1986 CE

The Chernobyl disaster becomes the world's worst nuclear power plant accident; the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster kills all seven crew members shortly after launch; Halley's Comet makes its closest approach to Earth; the 1986 FIFA World Cup is held in Mexico and won by Argentina; the People Power Revolution forces Ferdinand Marcos from power in the Philippines; Olof Palme is assassinated in Stockholm, Sweden; the Lake Nyos disaster kills 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock in Cameroon; the 1986 United States bombing of Libya targets Libya; and Mir is launched as the first modular space station.

In the 1980s, the 20th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 1 – Spain and Portugal enter the European Community, which becomes the European Union in 1993.source
  • January 1 – Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.source
  • 1 January – President H. M. Ershad founded his own political party named Jatiya Party.Bangladeshsource
  • January 29 – Yoweri Museveni is sworn in as President of Uganda.source
  • January – President Barre and the Ethiopian president Mengistu Haile Mariam meet in Djibouti to normalise relations between the two countries.Somaliasource
  • February 16 – Mário Soares wins the second round of the Portuguese presidential election.source
  • February 17 – The Single European Act is signed.source
  • February 19 – The United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide.source
  • 19 February: King Hussein of Jordan declares the failure of the Palestinian-Jordanian Joint Action Agreement signed in 1985. In his declaration, Hussein accuses the PLO of breaking their promise to recognise United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 and United Nations Security Council Resolution 338.Palestinesource
  • February 25 – People Power Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines is ousted from power and goes into exile in Hawaii after 20 years of dictatorial rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president and forms an interim government with Salvador Laurel becoming her Vice-president and Prime Minister.source
  • March 1 – Olof Palme's deputy Ingvar Carlsson becomes acting Prime Minister of Sweden. He is elected Prime Minister by the Swedish Riksdag on March 15.source
  • March 3 – Full independence of Australia - Australia Act 1986: This law formally severed all legal ties between Australia and the United Kingdom.source
  • April 16 – The United Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Netherlands sign a peace treaty, thus ending the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War, one of the longest wars in human history.source
  • April 17 – An alleged state of war lasting 335 years between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly declared peace, bringing an end to any hypothetical war that may have existed.source
  • May 8 – Óscar Arias is inaugurated into his first term as President of Costa Rica.source
  • 21 May - 1986 Dutch general election.Netherlandssource
  • 25 May – The 1986 Colombian presidential election is held.Colombiasource
  • June 8 – Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria.source
  • July 4 – The Statue of Liberty is reopened to the public after celebrating its centennial and an extensive refurbishment.source
  • 12 July - The Emir issues a decree for the formation of a 13th government.Kuwaitsource
  • 29 July: Argentine President Raúl Alfonsín and Brazilian President José Sarney sign economic agreements in Buenos Aires for mutual integration; the basis for the future creation of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur).Argentinasource
  • August 6 – Australian Democrats leader Don Chipp retires from federal parliament and is succeeded by Janine Haines, the first woman to lead a political party in Australia.source
  • September 28 – The Democratic Progressive Party is founded. It was part of the Tangwai movement in the new generation to challenge Kuomintang in Taiwan's one-party politics, and is currently one of only two parties to win presidential elections in Taiwan.source
  • October 1 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Goldwater–Nichols Act into law, making official the largest reorganization of the United States Department of Defense since the Air Force was made a separate branch of service in 1947.source
  • October 9 – United States District Court Judge Harry E. Claiborne becomes the fifth federal official to be removed from office through impeachment.source
  • October 11–12 – Cold War: Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe, which end in failure.source
  • October 21 – The Marshall Islands became an associated state under the Compact of Free Association.source
  • October 26 – The state funeral of President Samora Machel of Mozambique takes place in Maputo.source
  • November 1 – Queensland, Australia: Joh Bjelke-Petersen wins his final election as Premier of Queensland with 38.6% of the vote. He resigns on December 1, 1987, following revelations of his involvement with corruption released in the Fitzgerald Inquiry.source
  • November 3 – The Northern Mariana Islands enter in a political union with the United States. The island's government adopted its own constitution in 1977, and the constitutional government took office in January 1978. The covenant was fully implemented November 3, 1986, pursuant to Presidential Proclamation no. 5564, which conferred United States citizenship on legally qualified island residents.source
  • November 6 – Alex Ferguson is appointed as the new manager of Manchester United.source
  • Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's daughter Benazir returns from exile to lead the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in a campaign for fresh elections.Pakistansource

Conflict & Security

  • 8 January: Minor rioting breaks out in East Jerusalem due to a visit to the Temple Mount by members of the Knesset's Interior Committee to investigate complaints of illegal construction.Palestinesource
  • January 13–24 – South Yemen Civil War.source
  • January 25 – Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army Rebel group takes over Uganda after leading a five-year guerrilla war in which up to half a million people are believed to have been killed. They will later use January 26 as the official date to avoid a coincidence of dates with Dictator Idi Amin's 1971 coup.source
  • February 7 – The snap presidential election in the Philippines earlier announced by President Ferdinand Marcos is held amidst controversy, that paves the way for a chain of protests, culminating in the People Power Revolution.source
  • February 16 – Ouadi Doum air raid: The French Air Force raids the Libyan Ouadi Doum airbase in northern Chad.source
  • 19 February – Akkaraipattu massacre: Approximately 80 Sri Lankan Tamil farm workers were allegedly killed by the Sri Lankan Army personnel and their bodies were found burnt in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka.Sri Lankasource
  • February 22 – The People Power Revolution begins in the Philippines to remove President Ferdinand Marcos from office.source
  • February 25 – A three-day riot begins in Cairo, Egypt when around 25,000 conscripts of the Central Security Forces (CSF), staged protests in and around the city. Three luxury hotels, several nightclubs, restaurants and cars were looted and burned in the tourist districts near the Pyramids over several days. The riot became known as the Egyptian Conscripts Riot. At least 25 people died during the first day in Cairo, and an estimated 8,000 people, mostly conscripts in regions outside the city, were killed in total.source
  • April 1 – Sector Kanda: Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) cadres attack a number of police stations in Kathmandu, seeking to incite a popular rebellion.source
  • April 5 – 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing: The West Berlin discothèque La Belle, a known hangout for United States soldiers, is bombed, killing three and injuring 230; Libya is held responsible.source
  • April 11 – The infamous FBI shootout in Miami results in the death of two FBI agents and the wounding of five others.source
  • 15 April - U.S. aircraft bombs airfields and barracks within Libya.Libyasource
  • April 17 – The Hindawi affair begins when an Irish woman is found carrying explosives onto an El Al flight from London to Tel Aviv.source
  • May 16 – The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain.source
  • May 23 – Somali President Siad Barre is injured in a car accident in Mogadishu and taken to Saudi Arabia for treatment. Somali opposition groups see this as an opportunity to try to remove Barre, beginning the Somali Civil War.source
  • June 4 – Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.source
  • 13 June – U.N. Security Council resolution 585 was adopted unanimously and noted that, due to the existing circumstances, the presence of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) would continue to be essential for a peaceful settlement.Cyprussource
  • 3 July - The Emir dissolves the National Assembly and suspended several articles of the constitution to rule by decree, citing a foreign conspiracy.Kuwaitsource
  • September 6 – In Istanbul, two Abu Nidal terrorists kill 22 and wound 6 inside the Neve Shalom Synagogue during Shabbat services.source
  • 20 September – Two Internal Troops servicemen make an unsuccessful attempt to hijack Tu-134A aircraft in Ufa and flee to Pakistan.Soviet Unionsource
  • 22 October – 1986 Copa Libertadores finals: The first leg of the finals between Argentine club River Plate and Colombian club América de Cali is held at the Pascual Guerrero Stadium in Cali. América de Cali looses 1-2.Colombiasource
  • November 3 – Iran–Contra affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been selling weapons to Iran in secret, in order to secure the release of 7 American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.source
  • November 21 – Iran-Contra Affair: National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, start shredding documents implicating them in selling weapons to Iran and channeling the proceeds to help fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.source
  • December 16 – Jeltoqsan, mass anti-government protests, break out across the Kazakh SSR, resulting in the massacre of over 165 protesters.source
  • December 19 – Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov is permitted to return to Moscow after six years of internal exile.source
  • Mohammedan SC won 1986 Dhaka First Division League title while Abahani KC became runner-up.Bangladeshsource

Exploration & Expansion

  • March – Johor Circuit (Pasir Gudang), the second Malaysian race track circuit after Batu Tiga Circuit in Shah Alam, Selangor was officially opened.Malaysiasource
  • 11 April – The Plaza Shopping Centre in Palmerston North, then known as the PDC Plaza, is officially opened by Prime Minister David Lange.New Zealandsource
  • May 2 – Expo 86, the 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication, a World's fair, opens in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.source
  • August 11 – Tamil refugees are found drifting off the coast of NewfoundlandCanadasource
  • 16 September: The Cairo Amman Bank announces its intention to open a branch in Nablus, the first Arab bank to resume operations in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.Palestinesource
  • October 29 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher officially opens the M25 Motorway, which encircles Greater London, in a ceremony on the carriageway near Potters Bar. It became Europe's second longest orbital road upon completion, and provides the first and only full bypass of London.source
  • 28 November – The start of operation of Canadian Trade Office in Taipei in Taipei City.Taiwansource
  • 18–20 November – Chaim Herzog visits Singapore.Singaporesource
  • Launch of the second generation Vauxhall Carlton, largest model in the Vauxhall range. It will be sold as the Opel Omega on the continent, and all European versions of the car will be built in West Germany.United Kingdomsource
  • December 23 – Rutan Voyager completes the first nonstop circumnavigation of the earth by air without refueling in 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds.source
  • Cadbury Dairy Milk range adopts separate wrappers for different countries until 1992.source
  • c. August – the millionth council house to be sold under the right to buy scheme is sold to its tenants in Scotland, seven years after the scheme was launched in the United Kingdom.Scotlandsource

Religion & Belief

  • 30 March – The founding of Hitron.Taiwansource
  • April 13 – Pope John Paul II officially visits the Great Synagogue of Rome, the first time a modern Pope has visited a synagogue.source
  • 14 April – Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan was inaugurated.Bangladeshsource
  • 12 May – The Council of Ministers of the USSR introduces the State Acceptance of Production (gospriyomka).Soviet Unionsource
  • 29 June – St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast (Catholic) is elevated from serving as a Pro-Cathedral.Northern Irelandsource
  • July 23 – In London, the then Prince Andrew, Duke of York (later Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor) marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.source
  • September 7 – Desmond Tutu becomes the first black Anglican Church bishop in South Africa.source
  • 26 September – Prince Jean renounces the right of succession for himself and his descendants.Luxembourgsource
  • December 27 – Corazon Aquino is named as Time magazine's woman of the year.Philippinessource
  • The Colegio Cristiano El-Shaddai is founded in Barranquilla.Colombiasource
  • Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan: Tuanku JaafarMalaysiasource

Economy & Finance

  • 1 January – The New Israeli shekel (NIS) replaces the old shekel as Israel's official currency.Israelsource
  • February 3 – Pixar is founded by John Lasseter along with Steve Jobs.source
  • February 28: The Cruzado Plan, an economic plan that establishes a price freeze, is launched. The Brazilian currency is now called the Cruzado, which is equivalent to one thousand Cruzeiros.Brazilsource
  • March 13 – Microsoft Corporation holds its initial public offering of stock shares.source
  • April: The Japanese Equal Employment Opportunity Law went into effect. This law prohibits gender discrimination with respect to vocational training, fringe benefits, retirement, and dismissal, and urges firms to try to equalise opportunity with regard to recruitment, hiring, job assignments, and promotion.Japansource
  • Gaddafi announces plans for a unified African gold dinar currency, to challenge the dominance of the US Dollar and Euro currencies. The African dinar would have been measured directly in terms of gold.Libyasource
  • 3 September – Ling Liong Sik became MCA President.Malaysiasource
  • September 4 – Eusko Alkartasuna, the Basque Social Democratic Party, is created in Vitoria-Gasteiz.source
  • September 6 – The Big Mac Index is introduced in The Economist newspaper as a semi-humorous international measure of purchasing power parity.source
  • 19 November – The law "On Individual Labor Activity" is adopted, approving the use of private enterprises to manufacture some consumer goods.Soviet Unionsource
  • 27 November - Kuwait Stock Exchange inaugurated the main trading hall.Kuwaitsource
  • Average per capita income in Japan exceeds that in the United States.source
  • The Central Union of Workers is founded.Colombiasource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 11 – The Gateway Bridge in Brisbane, Australia, at this time the world's longest prestressed concrete free-cantilever bridge, is opened.source
  • January 20 – The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.source
  • February 25 – The 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union opens in Moscow. The General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev introduces the keywords of his mandate to the audience: Glasnost and Perestroika.source
  • 22 March – The P. Ramlee Memorial at Jalan Dedap, Taman P. Ramlee, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur was opened to the public.Malaysiasource
  • April 21 – Lorimar-Telepictures launches as a mass media company.source
  • May 16 – Paramount Pictures releases Top Gun.source
  • 20 May – The designing of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant sarcophagus starts.Soviet Unionsource
  • June 7 - Washington DC metro opens Falls Church, Vienna, and Dunn Loring train stations on the Orange line.source
  • June 23 – Eric Thomas develops LISTSERV, the first email list management software.source
  • August 6 – A low-pressure system moving from South Australia and redeveloping off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 mm of rain in a day on Sydney.source
  • August 21 – A power failure hits Metro Manila and most of Luzon at evening, which is purportedly caused by a malfunction at the Ambuklao hydroelectric plant in Benguet. Power in most areas of the capital is restored overnight, but remains disrupted in the rest of Luzon by early morning of the following day.Philippinessource
  • October 3 – TASCC, a superconducting cyclotron, officially opens at Chalk River Laboratories.source
  • 3 October – Raffles City, a mixed-use development, is officially opened. During the opening, several proposals to revamp tourism attractions are announced, including upgrading Haw Par Villa, enhancing historic areas like Chinatown and Bugis, a heritage link in the city, revamp of Sentosa and Fort Canning Park, and hosting more sports and cultural events.Singaporesource
  • 6 October – TRT 2, the second TV channel, starts airing.Turkeysource
  • October 9 – News Corporation completes its acquisition of the Metromedia group of companies, thereby launching the Fox Broadcasting Company.source
  • 23 October – The beginning of experimental broadcasts of the Israeli Channel 2.Israelsource
  • October 30 – The National Park Passport Stamps program begins in the United States.source
  • November – Giant's Causeway and the Causeway Coast is included in the first tranche of UNESCO World Heritage Sites designated in the UKNorthern Irelandsource
  • The first commercially available 3D printer is sold.source
  • Jardim Botânico Nacional Grandvaux Barbosa, Cape Verde's only botanical garden was created.Cape Verdesource

Science & Discovery

  • January 24 – The Voyager 2 space probe makes its first encounter with Uranus.source
  • 7 February — Following Lindy Chamberlain's identification of a baby's jacket found near Uluru as being similar to the one worn by her baby Azaria, her case takes a new turn.Australiasource
  • February 9 – Halley's Comet reaches its perihelion, the closest point to the Sun, during its second visit to the Solar System in the 20th century (the first was in 1910).source
  • February 11 – Human rights activist Natan Sharansky is released by Soviet authorities and leaves the country for Israel.source
  • February 15 – The Beechcraft Starship makes its maiden flight.source
  • February 19 – The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station.source
  • 20 February – The first component of the Mir space station - the core module - is launched.Soviet Unionsource
  • Ousted Marcos and his family are transported through airlift by four United States helicopters to Clark Air Base.Philippinessource
  • March 8 – The Japanese Suisei probe flies by Halley's Comet, studying its UV hydrogen corona and solar wind.source
  • March 13 – In a Black Sea incident, American cruiser USS Yorktown and the destroyer USS Caron, claiming the right of innocent passage, enter the Soviet territorial waters near the southern Crimean Peninsula.source
  • 13 March – 1986 Black Sea incident: American cruiser USS Yorktown and the destroyer USS Caron, claiming the right of innocent passage, enter the Soviet territorial waters near the southern Crimean Peninsula.Soviet Unionsource
  • March 28: The second Brazilian communications satellite, Brasilsat A2, is launched by a European Ariane 3 rocket from the Kourou launch base in French Guiana.Brazilsource
  • Halley's Comet reaches the closest point to the Earth during its second visit to the Solar System in the 20th century. The next time it will be seen is predicted for 2061.United Statessource
  • April 13 – The first child born to a non-related surrogate mother is born.source
  • 16 April – Bejski Commission publishes its report.Israelsource
  • April 18 – Titan 34D-9 explodes just after launch while carrying the final KH-9 satellite.source
  • May 12 – NBC unveils its current peacock logo at the finale of its 60th anniversary special.source
  • June 5 – Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe agree to the establishment of the Limpopo Basin Permanent Technical Committee.South Africasource
  • July 2 – Walt Disney Pictures releases the company's 26th animated film, The Great Mouse Detective.source
  • July - Launch of the second generation BMW 7 Series.Germanysource
  • August 6 – Metroid is released by Nintendo for the Famicom Disk System.source
  • August 31 – The cargo ship Khian Sea departs from the docks of Philadelphia, carrying 14,000 tons of toxic waste. It wanders the seas for the next 16 months trying to find a place to dump its cargo. The waste is later dumped in Haiti.source
  • 22 September – Australia-India test cricket match ends in a tie at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai, becoming only the second tied test in the history.Indiasource
  • October 3 – A hybrid solar eclipse was visible off the coast of Iceland, and was the 53rd solar eclipse of Solar Saros 124.source
  • December 14 – Rutan Voyager, an experimental aircraft designed by Burt Rutan and piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, begins its flight around the world from Edwards Air Force Base in the United States.source
  • December 31 – Soviet submarine Krasnoyarsk (K-173) is commissioned.source

Health & Medicine

  • 24 January – Raviv Ullman, Israeli-born American actor.Israelsource
  • 25 January – Mikhail Gorbachev proposes a 15-year plan on abolition of nuclear weapons.Soviet Unionsource
  • January – Belfast City Hospital tower-block is opened.Northern Irelandsource
  • February 7 – Anti-Duvalier protest movement: President Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc") flees Haiti, ending 28 years of family rule.source
  • 14 April – Sudirman Arshad held an open-air concert on Chow Kit Road, which was the first time ever that a street concert drew a 100,000-person crowd on a Monday night.Malaysiasource
  • May 25 – Hands Across America: At least 5,000,000 people form a human chain from New York City to Long Beach, California, to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness.source
  • June 12 – South Africa declares a nationwide state of emergency.source
  • 17 June – The National University Hospital is officially opened.Singaporesource
  • August 20 – In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his coworkers before committing suicide.source
  • August 21 – A radio journalist in Albay reports that a number of children has fallen ill after being provided UNICEF's vitamin A capsules through a provincewide research program by the Ministry of Health and two United States-based groups, which has begun on July 30 to address vitamin A deficiency in the Bicol Region. The subsequent widespread panic in the region leads to the project being indefinitely postponed since August 30. By mid-September, reportedly there are 85 alleged cases of side effects and two deaths from vitamin A. The ministry, following their investigation, would later deny the accusations and affirm the safety of the capsules.Philippinessource
  • 22 October: The Israeli Hadassah Medical Organization establishes a liaison office with the Israeli Civil Administration to improve healthcare in the occupied Palestinian territories. The same day, the Israeli government appoints Tahir Hijazi as Mayor of Anabta.Palestinesource
  • October 26 – Bus deregulation goes into effect in the United Kingdom, except Greater London and Northern Ireland.source
  • November 1 – Sandoz chemical spill: A major environmental disaster near Basel, Switzerland pollutes the Rhine, when an agrochemical storehouse catches on fire.source
  • Diet sessions: 104th (regular session opened in December 1985, to May 22), 105th (extraordinary, June 2), 106th (special, July 22 to July 25), 107th (extraordinary, September 11 to December 20), 108th (regular, December 29 to 1987, May 27)Japansource

Crime & Justice

  • February 10 – The Maxi Trial (Italian: Maxiprocesso) begins in the bunker room of the Ucciardone prison (Palermo). It will be the largest trial against the Sicilian Mafia.source
  • February 27 – The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.source
  • February 28 – Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme is shot to death on his way home from the cinema in Stockholm, Sweden.source
  • March 5 – President Aquino frees four suspected communist leaders, including Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison and alleged NPA founder Bernabe Buscayno, eventually releasing all political prisoners of the Marcos administration.Philippinessource
  • 14 March: The body of Sergeant David Manos, an Israeli soldier who disappeared in Israel in late 1984, is discovered in the West Bank. Four Palestinians from Deir Ballut would later be charged with his kidnapping and murder.Palestinesource
  • March 26 – An article in The New York Times charges that Kurt Waldheim, former United Nations Secretary-General and candidate for president of Austria, may have been involved in Nazi war crimes during World War II.source
  • August 19 – Two weeks after it was stolen, the Picasso painting The Weeping Woman is found in a locker at the Spencer Street Station in Melbourne, Australia.source
  • 19 September – The completion of Yunlin Prison expansion in Huwei Township, Yunlin County.Taiwansource
  • November 18 – Greater Manchester Police announce that they will search for the bodies of 2 missing children (who both vanished more than 20 years ago) after the Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley confess to 2 more murders.source
  • 30 November – The first episode of Crimewatch is shown on SBC 5.Singaporesource
  • 17 December – Pablo Escobar's Medellín cartel murders El Espectador director and journalist Guillermo Cano Isaza. In the following 24 hours, the Colombian press at large protested his murder by not airing any radio or television news nor printing any print media.Colombiasource
  • December 20 – Three African Americans are assaulted by a group of white teens in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.source
  • 24 December: The Argentine National Congress passes the Full stop law (Ley de Punto Final), which effectively halts further investigations and prosecutions of individuals involved in crimes committed during the dictatorship, limiting legal actions to those indicted within 60 days of the law's enactment.Argentinasource
  • Opus Pro, a Latvian hard rock group, is established.source
  • Kazma SC win the Kuwait Premier League.Kuwaitsource
  • Sultan of Pahang: Sultan Ahmad ShahMalaysiasource

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 28 – Space Shuttle Challenger disaster – STS-51-L: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch from the United States, killing the crew of seven astronauts, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.source
  • February 16 – The Soviet liner MS Mikhail Lermontov sinks in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.source
  • 17 February – Queronque rail accidentChilesource
  • March 9 – United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger; the bodies of all seven astronauts are still inside.source
  • 15 March – Hotel New World collapses, killing 33 people and leaving 17 injured.Singaporesource
  • March 27 – Russell Street Bombing: A car bomb explodes at Russell Street Police Headquarters in Russell Street, Melbourne, killing a woman constable, the first Australian policewoman to be killed in the line of duty.source
  • March 31 – Mexicana Flight 940 crashes near Maravatío, Mexico, killing 167.source
  • April 2 – A bomb explodes on a Trans World Airlines flight from Rome to Athens, killing 4 people.source
  • April 14 – Hailstones weighing 1 kg fall on Gopalganj District, Bangladesh, killing 92.source
  • April 15 – Operation El Dorado Canyon: At least 15 people die after United States planes bomb targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Benghazi region.source
  • April 26 – Chernobyl disaster: A mishandled safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union "killed at least 4,056 people and damaged almost $7 billion of property". Radioactive fallout from the accident is concentrated near Belarus, Ukraine and Russia and at least 350,000 people are forcibly resettled away from these areas. After the accident, "traces of radioactive deposits unique to Chernobyl were in nearly every country in the northern hemisphere".source
  • May 23 – President Barre suffers life-threatening injuries in an automobile collision near Mogadishu, when the car that was transporting him smashed into the back of a bus during a heavy rainstorm. He was treated in a hospital in Saudi Arabia for head injuries, broken ribs and shock over a period of a month.Somaliasource
  • May 25 – The Bangladeshi double-decked ferry Shamia capsizes in the Meghna River, southern Barisal, Bangladesh, killing more than 500 by some estimates.source
  • 25 May – 1986 Bangladesh maritime disaster, double-decked ferry Shamia capsizes in the Meghna River, southern Barisal, Bangladesh, killing at least 600.Bangladeshsource
  • 28 May: The Mantilla-class patrol vessel PNA Prefecto Derbes of the Prefectura Naval Argentina, set fire and sink the Taiwanese-flagged trawler Chian-der 3 at a location 24 nautical miles (44 km; 28 mi) outside the United Kingdom's Total Exclusion Zone, which covers a circle of 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) from the centre of the Falklands Islands. Two Taiwanese fishermen are killed, while four others are injured.Argentinasource
  • June 9 – The Rogers Commission releases its report on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.source
  • June 14 – Fantasyland's Mindbender derails and kills three people.source
  • August 31 – The Soviet passenger liner SS Admiral Nakhimov collides with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev in the Black Sea and sinks almost immediately, killing 398.source
  • August 31 – Aeroméxico Flight 498, a Douglas DC-9, collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 82 (67 on both aircraft and 15 on the ground).source
  • 31 August – Sinking of SS Admiral Nakhimov in the Black Sea, 423 deaths.Soviet Unionsource
  • September 5 – Pan Am Flight 73, with 358 people on board, is hijacked at Karachi International Airport by four Abu Nidal terrorists.source
  • September 7 – City 2 Television (formerly BBC 2) is dissolved by Aquino.Philippinessource
  • 26 September – The closing of Sankuaicuo Station in Sanmin District, Kaohsiung City.Taiwansource
  • October 19 – Mozambican President Samora Machel's plane crashes in South Africa, killing him and 33 and others.source
  • October 22 – In New York City, WNBC Radio's traffic helicopter crashes into the Hudson River, killing traffic reporter Jane Dornacker. The last words heard on-the-air are Dornacker's screams of terror, "Hit the water! Hit the water! Hit the water!"source
  • December 4 – The MV Amazon Venture oil tanker begins leaking oil while at the port of Savannah in the United States, resulting in an oil spill of approximately 500,000 gal.source
  • December 31 – Dupont Plaza Hotel arson: A hotel fire in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.source

Climate & Environment

  • 30 March–6 April – The 1986 Asia Cup is hosted in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka wins, beating Pakistan in the final.Sri Lankasource
  • 23 May: Meron Benvenisti's West Bank Data Base Project publishes a report warning that conditions in the Gaza Strip were significantly deteroriating.Palestinesource
  • June – Construction of the Oosterscheldekering, the world's largest openable storm surge flood barrier, is completed in the Netherlands.source
  • August 16 – Typhoon Wayne formed over the South China Sea, going on to become one of the longest-lived tropical cyclones at 21 days, and kill 490.source
  • August 21 – The Lake Nyos disaster, a limnic eruption, occurs in Cameroon, killing nearly 2,000 people.source
  • 21 August – Lake Nyos disaster: A large amount of carbon dioxide erupts from Lake Nyos resulting in the deaths of between 1,700 and 1,800 people.Cameroonsource
  • September 2 – Typhoon Miding hits northern Luzon killing 36 people.Philippinessource
  • September 13 – The 6.0 Mw Kalamata earthquake shook southern Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). The shock left at least 20 dead, 300 injured, and caused $5 million in damage.source
  • 13 September – The 6.0 Mw Kalamata earthquake shook the area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). The shock left 20 dead and caused $5 million in damage.Greecesource
  • October 10 – The 5.7 Mw San Salvador earthquake shook San Salvador, El Salvador with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Up to 1,500 people were killed.source
  • November 30: An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter Scale hits the municipality of João Câmara, Rio Grande do Norte.Brazilsource
  • December 7 – A magnitude 5.7 earthquake destroys most of the Bulgarian town of Strajica, killing 2 people.source
  • Sultan of Kelantan: Sultan Ismail PetraMalaysiasource
  • List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 1986Netherlandssource

Culture & Society

  • 1 January – The establishment of National Museum of Natural Science in North District, Taichung City.Taiwansource
  • January 21 – Conservative protestors attacked a mock shanty town that had been erected on the Green at Dartmouth College as part of anti-apartheid protests.source
  • March 3 – The first paper is published describing the atomic force microscope invented the previous year by Gerd Binnig, Calvin Quate and Christopher Berger.source
  • March 24 – The 58th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, with Out of Africa winning Best Picture.source
  • 30 March: Land Day demonstrations are held across the occupied Palestinian territories.Palestinesource
  • April 29 – The diamond jubilee of Hirohito is held at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.source
  • 3 May – Representing Luxembourg, Sherisse Laurence finishes third in the Eurovision Song Contest 1986 with the song Sherisse Laurence.Luxembourgsource
  • May 26 – Swedish rock band Europe releases its third studio album, The Final Countdown. The title track would become one of the band's most notable works, achieving global success.source
  • June 22 – In one of the most famous FIFA World Cup matches, Argentinian football player Diego Maradona scores one handball goal (nicknamed the "Hand of God") and then dribbles past the entire English football team to score a second goal (nicknamed "The Goal of the Century") with Argentina winning 2–1 against England.source
  • 22 June: In one of the most famous FIFA World Cup matches, Argentinian football player Diego Maradona scores a handball goal (nicknamed the "Hand of God") and then dribbles past the entire English football team to score a second goal (nicknamed "The Goal of the Century") with Argentina winning 2–1 against England.Argentinasource
  • June 29 – Argentina defeats West Germany 3–2 in the final to win the 1986 World Cup at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.source
  • July 5 – 20 – The inaugural Goodwill Games are held in Moscow, marking the first international event in a decade for competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.source
  • July 11 – The New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Act decriminalizes consensual sex between men from the age of 16.source
  • 25 August – Shahjalal University of Science and Technology was established.Bangladeshsource
  • September 1 – Jordan University of Science and Technology is established in Jordan.source
  • 5 September – The Soviet leg of the World Chess Championship 1986 opens in Leningrad.Soviet Unionsource
  • October 9 – The Phantom of the Opera, the longest running Broadway show in history, opens at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.source
  • October 16 – The International Olympic Committee chooses Albertville, France to be the host city of the 1992 Winter Olympics and Barcelona, Spain to be the host city of the 1992 Summer Olympics. The IOC also announces that the summer and winter games will separate with the winter games on every even, common year; and the summer games on every leap year starting from 1992.source
  • October 25 – A routine slow roller slips through Bill Buckner's legs, allowing the New York Mets to complete a stunning comeback in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series against the Boston Red Sox. The Mets won 6–5 in 10 innings.source
  • October 27 – The New York Mets win 4 games to 3 in the 1986 World Series against the Boston Red Sox.source
  • 16 November – Señorita Colombia 1986 is held.Colombiasource
  • December 6 – Johnny Hallyday released his 35th album Gang.source
  • The band Sweet Children (now known as Green Day) was formed by the lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong.source
  • The Cape Verdean Football Championship was postponed.Cape Verdesource

Births

Deaths

  • January 24 – L. Ron Hubbard, 74, American author (Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, Battlefield Earth), founder of the Church of Scientology, complications from a stroke.source
  • February 8 – Hinton train collision: A Canadian National train heading westbound collides with a Via Rail train in Hinton, Alberta; 23 people are killed and 71 injured in the accident.source
  • 2 March: Mayor of Nablus Zafer al-Masri is assassinated by Palestinian extremists.Palestinesource
  • March 6 – Georgia O'Keeffe, 98, American painter.source
  • 13 March – M-19 leader Álvaro Fayad is killed in a military operation.Colombiasource
  • March 30 – James Cagney, 86, American actor (Angels with Dirty Faces, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Love Me or Leave Me), heart attack.source
  • April 14 – Simone de Beauvoir, 78, French writer, feminist and philosopher, pneumonia.source
  • April 22 – Mircea Eliade, 79, Romanian-born American writer and historian.source
  • 3 May – 21 people are killed and 41 are injured in an LTTE bombing of an Air Lanka flight set to fly to the Maldives. The attack was condemned by France and the United Kingdom.Sri Lankasource
  • 10 May – Q. M. Rahman, government official (born 1906)Bangladeshsource
  • May 27 – Islamic scholars Isma'il and Lois Lamya al-Faruqi are murdered in their home in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, drawing attention due to their academic prominence and the brutality of the attack.source
  • June 14 – Jorge Luis Borges, 86, Argentine writer, liver cancer.source
  • June 25 – Jenifer Strait, 13, daughter of country music singer George Strait.source
  • July 25 – Vincente Minnelli, 83, American film director.source
  • November 8 – Vyacheslav Molotov, 96, Soviet politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs.source
  • November 29 – Cary Grant, 82, English-American actor (North by Northwest, None but the Lonely Heart, Penny Serenade), stroke.source
  • December 29 – Andrei Tarkovsky, 54, Soviet film director (Mirror, Andrei Rublev, Stalker), lung cancer.source
  • December 29 – Harold Macmillan, 92, British politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.source