1986 - What happened in 1986 ?
January 1986
Wednesday 01:
Spain and Portugal are admitted into the European Community.
Monday 13:
A month-long violent struggle began in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.
Monday 20:
The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.
Friday 24:
Voyager 2 passes within 50,679 miles of Uranus.
Tuesday 28:
Space Shuttle Challenger explodes just after takeoff killing all seven astronauts onboard.
February 1986
Friday 07:
28 years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
Sunday 09:
Comet Halley reaches its perihelion, the closest point to the Earth, during it's second visit to the solar system in the 20th century.
Tuesday 11:
Rights activist Anatoly Sharansky, released by the USSR, leaves the country.
Wednesday 19:
After waiting 37 years, the United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide.
Tuesday 25:
EDSA Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president.
March 1986
Sunday 09:
United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily-damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The bodies of all seven astronauts were still inside.
Thursday 20:
1986 – Jacques Chirac becomes Prime Minister of France
Thursday 27:
Car bomb explodes at Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, killing 1 police officer, Angela Taylor and injuring 21 people.
Monday 31:
Six metropolitan county councils are abolished in England
April 1986
Thursday 03:
IBM unveils the PC Convertible, their first laptop computer.
Tuesday 08:
Clint Eastwood is elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California receiving 72% of the vote (voter turnout was also doubled over the previous mayoral election).
Sunday 13:
Jack Nicklaus wins his sixth Masters Tournament
Saturday 26:
In Ukraine, a nuclear reactor at the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear plant explodes, creating the world's worst nuclear disaster.
Sunday 27:
Captain Midnight (John R. MacDougall) hijacks HBO's satellite and transmits his own message to HBO viewers.
May 1986
Friday 02:
The 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, opens.
Saturday 03:
In Bergen, Norway, Sandra Kim wins the thirty-first Eurovision Song Contest for Belgium singing "J'aime la vie" (I love life).
Monday 26:
The European Community adopts the European flag.
June 1986
Thursday 05:
A 52-year old man in Auburn, Washington, United States, dies after taking an Excedrin capsule laced with cyanide; this is the first of two Excedrin deaths.
Sunday 08:
Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria.
Monday 09:
The Rogers Commission releases its report on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
Sunday 22:
The All Jharkhand Students Union is founded, in order to fight for autonomy for tribal peoples in India.
Sunday 29:
Argentina wins the {{Wc|1986}}
July 1986
Tuesday 01:
In an interview with Playboy magazine, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke comes out as a bisexual.
Friday 18:
1986 - The motion picture Aliens opens in theaters.
Wednesday 23:
In London, Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.
August 1986
Wednesday 06:
A low pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimetres of rain in a day on Sydney.
Saturday 09:
1987 - Five people shot dead + Eleven injured as 19-year old Julian Knight opens fire @ random in Hoddle Street, Clifton Hill, Melbourne, VIC
Wednesday 20:
In Edmond, Oklahoma, US Postal employee Patrick Henry Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide.
Thursday 21:
Toxic gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing over 1700 people.
Thursday 28:
US Navy officer Jerry A. Whitworth is sentenced to 365 years imprisonment for espionage for the Soviet Union.
September 1986
Friday 05:
Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport.
Saturday 06:
In Istanbul, two Arab terrorists from Abu Nidal's terror organization kill 22 and wound six inside the Neve Shalom synagogue during Shabbat services.
Sunday 07:
1986 - Gen. Augusto Pinochet, president of Chile, escapes attempted assassination.
Monday 15:
First broadcast of the TV show LA Law on NBC.
Saturday 27:
Cliff Burton, bassist for Metallica, dies after being crushed by the band's tour bus during their European tour.
October 1986
Thursday 09:
United States District Court Judge Harry E. Claiborne becomes the fifth federal official to be removed from office through impeachment.
Sunday 19:
Samora Machel, President of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, and 33 others died when their Tupolev 134 plane crashed into the Lebombo Mountains.
Monday 20:
1989 - Brisbane bound coach collides with Semi - Traler North of Grafton NSW (Grafton Bus Crash)
Tuesday 21:
In Lebanon, pro-Iranian kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he will be released in August 1991).
Tuesday 28:
Jeremy Bamber is found guilty of the murder of his parents, sister and twin nephews and is given five life sentences.
November 1986
Monday 03:
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 seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
Sunday 09:
Romania: Ellection of Patriarch Teoctist Ar?pa?u/Theoctist
Tuesday 11:
Sperry Rand and Burroughs merge to form Unisys, becoming the second largest computer company.
Saturday 22:
Mike Tyson knocks-out Trevor Berbick in a round 2 fight, becoming the youngest world heavyweight-boxing champion (20 years, 4 months old).
Wednesday 26:
The New Yorker publishes Susan Sontag's AIDS short story, "The Way We Live Now"
December 1986
Wednesday 10:
Elie Wiesel wins the Nobel Peace Prize
Tuesday 23:
The Scaled Composites Voyager aircraft completes the first non-stop flight around the world without refueling.
Friday 26:
The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, airs its final episode after thirty-five years on the air
Wednesday 31:
A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.
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