The Apple Macintosh computer was unveiled during a Super Bowl advertisement.
Coup in Nigeria.
The Brink's-Mat Gold heist.
The US Federal Government shut down for three days.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was officially made a federal US holiday.
U.S. invasion of Grenada.
Beirut barracks blown up.
A bill to recognize Martin Luther King Jr's birthday as a national holiday passed the US Senate.
Cosmonauts Titov and Strekalov narrowly escaped the Soyuz T-10 spacecraft explosion.
Saint Kitts and Nevis gain their Independence from the British Crown.
Miss America crowned Vanessa Williams, the first black winner, in New York City.
Arnold Schwarzenegger gained US citizenship.
Michael Stewart, a victim of police brutality, was beaten and arrested in New York.
Guion S. Bluford becomes the first African American to travel to space.
The Military Stages a Coup in Upper Volta.
First solo helicopter flight around the world.
Orly Airport attack.
NASA's spacecraft, The Pioneer 10, became the first craft to exit the solar system.
The USSR's Venera 16 probe was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a trip to Venus.
In South Africa, a car bomb planted by anti-Apartheid fighters kills 19.
NASA's Challenger Space Shuttle was launched from Florida on its maiden voyage.
Shergar, the legendary Thoroughbred racehorse, was stolen by gunmen.
The first shaft of the world's longest tunnel is completed.
Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia.
Fifteen prominent Surinamese men were kidnapped and subsequently murdered over 3 days by the military government.
China adopts its constitution.
The International Money Fund loaned Mexico $3.8 billion to prevent its insolvency.
Sixty-six people die in a crush of fans leaving a UEFA Cup match between Spartak Moscow and Haarlem, of the Netherlands, at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Sony released the world's first CD player in Japan.
Members of a right-wing Lebanese militia massacre 1500-3000 people in two Beirut-area refugee camps.
The United States of America founded Space Command (SPACECOM), the first of its kind in the US Armed Forces.
The element Meitnerium (Mt) was first synthesised.
The musical 'Little Shop of Horrors' by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman premiered on Broadway at Orpheum Theater, New York, US.
NASA launched the Columbia Space Shuttle for its final test flight, STS-4.
A British Airways jumbo jet experiences a sudden total engine failure.
The US Supreme Court declared that no president could be sued for their choices while in office.
John Hinckley, who tried to kill President Reagan, was found not guilty on the grounds of insanity.
The US Supreme Court ruled that school is for everyone and banned discrimination based on citizenship.
The Falklands War ends.
Nearly one million people protested for the disarmament of nuclear weapons in Central Park, New York City.
Dictator Efraín Rios Montt declared himself the president of Guatemala.
Israeli forces invade Lebanon.
The Israeli ambassador to the U.K. is shot.
Spain officially became the 16th member of NATO.
Juan María Fernández y Krohn tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II with a bayonet.
The British Royal Navy sinks the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano.
The Royal Air Force began a series of attacks on Argentina's Air Force in the Falkland Islands.
John Hinckley Jr., President Reagan's failed assassin, pleaded 'not guilty' due to not being mentally sound at trial.
Great Britain claimed South Georgia Island after Argentina surrendered following the Falklands War.
The Falklands War broke out between Argentina and Britain over the Falkland Islands and lasted ten weeks.
