WHAT ALL HAPPENED FEBRUARY TO AUGUST 1987
Find out what all happened February to August 1987

The trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem. (16. February 1987)

First ever Rugby World Cup kicks off with New Zealand playing Italy at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. (22. May 1987)

With the death of the last individual of the species, the Dusky Seaside Sparrow becomes extinct. (17. June 1987)

Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, a bomb explodes in a computer store. (20. February 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)

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)

All the children held at Kia Lama, a rural property on Lake Eildon, Australia, run by the Santiniketan Park Association, are released after a police raid. (14. August 1987)

The LTTE uses suicide attacks on the Sri Lankan Army for the first time. The Black Tigers were born and, in the following years, continued to kill with the tactic. (5. July 1987)

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

Hashimpura massacre in Meerut, India. (22. May 1987)

The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that detonates in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo, killing 106 people. (21. April 1987)

The British ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in about 90 seconds killing 193. (6. March 1987)

The American male basketball team lost the gold medal to Brazilian team at the Pan American Games in Indianapolis. Score was 115-120 and triggered changes in this sport basis in USA, resulting in the "Dream Team". (23. August 1987)

Thai Airways Flight 365 crashes into the ocean near Ko Phuket, Thailand, killing all 83 aboard. (31. August 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)

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (Eurotunnel). (29. July 1987)

Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. (1. May 1987)

American engineer Ben Linder is killed in an ambush by U.S.-funded Contras in northern Nicaragua. (28. April 1987)

An Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jet fires two missiles into the U.S. Navy warship USS Stark, killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew. (17. May 1987)

After the 1986 People Power Revolution, the Philippines enacts a new constitution. (2. February 1987)