Plagued by scandal, Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party suffers electoral defeat for the first time since 1955.

15 Aug.

South African president Pieter W. Botha resigns. He is replaced by F. W. de Klerk, who permits antiapartheid marches and releases some political prisoners in the fall.

18 Aug.

Following non-Communist victories in June parliamentary elections, the Polish government forms a cabinet with non-Communist figures — the first Polish multiparty government in forty years. Solidarity leader Lech Walesa is named president.

Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan is assassinated, reputedly by drug lords. President Virgilio Barco Vargas of Colombia declares war on the Medellin and Cali cocaine cartels. By year's end more than 187 civilians and officials have been killed; 265 bombings have occurred; and officials have made nearly five hundred arrests and seized $250 million worth of property.

23 Aug.

Hundreds of thousands of Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians form a human chain across their three states to...