February 25 – The
European Court of Human Rights rules that teachers who cane, belt or tawse children against the wishes of their parents are in breach of the Human Rights Convention.[3]
Spain becomes the 16th member of
NATO[19] and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in
1955.
Indianapolis 500:
1973 winner
Gordon Johncock wins his second race over
1979 winner
Rick Mears by 0.16 seconds. Leading to the closest finish to this date,[19] Mears draws alongside Johncock with a lap remaining, after erasing a seemingly insurmountable advantage of more than 11 seconds in the final 10 laps, in what
Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian
Donald Davidson and Speedway public address announcer
Tom Carnegie later call the greatest moment in the track's history.
July 16 – In New York City, the Reverend
Sun Myung Moon is sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined $25,000 for tax fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
A Lebanese Christian militia (the
Phalange)
kill thousands of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut; the massacre is a response to the assassination of the president-elect, Bachir Gemayel, four days earlier.
September 26 –
Thermals take Australian parachutist Rich Collins up to 2,800 metres (9,200 ft) during a jump; he almost blacks out due to lack of oxygen. He releases his main
parachute to fall to a lower altitude and lands by his reserve parachute.[43]
September 29 The
Chicago Tylenol murders occur when an unknown killer laces Tylenol with Potassium Cyanide that kills seven in Chicago, Illinois.
November 12 – In the
Soviet Union, former
KGB head
Yuri Andropov is selected to become the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding the late
Leonid I. Brezhnev who had died two days earlier.
University of California, Berkeley executes "
The Play" in a
college football game against
Stanford. Completing a wacky 57-yard kickoff return that includes five laterals, Kevin Moen runs through Stanford band members who have prematurely come onto the field. His touchdown stands and California wins 25–20.
Al Ahly SC won the African Cup of Champions club (today known as the CAF Champions League) for the first time after defeating Ghanaian Asante Kotoko
November 29 –
Michael Jackson releases his sixth studio album, Thriller, in the United States, which will go on to be the best-selling album of all time at 110 million units sold worldwide.
December 16 – The
United Freedom Front bombs an office of
South African Airways in Elmont, NY and an
IBM office in Harrison, NY.[50] Two police officers suffer hearing damage. In March 1984, the UFF claims responsibility for the IBM building bombing, stating that the company was targeted because of its business in South Africa under
Apartheid.[51]
The population of the
People's Republic of China alone exceeds 1 billion, making China the first nation to have a population of more than a billion.[52]
^Diamond, Dan, ed. (2008). "This Date in Stanley Cup History".
Total Stanley Cup: 2008 Playoff Media Guide(PDF). Dan Diamond and Associates, Inc. p. 95. Archived from
the original(PDF) on March 26, 2009. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
^Tapio Tolmunen (2002). Mutkatonta matkaa vuodesta 1982. Raka spår från år 1982 (in Finnish). Helsinki: Helsingin kaupungin liikennelaitos. pp. 43–44.
ISBN951-8926-84-0.
February 25 – The
European Court of Human Rights rules that teachers who cane, belt or tawse children against the wishes of their parents are in breach of the Human Rights Convention.[3]
Spain becomes the 16th member of
NATO[19] and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in
1955.
Indianapolis 500:
1973 winner
Gordon Johncock wins his second race over
1979 winner
Rick Mears by 0.16 seconds. Leading to the closest finish to this date,[19] Mears draws alongside Johncock with a lap remaining, after erasing a seemingly insurmountable advantage of more than 11 seconds in the final 10 laps, in what
Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian
Donald Davidson and Speedway public address announcer
Tom Carnegie later call the greatest moment in the track's history.
July 16 – In New York City, the Reverend
Sun Myung Moon is sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined $25,000 for tax fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
A Lebanese Christian militia (the
Phalange)
kill thousands of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut; the massacre is a response to the assassination of the president-elect, Bachir Gemayel, four days earlier.
September 26 –
Thermals take Australian parachutist Rich Collins up to 2,800 metres (9,200 ft) during a jump; he almost blacks out due to lack of oxygen. He releases his main
parachute to fall to a lower altitude and lands by his reserve parachute.[43]
September 29 The
Chicago Tylenol murders occur when an unknown killer laces Tylenol with Potassium Cyanide that kills seven in Chicago, Illinois.
November 12 – In the
Soviet Union, former
KGB head
Yuri Andropov is selected to become the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding the late
Leonid I. Brezhnev who had died two days earlier.
University of California, Berkeley executes "
The Play" in a
college football game against
Stanford. Completing a wacky 57-yard kickoff return that includes five laterals, Kevin Moen runs through Stanford band members who have prematurely come onto the field. His touchdown stands and California wins 25–20.
Al Ahly SC won the African Cup of Champions club (today known as the CAF Champions League) for the first time after defeating Ghanaian Asante Kotoko
November 29 –
Michael Jackson releases his sixth studio album, Thriller, in the United States, which will go on to be the best-selling album of all time at 110 million units sold worldwide.
December 16 – The
United Freedom Front bombs an office of
South African Airways in Elmont, NY and an
IBM office in Harrison, NY.[50] Two police officers suffer hearing damage. In March 1984, the UFF claims responsibility for the IBM building bombing, stating that the company was targeted because of its business in South Africa under
Apartheid.[51]
The population of the
People's Republic of China alone exceeds 1 billion, making China the first nation to have a population of more than a billion.[52]
^Diamond, Dan, ed. (2008). "This Date in Stanley Cup History".
Total Stanley Cup: 2008 Playoff Media Guide(PDF). Dan Diamond and Associates, Inc. p. 95. Archived from
the original(PDF) on March 26, 2009. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
^Tapio Tolmunen (2002). Mutkatonta matkaa vuodesta 1982. Raka spår från år 1982 (in Finnish). Helsinki: Helsingin kaupungin liikennelaitos. pp. 43–44.
ISBN951-8926-84-0.