Blaise Compaoré leads a coup against Burkina Faso's revolutionary president Thomas Sankara, who is executed the same day.

Global markets reeled the day after Wall Street's Black Monday crash, as the Dow's 22.6% single-day plunge rippled through exchanges in London, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.

Soyuz TM-3 landed safely, returning cosmonauts including Muhammed Faris, the first Syrian and one of the earliest Arab citizens in space.

Kentucky Fried Chicken opened its first restaurant in mainland China on Beijing's Qianmen Street, marking a pivotal moment in the country's opening to Western consumer culture.