WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO MAY 1989
Find out what all happened January to May 1989

Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo riots. (27. February 1989)

Beginning of Japanese Heisei period. (8. January 1989)

After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months. (3. February 1989)

Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of petroleum after running aground. (24. March 1989)

The Montreal Protocol Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer comes into force. (1. January 1989)

Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. (14. February 1989)

Financially troubled Eastern Air Lines filed for bankruptcy. (9. March 1989)

Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi-final, resulting in the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans. (15. April 1989)

A group of six members of the guerrilla group Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) of Peru, shoot dead eight transsexuals, in the city of Tarapoto. (31. May 1989)

People's Daily publishes the People's Daily editorial of April 26 which inflames the nascent Tiananmen Square protests (26. April 1989)

Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in the People's Republic of China. (15. April 1989)

Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party. (10. February 1989)

An IRA bomb destroys a section of a British Army barracks in Ternhill, England. (20. February 1989)

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: the 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators. (30. May 1989)

The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre. (20. May 1989)

Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway killing 42 sailors. (7. April 1989)

The United States becomes a member of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. (1. March 1989)

Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce their discovery of cold fusion at the University of Utah. (23. March 1989)

Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal disaster. (14. February 1989)

The San Bernardino train disaster kills 4 people. A week later an underground gasoline pipeline explodes killing 2 more people. (12. May 1989)