Born in 1988 - Zodiac Signs, Personality and Horoscopes

1988 Tropical Ephemeris

What happened in January 1988

• January 1, 1988: Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev initiates economic restructuring (perestroika) in the Soviet Union, expanding on minor restructuring efforts begun in 1985.
• January 7, 1988: In the Afghan War, 39 Soviet Airborne Troops successfully defend Hill 3234 against an attack by 200-250 Mujahideen, an event later depicted in the Russian film The 9th Company.
• January 13, 1988: Vice President Lee Teng-hui assumes the roles of President of the Republic of China and Chairman of the Kuomintang following the death of Chiang Ching-kuo.
• January 26, 1988: At the request of Hubert Michon, Archbishop of Rabat, two Trappist monks arrive in Fez and establish a community that eventually becomes the Priory of Our Lady of the Atlas.
• February 12, 1988: The 1988 Black Sea bumping incident: Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy intentionally rams USS Yorktown in Soviet territorial waters while Yorktown claims innocent passage. The accompanying US destroyer USS Caron escapes damage.
• February 13, 1988: The 1988 Winter Olympics are held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
• February 17, 1988: 1988 Oshakati bomb blast: A bomb explodes outside the First National Bank in Oshakati, Namibia, killing 27 and injuring 70.
• February 20, 1988: The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and join the Armenian SSR, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
• February 23, 1988: Start of Anfal campaign, a genocidal counterinsurgency operation within the Iran–Iraq War carried out by Ba'athist Iraqi forces led by Ali Hassan al-Majid on the orders of President Saddam Hussein that will kill between 50,000 and 182,000 Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan.
• February 25, 1988: The constitution of the Sixth Republic of Korea comes into effect.
• February 27, 1988: Collapse of the Soviet Union: The Sumgait pogrom of Armenians occurs in Sumqayit.
• February 29, 1988: A Nazi document implicates Kurt Waldheim in World War II deportations.
• March 6, 1988: Operation Flavius: British Special Air Service kills 3 unarmed IRA members in Gibraltar, sparking controversy.
• March 16, 1988: Halabja chemical attack: Iraqi government forces use chemical weapons on Kurdish civilians, killing thousands.
• March 17, 1988: Avianca Flight 410 crash: Colombian Boeing 727 crashes in Venezuela, killing 143 people.
• March 19, 1988: Corporals killings in Belfast: Irish republicans abduct, beat, and kill two British Army corporals.
• March 20, 1988: Eritrean War of Independence: EPLF enters Afabet, concluding the Battle of Afabet.
• March 24, 1988: First McDonald's in a Communist country opens in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, marking a shift in global consumerism.
• March 25, 1988: Candle demonstration in Bratislava: First mass demonstration against the socialist government in Czechoslovakia.
• April 5, 1988: Kuwait Airways Flight 422 hijacked for 16 days across 3 continents, demanding release of 17 Shiite Muslim prisoners; siege ends with two passengers killed.
• April 10, 1988: Ojhri Camp Disaster occurs in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
• April 14, 1988: Geneva Accords: Soviet Union commits to withdrawing forces from Afghanistan.
• April 16, 1988: Israeli commandos kill PLO's Abu Jihad in Tunisia.
• April 18, 1988: US Navy retaliates for USS Samuel B. Roberts mining with Operation Praying Mantis, striking Iranian oil platforms and naval vessels.
• April 20, 1988: World's longest skyjacking ends as remaining passengers of Kuwait Airways Flight 422 are released.
• April 28, 1988: Aloha Airlines Flight 243 safely lands after losing roof in midair, resulting in one flight attendant's death and injuries to 65.
• April 30, 1988: World Expo 88 opens in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
• May 8, 1988: François Mitterrand was re-elected as President of France for a 7-year term.
• May 15, 1988: The Soviet Union began withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan after over 8 years of war.
• May 16, 1988: The Shia population of Gilgit, Pakistan, faced brutal suppression by the Zia-ul Haq regime during a revolt.
• May 27, 1988: The Somali National Movement launched a significant offensive against government forces in Hargeisa and Burao, Somalia's second and third-largest cities, during the Somaliland War of Independence.
• June 10, 1988: 100,000 people in Estonia hold mass night-singing demonstrations, leading to the Singing Revolution.
• June 21, 1988: Poole explosion in the UK causes the largest peacetime evacuation since World War II.
• June 22, 1988: Walt Disney Studios and Steven Spielberg release the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
• June 23, 1988: NASA scientist James Hansen testifies before the U.S. Senate about human-made global warming.
• June 27, 1988: Gare de Lyon rail accident in Paris kills 56 and injures 57.
• June 30, 1988: Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrates four bishops without papal approval.
• July 1, 1988: The Soviet Union voted to end the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's monopoly on economic and other non-political power, allowing for economic changes towards a less rigidly Marxist-Leninist economy. This marked a significant step in the liberalization of the Soviet economy and contributed to the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union.
• July 3, 1988: The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, was completed, providing a second connection between Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus Strait. This bridge is an important transportation link between the two continents and facilitates trade and travel.
• July 6, 1988: The Piper Alpha production platform in the North Sea was destroyed by explosions and fires, resulting in the deaths of 167 oil workers and 2 rescue mariners. Only 61 workers survived. This disaster led to significant changes in safety regulations and practices in the offshore oil and gas industry.
• July 15, 1988: 20th Century Fox released the action film Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $140 million worldwide. It spawned a franchise of five sequels and is considered one of the greatest action films of all time.
• July 31, 1988: A bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry terminal in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia, collapsed, killing 32 people and injuring 1,674. This tragedy highlighted the need for proper infrastructure maintenance and safety measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
• August 5, 1988: Lord President of Malaysia, Salleh Abas, was ousted during the 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis.
• August 8, 1988: 8888 Uprising: Anti-government demonstrations in Burma (now Myanmar) resulted in the deaths of thousands of protesters.
• August 11, 1988: Osama bin Laden and other Islamic Jihadi leaders met, leading to the formation of Al-Qaeda.
• August 17, 1988: Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Lewis Raphel died in a plane crash near Bahawalpur.
• August 20, 1988: Iran–Iraq War ended with a ceasefire, resulting in approximately one million casualties.
• August 21, 1988: The Mw 6.9 Nepal earthquake struck the Nepal–India border, causing significant damage and loss of life.
• August 28, 1988: One of the deadliest air show disasters occurred at Germany's Ramstein Air Base, resulting in 70 fatalities and 346 injuries.
• September 11, 1988: Singing Revolution: In the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, 300,000 people gather to express their support for independence.
• September 12, 1988: Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica; it turns towards Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula 2 days later, causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.
• September 15, 1988: The International Olympic Committee awards Lillehammer the right to host the 1994 Winter Olympics.
• September 17, 1988: The 1988 Summer Olympics are held in Seoul, South Korea.
• September 22, 1988: The Ocean Odyssey drilling rig suffers a blowout and fire in the North Sea (see also July 6), resulting in one death.
• September 29, 1988: STS-26: NASA resumes Space Shuttle flights, grounded after the Challenger disaster, with Space Shuttle Discovery.
• October 5, 1988: Riots in Algiers, Algeria, against the National Liberation Front government resulted in the torture and killing of approximately 500 people by the army.
• October 12, 1988: Two Victoria Police officers in Australia were shot and killed in an execution-style attack known as the Walsh Street police shootings.
• October 20, 1988: The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Oakland Athletics 4 games to 1 in the 1988 World Series, winning the championship.
• October 27, 1988: Ronald Reagan ordered the demolition of the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow due to the discovery of Soviet listening devices embedded in the building's structure.
• October 28, 1988: French manufacturer Roussel Uclaf reversed its decision to discontinue distribution of the abortion drug RU-486, announcing that it would resume supplying the medication.
• October 29, 1988: General Rahimuddin Khan resigned as the governor of Sindh, Pakistan, following attempts by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan to curtail his accumulated powers.
• October 30, 1988: Five Israelis were killed and five others wounded in a Palestinian attack involving a bus firebombing in the West Bank, known as the Jericho bus firebombing.
• November 2, 1988: The Morris worm, the first computer worm distributed via the Internet, is launched from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S., marking the beginning of cyber threats.
• November 3, 1988: The People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam attempts to overthrow the Maldivian government in a coup, which is suppressed by the Indian military within 24 hours, highlighting regional security dynamics.
• November 6, 1988: The 1988 Lancang–Gengma earthquakes kill at least 938 people when it strikes the China–Myanmar border region in Yunnan, demonstrating the seismic risks in the area.
• November 8, 1988: George H. W. Bush defeats Michael Dukakis in the 1988 United States Presidential Election, shaping the political landscape of the United States.
• November 15, 1988: The uncrewed Shuttle Buran is launched by an Energia rocket on its maiden orbital spaceflight, marking a significant achievement in the Soviet space program.
• November 16, 1988: The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR adopts the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration, asserting its supremacy over Soviet laws, becoming the first Soviet or Eastern Bloc entity to declare sovereignty from Moscow, influencing the collapse of the Soviet Union.
• November 23, 1988: Former Korean president Chun Doo-hwan apologizes for corruption during his presidency and announces his exile, highlighting the consequences of authoritarian rule.
• December 1, 1988: Carlos Salinas de Gortari begins his term as President of Mexico.
• December 2, 1988: Benazir Bhutto becomes the first female leader of an Islamic nation, as she is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan.
• December 6, 1988: The Australian Capital Territory gains self-government through the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988.
• December 7, 1988: The Ms 6.8 Spitak earthquake in Soviet Armenia results in significant casualties, with approximately 25,000 fatalities, 31,000 injuries, and 400,000 individuals displaced.
• December 12, 1988: The Clapham Junction rail crash in London leads to the tragic loss of 35 lives and injuries to 132 individuals.
• December 16, 1988: Lyndon LaRouche, a persistent U.S. presidential candidate, is found guilty of mail fraud.
• December 20, 1988: The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed in Vienna, aiming to combat illegal drug trade.
• December 21, 1988: Pan Am Flight 103 is tragically destroyed over Lockerbie, Scotland, resulting in the deaths of 270 individuals. Libya is suspected of involvement in this incident.