- April 9
- World's largest bunny hop at Radio City Music Hall (New York City). [1]
- April 11
- New York Lotto pays US$35 million to two winners (numbers are 6-14-24-32-34-51). [1]
- April 12
- First meeting of East German democratically elected parliament, acknowledges responsibility for German holocaust and asks for forgiveness. [1]
- Lothar de Maziere becomes East German Prime Minister. [37]
- The director of the Gewandhaus orchestra of Leipzig, Kurt Masur, becomes the first German music director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. [37]
- April 13
- The Soviet Union apologizes for the Katyn Massacre of Polish officers during World War II. [42]
- April 15
- Food poisoning kills 450 guests at an engagement party in Uttar Pradesh. [42]
- April 17
- Gas explodes on passenger train in Kumrahar, India, 80 die. [1]
- April 18
- In Minahasa, Sulawesi, Indonesia, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake occurs. [53]
- April 19
- Contra guerrillas, leftist Sandinistas and incoming government agree to truce in Nicaragua's civil war. [1]
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- April 20
- STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. [42] (April 24 [1])
- April 21
- The largest crowd ever to attend a concert, 184,000 people, jam a soccer stadium in Rio de Janeiro for a Paul McCartney show. [457]
- April 22
- Lebanon releases US hostage Robert Polhill after 39 months. [1]
- April 23
- In an election in Karl-Marx-Stadt over 75 percent of the voters vote to change the name of the city back to Chemnitz. The name had been changed on May 5, 1953 in honor of the 135th birthday of Karl Marx. [37]
- April 24
- Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic agree to merge currency and economies on July 1. [1] [42]
- April 25
- Hubble space telescope is placed into orbit by shuttle Discovery. [1] [5] (April 24 [42])
- Violeta Barrios de Chamorro is elected President of Nicaragua. [1] [42]
- April 26
- In Qinghai Province, China, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurs. At least 126 people killed. [1] [53]
- Carlos Pizarro Leongomez, Colombian presidential candidate, is assassinated. [1]
- April 28
- Chorus Line closes at Shubert Theater in New York City after 6,137 performances (15 years). [1]
- April 29
- Wrecking cranes begin tearing down Berlin Wall at Brandenburg Gate. [1] [37]
- April 30
- US hostage Frank Reed freed after four years in hands of pro-Iranians. [1]
- May 2
- South African government and African National Congress open talks to end apartheid. [1]
- In London, England, a man brandishing a knife robs courier Nicholas Lane of bearer bonds worth 292 million pounds sterling (the largest mugging to date). [42]
- Agreement is reached between German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany on the exchange of currency as the East takes on the Deutsches-mark as its currency. The currencies are to be exchanged 1:1 with some variations for given categories of exchange. At a maximum 6,000 east marks may be exchanged at the 1:1 rate. [37]
- May 4
- Latvia's parliament votes 138-0 (one abstention) for independence. [1] [42]
- May 5
- The 35th Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. [42]
- May 6
- Former President PW Botha quits South Africa's ruling National Party. [1]
- May 8
- Cuyahoga County voters approve sin tax to build Cleveland Gateway. [1]
- May 10
- French TGV-train hits record speed of 510.6 kph. [1]
- May 15
- Portrait of Doctor Gachet painting by Vincent Van Gogh sells for record US$82.5 million. [1] [42]
- Mona Grudt, 19, of Norway, crowned 39th Miss Universe. [1]
- May 16
- Dominican Republic President Joaquín Ricardo Balaguer re-elected. [1]
- May 17
- European court rules pension rights for both men and women. [1]
- The World Health Organization removes homosexuality from its list of diseases. [42]
- May 18
- The United States Postal Service introduces the world's first sheet of postage stamps designed for dispensing by automated bank teller machine. The sheet of twelve peel-and-stick 25-cent stamps is the same thickness and dimensions of paper currency, and sells for $3, the face value of the stamps. [1494.6]
- German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany sign a monetary union treaty. [1]
- May 20
- Hubble Space Telescope sends first photographs from space. [1]
- The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania. [42]
- In Sudan, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurs, believed to be the largest earthquake ever recorded in Sudan. [53]
- May 21
- Moelvi Mohammed Farouk, Indian spiritual leader, is murdered. [1]
- May 22
- At the Center City at Columbus Circle in New York, Microsoft introduces and ships Microsoft Windows 3.0. This version allows addressing memory above 640 kB. Microsoft spends US$3 million for opening-day marketing, as part of a US$10 million promotional campaign. [1] [4] [5] [42]
- 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. [1] [42]
- May 26
- People's Republic of China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor. [1]
- May 27
- César Gaviria Trujillo chosen President of Colombia. [1]
- Radical Democratic Party holds first political meetings in Moscow, Russia. [1]
- May 28
- Superior Galleries conducts the Boys Town Sale coin auction in Beverly Hills California. The King of Siam Proof Set (with 1804 silver dollar) sells for $3.19 million, highest price paid for a single auction lot in numismatic history. Total sale is $21.5 million, highest grossing one-part numismatic auction to date. [623.10]
- César Gaviria Trujillo installed as President of Colombia. [1]
- Eugenia Charles' Dominican Freedom Party wins election in Dominica. [1]
- Longest wheelie (David Robilliard with 5 hours 12 minutes 33 seconds (Channel Islands). [1]
- May 29
- Boris Yeltsin is elected President of the Russian Republic. [1]
- May 30
- In northern Peru, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurs. Three events about 1.5 and 4.8 seconds apart. At least 135 people killed, more than 800 injured and severe damage. [1] [53]
- In Romania, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurs. Felt in Bulgaria, USSR, Hungary, Greece, Poland, Turkey and Yugoslavia. [53]
- June 1
- U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production and begin destroying their respective stocks. [42]
- 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. [42]
- June 2
- The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 88 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 9. 37 tornadoes occur in Indiana, eclipsing the previous record of 21 during the Super Outbreak of April 1974. [42]
- June 7
- Universal Studios Florida opens to the public. [42]
- June 12
- The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty. [42]
- An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter Scale kills thousands in the Iranian city of Manjil. [42]
- June 13
- Boeing 767 sets nonstop commercial flight: Seattle, Washington to Narobi, Kenya. [1]
- June 14
- In the Kazakh-Xinjiang border region, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs. One person killed, 3,000 houses destroyed and 20,000 people left homeless. [53]
- In Panay, Philippine Islands, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs. At least four people killed, 15 injured. [53]
- June
- Sotheby's auctions a Roman circa 135 C.E. Hadrian bronze sestertius, one of five known in "Good Extremely Fine" condition for US$214,500, a record for a Roman bronze coin. [464.5]
- June 20
- In Iran, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake occurs. One of the world's most destructive earthquakes. Estimated 40,000 to 50,000 people killed, more than 60,000 injured, 400,000 or more homeless and extensive damage and landslides. [1] [53]
- The asteroid Eureka is discovered. [5]
- June 22
- Underwater volcano Mount Didicas erupts in the Philippines. [42]
- June 23
- Moldova adopts a declaration of sovereignty. [548.90]
- June 24
- Kathleen Young and Irene Templeton are ordained as priests in Saint Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, becoming the first Anglican women priests in the United Kingdom. [42]
- June 27
- Merrill Lynch begins selling up to US$2.25 billion convertible bonds for the Walt Disney Company, the largest such issue in US history. The bond issue is to raise funds for building Euro Disneyland in France. [6]
- (month unknown)
- Numismatic Fine Arts sells at auction a Roman gold aureus struck by Brutus, circa 43 B.C.E., one of two known, for US$605,000, a record for an ancient coin. [604.50]
- David Feldman SA in Switzerland sells a Sweden 1855 3-skilling banco stamp, error in yellow, only one known, for 1.9 million Swiss francs (US$1.35 million). [673.10] [815.3]
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