- August 1
- In Papua, Indonesia, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurs. About 120 people killed and 125 injured by landslides which buried two villages. [53]
- August 2
- NASA confirms Voyager 2's discovery of three more moons of Neptune designated temporarily 1989 N2, 1989 N3 and 1989 N24. [1]
- August 7
- U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (Democrat-Texas) and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia. [43]
- August 9
- The asteroid 4769 Castalia is the first asteroid directly imaged by radar from Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. [43]
- August 11
- Voyager 2 discovers two partial rings of Neptune. [1]
- August 13
- A hot air balloon accident near Alice Springs, Australia kills 13. [43]
- August 15
- In Sixiangkou, People's Republic of China, a building is hit by a falling meteorite. [521]
- August 18
- The Soviet Government acknowledges for the first time since the end of World War II that they and Germany secretly and illegally divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence before the start of the war. [10]
- Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia. [43]
- August 19
- Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be Prime Minister, the first non-communist in power in 42 years. [1] [43]
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- August 20
- Fifty-one people die when the Marchioness pleasure boat collides with a barge on the River Thames adjacent to Southwark Bridge. [43]
- In Ethiopia, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake occurs. [53]
- August 21
- Voyager 2 begins a flyby of the planet Neptune. [1]
- August 22
- The first complete ring around Neptune is discovered. [1] [5]
- A commission of the Lithuanian Parliament declares that Moscow's annexation of the country in 1940 was invalid, achieved by way of secret agreements between Stalin and Hitler. [10]
- August 23
- Two million indigenous people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, then still occupied by the Soviet Union, join hands to demand freedom and independence, forming an uninterrupted 600 km human chain called the Baltic Way. [43]
- Hungary removes border restrictions with Austria. [43]
- All of Australia's 1,645 domestic airline pilots resign over an airline's move to sack and sue them over a dispute. [43]
- August 24
- Indonesia's first privately owned television station, Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia, (RCTI) begins broadcasting. [43]
- August 25
- Voyager 2 flies past Neptune. [1] [43] (August 24 [5])
- August 29
- Off the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurs. [53]
- September 4
- In Semidi Islands, Alaska, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurs. [53]
- September 5
- U.S. President George H. W. Bush holds up a bag of cocaine purchased across the street at Lafayette Park in his first televised speech to the nation. [43]
- September 6
- The South African general election (the last under apartheid) returns the National Party with a much-reduced majority. [43]
- September 8
- Death of Paul Alfred Weiss in White Plains, New York (born in Vienna, Austria); biologist. [37]
- September 10
- The Hungarian government opens the country's western borders to refugees from the German Democratic Republic. [1] [43]
- September 11
- Hungary officially opens its border to Austria. [37]
- September 12
- Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki announces to parliament the Polish economy would undergo a shock therapy, including privitization of state industry, creation of a stock exchange, shift from heavy industry to consumer goods, and budget cuts. [46.215]
- September 14
- Agreement of cooperation between Leningrad oblast (Russia) and NordlandCounty (Norway) is signed in Leningrad, by the chairmen Lev Kojkolainen and Sigbjørn Eriksen. [43]
- September 17
- Hurricane Hugo begins four day sweep through Caribbean, killing 62. [1]
- September 18
- Hurricane Hugo causes extensive damage in Puerto Rico. [1]
- September 20
- F. W. de Klerk is sworn in as State President of South Africa. [43]
- September 21
- Hurricane Hugo makes landfall in South Carolina, causing US$7 billion in damage. [43]
- Poland's Sejm (National Assembly) approves prime minister Mazowiecki. [1]
- September 22
- In Sichuan Province, China, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake occurs. At least 54 people injured, about 4,270 houses destroyed. [53]
- An Irish Republican Army bomb explodes at the Royal Marine School of Music in Deal, United Kingdom, leaving 11 dead and 22 injured. [43]
- September 27
- Sony purchases Columbia Pictures for US$3.4 billion cash. [1]
- October 1
- Thousands of East Germans flee to Federal Republic of Germany. [1]
- October 3
- Panamanian Defense Force attempts coup of Manuel Noriega; fails. [1]
- October 9
- Penthouse Magazine hebrew edition hits the newstands. [1]
- In Leipzig, German Democratic Republic, protesters demand the legalization of opposition groups and democratic reforms. [43]
- An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh. [5] [43]
- October 13
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 190.58 points, or 6.91 percent, to close at 2,569.26 most likely after the junk bond market collapses. This mini-crash becomes known as the Friday the 13th mini-crash. [1] [43]
- October 15
- South Africa president FW de Klerk frees Sisulu and four other political prisoners. [1]
- October 16
- A drawing is held by American music video station VH-1, giving away 36 Corvettes, one from each model year. Dennis Amodeo is the winner. He later sells the cars for US$1.5 million. [8]
- October 17
- In Loma Prieta, California, an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale occurs. Three events are about 1.5 and 3.0 seconds apart. Sixty-two people killed, 3,757 injured and damage estimated at US$5.6 billion. [1] [43] [53]
- October 18
- In Northeastern China, a magnitude 5.3 earthquake occurs. At least 29 people killed, 150 injured and about 27,500 houses damaged. [53]
- The Communist leader of German Democratic Republic, Erich Honecker, is forced to step down as leader of the country after a series of health problems. He is replaced by Egon Krenz. [37] [43]
- October 21
- The Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations issue the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment, making environmental sustainability one of the Commonwealth's main priorities. [43]
- October 23
- The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szurös (replacing the Hungarian People's Republic). [43]
- October 28
- In Canada, four people share a CDN$14 million Lotto 6/49 jackpot. [40.82]
- October 29
- In Algeria, magnitude 5.9 and 5.6 earthquakes occur 12 minute apart. At least 30 people killed, 245 injured. [53]
- November 1
- Scandinavian Airlines System bans smoking on many flights. [1]
- November 4
- Typhoon Gay devastates the Thai province of Chumphon. [43]
- November 7
- The Communist government of German Democratic Republic resigns, although SED leader Egon Krenz remains head of state. [43]
- November 9
- German Democratic Republic opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, allowing its citizens to freely travel to Federal Republic of Germany for the first time in decades. Overnight, thousands flood over the border. [1] [37] [43] [129]
- November 10
- Germans begin punching holes in the Berlin Wall. [1]
- Guerrillas battle with government forces in El Salvador. [1]
- After 45 years of Communist rule in Bulgaria, Bulgarian Communist Party leader Todor Zhivkov is replaced by Foreign Minister Petar Mladenov, who changes the party's name to the Bulgarian Socialist Party. [43]
- November 12
- Brazil holds its first free presidential election since 1960. [1] [43]
- November 13
- Hans Modrow becomes East German President. [37]
- Death of the Prince of Liechtenstein, Franz Josef, near Grabs, Switzerland. He ruled Liechtenstein from 1938-1989. [37]
- November 16
- In San Salvador, El Salvador, an elite commando unit kills six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and housekeeper's daughter. [1] [43] [1524.4]
- South African President F.W. de Klerk announces the scrapping of the Separate Amenities Act. [43]
- UNESCO adopts the Seville Statement on Violence at the twenty-fifth session of its General Conference. [43]
- November 17
- In Czechoslovakia a student demonstration in Prague is severely beaten back by riot police. This sparks a revolution aimed at overthrowing the Communist government (it succeeds on December 29). [43]
- November 20
- In Sichuan Province, China, a magnitude 5.2 earthquake occurs. Four people killed, 161 injured and at least 1,000 homes destroyed. [53]
- In southern Iran, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake occurs. [53]
- The number of potesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells to an estimated half-million. [43]
- November 21
- Atari introduces the Lynx hand-held video game system. It features a 4.0 MHz 65C02 processor, 16-bit graphics processor, Six sound channels, 3.5-inch color LCD screen, 16 colors out of 4096 palette. Weight is under one pound. Price is US$150-200, with the Galifornia Games video game cartridge. (This is the first color hand-held video game system in the US.) [9]
- November 22
- Conjunction of Venus, Mars, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn and the Moon. [1]
- The Mirage hotel and casino opens in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the first "megaresort" built in Las Vegas, at a cost of $640 million, providing 3400 hotel rooms. On opening night, Elmer Sherwin wins US$4.6 million on a Megabucks spin. About 200,000 people attend the opening. [187.298a,482] [818.xiv]
- In West Beirut, a bomb explodes near the motorcade of Lebanese President Rene Moawad and kills him. [43]
- November 24
- Communist Party resigns in Czechoslovakia. [1] (November 28 [43])
- November 27
- A Colombian jetliner is bombed, killing 107. [1]
- November 30
- In Bad Homburg, Germany, Deutsche Bank chairman Alfred Herrhausen is killed in his armoured Mercedes car by a 20kg roadside bomb. The Red Army Faction claims responsibility for the murder. [37] [43] [1118.164]
- December 1
- "Day Without Art" - Artists demonstrate against AIDS. [1]
- German Democratic Republic's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist-dominated SED its monopoly on power. [1] [43]
- USSR President Mikhail S Gorbachev meets Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. [1]
- December 2
- Vishwanath Pratap Singh sworn in as President of India. [1]
- December 3
- In a meeting off the coast of Malta, U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between their nations may be coming to an end. [43]
- December 5
- France TGV train reaches world record speed of 482.4 kph. [1]
- December 6
- Mafia drug kingpin bombs security force at Bogotá, Colombia, kills 52. [1]
- In Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Marc Lépine, an anti-feminist gunman, murders 14 young women at the École Polytechnique, then kills himself. [1] [43]
- December 8
- Great Britain performs nuclear test. [1]
- December 10
- President Gustav Husák of Czechoslovakia resigns. [1]
- Tsakhiagiyn Elbegdorj announces the establishment of Mongolia's democratic movement, that peacefully changes the second oldest communist country into a democratic society. [43]
- December 13
- Forced repatriation of Vietnamese in Hong Kong. [1]
- December 14
- Chile holds its first free election in 16 years. [43]
- December 15
- Drug baron José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha is killed by Colombian police. [43]
- December 17
- Brazil holds its first free election in 29 years, electing conservative Fernando Collor de Mello president. [1] [43]
- In Timisoara, Romania, an uprising begins against the communist regime, sparking the Romanian Revolution. [43]
- December 19
- Iranian oil tanker Kharg-5 explodes, burns, and is abandoned off Morocco, spilling 81.6 million litres of crude oil. [522]
- December 20
- Premier Lubbers sees CDA-party leader Elco Brinkman as successor. [1]
- American forces launch Operation Just Cause in an attempt to overthrow Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. 13,000 U.S. troops are sent to occupy Panama City, along with the 12,000 already there. [1] [43] [129]
- December 21
- Romania's dictator Nicolae Ceausescu makes his final speech (he is executed four days later). [1]
- December 22
- Ion Iliescu takes over as president of Romania, ending Nicolae Ceausescu's communist dictatorship, who flees his palace in a helicopter to escape inevitable execution. [1] [43]
- Chad adopts its constitution. [1]
- US cold wave:
- -4 degrees F in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,
- -6 degrees F in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
- -12 degrees F in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
- -18 degrees F in Denver, Colorado,
- -23 degrees F in Kansas City, Missouri,
- -42 degrees F in Scottsbluff, Nebraska,
- -47 degrees F in Hardin, Montana and
- -60 degrees F in Black Hills, South Dakota.
[1]
- Two tourist coaches collide on the Pacific highway north of Kempsey, Australia, killing 35. [43]
- December 24
- Charles Taylor enters Liberia to unseat President Samuel K Doe. [1]
- Panamá's dictator, Manual Noriega, seeks asylum at the Vatican embassy. [1]
- December 25
- Japanese scientist achieves -271.8 degrees C, coldest temperature ever recorded. [1]
- Bank of Japan governors announce a major interest rate hike. [43]
- Romanian dictator (1945-89) Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena are executed after their unsuccessful escape attempt. [1] [43]
- December 28
- A magnitude 5.5 earthquake hits Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, killing 13 people. Estimated damage: US$1.1 billion. [1] [43] [53]
- December 29
- In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, the provincial government opens the Crystal Casino, the first permanent casino in the country, on the 7th floor of the Fort Gary Hotel, with 19,000 square feet (589 m2) of gaming space. [40.21,122] [387.4,29,68]
- Václav Havel is elected President of Czechoslovakia. [1] [43]
- Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees. [43]
- Wayne Gretzky and Martina Navratilova are named athletes of the decade by the Associated Press. [1]
- On the last day of stock trading in Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock market index closes at a peak of 38,915. [188.87]
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