Editing 1989 (section)

=== December ===
[[File:Panama clashes 1989.JPEG|thumb|200px|Flames engulf a building following the [[United States invasion of Panama]]]]
* [[December 1]]
** In a meeting with [[Pope John Paul II]], [[General Secretary of the Soviet Union]] [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] pledges greater [[religious freedom]] for citizens of the [[Soviet Union]].
** [[Cold War]]: [[East Germany]]'s parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist-dominated [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] (SED) its monopoly on power. [[Egon Krenz]], the Politburo and the Central Committee resign two days later.
** A military [[1989 Philippine coup attempt|coup attempt]] begins in the [[Philippines]] against the government of [[Philippine President]] [[Corazon C. Aquino]]. It is crushed by United States intervention ending by [[December 9]].
* [[December 2]]
** The ''[[Solar Maximum Mission]]'' [[scientific research satellite]], launched in 1980, crashes back to earth.
** [[V. P. Singh]] takes office as [[Prime Minister of India]].
** In the [[1989 Republic of China legislative election|Republic of China legislative election]], the [[Kuomintang]] suffers its worst election setback in forty years, winning only 53% of the popular vote.
** The [[Second Malayan Emergency]] concludes with a peace agreement. The [[Malayan Communist Party]] disbands and [[Chin Peng]] remains in exile in [[Thailand]] until his death in [[2013]].
* [[December 3]]
** The entire leadership of the ruling [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party]] in East Germany, including [[Egon Krenz]], resigns. [[Hans Modrow]] becomes ''de facto'' the country's last leader.
** [[Cold War]]: [[Malta Summit]] – Concluding a 2-day meeting off the coast of [[Malta]], U.S. President [[George H. W. Bush]] and Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] release statements indicating that the [[Cold War]] between their nations may be coming to an end. Gorbachev implies criticism of the 1968 [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia]].
* [[December 4]] – [[Prime Minister of Jordan]] [[Zaid ibn Shaker]] resigns and is replaced by [[Mudar Badran]].
* [[December 6]]
** The [[DAS Building bombing]] occurs in [[Bogotá]], killing 52 people and injuring about 1,000.
** [[Egon Krenz]] resigns as [[Chairman of the State Council of the German Democratic Republic]], and is replaced by [[Manfred Gerlach]], the first non-Communist to hold that post.
** [[École Polytechnique massacre]] (or Montreal Massacre): [[Marc Lépine]], an anti-feminist gunman, murders fourteen young women at the {{Lang|fr|[[École Polytechnique de Montréal]]|italic=no}}.
* [[December 7]]
** [[Ladislav Adamec]] resigns as [[Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia]]. He is succeeded by [[Marián Čalfa]] on December 10.
** [[Singing Revolution]]: The [[Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic]] becomes the first of the [[republics of the Soviet Union]] to abolish the Communist Party's monopoly on power.
* [[December 9]] – The [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] elects the reformist [[Gregor Gysi]] as party leader.
* [[December 10]]
** [[President of Czechoslovakia]] [[Gustáv Husák]] swears in a new cabinet with a non-Communist and then immediately resigns as president.
** [[Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj]] announces the establishment of Mongolia's democratic movement, that peacefully changes the second-oldest Communist country into a democracy.
* [[December 11]] – The International Trans-Antarctica Expedition, a group of six explorers from six nations, reaches the [[South Pole]].
*[[December 12]] – [[Hong Kong]] begins the forcible repatriation of [[Vietnamese boat people]], starting with a group of 59 who were flown to [[Hanoi]].<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Basler|first1=Barbara|last2=Times|first2=Special To the New York|date=1989-12-12|title=Hong Kong Forcibly Returns 51 Boat People|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/12/world/hong-kong-forcibly-returns-51-boat-people.html|access-date=2021-06-12|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=June 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612223558/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/12/world/hong-kong-forcibly-returns-51-boat-people.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
<!-- Please do not add Taylor Swift to a December 13 entry.  She already is mentioned on the Births in 1989 page -->
* [[December 14]] – [[Chile]] holds its [[1989 Chilean presidential election|first free election]] in sixteen years, electing [[Patricio Aylwin]] as president. This marks the first time that all [[Ibero-America]]n nations, except [[Cuba]], have elected constitutional governments simultaneously.
*[[December 15]] – Drug baron [[José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha]] is killed by [[Colombia|Colombian]] police.
* [[December 16]] – The [[Romanian Revolution]] begins in [[Timișoara]], initiated by the [[Hungarians in Romania|Hungarian minority]].
* [[December 17]]
** The Romanian Revolution continues in Timișoara when rioters break into the building housing the District Committee of the Romanian Communist Party and cause extensive damage. The military is called in but fails fully to control the situation.
** [[Brazil]] holds the second round of its [[1989 Brazilian presidential election|first free election]] in 29 years; [[Fernando Collor de Mello]] is elected to serve as president from 1990.
** The television series ''[[The Simpsons]]'' premieres on [[Fox Broadcasting Company|FOX]] as a full animated series with the episode "[[Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire]]".
* [[December 19]] – [[Romanian Revolution]]: Workers in the cities go on strike in protest against the Communist regime. On December 20 about 100,000 occupy Timișoara.
* [[December 20]] – The [[United States invasion of Panama]] ("Operation Just Cause") is launched in an attempt to overthrow [[Panama]]nian dictator [[Manuel Noriega]].
* [[December 21]] – [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] addresses an assembly of some 110,000 people outside the Romanian Communist Party headquarters in [[Bucharest]]. Unprecedentedly, most of the crowd turns against him.<ref>{{cite AV media|date=1989-12-21|title=Last speech of Nicolae Ceaușescu|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6pvMFfQF50|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/t6pvMFfQF50|archive-date=2021-12-11|url-status=live|access-date=2020-07-04}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* [[December 22]]
** After a week of bloody demonstrations, [[Ion Iliescu]] takes over as President of [[Romania]], ending the [[communist]] [[dictatorship]] of [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]], who flees his palace in a helicopter after the palace is invaded by rioters. Most of the army has joined with the rioters in Bucharest.
** The [[Brandenburg Gate]] in Berlin is reopened.
** Two tourist coaches collide on the Pacific highway north of [[Kempsey, New South Wales]], Australia, killing 35 people.
* [[December 23]] – [[Nicolae Ceaușescu|Nicolae]] and [[Elena Ceaușescu]] are captured in [[Târgoviște]].
* [[December 24]] – [[Charles Taylor (Liberian politician)|Charles Taylor]]'s troops cross into Liberia from the Ivorian border, launching their first attack, sparking the [[First Liberian Civil War]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Paye-Layleh|first=Jonathan|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8429962.stm|title=Grim legacy of Liberia's most isolated town|publisher=BBC News|date=December 24, 2009|access-date=August 31, 2022|archive-date=March 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309193500/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8429962.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[December 25]]
** [[Trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu]]: Deposed Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife are summarily tried and executed outside Bucharest.
** [[Bank of Japan]] governors announce a major interest rate hike, eventually leading to the peak and fall of the [[economic bubble]].
* [[December 28]]
** The {{M|l|5.6|link=yes}} [[1989 Newcastle earthquake|Newcastle earthquake]] affected New South Wales, Australia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe''), leaving 13 people dead and 160 injured.
** [[Alexander Dubček]] is elected Chairman of Czechoslovakia's Federal Assembly (Parliament).<ref>{{cite book|last=Jeffries|first=Ian|title=Socialist economies and the transition to the market : a guide|publisher=Routledge|location=London New York|year=1993|isbn=9781134903603|page=434}}</ref>
* [[December 29]]
** Czech playwright, philosopher and dissident [[Václav Havel]] is elected the first post-Communist President of [[Czechoslovakia]].
** Riots break out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate [[Vietnam]]ese refugees.
** [[Nikkei 225]] for [[Tokyo Stock Exchange]] hits its all-time intra-day high of 38,957.44 and closing high at 38,915.87.
* [[December 31]] – Poland's president signs the [[Balcerowicz Plan]], ending the [[Communism|Communist]] system in Poland in favor of a [[capitalist]] system, leading to abandonment of the [[Warsaw Pact]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.warsawvoice.pl/WVpage/pages/article.php/21501/article|title=The Warsaw Voice|publisher=Warsawvoice.pl|access-date=2014-08-19|archive-date=June 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220604075036/https://www.warsawvoice.pl/WVpage/pages/article.php/21501/article|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Kamchatka Oblast|Kamchatka]] opens to Russian civilian visitors.
* Richard C. Duncan introduces the Olduvai theory, about the collapse of [[industrial civilization]].
* The global concentration of [[carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere]] reaches 350 parts per million by volume.
* [[Walmart]] posts revenues and profits triple its 1986 figures and rivals [[Kmart (United States)|Kmart]] and [[Sears]] in importance in the American market.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/28/business/company-news-wal-mart-net-jumps-by-31.8.html|title=Wal-Mart Net Jumps By 31.8%|work=The New York Times|date=1990-02-28|access-date=2013-08-08|first=Thomas C.|last=Hayes|archive-date=July 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723112604/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/28/business/company-news-wal-mart-net-jumps-by-31.8.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* The [[Breguet Alizé]] propeller-driven anti-submarine planes are retired from active carrier service in the French Navy.
* [[N.W.A]] are the first [[gangsta rap]] group to sell 1,000,000 copies of an album with their controversial debut album ''[[Straight Outta Compton]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/10/arts/outlaw-rock-more-skirmishes-censorship-front-pop-view-more-skirmishes-censorship.html|work=The New York Times|first=Jon|last=Pareles|title=Outlaw Rock: More Skirmishes on the Censorship Front POP VIEW; More Skirmishes on The Censorship Front|date=December 10, 1989|access-date=February 4, 2017|archive-date=February 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206055838/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/10/arts/outlaw-rock-more-skirmishes-censorship-front-pop-view-more-skirmishes-censorship.html|url-status=live}}</ref>