WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO AUGUST 1989
Find out what all happened January to August 1989

Second Gulf of Sidra incident: a pair of Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation. (4. January 1989)

The Western Australian towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder amalgamate to form the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. (1. February 1989)

Mayumi Moriyama becomes Japan's first female cabinet secretary. (25. August 1989)

The O-Bahn Busway in Adelaide, the world's longest guided busway, opens. (20. August 1989)

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

The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan closes. (30. January 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)

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

The Tank Man halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. (5. June 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)

Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose is banned from baseball for gambling by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti. (24. August 1989)

A massacre is carried out by an Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 64 ethnic Tamil civilians. (2. August 1989)

Clint Malarchuk of the Buffalo Sabres suffers a near-fatal injury when another player accidentally slits his throat. (22. March 1989)

Surinam Airways Flight 764 crashed on approach to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname because of pilot error, killing 176 of 187 aboard. (7. June 1989)

Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. (20. July 1989)

A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954. (3. February 1989)

Radio Caroline, the offshore pirate station in the North Sea, is raided by British and Dutch governments. (19. August 1989)

First flight of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber. (17. July 1989)

Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the "poll tax"), is introduced in Scotland. (1. April 1989)

United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, Hawaii, rips open during flight, blowing 9 passengers out of the business-class section. (24. February 1989)