1990 - What happened in 1990 ?

January 1990

Sunday 07:

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns.

Wednesday 10:

Time Warner is formed from the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc.

Saturday 13:

L. Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office in Richmond, Virginia.

Monday 15:

AT&T's long distance telephone network suffers a cascade switching failure.

Saturday 20:

bloody crackdown of Azeri protest demonstrations by Soviet army in Baku.

February 1990

Friday 02:

Apartheid: In South Africa President F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to legally function again and promises to set Nelson Mandela free.

Saturday 10:

South African President F.W. de Klerk announces that Nelson Mandela would be released the next day.

Sunday 11:

Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is freed from Victor Verster prison outside Cape Town, South Africa.

Tuesday 13:

German reunification: An agreement is reached for a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.

Tuesday 27:

Exxon Valdez oil spill: Exxon and its shipping company are indicted on five criminal counts.

March 1990

Saturday 03:

1990 - Tom Fuller is born

Saturday 10:

In Haiti, Prosper Avril is ousted 18 months after seizing power in a coup.

Sunday 18:

12 paintings, collectively worth $100 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. This is the largest art theft in US history.

Wednesday 21:

Namibia becomes independent after 75 years of South African rule.

Saturday 31:

Boxer Julio César Chávez defeats Meldrick Taylor to unify the boxing's world junior welterweight title in a very controversial fight known as "Thunder Meets Lightning".

April 1990

Saturday 07:

Iran Contra Affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal but the convictions were later reversed after an appeal.

Sunday 08:

Twin Peaks premieres.

Friday 13:

The Soviet Union admits to committing the Katyn Massacre

Monday 23:

Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the British Commonwealth.

Saturday 28:

After 6,237 performances, the Broadway musical A Chorus Line closes.

May 1990

Friday 04:

Latvia proclaims independence.

Saturday 05:

In Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), Toto Cutugno wins the thirty-fifth Eurovision Song Contest for Italy singing "Insieme: 1992" (Together: 1992).

Tuesday 15:

Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million, the most expensive painting at the time.

Thursday 24:

A car carrying American Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney explodes in Oakland, California, critically injuring both.

Thursday 31:

The pilot episode of Seinfeld premires

June 1990

Friday 01:

U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production and start destroying each of their nation's stockpiles.

Wednesday 06:

U.S. District court judge Jose Gonzales rules that the rap album As Nasty As They Wanna Be by the 2 Live Crew violates Florida's obscenity law; he declares that the predominant subject matter of the record is "directed to the 'dirty' thoughts and the loins, not to the intellect and the mind."

Tuesday 12:

Russia Day – The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty.

Wednesday 20:

Asteroid Eureka discovered.

Saturday 23:

Moldavia declares independence.

July 1990

Sunday 01:

East Germany accepts the Deutsche Mark as its currency, thus uniting the economies of East and West Germany.

Monday 02:

A stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel led to the deaths of 1,426 pilgrims in Mecca during hajj.

Sunday 08:

1990 - At 12:34:56 (both AM and PM) the time and date by US reckoning was 12:34:56 7/8/90.

Monday 16:

In the Philippines, an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter Scale kills over 1600.

Friday 27:

The Jamaat al Muslimeen stage a coup d'état attempt in Trinidad and Tobago, occupying Parliament and holding Prime Minister A. N. R. Robinson and most of his Cabinet hostage for 6 days.

August 1990

Thursday 02:

Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.

Thursday 23:

West Germany and East Germany announce that they will unite on October 3.

Monday 27:

The British Broadcasting Corporation launches BBC Radio Five Live at 9am GMT with a mixture of sports, news, and children's programming. The station broadcasts for eighteen hours per day.

Tuesday 28:

The Plainfield Tornado: An F5 tornado hits in Plainfield, Illinois, and Joliet, Illinois, killing 28 people.

Thursday 30:

Tatarstan declares independence from the RSFSR.

September 1990

Sunday 02:

Transnistria declares its independence from Moldova; however, Moldova does not recognize it.

Monday 10:

The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire – the largest church in Africa and perhaps the world – is consecrated by Pope John Paul II.

Wednesday 12:

The two German states and the Four Powers sign the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany in Moscow, paving the way for German re-unification.

Saturday 15:

France announces it will send 4,000 troops to the Persian Gulf.

Tuesday 18:

Liechtenstein becomes a member of the United Nations.

October 1990

Tuesday 02:

A Chinese airline Boeing 737-247 is hijacked; after landing at Guangzhou it crashes into two airliners on the ground, killing 132

Wednesday 03:

Re-unification of Germany. East Germany ceases to exist.

Friday 05:

After one hundred and fifty years The Herald broadsheet newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, is published for the last time as a separate newspaper.

Monday 15:

Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation.

Monday 22:

1990 - Suraj the great was born.

November 1990

Thursday 01:

A New York City civil jury awards Sandra Miller $100 for battery after an incident in which Mike Tyson grabbed her breasts and insulted her; the jury found Tyson's behavior "not outrageous".

Monday 05:

Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the far-right Kach movement, is shot dead after a speech at a New York City hotel.

Monday 12:

Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.

Tuesday 27:

The British Conservative Party chooses John Major to succeed Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Thursday 29:

Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council passes UN Security Council Resolution 678, authorizing military intervention in Iraq if that nation did not withdraw its forces from Kuwait and free all foreign hostages by January 15, 1991.

December 1990

Saturday 01:

Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 meters beneath the seabed.

Monday 03:

At Detroit Metropolitan Airport, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 carrying Northwest Airlines Flight 1482 collides with a Boeing 727 carrying Northwest Airlines Flight 299 on the runway, killing 8 passengers and 4 crewmembers aboard flight 1482.

Sunday 09:

Lech Wałęsa becomes the first directly elected president of Poland.

Sunday 16:

Jean-Bertrand Aristide is elected president of Haiti

Saturday 22:

Lech Wałęsa sworn in as President of Poland