1990 CE

German reunification takes place, formally ending the division of East Germany and West Germany; the Gulf War begins following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait; the 1990 FIFA World Cup is held in Italy and won by West Germany; the Hubble Space Telescope is launched into orbit; Yemeni unification occurs, merging North Yemen and South Yemen into the Republic of Yemen; Nelson Mandela is released after 27 years in prison in South Africa; Black January sees a violent crackdown by Soviet troops in Baku, Azerbaijan, killing hundreds; the Poll Tax Riots erupt across the United Kingdom in opposition to the community charge; and the 1990 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake kills tens of thousands in Iran.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

February 12 – Representatives of NATO and the Warsaw Pact meet in Ottawa for an "Open Skies" conference. The conference results in agreements about superpower troop levels in Europe and on German reunification.source
February 15 – The United Kingdom and Argentina restore diplomatic relations after 8 years. The UK had severed ties in response to Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands, a British Dependent Territory, in 1982.source
February 25 – The Sandinistas are defeated in the Nicaraguan elections, with Violeta Chamorro elected as the new president of Nicaragua (the first elected woman president in the Americas), replacing Daniel Ortega.source
March 11 – Augusto Pinochet hands over power to the elected president Patricio Aylwin, marking the beginning of the Chilean transition to democracy after 17 years of the military dictatorship of Chile.source
March 24 – 1990 Australian federal election: Bob Hawke's Labor government is re-elected with a reduced majority, narrowly defeating the Liberal/National Coalition led by Andrew Peacock.source
March 28 – U.S. President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.source
April 8 – In the Greek legislative election, the conservative New Democracy wins the most seats in the Hellenic Parliament; its leader, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, becomes Prime Minister of Greece on April 11.source
April 25 – Violeta Chamorro is sworn in as President of Nicaragua, the first woman elected (February 25) in her own right as a head of state in the Americas.source
May 4 – Singing Revolution: The Latvian SSR declares independence from the Soviet Union.source
May 20 – Cold War: The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.source
May 22 – Cold War: The leaders of the Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen announce the unification of their countries as the Republic of Yemen.source
June 1 – Cold War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production and begin destroying their respective stocks.source
June 15 – Dublin Regulation on treatment of applications for right of asylum under European Union law agreed (comes into force 1997).source
July 12 – Foster v British Gas plc decided in the European Court of Justice, a leading case on the definition of the "state" under European Union law.source
July 26 – U.S. President George H. W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act, designed to protect disabled Americans from discrimination.source
July 27 – Cold War: Belarus declares its sovereignty, a key step toward independence from the Soviet Union.source
August 24 – The Armenian SSR declares its independence from the Soviet Union.source
September 27 – David Souter is confirmed to serve on the Supreme Court, replacing retiring Justice William J. Brennan Jr..source
October 22 – Nizhny Novgorod restores its official name from Gorky, Volga Federal District, Russia.source
November 6 – Nawaz Sharif is sworn in as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.source
November 7 – Indian Prime Minister Singh resigns over losing a confidence vote in the Parliament of India, having lost the support of Hindus who want a Muslim mosque in Ayodhya torn down to build a Hindu temple.source
November 25 – Lech Wałęsa and Stanisław Tymiński win the first round of the first Polish presidential election.source
December 3 – Mary Robinson begins her term as President of Ireland, becoming the first female to hold this office.source
December 9 – Slobodan Milošević elected President of Serbia in first round, general elections won by his Socialist Party.source

Conflict & Security

January 3 – United States invasion of Panama: General Manuel Noriega is deposed as leader of Panama and surrenders to the American forces.source
January 15 – Thousands storm the Stasi headquarters in East Berlin in an attempt to view their government records.source
January 20 – Cold War: Black January – Soviet troops occupy Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, under the state of emergency decree issued by General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, and kill over 130 protesters who were demonstrating for independence. The Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic declares its independence from the USSR.source
March 31 – "The Second Battle of Trafalgar": A massive anti-poll tax demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, turns into a riot; 471 people are injured, and 341 are arrested.source
April 1 – Strangeways Prison riot: The longest prison riot in Britain's history begins at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, and continues for 3 weeks and 3 days, until April 25.source
April 13 – Cold War: The Soviet Union apologizes for the Katyn massacre.source
May 13 – In the Philippines, gunmen kill two United States Air Force airmen near Clark Air Base on the eve of talks between the Philippines and the United States over the future of American military bases in the Philippines.source
May 13 – The Dinamo–Red Star riot takes place at Stadion Maksimir in Zagreb, Croatia between the Bad Blue Boys (fans of GNK Dinamo Zagreb) and the Delije (fans of Red Star Belgrade).source
June 13 – Cold War: The destruction of the Berlin Wall by East Germany officially starts, 7 months after it was opened the previous November.source
July 25 – Roseanne Barr sings "The Star-Spangled Banner" extremely poorly, causing controversy.source
August 2 – Gulf War: Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.source
August 6 – Gulf War: With United Nations Security Council Resolution 661 the United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to its invasion of Kuwait.source
August 10 – Egypt, Syria, and 10 other Arab states vote to send military forces to Saudi Arabia to discourage an invasion from Iraq.source
August 21 – The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone send peacekeepers to intervene in the First Liberian Civil War.source
August 26 – In Sofia, protesters set fire to the headquarters of the governing Bulgarian Socialist Party.source
September 6 – In Myanmar, the State Law and Order Restoration Council orders the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi and five other political dissidents.source
September 29–30 – The United Nations World Summit for Children draws more than 70 world leaders to United Nations Headquarters.source
October 1 – The rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front invades Rwanda from Uganda, marking the start of the Rwandan Civil War.source
October 4 – Moro conflict: Rebel forces seize two military posts on the island of Mindanao, Philippines before surrendering on October 6.source
October 6 – White supremacist David Duke receives 44% of the vote in the Louisiana Senate race, but ultimately loses the vote to Bennett Johnson.source
October 8 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: In Jerusalem, Israeli police kill 17 Palestinians and wound over 100 near the Dome of the Rock mosque on the Temple Mount.source
October 13 – Lebanese Civil War: Syrian military forces invade and occupy Mount Lebanon, ousting General Michel Aoun's government. This effectively consolidates Syria's 14 year occupation of Lebanese soil and ends the civil war.source
October 24 – Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti reveals the existence of Operation Gladio, a clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Italy during the Cold War.source
November 29 – Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council passes UN Security Council Resolution 678, authorizing military intervention in Iraq if that state does not withdraw its forces from Kuwait and free all foreign hostages by Tuesday, January 15, 1991.source

Exploration & Expansion

March 3 – The International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition, a group of six explorers from six nations, completes the first dog sled crossing of Antarctica.source
June 17–30 – Nelson Mandela tours North America, visiting 3 Canadian and 8 U.S. cities.source
October 8 – Globalization: The first McDonald's restaurant is opened in Mainland China in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong. Since 1979, Shenzhen has been a Special economic zone.source
October 17 – A major financial service of Russia, VTB Bank is founded in Russia SSR, former part of Soviet Union, as predecessor name was Vneshtorg Bank.source

Religion & Belief

January 25 – Pope John Paul II begins an eight-day tour of Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad.source
February 5 – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. excommunicates George Augustus Stallings for starting the controversial Imani Temple congregation.source
February 21 – Spain grants Protestantism and Judaism legal equality with the Roman Catholic Church.source
March 25 – Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie announces his intention to retire at the end of the year.source
May 1 – The former Episcopal Church in the Philippines (supervised by the Episcopal Church) is granted full autonomy and raised to the state of an Autocephalous Anglican province and renamed the Episcopal Church of the Philippines.source
June 7 – Metropolitan Alexy of Moscow is elected Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'.source
June 24 – Kathleen Margaret Brown and Irene Templeton are ordained as priests in St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, becoming the first female Anglican priests in the United Kingdom.source
July 25 – George Carey, Bishop of Bath and Wells, is named as the new Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England.source
September 1–10 – Pope John Paul II visits Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and Ivory Coast.source
September 29 – Washington National Cathedral is finished.source
September 30 – The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible is officially introduced.source
October 1 – The Soviet Union enacts a law permitting religious freedom, ending government interference in religious activity and permitting Soviet citizens to engage in private religious study in their homes.source
November 9 – The Parliament of Singapore enacts the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act.source

Economy & Finance

January 31 – Globalization – The first McDonald's in Moscow, Russian SFSR opens 8 months after construction began on May 3, 1989. 8 months later the first McDonald's in Mainland China is opened in Shenzhen.source
February 13 – US investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert files for bankruptcy protection, Chapter 11.source
March 15 – Fernando Collor de Mello takes office as President of Brazil, Brazil's first democratically elected president since Jânio Quadros in 1961. The next day, he announces a currency freeze and freezes large bank accounts for 18 months.source
April 1 – The Community Charge (poll tax) takes effect in England and Wales amid widespread protests.source
April 24 – Cold War: West Germany and East Germany agree to merge currency and economies on July 1.source
May 28 – 1990 Arab League summit: Saddam Hussein receives the emir of Kuwait for a diplomatic visit, at a time when his country and its decent oil revenues are being pushed into bankruptcy by Kuwait's lowering of the price of oil. A dictator with ambitions, Saddam wants to continue increasing his military strength, and so confronts Kuwait instead. After the public events, Hussein invites Arab leaders to a private meeting. Here, he threatens war on Kuwait unless Kuwait stops lowering the price of oil, recalls then-Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz.source
May 29 – European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is founded.source
June 3 – The Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the United Kingdom is dissolved after two years of poor results.source
July 1 – German reunification: East Germany and West Germany merge their economies, the West German Deutsche Mark becoming the official currency of the East also. The Inner German border (constructed 1945) also ceases to function.source
July 1 – Argentina announces the sale of its state-owned airline, Aerolineas Argentinas, to Spanish airline Iberia. The sale will be completed in November.source
August 8 – The government of Peru announces an austerity plan that results in huge increases in the price of food and gasoline. The plan sets off days of rioting and a national strike on August 21.source
October 29 – In Norway, the government headed by Prime Minister of Norway Jan P. Syse collapses.source
December 24 – Ramsewak Shankar is ousted as President of Suriname by a military coup.source

Technology & Infrastructure

January 1 – The first Internet companies catering to commercial users, PSINet and EUnet begin selling Internet access to commercial customers in the United States and Netherlands respectively.source
January 10 – McDonnell Douglas MD-11 wide-body trijet airliner takes its first flight, in the US.source
January 15 – Martin Luther King Day Crash: Telephone service in Atlanta, St. Louis and Detroit, including 9-1-1 service, goes down for nine hours, due to an AT&T software bug.source
March 27 – The United States begins broadcasting Radio y Televisión Martí to Cuba.source
June 1 – Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army shoot and kill Major Michael Dillon-Lee and Private William Robert Davies of the British Army. Dillon-Lee is killed outside his home in Dortmund, Germany and Davies is killed at a railway station in Lichfield, England.source
On June 7 Universal Studios Florida opens to the public along with Nickelodeon Studios.source
August 1 – RELCOM is created in the Soviet Union by combining several computer networks. Later in August, the Soviet Union got its first connection to the Internet.source
August 24 – Indonesian commercial television network SCTV was established as the nation's third television station after RCTI, and also debuted as local television channel in Surabaya. During its earlier days, SCTV was the rival for RCTI, the first commercial television network. SCTV began broadcasting nationwide from Jakarta by January 29, 1991.source
September 10 – The first Pizza Hut opens up in the Soviet Union.source
September 11 – First Pizza Hut opens in the People's Republic of China, nearly 3 years after the first KFC opened there in 1987.source
October 15 – South Africa ends segregation of libraries, trains, buses, toilets, swimming pools, and other public facilities.source
October 15 – United Airlines announces a purchase order of 128 wide-body aircraft from Boeing, including several Boeing 777s, in an order totaling $22 billion, the largest order in aviation history to that point.source
October 30 – The first transatlantic fiber optic cable TAT-8 fails, causing a slowdown of Internet traffic between the United States and Europe.source
Tim Berners-Lee begins his work on the World Wide Web, 19 months after his seminal 1989 outline of what would become the Web concept.source
November 13 – The first known web page is written.source
November – The earliest known portable digital camera sold in the United States ships.source
December 1 – Channel Tunnel workers from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 metres beneath the English Channel seabed, establishing the first land connection between Great Britain and the mainland of Europe for around 8,000 years.source

Science & Discovery

February 9 – The ADtranz low floor tram, the world's first completely low-floor tram, is introduced in Bremen.source
February 14 – The Pale Blue Dot photograph of Earth is sent back from the Voyager 1 probe after completing its primary mission, from around 5.6 billion kilometers (3.5 billion miles) away.source
April 9 – Comet Austin makes its closest approach to the sun.source
April 22 – Earth Day 20 is celebrated by millions worldwide.source
April 24 – STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery.source
May 15 – Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million.source
May 29 – Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Ottawa for a 29-hour visit.source
August 12 – "Sue", the best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex specimen ever found, is discovered near Faith, South Dakota, United States, by Sue Hendrickson.source
November 2 – British Satellite Broadcasting and Sky Television plc merge to form BSkyB as a result of massive losses.source
November 9 – Universal Pictures releases Child's Play 2source
November 12 – Tim Berners-Lee publishes a more formal proposal for the World Wide Web.source
November 15 – President Bush signed new Clean Air Act, focused on urban pollution and cancer-causing emissions from industrial sources.source
November 15 – STS-38: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on a classified U.S. military mission.source
November 21 – Nintendo releases the Super Famicom in Japan alongside its launch games Super Mario World and F-Zero.source
December 20 – Tim Berners-Lee completes the test for the first webpage at CERN.source
December 25 – Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is commissioned.source

Health & Medicine

January 18 – Marion Barry, Mayor of the District of Columbia, is caught on videotape smoking crack cocaine.source
January 20 – The government of Haiti declares a state of emergency, under which it suspends civil liberties, imposes censorship and arrests political opponents. The state of siege is lifted on January 29.source
January 25–26 – The Burns' Day Storm kills 97 in northwestern Europe.source
February – Smoking is banned on all cross-country flights in the United States.source
March 11–13 – The March 1990 Central United States tornado outbreak produces 64 tornadoes across six US states, including four violent F4/F5 tornadoes. The outbreak leaves 2 dead, 89 injured, and causes over $500 million in damages.source
April 1 – The 1990 United States census begins. There are 248,709,873 residents in the U.S.source
May 17 – The World Health Organization removes homosexuality from its list of diseases.source
June 2 – The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 88 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12; 37 tornadoes occur in Indiana, eclipsing the previous record of 21 during the 1974 Super Outbreak.source
July 26 - On the The Howard Stern Show, Gary Dell'Abate is given the nickname "Baba Booey" for the first time.source
August 2 – The first ban of smoking in bars in the US (and possibly the world) is passed in San Luis Obispo, California.source

Crime & Justice

January 18 – McMartin preschool trial: Peggy McMartin Buckey and Raymond Buckey are acquitted of 52 charges related to alleged ritual abuse taking place at their daycare in Manhattan Beach, California.source
January 22 – US graduate student Robert Tappan Morris is convicted of releasing the Morris worm onto the internet.source
February 11 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison, near Cape Town, South Africa, after 27 years behind bars.source
March 1 – Steve Jackson Games is raided by the U.S. Secret Service, prompting the later formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.source
March 9 – Police seal off Brixton in South London after another night of protests against the poll tax.source
March 15 – Iraq hangs Iranian journalist Farzad Bazoft for spying. Daphne Parish, a British nurse, is sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment as an accomplice.source
March 20 – Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.source
April 6 – Robert Mapplethorpe's "The Perfect Moment" show of nude and homoerotic photographs opens at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, in spite of accusations of indecency by Citizens for Community Values.source
April 7 – Iran–Contra affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of 5 charges for his part in the scandal; the convictions are later reversed on appeal.source
April 14 – Junk bond financier Michael Milken pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges. He agreed to pay US$500 million in restitution and was sentenced on November 21 to 10 years in jail.source
April 20 – 17-year-old Christopher Kerze goes missing in Eagan, Minnesota. He remains missing .source
April 21 – Japanese Yoshio Tani, M.Sc. murders gold merchant Turkka Elovirta and businessman Juhani Komulainen in Siuntio, Finland, having convinced them to buy a nonexistent 500 kilogram stash of Nazi gold.source
April 22 – Lebanon hostage crisis: Lebanese kidnappers release American educator Robert Polhill, who had been held hostage since January 1987.source
April 30 – Lebanon hostage crisis: Lebanese kidnappers release American educator Frank H. Reed, who had been held hostage since September 1986.source
May 2 – In London, a man brandishing a knife robs a courier of bearer bonds worth £292 million.source
July 2 – A U.S. District Court acquits Imelda Marcos on racketeering and fraud charges.source
August 12 – In South Africa, fighting breaks out between the Xhosa people and the Zulu people; more than 500 people are killed by the end of August.source
September 12 – A judge in Australia orders the arrest of media tycoon Christopher Skase, former owner of the Seven Network, after he fails to give evidence in a liquidator's examination of failed shipbuilding company Lloyds Ships Holdings, an associate of Skase's Qintex Australia Ltd.source
October 12 – A leader of the right-wing Pamyat organization is arrested in the Soviet Union for spreading antisemitic hatred.source
October 12 – German interior minister Wolfgang Schäuble is shot at during an election campaign event. He survives but will require a wheelchair for the rest of his life.source
November 5 – Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the far-right Kach movement, is shot dead after a speech at a New York City hotel.source
November 20 – Andrei Chikatilo, one of the Soviet Union's most prolific serial killers, is arrested in Novocherkassk.source

Disasters & Accidents

January 25 – Avianca Flight 052 crashes into Cove Neck, New York after a miscommunication between the flight crew and JFK Airport officials, killing 73 people on board.source
January 29 – The trial of Joseph Hazelwood, former skipper of the Exxon Valdez, begins in Anchorage, Alaska. He is accused of negligence that resulted in America's second worst oil spill to date.source
February 14 – Indian Airlines Flight 605, an Airbus A320-231 registered as VT-EPN, crashes shortly before landing at Bangalore, killing 92 out of the 146 occupants on board.source
February 27 – Exxon Valdez oil spill: Exxon and its shipping company are indicted on 5 criminal counts.source
February 28 – Final day of the rum ration in the Royal New Zealand Navy, the last in any of the world's navies.source
March 1 – A fire at the Sheraton Hotel in Cairo, Egypt, kills 16 people.source
March 25 – In New York City, a fire due to arson at an illegal social club called "Happy Land" kills 87 people.source
April 7 – MS Scandinavian Star, a Bahamas-registered ferry, catches fire en route from Norway to Denmark, leaving 158 dead.source
June 9 – Mega Borg oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico near Galveston, Texas.source
July 2 – 1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy: A stampede in a pedestrian tunnel leading to Mecca kills 1,426.source
July 21-22 – The Min Ping Yu No. 5540 incident occurs when the Taiwan Garrison Command forces 76 mainland Chinese illegal immigrants into sealed holds of a boat, causing 25 to die of suffocation.source
October 2 – According to The Civil Aviation of China, two commercial planes collide on the runway at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Guangdong, China. The total death toll is 128; 53 people were wounded, 97 were rescued.source
November 14 – Alitalia Flight 404 crashes on approach to Zurich Airport, killing all 46 occupants.source
December 3 – 1990 Wayne County Airport runway collision: At Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Northwest Airlines Flight 1482 (a McDonnell Douglas DC-9) collides with Northwest Airlines Flight 299 (a Boeing 727) on the runway, killing 8 passengers and 4 crew members.source
December 11 – A multi-vehicle traffic collision known as the 1990 Interstate 75 fog disaster occurs; 12 deaths and 42 were caused by this eventsource

Climate & Environment

March 9 – Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells confirms he will rescind Newfoundland's approval of the Meech Lake Accord.source
April 26 – A 7.0 earthquake shakes the Chinese province of Qinghai leaving 126 dead.source
May 27 – In the Burmese general election, Burma's first multiparty election in 30 years, the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi wins in a landslide, but the State Law and Order Restoration Council nullifies the election results.source
June 14 – 1990 Panay earthquake: An earthquake measuring struck Panay in the Philippines, killing 8 and injuring 41.source
June 21 – The 7.4 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake affects northern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 35,000–50,000, and injuring 60,000–105,000.source
July 13 – The Lenin Peak disaster occurs when an earthquake triggers an avalanche in the Pamir Mountains with the loss of 43 lives.source
July 16 – 1990 Luzon earthquake: An earthquake measuring kills more than 2,400 in the Philippines.source
August 28 – The Plainfield Tornado (F5 on the Fujita scale) strikes the towns of Plainfield, Crest Hill, and Joliet, Illinois, killing 29 people (the strongest tornado to date to strike the Chicago metropolitan area).source
November 16 – 20th Century Fox releases Home Alone and Walt Disney Pictures releases the 29th animated film, The Rescuers Down Under.source

Culture & Society

January 1 – The comedy television series of Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean first airs on ITV in the United Kingdom.source
January 1 – Glasgow begins its year as European Capital of Culture.source
January 1 – Poland becomes the first country in Eastern Europe to begin abolishing its state socialist controls.source
March 8 – The Nintendo World Championships are held within the Fair Park's Automobile Building, kickstarting an almost year long gaming competition across 29 American cities.source
March 18 – Twelve paintings and a Shang dynasty vase, collectively worth $100 to $300 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts by two thieves posing as police officers.source
March 26 – The 62nd Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, with Driving Miss Daisy winning Best Picture.source
April 19 – Washington, DC post-hardcore band Fugazi release their debut studio album Repeater on Dischord Records.source
June 8 – The 1990 FIFA World Cup begins in Italy. This was the first broadcast of digital HDTV in history; Europe would not begin HDTV broadcasting en masse until 2004.source
June 19 – The Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic holds its inaugural conference in Moscow.source
July 7–8 – In tennis, Martina Navratilova of the United States wins the 1990 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles and Stefan Edberg of Sweden wins the 1990 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles.source
July 8 – 1990 FIFA World Cup final (Association football): West Germany defeats Argentina 1–0 to win the 1990 FIFA World Cup.source
July 10 – The UEFA lifts the five-year ban on English association football teams competing in Continental Europe after the Heysel Stadium disaster, although Liverpool F.C. will remain banned for a further three years.source
September 18 – The International Olympic Committee awards the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta.source
September 29 – The Tampere Hall, the largest concert and congress center in the Nordic countries, was inaugurated in Tampere, Finland.source
The Messeturm skyscraper in Frankfurt is completed, making it the tallest building in Europe, a distinction it will carry until 1997, when it is surpassed by the Commerzbank Tower, also in Frankfurt.source
November 7 – The final military parade to mark the anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution takes place in the USSR.source
November 7 – Mary Robinson defeats odds-on favorite Brian Lenihan to become the first female President of Ireland.source
December 30 – Russian Garry Kasparov holds his title by winning the World Chess Championship match against his countryman Anatoly Karpov.source

Deaths

June 23 – In Canada, the Meech Lake Accord of 1987 dies after the Manitoba and Newfoundland legislatures fail to approve it ahead of the deadline.source
July 4 – Commonwealth v. Twitchell: David and Ginger Twitchell are convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Massachusetts after the 1986 death of their 2-year-old son, who died from a bowel obstruction after the couple withheld medical treatment in keeping with their Christian Science beliefs.source
August 15 – In Latvia, Viktor Tsoi, co-founder and lead singer of the Soviet rock band Kino, dies in a car accident on the Sloka–Talsi highway.source
November 12 – Akihito is enthroned as the 125th emperor of Japan following the death of his father on January 7, 1989.source
December 13 – Murder charges against Dr. Jack Kevorkian are dismissed in Michigan, related to the April assisted-suicide death of an Alzheimer's patient, Janet Adkins. A state judge determined that Kevorkian only provided the means for Ms. Adkins to die. This is the first of numerous cases to be brought against Kevorkian over the next decade.source