January •
January 1 •
Poland becomes the first country in Eastern Europe to begin abolishing its
state socialist controls. •
Glasgow begins its year as
European Capital of Culture. • The first Internet companies catering to commercial users,
PSINet and
EUnet begin selling Internet access to commercial customers in the United States and Netherlands respectively. • The comedy television series of
Rowan Atkinson's
Mr. Bean first aired on
ITV in the United Kingdom. •
January 2 –
Ramiz Ali declares that the rejection of Communism will not be repeated in
Albania, but that the changing European political climate will nevertheless require adjustments. •
January 3 –
United States invasion of Panama: General
Manuel Noriega is deposed as leader of
Panama and surrenders to the
American forces. •
January 10 –
McDonnell Douglas MD-11 takes its first flight. •
January 11 –
Singing Revolution: In the
Lithuania SSR, 300,000 demonstrate for
independence. •
January 12–
19 – Most of the remaining 50,000
Armenians are driven out of
Baku in the
Azerbaijan SSR during the
Baku pogrom. •
January 13 –
Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office in
Richmond, Virginia. •
January 15 • The
National Assembly of Bulgaria votes to end
one party rule by the
Bulgarian Communist Party. • Thousands storm the
Stasi headquarters in
East Berlin in an attempt to view their government records. • Martin Luther King Day Crash – Telephone service in Atlanta, St. Louis, and Detroit, including 9-1-1 service, goes down for nine hours, due to an AT&T software bug. •
January 18 •
McMartin preschool trial: Peggy McMartin Buckey and Raymond Buckey are acquitted of 52 charges related to alleged
ritual abuse taking place at their daycare in
Manhattan Beach. •
Marion Barry is caught on videotape smoking
crack cocaine. •
January 20 •
Cold War:
Black January – Soviet troops occupy
Baku,
Azerbaijan SSR, under the state of emergency decree issued by
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, and
kill over 130 protesters who were demonstrating for independence. The
Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic declares its independence from the
USSR. • Clashes break out between Indian troops and
Muslim separatists in
Kashmir. • The government of
Haiti declares a
state of emergency, under which it suspends civil liberties, imposes censorship, and arrests political opponents. The state of siege is lifted on January 29. •
January 22 –
Robert Tappan Morris is convicted of releasing the
Morris worm. •
January 23 – The 14th and final Extraordinary Congress of the
Yugoslav Communist Party concludes after 3 days. Although Serb hardliners block substantial reforms, the Party signals its openness to multiparty elections.
Slovene delegates, protesting the slow pace of reforms, walk out of the assembly. •
January 25 •
Avianca Flight 052 crashes into
Cove Neck, New York after a miscommunication between the flight crew and
JFK Airport officials, killing 73 people on board. •
Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto gives birth to a girl, becoming the first modern head of government to bear a child while in office. •
Pope John Paul II begins an eight-day tour of
Cape Verde,
Guinea-Bissau,
Mali,
Burkina Faso, and
Chad. •
January 25–
26 – The
Burns' Day Storm kills 97 in northwestern Europe. •
January 27 – The city of
Tiraspol in the
Moldavian SSR briefly declares
independence. •
January 28 – Four months after their exit from power, the
Polish United Workers' Party votes to dissolve and reorganize as the
Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland. •
January 29 – The trial of
Joseph Hazelwood, former skipper of the
Exxon Valdez, begins in
Anchorage, Alaska. He is accused of negligence that resulted in America's
second worst oil spill to date. •
January 31 •
Globalization – The first
McDonald's in Moscow,
Russian SFSR opens 8 months after construction began on May 3, 1989. 8 months later the first McDonald's in
Mainland China is opened in
Shenzhen. • President of the United States
George H. W. Bush gives his first
State of the Union address and proposes that the U.S. and the
Soviet Union make deep cuts to their military forces in
Europe.
February • February/March – 100,000
Kashmiri Pandits leave their homeland in
Jammu and Kashmir's Valley after being targeted by
Islamist extremists. • February –
Smoking is banned on all cross-country flights in the United States. •
February 2 –
Apartheid:
F. W. de Klerk announces the unbanning of the
African National Congress and promises to release
Nelson Mandela. • February 5 – The Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. excommunicates
George Augustus Stallings for starting the controversial
Imani Temple congregation. •
February 7 • The
Communist Party of the Soviet Union votes to end its monopoly of power, clearing the way for multiparty elections. • In the
Tajik SSR,
rioting breaks out against the settlement of
Armenian refugees there. •
February 9 –
ADtranz low floor tram world's first completely
low-floor tram introduced in
Bremen. •
February 10 •
Las Cruces bowling alley massacre: 2 people walked into the 10 Pin Alley in
Las Cruces, New Mexico, (known then as the Las Cruces
Bowl) and shot seven people, four of whom were killed. The case is currently unsolved. • As the German chancellor
Helmut Kohl is on a state visit in Moscow,
Mikhail Gorbachev assures him that the Germans have the right to choose reunification. While the question of the membership of a reunited Germany in the existing military alliances is still unresolved, this is seen as a major breakthrough. •
February 11 •
Nelson Mandela is released from
Victor Verster Prison, near
Cape Town, South Africa, after 27 years behind bars. •
Buster Douglas, a 42-1 underdog, knocks out
Mike Tyson in the 10th round to win the heavyweight boxing title. •
February 12 – Representatives of
NATO and the
Warsaw Pact meet in
Ottawa for an
"Open Skies" conference. The conference results in agreements about
superpower troop levels in Europe and on
German reunification. •
February 13 •
German reunification: An agreement is reached for a two-stage plan to reunite
Germany. •
Drexel Burnham Lambert files for bankruptcy protection,
Chapter 11. •
February 14 • The
Pale Blue Dot photograph of
Earth is sent back from the
Voyager 1 probe after completing its primary mission, from around 5.6 billion kilometers (3.5 billion miles) away. •
Indian Airlines Flight 605, an
Airbus A320-231 registered as VT-EPN, crashes shortly before landing killing 92 out of the 146 occupants on board. •
February 15 • The
United Kingdom and
Argentina restore diplomatic relations after 8 years. The UK had severed ties in response to Argentina's
invasion of the
Falkland Islands, a
British Dependent Territory, in
1982. • In
Cartagena, Colombia, a summit is held between
President of the United States George H. W. Bush,
President of Bolivia Jaime Paz Zamora,
President of Colombia Virgilio Barco Vargas, and
President of Peru Alan García. The leaders pledge additional cooperation in fighting international drug trafficking. •
February 21 –
Spain grants
Protestantism and
Judaism legal equality with the
Roman Catholic Church. •
February 25 – The
Sandinistas are defeated in the
Nicaraguan
elections, with
Violeta Chamorro elected as the new
president of Nicaragua (the first elected woman president in the Americas), replacing
Daniel Ortega. •
February 26 – The
Soviet Union agrees to withdraw all 73,500 troops from
Czechoslovakia by July,
1991. •
February 27 –
Exxon Valdez oil spill:
Exxon and its shipping company are indicted on 5 criminal counts. •
February 28 – President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega announces a cease-fire with the U.S.-backed
contras.
March •
March 1 • A fire at the
Sheraton Hotel in
Cairo,
Egypt, kills 16 people. •
Steve Jackson Games is raided by the
U.S. Secret Service, prompting the later formation of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation. • The
Royal New Zealand Navy discontinues its daily
rum ration. •
Luis Alberto Lacalle, a grandson of the late politician and diplomat
Luis Alberto de Herrera, is sworn in as
President of Uruguay. •
March 3 – The
International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition, a group of six explorers from six nations, completes the first
dog sled crossing of Antarctica. •
March 8 – The
Nintendo World Championships were held within the
Fair Park's Automobile Building, kickstarting an almost year long gaming competition across 29 American cities. •
March 9 • Police seal off
Brixton in
South London after another
night of protests against the
poll tax. •
Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells confirms he will rescind Newfoundland's approval of the
Meech Lake Accord. •
March 10 –
Prosper Avril is ousted in a
coup in
Haiti, eighteen months after seizing power. •
March 11 •
Singing Revolution: The
Lithuanian SSR declares independence from the
Soviet Union with the
Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania •
Augusto Pinochet hands over power to the elected president
Patricio Aylwin, marking the beginning of the
democratic transition in
Chile after 17 years of
military dictatorship. •
March 11–
13 – The
March 1990 Central United States tornado outbreak produces 64 tornadoes across six
US states, including four violent
F4/
F5 tornadoes. The outbreak leaves 2 dead, 89 injured, and causes over $500 million in damages. •
March 12 –
Cold War: Soviet soldiers begin leaving Hungary under terms of an agreement to withdraw all Soviet troops by June 1. •
March 13 – The
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union approves changes to the
Constitution of the Soviet Union to create a strong
U.S.-style presidency.
Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to a five-year term as the first-ever
President of the Soviet Union on March 15. •
March 15 •
Iraq hangs Iranian journalist
Farzad Bazoft for spying. Daphne Parish, a British nurse, is sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment as an accomplice. •
Singing Revolution: The
Soviet Union announces that
Lithuania's declaration of independence is invalid. •
Fernando Collor de Mello takes office as
President of Brazil,
Brazil's first democratically elected president since
Jânio Quadros in
1961. The next day, he announces a currency freeze and freezes large bank accounts for 18 months. •
March 18 • Twelve paintings and a
Shang dynasty vase, collectively worth $100 to $300 million, are
stolen from the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in
Boston,
Massachusetts by two thieves posing as police officers. This is the largest
art theft in US history, and the paintings () have not been recovered. •
Cold War:
East Germany holds its first
free elections. •
March 19–
21 –
Skirmishes between Romanians and Hungarians, also known as the ”Black March” events, take place in the city of
Târgu Mureș,
Romania, leaving five people dead. •
March 20 –
Ferdinand Marcos's widow,
Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for
bribery,
embezzlement, and
racketeering. •
March 21 – After 75 years of
South African rule since
World War I,
Namibia becomes independent. •
March 24 –
1990 Australian federal election:
Bob Hawke's
Labor government is re-elected with a reduced majority, narrowly defeating the
Liberal/
National Coalition led by
Andrew Peacock. •
March 25 • In New York City, a fire due to
arson at an illegal
social club called "
Happy Land" kills 87 people. •
Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie announces his intention to retire at the end of the year. • In the
Hungarian parliamentary election, Hungary's first multiparty election since
1948, the
Hungarian Democratic Forum wins the most seats. •
March 26 – The
62nd Academy Awards, hosted by
Billy Crystal, are held at the
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in
Los Angeles,
California, with
Driving Miss Daisy winning
Best Picture. •
March 27 – The United States begins broadcasting
Radio y Televisión Martí to
Cuba. •
March 28 – U.S. President
George H. W. Bush posthumously awards
Jesse Owens the
Congressional Gold Medal. •
March 30 –
Singing Revolution: After its
first free elections on March 18, the
Estonian SSR declares the
Soviet rule to have been illegal since 1940 and declares a transition period for full independence. •
March 31 – "
The Second Battle of Trafalgar": A massive anti-
poll tax demonstration in
Trafalgar Square, London, turns into a riot; 471 people are injured, and 341 are arrested.
April •
April 1 • The
Community Charge (poll tax) takes effect in England and Wales amid widespread protests •
Strangeways Prison riot: The longest prison riot in Britain's history begins at
Strangeways Prison in
Manchester, and continues for 3 weeks and 3 days, until
April 25. • The
1990 United States census begins. There are 248,709,873 residents in the U.S. •
April 6 –
Robert Mapplethorpe's "The Perfect Moment" show of nude and homoerotic photographs opens at the
Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, in spite of accusations of indecency by
Citizens for Community Values. •
April 7 •
Iran–Contra affair:
John Poindexter is found guilty of 5 charges for his part in the scandal; the convictions are later reversed on appeal. •
MS Scandinavian Star, a
Bahamas-registered ferry, catches fire en route from Norway to Denmark, leaving 158 dead. •
April 8 • In
Nepal,
Birendra of Nepal lifts a ban on political parties following violent protests. • In the
Greek legislative election, the conservative
New Democracy wins the most seats in the
Hellenic Parliament; its leader,
Konstantinos Mitsotakis, becomes
Prime Minister of Greece on April 11. • In the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the
Socialist Republic of Slovenia holds Yugoslavia's
first multiparty election since 1938. After the election, a center-right coalition led by
Lojze Peterle forms Yugoslavia's first non-Communist government since
1945. •
April 9 –
Comet Austin makes its closest approach to the
sun. •
April 12 –
Lothar de Maizière becomes prime minister of
East Germany, heading a
grand coalition that favors
German reunification. •
April 13 –
Cold War: The
Soviet Union apologizes for the
Katyn massacre. •
April 14 –
Junk bond financier
Michael Milken pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges. He agreed to pay US$500 million in restitution and was sentenced on
November 21 to 10 years in jail. •
April 20 – 17-year-old
Christopher Kerze goes missing in
Eagan, Minnesota. He remains missing . •
April 21 – Japanese
Yoshio Tani, M.Sc. murders gold merchant Turkka Elovirta and businessman Juhani Komulainen in
Siuntio,
Finland, having convinced them to buy a nonexistent 500 kilogram stash of
Nazi gold. •
April 22 •
Lebanon hostage crisis: Lebanese kidnappers release American educator Robert Polhill, who had been held hostage since January 1987. •
Earth Day 20 is celebrated by millions worldwide. •
April 24 •
Cold War: West Germany and
East Germany agree to merge currency and economies on
July 1. •
STS-31: The
Hubble Space Telescope is launched aboard
Space Shuttle Discovery. •
President of Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko lifts a 20-year ban on opposition parties. •
April 25 –
Violeta Chamorro is sworn in as
President of Nicaragua, the first woman elected (February 25) in her own right as a head of state in the Americas. •
April 26 – A
7.0 earthquake shakes the Chinese province of
Qinghai leaving 126 dead. •
April 30 –
Lebanon hostage crisis: Lebanese kidnappers release American educator Frank H. Reed, who had been held hostage since September
1986.
May •
May 1 – The former
Episcopal Church in the Philippines (supervised by the
Episcopal Church) is granted full autonomy and raised to the state of an Autocephalous
Anglican province and renamed the
Episcopal Church of the Philippines. •
May 2 – In London, a man brandishing a knife robs a courier of
bearer bonds worth £292 million (the second largest
mugging to date). •
May 2–
4 – First talks between the government of South Africa and the
African National Congress. •
May 4 –
Singing Revolution: The
Latvian SSR declares independence from the
Soviet Union. •
May 8 •
Singing Revolution: The
Estonian SSR restores the formal name of the country, the Republic of Estonia, as well as other national emblems (
the coat of arms,
the flag and
the anthem). •
Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier assumes office as
President of Costa Rica. •
May 9 – In South Korea, police battle anti-government protesters in
Seoul and two other cities. •
May 13 • In the
Philippines, gunmen kill two
United States Air Force airmen near
Clark Air Base on the eve of talks between the Philippines and the United States over the future of American military bases in the Philippines. • The
Dinamo–Red Star riot took place at
Stadion Maksimir in
Zagreb,
Croatia between the
Bad Blue Boys (fans of
GNK Dinamo Zagreb) and the
Delije (fans of
Red Star Belgrade). •
May 15 •
Singing Revolution: The pro-
Soviet Intermovement attempts to take power in
Tallinn,
Estonia, but are forced down by local Estonians. •
Portrait of Dr. Gachet by
Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record
$82.5 million. •
May 17 – The
World Health Organization removes
homosexuality from its list of diseases. •
May 18 –
German reunification:
East Germany and
West Germany sign a treaty to merge their economic and social systems, effective July 1. •
May 19 – The US and the USSR agree to end production of
chemical weapons and to destroy most of their stockpiles of chemical weapons. •
May 20 –
Cold War: The first
post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in
Romania. •
May 21 – In
Kashmir, Indian security forces
open fire on mourners carrying the body of
Mohammad Farooq Shah who had been assassinated earlier. At least 47 people are killed. •
May 22 •
Cold War: The leaders of the
Yemen Arab Republic and the
People's Democratic Republic of Yemen announce the
unification of their countries as the
Republic of Yemen. •
May 27 • In the
Burmese general election,
Burma's first multiparty election in 30 years, the
National League for Democracy led by
Aung San Suu Kyi wins in a landslide, but the
State Law and Order Restoration Council nullifies the election results. • In the
Colombian presidential election,
César Gaviria is elected
President of Colombia; he takes office on August 7. •
May 28 –
1990 Arab League summit: Saddam Hussein receives the emir of Kuwait for a diplomatic visit, at a time when his country and its decent oil revenues were being pushed into bankruptcy by Kuwait's lowering of the price of oil. A dictator with ambitions, Saddam wanted to continue increasing his military strength, and so confronted Kuwait instead. After the public events, Hussein invited Arab leaders to a private meeting. Here, he threatened war on Kuwait unless Kuwait stopped lowering the price of oil, recalls then-Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz. •
May 29 •
Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in
Ottawa for a 29-hour visit. •
Boris Yeltsin is elected as the first ever elected president of the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. •
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is founded. •
May 30 –
George H. W. Bush and
Mikhail Gorbachev begin a
four-day summit meeting in
Washington, D.C. June •
June 1 •
Cold War: U.S. President
George H. W. Bush and Soviet President
Mikhail Gorbachev sign a
treaty to end
chemical weapon production and begin destroying their respective stocks. • Members of the
Provisional Irish Republican Army shoot and kill Major Michael Dillon-Lee and Private William Robert Davies of the
British Army. Dillon-Lee is killed outside his home in
Dortmund, Germany and Davies is killed at a railway station in
Lichfield, England. •
June 2 – The
Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 88 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12; 37 tornadoes occur in Indiana, eclipsing the previous record of 21 during the
1974 Super Outbreak. •
June 3 – The
Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the United Kingdom is dissolved after two years of poor results. •
Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Shamir ends 88 days with only an acting government by forming a coalition of right-wing and religious parties led by Shamir's
Likud party. •
June 8–
9 – In the
Czechoslovak parliamentary election,
Czechoslovakia's first free election since 1946, the
Civic Forum wins the most seats but fails to secure a majority. •
June 9 –
Mega Borg oil spill in the
Gulf of Mexico near
Galveston, Texas. •
June 10 •
Alberto Fujimori is
elected President of Peru; he takes office on July 28. • First round of the
Bulgarian Constitutional Assembly election sees the
Bulgarian Socialist Party win a majority. The second round of voting is held June 17. •
June 11 –
Sri Lankan Civil War: The
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam massacre over 600 unarmed police officers in the
Eastern Province. •
June 12 •
Cold War: The
Congress of People's Deputies of Russia formally
declares its sovereignty. • In the
Algerian local elections,
Algeria's first multiparty election since
1962, the
Islamic Salvation Front wins control of more than half of municipalities and 32 of Algeria's 48 provinces. •
June 13 –
Cold War: The destruction of the
Berlin Wall by
East Germany officially starts, 7 months after it was opened the previous November. •
June 13–
15 –
June 1990 Mineriad: Clashes break out in
Bucharest between supporters and opponents of the ruling
National Salvation Front. •
June 14 –
1990 Panay earthquake: An earthquake measuring struck
Panay in the
Philippines, killing 8 and injuring 41. •
June 15 –
Dublin Regulation on treatment of applications for
right of asylum under
European Union law agreed (comes into force
1997). •
June 17–
30 –
Nelson Mandela tours North America, visiting 3 Canadian and 8 U.S. cities. •
June 19 – The
Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic holds its inaugural conference in Moscow. •
June 21 – The 7.4
Manjil–Rudbar earthquake affects northern
Iran with a maximum
Mercalli intensity of X (
Extreme), killing 35,000–50,000, and injuring 60,000–105,000. •
June 22 –
Cold War:
Checkpoint Charlie is dismantled. •
June 23 – In Canada, the
Meech Lake Accord of
1987 dies after the
Manitoba and
Newfoundland legislatures fail to approve it ahead of the deadline. •
June 24 –
Kathleen Margaret Brown and Irene Templeton are ordained as priests in St Anne's Cathedral in
Belfast, becoming the first female
Anglican priests in the United Kingdom.
July •
July 1 •
German reunification:
East Germany and
West Germany merge their economies, the West German
Deutsche Mark becoming the official currency of the East also. The
Inner German border (constructed
1945) also ceases to function. •
Argentina announces the sale of its state-owned airline,
Aerolineas Argentinas, to Spanish airline
Iberia. The sale will be completed in November. •
July 2 •
1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy: A stampede in a pedestrian tunnel leading to
Mecca kills 1,426. • A U.S. District Court acquits
Imelda Marcos on racketeering and fraud charges. •
July 3 –
Angola's ruling party
MPLA agrees to legalize opposition and hold
multiparty elections. •
July 4 –
Commonwealth v. Twitchell: David and Ginger Twitchell are convicted of
involuntary manslaughter after the 1986 death of their 2-year-old son, who died from a
bowel obstruction after the couple
withheld medical treatment in keeping with their
Christian Scientist beliefs. •
July 5 – In
Kenya, riots erupt against the
Kenya African National Union's monopoly on power. •
July 6 •
President of Bulgaria Petar Mladenov resigns over accusations that he ordered tanks to disperse anti-government protests in December
1989. •
Somali President
Siad Barre's bodyguards massacre anti-government demonstrators during a soccer match; 65 people are killed, more than 300 seriously injured. •
July 7–
8 – In tennis,
Martina Navratilova of the United States wins the
1990 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles and
Stefan Edberg of Sweden wins the
1990 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles. •
July 8 •
1990 FIFA World Cup final (Association football):
West Germany defeats
Argentina 1–0 to win the
1990 FIFA World Cup. • At 12:34:56 (a.m. and p.m.), the date and time using American formats was 12:34:56, 7/8/90 (1234567890). The next such event will occur on July 8, 2090. •
July 9–
11 – The
16th G7 summit is held in
Houston, Texas. •
July 10 – The
UEFA lifts the five-year ban on English
association football teams competing in Continental Europe after the
Heysel Stadium disaster, although
Liverpool F.C. will remain banned for a further three years. •
July 12 –
Foster v British Gas plc decided in the
European Court of Justice, a leading case on the definition of the "state" under
European Union law. •
July 13 – The
Lenin Peak disaster occurs when an earthquake triggers an avalanche in the
Pamir Mountains with the loss of 43 lives. •
July 16 •
1990 Luzon earthquake: An earthquake measuring kills more than 2,400 in the
Philippines. • By the end of June, Saddam and his lieutenants suspect a conspiracy against Iraq, devised by Kuwait and orchestrated by the US. Earlier in July they threaten invasion on Kuwait unless $10 billion is sent to Iraq from Kuwait. When Kuwait refuses, on July 16, Iraqi forces begin to gather in southern Iraq near the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. •
July 22 – First round of the
Mongolian parliamentary election, the first multiparty ever held in
Mongolia; the
Mongolian People's Party wins by a wide margin after the second round of voting on July 29. •
July 25 •
George Carey,
Bishop of Bath and Wells, is named as the new
Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England. • The
Serb Democratic Party (Croatia) declares the
sovereignty of the
Serbs in
Croatia. •
Roseanne Barr infamously sings "
The Star-Spangled Banner" extremely poorly, causing controversy. •
July 26 – U.S. President
George H. W. Bush signs the
Americans with Disabilities Act, designed to protect disabled Americans from discrimination. •
July 26 - On the
Howard Stern Show,
Gary Dell’Abate is given the nickname “Baba Booey” for the first time. •
July 27 • The parliament building and a government television house in
Port of Spain,
Trinidad and Tobago are stormed by the
Jamaat al Muslimeen in a
coup d'état attempt which lasts five days. Approximately 26 to 30 people are killed and several are wounded (including the
prime minister,
A. N. R. Robinson, who is shot in the leg). •
Cold War:
Belarus declares its sovereignty, a key step toward independence from the
Soviet Union. •
July 28 –
Alberto Fujimori becomes
president of Peru. •
July 30 – British politician and former Member of Parliament
Ian Gow is assassinated by a
Provisional Irish Republican Army car bomb outside his home in England.
August •
August 1 • The
National Assembly of Bulgaria elects
Zhelyu Zhelev as the first non-Communist
President of Bulgaria in 40 years. •
RELCOM is created in the
Soviet Union by combining several computer networks. Later in August, the Soviet Union got its first connection to the
Internet. •
August 2 •
Gulf War:
Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the
Gulf War. • The first
ban of smoking in bars in the US (and possibly the world) is passed in
San Luis Obispo, California. •
August 6 •
Gulf War: With
United Nations Security Council Resolution 661 the
United Nations Security Council orders a global
trade embargo against
Iraq in response to its invasion of
Kuwait. •
President of Pakistan Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismisses
Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, accusing her of corruption and abuse of power. • The South African government and ANC begin talks on ending
Apartheid. •
August 8 • Iraq announces its formal annexation of Kuwait. • The
government of Peru announces an austerity plan that results in huge increases in the price of food and gasoline. The plan sets off days of rioting and a national strike on August 21. •
August 10 •
Egypt,
Syria, and 10 other
Arab states vote to send military forces to Saudi Arabia to discourage an invasion from Iraq. • A passenger bus, traveling along the route "Tbilisi-Agdam", is blown up; 20 people are killed and 30 are injured. The organizers of the crime were
Armenians A. Avanesian and M. Tatevosian who were brought to criminal trial. •
August 21 –
The Gambia,
Ghana,
Guinea,
Nigeria, and
Sierra Leone send
peacekeepers to intervene in the
First Liberian Civil War. •
August 23 –
East Germany and
West Germany announce they will unite on
October 3. •
August 24 • The
Armenian SSR declares its independence from the
Soviet Union. •
Northern Ireland writer
Brian Keenan is released from
Lebanon after being held
hostage for nearly 5 years. • Indonesian commercial television network
SCTV was established as the nation's third television station after
RCTI, and also debuted as local television channel in
Surabaya. During its earlier days, SCTV was the rival for
RCTI, the first commercial television network. SCTV began broadcasting nationwide from Jakarta by
January 29,
1991. •
August 26 – In
Sofia, protesters set fire to the headquarters of the governing
Bulgarian Socialist Party. •
August 28 – The
Plainfield Tornado (F5 on the
Fujita scale) strikes the towns of
Plainfield,
Crest Hill, and
Joliet, Illinois, killing 29 people (the strongest tornado to date to strike the
Chicago metropolitan area).
September •
September 1–
10 –
Pope John Paul II visits
Tanzania,
Burundi,
Rwanda and
Ivory Coast. •
September 2 –
Cold War:
Transnistria declares its independence from the
Moldavian SSR; however, the declaration is not recognized by any government. •
September 4 –
Geoffrey Palmer resigns as
Prime Minister of New Zealand and is replaced by
Mike Moore. •
September 4–
6 –
Premier of North Korea Yon Hyong-muk meets with
President of South Korea Roh Tae-woo, the highest level contact between leaders of the two Koreas since
1945. •
September 5 –
Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Army soldiers
massacre 158 civilians. •
September 6 – In
Myanmar, the
State Law and Order Restoration Council orders the arrest of
Aung San Suu Kyi and five other political dissidents. •
September 9 • U.S. President Bush and Soviet President Gorbachev meet in
Helsinki to discuss the Persian Gulf crisis. •
First Liberian Civil War:
Liberian president
Samuel Doe is captured by rebel leader
Prince Johnson and killed in a filmed execution. •
Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Army soldiers
massacre 184 civilians in
Batticaloa. •
September 10 – The first
Pizza Hut opens up in the
Soviet Union. •
September 11 •
Gulf War: U.S. President
George H. W. Bush delivers a nationally televised speech in which he threatens the use of force to remove
Iraqi soldiers from
Kuwait. • First
Pizza Hut opens in the People's Republic of China, nearly 3 years after the first
KFC opened there in
1987. •
September 18 • The
International Olympic Committee awards the
1996 Summer Olympics to
Atlanta. •
Provisional Irish Republican Army assassination attempt on the life of Air Chief Marshal Sir
Peter Terry at his home near
Stafford, England. Hit by at least 9 bullets, the former
Governor of Gibraltar survives, as does his wife, Lady Betty Terry, who is also shot (most likely by accident). •
September 24 – The
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union grants Gorbachev special powers for 18 months to secure the Soviet Union's transition to a
market economy. •
September 27 –
David Souter is confirmed to serve on the
Supreme Court, replacing retiring Justice
William J. Brennan Jr.. •
September 29 •
Washington National Cathedral is finished. • The
Tampere Hall, the largest concert and congress center in the
Nordic countries, was inaugurated in
Tampere,
Finland. •
September 29–
30 – The
United Nations World Summit for Children draws more than 70 world leaders to
United Nations Headquarters. •
September 30 – The
New Revised Standard Version of the Bible is officially introduced.
October •
October •
Tim Berners-Lee begins his work on the
World Wide Web, 19 months after his seminal
1989 outline of what would become the Web concept. • The
Messeturm skyscraper in
Frankfurt is completed, making it the
tallest building in Europe, a distinction it will carry until 1997, when it is surpassed by the
Commerzbank Tower, also in Frankfurt. •
October 1 • The rebel
Rwandan Patriotic Front invades
Rwanda from
Uganda, marking the start of the
Rwandan Civil War. • The
Soviet Union enacts a law permitting
religious freedom, ending government interference in religious activity and permitting Soviet citizens to engage in private religious study in their homes. •
October 2 – According to The Civil Aviation of China,
two commercial planes collide on the runway at the
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport,
Guangdong,
China. The total death toll is 128; 53 people were wounded, 97 were rescued. •
October 3 –
Cold War:
East Germany and
West Germany reunify into a single
Germany. •
October 4 –
Moro conflict: Rebel forces seize two military posts on the island of
Mindanao,
Philippines before surrendering on October 6. •
October 6 – White supremacist
David Duke receives 44% of the vote in the Louisiana
Senate race, but ultimately loses the vote to
Bennett Johnson. •
October 8 •
Israeli–Palestinian conflict: In
Jerusalem,
Israeli police kill 17
Palestinians and wound over 100 near the
Dome of the Rock mosque on the
Temple Mount. •
Globalization: The first
McDonald's restaurant is opened in
Mainland China in
Shenzhen, near Hong Kong. •
October 22 –
Nizhny Novgorod restores its official name from Gorky,
Volga Federal District,
Russia. •
October 24 • In the
Pakistani general election, Prime Minister Bhutto's
Pakistan People's Party loses power to a center-right coalition government led by the
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad party. • Italian Prime Minister
Giulio Andreotti reveals the existence of
Operation Gladio, a clandestine
NATO "
stay-behind" operation in
Italy during the
Cold War. •
October 27 •
Cold War: The
Supreme Soviet of the
Kirghiz SSR selects
Askar Akayev as the republic's first
president. • The
New Zealand National Party wins the
New Zealand general election, and its leader,
Jim Bolger, becomes prime minister. •
October 29 – In Norway, the government headed by
Prime Minister of Norway Jan P. Syse collapses. •
October 30 – The first transatlantic
fiber optic cable TAT-8 fails, causing a slowdown of Internet traffic between the United States and Europe.
November • November – The earliest known portable
digital camera sold in the United States ships. •
November 2 –
British Satellite Broadcasting and
Sky Television plc merge to form
BSkyB as a result of massive losses. •
November 3 –
Gro Harlem Brundtland assumes office as
Prime Minister of Norway. •
November 5 – Rabbi
Meir Kahane, founder of the far-right
Kach movement, is shot dead after a speech at a New York City hotel. •
November 6 –
Nawaz Sharif is sworn in as the
Prime Minister of Pakistan. •
November 7 • Indian Prime Minister Singh resigns over losing a confidence vote in the
Parliament of India, having lost the support of Hindus who want a
Muslim mosque in
Ayodhya torn down to build a
Hindu temple. •
Mary Robinson defeats odds-on favorite
Brian Lenihan to become the first female
President of Ireland. • The
final military parade to mark the anniversary of the
Great October Socialist Revolution takes place in the USSR. •
November 9 • A new constitution comes into effect in the
Kingdom of Nepal, establishing multiparty democracy and constitutional monarchy; this is the culmination of the
1990 People's Movement. • The
Parliament of Singapore enacts the
Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act. •
Universal Pictures releases ''
Child's Play 2'' •
November 10 –
Chandra Shekhar becomes
Prime Minister of India as head of a minority government. •
November 12 •
Akihito is enthroned as the 125th emperor of Japan following the death of
his father on January 7,
1989. •
Tim Berners-Lee publishes a more formal proposal for the
World Wide Web. •
November 13 • The first known
web page is written. • In New Zealand, David Gray kills 13 people in what will become known as the
Aramoana massacre. •
November 14 • Germany and Poland sign a
treaty confirming the border at the
Oder–Neisse line. •
Alitalia Flight 404 crashes on approach to
Zurich Airport, killing all 46 occupants. •
November 15 •
STS-38:
Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on a classified U.S. military mission. • President Bush signed new
Clean Air Act, focused on urban pollution and cancer-causing emissions from industrial sources. •
People's Republic of Bulgaria is dissolved after the seventh
Grand National Assembly voted to change the country's name to the Republic of Bulgaria and removed the Communist state emblem from the national flag. •
November 16 –
20th Century Fox releases
Home Alone and
Walt Disney Pictures releases the 29th animated film,
The Rescuers Down Under. •
November 17 – Soviet President Gorbachev proposes a radical restructuring of the Soviet government, including the creation of a Federal Council to be made up of the heads of the 15
Soviet republics. •
November 19–
21 – The leaders of Canada, the United States, and 32 European states meet in Paris to formally mark the
end of the Cold War. •
November 20 –
Andrei Chikatilo, one of the Soviet Union's most prolific
serial killers, is arrested in
Novocherkassk. •
November 21 • The
Charter of Paris for a New Europe is signed. •
Nintendo releases the
Super Famicom in Japan alongside its launch games
Super Mario World and
F-Zero. •
November 22 – British PM
Margaret Thatcher announces she will not contest the second ballot of the
leadership election for the
Conservative Party. •
November 25 –
Lech Wałęsa and
Stanisław Tymiński win the first round of the
first Polish presidential election. •
November 27 – Women's suffrage is introduced in the last Swiss half-canton of
Appenzell Innerrhoden. •
November 28 •
Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew resigns and is replaced by
Goh Chok Tong. • The first female
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
Margaret Thatcher, resigns after 11 years and is replaced by
John Major. •
November 29 •
Gulf War: The
United Nations Security Council passes
UN Security Council Resolution 678, authorizing military intervention in
Iraq if that state does not withdraw its forces from
Kuwait and free all foreign hostages by Tuesday, January 15,
1991. •
Prime Minister of Bulgaria Andrey Lukanov and his government of former communists resign under pressure from strikes and street protests.
December •
December 1 •
Channel Tunnel workers from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 metres beneath the
English Channel seabed, establishing the first land connection between Great Britain and the mainland of Europe for around 8,000 years. •
President of Chad Hissène Habré is deposed by the
Patriotic Salvation Movement and replaced as president by its leader
Idriss Déby. •
December 2 – The
German federal election (the first election held since
German reunification) is won by
Helmut Kohl, who remains
Chancellor of Germany. •
People's Republic of Benin is dissolved after a constitutional referendum. •
December 3 •
1990 Wayne County Airport runway collision: At
Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Northwest Airlines Flight 1482 (a
McDonnell Douglas DC-9) collides with Northwest Airlines Flight 299 (a
Boeing 727) on the runway, killing 8 passengers and 4 crew members. •
Mary Robinson begins her term as
President of Ireland, becoming the first female to hold this office. •
December 6 – President
Hussain Muhammad Ershad of
Bangladesh is forced to resign following massive protests; he is replaced by
Shahabuddin Ahmed, who becomes interim president. •
December 7 – The
National Assembly of Bulgaria elects
Dimitar Iliev Popov as
Prime Minister of Bulgaria. •
December 9 •
Slobodan Milošević elected President of
Serbia in first round,
general elections won by his Socialist Party. •
Lech Wałęsa wins the 2nd round of Poland's
first presidential election. •
December 11 •
Fall of communism in Albania:
Ramiz Alia, leader of the
People's Socialist Republic of Albania, following massive demonstrations by students and workers, announces that a free national election will be held next spring of 1991 with political parties other than the
Party of Labour permitted; an opposition
Democratic Party is formed the following day. • A multi-vehicle traffic collision known as the
1990 Interstate 75 fog disaster occurs; 12 deaths and 42 were caused by this event •
December 13 – Murder charges against Dr.
Jack Kevorkian are dismissed in Michigan, related to the April
assisted-suicide death of an
Alzheimer's patient, Janet Adkins. A state judge determined that Kevorkian only provided the
means for Ms. Adkins to die. This is the first of numerous cases to be brought against Kevorkian over the next decade. •
December 16 –
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is
elected president of Haiti, ending 3 decades of military rule. •
December 18 – President
Kenneth Kaunda agrees to allow multiparty elections in
Zambia after 17 years of single-party rule. •
December 20 •
Eduard Shevardnadze announces his resignation as
Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs • Tim Berners-Lee completes the test for the first webpage at
CERN. •
December 22 • The first
constitution of
Croatia is adopted. • The
Marshall Islands and
Federated States of Micronesia become independent, following the termination of their trusteeship. • In Warsaw
Lech Wałęsa takes the oath of office as
President of Poland, succeeding
Wojciech Jaruzelski.
Ryszard Kaczorowski, head of the
Polish government-in-exile, hands over the insignia of presidential power to Wałęsa as a sign of the dissolution of the exiled government that had had its seat in London since 1939. •
December 23 – In the
Slovenian independence referendum, 88.5% of the overall electorate (94.8% of votes), with the turnout of 93.3%, support independence of the country. •
December 24 –
Ramsewak Shankar is ousted as
President of Suriname by a military coup. •
December 25 –
Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is commissioned. •
December 30 – Russian
Garry Kasparov holds his title by winning the
World Chess Championship match against his countryman
Anatoly Karpov.
World population == Births and deaths ==