WHAT HAPPENED IN 1988.
Look what happened the 1988.

In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan elect populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister of Pakistan. (16. November 1988)

Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane's fuselage rips open in mid-flight. (28. April 1988)

The Tompkins Square Park Riot in New York City spurs a reform of the NYPD, held responsible for the event. (6. August 1988)

War on Drugs: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law allowing the death penalty for drug traffickers. (18. November 1988)

Israeli–Palestinian conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council. (15. November 1988)

Three cars on a train carrying hexogen to Kazakhstan explode in Arzamas, Gorky Oblast, USSR, killing 91 and injuring about 1,500. (4. June 1988)

Halabja poison gas attack: The Kurdish town of Halabjah in Iraq is attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents on the orders of Saddam Hussein, killing 5000 people and injuring about 10000 people. (16. March 1988)

The Troubles: Ulster loyalist militant Michael Stone attacks a Provisional IRA funeral in Belfast with pistols and grenades. Three people are killed and more than 60 wounded. The attack was filmed by news crews. (16. March 1988)

The Ojhri Camp disaster: Killing more than 1,000 people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad as a result of rockets and other munitions expelled by the blast. (10. April 1988)

Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States. (16. March 1988)

Ronald Reagan decides to tear down the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow because of Soviet listening devices in the building structure. (27. October 1988)

The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires. 167 oil workers are killed, making it the world's worst offshore oil disaster in terms of direct loss of life. (6. July 1988)

The St Jean Bosco massacre takes place in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (11. September 1988)

The Island Express train travelling from Bangalore to Kanyakumari derails on the Peruman bridge and falls into Ashtamudi Lake, killing 105 passengers and injuring over 200 more. (8. July 1988)

Johnson South Reef Skirmish: Chinese forces defeat Vietnamese forces in Johnson South Reef, disputed Spratly Islands. (14. March 1988)

Gare de Lyon rail accident In Paris a train collides with a stationary train killing 56 people. (27. June 1988)

A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143. (17. March 1988)

The Chilean opposition coalition Concertación (center-left) defeats Augusto Pinochet in his re-election attempt and a general election is called the following year. (5. October 1988)

Carrollton bus collision: a drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, United States hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. 27 die in the crash and ensuing fire. (14. May 1988)

In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. (14. April 1988)