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Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). It was designated the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events of 1986
January
February
- February 2 - One of Australia's worst crimes, the Anita Cobby murder, occurs.
- February 7 - President Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc") flees Haiti, ending 28 years of family rule.
- February 9 - Comet Halley reaches its perihelion, the closest point to the Sun, during its second visit to the solar system in the 20th Century.
- February 11 - Human rights activist Anatoly Shcharansky is released by the Soviet Union and leaves the country.
- February 16 - The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
- February 16 - The French Air Force raids the Libyan Ouadi Doum airbase in northern Chad.
- February 19 - The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station.
- February 19 - After waiting 37 years, the United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide.
- February 25 - People Power Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines goes into exile in Hawaii after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president, first as an interim president. Salvador Laurel becomes her Vice President.
- February 25 - Egyptian military police, protesting against bad salaries, enter 4 luxury hotels near the pyramids, set fire to them and loot them.
- February 27 - The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
- February 28 - Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated on his way home from the cinema.
March
- March 3 - The first paper is published describing the Atomic force microscope, invented the previous year by Gerd Binnig, Calvin Quate and Christophe Berger. [1]
- March 4 - The Today national tabloid newspaper is launched in the United Kingdom, pioneering the use of computer photosetting and full-colour offset printing at a time when British national newspapers still use Linotype machines and letterpress.
- March 8 - Japanese spacecraft Suisei flies by Halley's Comet, studying its UV hydrogen corona and solar wind.
- March 9 - United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily-damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger; the bodies of all 7 astronauts are still inside.
- March 13 - Irish racemare Dawn Run wins the Cheltenham Gold Cup at Cheltenham, England, becoming the first racehorse to complete the Champion Hurdle, Cheltenham Gold Cup double.
- March 25 - The 58th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, California with Out of Africa winning Best Picture
- 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.
- March 27 - A car bomb explodes at Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, killing a police officer.
- March 31 - A fire devastates Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, England.
- March 31 - 167 killed, Mexicana Boeing 727 jetliner crashed at Maravatio, Mexico. [2]
April
- April 2 - A bomb explodes on a Trans World Airlines flight from Rome to Athens, killing 4 people.
- April 4 - Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, Inc. is founded.
- April 5 - 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing: The West Berlin discotheque, a known hangout for United States soldiers, is bombed, killing 3 and injuring 230; Libya is held responsible.
- April 13 - Pope John Paul II officially visits the Synagogue of Rome, the first time a modern Pope had visited a synagogue.
- April 14 - Hailstones weighing 2.2 lb (1 kg) fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
- April 15 - At least 15 people die after United States planes bomb targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Benghazi region as part of Operation El Dorado Canyon.
- April 17 - British journalist John McCarthy is kidnapped in Beirut (released in August 1991) - 3 others are found dead; Revolutionary Cells (RZ) claims responsibility in retaliation for the U.S. bombing of Libya.
- April 17 - A treaty ends the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly.
- April 17 - The Hindawi Affair begins when an Irishwoman is found unknowingly carrying explosives onto an El Al flight from London to Tel Aviv.
- April 21 - Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's secret vault on The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault, discovering only a bottle of moonshine.
- April 26 - In Ukraine, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear plant explodes, creating the world's worst nuclear disaster. 31 are killed directly by the incident, many more die from cancer in later years, many thousands more are exposed to significant amounts of radioactive material, and vast territories in Ukraine and Belarus are rendered uninhabitable.
- April 27 - "Captain Midnight" interrupts HBO satellite feed.
- April 29 - Roger Clemens set the record for the most strikeouts in a nine inning MLB game, striking out 20 batters.
May
- May 2 - The 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada opens.
- May 7 - The European Champion Clubs' Cup was won by Steaua Bucharest on penalties in a final against FC Barcelona.
- 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.
- May 24 - The Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup beating the Calgary Flames in 5 games.
- 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.
- Bangladeshi double decked ferry Shamia capsized Meghna River, southern Barisal, Bangladesh, killing at least 600.
- May 26 - The European Community adopts the European flag.
- May 31 - The 1986 FIFA World Cup begins in Mexico.
June
July
August
- August 6 - A low pressure system moving from South Australia and redeveloping off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimetres (12.9 in) of rain in a day on Sydney.
- August 6 - In Louisville, Kentucky, William J. Schroeder, the second person to receive an artificial heart, dies after 620 days.
- August 6 - Ireland's first American Football National Championship game Shamrock Bowl I was played by Craigavon Cowboys and Dublin Celts. Craigavon beat Dublin 6-0.
- August 6 - Australian Democrats leader Don Chipp retires from federal parliament and is succeeded by Janine Haines, becoming the first woman to lead a political party in Australia.
- August 19 - Two weeks after it was stolen, the Picasso painting Weeping Woman is found in a locker at the Spencer Street Station in Melbourne, Australia.
- August 20 - In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers before committing suicide.
- August 21 - The Lake Nyos disaster occurs in Cameroon, killing nearly 2,000 people.
- August 31 - The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov collides with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev in the Black Sea and sinks almost immediately, killing 398.
- August 31 - Aeroméxico Flight 498, a Douglas DC-9, collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 67 on both aircraft and 15 on the ground.
- August 31 - The cargo ship Khian Sea departs from the docks of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, carrying 14,000 tons of toxic waste. It will wander the seas for the next 16 months trying to find a place to dump its cargo.
September
October
- 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.
- October 3 - TASCC, a superconducting cyclotron, was officially opened at Chalk River Laboratories
- October 9 - United States District Court Judge Harry E. Claiborne becomes the fifth federal official to be removed from office through impeachment.
- October 9 - News Corporation completes its acquisition of the Metromedia group of companies, thereby launching Fox Broadcasting Company
- October 10 - An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale strikes San Salvador, El Salvador, killing an estimated 1,500 people.
- October 11 - 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 (the talks break down in failure).
- October 12 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visit the People's Republic of China
- October 16 - International Olympic Committee chooses Albertville, France to be the host city of 1992 Winter Olympics and Barcelona, Spain to be the host city of 1992 Summer Olympics.
- October 19 - Mozambican president Samora Machel's plane crashes in South Africa.
- 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 were Dornacker's screams of terror, "Hit the water! Hit the water! Hit the water!"
- October 26 - Bus deregulation goes into effect in the United Kingdom, except Greater London and Northern Ireland.
- October 27 - International World Day of Prayer is held in
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