- April 14
- Turkey asks to join European market. [1]
- April 16
- Peter Taylor's Summons to Memphis wins Pulitzer Prize for fiction. [1]
- Pulitzer prize awarded to August Wilson for Fences. [1]
- April 17
- Richard Wilbur appointed as US poet laureate. [1]
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
- April 18
- US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Maralinga, Australia. [1]
- April 19
- The first TV appearance of The Simpsons on The Tracy Ullman Show. [83]
- Gregory Robertson does 200-mph free fall to save unconscious skydiver. [1]
- Last wild condor captured on California wildlife reserve. [1]
- USSR performs underground nuclear test. [1]
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- April 20
- In Sri Lanka, Tamil rebels shoot 122 Singalezen dead. [1] [883.20]
- US deports Karl Linnas, charged with German war crimes, to USSR. [1]
- April 21
- Dow Jones Industrial Average soars 664.7; second biggest one-day gain in history. [1]
- Tamil bomb attack in bus station in Colombo, Sri Lanka; 115 killed. [1] [883.20]
- April 22
- Sri Lanka Air Force bombs Tamil rebels; 100s killed. [1]
- April 23
- 28 construction workers are killed in an apartment building (under construction) collapse in Bridgeport, Connecticut. [1] [883.24]
- April 27
- US Justice Department bars Austrian Chancellor Kurt Waldheim from entering US, due to his aid of Germany during WWII. [1] [37] [83]
- April 28
- Ben Linder, American development worker, murdered by Contras in Nicaragua (born 1959). [1] [83]
- April 29
- American Can changes its company name to Primerica Corporation. [228]
- April 30
- New York Islanders' Mike Bossy plays his final game. [1]
- May 1
- Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born nun. [1] [37]
- May 5
- US Congress begins Iran-Contra hearings. [1]
- France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island. [1]
- The Assemblies of God defrocks PTL's Jim Bakker. [83]
- May 6
- Niroslav Milhailovic begins 54 hours of telling jokes. [1]
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
- May 7
- Japanese Finance Ministry announces sale of 103 metric tons of gold. [405.22]
- May 8
- U.S. Senator Gary Hart drops out of the running for the Democratic presidential nomination, amid allegations of an extramarital affair with Donna Rice. [1] [83]
- May 9
- A Soviet-made Il-62 airliner, operated by LOT Polish Airlines crashes near the Kabacki forest in Poland, killing all 183 people on board. [1] [83]
- May 11
- First heart-lung transplant takes place (Baltimore, Maryland, USA). [1] [83]
- Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon, France, for war crimes committed during World War II. [83]
- Corazon Aquino is elected President in the Philippines. [1]
- May 14
- Colt revolver (Peacemaker) of 1873 sells for US$242,000. [1]
- Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka executes a bloodless coup in Fiji. [83]
- May 15
- The Soviet Union launches the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform, which fails to reach orbit. [1] [5]
- May 16
- Bobro 400, a barge carrying 3,200 tons of garbage, sets sail from New York, beginning an unsuccesful eight-week search for a dumping site. [1]
- May 17
- Iraqi Mirage F-1 fighter-bomber fires two Exocet missiles into USS Stark in the Persian Gulf, killing 37 US sailors, wounding 2. Iraqi government claims it was a mistake. [1] [885.18]
- May 21
- Military coup in Fiji Islands under Lieutenant Colonel Sitivani Rabuka. [1]
- May 22
- 30 killed in a Texas tornado. [1]
- May 26
- Cecilia Bolocco, age 22, of Chile, crowned 36th Miss Universe. [1]
- Great offensive against Tamil-rebellion in Jaffra, Sri Lanka. [1]
- May 28
- 19-year-old West German Mathias Rust, flies a rented single-engine Cessna plane 500 miles from Hamburg to Moscow, through Russian security without clearance and lands in Red Square. He is immediately detained (but is released August 3, 1988). [37] [83] [869.22]
- May 30
- North American Philips Company unveils compact disc video. [1]
- June 4
- India flies 5 military transport planes with 4 Mirage 2000 fighter jet escort over Jaffna Peninsula, Sri Lanka, droppi22 tons of relief supplies for the population, against permission of Sri Lankan government. [863.27]
- June 10
- In Illinois, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake occurs. [53]
- June 11
- Margaret Thatcher is first British Prime Minister in 160 years to win third consecutive term. [1] [83]
- June 12
- During a visit to Berlin, Germany, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. [37] [83] [129]
- June 13
- Daniel Buettner, Bret Anderson, Martin Engel, and Anne Knabe complete cycling journey of 15,266 miles from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Argentina. [1]
- June 17
- With the death of the last individual, the Dusky Seaside Sparrow becomes extinct. [5] [83]
- June 23
- W Landgraf discovers asteroid #3683 Baumann. [1]
- June 25
- Pope John Paul II receives Austrian President Kurt Waldheim. [1] [37]
- June 28
- E F Helin discovers asteroid #3680 Sasha. [1]
- An accidental explosion at Hohenfels Training Area in Federal Republic of Germany kills three U.S. troopers. [83]
- June 30
- In Canada, the Royal Canadian Mint releases the new "Loonie" $1 coin for circulation, depicting a loon resting on a lake. The coin is smaller than the nickel $1 coin, eleven-sided, and made of bronze. [3]
- July 1
- The Single European Act is passed by European countries. [83]
- July 3
- Two men become first hot-air balloon travelers to cross Atlantic. [1]
- Greater Manchester Police 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. [83]
- In the Soviet Union, Vladimir Nikolayev is sentenced to death for cannibalism. [83]
- July 4
- German Klaus Barbie, "Butcher of Lyon" convicted by a French court to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity. [1] [83]
- July 6
- Explosion at Canadian Forces Base outside Lahr, Federal Republic of Germany, destroys 62,000 litres of fuel and 4 military cargo vehicles, $4 million damage. [864.10]
- First of three massacres by Sikh extremists takes place in India. [1]
- July 8
- Sun Microsystems introduces its first SPARC-based computer system, the Sun-4/260, with 10 MIPS performance. [4]
- July 11
- Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke's Labour Party government is re-elected for a third term. [83] [864.25]
- World population reaches 5 billion people, according to the United Nations. [5] [83]
- July 14
- Taiwan ends 37 years of martial law. [1]
- July 17
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 2,500 mark for the first time, at 2,510.04. [83]
- July 22
- US begins escorting re-flagged Kuwaiti tankers in Persian Gulf. [1]
- Palestinian cartoonist Naji Salim al-Ali is shot in London; he dies August 28. [83]
- July 24
- American-flagged Kuwaiti oil tanker Brigeton strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf, 120 miles southeast of Kuwait, causing damage but no injuries. [865.20]
- July 27
- John Demjanjuk, accused German "Ivan the Terrible" testifies in Israel. [1]
- July 29
- Governments of India and Sri Lanka sign accord ending four-year conflict between Sinhalese and Tamils. [852.34]
- July 31
- Docklands Light Railway, the first driverless railway in Great Britain, is formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II. [83]
- A Force 4-rated tornado woth 250MPH winds devastates eastern Edmonton, Alberta. Hardest hit are an industrial park and a trailer park. 27 people are killed and hundreds injured. Hundreds more are left homeless and jobless. Damage estimated at $250 million in insured property. [83] [867.39]
- Four hundred Iranian pilgrims are killed in clashes with Saudi Arabian security forces in Mecca. [83] [867.16] (August 1 [1192.538])
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