Unix Timestamp: 596937600
Thursday, December 1. 1988, 12:00:00 AM UTC

A cyclone in Bangladesh leaves 5 million homeless and thousands dead.

Estonian becomes the official language of Estonia.

Carlos Salinas de Gortari takes office as President of Mexico.

Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.

In Armenia, an earthquake (6.9 on the Richter scale) kills nearly 25,000, injures 15,000 and leaves 400,000 homeless.