- August 10
- United Nations estimates Asia's population at three billion. [1]
- In Solomon Islands, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake occurs. One person killed and about 100 homes washed away in 13 villages along the southwestern coast of San Cristobal where a tsunami flooded 50-100 metres inland. [53]
- August 11
- Meir Kahane renounces US citizenship to stay in Israeli Parliament. [1]
- August 13
- Ronald J Dossenbach sets world record for pedaling across Canada from Vancouver, British Columbia to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 13 days, 15 hours, 4 min. [1]
- August 16
- Jailed South African nationalist Nelson Mandela struck with tuberculosis. [1]
- August 17
- The Pakistani president, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Raphel, are killed when the president's air force plane crashes on takeoff from Bhawalpur. [1] [82] [105]
- New York City first case of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (9-year-old Bronx boy). [1]
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- August 19
- Iran and Iraq begin a cease-fire after eight years of war. [1] [82] [1215.813]
- August 20
- In the Nepal-India border region, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs. 721 people killed, 6,553 injured and 64,470 buildings damaged in eastern Nepal. At least 277 people killed, thousands injured and extensive damage in northern Bihar, India. Felt in large parts of northern India from Delhi to the Burma border and in much of Bangladesh. [53]
- August 25
- A fire destroys part of Chiado quarter, in Lisbon's historical center in Portugal. [82]
- August 26
- Mehran Karimi Nasseri, "The terminal man", is stuck in the De Gaulle Airport in Paris, France (where he will continue to reside until August 1, 2006). [82]
- August 28
- At Germany's Ramstein Air Base, three jets from the Italian air demonstration team Frecce Tricolori, collide, sending one of the aircraft crashing into the crowd of spectators. Seventy-five people are killed and three-hundred and forty-six injured in one of the worst airshow disasters in history. [1] [82]
- August 29
- USSR launches three cosmonauts (Valery Polyakav, one Afghan) to station Mir. [1]
- September 2
- Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! tour begins in Wembley, England. [1]
- September 5
- With US$2 billion in federal aid, the Robert M. Bass Group agrees to buy the United States' largest thrift, American Savings and Loan Association. [82]
- September 6
- Crippled Soviet Soyuz TM-5 lands safely with two cosmonauts aboard. [1]
- September 11
- In Estonia, 300,000 demonstrate for independence. [82]
- September 12
- Hurricane Gilbert, strongest ever (160 mph), devastates Jamaica. [1] [82]
- September 13
- Hurricane Gilbert becomes strongest (26.13 barometer) hurricane in Western Hemisphere. [1]
- September 19
- Israel launches its first satellite, for secret military reconnaissance. [1]
- September 22
- The Ocean Odyssey drilling rig suffers a blowout and fire in the North Sea. [82]
- September 24
- (to September 26) Large, militant protests against the World Bank and IMF meetings take place in West Berlin, Germany. [82]
- September 26
- Polish communist party picks propaganda chief Rakowski as new Prime Minister. [1]
- September 27
- Lab tests reportedly show Shroud of Turin not Christ's burial cloth. [1]
- September 29
- NASA resumes space shuttle flights, grounded after the Challenger disaster, with the 26th Space Shuttle mission, Discovery 7. Challenger disaster, with Space Shuttle Discovery. [1] [82]
- United Nations peacekeeping forces win Nobel Peace prize. [1]
- September 30
- IBM announces shipment of three millionth PS/2 personal computer. [1]
- October 3
- Lebanese kidnappers release Mithileshwar Singh (held for 30 months). [1]
- October 5
- Israel bans Meir Kahane's Kach Party on grounds of racism. [1]
- Thousands riot in Algiers, Algeria against the National Liberation Front government. [82]
- Chilean president Augusto Pinochet is defeated in a national plebiscite which sought to renew his mandate. [82]
- October 7
- Latvian flag raised in Riga for first time since annexation by USSR. [1]
- October 12
- NeXT launches its first public debut of the NeXT Computer at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, California. [5]
- Israel and China sign trade deal, plan diplomatic relations. [1]
- Two Victoria Police officers are gunned down, execution style, in Australia. [82]
- October 13
- Concert at Masada ends Israel's 40th-anniversary fest. [1]
- October 15
- Amnesty International's Global Concert Tour ends in Buenos Aires, Argentina. [1]
- October 17
- 31 reported dead as Ugandan jetliner crashes in fog near Rome, Italy. [1]
- October 18
- Israel's supreme court uphold's ban on Kahane's Kach Party as racist. [1]
- October 19
- Three Americans win Nobel Prize in physics; three West Germans win chemistry Nobel Prize. [1]
- Britain bans broadcast interviews with Irish Republican Army members. [1]
- Car bomb kills 7 Israelis, wounds 11 near Lebanon border. [1]
- South Africa anti-apartheid leader Sisulu wins $100,000 Human Rights prize. [1]
- October 20
- Britain ends suspects right to remain silent in crackdown on Irish Republican Army. [1]
- October 21
- Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos indicted on racketeering charges. [1]
- October 24
- Typhoon Ruby sinks Philippine ferry; hundreds drown. [1]
- October 26
- The Callaway Sledgehammer Corvette reaches a top speed of 254.76 MPH at the Transportation Research Center in Ohio. making it the fastest street car. [8]
- October 28
- 48 hours after announcing it was abandoning RU-486, French manufacturer Roussel Uclaf states that it would resume distribution of the abortion drug, bowing to pressure from the government of France. [82]
- October 29
- 2,000 US anti-abortion protesters arrested for blocking clinics. [1]
- China announces a herbal male contraceptive. [1]
- Pakistan's General Rahimuddin Khan resigns from his post as the governor of Sindh, following attempts by the President of Pakistan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, to limit the vast powers General Rahimuddin had accumulated. [82]
- October 30
- Philip Morris buys Kraft Foods for US$13.1 billion. [82]
- Two gambling clubs and one player share US$61.38 million California lotto jackpot. [1]
- Expo '88 in Brisbane, Australia, draws to a close after a six month spectacular. [82]
- October 31
- Journalists demand greater press freedom in Yugoslavia. [1]
- November 1
- Helmut Kohl and French President Francois Mitterrand jointly receive the Charlemagne Prize (Karlspreis) of the city of Aachen for their efforts on behalf of European unity. [37]
- November 2
- Robert Tappan Morris Junior unleashes a "worm" program on the ARPAnet computer network (Internet). Over two days, it crashes 10-20 percent of all connected computers. [1] [5] [15]
- Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's Likud party wins election in Israel. [1] (November 1 [82])
- November 3
- Pakistan claims it downed Afghan warplane. [1]
- Soviet Union agrees to allow teaching of Hebrew. [1]
- (to November 5) Thousands of South Korean students demonstrate against former president Chun Doo Hwan. [82]
- November 5
- Cornell confirms grad student (Robert Tappan Morris, Junior) source of worst computer sabotage. [1]
- November 6
- In the Burma-China Border Region, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurs. 730 people killed, 3,900 injured, 267,000 homeless, 29 reservoirs severely damaged and 67 percent of the public buildings destroyed in the Lancang-Menglian area, China. [53]
- November 8
- George Bush (Republican) beats Mike Dukakis (Democrat) for American Presidency. [1] [82]
- November 11
- Oldest known insect fossils (390 million years) reported in Science. [1]
- In Sacramento, California, police find a body buried in the lawn of 60-year-old boardinghouse landlady Dorothea Puente (seven bodies are eventually found and Puente is convicted of three murders and sentenced to life in prison). [82]
- November 15
- An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed at the Palestinian National Council meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253 to 46. [1] [82]
- In the Soviet Union, the unmanned space shuttle Buran is launched by an Energia rocket on its maiden orbital spaceflight (the first and last space flight for the shuttle). [1] [82]
- November 16
- In the first open election in eleven years, voters in Pakistan choose populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister. [1] [82]
- The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR declares that Estonia is "sovereign" but stops short of declaring independence. [1] [82]
- November 21
- Brian Mulroney and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada win a second majority government. [82]
- November 22
- In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed. [82]
- November 23
- In South Africa President Botha reprieves the Sharpeville Six. [1]
- Former Korean president Chun Doo Hwan publicly apologizes for corruption during his presidency, announcing he will go into exile. [82]
- November 25
- Convention on exploitation of Antarctic mineral resources signed. [1]
- In southern Quebec, Canada, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake occurs. Felt to the east coast, and as far south as Washington, D.C. [1] [53]
- November 26
- Alexander Volkov, Sergei Krikalev, and Jean-Loup Chretien launch into space. [1]
- Pioneer 6's closest approach to Earth since 1965 launch (1.87 million km). [1]
- November 28
- Picasso's painting Acrobat and Harlequin sells for US$38.46 million. [1]
- November 30
- Cyclone lashes Bangladesh, Eastern India; 317 killed. [1]
- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. buys RJR Nabisco for US$25.07 billion in the biggest leveraged buyout deal of all time. [82]
- Soviets stop jamming Radio Liberty; first time in 38 years. [1]
- United Nations General Assembly (151-2) censures US for refusing Palestinian Liberation Organization's Arafat visa. [1]
- December 1
- 596 dead after cyclone hits Bangladesh, half a million homeless. [1]
- Benazir Bhutto named first female Prime Minister of a Muslim country (Pakistan). [1]
- Chinese minister of Foreign affairs Qian Qichen visits Moscow, Russia. [1]
- December 2
- Five gunmen who hijacked Soviet Aeroflot jet surrender in Israel. [1]
- United Nations votes 151-2 (Israel and US against, Britain abstains) to move Palestinian Liberation Organization debate to Geneva. [1]
- A cyclone in Bangladesh leaves 5 million homeless and thousands dead. [82]
- Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan. [82]
- December 3
- New York Lotto pays US$45 million to twelve winners (numbers are 1-8-13-18-28-48). [1]
- December 4
- USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya. [1]
- December 5
- North Carolina federal grand jury indicts PTL founder Jim Bakker on fraud and conspiracy. [1]
- Shuttle Atlantis (STS-27) launches world's first nuclear-war-fighting satellite. [1]
- December 6
- In southern Iran, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake occurs. [53]
- Carlos Andrés Pérez re-elected President of Venezuela. [1]
- Nelson Mandela is transferred to Victor Vester Prison, Capetown, South Africa. [1]
- December 7
- In Armenia, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs. At least 25,000 people killed, 19,000 injured and 500,000 homeless. Damage totals US$16.2 billion. [1] [53] [82]
- Mikhail Gorbachev announces ten percent unilateral Soviet troop reductions at United Nations. [1]
- Mikhail Gorbachev cheered by Wall Street crowds upon arrival in New York City. [1]
- Estonian becomes the official language of Estonia. [82]
- December 9
- The last Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant roll off the assembly line in a Chrysler factory. [82]
- December 12
- In London, England, three trains collide at the Clapham Junction killing 35 and injuring 132. [1] [82] [720.24]
- Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat accepts Israel's right to exist. [1]
- December 13
- Palestinian Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat addresses United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. [1]
- December 14
- Spanish general strike to protest austerity measures. [1]
- US agrees to talk to Palestine Liberation Organization (first time in 13 years). [1]
- December 16
- MGM releases the film Rain Man to theaters. (Total world gross ticket sales: $355 million (1st for 1988).) [947]
- December 17
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
- December 19
- NASA unveils plans for lunar colony and manned missions to Mars. [1]
- Unexploded WWII bomb found in Frankfurt, Germany-5,000 evacuated. [1]
- December 20
- Animal rights terrorists fire-bomb Harrod's department store, London, England. [1]
- The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna, Austria. [82]
- Premier Ranasinghe Premadasa elected President of Sri Lanka. [1]
- December 21
- Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members aboard, as well as 11 Lockerbie residents on the ground. A bomb hidden inside an audio cassette player detonated in the cargo area when the plane was at an altitude of 31,000 feet. [1] [82] [129] [1096.185]
- Vladimir Titov, Anatoly Levchenko, and Musa Manarov return to Earth (after a year) with Chretien. [1]
- December 22
- South Africa signs accord granting independence to South-West Africa. [1]
- Tug hits oil barge, spreads 231,000 gallons on 300 miles of Western Australia and British Columbia coast. [1]
- Brazilian union and environmental activist Chico Mendes is assassinated. [82]
- December 24
- In Spain, the El Gordo lottery draw first prize is US$194 million, shared by 72 winners. [40.41]
- December 26
- Anti-African student rebellion in People's Republic of China. [1]
- December 27
- Bulgaria stops jamming Radio Free Europe after more than three decades. [1]
- December 28
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
- December 29
- Victorian Post Office Museum in Australia closes. [1]
- December 30
- Canadian Senate okays free trade pact with US. [1]
- Former Soviet President Brezhnev's son-in-law sentenced to 12-years (bribery). [1]
- Mercedes-Benz pays US$20.2 million fine, failed to meet 1986 US government fuel standard. [1]
- Yugoslav government resigns. [1]
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