agree that the U.S.-backed contras fighting the government of Nicaragua should be disbanded and evicted from their bases in Honduras by December 5. August 8 Prime Minister of New Zealand David Lange resigns for health reasons and is replaced by Geoffrey Palmer. STS-28: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission. August 9 Toshiki Kaifu becomes Prime Minister of Japan. The asteroid 4769 Castalia is the first directly imaged by radar from Arecibo Observatory. The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, a measure to rescue the United States savings and loan industry is signed into law by President Bush, launching the largest federal rescue to date. August 10 – United States Army General Colin Powell became the first Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after being nominated by President Bush. August 13 – 1989 Alice Springs hot air balloon crash: An accident near Alice Springs, Australia kills thirteen people. August 15 – P. W. Botha resigns as State President of South Africa and F. W. de Klerk becomes the seventh and final holder of this office under this style. August 18 – Leading Colombian presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá. August 19 Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be Prime Minister, the first non-Communist in power in 42 years. The Pan-European Picnic, a peace demonstration, is held at the Austro-Hungarian border. August 19–21 – In response to the murder of a judge, a provincial police chief, and presidential candidate Galán, the authorities of Colombia arrest 11,000 suspected Colombian drug traffickers. August 20 In Beverly Hills, California, Lyle and Erik Menendez shoot their wealthy parents to death in the family's den. Marchioness disaster: Fifty-one people die when a pleasure boat collides with a dredger on the River Thames adjacent to Southwark Bridge in London. August 21 – The 21st anniversary of the crushing of the Prague Spring is commemorated by a demonstration in the city. August 23 Singing Revolution: Two million indigenous people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania join hands to demand freedom and independence from Soviet occupation, forming an uninterrupted 600 km human chain called the Baltic Way. Hungary removes border restrictions with Austria. 1989 Australian pilots' dispute: All of Australia's 1,645 domestic airline pilots resign over an airline's move to dismiss and sue them over a wage dispute. Murder of Yusef Hawkins in a