| 1989-06-05
The Unknown Rebel halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
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| 1989-08-23
1,645 Australian domestic airline pilots resign after the airlines threaten to fire them and sue them over a dispute.
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| 1989-04-02
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.
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| 1989-08-23
Hungary: the last communist government open the Iron curtain and causes the exodus of thousands of Eastern Germans to West Germany via Hungary (September 11).
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| 1989-08-25
Mayumi Moriyama becomes Japan's first female cabinet secretary.
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| 1989-04-21
Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
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| 1989-01-01
The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer comes into force.
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| 1989-09-21
Hurricane Hugo makes landfall in the U.S. state of South Carolina.
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| 1989-08-02
Pakistan is re-admitted back into the Commonwealth of Nations, for restoring democracy, since 1972.
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| 1989-12-22
Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.
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| 1989-02-03
After a stroke, P.W. Botha resigns party leadership and the presidency of South Africa.
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| 1989-07-20
Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
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| 1989-05-13
Large groups of students occupy Tiananmen Square and begin a hunger strike.
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| 1989-04-26
The deadliest tornado in world history strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.
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| 1989-10-09
In Leipzig, East Germany, 70,000 protesters demand the legalisation of opposition groups and democratic reforms.
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| 1989-08-18
Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
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| 1989-05-20
The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
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| 1989-03-01
The United States becomes a member of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
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| 1989-02-24
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers a USD $3 million bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.
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| 1989-08-24
Colombian drug barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government.
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| 1989-01-04
Second Gulf of Sidra incident: a pair of Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation.
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| 1989-02-02
Soviet war in Afghanistan: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.
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| 1989-11-07
Douglas Wilder wins the governor's seat in Virginia, becoming the first elected African American governor in the United States.
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| 1989-08-19
Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be the first non-communist Prime Minister in 42 years.
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| 1989-05-30
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: the 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
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| 1989-08-16
A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto's stock market.
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| 1989-08-22
Nolan Ryan strikes out Rickey Henderson to become the first Major League Baseball pitcher to record 5,000 strikeouts.
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| 1989-09-13
Largest anti-Apartheid march in South Africa, led by Desmond Tutu.
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| 1989-05-04
Iran-Contra Affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges. The convictions, however, are later overturned on appeal.
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| 1989-07-17
First flight of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber.
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| 1989-08-05
General elections are held in Nicaragua with the Sandinista Front winning a majority.
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| 1989-02-08
An Independent Air Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain in Azores Islands off the coast of Portugal, killing 144.
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| 1989-05-29
Signing of an agreement Egypt - U.S. manufacturing parts of the fighter F-16 in Egypt.
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| 1989-01-08
The Kegworth air disaster. British Midland flight 92 crashes into the M1 motorway killing 47 people out of 127 on board.
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| 1989-03-21
Sports Illustrated reports allegations tying baseball player Pete Rose to baseball gambling.
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| 1989-06-04
Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia, kills 575 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.
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| 1989-12-16
Protests break out in Timişoara in response to an attempt by the government to evict dissident Hungarian pastor László Tőkés.
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| 1989-11-07
East German Prime Minister Willi Stoph, along with his entire cabinet, is forced to resign after huge anti-government protests.
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| 1989-05-24
Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, is awarded £600,000 in damages (later reduced to £60,000 on appeal) after winning a libel action against Private Eye.
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| 1989-03-07
Iran and the United Kingdom break diplomatic relations after a row over Salman Rushdie and his controversial novel.
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| 1989-08-25
Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Neptune, the outermost planet in the Solar System.
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| 1989-10-19
The convictions of the Guildford Four are quashed by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, after they had spent 15 years in prison.
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| 1989-12-13
Attack on Derryard checkpoint: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launch an attack on a British Army permanent vehicle checkpoint near Rosslea, Northern Ireland. Two British soldiers are killed and one badly wounded.
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| 1989-04-19
A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
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| 1989-12-28
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, killing 13 people.
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| 1989-03-09
A strike forces financially-troubled Eastern Air Lines into bankruptcy.
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| 1989-11-17
Cold War: Velvet Revolution begins: In Czechoslovakia, a student demonstration in Prague is quelled by riot police. This sparks an uprising aimed at overthrowing the communist government (it succeeds on December 29).
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| 1989-11-16
UNESCO adopts the Seville Statement on Violence at the twenty-fifth session of its General Conference.
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| 1989-02-27
Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo riots.
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| 1989-03-18
In Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy is found nearby the Pyramid of Cheops.
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| 1989-02-03
A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
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| 1989-08-02
1989 Valvettiturai massacre is carried out by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 64 ethnic Tamil civilians.
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| 1989-03-24
Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (42,000 m³) of petroleum after running aground.
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| 1989-08-19
Raid on offshore pirate station, Radio Caroline in North Sea by British and Dutch governments.
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| 1989-05-06
Cedar Point opens Magnum XL-200, the first roller coaster to break the 200 ft height barrier, therefore spawning what is considered to be the "coaster wars".
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| 1989-10-17
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (7.1 on the Richter scale) hits the San Francisco Bay Area and causes 57 deaths directly (and 6 indirectly).
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| 1989-12-06
The École Polytechnique Massacre (or Montreal Massacre): Marc Lépine, an anti-feminist gunman, murders 14 young women at the École Polytechnique in Montreal.
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| 1989-12-01
Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the communist party the leading role in the state.
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| 1989-11-27
Avianca Flight 203, a Boeing 727, explodes in mid-air over Colombia, killing all 107 people on board and three people on the ground. The Medellín Cartel claimed responsibility for the attack.
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| 1989-03-02
Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century.
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| 1989-07-09
Two bombs explode in Mecca killing one pilgrim and wounding 16 others.
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| 1989-09-19
A terrorist bomb explodes UTA Flight 772 in mid-air above the Tùnùrù Desert, Niger, killing 171.
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| 1989-11-22
In West Beirut, a bomb explodes near the motorcade of Lebanese President Rene Moawad, killing him.
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| 1989-06-27
The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, ILO 169 convention, was adopted.
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| 1989-08-25
Tadeusz Mazowiecki is chosen as the first non-communist Prime Minister in Central and Eastern Europe.
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| 1989-10-23
The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szűrös, replacing the communist Hungarian People's Republic.
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| 1989-06-03
SkyDome is officially opened in Toronto, Ontario
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| 1989-02-14
The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System are placed into orbit.
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| 1989-12-18
The European Community and the Soviet Union sign an agreement on trade and commercial and economic cooperation.
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| 1989-12-29
Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
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| 1989-10-01
Denmark: World's first legal modern same-sex civil union called "registered partnership"
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| 1989-07-06
The Israeli 405 Bus slaughter in which 14 bus passengers are killed when an Arab assaulted the bus driver as the bus was driving by the edge of a cliff.
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| 1989-04-09
The April 9 tragedy in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR an anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strikes, demanding restoration of Georgian independence is dispersed by the Soviet army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
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| 1989-04-07
Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway killing 42 sailors.
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| 1989-07-20
Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe's show opens at Washington, D.C.'s Project for the Arts after the Smithsonian Institution's Corcoran Gallery cancels it.
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| 1989-01-17
Stockton massacre: Patrick Purdy opens fire with an assault rifle at the Cleveland Elementary School playground, killing five children and wounding 29 others and one teacher before taking his own life.
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| 1989-03-23
Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce cold fusion at the University of Utah.
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| 1989-08-23
Singing Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands (Baltic Way).
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| 1989-12-22
After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as president of Romania, ending Nicolae Ceauşescu's Communist dictatorship.
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| 1989-02-14
Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill the author of The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie.
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| 1989-06-03
The government of China sends troops to force protesters out of Tiananmen Square after seven weeks of occupation.
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| 1989-06-16
Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian Prime Minister, is reburied in Budapest.
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| 1989-07-19
United Airlines flight 232 crashes in Sioux City, Iowa killing 112 of the 296 passengers.
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| 1989-11-10
Fall of the communist regime in Bulgaria.
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| 1989-12-20
United States invasion of Panama: The United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega.
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| 1989-08-19
Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events which began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
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| 1989-02-06
The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe.
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| 1989-06-23
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that a law passed by the U.S. Congress banning all sexually oriented phone message services is unconstitutional.
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| 1989-12-17
The first episode of television series The Simpsons, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", airs in the United States.
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| 1989-10-23
Phillips Disaster in Pasadena, Texas kills 23 and injures 314.
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| 1989-11-09
Cold War: Fall of the Berlin Wall. Communist-controlled East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall allowing its citizens to travel to West Germany. This key event led to the eventual reunification of East and West Germany.
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| 1989-01-29
Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so
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| 1989-12-17
Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timişoara with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.
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| 1989-11-20
Velvet Revolution: The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.
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| 1989-10-18
East German leader Erich Honecker resigns.
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| 1989-12-25
Nicolae Ceauşescu, former communist dictator of Romania and his wife Elena are condemned to death and executed under a wide range of charges.
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| 1989-03-19
The Egyptian Flag is raised on Taba, Egypt announcing the end of the Israeli occupation after the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the peace negotiations in 1979.
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| 1989-04-15
Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi Final, resulting in the deaths of 96 Liverpool F.C. fans.
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| 1989-03-15
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is established.
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| 1989-01-08
Beginning of Japanese Heisei era.
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| 1989-06-04
Solidarity's victory in the first (somewhat) free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland sparks off a succession of peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe, leads to the creation of the so-called Contract Sejm and begins the Autumn of Nations.
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| 1989-08-24
Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose is banned from baseball for gambling by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti.
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| 1989-09-30
Foreign Minister of West Germany Hans-Dietrich Genscher's speech from the balcony of the German embassy in Prague.
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| 1989-07-05
Iran-Contra Affair: Oliver North is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell to a three-year suspended prison term, two years probation, $150,000 in fines and 1,200 hours community service.
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| 1989-08-20
The pleasure boat Marchioness sinks on the River Thames following a collision, 51 people are killed.
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| 1989-06-01
Oba Chandler murders an Ohio family on their Florida vacation by drowning them in Tampa Bay.
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| 1989-12-01
The right-wing military rebel Reform the Armed forces Movement attempts to oust Philippine President Corazon Aquino in a failed bloody coup d' etat.
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| 1989-07-26
A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
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| 1989-12-03
Cold War: In a meeting off the coast of Malta, US 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.
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| 1989-10-15
Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.
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| 1989-10-09
An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh.
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| 1989-05-01
Disney-MGM Studios opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.
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| 1989-11-16
A death squad composed of El Salvadoran army troops kills six Jesuit priests and two others at Jose Simeon Canas University.
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| 1989-02-14
Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal Disaster.
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| 1989-01-30
The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan closes.
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| 1989-02-01
The Western Australian towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder amalgamate to form the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
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| 1989-12-13
The last issue of Gnistan (The Spark), the organ of the Solidaritetspartiet, is published in Sweden.
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| 1989-02-10
Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.
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| 1989-03-22
Clint Malarchuk of the Buffalo Sabres suffers a near-fatal injury when another player accidentally slits his throat.
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| 1989-08-20
The O-Bahn in Adelaide, the world's longest guided busway, opens.
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| 1989-11-28
Cold War: Velvet Revolution – In the face of protests, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announces it will give up its monopoly on political power.
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| 1989-08-07
U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.
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| 1989-08-08
Space Shuttle program: STS-28 Mission – Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.
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| 1989-06-04
The Tiananmen Square protests are violently ended in Beijing by the People's Liberation Army.
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| 1989-01-20
George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as the 41st President of the United States. Bush is the first Vice President in 148 years to rise to the presidency other than by death or resignation.
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| 1989-06-04
Ali Khamenei is elected the new Supreme Leader of Islamic republic of Iran by the Assembly of Experts after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
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| 1989-12-16
Walter LeRoy Moody begins his terrorist bombing streak when he sends Judge Robert Smith Vance a bomb in the mail, instantly killing him near his house in Birmingham, Alabama.
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| 1989-04-15
Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in the People's Republic of China.
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| 1989-02-20
An IRA bomb destroys a section of a British Army barracks in Ternhill, England
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| 1989-04-01
Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the "poll tax"), is introduced in Scotland.
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| 1989-11-15
Sachin Tendulkar makes his debut as an international cricketer.
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| 1989-11-07
David Dinkins becomes the first African American mayor of New York City.
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| 1989-12-10
Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announces the establishment of Mongolia's democratic movement that changes the second oldest communist country into a democracy.
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| 1989-11-30
Deutsche Bank board member Alfred Herrhausen is killed by a Red Army Faction terrorist bomb.
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| 1989-08-22
The first ring of Neptune is discovered.
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| 1989-02-24
United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, Hawaii, rips open during flight, sucking 9 passengers out of the business-class section.
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| 1989-02-15
Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.
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