On this day

April 17, 1990

Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.

Historical Context for April 17, 1990

In 1990, the world population was approximately 5,327,803,110 people^[†]

Notable Births

1990Jonathan Brown, Welsh footballer^[†]

Jonathan David Brown is a Welsh professional footballer and former Wales under-21 international who plays as a winger for JD Cymru Premier for Penybont.

Notable Deaths

1990Ralph Abernathy, American minister and activist (born 1936)^[†]

Ralph David Abernathy Sr. was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was ordained in the Baptist tradition in 1948. Being the leader of the civil rights movement, he was a close friend and mentor of Martin Luther King Jr. He collaborated with King and E. D. Nixon to create the Montgomery Improvement Association, which led to the Montgomery bus boycott and co-created and was an executive board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He became president of the SCLC following the assassination of King in 1968; he led the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C., as well as other marches and demonstrations for disenfranchised Americans. He also served as an advisory committee member of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE).

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Headlines from April 17, 1990

Diet Offers Tantalizing Clues to Long Life

By Natalie Angier

LEAD: A FLIMFLAM ad writer could not have invented more outrageous claims. Here is a diet that extends lifespan by 50 percent or more. It prevents heart disease, diabetes and kidney failure, and it greatly retards all types of cancer. It eliminates or forestalls many of the usual banes of aging, including cataracts, gray hair and feebleness.

Science Desk2141 words

Coming This Summer: Park Wars

By Geraldine Fabrikant, Special To the New York Times

LEAD: The opening of Universal Studios Florida here in a few weeks will be the start of a head-to-head battle by two entertainment giants for the hearts and wallets of millions of families who visit this area annually.

Financial Desk1595 words

Secrets of Longer Life Hinted in a Strict Diet

By Unknown Author

LEAD: What is the secret of surviving to an extraordinary and vigorous old age -to, say, 50 percent or more beyond a normal life expectancy?

Science Desk136 words

INSIDE

By Unknown Author

LEAD: Seeking Deadly Thrills An alarming number of teen-agers and children, some as young as 6, are riding atop elevators as they sweep up and down the shafts of New York City highrises. Page B1. A Look at Tokyo Fashion Japanese fashions at the Tokyo fall showings were modest but inventive, offering, among other things, big plaid toggle coats.

Metropolitan Desk111 words

Parking Rules

By Unknown Author

LEAD: Because of the last day of Passover, alternate-side parking rules will be suspended in New York City today. Other rules will remain in effect.

Metropolitan Desk48 words

Like Russian Roulette, but With Elevators

By Alan Finder

LEAD: As if the danger on the streets of New York City's meanest neighborhoods were not enough, an alarming number of teen-agers and even children as young as 6 are seeking thrills in a deadly sport high above. Boys and occasionally girls are riding outside elevators as they sweep up and down the shafts of high-rise housing projects.

Metropolitan Desk1215 words

BUSINESS DIGEST

By Unknown Author

LEAD: Companies

Financial Desk547 words

Murder Trial Is Told of Boast In Bensonhurst

By William Glaberson

LEAD: The leader of a group of white Bensonhurst youths ''boasted that he would 'blow the heads off the nigger bastards' '' hours before Yusuf K. Hawkins was shot to death, a prosecutor asserted yesterday.

Metropolitan Desk1091 words

German Unity Might Cost Berlin Billions in Subsidies

By Ferdinand Protzman, Special To the New York Times

LEAD: Faced with the daunting prospect of spending hundreds of billions of dollars to reunite the two Germanys, the West German Government is casting about for any savings that could ease the burden.

Financial Desk894 words

Public Housing: For Workers or the Needy?

By William E. Schmidt, Special To the New York Times

LEAD: The growing shortage of affordable shelter for millions of needy people is putting enormous pressure on the nation's already overburdened public housing system and giving a new edge to an old policy debate: who is it that public housing ought to serve?

National Desk1779 words

Chase Manhattan's Earnings Plummet 67%

By Michael Quint

LEAD: The Chase Manhattan Corporation, the nation's second-largest banking company after Citicorp, announced a 67 percent drop in first-quarter profits yesterday, chiefly because of problems in its commercial real estate lending.

Financial Desk1081 words

Onetime Enemies of the State Take Up the Gavel in Moscow

By Francis X. Clines, Special To the New York Times

LEAD: Insurgency swept into the Moscow City Council today on the wings of Ivan's rules of order.

Foreign Desk900 words