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1982_9 | Section: October (2):
October 1
Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor of Germany through a constructive vote of no confidence.
Sony launches the first consumer compact disc (CD) player (model CDP-101).
October 8
Poland bans the Solidarity trade union after having suspended it on December 13, 1981.
After six years in opposition, Social Democrat Olof Palme becomes Prime Minister of Sweden once again.
October 11 – The Mary Rose, flagship of Henry VIII of England that sank in 1545, is raised from the Solent.
October 20 – Luzhniki disaster: During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death.
October 27 – In Canada, Dominion Day is officially renamed Canada Day.
October 28 – The Socialist Party wins the election in Spain; Felipe González is elected Prime Minister.
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1982_10 | Section: November (2):
November 3
A gasoline (petrol) tanker explodes in the Salang Tunnel in Afghanistan, killing at least 176 people.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surges 43.41 points, or 4.25%, to close at 1,065.49, its first all-time high in more than 9 years.
November 6 – Cameroon president Ahmadou Ahidjo resigns, replaced by Paul Biya who rules the country for more than 40 years.
November 8 – Kenan Evren becomes the seventh president of Turkey as a result of the constitution referendum. His former title was "head of state".
November 11 – In Lebanon, the first Tyre headquarters bombing kills between 89 and 102 people.
November 12 – In the Soviet Union, former KGB head Yuri Andropov is selected to become the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding the late Leonid I. Brezhnev who had died two days earlier.
November 14 – The leader of Poland's outlawed Solidarity movement, Lech Wałęsa, is released from 11 months of internment near the Soviet border.
November 20
The General Union of Ecuadorian Workers (UGTE) is founded.
University of California, Berkeley executes "The Play" in a college football game against Stanford. Completing a wacky 57-yard kickoff return that includes five laterals, Kevin Moen runs through Stanford band members who have prematurely come onto the field. His touchdown stands and California wins 25–20.
November 24 – Representatives from 88 countries gather in Geneva to discuss world trade and ways to work toward aspects of free trade.
November 27 – Yasuhiro Nakasone becomes Prime Minister of Japan.
November 28
The Edmonton Eskimos win an unprecedented 5th consecutive Grey Cup – a feat yet unaccomplished by any professional football franchise – to win the 70th Grey Cup, defeating the Toronto Argonauts 32–16.
Al Ahly SC won the African Cup of Champions club (today known as the CAF Champions League) for the first time after defeating Ghanaian Asante Kotoko
November 29 – Michael Jackson releases his sixth studio album, Thriller, in the United States, which will go on to be the best-selling album of all time at 110 million units sold worldwide.
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1982_11 | Section: December (2):
December 1 – Miguel de la Madrid takes office as President of Mexico.
December 2 – At the University of Utah, 61-year-old retired dentist Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart (he lives for 112 days with the device).
December 4 – The People's Republic of China adopts its current constitution.
December 7 – The first U.S. execution by lethal injection is carried out in Texas.
December 8 – The December murders occur in Suriname.
December 11 – Swedish pop group ABBA make their final public performance on the British TV programme The Late, Late Breakfast Show.
December 13 – The 6.2 Mw North Yemen earthquake shakes southwestern Yemen with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 2,800.
December 16 – The United Freedom Front bombs an office of South African Airways in Elmont, NY and an IBM office in Harrison, NY. Two police officers suffer hearing damage. In March 1984, the UFF claims responsibility for the IBM building bombing, stating that the company was targeted because of its business in South Africa under Apartheid.
December 22 – The Indian Ocean Commission (Commission de l'Océan Indien, COI) is created by the Port Louis Agreement.
December 26 – Time magazine's Man of the Year is given, for the first time to a non-human, the computer.
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1983_0 | 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1983rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 983rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 83rd year of the 20th century, and the 4th year of the 1980s decade. |
1983_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the true Internet).
January 24 – Twenty-five members of the Red Brigades are sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1978 murder of Italian politician Aldo Moro.
January 25 – IRAS is launched from Vandenberg AFB, to conduct the world's first all-sky infrared survey from space.
January 27 – The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) in Japan, breaks through.
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1983_1 | Section: February (2):
February 2 – Giovanni Vigliotto goes on trial on charges of polygamy involving 105 women.
February 3 – Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Fraser is granted a double dissolution of both houses of parliament, for elections on March 5, 1983. As Fraser is being granted the dissolution, Bill Hayden resigns as leader of the Australian Labor Party, and in the subsequent leadership spill Bob Hawke is elected as Hayden's successor unopposed.
February 5–6 – The team of A. J. Foyt, Preston Henn, Bob Wollek and Claude Ballot-Léna win the 24 Hours of Daytona automobile race in a Porsche 935.
February 12 – 100 women protest in Lahore, Pakistan, against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's proposed Law of Evidence. The women are tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up but are successful in repealing the law.
February 16 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 75 people, in one of Australia's worst bushfire disasters.
February 18
The Venezuelan bolívar is devalued and exchange controls are established in an event now referred to as Black Friday by many Venezuelans (the Bolívar had been the most stable and internationally accepted currency).
Nellie massacre: Over 2,000 people, mostly Bangladeshi Muslims, are massacred in Assam, India, during the Assam agitation.
Wah Mee massacre: 13 people are killed in an attempted robbery in the Chinatown area of Seattle, United States.
February 28 – The final episode of the TV series M*A*S*H, entitled Goodbye, Farewell and Amen, airs on CBS, to a total audience of 121.6 million.
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1983_2 | Section: March (2):
March 1 – The Balearic Islands and Madrid become Autonomous communities of Spain.
March 5 – Australian federal election: The Labor Party led by Bob Hawke defeats the Liberal/National Coalition government led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. Hawke is to be sworn in on March 11. As soon as the results become clear, Fraser resigns from the Liberal leadership; he is replaced by outgoing Minister for Industry and Commerce Andrew Peacock.
March 9 – The 3D printer is invented by Chuck Hull.
March 21 – Yamoussoukro officially becomes the Ivorian political capital after transfer from Abidjan.
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1983_3 | Section: April (2):
April 4 – The Space Shuttle Challenger is launched on its maiden voyage: STS-6.
April 11 – Spain's Seve Ballesteros won the 47th PGA Masters Tournament
April 18
The 1983 United States embassy bombing in Beirut kills 63 people.
The Disney Channel launches in the United States.
April 22 – A reactor shutdown due to failure of fuel rods occurs at Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, Russia.
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1983_4 | Section: May (2):
May 6 – Stern magazine publishes the "Hitler Diaries" (which are later found to be forgeries).
May 11 – Aberdeen F.C. beat Real Madrid 2–1 (after extra time) to win the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1983 and become only the third Scottish side to win a European trophy.
May 17 – Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
May 20
Two separate research groups led by Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier independently declare that a novel retrovirus may have been infecting people with HIV/AIDS, and publish their findings in the same issue of the journal Science.
Church Street bombing: A car bombing in Pretoria, South Africa, kills 19 people. The bomb has been planted by members of Umkhonto we Sizwe, a military wing of the African National Congress.
May 25 – Hamburger SV defeat Juventus 1–0 in the final of the European Cup.
May 26 – The 7.8 Mw Sea of Japan earthquake shakes northern Honshu with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami is generated that leaves about 100 people dead.
May 27 – Benton fireworks disaster. An explosion at an unlicensed and illegal fireworks operation near Benton, Tennessee, kills eleven and injures one. The blast is heard within a radius of 20 miles (32 km).
May 28 – The 9th G7 summit begins at Williamsburg, Virginia, United States.
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1983_5 | Section: June (2):
June 5 – The Second Sudanese Civil War begins in Sudan.
June 9 – Britain's Conservative government, led by Margaret Thatcher, is re-elected by a landslide majority.
June 9–25 – The 1983 Cricket World Cup is held in England with India defeating West Indies in the final.
June 13
Pioneer 10 passes the orbit of Neptune, becoming the first human-made object to leave the vicinity of the major planets of the Solar System.
The first worldwide mobile telephone, the Motorola DynaTAC, enters the market.
June 18 –
Iranian teenager Mona Mahmudnizhad and nine other women are hanged because they are members of the Baháʼí Faith.
Sally Ride's place in history was assured, when she rocketed into space on Challenger's STS-7 mission with four male crewmates.
June 18–19 – The team of Vern Schuppan, Al Holbert and Hurley Haywood wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
June 22 – Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old Vatican girl, mysteriously disappears in Rome while returning home from a music lesson. The disappearance of the girl led to many speculations involving international terrorism, Italian organized crime, and even a plot inside the Vatican to cover a sexual scandal inside the Holy See. Because of all these theories, the Orlandi case would later become Italy's most famous mystery.
June 25 – India wins the Cricket World Cup, defeating the West Indies by 43 runs.
June 30 – A total loss of coolant occurs at the Embalse Nuclear Power Station, Argentina. It is classified as an "Accident With Local Consequences" – level 4 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
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1983_6 | Section: July (2):
July 1
A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet, en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea, crashes into the Fouta Djall Mountains of Guinea, killing all 23 people on board.
A technical failure causes the release of iodine-131 from the Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant, Germany.
July 7 – Ten-year-old American girl Samantha Smith accepts her invitation from Soviet Premier Yuri Andropov and begins her visit to the USSR with her parents.
July 11 – Reading Rainbow debuts on PBS.
July 15
Nintendo's Family Computer, also known as the Famicom, goes on sale in Japan.
The Orly Airport attack in Paris leaves eight dead and 55 injured.
July 16 – Sikorsky S-61 disaster: A helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.
July 20 – The government of Poland announces the end of martial law and amnesty for political prisoners.
July 21 – The lowest temperature on Earth is recorded in Vostok Station, Antarctica with −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).
July 22 – Australian Dick Smith completes his solo circumnavigation of the world in a helicopter.
July 23
13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers are killed during a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, thus beginning the Sri Lankan Civil War, which would continue until 2009.
Heavy rain and mudslides in western Shimane Prefecture, Japan, kill 117.
July 24 – The Black July anti-Tamil riots begin in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000 Sri Lankan Tamils and Hill-country Tamils.
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1983_7 | Section: August (2):
August 4 – Thomas Sankara becomes President of Upper Volta.
August 18
Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over US $3.8 billion (2005 dollars) in damage.
Five people are killed and 18 others injured when a road train is deliberately driven into a motel at Ayers Rock in the Northern Territory of Australia (the driver, Douglas Edward Crabbe, is convicted in March 1984).
August 21 – Benigno Aquino Jr., Philippines opposition leader, is assassinated in Manila just as he returns from exile.
August 26 – Heavy rain triggers flooding at Bilbao, Spain, and surrounding areas, killing 44 people and causing millions in damages.
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1983_8 | Section: September (2):
September 1 – Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by Soviet Union Air Force Su-15 Flagon pilot Major Gennadi Osipovich near Moneron Island when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board are killed, including U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald.
September 6 – The Soviet Union admits to shooting down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, stating that the pilots did not know it was a civilian aircraft when it violated Soviet airspace.
September 19
Saint Kitts and Nevis becomes an independent state.
Press Your Luck premieres on CBS.
September 23
Gulf Air Flight 771 crashes in the United Arab Emirates after a bomb explodes in the baggage compartment, killing 117.
Violence erupts in New Caledonia between native Kanaks and French expatriates. The French government withdraws the promise of independence.
September 26
1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident: Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averts a worldwide nuclear war by correctly identifying a warning of attack by U.S. missiles as a false alarm.
The Soyuz T-10-1 mission ends in a pad abort at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, when a pad fire occurs at the base of the Soyuz U rocket during the launch countdown. The escape tower system, attached to the top of the capsule containing the crew and Soyuz spacecraft, fires immediately, pulling the crew safe from the vehicle a few seconds before the rocket explodes, destroying the launch complex.
The mass burial of around 700,000 unsold Atari video game cartridges, consoles, and computers occurs in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
The Australian yacht Australia II wins the America's Cup, the first successful challenge to the New York Yacht Club's 132-year defence of the sailing trophy.
September 27 – The GNU Project is announced publicly on the net.unix-wizards and net.usoft newsgroups.
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1983_9 | Section: October (2):
October 2 – Neil Kinnock is elected leader of the British Labour Party.
October 4 – British entrepreneur Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 mph (1,019.468 km/h), driving Thrust2 at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada.
October 9 – The Rangoon bombing kills South Korea's Foreign Minister, Lee Bum Suk, and 21 others. The perpetrators are believed to be North Koreans.
October 12 – Japan's former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Lockheed, and sentenced to 4 years in jail.
October 13 – The world's first commercial mobile cellular telephone call is made, in Chicago, United States.
October 19 – Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada, and 40 others are assassinated in a military coup.
October 21 – At the 17th General Conference on Weights and Measures, the metre is defined in terms of the speed of light as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
October 23 – Beirut barracks bombing: Simultaneous suicide truck-bombings destroy both the French Army and United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. servicemen, 58 French paratroopers and 6 Lebanese civilians.
October 25
Invasion of Grenada by United States troops at the behest of Eugenia Charles of Dominica, a member of the Organization of American States.
Word processor software Multi-Tool Word, soon to become Microsoft Word, is released in the United States. It is primarily the work of programmers Richard Brodie and Charles Simonyi. Free demonstration copies on disk are distributed with the November issue of PC World magazine.
October 30 – Argentine general election: The first democratic elections in Argentina after seven years of military rule are held.
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1983_10 | Section: November (2):
November 2 – South Africa approves a new constitution granting limited political rights to Coloureds and Asians as part of a series of reforms to apartheid.
November 3 – Commencement of the battle of Tripoli between Arafat loyalists and PLO dissidents.
November 5 – Byford Dolphin rig diving bell accident: Off the coast of Norway, 5 divers are killed and 1 is severely wounded in an explosive decompression accident.
November 7
Able Archer 83: Many Soviet officials misinterpret this NATO exercise as a nuclear first strike, causing the last nuclear scare of the Cold War.
1983 U.S. Senate bombing: A bomb explodes in the United States Senate with the intent to kill Republican senators; no one is injured. The perpetrators are members of the May 19th Communist Organization.
November 11 – Ronald Reagan becomes the first U.S. president to address the National Diet, Japan's national legislature.
November 13 – The first United States cruise missiles arrive at RAF Greenham Common in the UK amid protests from peace campaigners.
November 14 – The immunosuppressant cyclosporine is approved by the FDA, leading to a revolution in the field of transplantation.
November 15 – The Turkish part of Cyprus declares independence.
November 17 – The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is founded in Mexico.
November 19 – An attempted hijacking of Aeroflot Flight 6833 in Soviet Georgia results in several dead and wounded.
November 27 – Colombian Avianca Flight 011 crashes near Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, killing 181 of the 192 on board.
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1983_11 | Section: December (2):
December 4
General elections are celebrated in Venezuela in which the opposition party, Democratic Action, wins a majority in both chambers of the Venezuelan Congress and the presidency for the 1984–1989 period under Jaime Lusinchi. Voter turnout is 87.3% and Lusinchi obtains 58.4% of the votes.
Solar eclipse of December 4, 1983.
December 5 – ICIMOD is established and inaugurated with its headquarters in Kathmandu, Nepal, and legitimised through an Act of Parliament in Nepal this same year.
December 7 – Two Spanish passenger planes collide on the foggy runway at a Madrid airport, killing 90 people.
December 9 – The Australian dollar is floated by Federal treasurer Paul Keating. Under the old flexible peg system, the Reserve Bank bought and sold all Australian dollars and cleared the market at the end of the day. This initiative is taken by the government of Bob Hawke.
December 10 – Military rule ends and democracy is restored in Argentina, with the beginning of Raúl Alfonsín's first term as President of Argentina.
December 13 – Turgut Özal, of ANAP forms the new government of Turkey (45th government); beginning a new civilian regime.
December 17
The Alcalá 20 nightclub fire in Madrid, Spain, injuring 47 and killing 83 people.
Harrods bombings: a Provisional IRA car bomb kills 6 people and injures 90 outside Harrods department store in London.
December 19 – The Jules Rimet Trophy is stolen from the Brazilian Soccer Confederation building in Rio de Janeiro. As of 2022, the trophy has not been recovered.
December 27 – Pope John Paul II visits Rebibbia prison to forgive his would-be assassin Mehmet Ali Ağca.
December 31 – Two bombs explode in France: one on a Paris train kills three and injures 19; the other at Marseille station kills two and injures 34.
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1984_0 | 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1984th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 984th year of the 2nd millennium, the 84th year of the 20th century, and the 5th year of the 1980s decade. |
1984_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
January 9 – Van Halen releases their sixth studio album 1984 (MCMLXXXIV), which debuts at number 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and will go to sell over 10 million copies in the United States.
January 10
The United States and the Vatican (Holy See) restore full diplomatic relations.
The Victoria Agreement is signed, institutionalising the Indian Ocean Commission.
January 24 – Steve Jobs launches the Macintosh personal computer in the United States.
January 27 – American singer Michael Jackson's hair caught on fire during the making of the Pepsi commercial.
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1984_1 | Section: February (2):
February 3
John Buster and the research team at Harbor–UCLA Medical Center announce history's first embryo transfer from one woman to another, resulting in a live birth.
STS-41-B: Space Shuttle Challenger is launched on the 10th Space Shuttle mission.
February 7 – Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk.
February 8–19 – The 1984 Winter Olympics are held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
February 13 – Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
February 22 – President of Bangladesh, H M Ershad upgrades South Sylhet's sub-division status to a district and renames it back to Moulvibazar.
February 23 – TED (conference) is founded.
February 29 – Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau announces his retirement.
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1984_2 | Section: March (2):
March 5 – Iran accuses Iraq of using chemical weapons; the United Nations condemns their use on March 30.
March 12 – The National Union of Mineworkers strikes as tens of thousands of miners in the United Kingdom stop working in protest over colliery closures, starting the United Kingdom miners' strike that lasts a year.
March 16 – The United States Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Beirut, William Francis Buckley, is kidnapped by the Islamic Jihad Organization and later dies in captivity.
March 23 – General Rahimuddin Khan becomes the first man in Pakistan's history to rule over two of its provinces, after becoming interim Governor of Sindh.
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1984_3 | Section: April (2):
April 2 – Indian Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma is launched into space, aboard the Soyuz T-11.
April 12 – Palestinian gunmen take Israeli bus number 300 hostage. Israeli special forces storm the bus, freeing the hostages (one hostage, two hijackers killed).
April 13 – India launches Operation Meghdoot, bringing most of the disputed Siachen Glacier region of Kashmir under Indian control and triggering the Siachen conflict with Pakistan.
April 15 – The first World Youth Day gathering is held in Rome, Italy.
April 16 – More than one million people, led by Tancredo Neves, occupy the streets of São Paulo to demand direct presidential elections during the Brazilian military government of João Figueiredo. It is the largest protest during the Diretas Já civil unrest, as well as the largest public demonstration in the history of Brazil. The elections are granted in 1989.
April 17 – Metropolitan Police officer Yvonne Fletcher was fatally shot, during a demonstration outside the Libyan embassy in London, leading to an eleven-day siege of the embassy, and the severing of diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Libya.
April 19 – Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.
April 24 – An X-class solar flare erupts on the Sun.
April 26 – Sultan Iskandar of Johor becomes Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, in succession to Sultan Ahmad Shah, whose term ended the previous day.
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1984_4 | Section: May (2):
May 2 – South Africa, Mozambique and Portugal sign an agreement on electricity supply from the Cahora Bassa dam.
May 5
The Herreys' song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden in Luxembourg. It subsequently becomes a top-ten hit in five European countries.
The Itaipu Dam, on the border of Brazil and Paraguay after nine years of construction, begins generating power; it is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world at the time.
May 8 – The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
May 11 – A transit of Earth from Mars takes place.
May 12 – The Louisiana World Exposition, also known as the 1984 World's Fair, opens.
May 13 – Severomorsk Disaster: an explosion at the Soviets' Severomorsk Naval Base destroys two-thirds of all the missiles stockpiled for the Soviets' Northern Fleet. The blast also destroys workshops needed to maintain the missiles as well as hundreds of technicians. Western military experts called it the worst naval disaster the Soviet Navy has suffered since WWII.
May 14 – The one-dollar coin is introduced in Australia.
May 23 – A methane gas explosion at Abbeystead water treatment works in Lancashire, UK, kills 16 people.
May 30 – Liverpool beat Roma 5–2 after penalties in the final of the 1984 European Cup football tournament.
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1984_5 | Section: June (2):
June 5 – The Indian government begins Operation Blue Star, the planned attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
June 8 – A F5 tornado nearly destroys the town of Barneveld, Wisconsin, killing nine people, injuring nearly 200, and causing over $25,000,000 in damage.
June 16 – The Canadian entertainment company Cirque du Soleil is founded.
June 19 – 17-year-old Ricky Kasso murders Gary Lauwers in Northport, New York, contributing to the Satanic panic association of heavy metal music and satanism.
June 22 – Virgin Atlantic makes its inaugural flight.
June 25 – Hayim Association is founded by Prof. Rina Zaizov Marx and parents of children with cancer as paediatric oncology department in Israel.
June 27 – France beats Spain 2–0 to win Euro 84.
June 30 – John Turner becomes the 17th Prime Minister of Canada.
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1984_6 | Section: July (2):
July 1
Liechtenstein becomes the last country in Europe to grant women the right to vote.
Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona is sold by FC Barcelona (Spain) to S.S.C. Napoli (Italy) for a world record fee at this date of $10.48M (£6.9M).
July 14 – New Zealand Prime Minister Rob Muldoon calls a snap election and is defeated by opposition Labour leader David Lange.
July 18 – San Ysidro McDonald's massacre: 41-year-old James Huberty walks into a McDonald's in the San Ysidro district of San Diego, resulting in 21 deaths, with Huberty being killed by a sniper 70 minutes after the ordeal begins.
July 25 – Salyut 7: cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a space walk.
July 28–August 12 – The 1984 Summer Olympics are held in Los Angeles, California.
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1984_7 | Section: August (2):
August 1 – Australian banks are deregulated.
August 4
The African republic Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.
Soviet submarine K-278 Komsomolets reaches a record submergence depth of 1,020 meters.
August 11 – Barefoot South African runner Zola Budd and Mary Decker of the U.S. collide in the Olympic 3,000 meters final, neither finishing as medallists.
August 16 – John DeLorean is acquitted of all eight charges of possessing and distributing cocaine.
August 21 – Half a million people in Manila demonstrate against the regime of Ferdinand Marcos.
August 30 – STS-41-D: the Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on its maiden voyage.
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1984_8 | Section: September (2):
September 2 – Seven people are shot and killed and 12 wounded in the Milperra massacre, a shootout between the rival motorcycle gangs Bandidos and Comancheros in Sydney, Australia.
September 4 – The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, led by Brian Mulroney, wins 211 seats in the House of Commons of Canada, forming the largest majority government in Canadian history.
September 5
STS-41-D: the Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment.
September 7 – An explosion on board a Maltese patrol boat disposing illegal fireworks at sea off Gozo kills seven soldiers and policemen.
September 14
P. W. Botha is inaugurated as the first executive State President of South Africa.
Joe Kittinger begins his attempt to become the first person to fly a gas balloon solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
September 16 – Edgar Reitz's film series Heimat begins release in Germany.
September 17 – Brian Mulroney is sworn in as Prime Minister of Canada.
September 18 – Joe Kittinger becomes the first person to cross the Atlantic, solo, in a hot air balloon.
September 20 – Hezbollah car-bombs the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut, killing 24 people.
September 26 – The United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China sign the initial agreement to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.
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1984_9 | Section: October (2):
October 4 – Tim Macartney-Snape and Greg Mortimer become the first Australians to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
October 5 – STS-41-G: Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
October 9 – Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends by Britt Allcroft broadcasts its first two episodes in the United Kingdom.
October 11
Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.
Aeroflot Flight 3352 crashed at Omsk Airport into maintenance vehicles on the runway, killing 174 people on board and 4 on the ground.
October 12 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) attempts to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the British Cabinet in the Brighton hotel bombing with an explosive device planted nearly a month earlier in their conference hotel. The terror attack kills five people and injures 31.
October 14 – The Detroit Tigers defeat the San Diego Padres in game five of the 1984 World Series to win the franchise's 4th championship.
October 19 – Polish secret police kidnap Jerzy Popiełuszko, a Catholic priest who supports the Solidarity movement. His body is found in a reservoir 11 days later on October 30.
October 20 – Monterey Bay Aquarium is opened to the public after seven years of development and construction.
October 23 – The world learns from moving BBC News television reports presented by Michael Buerk of the famine in Ethiopia, where thousands of people have already died of starvation due to a famine, and as many as 10,000,000 more lives are at risk.
October 25 – The European Economic Community makes £1.8 million available to help combat the famine in Ethiopia.
October 26 – The science fiction action film The Terminator premieres. It is the third film directed by James Cameron, and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Michael Biehn.
October 31 – Assassination of Indira Gandhi: Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi is assassinated by her two Sikh security guards in New Delhi. Anti-Sikh riots break out, leaving 10,000 to 20,000 Sikhs dead in Delhi and surrounding areas with the majority populations of Hindus. Rajiv Gandhi becomes Prime Minister of India.
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1984_10 | Section: November (2):
November 1–4 – Anti-Sikh mass murder takes place in Delhi and various parts of India following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
November 4 – The Sandinista Front wins the Nicaraguan general elections.
November 6 – 1984 United States presidential election: Republican President Ronald Reagan defeats Democratic former Vice President Walter F. Mondale with 59% of the popular vote, the highest since Richard Nixon's 61% popular vote victory in 1972. Reagan carries 49 states in the electoral College; Mondale wins only his home state of Minnesota (by a mere 3,761 vote margin) and the District of Columbia.
November 9–11 – The first Hackers Conference is held.
November 11 – The Louisiana World Exposition, also known as The 1984 World's Fair, and also the New Orleans World's Fair, and, to the locals, simply as "The Fair" or "Expo 84", closes.
November 12 – Western Sahara conflict: Morocco leaves the Organization of African Unity in protest at the admission of Western Sahara as a member.
November 14 – Zamboanga City mayor Cesar Climaco, a prominent critic of the government of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, is assassinated in his home city.
November 19 – A series of explosions at the Pemex Petroleum Storage Facility at San Juan Ixhuatepec, in Mexico City, ignites a major fire and kills about 500 people.
November 21 – Start of Operation Moses, the evacuation of refugee Beta Israel Ethiopian Jews from Sudan to Israel via Brussels.
November 25
Band Aid (assembled by Bob Geldof) records the charity single Do They Know It's Christmas? in London to raise money to combat the famine in Ethiopia. It is released on December 3.
1984 Uruguayan presidential election: Julio María Sanguinetti is democratically elected President of Uruguay after 12 years of military dictatorship.
November 28 – Over 250 years after their deaths, William Penn and his wife Hannah Callowhill Penn are made Honorary Citizens of the United States.
November 30 – Sri Lankan Civil War, Kent and Dollar Farm massacres: the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam begin their first massacres of the Sinhalese people, in North and East Sri Lanka. 127 are killed.
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1984_11 | Section: December (2):
December 1
A peace agreement between Kenya and Somalia is signed in the Egyptian capital Cairo. With this agreement, in which Somalia officially renounces its historical territorial claims, relations between the two countries begin to improve.
The Light Rail Transit in Manila begins service with the opening of its southern segment, as the first rapid transit service in Southeast Asia.
December 2 – 1984 Australian federal election: Bob Hawke's Labor government is re-elected with a reduced majority, defeating the Liberal/National Coalition led by Andrew Peacock.
December 3 – Bhopal disaster: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, kills more than 8,000 people outright and injures over half a million (with more later dying from their injuries the death toll reaches 23,000+) in the worst industrial disaster in history.
December 4
Sri Lankan Civil War, 1984 Mannar massacre: Sri Lankan Army soldiers kill over 200 civilians in the town of Mannar.
Hezbollah militants hijack a Kuwait Airlines plane and kill 4 passengers.
December 19 – The People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong.
December 20 – Disappearance of Jonelle Matthews from Greeley, Colorado. Her remains were discovered on 23 July 2019, located about 15 mi (24 km) southeast of Jonelle's home. The cause of death "was a gunshot wound to the head".
December 22
Four African-American youths (Barry Allen, Troy Canty, James Ramseur, and Darrell Cabey) board an express train in the Bronx borough of New York City. They demand five dollars from Bernhard Goetz, who shoots them. The event starts a national debate about urban crime in the United States.
In Malta, Prime Minister Dom Mintoff resigns.
December 28 – A Soviet cruise missile plunges into Lake Inari in Finnish Lapland, known as the Lake Inari missile incident. Finnish authorities announce the fact in public on January 3, 1985.
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1985_0 | 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1985th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 985th year of the 2nd millennium, the 85th year of the 20th century, and the 6th year of the 1980s decade. |
1985_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1
The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a new agreement on fishing rights.
January 7 – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union.
January 15 – Tancredo Neves is elected president of Brazil by the Congress, ending the 21-year military rule.
January 20 – Ronald Reagan is privately sworn in for a second term as President of the United States.
January 27 – The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is formed, in Tehran.
January 28 – The charity single record "We Are the World" is recorded by USA for Africa.
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1985_1 | Section: February (2):
February 4 – The border between Gibraltar and Spain reopens for the first time since Francisco Franco closed it in 1969.
February 5 – Australia cancels its involvement in U.S.-led MX missile tests.
February 9 – U.S. drug agent Kiki Camarena is kidnapped and murdered in Mexico by drug traffickers; his body is later discovered on March 5.
February 14 – Lebanon hostage crisis: CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is freed from captivity in Lebanon.
February 16
Israel begins withdrawing troops from Lebanon.
The ideology of Hezbollah is declared in a program issued in Beirut.
February 19
William J. Schroeder becomes the first patient with an artificial heart to leave the hospital.
Iberia Airlines Flight 610 crashes, killing all 148 on board.
China Airlines Flight 006 is involved in a mid-air incident; while there are 22 minor injuries and 2 serious injuries, no one is killed.
February 28 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry in Northern Ireland. With nine officers dead, it is the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.
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1985_2 | Section: March (2):
March – The GNU Manifesto, written by Richard Stallman, is first published.
March 1 – After a 12-year-long dictatorship, Julio María Sanguinetti is sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Uruguay.
March 3 – The 8.0 Mw Algarrobo earthquake hits Santiago and Valparaíso, Chile, leaving 177 dead, 2,575 injured, 142,489 houses destroyed, and approximately a million people homeless.
March 8 – A Beirut car bomb, planted in an attempt to assassinate Islamic cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, kills more than 80 people and injures 200 more.
March 11
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and de facto leader of the Soviet Union.
Mohamed Al-Fayed buys the London-based department store company Harrods.
March 15 – Vice-president José Sarney, upon becoming vice president, assumes the duties of president of Brazil, as the new president Tancredo Neves had become severely ill the day before. Sarney would later become Brazil's first civilian president in 21 years, upon Neves' death on April 21.
March 16 – Lebanon hostage crisis: US journalist Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut; he remains a prisoner until December 4, 1991.
March 17 – Expo '85, an international exhibition, opens in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan, running until September 16.
March 18 – Australia's longest-running soap opera, Neighbours, debuts on Seven Network.
March 21 – Canadian paraplegic athlete and activist Rick Hansen sets out on his 26-month, 40,000-kilometre (25,000 mi) Man in Motion tour, which raises US$26 million for spinal cord research and quality-of-life initiatives.
March 25
The 57th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, with Amadeus winning Best Picture.
The Organization Commune Africaine et Malgache is officially dissolved.
March 31 – The inaugural WrestleMania is held in Madison Square Garden, New York, and is "main-evented" by Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper in a tag-team match.
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1985_3 | Section: April (2):
Soviet–Afghan War: The Soviet Union begins to transfer the burden of fighting the mujahideen to the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, a cause of the Revolutions of 1989.
April 1 – Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation, and Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation, are privatized and change their names to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, and Japan Tobacco, respectively.
April 12 – El Descanso bombing: A terrorist bombing attributed to the Islamic Jihad Organization in the El Descanso restaurant near Madrid, Spain, mostly attended by U.S. personnel from the Torrejón Air Base, causes 18 deaths (all Spaniards) and 82 injuries.
April 15 – South Africa ends its ban on interracial marriages.
April 19 – The Soviet Union performs a nuclear weapon test in eastern Kazakhstan.
April 23 – Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months.
April 28 – The Australian Nuclear Disarmament Party (NDP) splits.
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1985_4 | Section: May (2):
May 4 – The 30th Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Gothenburg, Sweden and is won by the Bobbysocks! song La det swinge for Norway.
May 5 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan joins West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl for a controversial funeral service at a cemetery in Bitburg, West Germany, which includes the graves of 59 elite S.S. troops from World War II.
May 9 – The 3rd total Victory Day Parade (the first being in 1945 and the next in 1965) is held on Red Square in Moscow in the Soviet Union. It features T-34-85 tanks, veterans of World War II from Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, and is the first parade to be held during the reign of Mikhail Gorbachev.
May 11
The FBI brings charges against the suspected heads of the five Mafia families in New York City.
Bradford City stadium fire: A fire engulfs a wooden stand at the Valley Parade stadium in Bradford, England, during an Association football match, killing 56 people.
May 15 – Argentine President Raúl Alfonsín terminates Argentine administration of the Falkland Islands but does not relinquish Argentina's claim to the islands.
May 16 – Scientists of the British Antarctic Survey announce the discovery of the ozone hole.
May 25 – Approximately 10,000 people are killed when Bangladesh is affected by the storm surge from Tropical Storm One (1B).
May 26 – Young driver Danny Sullivan beats veteran Mario Andretti to win the 1985 Indianapolis 500.
May 29 – Heysel Stadium disaster: Thirty-nine spectators are killed in rioting on the terraces during the European Cup final between Liverpool F.C. and Juventus (0–1) at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium.
May 31 – Forty-four tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, including a rare and powerful F5. In total, the event kills 90 people.
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1985_5 | Section: June (2):
June 6 – The remains of Josef Mengele, the physician notorious for Nazi human experimentation on inmates of Auschwitz concentration camp, buried in 1979 under the name of Wolfgang Gerhard, are exhumed in Embu das Artes, Brazil.
June 14
TWA Flight 847, carrying 153 passengers from Athens to Rome, is hijacked by a Hezbollah fringe group. One passenger, U.S. Navy Petty Officer Robert Stethem, is killed. Greek police arrest a 65-year-old Lebanese suspect on September 21, 2019.
The Schengen Agreement is signed between certain member states of the European Economic Community, creating the Schengen Area, a bloc of (at the time) 5 states with no internal border controls.
June 15 – Studio Ghibli, an animation studio, is founded in Tokyo.
June 20 – 1985 Nepal bombings: A series of bomb blasts occurs in Kathmandu and other cities of Nepal.
June 22 – British and Irish police foil a "mainland bombing campaign" sponsored by the Provisional Irish Republican Army which targets luxury vacation resorts.
June 23 – Air India Flight 182, a Boeing 747, is blown up by a terrorist bomb 31,000 feet (9,500 m) above the Atlantic Ocean, south of Ireland, on a Montreal–London–Delhi flight, killing all 329 aboard.
June 24 – STS-51-G: Space Shuttle Discovery completes its mission, best remembered for having Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a payload specialist.
June 27 – The iconic U.S. Route 66 is officially decommissioned.
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1985_6 | Section: July (2):
July 1 – The Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons enters into force.
July 10
The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland Harbour by French DGSE agents.
Aeroflot Flight 5143 crashes near Uchquduq, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union, killing all 200 people on board.
July 13 – Live Aid benefit concerts in London and Philadelphia raise over £50 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.
July 19
New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe is selected as the first person to go into space under the Teacher in Space Project, and designated to ride aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
The Val di Stava dam collapses in Italy, killing 268 people, destroying 63 buildings, and demolishing eight bridges.
July 20 – State President of South Africa, P. W. Botha, declares a state of emergency in 36 magisterial districts of South Africa amid growing civil unrest in black townships.
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1985_7 | Section: August (2):
August 2 – Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashes near Dallas, Texas, United States, killing 137 people.
August 12 – Japan Air Lines Flight 123 crashes in Japan, killing 520 people, including Japanese singer Kyu Sakamoto; it is the worst single-aircraft disaster in aviation history.
August 14 – The Accomarca massacre takes place in Ayacucho, Peru.
August 22 – British Airtours Flight 28M: The 737's left engine catches fire while on its takeoff roll at Manchester Airport in the UK and 55 people are killed while trying to evacuate the aircraft.
August 25 – Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 crashes in the United States, killing all 8 on board, including thirteen-year-old American celebrity schoolgirl Samantha Smith.
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1985_8 | Section: September (2):
September 1 – The wreck of the RMS Titanic is located by a joint American-French expedition led by Robert Ballard (WHOI) and Jean-Louis Michel (IFREMER) using side-scan sonar from RV Knorr.
September 6 – Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, crashes just after takeoff from Milwaukee, killing all 31 on board.
September 19 – An 8.0 Mw earthquake strikes Mexico City, killing between 5,000 and 45,000 people and injuring 30,000 more.
September 20 – The capital gains tax is introduced to Australia.
September 22
The Plaza Accord is signed by five nations.
Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrap the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris, for two weeks (22 Sep. – 5 Oct. 1985). The Pont Neuf Wrapped attracts three million visitors.
September 23 – Italian crime reporter Giancarlo Siani is killed by the Camorra.
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1985_9 | Section: October (2):
October 1 – Operation Wooden Leg: The Israeli air force bombs Palestine Liberation Organization headquarters near Tunis.
October 3 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its maiden flight.
October 7 – The cruise ship Achille Lauro is hijacked in the Mediterranean Sea by four heavily armed Palestinian terrorists. One passenger, American Leon Klinghoffer, is killed.
October 16 – The Finnish dry cargo ship MS Hanna-Marjut, on its way from Mariehamn to Naantali, sinks in hard sea on the open water of Kihti between the Kökar and Sottunga islands of Åland, leading to the drowning of four people.
October 18 – The Nintendo Entertainment System is released in North America.
October 25 – Emirates Airlines is established in Dubai and makes its first flight, to Karachi, Pakistan.
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1985_10 | Section: November (2):
November 6
Palace of Justice siege: Members of the 19th of April Movement (M-19) Marxist guerrilla group take over the Palace of Justice of Colombia in Bogotá and hold the Supreme Court hostage. Hours later, after a military raid, the incident leaves almost half of the 25 Supreme Court Justices dead.
The Argentine tourist village of Villa Epecuén is permanently flooded through the collapse of a dam and dyke.
November 9 – In an all-Soviet match, 22-year-old Garry Kasparov defeats Anatoly Karpov to become the youngest-ever undisputed winner of the World Chess Championship.
November 12 – A total solar eclipse occurs over Antarctica at 14:11:22 UTC.
November 13 – Armero tragedy: The Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts, killing an estimated 23,000 people, including 21,000 killed by lahars, in the town of Armero, Colombia.
November 19 – Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.
November 20 – Microsoft Corporation releases the first U.S. release of Windows 1.0, as version 1.01. International support comes with the release of Windows 1.02 in Europe in May 1986.
November 23 – EgyptAir Flight 648 is hijacked by the Abu Nidal group and flown to Malta, where Egyptian commandos storm the plane; 60 are killed by gunfire and explosions.
November 25 – 1985 Aeroflot Antonov An-12 shoot-down: A Soviet Aeroflot Antonov An-12 cargo airplane, en route from Cuito Cuanavale to Luanda, is shot down by South African Special Forces and crashes approximately 43 km (27 mi) east of Menongue, the provincial center of the Cuando Cubango Province, Angola, killing 8 crew members and 13 passengers on board.
November 29 – Gérard Hoarau, exiled political leader from the Seychelles, is assassinated in London.
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1985_11 | Section: December (2):
December 1
The Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (Spanish: Organización e Estados Iberoamericanos para la Educación la Ciencia y la Cultura; OEI) is created.
The Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable are released for sale to the public in the US.
December 8 – The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is established.
December 11 – Hugh Scrutton is killed outside his Sacramento, California, computer rental store by a Unabomber explosive, becoming the first fatality of the bombing campaign.
December 12 – Arrow Air Flight 1285R, a Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland, killing 256 people – 248 of whom were U.S. servicemen returning to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, after overseeing a peacekeeping force in the Sinai Peninsula.
December 20 – Pope John Paul II announces the institution of World Youth Day for Catholic youths.
December 27
Rome and Vienna airport attacks: Abu Nidal terrorists open fire in the airports of Rome and Vienna, leaving 18 dead and 120 injured.
American naturalist Dian Fossey is found brutally murdered in Rwanda.
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1986_0 | 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1986th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 986th year of the 2nd millennium, the 86th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1980s decade. |
1986_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1
Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
Spain and Portugal enter the European Community, which becomes the European Union in 1993.
January 11 – The Gateway Bridge in Brisbane, Australia, at this time the world's longest prestressed concrete free-cantilever bridge, is opened.
January 13–24 – South Yemen Civil War.
January 20 – The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.
January 24 – The Voyager 2 space probe makes its first encounter with Uranus.
January 25 – Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army Rebel group takes over Uganda after leading a five-year guerrilla war in which up to half a million people are believed to have been killed. They will later use January 26 as the official date to avoid a coincidence of dates with Dictator Idi Amin's 1971 coup.
January 28 – Space Shuttle Challenger disaster – STS-51-L: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch from the United States, killing the crew of seven astronauts, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.
January 29 – Yoweri Museveni is sworn in as President of Uganda.
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1986_1 | Section: February (2):
February 3 – Pixar is founded by John Lasseter along with Steve Jobs.
February 7
President Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc") flees Haiti, ending 28 years of family rule.
The snap presidential election in the Philippines earlier announced by President Ferdinand Marcos is held amidst controversy, that paves the way for a chain of protests, culminating in the People Power Revolution.
February 8 – Hinton train collision: A Canadian National train heading westbound collides with a Via Rail train in Hinton, Alberta; 23 people are killed and 71 injured in the accident.
February 9 – Halley's Comet reaches its perihelion, the closest point to the Sun, during its second visit to the solar system in the 20th century (the first was in 1910).
February 10 – The Maxi Trial (Italian: Maxiprocesso) begins in the bunker room of the Ucciardone prison (Palermo). It will be the largest trial against the Sicilian Mafia.
February 11 – Human rights activist Natan Sharansky is released by Soviet authorities and leaves the country for Israel.
February 15 – The Beechcraft Starship makes its maiden flight.
February 16
The Soviet liner MS Mikhail Lermontov sinks in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
Ouadi Doum air raid: The French Air Force raids the Libyan Ouadi Doum airbase in northern Chad.
Mário Soares wins the second round of the Portuguese presidential election.
February 17 – The Single European Act is signed.
February 19
The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station.
The United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide.
February 22 – The People Power Revolution begins in the Philippines to remove President Ferdinand Marcos from office.
February 25
The 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union opens in Moscow. The General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev introduces the keywords of his mandate to the audience: Glasnost and Perestroika.
People Power Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines is ousted from power and goes into exile in Hawaii after 20 years of dictatorial rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president and forms an interim government with Salvador Laurel becoming her Vice-president and Prime Minister.
A three-day riot begins in Cairo, Egypt when around 25,000 conscripts of the Central Security Forces (CSF), staged protests in and around the city. Three luxury hotels, several nightclubs, restaurants and cars were looted and burned in the tourist districts near the Pyramids over several days. The riot became known as the Egyptian Conscripts Riot. At least 25 people died during the first day in Cairo, and an estimated 8,000 people, mostly conscripts in regions outside the city, were killed in total.
February 27 – The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
February 28 – Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme is shot to death on his way home from the cinema in Stockholm, Sweden.
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1986_2 | Section: March (2):
March 1 – Olof Palme's deputy Ingvar Carlsson becomes acting Prime Minister of Sweden. He is elected Prime Minister by the Swedish Riksdag on March 15.
March 3 – The first paper is published describing the atomic force microscope invented the previous year by Gerd Binnig, Calvin Quate and Christopher Berger.
March 8 – The Japanese Suisei probe flies by Halley's Comet, studying its UV hydrogen corona and solar wind.
March 9 – United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger; the bodies of all seven astronauts are still inside.
March 13 – In a Black Sea incident, American cruiser USS Yorktown and the destroyer USS Caron, claiming the right of innocent passage, enter the Soviet territorial waters near the southern Crimean Peninsula.
March 14 – Microsoft Corporation holds its initial public offering of stock shares.
March 15 – Hotel New World collapses, 33 killed and 17 rescued from rubble.
March 25 – The 58th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, with Out of Africa winning Best Picture.
March 26 – An article in The New York Times charges that Kurt Waldheim, former United Nations Secretary-General and candidate for president of Austria, may have been involved in Nazi war crimes during World War II.
March 27 – Russell Street Bombing: A car bomb explodes at Russell Street Police Headquarters in Russell Street, Melbourne, killing a woman constable, the first Australian policewoman to be killed in the line of duty.
March 31 – Mexicana Flight 940 crashes near Maravatío, Mexico, killing 167.
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1986_3 | Section: April (2):
April – The government of Ivory Coast requests international diplomatic use of the French form of its name, Côte d'Ivoire.
April 1 – Sector Kanda: Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) cadres attack a number of police stations in Kathmandu, seeking to incite a popular rebellion.
April 2 – A bomb explodes on a Trans World Airlines flight from Rome to Athens, killing 4 people.
April 5 – 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing: The West Berlin discothèque La Belle, a known hangout for United States soldiers, is bombed, killing three and injuring 230; Libya is held responsible.
April 11 – The infamous FBI shootout in Miami results in the death of two FBI agents and the wounding of five others.
April 13
Pope John Paul II officially visits the Great Synagogue of Rome, the first time a modern Pope has visited a synagogue.
The first child born to a non-related surrogate mother is born.
April 14 – Hailstones weighing 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) fall on Gopalganj District, Bangladesh, killing 92.
April 15 – Operation El Dorado Canyon: At least 15 people die after United States planes bomb targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Benghazi region.
April 16 – The United Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Netherlands sign a peace treaty, thus ending the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War, one of the longest wars in human history.
April 17
Lebanon hostage crisis: British journalist John McCarthy is kidnapped in Beirut (he is released in August 1991) and three others are killed in retaliation for the bombing of Libya.
The Hindawi affair begins when an Irishwoman is found carrying explosives onto an El Al flight from London to Tel Aviv.
An alleged state of war lasting 335 years between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly declared peace bringing an end to any hypothetical war that may have been legally considered to exist.
April 18 – Titan 34D-9 explodes just after launch while carrying the final KH-9 satellite.
April 21 – Lorimar-Telepictures launches as a mass media company.
April 26 – Chernobyl disaster: A mishandled safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union "killed at least 4,056 people and damaged almost $7 billion of property". Radioactive fallout from the accident is concentrated near Belarus, Ukraine and Russia and at least 350,000 people are forcibly resettled away from these areas. After the accident, "traces of radioactive deposits unique to Chernobyl were in nearly every country in the northern hemisphere".
April 29 – The Diamond Jubilee of Hirohito is held at the Kokugikan in Tokyo.
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1986_4 | Section: May (2):
May 2 – Expo 86, the 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication, a World's fair, opens in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
May 8 – Óscar Arias is inaugurated into his first term as President of Costa Rica.
May 12 – NBC unveils its current peacock logo at the finale of its 60th anniversary special.
May 16
The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain.
Paramount Pictures releases Top Gun.
May 23 – Somali President Siad Barre is injured in a car accident in Mogadishu and taken to Saudi Arabia for treatment. Somali opposition groups see this as an opportunity to try to remove Barre, beginning the Somali Civil War.
May 25
Hands Across America: At least 5,000,000 people form a human chain from New York City to Long Beach, California, to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness.
The Bangladeshi double-decked ferry Shamia capsizes in the Meghna River, southern Barisal, Bangladesh, killing at least 600.
May 27
Islamic scholars Isma'il and Lois Lamya al-Faruqi are murdered in their home in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, drawing attention due to their academic prominence and the brutality of the attack.
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1986_5 | Section: June (2):
June – Construction of the Oosterscheldekering, the world's largest openable storm surge flood barrier, is completed in the Netherlands.
June 4 – Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
June 8 – Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria.
June 9 – The Rogers Commission releases its report on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
June 12 – South Africa declares a nationwide state of emergency.
June 14 – Fantasyland's Mindbender derails and kills three people.
June 22 – In one of the most famous FIFA World Cup matches, Argentinian football player Diego Maradona scores one handball goal (nicknamed the "Hand of God") and then dribbles past the entire English football team to score a second goal (nicknamed "The Goal of the Century") with Argentina winning 2–1 against England.
June 23 – Eric Thomas develops LISTSERV, the first email list management software.
June 29 – Argentina defeats West Germany 3–2 to win the 1986 World Cup in Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
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1986_6 | Section: July (2):
July 2 – Walt Disney Pictures releases the company's 26th animated film, The Great Mouse Detective.
July 4 – The Statue of Liberty is reopened to the public after celebrating its centennial and an extensive refurbishment.
July 7 – Australian drug smugglers Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers are executed in Malaysia.
July 11 – The New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Act decriminalizes consensual sex between men from the age of 16.
July 23 – In London, Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.
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1986_7 | Section: August (2):
August 6
A low-pressure system moving from South Australia and redeveloping off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimetres (12.9 in) of rain in a day on Sydney.
Australian Democrats leader Don Chipp retires from federal parliament and is succeeded by Janine Haines, the first woman to lead a political party in Australia.
August 16 – Typhoon Wayne formed over the South China Sea, going on to become one of the longest-lived tropical cyclones at 21 days, and kill 490.
August 19 – Two weeks after it was stolen, the Picasso painting Weeping Woman is found in a locker at the Spencer Street Station in Melbourne, Australia.
August 20 – In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his coworkers before committing suicide.
August 21 – The Lake Nyos disaster, a limnic eruption, occurs in Cameroon, killing nearly 2,000 people.
August 31
The Soviet passenger liner SS Admiral Nakhimov collides with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev in the Black Sea and sinks almost immediately, killing 398.
Aeroméxico Flight 498, a Douglas DC-9, collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 82 (67 on both aircraft and 15 on the ground).
The cargo ship Khian Sea departs from the docks of Philadelphia, carrying 14,000 tons of toxic waste. It wanders the seas for the next 16 months trying to find a place to dump its cargo. The waste is later dumped in Haiti.
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1986_8 | Section: September (2):
September 1 – Jordan University of Science and Technology is established in Jordan.
September 4 – Eusko Alkartasuna, the Basque Social Democratic Party, is created in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
September 5 – Pan Am Flight 73, with 358 people on board, is hijacked at Karachi International Airport by four Abu Nidal terrorists.
September 6
The Big Mac Index is introduced in The Economist newspaper as a semi-humorous international measure of purchasing power parity.
In Istanbul, two Abu Nidal terrorists kill 22 and wound 6 inside the Neve Shalom Synagogue during Shabbat services.
September 7
Desmond Tutu becomes the first black Anglican Church bishop in South Africa.
Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet survives an assassination attempt by the FPMR; 5 of Pinochet's bodyguards are killed.
September 13 – The 6.0 Mw Kalamata earthquake shook southern Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). The shock left at least 20 dead, 300 injured, and caused $5 million in damage.
September 28 – The Democratic Progressive Party is founded. It was part of the Tangwai movement in the new generation to challenge Kuomintang in Taiwan's one-party politics, and is currently one of only two parties to win presidential elections in Taiwan.
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1986_9 | Section: October (2):
October 1 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Goldwater–Nichols Act into law, making official the largest reorganization of the United States Department of Defense since the Air Force was made a separate branch of service in 1947.
October 3
TASCC, a superconducting cyclotron, officially opens at Chalk River Laboratories.
A hybrid solar eclipse was visible off the coast of Iceland, and was the 53rd solar eclipse of Solar Saros 124.
October 9
United States District Court Judge Harry E. Claiborne becomes the fifth federal official to be removed from office through impeachment.
News Corporation completes its acquisition of the Metromedia group of companies, thereby launching the Fox Broadcasting Company.
The Phantom of the Opera, the longest running Broadway show in history, opens at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.
October 10 – The 5.7 Mw San Salvador earthquake shook San Salvador, El Salvador with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Up to 1,500 people were killed.
October 11–12 – Cold War: Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe, which end in failure.
October 16 – The International Olympic Committee chooses Albertville, France to be the host city of the 1992 Winter Olympics and Barcelona, Spain to be the host city of the 1992 Summer Olympics. The IOC also announces that the summer and winter games will separate with the winter games on every even, common year; and the summer games on every leap year starting from 1992.
October 19 – Mozambican President Samora Machel's plane crashes in South Africa.
October 21 – The Marshall Islands became an associated state under the Compact of Free Association.
October 22 – In New York City, WNBC Radio's traffic helicopter crashes into the Hudson River, killing traffic reporter Jane Dornacker. The last words heard on-the-air are Dornacker's screams of terror, "Hit the water! Hit the water! Hit the water!"
October 26
Bus deregulation goes into effect in the United Kingdom, except Greater London and Northern Ireland.
The state funeral of President Samora Machel of Mozambique takes place in Maputo.
October 27 – The New York Mets win 4 games to 3 in the 1986 World Series against the Boston Red Sox.
October 29 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher officially opens the M25 Motorway, which encircles Greater London, in a ceremony on the carriageway near Potters Bar. It became Europe's second longest orbital road upon completion, and provides the first and only full bypass of London.
October 30 – The National Park Passport Stamps program begins in the United States.
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1986_10 | Section: November (2):
November 1
Queensland, Australia: Joh Bjelke-Petersen wins his final election as Premier of Queensland with 38.6% of the vote. He resigns on December 1, 1987, following revelations of his involvement with corruption released in the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
Sandoz chemical spill: A major environmental disaster near Basel, Switzerland pollutes the Rhine, when an agrochemical storehouse catches on fire.
November 3
Iran–Contra affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been selling weapons to Iran in secret, in order to secure the release of 7 American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
The Northern Mariana Islands enter in a political union with the United States. The island's government adopted its own constitution in 1977, and the constitutional government took office in January 1978. The covenant was fully implemented November 3, 1986, pursuant to Presidential Proclamation no. 5564, which conferred United States citizenship on legally qualified island residents.
November 6
45 people are killed in the 1986 British International Helicopters Chinook crash.
Alex Ferguson is appointed as the new manager of Manchester United.
November 18 – Greater Manchester Police announce that they will search for the bodies of 2 missing children (who both vanished more than 20 years ago) after the Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley confess to 2 more murders.
November 21 – Iran-Contra Affair: National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, start shredding documents implicating them in selling weapons to Iran and channeling the proceeds to help fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
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1986_11 | Section: December (2):
December 4 – The MV Amazon Venture oil tanker begins leaking oil while at the port of Savannah in the United States, resulting in an oil spill of approximately 500,000 US gallons (1,900,000 L).
December 6 – Johnny Hallyday released his 35th album Gang.
December 7 – A magnitude 5.7 earthquake destroys most of the Bulgarian town of Strajica, killing 2 people.
December 14 – Rutan Voyager, an experimental aircraft designed by Burt Rutan and piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, begins its flight around the world from Edwards Air Force Base in the United States.
December 16 – Jeltoqsan, mass anti-government protests, break out across the Kazakh SSR, resulting in the massacre of over 165 protesters.
December 19 – Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov is permitted to return to Moscow after six years of internal exile.
December 20 – Three African Americans are assaulted by a group of white teens in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.
December 23 – Rutan Voyager completes the first nonstop circumnavigation of the earth by air without refueling in 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds.
December 31
Dupont Plaza Hotel arson: A hotel fire in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.
Soviet submarine Krasnoyarsk (K-173) is commissioned.
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1987_0 | 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1987th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 987th year of the 2nd millennium, the 87th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1980s decade. |
1987_0 | Section: January (2):
January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade.
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.
January 15 – Hu Yaobang, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, is forced into retirement by political conservatives.
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.
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.
January 20 – Terry Waite, the special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lebanon, is kidnapped in Beirut (released November 1991).
January 24 – 1987 Forsyth County protests: About 20,000 protestors marched in a civil rights demonstration in Forsyth County, Georgia, United States.
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1987_1 | Section: February (2):
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.
February 11
British Airways is privatised and listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The new Constitution of the Philippines goes into effect. This new constitution adds Spanish and Arabic as optional languages of the Philippines.
February 20 – A second Unabomber bomb explodes at a Salt Lake City computer store in the United States, injuring the owner.
February 23 – SN 1987A, the first "naked-eye" supernova since 1604, is observed.
February 25 – Beginning of the Phosphorite War protest movement in the Estonian SSR.
February 26 – Iran–Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes U.S. President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his National Security Council staff.
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1987_2 | Section: March (2):
March 1 – The first Starbucks outside of the US is opened in Vancouver, Canada.
March 4 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan addresses the American people on the Iran–Contra affair, acknowledging that his overtures to Iran had "deteriorated" into an arms-for-hostages deal.
March 6 – Zeebrugge disaster: Roll-on/roll-off cross-channel ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes off Zeebrugge harbor in Belgium; 193 people die.
March 7 – 1987 Lieyu massacre: The Republic of China Army execute 19 unarmed Vietnamese refugees on Donggang beach, Lieyu, Kinmen off Mainland China.
March 18 – Woodstock of physics: A marathon session of the American Physical Society's meeting features 51 presentations concerning the science of high-temperature superconductors.
March 20 – AZT is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for use in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.
March 24 – Michael Eisner, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and French Prime Minister and future President of France, Jacques Chirac, sign an agreement to construct the 4,800 acres (19 km2) Euro Disney Resort (now called Disneyland Paris) and to develop the Val d'Europe area of the new town Marne-la-Vallée in Paris, France.
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.
A hybrid solar eclipse is the second hybrid solar eclipse in less than one year, the first being on October 3, 1986. It is annular visible in southern Argentina, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan (part of the path of annularity crossed today's South Sudan), Ethiopia, Djibouti and northern Somalia and totally visible in Atlantic Ocean, lasting just 7.57 seconds.
March 30 – The 59th Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles, with Platoon winning Best Picture.
March 31 – Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, conducts a 45-minute interview on Soviet television.
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1987_3 | Section: April (2):
April 13 – The governments of the Portuguese Republic and the People's Republic of China sign an agreement in which Macau will be returned to China in 1999.
April 19 – The Simpsons cartoon first appears as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show.
April 21 – In Colombo, Sri Lanka, the Central Bus Station Bombing kills 113 civilians.
April 27 – The United States Department of Justice declares incumbent Austrian president Kurt Waldheim an "undesirable alien".
April 30 – Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the Provincial Premiers agree on principle to the Meech Lake Accord which would bring Quebec into the constitution.
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1987_4 | Section: May (2):
May 8 – Loughgall ambush: A 24-man unit of the British Army Special Air Service (SAS) ambushed eight members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) as they mounted an attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) barracks. All IRA members were killed as well as one civilian.
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.
May 11 – Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
May 14 – Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka executes a bloodless coup in Fiji.
May 17 – USS Stark is hit by two Iraqi-owned Exocet AM39 air-to-surface missiles killing 37 sailors.
May 22
The Hashimpura massacre occurs in Meerut, India.
The first ever Rugby World Cup kicks off with New Zealand playing Italy at Eden Park, Auckland.
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.
In one of the densest concentrations of humanity in history, a crowd of 800,000+ packed shoulder-to-shoulder onto the Golden Gate Bridge and its approaches for its 50th Anniversary celebration.
May 28 – Eighteen-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet air defenses and lands a private plane on Red Square in Moscow. He is immediately detained (released on August 3, 1988).
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1987_5 | Section: June (2):
June 3 – The Vanuatu Labour Party is founded.
June 8 – The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act is passed, the first of its kind in the world.
June 11 – The Conservative Party of the United Kingdom, led by Margaret Thatcher, is re-elected for a third term at the 1987 general election.
June 12 – During a visit to Berlin, Germany, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
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.
June 19
Teddy Seymour is officially designated the first black man to sail around the world, when he completes his solo sailing circumnavigation in Frederiksted, St. Croix, of the United States Virgin Islands.
Edwards v. Aguillard: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that a Louisiana law requiring that creation science be taught in public schools whenever evolution is taught is unconstitutional.
Hipercor bombing: the Basque terrorist group ETA perpetrate a car-bomb attack at an Hipercor market in Barcelona, killing 21 and hurting 45.
June 27 – A commercial HS 748 (Philippine Airlines Flight 206) crashes near Baguio, Philippines, killing 50.
June 28
Iraqi warplanes drop mustard-gas bombs on the Iranian town of Sardasht in two separate bombing rounds, on four residential areas. This is the first time a civilian town has been targeted by chemical weapons.
An accidental explosion at the Hohenfels Training Area in West Germany kills 3 U.S. troops.
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.
June 30 – Canada introduces a one-dollar coin, nicknamed the "Loonie".
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1987_6 | Section: July (2):
July 1 – The Single European Act is passed by the European Community.
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.
July 4 – A court in Lyon sentences former Gestapo boss Klaus Barbie to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity.
July 11
1987 Australian federal election: Bob Hawke's Labor government is re-elected with an increased majority, defeating the Liberal Party led by John Howard and the National Party led by Ian Sinclair.
World population is estimated to have reached five billion people, according to the United Nations.
July 15 – Martial law in Taiwan ends after 38 years.
July 17 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 2,500 mark for the first time, at 2,510.04.
July 22 – Palestinian cartoonist Naji Salim al-Ali is shot in London; he dies August 28.
July 25 – The East Lancashire Railway, a heritage railway in the North West of England, is opened between Bury and Ramsbottom.
July 31
Four hundred pilgrims are killed in clashes between demonstrating Iranian pilgrims and Saudi Arabian security forces in Mecca.
Docklands Light Railway in London, the first driverless railway in Great Britain, is formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
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.
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1987_7 | Section: August (2):
August 4
The World Commission on Environment and Development, also known as the Brundtland Commission, publishes its report, Our Common Future.
The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine, which had required radio and television stations to present alternative views on controversial issues.
August 7
The Colombian frigate Caldas enters Venezuelan waters near the Los Monjes Archipelago, sparking the Caldas frigate crisis between both nations.
American Lynne Cox becomes the first person to swim the Bering Strait, crossing from Little Diomede Island to Big Diomede in 2 hours and 5 minutes.
August 9 – Hoddle Street massacre in Australia: Julian Knight, 19, goes on a shooting rampage in the Melbourne suburb of Clifton Hill, Victoria, killing 7 people and injuring 19 before surrendering to police.
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.
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.
The followers of the Harmonic Convergence claim it is observed around the world.
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 demolished.
August 19
Hungerford massacre: Sixteen people die in an apparently motiveless mass shooting in the United Kingdom, carried out by Michael Ryan.
ABC News' chief Middle East correspondent Charles Glass escapes his Hezbollah kidnappers in Beirut, Lebanon, after 62 days in captivity.
The Order of the Garter is opened to women.
August 23 – The Hirvepark meeting is organized as the first unsanctioned political meeting in Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, in commemoration of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
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.
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1987_8 | Section: September (2):
September 2 – In Moscow, USSR, the trial begins for 19-year-old pilot Mathias Rust, who flew his Cessna airplane into Red Square in May.
September 3 – In a coup d'état in Burundi, President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya.
September 7–21 – The world's first conference on artificial life is held at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States.
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.
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1987_9 | Section: October (2):
October 3 – The Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement is reached but still requires ratification. This agreement would be a precursor to NAFTA.
October 6 – Fiji becomes a republic.
October 7 – Sikh nationalists declare the independence of Khalistan from India.
October 8–November 8 – The 1987 Cricket World Cup is held in India and Pakistan with Australia defeating England in the final.
October 15 – In Burkina Faso, a military coup is orchestrated by Blaise Compaoré against incumbent President Thomas Sankara.
October 15–October 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.
October 19
Black Monday: Stock market levels fall sharply on Wall Street and around the world.
US warships destroy two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.
Two commuter trains collide head-on on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia; 102 are killed.
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.
October 23
British champion jockey Lester Piggott is jailed for three years after being convicted of tax evasion.
On a vote of 58–42, the United States Senate rejects President Ronald Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court.
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1987_10 | Section: November (2):
November 1 – The InterCity 125 breaks the world speed record for a diesel-powered train, reaching 238 km/h (147.88 mph).
November 7
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali assumes the Presidency of Tunisia.
The Soviet Union celebrates the 70th Anniversary of The October Revolution with a Parade on Moscow's Red Square.
Lynne Cox swims between the Diomede Islands from the American Little Diomede Island to the Soviet Big Diomede Island.
Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system in Singapore opens for passenger service.
November 8 – Enniskillen bombing: Twelve people are killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb at a Remembrance Day service at Enniskillen.
November 12 – The first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Mainland China opens in Beijing, near Tiananmen Square.
November 15 – In Brașov, Romania, workers rebel against the communist regime led by Nicolae Ceaușescu.
November 16 – The Parlatino Treaty of Institutionalization is signed.
November 17 – A tsunami hits the Gulf of Alaska.
November 18
The King's Cross fire on the London Underground kills 31 people and injures a further 100.
Iran–Contra affair: U.S. Senate and House panels release reports charging President Ronald Reagan with 'ultimate responsibility' for the affair.
November 22 – Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion – unknown perpetrators hijack the signal of WGN-TV for about 20 seconds, and WTTW for about 90 seconds, and displays a video of a man in a Max Headroom mask.
November 25 – Category 5 Typhoon Nina smashes the Philippines with 265 kilometres per hour (165 mph) winds and a devastating storm surge, causing destruction and 812 deaths.
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.
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.
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1987_11 | Section: December (2):
December 1
NASA announces the names of 4 companies awarded contracts to help build Space Station Freedom: Boeing Aerospace, General Electric's Astro-Space Division, McDonnell Douglas, and the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell.
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.
December 8
Israeli–Palestinian conflict: The First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C. by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. It expires in 2019.
Alianza Lima air disaster: A Peruvian Navy Fokker F27 crashes near Ventanilla, Peru, killing 43.
December 9 – General Rahimuddin Khan retires from the Pakistan Army, along with the cabinet of the country's military dictatorship.
December 15 – Production I.G is founded by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and Takayuki Goto.
December 17 – Gustáv Husák resigns as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
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).
December 21 – Turgut Özal of ANAP forms the new government of Turkey (46th government).
December 22 – In Zimbabwe, the political parties ZANU and ZAPU reach an agreement that ends the violence in the Matabeleland region known as the Gukurahundi.
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.
December 30 – Pope John Paul II issues the encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis (On Social Concern).
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1988_0 | 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1988th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 988th year of the 2nd millennium, the 88th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1980s decade. |
1988_0 | Section: January (2):
January – The cargo ship Khian Sea deposits 4,000 tons of toxic waste in Haiti after wandering around the Atlantic for sixteen months.
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).
January 7–8 – In the 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.
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.
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.
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1988_1 | Section: February (2):
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 USS Caron escapes damage.
February 13–28 – The 1988 Winter Olympics are held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
February 17
1988 Oshakati bomb blast: A bomb explodes outside the First National Bank in Oshakati, Namibia, killing 27 and injuring 70.
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).
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.
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.
February 25 – The constitution of the Sixth Republic of Korea comes into effect.
February 27–29 – Collapse of the Soviet Union: The Sumgait pogrom of Armenians occurs in Sumqayit.
February 29 – A Nazi document implicates Kurt Waldheim in World War II deportations.
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1988_2 | Section: March (2):
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.
March 16
The Halabja chemical attack is carried out by Iraqi government forces.
Iran–Contra affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
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.
In the United States, the First Republic Bank of Texas fails and enters FDIC receivership, the largest FDIC assisted bank failure in history.
March 17
A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into the side of the mountains near the Venezuelan border, killing 143 people.
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).
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.
March 20 – Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the EPLF enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.
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.
March 25 – The Candle demonstration in Bratislava, Slovakia, is the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the socialist government in Czechoslovakia.
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1988_3 | Section: April (2):
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.
April 10 – The Ojhri Camp Disaster occurs in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
April 14
In the Geneva Accords, the Soviet Union commits itself to withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan.
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.
April 16 – Israeli commandos kill the PLO's Abu Jihad in Tunisia.
April 18 – The United States Navy retaliates for the USS Samuel B. Roberts mining with Operation Praying Mantis, in a day of strikes against Iranian oil platforms and naval vessels.
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.
April 28 – Aloha Airlines Flight 243 safely lands after losing its roof in midair, killing a flight attendant and injuring 65 people.
April 30 – World Expo 88 opens in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
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1988_4 | Section: May (2):
May 8 – François Mitterrand is re-elected as President of France for 7 years.
May 15 – Soviet–Afghan War: After more than 8 years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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.
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.
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.
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1988_5 | Section: June (2):
June 10–14 – Spontaneous 100,000 strong mass night-singing demonstrations in Estonian SSR eventually give name to the Singing Revolution.
June 10–25 – West Germany hosts the UEFA Euro 1988 football tournament, which is won by the Netherlands.
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.
June 22 – Walt Disney Studios and Steven Spielberg release Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
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.
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.
Villa Tunari massacre: Bolivian anti-narcotics police kills 9 to 12 and injures over a hundred protesting coca-growing peasants.
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.
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1988_6 | Section: July (2):
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.
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.
Iran Air Flight 655 is shot down by a missile launched from the USS Vincennes, killing a total of 290 people on board.
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.
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.
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1988_7 | Section: August (2):
August 5 – The 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis culminates in the ousting of the Lord President of Malaysia, Salleh Abas.
August 8 – 8888 Uprising: Thousands of protesters in Burma, now known as Myanmar, are killed during anti-government demonstrations.
August 11 – A meeting of Islamic Jihadi leaders, including Osama bin Laden, takes place, leading to the founding of Al-Qaeda.
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.
August 20 – A ceasefire effectively ends the Iran–Iraq War, with an estimated one million lives lost.
August 21 – The Mw 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.
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.
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1988_8 | Section: September (2):
September 11 – Singing Revolution: In the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, 300,000 people gather to express their support for independence.
September 12 – Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica; it turns towards Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula 2 days later, causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.
September 15 – The International Olympic Committee awards Lillehammer the right to host the 1994 Winter Olympics.
September 17–October 2 – The 1988 Summer Olympics are held in Seoul, South Korea.
September 22 – The Ocean Odyssey drilling rig suffers a blowout and fire in the North Sea (see also July 6), resulting in one death.
September 29 – STS-26: NASA resumes Space Shuttle flights, grounded after the Challenger disaster, with Space Shuttle Discovery.
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1988_9 | Section: October (2):
October 5
Thousands riot in Algiers, Algeria against the National Liberation Front government; by October 10 the army has tortured and killed about 500 people in crushing the riots.
Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet loses a national plebiscite on his rule; he relinquishes power in 1990.
Promulgation of the 1988 Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil.
October 12
Walsh Street police shootings: Two Victoria Police officers are gunned down, execution style, in Australia.
The Birchandra Manu massacre occurs in Tripura, India.
October 20 – The Los Angeles Dodgers won 4 games to 1 in the 1988 World Series against the Oakland Athletics.
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.
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.
October 30 – Jericho bus firebombing: Five Israelis are killed and five wounded in a Palestinian attack in the West Bank.
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1988_10 | Section: November (2):
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.
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.
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.
November 6 – The 1988 Lancang–Gengma earthquakes kills at least 938 people when it strikes the China–Myanmar border region in Yunnan.
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.
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).
Israeli–Palestinian conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed at the Palestinian National Council meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253–46.
The first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched by Nico Roozen, Frans van der Hoff and ecumenical development agency Solidaridad in the Netherlands.
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 Moscow of any Soviet or Eastern Bloc entity.
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.
November 23 – Former Korean president Chun Doo-hwan makes a formal apology for corruption during his presidency, announcing he will go into exile.
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1988_11 | Section: December (2):
December 1
Carlos Salinas de Gortari takes office as President of Mexico.
The first World AIDS Day is held.
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.
A cyclone in Bangladesh leaves 5 million homeless and thousands dead.
December 6 – The Australian Capital Territory is granted self-government by the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988.
December 7 – In Soviet Armenia, the Ms 6.8 Spitak earthquake kills nearly 25,000, injures 31,000 and leaves 400,000 homeless.
December 12 – The Clapham Junction rail crash in London kills 35 and injures 132.
December 16 – Perennial U.S. presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche is convicted of mail fraud.
December 20 – The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
December 21 – Pan Am Flight 103 is blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing a total of 270 people. Libya is suspected of involvement.
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1989_0 | 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1989th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 989th year of the 2nd millennium, the 89th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1980s decade. |
1989_0 | Section: January (2):
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.
January 2 – Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa takes office as the third President of Sri Lanka.
January 4 – Gulf of Sidra incident (1989): Two Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are engaged and shot down by two US Navy F-14 Tomcats.
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.
January 10 – In accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 626 and the New York Accords, Cuban troops begin withdrawing from Angola.
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.
January 13 – Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is expelled to Senegal from Zaire after using a fake Zairean passport in an attempt to return to Uganda. Amin is eventually expelled from Senegal and subsequently returns to Zaire after the Saudi government refuses to allow him in Saudi Arabia.
January 15 – Thirty-five European nations, meeting in Vienna, agree to strengthen human rights and improve East–West trade.
January 18 – Ante Marković succeeds Branko Mikulić as Prime Minister of Yugoslavia.
January 20 – George H. W. Bush is sworn in as the 41st President of the United States.
January 23–24 – Armed civilian leftists briefly attack and occupy an Argentinian army base near Buenos Aires.
January 30
Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney shuffles his cabinet, appointing six new ministers and reassigning the responsibilities of nineteen others.
The Embassy of the United States, Kabul, Afghanistan, is closed; it does not reopen until late 2001.
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1989_1 | Section: February (2):
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.
February 2
Soviet–Afghan War: The last Soviet Union armoured column leaves Kabul, ending nine years of military occupation since 1979.
Carlos Andrés Pérez takes office as President of Venezuela.
February 3
1989 Paraguayan coup d'état ("La Noche de la Candelaria"): A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
After a stroke, State President of South Africa P. W. Botha resigns as Leader of the National Party.
February 5 – Eurosport, a multiple-language sports broadcasting station in Europe, begins broadcasting, from Issy-les-Moulineaux, Île-de-France, France.
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.
February 7 – The People's National Party, led by Michael Manley, wins the 1989 Jamaican general election.
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.
U.S. President Bush meets Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in Ottawa, laying the groundwork for the Acid Rain Treaty of 1991.
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).
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.
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).
The first of 24 Global Positioning System satellites is placed into orbit.
February 15
Soviet–Afghan War: The Soviet Union announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.
Following a campaign that saw over 1,000 people killed in massive campaign-related violence, the United National Party wins the Sri Lankan parliamentary election.
February 16 – Pan Am Flight 103: Investigators announce that the cause of the 1988 crash was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player.
February 17
The Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) is formed.
South African police raid the home of Winnie Mandela and arrest four of her bodyguards.
February 20 – In Canada's Yukon Territory, the ruling New Democrats narrowly maintain control of the Yukon Legislative Assembly, winning 9 seats vs. the Progressive Conservative Party's 7.
February 23 – After protracted testimony, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee rejects, 11–9, President Bush's nomination of John Tower for Secretary of Defense.
February 24
The state funeral of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) in Tokyo is attended by leaders and representatives of 160 nations.
The Satanic Verses controversy: Iran places a $3,000,000 bounty on the head of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.
Singing Revolution: After 44 years, the Estonian flag is raised at the Pikk Hermann tower in Tallinn.
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.
February 25–27 – U.S. President Bush visits China and South Korea, meeting with China's Deng Xiaoping and South Korea's Roh Tae-woo.
February 27 – Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo, a wave of protests and looting.
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1989_2 | Section: March (2):
March – Poland begins to liberalise its currency exchange in a move towards capitalism.
March 1
The Berne Convention, an international treaty on copyrights, is ratified by the United States.
A curfew is imposed in Kosovo, where protests continue over the alleged intimidation of the Serb minority.
The Politieke Partij Radicalen, Pacifistisch Socialistische Partij, Communistische Partij Nederland and the Evangelical People's Party amalgamate to form the Dutch political party GroenLinks (GL, GreenLeft).
After 74 years, Iceland ends its prohibition on beer; celebrated since as bjórdagur or beer day.
March 2 – Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century.
March 3 – Jammu Siltavuori abducts and murders two eight-year-old girls in the Myllypuro suburb of Helsinki, Finland.
March 4
Time Inc. and Warner Communications announce plans for a merger, forming Time Warner. (Now Warner Bros. Discovery)
The Purley station rail crash in London leaves five people dead and 94 injured.
The first Australian Capital Territory elections are held.
March 7 – Iran breaks off diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom over Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses.
March 9 – Revolutions of 1989: The Soviet Union submits to the jurisdiction of the World Court.
March 12 – Tim Berners-Lee produces the proposal document that will become the blueprint for the World Wide Web.
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.
March 14
Gun control: U.S. President George H. W. Bush bans the importation of certain guns deemed "assault weapons" into the United States.
General Michel Aoun declares a "War of Liberation" to rid Lebanon of Syrian forces and their allies.
March 15
Israel hands over Taba to Egypt, ending a seven-year territorial dispute.
Mass demonstrations in Hungary, demanding democracy.
March 16 – The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union approves agricultural reforms allowing farmers the right to lease state-owned farms for life.
March 17
The Civic Tower of Pavia, built in the eleventh century, collapses.
Alfredo Cristiani is elected as President of El Salvador.
March 20 – Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke weeps on national television as he admits marital infidelity.
March 22
Clint Malarchuk of the NHL Buffalo Sabres suffers a near-fatal injury when another player accidentally slits his throat.
Asteroid 4581 Asclepius approaches the Earth at a distance of 700,000 kilometres (430,000 mi).
March 23 – Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce that they have achieved cold fusion at the University of Utah.
March 23–28 – The Socialist Republic of Serbia passes constitutional changes revoking the autonomy of the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, triggering six days of rioting by the Albanian majority, during which at least 29 people are killed.
March 24 – Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Alaska's Prince William Sound, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of oil after running aground.
March 26 – 1989 Soviet Union legislative election: The first (and last) contested elections for the Soviet parliament, Congress of People's Deputies, result in losses for the Communist Party; the first session of the new Congress opens in late May.
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.
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1989_3 | Section: April (2):
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.
April 2 – In South-West Africa, fighting erupts between SWAPO insurgents and the South West African Police on the day that a ceasefire was supposed to end the South African Border War according to United Nations Security Council Resolution 435. By April 6, nearly 300 people have been killed.
April 4 – A failed coup attempt against Prosper Avril, President of Haiti, leads to a standoff between mutinous troops and the government which ends on April 10, with the government regaining control of the country.
April 5 – The Polish Government and the Solidarity trade union sign an agreement restoring Solidarity to legal status, and agreeing to hold democratic elections on June 4 (Polish Round Table Agreement), which initiates the 1989 revolution and the overthrow of communism in Central Europe.
April 6 – National Safety Council of Australia chief executive John Friedrich is arrested after defrauding investors to the tune of $235,000,000.
April 7 – The Soviet submarine K-278 Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea, killing 41.
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.
A dispute over grazing rights leads to the beginning of the Mauritania–Senegal Border War.
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.
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.
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.
April 17 – Solidarity (Polish trade union) is once again legalised and allowed to participate in semi-free elections on June 4.
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").
The USS Iowa turret explodes on the U.S. battleship Iowa, killing 47 crew members.
April 20 – NATO debates modernising short range missiles; although the US and UK are in favour, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl obtains a concession deferring a decision.
April 21 – Students from Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an and Nanjing begin protesting in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
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.
April 25
Noboru Takeshita resigns as Prime Minister of Japan in the wake of a stock-trading scandal.
Motorola introduces the Motorola MicroTAC personal cellular telephone, the world's smallest mobile phone at this time.
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.
Zaid ibn Shaker succeeds Zaid al-Rifai as Prime Minister of Jordan.
The Daulatpur–Saturia tornado, the deadliest tornado ever recorded, kills an estimated 1,300 people in the Dhaka Division of Bangladesh.
April 27 – A major demonstration occurs in Beijing as part of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
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1989_4 | Section: May (2):
May
Transhumanism: Genetic modification of adult human beings is tried for the first time, a gene tagging trial.
The Soviet Union issues its first Visa card in a step to digitalise its banking system.
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.
May 2
The first crack in the Iron Curtain: Hungary dismantles 240 kilometres (150 mi) of barbed wire fencing along the border with Austria.
The coalition government of Prime Minister of the Netherlands Ruud Lubbers collapses in a dispute about a pollution cleanup plan.
May 3 – Cold War: Perestroika – The first McDonald's restaurant in the USSR begins construction in Moscow. It will open on January 31, 1990.
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.
May 9 – Andrew Peacock deposes John Howard as Federal Opposition Leader of Australia.
May 10 – The government of President of Panama Manuel Noriega declares void the result of the May 7 presidential election, which Noriega had lost to Guillermo Endara.
May 11
President Bush orders 1,900 U.S. troops to Panama to protect Americans there.
The ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Legislative Assembly meets for the first time.
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.
May 14
Mikhail Gorbachev visits China, the first Soviet leader to do so since Nikita Khrushchev in the 1960s, ending the Sino-Soviet split.
Carlos Menem wins the Argentine presidential election.
May 15
Australia's first private tertiary institution, Bond University, opens on the Gold Coast.
The last golden toad is seen in Costa Rica; the species is subsequently classified as extinct.
May 17
1989 Tiananmen Square protests: More than 1,000,000 Chinese protesters march through Beijing demanding greater democracy, leading to a crackdown.
In Stuttgart Napoli of Diego Maradona wins the Uefa Cup.
May 19
1989 Ürümqi unrest: Uyghur and Hui Muslim protesters riot in front of the government building in Ürümqi, China.
1989 Tiananmen Square protests: Zhao Ziyang meets the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.
Ciriaco De Mita resigns as Prime Minister of Italy.
May 20 – 1989 Tiananmen Square protests: The Chinese government declares martial law in Beijing.
May 21: Bombing near Keserwan by Kataeb Regulatory Forces, 9 Syrians soldiers killed.
May 24
Milan of Italy wins the European Cup beating Steaua București of Romania 4–0 in Barcelona.
Assassinations of Jeffrey Brent Ball and Todd Ray Wilson: A terrorist organization, Zarate Willka Armed Forces of Liberation, kills two American missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they return to their apartment, in La Paz, Bolivia.
May 25 – The Calgary Flames defeat the Montreal Canadiens four games to two to win the franchise's first Stanley Cup in ice hockey.
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.
May 29
Amid food riots and looting set off by inflation, the Government of Argentina declares a nationwide state of siege.
1989 Tiananmen Square protests: The 10 metres (33 ft) high Goddess of Democracy statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
NATO agrees to talks with the Soviet Union on reducing the number of short-range nuclear weapons in Europe.
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.
May 31 – Tarapoto massacre: Six members of the guerrilla group Revolutionary Movement Tupac Amaru (MRTA) of Peru, shoot dead eight gay and transgender people in the city of Tarapoto.
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1989_5 | Section: June (2):
June 1–10 – Pope John Paul II visits Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark and Sweden.
June 2 – Sōsuke Uno succeeds Noboru Takeshita as Prime Minister of Japan.
June 3 – The world's first high-definition television (test) broadcasts commence in Japan, in analogue.
June 4
1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre: A violent military crackdown takes place on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
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.
1989 Iranian Supreme Leader election: Ali Khamenei is elected Supreme Leader of Iran after announcing the death of Ruhollah Khomeini the day before.
Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia kills 575 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.
June 5
1989 Tiananmen Square protests: An unknown Chinese protester, "Tank Man", stands in front of a column of military tanks on Chang'an Avenue in Beijing, temporarily halting them, an incident which achieves iconic status internationally through images taken by Western photographers.
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.
June 6 – State funeral of Ruhollah Khomeini: The Ayatollah Khomeini's first funeral in Tehran is aborted by officials after a large crowd storms the funeral procession, nearly destroying Khomeini's wooden casket in order to get a last glimpse of his body. At one point, his body almost falls to the ground, as the crowd attempt to grab pieces of the death shroud. The Ayatollah's body has to be returned for the burial preparations to be repeated, before being brought back to the cemetery a few hours later.
June 7 – Surinam Airways Flight 764 crashes in Paramaribo, Suriname, killing 176.
June 8 – The wreck of German battleship Bismarck, which was sunk in 1941, is located about 600 miles (970 km) west of Brest, France.
June 15 – At the 1989 Irish general election, Fianna Fáil, led by Taoiseach Charles Haughey, fails to win a majority.
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.
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.
June 22
British police arrest 260 people celebrating the summer solstice at Stonehenge.
The University of Limerick and Dublin City University are raised to the status of universities, the first established in Ireland since independence in 1922.
June 24 – Jiang Zemin becomes General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
June 30 – 1989 Sudanese coup d'état: A military coup led by Omar al-Bashir ousts the civilian government of Prime Minister of Sudan Sadiq al-Mahdi.
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1989_6 | Section: July (2):
July 2 – Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece, resigns; a new government is formed under Tzannis Tzannetakis.
July 5
State President of South Africa P. W. Botha meets the imprisoned 70-year-old Nelson Mandela face-to-face for the first time.
The television sitcom Seinfeld premieres in the United States.
July 6 – The Tel Aviv–Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack, the first Palestinian suicide attack on Israel, takes place.
July 8 – 110 Furs representatives, 110 Arabs, and 21 mediators signed a Reconciliation Agreement in al-Fashir. End of the War of the Tribes in Sudan.
July 9–12 – U.S. President George H. W. Bush travels to Poland and Hungary, pushing for U.S. economic aid and investment.
July 10 – Approximately 300,000 Siberian coal miners go on strike, demanding better living conditions and less bureaucracy; it is the largest Soviet labour strike since the 1920s.
July 12
In the Republic of Ireland, the Taoiseach Charles Haughey returns to power after Fianna Fáil forms a coalition with the Progressive Democrats.
Lotte World, a major recreation complex in Seoul, South Korea, is opened to the public, containing the world's largest indoor amusement park.
July 14 – France celebrated the 200th anniversary 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.
July 14–16 – At the 15th G7 summit, leaders call for restrictions on gas emissions.
July 17
The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber makes its first flight, in the United States.
Holy See–Poland relations: Poland and the Vatican re-establish diplomatic relations after approximately fifty years.
July 18 – Actress Rebecca Schaeffer is murdered by an obsessed fan, leading to stricter stalking laws in California.
July 19
1989 Polish presidential election: The National Assembly of the Republic of Poland elects General Wojciech Jaruzelski to the restored and powerful post of President of Poland.
United Airlines Flight 232 (Douglas DC-10) crashes in Sioux City, Iowa, killing 112; 184 on board survive.
The first national park in the Netherlands is established on Schiermonnikoog.
July 20 – Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest. She is released in 2010.
July 23
1989 Japanese House of Councillors election: Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party loses control of the House of Councillors, the LDP's worst electoral showing in 34 years, leading to Prime Minister Uno announcing he will resign to take responsibility for the result.
Giulio Andreotti takes office as Prime Minister of Italy.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Nintendo releases the Game Boy portable video game system in North America.
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1990_0 | 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1990th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 990th year of the 2nd millennium, the 90th year of the 20th century, and the 1st year of the 1990s decade. |
1990_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1
Poland becomes the first country in Eastern Europe to begin abolishing its state socialist colonies.
Glasgow begins its year as European Capital of Culture.
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.
The comedy television series of Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean first aired on ITV in the United Kingdom.
January 3 – United States invasion of Panama: General Manuel Noriega is deposed as leader of Panama and surrenders to the American forces.
January 11 – Singing Revolution: In the Lithuania SSR, 300,000 demonstrate for independence.
January 12–19 – Most of the remaining 50,000 Armenians are driven out of Baku in the Azerbaijan SSR during the Baku pogrom.
January 13 – Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office in Richmond, Virginia.
January 15
The National Assembly of Bulgaria votes to end one party rule by the Bulgarian Communist Party.
Thousands storm the Stasi headquarters in East Berlin in an attempt to view their government records.
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.
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.
Clashes break out between Indian troops and Muslim separatists in Kashmir.
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.
January 22 – Robert Tappan Morris is convicted of releasing the Morris worm.
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.
Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto gives birth to a girl, becoming the first modern head of government to bear a child while in office.
Pope John Paul II begins an eight-day tour of Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Chad.
January 25–26 – The Burns' Day Storm kills 97 in northwestern Europe.
January 27 – The city of Tiraspol in the Moldavian SSR briefly declares independence.
January 28 – Four months after their exit from power, the Polish United Workers' Party votes to dissolve and reorganize as the Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland.
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.
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.
President of the United States George H. W. Bush gives his first State of the Union address and proposes that the U.S. and the Soviet Union make deep cuts to their military forces in Europe.
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1990_1 | Section: February (2):
February/March – 100,000 Kashmiri Pandits leave their homeland in Jammu and Kashmir's Valley after being targeted by Islamist extremists.
February – Smoking is banned on all cross-country flights in the United States.
February 2 – Apartheid: F. W. de Klerk announces the unbanning of the African National Congress and promises to release Nelson Mandela.
February 7
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union votes to end its monopoly of power, clearing the way for multiparty elections.
In the Tajik SSR, rioting breaks out against the settlement of Armenian refugees there.
February 9 – ADtranz low floor tram world's first completely low-floor tram introduced in Bremen.
February 10
President of South Africa F. W. de Klerk announces that Nelson Mandela will be released the next day.
Las Cruces bowling alley massacre: 2 people walked into the 10 Pin Alley in Las Cruces, New Mexico, (known then as the Las Cruces Bowl) and shot seven people, four of whom were killed. The case is currently unsolved.
February 11 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison, near Cape Town, South Africa, after 27 years behind bars.
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.
February 13
German reunification: An agreement is reached for a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.
Drexel Burnham Lambert files for bankruptcy protection, Chapter 11.
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.
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.
In Cartagena, Colombia, a summit is held between President of the United States George H. W. Bush, President of Bolivia Jaime Paz Zamora, President of Colombia Virgilio Barco Vargas, and President of Peru Alan García. The leaders pledge additional cooperation in fighting international drug trafficking.
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.
February 26 – The Soviet Union agrees to withdraw all 73,500 troops from Czechoslovakia by July, 1991.
February 27 – Exxon Valdez oil spill: Exxon and its shipping company are indicted on 5 criminal counts.
February 28 – President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega announces a cease-fire with the U.S.-backed contras.
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1990_2 | Section: March (2):
March 1
A fire at the Sheraton Hotel in Cairo, Egypt, kills 16 people.
Steve Jackson Games is raided by the U.S. Secret Service, prompting the later formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The Royal New Zealand Navy discontinues its daily rum ration.
Luis Alberto Lacalle, a grandson of the late politician and diplomat Luis Alberto de Herrera, is sworn in as President of Uruguay.
March 3 – The International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition, a group of six explorers from six nations, completes the first dog sled crossing of Antarctica.
March 8 – The Nintendo World Championships were held within the Fair Park's Automobile Building, kickstarting an almost year long gaming competition across 29 American cities.
March 9
Police seal off Brixton in South London after another night of protests against the poll tax.
Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells confirms he will rescind Newfoundland's approval of the Meech Lake Accord.
March 10 – Prosper Avril is ousted in a coup in Haiti, eighteen months after seizing power.
March 11 – Singing Revolution: The Lithuanian SSR declares independence from the Soviet Union with the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania
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.
March 12 – Cold War: Soviet soldiers begin leaving Hungary under terms of an agreement to withdraw all Soviet troops by June 1.
March 13 – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union approves changes to the Constitution of the Soviet Union to create a strong U.S.-style presidency. Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to a five-year term as the first-ever President of the Soviet Union on March 15.
March 15
Iraq hangs Iranian journalist Farzad Bazoft for spying. Daphne Parish, a British nurse, is sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment as an accomplice.
Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first executive president of the Soviet Union.
Singing Revolution: The Soviet Union announces that Lithuania's declaration of independence is invalid.
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.
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. This is the largest art theft in US history, and the paintings (as of May 2024) have not been recovered.
Cold War: East Germany holds its first free elections.
March 19–21 – Skirmishes between Romanians and Hungarians, also known as the ”Black March” events, take place in the city of Târgu Mureș, Romania, leaving five people dead.
March 20 – Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.
March 21 – After 75 years of South African rule since World War I, Namibia becomes independent.
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.
March 25
In New York City, a fire due to arson at an illegal social club called "Happy Land" kills 87 people.
Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie announces his intention to retire at the end of the year.
In the Hungarian parliamentary election, Hungary's first multiparty election since 1948, the Hungarian Democratic Forum wins the most seats.
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.
March 27 – The United States begins broadcasting Radio y Televisión Martí to Cuba.
March 28 – U.S. President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.
March 30 – Singing Revolution: After its first free elections on March 18, the Estonian SSR declares the Soviet rule to have been illegal since 1940 and declares a transition period for full independence.
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.
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1990_3 | Section: April (2):
April 1
The Community Charge (poll tax) takes effect in England and Wales amid widespread protests
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.
The 1990 United States census begins. There are 248,709,873 residents in the U.S.
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.
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.
MS Scandinavian Star, a Bahamas-registered ferry, catches fire en route from Norway to Denmark, leaving 158 dead.
April 8
In Nepal, Birendra of Nepal lifts a ban on political parties following violent protests.
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.
In the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Socialist Republic of Slovenia holds Yugoslavia's first multiparty election since 1938. After the election, a center-right coalition led by Lojze Peterle forms Yugoslavia's first non-Communist government since 1945.
April 9 – Comet Austin makes its closest approach to the sun.
April 12 – Lothar de Maizière becomes prime minister of East Germany, heading a grand coalition that favors German reunification.
April 13 – Cold War: The Soviet Union apologizes for the Katyn massacre.
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.
April 20 – 17-year-old Christopher Kerze goes missing in Eagan, Minnesota. He remains missing as of May 2024.
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.
April 22
Lebanon hostage crisis: Lebanese kidnappers release American educator Robert Polhill, who had been held hostage since January 1987.
Earth Day 20 is celebrated by millions worldwide.
April 24
Cold War: West Germany and East Germany agree to merge currency and economies on July 1.
STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery.
President of Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko lifts a 20-year ban on opposition parties.
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.
April 26 – A 7.0 earthquake shakes the Chinese province of Qinghai leaving 126 dead.
April 30 – Lebanon hostage crisis: Lebanese kidnappers release American educator Frank H. Reed, who had been held hostage since September 1986.
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1990_4 | Section: May (2):
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.
May 2 – In London, a man brandishing a knife robs a courier of bearer bonds worth £292 million (the second largest mugging to date).
May 2–4 – First talks between the government of South Africa and the African National Congress.
May 4 – Singing Revolution: The Latvian SSR declares independence from the Soviet Union.
May 8
Singing Revolution: The Estonian SSR restores the formal name of the country, the Republic of Estonia, as well as other national emblems (the coat of arms, the flag and the anthem).
Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier assumes office as President of Costa Rica.
May 9 – In South Korea, police battle anti-government protesters in Seoul and two other cities.
May 12 – Jeanne Calment surpasses Augusta Holtz to become the oldest verified person ever.
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.
The Dinamo–Red Star riot took 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).
May 15
Singing Revolution: The pro-Soviet Intermovement attempts to take power in Tallinn, Estonia, but are forced down by local Estonians.
Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million.
May 17 – The World Health Organization removes homosexuality from its list of diseases.
May 18 – German reunification: East Germany and West Germany sign a treaty to merge their economic and social systems, effective July 1.
May 19 – The US and the USSR agree to end production of chemical weapons and to destroy most of their stockpiles of chemical weapons.
May 20 – Cold War: The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
May 21 – In Kashmir, a Kashmiri Islamic leader is assassinated and Indian security forces open fire on mourners carrying his body, killing at least 47 people.
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.
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.
In the Colombian presidential election, César Gaviria is elected President of Colombia; he takes office on August 7.
May 28 – 1990 Arab League summit: Saddam Hussein receives the emir of Kuwait for a diplomatic visit, at a time where his country and its decent oil revenues were being pushed into bankruptcy by Kuwait's lowering of the price of oil. A dictator with ambitions, Saddam wanted to continue increasing his military strength, and so confronted Kuwait instead. After the public events, Hussein invited Arab leaders to a private meeting. Here, he threatened war on Kuwait unless Kuwait stopped lowering the price of oil, recalls then-Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz.
May 29
Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Ottawa for a 29-hour visit.
Boris Yeltsin is elected as the first ever elected president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is founded.
May 30 – George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev begin a four-day summit meeting in Washington, D.C.
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1990_5 | Section: June (2):
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.
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.
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.
June 4 – Violence breaks out in the Kirghiz SSR between the majority Kyrgyz people and minority Uzbeks over the distribution of homestead land.
June 7 – Metropolitan Alexy of Moscow is elected Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'.
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.
Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Shamir ends 88 days with only an acting government by forming a coalition of right-wing and religious parties led by Shamir's Likud party.
June 8–9 – In the Czechoslovakian parliamentary election, Czechoslovakia's first free election since 1946, the Civic Forum wins the most seats but fails to secure a majority.
June 9 – Mega Borg oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico near Galveston, Texas.
June 10
Alberto Fujimori is elected President of Peru; he takes office on July 28.
First round of the Bulgarian Constitutional Assembly election sees the Bulgarian Socialist Party win a majority. The second round of voting is held June 17.
June 11 – Sri Lankan Civil War: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam massacre over 600 unarmed police officers in the Eastern Province.
June 12
Cold War: The Congress of People's Deputies of Russia formally declares its sovereignty.
In the Algerian local elections, Algeria's first multiparty election since 1962, the Islamic Salvation Front wins control of more than half of municipalities and 32 of Algeria's 48 provinces.
June 13 – Cold War: The destruction of the Berlin Wall by East Germany officially starts, 7 months after it was opened the previous November.
June 13–15 – June 1990 Mineriad: Clashes break out in Bucharest between supporters and opponents of the ruling National Salvation Front.
June 14 – 1990 Panay earthquake: An earthquake measuring Ms7.1 struck Panay in the Philippines, killing 8 and injuring 41.
June 15 – Dublin Regulation on treatment of applications for right of asylum under European Union law agreed (comes into force 1997).
June 17–30 – Nelson Mandela tours North America, visiting 3 Canadian and 8 U.S. cities.
June 19 – The Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic holds its inaugural conference in Moscow.
June 21 – The 7.4 Mw 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.
June 22 – Cold War: Checkpoint Charlie is dismantled.
June 23 – In Canada, the Meech Lake Accord of 1987 dies after the Manitoba and Newfoundland legislatures fail to approve it ahead of the deadline.
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.
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1990_6 | Section: July (2):
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.
July 2
1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy: A stampede in a pedestrian tunnel leading to Mecca kills 1,426.
A U.S. District Court acquits Imelda Marcos on racketeering and fraud charges.
July 5 – In Kenya, riots erupt against the Kenya African National Union's monopoly on power.
July 6
President of Bulgaria Petar Mladenov resigns over accusations that he ordered tanks to disperse anti-government protests in December 1989.
Somali President Siad Barre's bodyguards massacre anti-government demonstrators during a soccer match; 65 people are killed, more than 300 seriously injured.
July 7–8 – In tennis, Martina Navratilova of the United States wins the 1990 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles and Stefan Edberg of Sweden wins the 1990 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles.
July 8
1990 FIFA World Cup final (Association football): West Germany defeats Argentina 1–0 to win the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
At 12:34:56 (a.m. and p.m.), the date and time using American formats was 12:34:56, 7/8/90 (1234567890). The next such event will occur on July 8, 2090.
July 9–11 – The 16th G7 summit is held in Houston, Texas.
July 11 – Terrorists blow up a passenger bus travelling from Kalbajar to Tartar in Azerbaijan. 14 people are killed, 35 wounded.
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.
July 13 – The Lenin Peak disaster occurs when an earthquake triggers an avalanche in the Pamir Mountains with the loss of 43 lives.
July 16
1990 Luzon earthquake: An earthquake measuring Mw7.7 kills more than 2,400 in the Philippines.
By the end of June, Saddam and his lieutenants suspect a conspiracy against Iraq, devised by Kuwait and orchestrated by the US. Earlier in July they threaten invasion on Kuwait unless $10 billion is sent to Iraq from Kuwait. When Kuwait refuses, on July 16, Iraqi forces begin to gather in southern Iraq near the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border.
July 22 – First round of the Mongolian parliamentary election, the first multiparty ever held in Mongolia; the Mongolian People's Party wins by a wide margin after the second round of voting on July 29.
July 25
George Carey, Bishop of Bath and Wells, is named as the new Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England.
The Serb Democratic Party (Croatia) declares the sovereignty of the Serbs in Croatia.
Roseanne Barr infamously sings "The Star-Spangled Banner" extremely poorly, causing controversy.
July 26 – U.S. President George H. W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act, designed to protect disabled Americans from discrimination.
July 27
The parliament building and a government television house in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago are stormed by the Jamaat al Muslimeen in a coup d'état attempt which lasts five days. Approximately 26 to 30 people are killed and several are wounded (including the prime minister, A. N. R. Robinson, who is shot in the leg).
Cold War: Belarus declares its sovereignty, a key step toward independence from the Soviet Union.
July 28 – Alberto Fujimori becomes president of Peru.
July 30 – British politician and former Member of Parliament Ian Gow is assassinated by a Provisional Irish Republican Army car bomb outside his home in England.
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1991_0 | 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1991st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 991st year of the 2nd millennium, the 91st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1990s decade. |
1991_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1 – Czechoslovakia becomes the second Eastern European country to abandon its command economy.
January 5 – Georgian troops attack Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, starting the 1991–92 South Ossetia War.
January 7 – 1991 Haitian coup d'état: An attempted coup by the Tonton Macoute, a paramilitary force under former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, is thwarted in Haiti. On July 30, he is convicted by a jury of attempting to overthrow the country's first democratically elected government.
January 9
Gulf War: U.S. Secretary of State James Baker meets with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz but fails to produce a plan for the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
In Sebokeng, South Africa, gunmen open fire on mourners attending the funeral of an African National Congress leader, killing 45 people.
January 12 – Gulf War: The 102nd U.S. Congress passes a resolution authorizing the use of military force to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait.
January 13 – Singing Revolution: Soviet forces storm Vilnius to stop Lithuanian independence, killing 14 civilians and injuring 702 more. In Latvia, a series of confrontations between the Latvian government and the Soviet government take place in Riga. Lithuania formally declares independence on February 16, and voters in Estonia and Latvia vote for independence on March 3.
January 15
Gulf War: The UN deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.
Prime Minister of Cape Verde Pedro Pires resigns following his party's loss in the Cape Verdean parliamentary election, the first ever multiparty election in an African nation. Later on February 17, António Mascarenhas Monteiro wins the country's first multiparty presidential election since 1975.
January 16 – Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins with air strikes against Iraq.
January 17
Gulf War: Iraq fires eight Scud missiles into Israel. Iraqi attacks continue with 15 people injured in Tel Aviv on January 19 and 96 people injured in Ramat Gan on January 22.
Harald V of Norway becomes the king of Norway after the death of his father, Olav V.
January 18 – Eastern Air Lines shuts down after 62 years of operations, citing financial problems. Later on December 4, Pan American World Airways ceases its operations.
January 22 – Gulf War: The British Army SAS patrol, Bravo Two Zero, is deployed in Iraq.
January 24 – The government of Papua New Guinea signs a peace agreement with separatist leaders from Bougainville Island, ending fighting that had gone on since 1988.
January 26 – President Siad Barre is overthrown, and Somalia enters a civil war. Three days later, Ali Mahdi Muhammad is inaugurated as the next president.
January 29
In South Africa, Nelson Mandela of the African National Congress and Mangosuthu Buthelezi of the Inkatha Freedom Party agree to end violence between the two organizations.
Gulf War: The first major ground engagement of the war, the Battle of Khafji, begins. The battle lasts until February 1.
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1991_1 | Section: February (2):
February 1
USAir Flight 1493 collides with a SkyWest Airlines Fairchild Metroliner at Los Angeles International Airport, killing 34 people.
A 6.4 mb Hindu Kush earthquake causes severe damage in northeast Afghanistan, leaving 848 dead and 200 injured.
February 7
1991 Haitian coup d'état: Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in. He is ousted on September 30 and later reinstated in 1994. In response to the coup and in an effort to encourage the coup leaders to restore democracy, the U.S. expands trade sanctions on Haiti to include all goods except food and medicine on October 29.
The Provisional Irish Republican Army launches a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street during a cabinet meeting.
Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Kuwait, thus starting the ground phase of the war.
February 11 – The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) is formed in The Hague, Netherlands.
February 13 – Gulf War: Two laser-guided "smart bombs" destroy an underground bunker in Baghdad, killing hundreds of Iraqis. US military intelligence claims it was a military facility while Iraqi officials identify it as a bomb shelter.
February 15 – The Visegrád Group, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, is established by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland.
February 18 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army explodes bombs in the early morning, at both Paddington station and Victoria station, in London.
February 20 – President of Albania Ramiz Alia dismisses the government of Prime Minister Adil Çarçani and appoints Fatos Nano as the next prime minister in an effort to stem pro-democracy protests.
February 22 – Gulf War: Iraq accepts a Soviet-proposed cease fire agreement. The U.S. rejects the agreement, instead saying that retreating Iraqi forces will not be attacked if they leave Kuwait within 24 hours.
February 23 – In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong deposes Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan in a bloodless coup d'état.
February 25 – Gulf War: Part of an Iraqi Scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 29 U.S. soldiers and injuring 99 more. It is the single-most devastating attack on U.S. forces during the war.
February 26 – Gulf War: On Baghdad radio, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait. Iraqi soldiers set fire to Kuwaiti oil fields as they retreat; the fire lasts until November 7.
February 27
Gulf War: U.S. President Bush declares victory over Iraq and orders a cease-fire. U.S. troops begin to leave the Persian Gulf on March 10.
In the Bangladeshi general election, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party wins 139 of 300 seats in the Jatiyo Sangshad, leading BNP leader Khaleda Zia to become the president on March 19.
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