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1989

1989

1989 (MCMLXXXIX) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The world population growth in absolute numbers is believed to have been the highest ever around this time. [http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/worldpop.html]

Events

January


-
- January 8 - the Kegworth Air Disaster - A British Midland Boeing 737 crashes on approach to East Midlands Airport - 44 dead January 16-18 - Race riots in Overtown, Miami
- January 10 - Cuban troops begin withdrawing from Angola
- January 10 - Assistant Australian Federal Police commissioner Colin Winchester is shot dead in the driveway of his Canberra home
  - January 17 - A gunman kills 5 children, wounds 30 and then shoots himself in Stockton, California January 7 - Akihito becomes Emperor of Japan following the death of Hirohito. The Heisei period begins
- January 20 - George Herbert Walker Bush succeeds Ronald Wilson Reagan as President of the United States of America
- January 24 - Serial killer Ted Bundy is executed in Florida's electric chair
- January 30 - American Olympic medalist Bruce Kimball is sentenced to 17 years in prison for killing two teenagers in a drunk driving accident

February


- February 1 - Joan Kirner becomes Victoria's 1st female Deputy Premier after resignation of Robert Fordham, over VEDC (Victorian Economic Development Co-operation) Crisis
- February 2 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: The last Soviet Union armored column leaves Kabul ending nine years of military occupation
- February 3 - Military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay
- February 3 - After a stroke, P.W. Botha resigns party leadership and the presidency of South Africa
- February 10 - Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party
- February 11 - Barbara Clementine Harris is consecrated first female bishop in the Episcopal Church (United States of America)
- February 14 - Union Carbide agrees to pay USD $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal Disaster
- February 14 - Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini encourages Muslims to kill the author of The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
- February 14 - The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is placed into orbit
- February 15 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops had left Afghanistan
- February 16 - Pan Am flight 103: Investigators announce that the cause of the crash was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player
- February 24 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini places a three-million-US dollar bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie
- February 24 - A United Airlines Boeing 747 bound to New Zealand from Honolulu, Hawaii rips open during flight, sucking 9 passengers and crew out of the first class section. Luckily most passengers and crew were still belted to their seats at the time
- February 27 - Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo.

March

Caracazo
- March 1 - The Berne Convention is ratified and enters into force with regard to the United States
- March 1 - A curfew is imposed in Kosovo where protests continue at the alleged intimidation of the Serb minority
- March 1 - Louis Wade Sullivan starts his term of office as U.S. Secretary of Commerce, serving under President George H. W. Bush
- March 1 - James D. Watkins starts his term of office as U.S. Secretary of Energy, serving under President George H. W. Bush
- March 1 - The Politieke Partij Radicalen, Pacifistisch Socialistische Partij, Communistische Partij Nederland and the Evangelische Volks Partij amalgamate to form Netherlands political party the GroenLinks (GL, GreenLeft)
- March 2 - 12 European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end century
- March 4 - Time, Inc. and Warner Communications announce plans for a merger, forming Time Warner
- March 4 - The Purley rail crash - 5 dead, 94 injured
- March 4 - First ACT (Australian Capital Territory) elections held
- March 7 - Iran breaks off diplomatic relations with United Kingdom over Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses"
- March 9 - A strike forces financially-troubled Eastern Airlines into bankruptcy
- March 12 - Musician Billy was born
- March 14 - Gun control: President George H. W. Bush bans the importation of assault rifles into the United States
- March 14 - Christian General Michel Aoun declares a 'War of Liberation' to rid Lebanon of Syrian forces and their allies.
- March 15 - Surgeon Bimal Ghosh removes a huge gallbladder weighing 10.4 kg (23 lbs) at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, USA
- March 18 - In Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy is found in the Great Pyramid of Giza
- March 20 - Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke weeps on national television as he admits marital infidelity.
- March 23 - Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce cold fusion at the University of Utah
- March 23 - A 300m (1,000 ft) diameter Near-Earth asteroid misses the Earth by 500,000 km (400,000 miles)
- March 24 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Alaska's Prince William Sound the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (11 million gallons) of oil after running aground
- March 27 - The first free elections for the Soviet parliament go against the Communist Party.

April-May


- April 4 - Richard M. Daley elected mayor of Chicago, Illinois
- April 6 - National Safety Council of Australia chief executive John Friedrich is arrested after defrauding investors to the tune of $235 million
- April 7 - Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea - 41 dead
- April 9 - Massacre of Georgian demonstrators by Red Army soldiers in Tbilisi's central square during a peaceful rally; 20 citizens are killed (most of them young women), many injured. The use of toxic gas by the Soviets was alleged. [http://www.phrusa.org/research/health_effects/humsov.html]
- April 15 - Hillsborough disaster, one of the biggest tragedies in European football, takes place
- April 19 - Gun turret explodes on the US battleship Iowa - 47 dead
- April 20 - NATO debates modernising short range missiles; although the US and UK are in favour, West German chancellor Helmut Kohl obtains a concession defering a decision.
- April 21 - Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: Students in Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Nanjing started to strike.
- April 25 - End of term for Baginda Almutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail as the 8th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia
- April 26 - Sultan Azlan Muhibbudin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Yusuff Izzudin Shah Ghafarullahu-lahu, Sultan of Perak, becomes the 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia
- May 2 - Hungary dismantles 150 miles of barbed wire fencing, opening its border to Western Europe.
- May 9 - Andrew Peacock deposes John Howard as Federal Opposition Leader
- May 11 - ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Legislative Assembly meets for 1st time
- May 12 - a Southern Pacific Railroad freight train crashes on Duffy Street in San Bernadino, California
- May 14 - Mikhail Gorbachev visited China, he was the first Soviet leader to visit China since the 1960s.
- May 15 Australia's 1st Private tertiary institution Bond University Opens On the Gold Coast
- May 15 - Jackie Mann, a 74-year-old former Battle of Britain pilot, is abducted in Beirut
- May 19 - Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: Zhao Ziyang met the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.
- May 20 - Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The Chinese government declared martial law in Beijing.
- May 30 - Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 10 m (33 ft) high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators
- May 30 Ananda Marga Member Tim Anderson is arrested on charges related to the 1978 Hilton Bombing

June

May 30.
- June 1 - The SkyDome stadium is opened in Toronto
- June 3 - The Ayatollah Khomeini dies
- June 4 - The Tiananmen Square massacre takes place in Beijing and is covered live on television
- June 4 - Solidarity's victory in the first partly free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland spark off a succession of peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe.
- June 4 - Train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia kills 645 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline
- June 8 - Kurt Waldheim elected president of Austria
- June 13 - The wreck of the German battleship Bismarck, which was sunk in 1941, is located 600 miles west of Brest, France
- June 14 - Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is arrested in Beverly Hills, California after slapping a motorcycle police officer. [http://www.mugshots.net/zsa_zsa_gabor/]
- June 21 - British police arrest 250 citizens for celebrating the summer solstice at Stonehenge
- June 22 - Ireland's first universities established since independence in 1922 are set up:Dublin City University and University of Limerick

July


- July 2 - Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece resigns. New government formed under Tzannis Tzannetakis
- July 5 - The television show Seinfeld premiers.
- July 6 - At 01:23:45 AM the time and date by British reckoning was 01:23:45 6/7/89. This was also true 12 hours later excepting 24-hour time.
- July 19 - A Douglas DC-10 carrying United Airlines flight 232 crashes in Sioux City, Iowa killing 112 but due to extraordinary efforts by the pilot and his crew, 184 on board survive
- July 19 - The BBC programme "Panorama" accuses Lady Porter Tory Leader of Westminster City Council of "gerrymandering"
- July 20 - Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi placed under house arrest
- July 26 - A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. for releasing a computer virus, making him the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

August


- August 6 - The comic strip Bloom County ends.
- August 7 - US Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX), and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.
- August 8 - STS-28: The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.
- August 9 The asteroid 4769 Castalia is the first asteroid directly imaged, by radar from Arecibo.
- August 13 - 13 people die in hot air balloon accident near Alice Springs NT.
- August 18 - Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
- August 19 - Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be Prime Minister, thus becoming the first non-communist in power in 42 years.
- August 20 - In Beverly Hills, California, Lyle and Erik Menendez shoot their wealthy parents to death in their family's den.
- August 20 - 51 people die when the Marchioness pleasure boat collides with a barge on the River Thames adjacent to Southwark Bridge.
- August 23 - Baltic Way, uninterrupted 600 kilometre human chain, in which two million indigenous people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, then still occupied by the Soviet Union, joined hands to demand freedom and independence.
- August 23 - Hungary removes border restrictions with Austria.
- August 23 - All of Australia's 1,645 domestic airline pilots resign over an airline's move to sack and sue them over a dispute.
- August 24 - Indonesia's first privately-owned television station, Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia, (RCTI) begins broadcasting.
- August 25 - Voyager II passes the planet Neptune and its moon Triton.
- August 29 - Yusef Hawkins shot in Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York, sparking racial tensions between African Americans and Italian Americans.

September


- September 5 - President George Bush holds up a bag of cocaine purchased across the street at Lafayette Park in his first televised speech to the nation.
- September 10 - The Hungarian government opens the country's western borders to refugees from the German Democratic Republic.
- September 21 - Hurricane Hugo makes landfall in South Carolina, causing 7 billion dollars in damage.
- September 22 - Deal barracks bombing: IRA bomb explodes at the Royal Marine School of Music in Deal, United Kingdom - 11 dead, 22 injured

October


- October 5 - US TV Evangelist Jim Bakker is found guilty of embezzlement of $158 million
- October 9 - An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh.
- October 9 - In Leipzig, East Germany protesters demand the legalization of opposition groups and democratic reforms
- October 17 - The Loma Prieta earthquake, measuring 7.1 on the richter scale, strikes the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose and Santa Cruz areas in the American state of California, killing 63.
- October 19 - The Guildford Four are freed after 14 years
- October 30 - The qualification for the 1990 Football World Cup ends.

November

1990 Football World Cup
- November 4 - Typhoon Gay devastates the Thai province of Chumphon.
- November 7 - Douglas Wilder wins the governor's seat in Virginia and becomes the first elected African American governor in the United States.
- November 7 - Cold War: The Communist government of East Germany resigns, although SED leader Egon Krenz remains head of state.
- November 7 - David Dinkins becomes the first African American mayor of New York City.
- November 7 - In California, convicted murderer Richard Ramirez (the "Night Stalker") is sentenced to death.
- November 9 - Cold War: East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, allowing its citizens to freely travel to West Germany for the first time in decades (the next day celebrating Germans began to tear the wall down).
- November 10 - After 45 years of Communist rule in Bulgaria, Bulgarian Communist Party leader Todor Zhivkov is replaced by Foreign Minister Petar Mladenov, who changes the party's name to the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
- November 10 - Gaby Kennard becomes the first Australian woman to fly non-stop around the world.
- November 12 - Brazil holds its first free presidential election since 1960
- November 16 - Six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter are shot in San Salvador, El Salvador
- November 16 - South African President FW de Klerk announces scrapping of Separate Amenities Act
- November 17 - Cold War: Velvet Revolution begins - In Czechoslovakia a peaceful student demonstration in Prague is severely beaten back by riot police. This sparks a revolution aimed at overthrowing the Communist government (it succeeded on December 29)
- November 20 - Cold War: Velvet Revolution - The number of peaceful protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.
- Tuesday, November 21, 1989 - North Carolina celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
- November 22 - In west Beirut, a bomb explodes near the motorcade of Lebanese President Rene Moawad and kills him.
- November 26-27 night - Group of Bob Denard's mercenaries ousts Ahmed Abdullah Abderemane in the Comoros. Said Mohammed Djohor becomes interim president
- November 28 - Cold War: Velvet Revolution - With other Communist regimes falling all around it and with growing street protests, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announces they will give up their monopoly on political power (elections held in December brought the first non-communist government to Czechoslovakia in more than 40 years)
- November 30 - Deutsche Bank board member Alfred Herrhausen is killed by a terrorist's bomb (the Red Army Faction claimed responsibility of the murder)
- November 30 - A storeowner in Palm Harbor, Florida named Richard Mallory takes a ride with Aileen Wuornos and is seen for the last time. Mallory became the first of seven people killed by the female serial killer over the next year.

December


- December 1 - Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist-dominated SED its monopoly on power. Egon Krenz, the Politburo and the Central Committee resign two days later.
- December 3 - Cold War: In a meeting off the coast of Malta, US President George Herbert Walker Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between their nations may be coming to an end.
- December 6 - The École Polytechnique Massacre (or Montreal Massacre): Marc Lépine, an anti-feminist gunman, murders fourteen young women at the École Polytechnique in Montreal.
- December 14 - Chile holds its first free election in 16 years.
- December 15 - Drug baron Jose Gonzalo Rodriquez Gacha is killed by Colombian police
- December 17 - Romania - Timişoara: The start of the uprising that toppled the communist regime in Romania.
- December 17 - Brazil holds its first free election in 29 years. Fernando Collor de Mello wins the election.
- December 20 - United States invades Panama (Operation Just Cause) to overthrow Manuel Noriega - he takes refuge in the Vatican mission until January 3 1990.
- December 22 - After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as president of Romania, ending Nicolae Ceauşescu's communist dictatorship.
- December 22 - Two tourist coaches collide on the Pacific highway north of Kempsey, Australia, 35 killed and 39 injured.
- December 25 - Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife Elena are executed.
- December 25 - Bank of Japan governors announce a major interest rate hike, eventually leading to the peak and fall of the "bubble economy".
- December 28 - A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, killing 13 people.
- December 29 - Václav Havel elected the president of Czechoslovakia - a big victory of the Velvet Revolution.
- December 29 - Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.

Unknown Dates


- Alan Bond's Bond Corporation goes into receivership with the largest debt in Australian history
- Homosexual Acts between consenting adults decriminalized in Western Australia
- Rice University celebrates the demisesquicentennial anniversary of its founding
- Kamchatka opened to Russian civilian visitors
- Retirement of the Alize propeller-driven anti-submarine planes from carrier service in the French Navy
- The first national park, in Schiermonnikoog, is established in The Netherlands
- Soviet submarine K-173, Chelyabinsk, commissioned
- The wreck of the Lady Elgin discovered off Highland Park, Illinois by Harry Zych
- Margaret Rey establishes the Curious George Foundation to help creative children and prevent cruelty to animals
- Veikko "Jammu" Siltavuori abducts and murders two 8 year old girls in Myllypuro suburb in Helsinki, Finland
- Richard C. Duncan introduces the Olduvai theory, about the collapse of the Industrial Civilization
- The Museum of Jurassic Technology, is founded in Culver City, California by David and Diana Wilson
- The unknown Swede Marcus Schenkenberg is discovered by a photographer when rollerskating on Venice Beach, California
- 1,000,000th Ford Taurus sold

Births


- Marina Golbahari, Afghani actress
- January 29 - Charlotte and Margaret Baughman, American twin actresses
- February 2 - Anna Sundstrand, Swedish singer
- February 5 - Jeremy Sumpter, American actor
- March 5 - Jake Lloyd, American actor
- March 25 - Alyson Michalka, American actress, singer, and songwriter
- April 23 - Nicole Vaidisova, Czech tennis player
- May 5 - Chris Brown, American R&B singer
- May 29 - Riley Keough, American model
- June 2 - Freddy Adu, Ghanaian-born footballer
- June 13 - Sayumi Michishige, Japanese singer
- July 5 - Ronald MacDonald, British musician and composer
- July 23 - Daniel Radcliffe, British actor
- August 9 - Stefano Okaka Chuka, Italian football player
- August 15 - Belinda Peregrin, Mexican entertainer
- August 19 - Percy Romeo Miller, American entertainer
- August 21 - Hayden Panettiere, American actress
- October 11 - Michelle Wie, American golf player
- November 11 - Reina Tanaka, Japanese singer
- December 18 - Ashley Benson, American actress
- December 27 - Kateryna Lahno, Ukrainian chess player
- December 30 - Ryan Sheckler, American skateboarder

Deaths

January to April


- January 3 - Robert Banks, American chemist (b. 1921)
- January 7 - Frank Adams, British mathematician (b. 1930)
- January 7 - Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (b. 1901)
- January 21 - Billy Tipton, American musician (b. 1914)
- January 23 - Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (b. 1904)
- January 24 - Ted Bundy, American serial killer (executed) (b. 1946)
- February 1 - Elaine de Kooning, American artist (b. 1919)
- February 3 - John Cassavetes, American actor and author (b. 1929)
- February 6 - Roy Eldridge, American musician (b. 1911)
- February 6 - Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian (b. 1912)
- February 9 - Osamu Tezuka, Japanese artist (b. 1928)
- February 11 - George O'Hanlon, American actor and director (b. 1912)
- February 24 - Sparky Adams, American baseball player (b. 1894)
- February 27 - Paul Oswald Ahnert, German astronomer (b. 1897)
- February 27 - Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)
- March 6 - Harry Andrews, British actor (b. 1911)
- March 8 - Carl Stuart Hamblen, American musician (b. 1908)
- March 9 - Robert Mapplethorpe, American photographer (b. 1946)
- March 14 - Edward Abbey, American author and environmentalist (b. 1927)
- March 14 - Stephen D. Bechtel, Sr., American businessman (b. 1900)
- March 19 - Alan Civil, English French horn player (b. 1929)
- March 27 - Malcolm Cowley, American author (b. 1898)
- March 27 - Jack Starrett, American actor and director (b. 1936)
- April 1 - Ace Bailey, Canadian hockey player (b. 1903)
- April 12 - Gerald Flood, British actor (b. 1927)
- April 15 - Hu Yaobang, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (b. 1915)
- April 16 - Jocko Conlan, baseball player and umpire (b. 1899)
- April 21 - Princess Dukhye of Korea (b. 1912)
- April 22 - Emilio G. Segrè, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
- April 26 - Lucille Ball, American entertainer (b. 1911)
- April 30 - Sergio Leone, Italian film director (b. 1929)
- April 30 - Yi, Bang-ja, Crown Princess of Korea (b. 1901)

May to August


- May 9 - Keith Whitley, American singer (b. 1955)
- May 14 - E.P. Taylor, Canadian business tycoon (b. 1901)
- May 19 - C.L.R. James, English writer and journalist (b. 1901)
- May 20 - John Hicks, English economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
- May 20 - Gilda Radner, American comedian and actress (b. 1946)
- May 29 - John Cipollina, American musician (Quicksilver Messenger Service) (b. 1943)
- June 3 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian political figure (b. 1900)
- June 4 - Dik Browne, American cartoonist (b. 1917)
- June 7 - Don the Beachcomber, American restaurateur (b. 1907)
- June 9 - George Wells Beadle, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)
- June 15 - Victor French, American actor and director (b. 1934)
- June 20 - Hilmar Baunsgaard, Danish politician (b. 1920)
- June 27 - Alfred Ayer, British philosopher (b. 1910)
- June 28 - Joris Ivens, Dutch filmmaker (b. 1898)
- July 3 - Jim Backus, American actor (b. 1913)
- July 10 - Mel Blanc, American voice actor (b. 1908)
- July 11 - Laurence

Common year starting on Sunday

This is the calendar for any common year starting on Sunday (dominical letter A). e.g. 2006 (A common year is a year with 365 days -- in other words, not a leap year.) For other years, just shift the headers appropriately. Category:Weeks
2nd Millennium: 19th century: 1809 1815 1826 1837 1843 1854 1865 1871 1882 1893 1899
2nd Millennium: 20th century: 1905 1911 1922 1933 1939 1950 1961 1967 1978 1989 1995
3rd Millennium: 21st century: 2006 2017 2023 2034 2045 2051 2062 2073 2079 2090
3rd Millennium: 22nd century: 2102 2113 2119 2130 2141 2147 2158 2169 2175 2186 2197
Category:Sundayko:일요일로 시작하는 평년th:ปีปกติสุรทินที่วันแรกเป็นวันอาทิตย์



World population

The world population is the total number of humans alive on the planet Earth at a given time. According to estimates published by the United States Census Bureau, the world population in June2005 was ~6,450,000,000. In line with population projections, this figure continues to grow at rates that are unprecedented prior to the 20th century. Approximately one fifth of all humans in the last six thousand years are currently alive. By some estimates, there are now one billion (thousand million) young people in the world between the ages of 15 and 24.

When was six billion reached?

The United Nations Population Fund designated October 12, 1999 as the approximate day on which world population reached six billion. This was about 12 years after world population reached five billion, in 1987. The child that has been proclaimed by the United Nations Population Fund and welcomed by the U.N. Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan as the six billionth baby, was born on the designated day two minutes after midnight, not in India or China, as might be expected, but to Fatima Nevic and her husband Jasminko in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

Rate of population increase

Bosnia The last 70 years of the 20th century saw the biggest increase in the world's population in human history. The following table shows when each billion milestone was met:
- 1 billion reached in 1802.
- 2 billion reached in 1927.
- 3 billion reached in 1961.
- 4 billion reached in 1974.
- 5 billion reached in 1987.
- 6 billion reached in 1999. From the figures above, the world's population has tripled in 72 years, and doubled in 38 years up to the year of 1999. 1999 Including a few more estimates (beginning with 250 million around AD 950 and ending with 8 billion in 2027), the world population was doubled by the following years (doubling times in parentheses):
- AD 950 (650) 1600 (202) 1802 (125) 1927 (47) 1974 (50) 2027, or (beginning with 375 million around year 1420):
- 1420 (300) 1720 (155) 1875 (86) 1961 (38) 1999. Note how, until recently, each doubling has taken roughly half as long as the previous doubling. The UN estimated in 2000 that the world's population was then growing at the rate of 1.2 percent (or 77 million people) per year. This represents a decrease in the growth rate from its level in 1990, mostly due to decreasing birth rates. As of 2004, the world's population is increasing at a rate of 75 million people per year.

Forecast of world population

The future growth of population is difficult to predict. Birth rates are declining slightly on average, but vary greatly between developed countries (where birth rates are often at or below replacement levels) and developing countries. Death rates can change unexpectedly due to disease, wars and catastrophes, or advances in medicine. The UN itself has issued multiple projections of future world population, based on different assumptions. Over the last 10 years, the UN has consistently revised its world population projections downward. Current projections by the UN's Population Division, based on the 2004 revision of the World Population Prospects database , are as follows. Other projections of population growth predict that the world's population will eventually crest, though it is uncertain exactly when or how. In some scenarios, the population will crest as early as the mid-21st century at under 10 billion, due to gradually decreasing birth rates. In less optimistic scenarios, disasters triggered by the growing population's demand for scarce resources will eventually lead to a sudden population crash, or even a Malthusian catastrophe (also see overpopulation).

Doomsayers

In 1798, Thomas Malthus predicted that population growth would eventually outrun food supply, resulting in catastrophe. In 1968Paul R. Ehrlich reignited this argument with his book The Population Bomb, which helped give the issue significant mindshare throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The dire predictions of Ehrlich and other neo-Malthusians were vigourously challenged by a number of economists, notably Julian Simon. On the opposite end of the spectrum there are a number of [http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=doomsayer&x=14&y=14 doomsayers] who argue that today's low fertility rates will have severe negative consequences: The Death of the West : How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization (ISBN 0312302592), by Patrick Buchanan, The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity (ISBN 0465050506), by Longman, and Fewer: How the New Demography of Depopulation Will Shape Our Future (ISBN 156663606X), by Wattenberg. Child poverty has been linked to people having children before they have the means to care for them. More recently, some scholars have put forward the Doomsday argument applying Bayesian probability to world population to argue that the end of humanity will come sooner than we usually think (toxic waste rather than food shortages).

Different continents

Bayesian probability The vertical axis of the chart above is in thousands. Likewise, the population figures in the table below are in thousands.

References

# http://www.census.gov/ # http://esa.un.org/unpp/

External links


- [http://esa.un.org/unpp/ World Population Prospects]. Retrieved April 7, 2005.
- [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3108_worldbal.html The World in Balance] Transcript of two-part PBS' Nova on World Population
- BBC (1999). [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/472704.stm UN chief welcomes six billionth baby]. Retrieved March 6, 2005.
- Central Intelligence Agency (2004). [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/xx.html CIA The World Factbook 2004]. Retrieved February 13, 2005.
- United Nations (2001). [http://www.un.org/popin/ United Nations Population Information Network]. Retrieved February 13, 2005.
- United States Census Bureau (2004). [http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/worldhis.html Historical Estimates of World Population]. Retrieved February 13, 2005.
- PopulationData.net (2005). [http://www.populationdata.net PopulationData.net - Informations and maps about populations around the world].
- Population Reference Bureau [http://www.prb.org www.prb.org - News and issues related to population].
- World Population Clock (2005). [http://www.worldpopclock.com WorldPopClock.com - World population clock].
- Population Counter. [http://rumkin.com/tools/population/ See estimates of populations in various countries around the world and watch them get updated! China is the most active, so if you want to see what happens, just go straight to that densely populated country.].Category:Populationko:세계 인구ja:世界人口

January 8

January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 357 days remaining (358 in leap years).

Events


- 871 - Battle of Ashdown - Ethelred of Wessex defeats Danish invasion army.
- 1198 - Innocent III becomes Pope.
- 1297 - Monaco gains its independence.
- 1499 - Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany
- 1734 - Premiere of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
- 1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
- 1790 - George Washington delivers the first State of the Union Address address in New York City.
- 1806 - Cape Colony becomes a British colony.
- 1811 - Unsuccessful slave revolt led by Charles Deslandes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
- 1815 - War of 1812: In the Battle of New OrleansAndrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
- 1838 - Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
- 1856 - Borax is discovered (John Veatch).
- 1863 - Battle of Springfield of the American Civil War is fought.
- 1867 - African American men granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia.
- 1877 - Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry (Montana).
- 1889 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine.
- 1894 - A fire at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois causes a good deal of damage.
- 1900 - United States PresidentWilliam McKinley places Alaska under military rule.
- 1906 - A landslide in Haverstraw, New York kills 20 due to the excavation of clay along the Hudson River.
- 1908 - A train collision occurs in the Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City killing 17, injuring 38 and leading to increased demand for electric trains.
- 1912 - The African National Congress was founded.
- 1916 - World War I: Allied forces withdraw from Gallipoli.
- 1918 - PresidentWoodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I.
- 1926 - Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud becomes the King of Hejaz and renames it Saudi Arabia.
- 1926 - African National Congress founded.
- 1935 - A.C. Hardy patents the spectrophotometer.
- 1953 - René Mayer becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1958 - 14 year old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship.
- 1959 - conquest of Cuba by Fidel Castro is completed with the conquest of Santiago de Cuba.
- 1959 - Michel Debré becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1962 - Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time (National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.)
- 1962 - Harmelen train disaster.
- 1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.
- 1966 - Operation Crimp of the Vietnam War.
- 1973 - Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of placing bugs in Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
- 1975 - Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband.
- 1977 - Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
- 1982 - AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
- 1986 - Hacker Manifesto written.
- 1987 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 8.30 to close at 2,002.25 -- The Dow's first close above 2,000.
- 1989 - Kegworth Air Disaster
- 1989 - beginning of Japanese Heisei era
- 1992 - President of the United StatesGeorge H. W. Bush becomes ill on a visit to Japan and vomits on the Japanese Prime Minister, Kiichi Miyazawa.
- 1994 - Russian cosmonautValeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He will stay on the space station till March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
- 1996 - An Antonov 32 cargo jet crashes into the central market in Kinshasa, Zaire killing more than 350.
- 1997 - "Mister Rogers" receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Births


- 1556 - Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1623)
- 1583 - Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian (d. 1643)
- 1601 - Baltasar Gracián y Morales, Spanish writer (d. 1658)
- 1628 - François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)
- 1632 - Samuel Pufendorf, German jurist (d. 1694)
- 1635 - Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish Archbishop of Toledo (d. 1709)
- 1735 - John Carroll, first American Catholic archbishop (d. 1815)
- 1763 - Edmond Charles Genêt, French ambassador to the United States (d. 1834)
- 1786 - Nicholas Biddle, President of the Second Bank of the United States (d. 1844)
- 1792 - Lowell Mason American composer (d. 1872)
- 1805 - John Bigler, Governor of California (d. 1871)
- 1805 - Orson Hyde, American religious leader (d. 1878)
- 1817 - Sir Theophilus Shepstone, South African statesman (d. 1893)
- 1821 - James Longstreet, American Confederate general (d. 1904)
- 1821 - W.H.L. Wallace, American Union general

Kegworth air disaster

The Kegworth Air Disaster occurred on January 8, 1989, when British Midland Flight 92 (BD092), a Boeing 737-400, G-OBME owned by British Midland crashed onto the embankment of the M1 motorway, short of the runway of East Midlands Airport, Leicestershire, close to the village of Kegworth. Forty-seven of the 118 passengers lost their lives (39 at the scene, 8 later). All eight of the flight crew survived the accident. Of the 79 survivors, 5 had minor injuries and 74 were seriously injured. Surprisingly, no one on the motorway was hurt (and no vehicles damaged) although one driver did subsequently receive damages for post-traumatic stress. The aircraft was on a scheduled flight from Heathrow to Belfast in Northern Ireland. After take-off from Heathrow, the twin-engined plane was climbing through 28,000 feet when the no.1 engine suffered a turbine blade detachment. The flight was diverted to East Midlands, which it should have been able to reach flying on one engine. However, the crew misidentified the failed engine and shut down the correctly functioning no. 2 engine. With the damaged engine providing only limited power, the aircraft was unable to reach the emergency destination airport, and hit the ground short of the runway while attempting to land. After the initial blade deatchment, the crew were aware of the situation by a smoke smell and abnormal vibration, as well as numerous cockpit warnings. They had no way to visually check the engines from the cockpit but numerous instruments indicated which engine was malfunctioning, however, the pilots' limited experience and lack of training on the 2 month old aircraft contributed to them shutting down the wrong engine. The Captain of the flight believed the no.2 engine was malfunctioning due to the smell of smoke, because in previous Boeing 737 variants, bleed air from the engines for the air conditioning system was taken from engine no.2. However, starting with the Boeing 737-400 variant, Boeing redesigned the system so both engines fed it. Several cabin staff and passengers also noticed that the no. 1 engine had a stream of unburnt fuel igniting in the jet exhaust, but this information was not passed to the flight crew. When the pilots shut down the no. 2 engine, the vibration and smoke smell ceased immediately, which confirmed in their minds that they had dealt with the problem. As it turned out, this was simply a fateful coincidence, as when the auto-throttle was disengaged to shut down engine no.2, the fuel flow to no.1 engine was reduced and the excess fuel which was igniting in the jet exhaust previously no longer existed, therefore the ongoing damage was reduced and the smoke and vibration ceased. However during the final approach to East Midlands Airport, more fuel was pumped into the damaged engine to maintain speed, which caused it to cease operating entirely and burst into flame. The captain ordered the no.2 engine to be started at this point via windmilling, using the air flowing through the engine to rotate the turbine blades and start the engine, however the crew never managed to achieve this. The captain managed to keep the aircraft airborne long enough to avoid crashing landing in the village of Kegworth, however just before it reached the motorway, the tail hit the ground and the aircraft bounced back into the air and over the M1 motorway, crashing on the embankment and breaking up into three pieces. Amazingly no one on the ground was hurt. It was later discovered after analysis of the engine from the crash that the turbine blades of the updated CFM56 engine used on the 737-400 were subject to abnormal amounts of vibration when operating at high power settings above 25,000 ft. As they were only an upgrade to exisiting engine in-flight testing was not mandatory and as such, the engines were only ever tested in the laboratory. Upon this discovery all 737-400 (around 100 at that time) were grounded and the engines modified. Since the accident it has also become mandatory to in-flight test all turbofan engines, wherever they are a brand new design or a modification. This unnoticed vibration created excessive metal fatigue in the turbine blades and on G-OBME this caused one of the turbine blades to fail structually and go tearing through the engine. This damaged the engine terminally and also upset its delicate balance, causing a reduction in power. The autothrottle attempted to compensate for this by increasing the fuel flow to the engine, however the damaged engine was unable to burn all the additional fuel, with much of it igniting in the exhaust flow, thus creating a large trail of flame behind the engine. The increase in engine RPM this gave also increased vibration from the now unbalanced engine. Evaluation of the injuries sustained led to considerable improvements in aircraft safety and emergency instructions for passengers. The official report into the disaster made 31 safety recommendations. There is a memorial to "those who died, those who were injured and those who took part in the rescue operation", in the village cemetery in nearby Kegworth, together with a garden made using soil from the crash site.

See also


- Lists of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners

External links


- [http://www.aaib.gov.uk/publications/formal_reports/no_4_90_502831.cfm The official AAIB report]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/250959.stm BBC Page about Kegworth]
- [http://www.kegworthvillage.com/history/air_disaster.php Kegworth Village site]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/8/newsid_2506000/2506665.stm BBC Site detailing the crash]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/54915.stm The story of Graham Pearson, who received damages in 1998 after witnessing the crash and helping the survivors] Category:History of LeicestershireCategory:Airliner crashes caused by mechanical failureCategory:1989Category:British air disasters

Bmi (airline)

bmi is the second largest full-service scheduled airline in the United Kingdom. Based at Donington Hall, close to Nottingham East Midlands Airport, it flies to destinations across Europe, and to the United States, India and Saudi Arabia. bmi's operational base is London Heathrow, where it holds 14% of all take off and landing slots, and operates over 2000 flights a week. It was formerly known as British Midland. London Heathrow

History

bmi's roots lie in the formation of Air Schools Ltd in 1938, specialising in flying instruction for RAF pilots. In 1949 the company formed Derby Aviation and Wolverhampton Aviation, based at Burnaston in the Midlands, offering ad-hoc charter and freight flights with De Havilland Rapides, as well as aircraft maintenance and brokerage. The 1950s would see rapid expansion for the company. Flying instruction ceased in 1953 with the start of scheduled flights from Derby and Wolverhampton to Jersey. When the first Douglas DC-3 arrived in 1955, Wolverhampton Aviation had been phased out and the company's sole base became Burnaston Airport. International services commenced in 1956 to Ostend, and holiday flights to mainland Europe began. The company was also contracted by Rolls-Royce to transport aero engines to customers throughout the world, and in 1959 changed its name to Derby Airways. Domestic scheduled flights within the United Kingdom were launched toward the end of the decade. 1959 In 1964 the company changed its name again to British Midland Airways (BMA) and moved operations from Burnaston to the recently opened East Midlands Airport. The corporate colours of blue and white were adopted at that time, with the introduction of the first turboprop aircraft, the Handley Page Herald. Minster Assets, an investment and banking group, acquired the airline in 1968. Domestic and European expansion continued apace, and in 1970 BMA entered the jet age with the introduction of the BAC 1-11, followed by the Boeing 707 in 1971. However, the BAC 1-11s would be withdrawn in 1972 and the 707s leased to other airlines as BMA concentrated on turboprops such as the Vickers Viscount. Though the 707 fleet would be increased, none operate for BMA on scheduled services or charter services on their behalf until 1981, instead they were leased to other operators. The Douglas DC-9 would convert most of the airline's domestic and European service to jet operation with its introduction in 1976. In 1978 the company directors successfully purchased the airline from Minster Assets. The consortium included Sir Michael Bishop, now the airline's chairman, and known as the BBW Partnership. That year, British Midland and British Airways agreed to route swapping, resulting in British Midland Airways relinquishing its continental routes from Birmingham to Brussels and Frankfurt and BA handing over its routes from Liverpool to Heathrow, Belfast, Dublin, Jersey, the Isle of Man and Glasgow. Annual passenger numbers topped 1 million for the first time in 1979. In 1981 an application to fly between Heathrow, Glasgow and Edinburgh was denied by CAA. The ruling was overturned, however, after an appeal was lodged with Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. With the introduction of these services, BMA and BA were now in direct competition. Secretary of State for Trade and Industry BMA, together with British & Commonwealth Shipping, formed Manx Airlines in 1982, and the following year BMA purchases a 75% stake in Glasgow-based airline Loganair. In March 1987 Airlines of Britain Holdings (ABH) was formed to act as a holding company for British Midland and British Midland Aviation Services. ABH became British Midland in 1997 when it was de-merged as part of wide restructuring. A new look for the airline was unveiled in 1985. Aircraft were painted in very dark blue, deep grey on the lower half of the fuselage with red relief. Now simply known as British Midland, a new logo of a stylised red BM crowned with a diamond shape appears on the aircraft tailfins. Airport lounges were introduced at UK hubs and the Diamond Club frequent flyer programme was launched. The charter market was abandoned and the 707 fleet withdrawn at this time. Boeing 737s were introduced to the fleet in 1987, however it was one of these aircraft that is involved in the airline's only accident to date, when flight BD092 crashed on approach to East Midlands Airport in January 1989, killing 47 people. The aircraft developed a fire in one of the engines en route from Heathrow to Belfast. Though the decision was made to divert to East Midlands, the crew mistakenly shut down the functioning engine, causing the aircraft to lose power and crash on the M1 Motorway just short of the runway. The Kegworth air disaster, as the incident became known, would lead to considerable improvements in aircraft safety and emergency instructions for passengers. The official report into the disaster made 31 safety recommendations. Kegworth air disaster] British Midland become the first airline to offer a vegetarian choice of in-flight meals on UK domestic services, and one of the first airlines in Europe to introduce a vegetarian option, in 1992. Toward the end of the 1990s, British Midland switched to Airbus and Embraer for its fleet renewal programme. Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), a shareholder in British Midland since 1987, sold some of its stake to Lufthansa in 1999 on the condition that British Midland joined the Star Alliance, which it did in July of the following year. In February 2001 a new corporate identity was unveiled, rebranding the airline bmi british midland (though bmi officially doesn't mean anything, it implies 'British Midland International') featuring a brighter blue and replacing the grey with white, bringing a more modern and fresh appearance with sweeping curves. In 2003, british midland was quietly dropped from the brand and the airline is now simply referred to as bmi. The new identity coincided with the launch of transatlantic services to Washington, DC and Chicago from Manchester using wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft. In 2002, bmi set up a low-cost subsidiary known as bmibaby, using redundant Boeing 737s which were displaced after bmi's fleet renewal programme favoured an all-Airbus fleet for medium haul and heavy density short haul services. bmibaby flies routes between secondary airports around Europe. bmi has fought to gain transatlantic flights from Heathrow. Only British Airways, Air India, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines, United Airlines, Kuwait Airways, and Air Canada are permitted to offer such routes. Although a direct competitor to British Airways on several routes from Heathrow for many years, including shuttle services to Glasgow and Edinburgh, competition between the two carriers has never been fierce and both seem to co-exist peacefully. bmi launched a new service to Mumbai from London Heathrow in May 2005, after UK and India reached new bilateral air service agreement, and started serving Riyadh on 1 September 2005 after British Airways had ceased to serve Saudi Arabia in March 2005. The airline is owned by the BBW Partnership (Sir Michael Bishop, J Wolfe and S Balmforth) (50% plus 1 share), Lufthansa (30% minus 1 share) and SAS (20%).

Destinations

Fleet

The Bmi fleet consists of the following aircraft (at July 2005):
- 3 Airbus A330-200
- 8 Airbus A321-200
- 11 Airbus A320-200
- 6 Airbus A319-100
- 3 Embraer ERJ-135ER(operated by bmi regional)
- 10 Embraer ERJ-145EP(operated by bmi Regional)

External links


- [http://www.flybmi.com/ bmi] Category:Airlines of the United Kingdomja:Bmi ブリティッシュ・ミッドランド航空

Boeing 737

The Boeing 737 is the world's most popular medium range - narrow body commercial passenger jet aircraft. With 5,851 ordered and 4,867 delivered, it is the most ordered and produced commercial passenger jet aircraft of all time. It has been continuously manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes since 1967.

History

The 737 was born out of Boeing's need to field a competitor in the short-range, small capacity jetliner market which had been opened up by the BAC 1-11 and the Douglas DC-9. Boeing was badly behind however when the 737 program was initiated in 1964, as both of these rivals were already into their flight certification programmes. To speed up the development time, Boeing reused as much technology from the existing 707 and 727 as possible, most notably the fuselage. This gave the 737 a critical advantage over the opposition - six abreast seating compared to the 1-11 and DC-9's five abreast layout, and also made the 737 cheaper and quicker to design. The -100 and -200 series are identifiable by their tubular engine nacelles which are integrated into the wing and project both fore and aft of it. The engines used on the Original 737 models are Pratt and Whitney JT8D turbofans. The Originals can also be identified by the smoothly curving upsweep of the tail fin - the Classics and NG models have a noticeable "kink" at the base of the fin. The first 737 (a 100 series) took its maiden flight April 9, 1967 and entered service in February 1968 with Lufthansa, the first foreign airline to launch a new Boeing plane. The 737-200 made its maiden flight on August 8, 1967. Lufthansa was the only customer to purchase the 737-100 from new and only 30 aircraft were ever produced. The lengthened 737-200 was widely preferred and was produced until 1988. The launch customer of the 737-200 was United Airlines. United Airlines]] In the early 1980s the 737 had its first major facelift. The biggest change was to the CFM InternationalCFM56 engines in place of the JT8Ds. The CFM56 was larger than the previous P&W unit, so the engine was slung underneath the wing rather than built into it. This posed a problem as the 737's limited ground clearance (a trait of the 707-derived fuselage) meant that the gearbox and accessories normally fitted to the bottom of the engine had to be fitted to the side - giving the cowling the fattened hamster cheek appearance that is often confused with a flattening of the nacelle geometry. At the same time, the 737 gained a partial glass cockpit from the 757 and 767. The first 737-300 entered service in 1984. By the 1990s, the 737 had lost ground technologically to the newer Airbus A320. In 1993, Boeing initiated the 737-X or Next Generation (NG) program. The Next-Generation 737 encompasses the -600, -700, -800 and -900, and amounted to a complete redesign of the 30-year old airliner. The 737NG is an entirely