This Week in History

Tizane Navea-Rogers delves into The Independent's archive to see which world events made the front page of our paper

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From Malta comes a message that the Cold War is finally over.

Across the Atlantic, confrontation shapes headlines, from siege in Seattle to tensions over the Iraq War. In the courtroom, OJ Simpson is jailed over an armed robbery in Las Vegas, while Amanda Knox is convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher.

Across decades, 1-7 December charts turning points in politics, culture and public life - captured on The Independent's front pages as history unfolded.

4 December 1989 - Cold War is over

In a joint statement following their summit in Malta, US president George HW Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev announce that the Cold War is effectively over.

Coming less than a month after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the declaration signals a historic shift in global politics and the beginning of a new post-Soviet era.

6 December 1991 - Maxwell empire in freefall

Robert Maxwell's media empire faces collapse as the full scale of his financial misconduct begins to emerge. Following his death weeks earlier, investigators uncover massive pension fund misappropriation, forcing the breakup and sale of assets once central to his publishing power.

7 December 1996 - Major in crisis