| 1988-09-27
The National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi is founded.
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| 1988-12-12
The Clapham Junction rail crash kills thirty-five and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains – one of the worst train crashes in the United Kingdom.
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| 1988-09-18
End of pro-democracy uprisings in Myanmar after a bloody military coup by the State Law and Order Restoration Council. Thousands, mostly monks and civilians (primarily students) are killed by the Tatmadaw.
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| 1988-07-06
The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires. 167 oil workers are killed, making it the world's worst offshore oil disaster.
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| 1988-10-12
Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down executional style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia.
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| 1988-11-02
The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT.
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| 1988-11-18
War on Drugs: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law allowing the death penalty for drug traffickers.
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| 1988-12-07
Yasser Arafat recognizes the right of Israel to exist.
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| 1988-04-25
In Israel, John Demjanuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II.
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| 1988-01-03
Margaret Thatcher becomes the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th Century.
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| 1988-08-06
The Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in New York City spurs reform of the NYPD, who were responsible for the melee that transpired the night of August 6-7.
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| 1988-01-01
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
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| 1988-03-17
A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143.
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| 1988-09-07
Abdul Ahad Mohmand, the first Afghan in space, returns aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz TM-5 after 9 days on the Mir space station.
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| 1988-11-22
In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed.
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| 1988-12-07
Spitak Earthquake: In Armenia an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale kills nearly 25,000, injures 15,000 and leaves 400,000 homeless.
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| 1988-07-23
General Ne Win, effective ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests.
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| 1988-02-05
Manuel Noriega is indicted on drug smuggling and money laundering charges.
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| 1988-05-24
Section 28 of the United Kingdom's Local Government Act 1988, a controversial amendment stating that a local authority cannot intentionally promote homosexuality, is enacted.
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| 1988-12-13
Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat gives a speech at the UN general assembly in the Austrian city of Geneva after the US authorities refused to give him a visa to enter New York.
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| 1988-11-25
German politician Rita Süssmuth becomes president of the Bundestag.
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| 1988-03-06
Three Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers are killed by Special Air Service on the territory of Gibraltar in the conclusion of Operation Flavius.
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| 1988-08-11
Al-Qaeda is formed.
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| 1988-12-06
The Australian Capital Territory is granted self-government.
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| 1988-11-16
The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR declares that Estonia is "sovereign" but stops short of declaring independence.
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| 1988-11-15
In the Soviet Union, the unmanned Shuttle Buran is launched on her first and last space flight.
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| 1988-05-29
U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
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| 1988-11-13
Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian law student in Portland, Oregon is beaten to death by members of the Neo-Nazi group East Side White Pride.
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| 1988-05-04
The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of space shuttle fuel detonates during a fire.
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| 1988-02-29
Svend Robinson becomes the first member of the Canadian House of Commons to come out as gay.
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| 1988-09-12
Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica; it turns towards Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula 2 days later, causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.
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| 1988-12-02
Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.
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| 1988-03-17
Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.
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| 1988-07-03
The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus.
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| 1988-08-08
The lights are turned on at Wrigley Field for the first time, making it the last major league stadium to host night games. (The game, against the Philadelphia Phillies, is rained out after three-and-a-half innings.)
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| 1988-08-20
Iran–Iraq War: a cease-fire is agreed after almost eight years of war.
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| 1988-04-14
In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
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| 1988-09-19
Greg Louganis suffers a head injury while qualifying for the Seoul Olympics. He goes on to win two Gold medals.
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| 1988-03-05
The Constitution of Turks and Caicos Islands is restored and revised.
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| 1988-02-29
South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town
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| 1988-10-04
U.S. televangelist Jim Bakker is indicted for fraud.
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| 1988-04-14
The USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will.
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| 1988-08-17
Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
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| 1988-07-03
United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
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| 1988-08-20
Peru becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
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| 1988-12-20
The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed in Vienna.
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| 1988-05-16
A report by United States' Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
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| 1988-11-21
Canadian federal election, 1988 – Canadians re-elect the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney after an election campaign fought mainly over the issue of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement.
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| 1988-05-15
Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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| 1988-08-07
Rioting in New York City's Tompkins Square Park.
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| 1988-07-31
32 people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Malaysia.
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| 1988-09-23
José Canseco of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first member of the 40-40 club.
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| 1988-02-03
Iran-Contra Affair: The United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million to aid Nicaraguan Contras.
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| 1988-03-16
Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
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| 1988-11-03
Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries try to overthrow the Maldivian government. At President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's request, the Indian military suppresses the coup attempt within 24 hours.
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| 1988-08-28
Ramstein airshow disaster: three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori demonstration team collide and the wreckage falls into the crowd. 75 are killed and 346 seriously injured.
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| 1988-11-15
The first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched in the Netherlands.
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| 1988-12-09
The Michael Hughes Bridge in Sligo, Ireland is officially opened.
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| 1988-12-21
A bomb explodes on board Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270.
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| 1988-08-10
Japanese American internment: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese Americans who were either interned in or relocated by the United States during World War II.
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| 1988-11-15
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council.
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| 1988-03-25
The Candle demonstration in Bratislava is the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
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| 1988-10-05
The Chilean opposition coalition Concertación (center-left) defeat Augusto Pinochet in his re-election intentions. Next year a general election is called.
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| 1988-09-29
Space Shuttle: NASA launches STS-26, the return to flight mission, after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
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| 1988-10-12
Jaffna University Helidrop: Commandos of Indian Peace Keeping Force raided the Jaffna University campus to capture the LTTE chief and walked into a trap.
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| 1988-04-28
Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane's fuselage rips open in mid-flight.
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| 1988-11-19
Serbian communist representative and future Serbian and Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic publicly declares that Serbia is under attack from Albanian separatists in Kosovo as well as internal treachery within Yugoslavia and a foreign conspiracy to destroy Serbia and Yugoslavia.
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| 1988-03-20
Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.
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| 1988-11-16
In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan elect populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister of Pakistan.
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| 1988-04-30
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II officially opens World Expo '88 in Brisbane, Australia.
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| 1988-07-29
The film Cry Freedom is seized by South African authorities.
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| 1988-03-16
Halabja poison gas attack: The Kurdish town of Halabjah in Iraq is attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents, killing 5000 people and injuring about 10000 people.
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| 1988-04-04
Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.
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| 1988-08-20
"Black Saturday" of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park
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| 1988-12-01
Benazir Bhutto is appointed Prime Minister of Pakistan.
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| 1988-08-08
The "8888 Uprising" occurs in Burma.
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| 1988-05-14
Carrollton bus collision: a drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, United States hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. The crash and ensuing fire kill 27.
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| 1988-04-18
The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
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| 1988-12-22
Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist, is assassinated.
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| 1988-06-23
James E. Hansen testifies to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that it is 99% probable that global warming had begun.
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| 1988-05-08
A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered the 'worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history' and still the worst to occur on Mother's Day.
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