On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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LEAD: Secretary of State James A. Baker 3d said last night that the United States was prepared to provide Moscow with advice and technical assistance to help it restructure the Soviet economy and society.
LEAD: THE movement among psychiatrists to rely more and more on using drugs to treat mental disorders is coming under strong attack. Critics contend that scientific studies evaluating the effectiveness of psychiatric drugs have been systematically biased, exaggerating the medications' potency.
LEAD: THE VOLATILE MARKETS The stock market overcame a shaky opening and roared back on heavy volume to regain about half its losses of Friday. Prices were buoyed both by corporations buying their own shares and by institutions buying shares they considered cheap. [ Page A1. ] Stock prices in Tokyo climbed today, recovering much of their loss of Monday.
LEAD: President Mikhail S. Gorbachev has sharply rebuked some of the leading practitioners of glasnost, and accused the liberated press of sowing division and discontent.
LEAD: The stock market overcame a shaky opening yesterday and roared back on heavy volume to regain about half the losses recorded in the heavy selling late Friday.
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of October 11, 1989, covering October 17, 1989.
Motley Crue
Paula Abdul
The Rolling Stones
Milli Vanilli
New Kids on the Block
1989Débora García, Spanish footballer[†]
Débora García Mateo, commonly known as Débora, is a Spanish footballer who plays as a midfielder for Primera División club Sevilla. In October 2012 she made her debut for the Spain national team at Glasgow's Hampden Park against Scotland in the 2013 European Championship's qualifying play-offs.
1989Oleksandr Isakov, Ukrainian swimmer[†]
Oleksandr Isakov is a Ukrainian swimmer. He swam for Ukraine in three events at the 2008 Summer Olympics, the 100 m backstroke, finishing in 38th place, the 200 m backstroke, finishing in 39th place, and the men's 4 x 100 m medley relay. At the 2012 Summer Olympics he finished 35th overall in the heats in the Men's 100 metre backstroke and failed to reach the semifinals. He finished in 30th position in the men's 200 m backstroke.
1989Sophie Luck, Australian actress[†]
Sophie Kathrin Luck is an Australian actress best known for her roles on the television shows Blue Water High and Home and Away.
1989Charles Oliveira, Brazilian mixed martial artist[†]
Charles Oliveira da Silva is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and fourth degree black belt Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner. Oliveira currently competes in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former UFC Lightweight Champion. As of April 16, 2024, he is #2 in the UFC lightweight rankings and as of June 10, 2025, he is #14 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings.
1989David Timor, Spanish footballer[†]
David Timor Copoví is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for CD Eldense.
1989The 6.9 Mw Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast, killing 63.[†]
Seismic magnitude scales are used to describe the overall strength or "size" of an earthquake. These are distinguished from seismic intensity scales that categorize the intensity or severity of ground shaking (quaking) caused by an earthquake at a given location. Magnitudes are usually determined from measurements of an earthquake's seismic waves as recorded on a seismogram. Magnitude scales vary based on what aspect of the seismic waves are measured and how they are measured. Different magnitude scales are necessary because of differences in earthquakes, the information available, and the purposes for which the magnitudes are used.
1989The East German Politburo votes to remove Erich Honecker from his role as General Secretary.[†]
Erich Ernst Paul Honecker was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts of General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and Chairman of the National Defence Council; in 1976, he replaced Willi Stoph as Chairman of the State Council, the official head of state. As the leader of East Germany, Honecker was viewed as a dictator. During his leadership, the country had close ties to the Soviet Union, which maintained a large army in the country.
In 1989, the world population was approximately 5,234,431,732 people[†]