November 1988

November

• November – TAT-8, the first transatlantic telephone cable to use optical fibers, is completed. This leads to more robust connections between the American and European Internet.
• November 2 – The Morris worm, the first computer worm distributed via the Internet, written by Robert Tappan Morris, is launched from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S.
• November 3 – 1988 Maldives coup attempt: The People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam, a Sri Lankan Tamilmilitant group, attempts to overthrow the Maldivian government. At the request of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the Indian military suppresses the coup attempt within 24 hours.
• November 6 – The 1988 Lancang–Gengma earthquakes kills at least 938 people when it strikes the China–Myanmar border region in Yunnan.
• November 8 – The United States Vice-president and Republican nominee George H. W. Bush defeats the Democratic nominee and Governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis, in the 1988 United States Presidential Election.
• November 15
  • In the Soviet Union, the uncrewed Shuttle Buran is launched by an Energia rocket on its maiden orbital spaceflight (the first and last space flight for the shuttle).
  • Israeli–Palestinian conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed at the Palestinian National Council meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253–46.
  • The first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched by Nico Roozen, Frans van der Hoff and ecumenicaldevelopment agencySolidaridad in the Netherlands.