• US planes shoot down two Libyan fighters over international waters in Mediterranean (Jan. 4).
  • Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini declares author Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses offensive and sentences him to death (Feb. 14).
  • Tens of thousands of Chinese students take over Beijing‘s Tiananmen Square in rally for democracy (April 19 et seq.). More than one million in Beijing demonstrate for democracy; chaos spreads across nation (mid-May et seq.). Thousands killed in Tiananmen Square as Chinese leaders take hard line toward demonstrators (June 4 et seq.).
  • Mikhail S. Gorbachev named Soviet President (May 25).
  • P. W. Botha quits as South Africa’s President (Aug. 14).
  • Deng Xiaoping resigns from China’s leadership (Nov. 9).
  • After 28 years, Berlin Wall is open to West (Nov. 11).
  • Czech Parliament ends Communists’ dominant role (Nov. 30).
  • Romanian uprising overthrows Communist government (Dec. 15 et seq.); President Ceausescu and wife executed (Dec. 25).
  • US troops invade Panama, seeking capture of General Manuel Noriega (Dec. 20).