Cold War: The Soviet Union announces that Lithuania's declaration of independence is invalid.
Twelve paintings, collectively worth $100 to $300 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts by 2 thieves posing as police officers. This is the largest art theft in US history, and the paintings () have not been recovered.
Fernando Collor de Mello takes office as President of Brazil, Brazil's first democratically elected president since 1961. The next day he announces a currency freeze and freezes large bank accounts for 18 months.
Iraq hangs British journalist Farzad Bazoft for spying. Daphne Parish, a British nurse, is sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment as an accomplice.
The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union approves changes to the Constitution of the Soviet Union to create a strong U.S.-style presidency. Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to a five-year term as the first-ever President of the Soviet Union on March 15.
Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first executive president of the Soviet Union.
