June 1991
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 @ 12:06 AM
Here’s what happened in June 1991. You can click on the links to go to Wikipedia for fuller details
- June 3 – Mount Unzen erupts, killing 43 people as a result of pyroclastic flow.
- June 5 – STS 40: Space Shuttle Columbia carries the Spacelab into orbit.
- June 9 – A major collapse of ground at the Emaswati Colliery in Swaziland traps 26 miners 65 m below the surface. The men have access to a safe refuge chamber and are all rescued by a drill hole 30 hours after the rescue unit is first alerted.
- June 12 – Boris Yeltsin is elected President of Russia, the largest and most populous of the 15 Soviet republics.
- June 13 – A spectator is killed by lightning at the U.S. Open.
- June 15 – In the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo erupts in the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century; the final death toll tops 800.
- June 17
- Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act, which had required racial classification of all South Africans at birth.
- U.S. President Zachary Taylor is exhumed to discover whether or not his death was caused by arsenic poisoning, instead of acute gastrointestinal illness; no trace of arsenic is found.
- June 23
- Mesut Yılmaz, of ANAP forms the new government of Turkey (48th government)
- The first Sonic the Hedgehog game published by Sega. It’s also the starting point of the Sonic the Hedgehog series ever since.
- June 23–June 28 – Iraq disarmament crisis: U.N. inspection teams attempt to intercept Iraqi vehicles carrying nuclear related equipment. Iraqi soldiers fire warning shots in the air to prevent inspectors from approaching the vehicles.
- June 25 – Collapse of Yugoslavia: Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence from Yugoslavia.
- June 28 – COMECON is dissolved.