| 1987-11-15
Continental Airlines Flight 1713, a Douglas DC-9-14 jetliner, crashes in a snowstorm at Denver, Colorado Stapleton International Airport, killing 28 occupants, while 54 survive the crash.
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| 1987-05-15
The Soviet Union launches the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform. It fails to reach orbit.
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| 1987-11-22
Two Chicago television stations are hijacked by an unknown pirate dressed as Max Headroom.
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| 1987-07-04
In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
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| 1987-08-04
The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to present controversial issues "fairly".
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| 1987-04-11
The London Agreement is secretly signed between Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres and King Hussein of Jordan.
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| 1987-12-08
The Alianza Lima air disaster occurs.
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| 1987-06-30
The Royal Canadian Mint introduces the $1 coin, known as the Loonie.
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| 1987-06-12
The Central African Republic's former Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa is sentenced to death for crimes he had committed during his 13-year rule.
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| 1987-04-28
American engineer Ben Linder is killed in an ambush by U.S.-funded Contras in northern Nicaragua.
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| 1987-10-30
In Japan, NEC releases the first 16-bit home entertainment system, the TurboGrafx-16, known as PC Engine.
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| 1987-12-20
History's worst peacetime sea disaster, when the passenger ferry 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).
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| 1987-05-27
Paul, Minnesota's mayor George Latimer names May 27 "August Wilson Day" in honor of him being the only person to win a Pulitzer hailing from the state.
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| 1987-03-20
The Food and Drug Administration approves the anti-AIDS drug, AZT.
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| 1987-10-06
Fiji becomes a republic.
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| 1987-10-19
Black Monday - the Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%, 508 points.
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| 1987-11-05
Govan Mbeki is released from custody after serving 24 years of a life sentence for terrorism and treason.
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| 1987-04-23
28 construction workers die when the L'Ambiance Plaza apartment building collapses while under construction in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
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| 1987-01-22
Pennsylvania politician R. Budd Dwyer shoots and kills himself at a press conference on live national television, leading to debates on boundaries in journalism.
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| 1987-03-06
The British ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in about 90 seconds killing 193.
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| 1987-09-14
The Toronto Blue Jays set a record for the most home runs in a single game, belting 10 of them.
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| 1987-02-23
Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
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| 1987-12-18
Larry Wall releases the first version of the Perl programming language.
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| 1987-10-17
First commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
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| 1987-09-03
In a coup d'état in Burundi, Presient Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya.
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| 1987-08-14
All the children held at Kia Lama, a rural property on Lake Eildon, Australia, run by the Santiniketan Park Association, are released after a police raid.
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| 1987-08-26
President Ronald Reagan proclaims September 11, 1987 as 9-1-1 Emergency Number Day.
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| 1987-11-25
Typhoon Nina pummels the Philippines with category 5 winds of 165 mph and a surge that destroys entire villages. At least 1,036 deaths are attributed to the storm.
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| 1987-05-05
Iran-Contra affair: start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States of America
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| 1987-07-01
The American radio station WFAN in New York City is launched as the world's first all-sports radio station.
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| 1987-04-21
The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that explodes in the Sri Lankan city of Colombo, killing 106 people.
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| 1987-03-19
Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as head of the PTL Club due to a brewing sex scandal; he hands over control to Jerry Falwell.
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| 1987-06-12
Cold War: At the Brandenburg Gate U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
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| 1987-07-29
Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayawardene sign the Indo-Lankan Pact on ethnic issues.
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| 1987-12-09
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
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| 1987-05-03
A crash by Bobby Allison at the Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama fencing at the start-finish line would lead NASCAR to develop restrictor plate racing the following season both at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega.
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| 1987-10-19
In retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy disables three of Iran's offshore oil platforms.
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| 1987-06-19
Basque separatist group ETA commits one of its most violent attacks, in which a bomb is set off in a supermarket, Hipercor, killing 21 and injuring 45.
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| 1987-05-11
In Baltimore, Maryland, the first heart-lung transplant takes place. The surgery is performed by Dr. Bruce Reitz of the Stanford University School of Medicine.
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| 1987-09-15
United States Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze sign a treaty to establish centers to reduce the risk of nuclear war.
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| 1987-05-01
Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
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| 1987-04-08
Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid controversy over racially charged remarks he had made while on Nightline.
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| 1987-05-08
The Loughgall ambush: The SAS kills 8 IRA members and 1 civilian, in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.
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| 1987-05-09
A Polish LOT Ilyushin IL-62M "Tadeusz Kościuszko" (SP-LBG) crashes after takeoff in Warsaw, Poland, killing 183 people.
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| 1987-04-19
The Simpsons premieres as a short cartoon on The Tracey Ullman Show
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| 1987-03-29
WrestleMania III sets a world indoor attendance record at the Pontiac Silverdome with 93,173 fans.
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| 1987-09-13
Goiânia accident: A radioactive object is stolen from an abandoned hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, contaminating many people in the following weeks and leading some to die from radiation poisoning.
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| 1987-11-15
In Brașov, Romania, workers rebel against the communist regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu.
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| 1987-11-28
South African Airways flight 295 crashes into the Indian Ocean, killing all 159 people on-board.
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| 1987-11-08
Remembrance Day Bombing: A Provisional IRA bomb explodes in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland during a ceremony honouring those who had died in wars involving British forces. Twelve people are killed and sixty-three wounded.
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| 1987-07-20
UN Security Council Resolution 598, condemning the Iran–Iraq War and demanding cease-fire, is unanimously adopted.
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| 1987-11-18
King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station at King's Cross St Pancras.
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| 1987-02-06
Justice Mary Gaudron is appointed to the High Court of Australia, the first woman to be appointed.
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| 1987-12-08
Croat Frank Vitkovic shoots and kills eight people at the offices of the Australia Post in Melbourne, before being killed himself.
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| 1987-12-07
Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 crashes near Paso Robles, California, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-boss traveling on the flight, then shoots both pilots and himself.
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| 1987-11-07
In Tunisia, president Habib Bourguiba is overthrown and replaced by Prime Minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
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| 1987-10-16
Great Storm of 1987: Hurricane force winds hit much of the South of England killing 23 people.
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| 1987-07-05
First instance of the LTTE using suicide attacks on Sri Lankan Army. The Black Tigers are born and in the following years continue to use it to deadly effect.
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| 1987-05-17
An Iraqi fighter jet fires two missiles into the U.S. warship USS Stark, killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew.
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| 1987-05-28
19-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet Union air defenses and lands a private plane in the Red Square in Moscow. He is immediately detained and will not be released until August 3, 1988.
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| 1987-11-18
Iran-Contra Affair: The U.S. Congress issues its final report on the Iran-Contra Affair.
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| 1987-02-16
The trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem.
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| 1987-02-26
Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.
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| 1987-12-08
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed.
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| 1987-07-27
RMS Titanic, Inc. begins the first expedited salvaging of wreckage of the RMS Titanic.
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| 1987-07-29
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (Eurotunnel).
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| 1987-06-17
With the death of the last individual, the Dusky Seaside Sparrow becomes extinct.
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| 1987-07-11
According to the United Nations, the world population crosses the 5,000,000,000 (5 billion) mark.
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| 1987-10-11
Start of Operation Pawan by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka that killed few thousand ethnic Tamil civilians, several hundred Tamil Tigers and few hundred Indian Army soldiers.
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| 1987-10-21
Jaffna hospital massacre is carried out by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 70 ethnic Tamil patients, doctors and nurses.
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| 1987-04-13
Portugal and the People's Republic of China sign an agreement in which Macau would be returned to China in 1999.
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| 1987-09-16
The Montreal Protocol is signed to protect the ozone layer from depletion.
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| 1987-02-11
Philippines constitution goes into effect.
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| 1987-11-29
Korean Air Flight 858 explodes over the Thai-Burmese border, killing 155.
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| 1987-05-11
Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
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| 1987-02-20
Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, a bomb explodes in a computer store.
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| 1987-08-19
Hungerford Massacre: in the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with an assault rifle and then commits suicide.
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| 1987-07-31
A rare, class F4 tornado rips through Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people and causing $330 million in damage.
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| 1987-05-28
A robot probe finds the wreckage of the USS Monitor near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
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| 1987-10-01
The Whittier Narrows earthquake shook the San Gabriel Valley, registering as a magnitude 5.9.
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| 1987-06-08
New Zealand's Labour government establishes a national nuclear-free zone under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987
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| 1987-12-07
Alianza Lima air disaster. A plane crashes killing all Alianza Lima team in Ventanilla, Callao, Peru.
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| 1987-04-27
The U.S. Department of Justice bars the Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from entering the United States, saying he had aided in the deportation and execution of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II.
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| 1987-08-16
A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 carrying Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes on take-off from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan (Detroit), killing 155 passengers and crew. The sole survivor is four-year-old Cecelia Cichan.
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| 1987-02-02
After the 1986 People Power Revolution the Philippines enacts a new constitution.
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| 1987-10-15
The Great Storm of 1987 hits France and England.
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| 1987-01-04
The Chase, Maryland rail wreck: An Amtrak train en route to Boston, Massachusetts from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, killing 16 people.
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| 1987-01-20
Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon.
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