- April 12
- Harvard University patents genetically engineered mouse (first for animal life). [1]
- April 13
- Italy government of De Mita forms. [1]
- April 14
- USSR, US, Pakistan, and Afghanistan sign Afghanistan treaty (Geneva Accords). The Soviet Union commits itself to withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan. [1] [82]
- The USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) strikes a naval mine in the Persian Gulf. [82]
- April 15
- Meteorite explodes above Indonesia. [1]
- April 16
- Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), Palestinian Liberation Organization military commander, assassinated by Israeli commandos in Tunisia. [1] [82]
- In Forlì, Italy, the brigate rosse kill Senator Roberto Ruffilli, an advisor of Prime Minister Ciriaco de Mita. [82]
- April 18
- United States Navy retaliates for the Roberts mining with Operation Praying Mantis, in a day of strikes against Iranian oil platforms and naval vessels. [82]
- April 20
- US accuses Renamo of killing 100,000 Mozambiquians. [1]
- April 23
- A Greek pedals self-powered aircraft 74 miles. [1]
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- April 25
- In Israel, Ivan Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II. (The conviction is later overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court.) [1] [82]
- April 28
- Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 Flight 243 roof partially tears off in flight; kills stewardess. [1] [82]
- April 30
- Birth of Molloko at the San Diego Zoo, first California condor chick conceived in captivity. [1]
- Largest banana split ever, at 4.55 miles long, is made in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. [1]
- World Expo '88 opens in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The exhibition runs for six months, hosting pavilions from over 70 countries. [1] [82]
- May 1
- Irish Republican Army attack in Roermond, kills three. [1]
- May 3
- 4,200kg Colombian cocaine is seized at Tarpon Springs, Florida. [1]
- May 4
- A major explosion at an industrial solid-fuel rocket plant in Henderson, Nevada, causes damage extending up to 10 miles away, including Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport. [82]
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
- May 7
- USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya. [1]
- May 8
- François Mitterrand elected President of France. [1]
- May 9
- Queen Elizabeth II opens the new Australian House of Parliament in Canberra. [1] [501.107]
- Eighth Belgian Government of Martens forms. [1]
- May 10
- Edgar Degas' Danseresje of 14 painting sells for US$10,120,000. [1]
- May 11
- France performs nuclear test. [1]
- In Germany, the Bundestag parliament passes a law dividing the postal system (Die Deutsche Post) into the telephone system (Deutsche Telekom), the post office (Deutsche Post), and the postal bank. Private competition will be allowed in telephone long distance service. [37]
- May 15
- Soviets begin withdrawal from Afghanistan. [1] [82]
- May 16
- US Surgeon General C Everett Koop reports nicotine as addictive as heroin. [1] [82]
- May 18
- In Torino, Italy a building is struck by a falling meteorite. [521]
- May 19
- Carlos Lehder Rivas, of Colombia's Medellín drug cartel, is convicted in Florida for smuggling more than three tons of cocaine into US. [1]
- May 22
- Károly Grósz succeeds party leader János Kádár in Hungary. [1]
- May 24
- Section 28 (outlawing promotion of homosexuality in schools) is passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom. [82]
- John Moschitta sets record for fast talking: 586 words per minute. [1]
- Porntip Nakhirunkanok, 19, of Thailand, crowned 37th Miss Universe. [1]
- May 27
- US Senate ratifies a treaty eliminating medium-range nuclear missiles. [1]
- May 29
- President Zia ul-Haq fires government/disbands parliament in Pakistan. [1]
- May 31
- U.S. President Ronald Reagan addresses 600 Moscow State University students, during his visit to the Soviet Union. [82]
- June 6
- Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom strips jockey Lester Piggott of his Order of the British Empire following his jailing for tax irregularities. [82]
- June 9
- US Attorney General Edwin Meese orders Joseph Doherty deported to the United Kingdom. [1]
- June 11
- Wembley Stadium hosts a concert featuring stars from the fields of music, comedy and film, in celebration of the 70th birthday of imprisoned African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela. [82]
- June 15
- First launch of the European Space Program of the Ariane rocket. [37]
- June 26
- Death of Hans Urs von Balthasar, German theologian, cardinal, (born 1905 in Lucerne, Switzerland). [37]
- June 30
- Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrates four bishops at Ecône, Switzerland for his apostolate, along with Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, without a papal mandate. [82]
- July 3
- Spink-Taisei in Tokyo sells a British 1847 Victoria Gothic, Plain Edge gold crown pattern graded AU (one of two known) for the equivalent of US$210,000, a record for a UK coin. [464.4]
- The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus. [82]
- US navy ship USS Vincennes in the Straits of Hormuz shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 Airbus 300 civilian jetliner flying to Dubai, killing all 290 on board. [82] [731.19] (July 4 [1])
- July 6
- The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea 100 miles NorthEast of Aberdeen, Scotland, is destroyed by explosions and fires, killing 165 (of 226) oil workers and two rescue mariners. [82] [720.105] [731.19]
- Carlos Salinas de Gortari elected president of Mexico. [1]
- July 7
- Soviet Union launches Phobos 1 to probe Martian moon (unsuccessful). [1]
- July 12
- USSR launches Phobos II for Martian orbit. [1]
- July 14
- 200,000 demonstrate in Soviet Armenia for incorporation of Nagorno-Karabak. [1]
- Volkswagen closes its Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania plant after 10 years of operation (the first factory built by a non-American automaker in the U.S.). [82]
- July 21
- ESA's Ariane-3 launches two communications satellites (one Indian). [1]
- July 28
- Israeli diplomats arrive in Moscow for first visit in 21 years. [1]
- Jordan cancels $1.3 billion development plan in West Bank. [1]
- Winnie Mandella's home in Soweto, South Africa destroyed by arson. [1]
- July 29
- Gorbachev pushes plan electing president and parliament in March, 1989. [1]
- South African government bans anti-apartheid film Cry Freedom. [1]
- July 31
- Thirty-two people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Malaysia. [82] [731.19]
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