1st January » Aruba becomes independent of Curaçao, though it remains in free association with the Netherlands.
1st January » Spain and Portugal are admitted into the European Community.
11th January » The Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges named Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland called Queensland, Australia is officially opened.
12th January » Space Shuttle program: Congressman Bill Nelson lifts off from Kennedy Space Center aboard Space Shuttle Columbia named 'Columbia' on mission STS-61-C as a Mission Specialist.
13th January » A month-long violent struggle begins in Aden called Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.
16th January » First meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force.
19th January » The first IBM PC computer virus is released into the wild. A boot sector virus dubbed Brain (computer virus) called (c)Brain, it was created by the Farooq Alvi Brothers in Lahore, Pakistan, reportedly to deter piracy of the software they had written.
20th January » Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated as a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day called federal holiday for the first time.
23rd January » The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
24th January » Voyager 2 passes within convert 81500 km mi of Uranus.
25th January » The National Resistance Movement topples the government of Tito Okello in Uganda.
26th January » The Ugandan government of Tito Okello is overthrown by the National Resistance Army, led by Yoweri Museveni.
28th January » Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission Space Shuttle Challenger Space Shuttle Challenger disaster e.g explodes after liftoff killing all seven astronauts on board.
7th February » Twenty-eight years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
16th February » The Soviet Union Soviet liner MS Mikhail Lermontov 6 runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
19th February » Akkaraipattu massacre: the Sri Lankan Army massacres 80 Tamil people called Tamil farm workers the eastern province of Sri Lanka.
20th February » The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for 10 of those years.
21st February » 'The Legend of Zelda (video game) called The Legend of Zelda', the first game of The Legend of Zelda series, was released in Japan on the Famicom Disk System.
22nd February » Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
27th February » The United States Senate allows its debates to be television named televised on a trial basis.
28th February » Olof Palme, prime minister of Sweden, is Assassination of Olof Palme or assassinated in Stockholm.
7th March » Space Shuttle Challenger disaster Challenger Disaster: Divers from the USS Preserver ARS-8 6 locate the crew cabin of STS-51-L Challenger on the ocean floor.
15th March » Hotel New World Disaster: Thirty-three people die when the Hotel New World in Singapore collapses.
21st March » Debi Thomas became the first African-American to win the World Figure Skating Championship
24th March » The Loscoe gas explosion leads to new UK laws on landfill gas migration and gas protection on landfill sites.
27th March » A car bomb explodes at Russell Street Bombing or Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, killing one police officer and injuring 21 people.
31st March » Six metropolitan county councils are abolished in England.
1st April » Sector Kanda: Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) cadres attacks a number of police stations in Kathmandu, seeking to incite a popular rebellion.
2nd April » Alabama governor George Wallace, a former segregationist most widely known for the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door", announces that he will not seek a fifth four-year term and will retire from public life upon the end of his term in January 1987.
5th April » Three people are killed in the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing or bombing of the La Belle (discotheque) called La Belle Discothèque in West Berlin, Germany.
14th April » In retaliation for the April 5 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing e.g bombing in West Berlin that killed two U.S. servicemen, U.S. president Ronald Reagan orders Operation El Dorado Canyon or major bombing raids against Libya, killing 60 people.
14th April » The heaviest hailstones ever recorded (convert 1 kg lb) fall on the Gopalganj District (Bangladesh) Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
20th April » Pianist Vladimir Horowitz performs in his native Russia for the first time in 61 years.
25th April » Mswati III of Swaziland Mswati III is crowned List of kings of Swaziland King of Swaziland, succeeding his father Sobhuza II of Swaziland Sobhuza II.
27th April » The City of Prypiat as well as the surrounding areas are evacuated due to Chernobyl Disaster
28th April » The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise CVN-65 6 becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea CV-43 6.
28th April » High levels of radiation resulting from the Chernobyl disaster are detected at a nuclear power plant in Sweden, leading Soviet authorities to publicly announce the accident.
29th April » A fire at the Central library of the City of Los Angeles Public Library damages or destroys 400,000 books and other items.
29th April » Chernobyl disaster known as The Chernobyl Disaster: American and European Spy Satellites capture the ruins of the 4th Reactor at the Chernobyl Power Plant
2nd May » Chernobyl disaster e.g The Chernobyl Disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the Chernobyl disaster known as disaster
3rd May » Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one are injured after a bomb explodes in an airliner (Flight UL512) at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka.
7th May » Canadian Patrick Morrow becomes the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits.
12th May » NBC debuts the current well-known peacock as seen in the NBC 60th Anniversary Celebration.
15th May » Elio de Angelis, was killed while testing the Brabham BT55 at the Circuit Paul Ricard known as Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet, Var known as Le Castellet.
16th May » The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain.
19th May » The Firearm Owners Protection Act is signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
26th May » The European Community adopts the European flag.
27th May » 'Dragon Warrior e.g Dragon Quest', the game credited as setting the template for role-playing video games, is released in Japan.
4th June » Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
30th June » The Supreme Court of the United States known as U.S. Supreme Court rules in 'Bowers v. Hardwick' that states can outlaw Homosexuality e.g homosexual acts between consenting adults.
2nd July » Rodrigo Rojas DeNegri named Rodrigo Rojas and Carmen Gloria Quintana were burnt alive during a street demonstration against the Military government of Chile (1973–1990) known as dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile.
6th July » Davis Phinney becomes the first American cyclist to win a road stage of the Tour de France.
9th July » The Parliament of New Zealand passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 e.g Homosexual Law Reform Act LGBT rights in New Zealand or legalising homosexuality in New Zealand.
23rd July » In London called London, England, Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah, Duchess of York called Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.
6th August » A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimeters (13 inches) of rain in a day on Sydney called Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
20th August » In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service e.g U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide.
21st August » Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcano or volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a 20-kilometer range.
31st August » Aeroméxico Flight 498 collides with a Piper Cherokee named Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California named Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.
31st August » The Soviet Union Soviet passenger liner Ship Admiral Nakhimov ship 6 sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier 'Pyotr Vasev', killing 423.
5th September » Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is Aircraft hijacking named hijacked at Karachi International Airport.
7th September » Desmond Tutu becomes the first Black people known as black man to lead the Anglican Communion called Anglican Church in South Africa.
7th September » General Augusto Pinochet, president of Chile, escapes attempted assassination.
23rd September » Jim Deshaies of the Houston Astros sets the major-league record by striking out the first eight batters of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. This record was tied by Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets on September 15, 2014 against the Miami Marlins
3rd October » TASCC, a superconducting cyclotron at the Chalk River Laboratories, is officially opened.
10th October » An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale strikes San Salvador, El Salvador, killing an estimated 1,500 people.
11th October » Cold War: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and USSR known as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev Reykjavík Summit or meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe.
16th October » Reinhold Messner becomes the first person to summit all 14 Eight-thousanders.
19th October » Samora Machel, President of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, and 33 others die when their Tupolev 134 plane 1986 Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 crash known as crashes into the Lebombo Mountains.
19th October » The Boston Red Sox win Game 2 of the 1986 World Series versus the New York Mets 9-3 at Shea Stadium.
21st October » In Lebanon, pro-Iran kidnappers claim to have Iran–Contra Affair called abducted United States named American writer Edward Tracy (he is released in August 1991).
24th October » Nezar Hindawi is sentenced to 45 years in prison, the longest sentence handed down by a British court, for the attempted bombing on an El Al flight at Heathrow. After the verdict, the United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, claiming that Hi
27th October » The United Kingdom or British government suddenly deregulates financial markets, leading to a total restructuring of the way in which they operate in the country, in an event now referred to as the Big Bang (financial markets) called Big Bang.
29th October » British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opens the last stretch of the M25 motorway.
3rd November » Iran-Contra Affair: The Lebanon called Lebanese magazine 'Ash-Shiraa' reports that the United States has been secretly selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
3rd November » The Federated States of Micronesia gain independence from the United States of America.
6th November » Sumburgh disaster A British International Helicopters Boeing 234LR Chinook crashes sortfrac 2 1 2 miles east of Sumburgh Airport killing 45 people. It is the deadliest civilian helicopter crash on record.
13th November » The Compact of Free Association becomes law, granting the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands independence from the United States.
21st November » Iran-Contra Affair: National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary start to shred documents allegedly implicating them in the sale of weapons to Iran and channeling the proceeds to help fund the Contra (guerrillas) called Contra rebels in
22nd November » Mike Tyson defeats Trevor Berbick to become youngest Heavyweight champion in boxing history.
25th November » Iran Contra Affair: U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contras known as Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
25th November » The King Fahd Causeway is officially opened in the Persian Gulf.
26th November » Iran-Contra scandal: President of the United States called U.S. President Ronald Reagan announces the members of what will become known as the Tower Commission.
19th December » Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, releases Andrei Sakharov and his wife from exile in Nizhny Novgorod or Gorky.
23rd December » 'Rutan Voyager known as Voyager', piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without aerial refueling or aerial or ground refueling.
31st December » A Dupont Plaza Hotel arson e.g fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.