On This Day in History

British journalist David Frost began a series of interviews with former U.S. president Richard Nixon, starting with the Watergate scandal.

Guatemala's government, headed by Fernando Romeo Lucas García was overthrown in a military coup by right-wing General Efraín Ríos Montt.

Angolan and Cuban forces defeated South Africa in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.

Two researchers announced the discovery of cold fusion, a claim that was later discredited.

The Sierra Leone Civil War began with the invasion of the Revolutionary United Front, in an attempt to overthrow President Joseph Saidu Momoh.

The demolition of Kowloon Walled City, a densely crowded slum in Hong Kong, began.

Aeroflot Flight 593 crashed into a hillside in Russia's Kemerovo Oblast, killing all 75 people on board, after the pilot's 15-year-old son unknowingly disabled the autopilot while seated at the controls.

Lee Teng-hui was elected President of the Republic of China in the first direct presidential election in Taiwan.

The Russian space agency deorbited the space station Mir, causing it to reenter the Earth's atmosphere and break up over the Pacific Ocean.

A fire and explosion at an oil refinery in Texas City, the third-largest in the United States, killed 15 workers.

A container ship ran aground and obstructed the Suez Canal for six days.

Gaza war: Israel Defense Forces killed 15 aid workers in the Rafah paramedic massacre.