WHAT ALL HAPPENED JUNE TO DECEMBER 1987
Find out what all happened June to December 1987

In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment. (4. July 1987)

Larry Wall releases the first version of the Perl programming language. (18. December 1987)

The Central African Republic's former Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa is sentenced to death for crimes he had committed during his 13-year rule. (12. June 1987)

The Alianza Lima air disaster occurs. (8. December 1987)

Sikh nationalists declares the independence of Khalistan from India; it is not internationally recognized. (7. October 1987)

A rare, class F4 tornado rips through Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people and causing $330 million in damage. (31. July 1987)

The American radio station WFAN in New York, New York is launched as the world's first all-sports radio station. (1. July 1987)

Lynne Cox becomes first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, crossing from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Big Diomede in the Soviet Union (7. August 1987)

In a coup d'état in Burundi, President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya. (3. September 1987)

King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station, King's Cross St Pancras. (18. November 1987)

Cold War: At the Brandenburg Gate U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. (12. June 1987)

Basque separatist group ETA commits one of its most violent attacks, in which a bomb is set off in a supermarket, Hipercor, killing 21 and injuring 45. (19. June 1987)

Pope John Paul II starts his 11-day papal visit to Fort Simpson, Canada and afterwards to several southern and western cities in the United States. (10. September 1987)

For the first time in military history, a civilian population is targeted for chemical attack when Iraqi warplanes bombed the Iranian town of Sardasht. (28. June 1987)

Jerzy Kukuczka becomes the second mountaineer to summit all 14 Eight-thousanders. (18. September 1987)

New Zealand's Labour government establishes a national nuclear-free zone under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987. (8. June 1987)

The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to present controversial issues "fairly". (4. August 1987)

Pope John Paul II embraces an AIDS-infected boy while visiting San Francisco. (17. September 1987)

Hungerford massacre: in the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with a semi-automatic rifle and then commits suicide. (19. August 1987)

Start of Operation Pawan by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka that killed thousands of ethnic Tamil civilians and hundreds of Tamil Tigers & Indian Army soldiers. (11. October 1987)