In 1990 two bombs exploded in the centre of Manchester, England.
The bombs were planted by the IRA (Irish Republican Army), one in a car in the commercial district and one by an Anglican church. The two devices injured 64 people and caused an estimated £10 million in business losses.
In 1989 the Malta summit officially ends the cold war.
The leaders of the world’s superpowers, America’s George Bush Senior and U.S.S.R’s Mikhail Gorbachev signed an arms reduction treaty that would begin in 1991.
In 1984 hundreds died after a chemical leak from the American-owned Union Carbide Pesticide Plant spread toxic gas near the Indian city of Bhopal.
1971 India joined the Mukti Bahini (Bangladesh Liberation War) against Pakistan
On the 26th of March 1971 the elected President of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, declared the Independence of Bangladesh amidst ‘Operation Searchlight’ conducted by Pakistan and the outbreak of the Bangladesh Liberation War. Pakistan held elections in 1970 and early 1971 (due to flooding in some areas) where the Anwar League won a large majority of seats. The Anwar league was headed by Sheikh Rahman and it called for independent governance of East Pakistan (at the time Pakistan controlled the region now known as Bangladesh and named the area East Pakistan). The President of Pakistan, Yahya Kahn, refused to recognise the election result and continued to forcibly control the area and ordered his men to "Kill three million of them (Bangladeshis) and the rest will eat out of our hands". His had planed ‘Operation Searchlight’ commenced on this day in 1971 which was set to take over control all major cities and eliminating any opposition. Despite the operation, Rahman was able to send out the declaration of Bengali Independence. An uprising began by the people of Bangladesh but the genocide of many hundreds of thousands of Bengali civilians continued over the next few months at the hands of Pakistan forces. Millions of refuges found sanctuary in India and on the 3rd of December 1971 India joined the Mukti Bahini (Bangladesh Liberation Army) against Pakistan. By the 16th of December 1971 Pakistan announced their unconditional surrender and Bangladesh won their freedom. It was a while before the international community recognised the sovereignty of Bangladesh. The United States had long supported Pakistan and in early December, President Nixon had threatened nuclear strikes against India, but the USSR had promised to defend India from the US.
In 1967 the first heart transplant was performed by Surgeon Christiaan Barnard.
Barnard performed the surgery on Mr Lewis Washansky, aged 53, at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. The donor was Denise Darvall who died aged 25 in a road traffic incident. The surgery was a success but the drugs required to ensure the body didn’t reject the heart also weakened the body’s immune system. This lead to the death of Mr Washanky 18 days after the surgery due to pneumonia.
By the 1970’s the drugs had improved and survival rates increased. By the 1980’s 300 successful procedures were being carried out every year in the UK alone with the patients living for an average of 5 years after the operation. Chances of patients surviving more than ten years after heart transplant operations have greatly improved in the UK although the amount of transplants carried out is limited due to lack of donors.
