 28

text: May 28 – 1990 Arab League summit: Saddam Hussein receives the emir of Kuwait for a diplomatic visit, at a time when his country and its decent oil revenues are being pushed into bankruptcy by Kuwait's lowering of the price of oil. A dictator with ambitions, Saddam wants to continue increasing his military strength, and so confronts Kuwait instead. After the public events, Hussein invites Arab leaders to a private meeting. Here, he threatens war on Kuwait unless Kuwait stops lowering the price of oil, recalls then-Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz.


date: May 29

text: May 29 – European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is founded.


date: June 3

text: June 3 – The Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the United Kingdom is dissolved after two years of poor results.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – German reunification: East Germany and West Germany merge their economies, the West German Deutsche Mark becoming the official currency of the East also. The Inner German border (constructed 1945) also ceases to function.


text: July 1 – Argentina announces the sale of its state-owned airline, Aerolineas Argentinas, to Spanish airline Iberia. The sale will be completed in November.


date: August 8

text: August 8 – The government of Peru announces an austerity plan that results in huge increases in the price of food and gasoline. The plan sets off days of rioting and a national strike on August 21.


date: October 29

text: October 29 – In Norway, the government headed by Prime Minister of Norway Jan P. Syse collapses.


date: December 24

text: December 24 – Ramsewak Shankar is ousted as President of Suriname by a military coup.

source_section: Events › December


date: January 1

text: January 1 – The first Internet companies catering to commercial users, PSINet and EUnet begin selling Internet access to commercial customers in the United States and Netherlands respectively.


date: January 10

text: January 10 – McDonnell Douglas MD-11 wide-body trijet airliner takes its first flight, in the US.


date: January 15

text: January 15 – Martin Luther King Day Crash: Telephone service in Atlanta, St. Louis and Detroit, including 9-1-1 service, goes down for nine hours, due to an AT&T software bug.


date: March 27

text: March 27 – The United States begins broadcasting Radio y Televisión Martí to Cuba.

source_section: Events › March


date: June 1

text: June 1 – Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army shoot and kill Major Michael Dillon-Lee and Private William Robert Davies of the British Army. Dillon-Lee is killed outside his home in Dortmund, Germany and Davies is killed at a railway station in Lichfield, England.


date: June

text: On June 7 Universal Studios Florida opens to the public along with Nickelodeon Studios.


date: August 1

text: August 1 – RELCOM is created in the Soviet Union by combining several computer networks. Later in August, the Soviet Union got its first connection to the Internet.


date: August 24

text: August 24 – Indonesian commercial television network SCTV was established as the nation's third television station after RCTI, and also debuted as local television channel in Surabaya. During its earlier days, SCTV was the rival for RCTI, the first commercial television network. SCTV began broadcasting nationwide from Jakarta by January 29, 1991.


date: September 10

text: September 10 – The first Pizza Hut opens up in the Soviet Union.


date: September 11

text: September 11 – First Pizza Hut opens in the People's Republic of China, nearly 3 years after the first KFC opened there in 1987.


date: October 15

text: October 15 – South Africa ends segregation of libraries, trains, buses, toilets, swimming pools, and other public facilities.


text: October 15 – United Airlines announces a purchase order of 128 wide-body aircraft from Boeing, including several Boeing 777s, in an order totaling $22 billion, the largest order in aviation history to that point.


date: October 30

text: October 30 – The first transatlantic fiber optic cable TAT-8 fails, causing a slowdown of Internet traffic between the United States and Europe.


date: October

text: Tim Berners-Lee begins his work on the World Wide Web, 19 months after his seminal 1989 outline of what would become the Web concept.


date: November 13

text: November 13 – The first known web page is written.


date: November

text: November – The earliest known portable digital camera sold in the United States ships.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Channel Tunnel workers from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 metres beneath the English Channel seabed, establishing the first land connection between Great Britain and the mainland of Europe for around 8,000 years.


date: February 9

text: February 9 – The ADtranz low floor tram, the world's first completely low-floor tram, is introduced in Bremen.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – The Pale Blue Dot photograph of Earth is sent back from the Voyager 1 probe after completing its primary mission, from around 5.6 billion kilometers (3.5 billion miles) away.


date: April 9

text: April 9 – Comet Austin makes its closest approach to the sun.

source_section: Events › April


date: April 22

text: April 22 – Earth Day 20 is celebrated by millions worldwide.


date: April 24

text: April 24 – STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million.

source_section: Events › May


date: May 29

text: May 29 – Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Ottawa for a 29-hour visit.


date: August 12

text: August 12 – "Sue", the best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex specimen ever found, is discovered near Faith, South Dakota, United States, by Sue Hendrickson.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – British Satellite Broadcasting and Sky Television plc merge to form BSkyB as a result of massive losses.


date: November 9

text: November 9 – Universal Pictures releases Child's Play 2


date: November 12

text: November 12 – Tim Berners-Lee publishes a more formal proposal for the World Wide Web.


date: November 15

text: November 15 – President Bush signed new Clean Air Act, focused on urban pollution and cancer-causing emissions from industrial sources.


text: November 15 – STS-38: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on a classified U.S. military mission.


date: November 21

text: November 21 – Nintendo releases the Super Famicom in Japan alongside its launch games Super Mario World and F-Zero.


date: December 20

text: December 20 – Tim Berners-Lee completes the test for the first webpage at CERN.


date: December 25

text: December 25 – Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is commissioned.


date: January 18

text: January 18 – Marion Barry, Mayor of the District of Columbia, is caught on videotape smoking crack cocaine.


date: January 20

text: January 20 – The government of Haiti declares a state of emergency, under which it suspends civil liberties, imposes censorship and arrests political opponents. The state of siege is lifted on January 29.


date: January 25

text: January 25–26 – The Burns' Day Storm kills 97 in northwestern Europe.


date: February

text: February – Smoking is banned on all cross-country flights in the United States.


date: March 11

text: March 11–13 – The March 1990 Central United States tornado outbreak produces 64 tornadoes across six US states, including four violent F4/F5 tornadoes. The outbreak leaves 2 dead, 89 injured, and causes over $500 million in damages.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – The 1990 United States census begins. There are 248,709,873 residents in the U.S.


date: May 17

text: May 17 – The World Health Organization removes homosexuality from its list of diseases.


date: June 2

text: June 2 – The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 88 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12; 37 tornadoes occur in Indiana, eclipsing the previous record of 21 during the 1974 Super Outbreak.

source_section: Events › June


date: July 26

text: July 26 - On the The Howard Stern Show, Gary Dell'Abate is given the nickname "Baba Booey" for the first time.

source_section: Events › July


date: August 2

text: August 2 – The first ban of smoking in bars in the US (and possibly the world) is passed in San Luis Obispo, California.


text: January 18 – McMartin preschool trial: Peggy McMartin Buckey and Raymond Buckey are acquitted of 52 charges related to alleged ritual abuse taking place at their daycare in Manhattan Beach, California.


date: January 22

text: January 22 – US graduate student Robert Tappan Morris is convicted of releasing the Morris worm onto the internet.


date: February 11

text: February 11 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison, near Cape Town, South Africa, after 27 years behind bars.

source_section: Events › February


date: March 1

text: March 1 – Steve Jackson Games is raided by the U.S. Secret Service, prompting the later formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.


date: March 9

text: March 9 – Police seal off Brixton in South London after another night of protests against the poll tax.


date: March 15

text: March 15 – Iraq hangs Iranian journalist Farzad Bazoft for spying. Daphne Parish, a British nurse, is sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment as an accomplice.


date: March 20

text: March 20 – Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.


date: April 6

text: April 6 – Robert Mapplethorpe's "The Perfect Moment" show of nude and homoerotic photographs opens at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, in spite of accusations of indecency by Citizens for Community Values.


date: April 7

text: April 7 – Iran–Contra affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of 5 charges for his part in the scandal; the convictions are later reversed on appeal.


date: April 14

text: April 14 – Junk bond financier Michael Milken pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges. He agreed to pay US$500 million in restitution and was sentenced on November 21 to 10 years in jail.


date: April 20

text: April 20 – 17-year-old Christopher Kerze goes missing in Eagan, Minnesota. He remains missing .


date: April 21

text: April 21 – Japanese Yoshio Tani, M.Sc. murders gold merchant Turkka Elovirta and businessman Juhani Komulainen in Siuntio, Finland, having convinced them to buy a nonexistent 500 kilogram stash of Nazi gold.


date: April 22

text: April 22 – Lebanon hostage crisis: Lebanese kidnappers release American educator Robert Polhill, who had been held hostage since January 1987.


date: April 30

text: April 30 – Lebanon hostage crisis: Lebanese kidnappers release American educator Frank H. Reed, who had been held hostage since September 1986.


date: May 2

text: May 2 – In London, a man brandishing a knife robs a courier of bearer bonds worth £292 million.


date: July 2

text: July 2 – A U.S. District Court acquits Imelda Marcos on racketeering and fraud charges.


date: August 12

text: August 12 – In South Africa, fighting breaks out between the Xhosa people and the Zulu people; more than 500 people are killed by the end of August.


date: September 12

text: September 12 – A judge in Australia orders the arrest of media tycoon Christopher Skase, former owner of the Seven Network, after he fails to give evidence in a liquidator's examination of failed shipbuilding company Lloyds Ships Holdings, an associate of Skase's Qintex Australia Ltd.


date: October 12

text: October 12 – A leader of the right-wing Pamyat organization is arrested in the Soviet Union for spreading antisemitic hatred.


text: October 12 – German interior minister Wolfgang Schäuble is shot at during an election campaign event. He survives but will require a wheelchair for the rest of his life.


date: November 5

text: November 5 – Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the far-right Kach movement, is shot dead after a speech at a New York City hotel.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – Andrei Chikatilo, one of the Soviet Union's most prolific serial killers, is arrested in Novocherkassk.


date: January 25

text: January 25 – Avianca Flight 052 crashes into Cove Neck, New York after a miscommunication between the flight crew and JFK Airport officials, killing 73 people on board.


date: January 29

text: January 29 – The trial of Joseph Hazelwood, former skipper of the Exxon Valdez, begins in Anchorage, Alaska. He is accused of negligence that resulted in America's second worst oil spill to date.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – Indian Airlines Flight 605, an Airbus A320-231 registered as VT-EPN, crashes shortly before landing at Bangalore, killing 92 out of the 146 occupants on board.


date: February 27

text: February 27 – Exxon Valdez oil spill: Exxon and its shipping company are indicted on 5 criminal counts.


date: February 28

text: February 28 – Final day of the rum ration in the Royal New Zealand Navy, the last in any of the world's navies.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – A fire at the Sheraton Hotel in Cairo, Egypt, kills 16 people.


date: March 25

text: March 25 – In New York City, a fire due to arson at an illegal social club called "Happy Land" kills 87 people.


date: April 7

text: April 7 – MS Scandinavian Star, a Bahamas-registered ferry, catches fire en route from Norway to Denmark, leaving 158 dead.


date: June 9

text: June 9 – Mega Borg oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico near Galveston, Texas.


text: July 2 – 1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy: A stampede in a pedestrian tunnel leading to Mecca kills 1,426.


date: July 21

text: July 21-22 – The Min Ping Yu No. 5540 incident occurs when the Taiwan Garrison Command forces 76 mainland Chinese illegal immigrants into sealed holds of a boat, causing 25 to die of suffocation.


date: October 2

text: October 2 – According to The Civil Aviation of China, two commercial planes collide on the runway at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Guangdong, China. The total death toll is 128; 53 people were wounded, 97 were rescued.


date: November 14

text: November 14 – Alitalia Flight 404 crashes on approach to Zurich Airport, killing all 46 occupants.


date: December 3

text: December 3 – 1990 Wayne County Airport runway collision: At Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Northwest Airlines Flight 1482 (a McDonnell Douglas DC-9) collides with Northwest Airlines Flight 299 (a Boeing 727) on the runway, killing 8 passengers and 4 crew members.


date: December 11

text: December 11 – A multi-vehicle traffic collision known as the 1990 Interstate 75 fog disaster occurs; 12 deaths and 42 were caused by this event


date: March 9

text: March 9 – Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells confirms he will rescind Newfoundland's approval of the Meech Lake Accord.


date: April 26

text: April 26 – A 7.0 earthquake shakes the Chinese province of Qinghai leaving 126 dead.


date: May 27

text: May 27 – In the Burmese general election, Burma's first multiparty election in 30 years, the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi wins in a landslide, but the State Law and Order Restoration Council nullifies the election results.


date: June 14

text: June 14 – 1990 Panay earthquake: An earthquake measuring struck Panay in the Philippines, killing 8 and injuring 41.


date: June 21

text: June 21 – The 7.4 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake affects northern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 35,000–50,000, and injuring 60,000–105,000.


date: July 13

text: July 13 – The Lenin Peak disaster occurs when an earthquake triggers an avalanche in the Pamir Mountains with the loss of 43 lives.


date: July 16

text: July 16 – 1990 Luzon earthquake: An earthquake measuring kills more than 2,400 in the Philippines.


date: August 28

text: August 28 – The Plainfield Tornado (F5 on the Fujita scale) strikes the towns of Plainfield, Crest Hill, and Joliet, Illinois, killing 29 people (the strongest tornado to date to strike the Chicago metropolitan area).


date: November 16

text: November 16 – 20th Century Fox releases Home Alone and Walt Disney Pictures releases the 29th animated film, The Rescuers Down Under.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – The comedy television series of Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean first airs on ITV in the United Kingdom.


text: January 1 – Glasgow begins its year as European Capital of Culture.


text: January 1 – Poland becomes the first country in Eastern Europe to begin abolishing its state socialist controls.


date: March 8

text: March 8 – The Nintendo World Championships are held within the Fair Park's Automobile Building, kickstarting an almost year long gaming competition across 29 American cities.


date: March 18

text: March 18 – Twelve paintings and a Shang dynasty vase, collectively worth $100 to $300 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts by two thieves posing as police officers.


date: March 26

text: March 26 – The 62nd Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, with Driving Miss Daisy winning Best Picture.


date: April 19

text: April 19 – Washington, DC post-hardcore band Fugazi release their debut studio album Repeater on Dischord Records.


date: June 8

text: June 8 – The 1990 FIFA World Cup begins in Italy. This was the first broadcast of digital HDTV in history; Europe would not begin HDTV broadcasting en masse until 2004.


date: June 19

text: June 19 – The Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic holds its inaugural conference in Moscow.