January – The cargo ship Khian Sea deposits 4,000 tons of toxic waste in Haiti after wandering around the Atlantic for sixteen months.[4]
January 1 – The Soviet Union begins its program of economic restructuring (perestroika) with legislation initiated by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev (though Gorbachev had begun minor restructuring in 1985).[5]
U.S. Lieutenant Colonel William R. Higgins, serving with a United Nations group monitoring a truce in southern Lebanon, is kidnapped (and later killed by his captors).
April 5 – Kuwait Airways Flight 422 is hijacked while en route from Bangkok, Thailand, to Kuwait. The hijackers demand the release of 17 Shiite Muslim prisoners held by Kuwait. Kuwait refuses to release the prisoners, leading to a 16-day siege across 3 continents. Two passengers are killed before the siege ends.[26]
April 20 – The world's longest skyjacking comes to an end when the remaining passengers of Kuwait Airways Flight 422 are released by their captors.[26]
June 23 – NASA scientist James Hansen testifies to the U.S. Senate that human-made global warming has begun, becoming one of the first environmentalists to warn of the problem.[37]
The Gare de Lyon rail accident occurs in Paris, France as a commuter train headed inbound to the terminal crashes into a stationary outbound train, killing 56 and injuring 57.[38]
July 1 – The Soviet Union votes to end the CPSU's monopoly on economic and other non-political power and to further economic changes towards a less rigidly Marxist-Leninist economy.[43]
July 6 – The Piper Alpha production platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires, killing 165 oil workers and 2 rescue mariners. 61 workers survive.[44]
August 28 – Seventy people are killed and 346 injured in one of the worst air show disasters in history at Germany's Ramstein Air Base, when three jets from the Italian air demonstration team, Frecce Tricolori, collide, sending one of the aircraft crashing into the crowd of spectators.[50]
October 27 – Ronald Reagan decides to tear down the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow because of Soviet listening devices in the building structure.
October 28 – Abortion: 48 hours after announcing it was abandoning RU-486, French manufacturer Roussel Uclaf states that it will resume distribution of the drug.
In the Soviet Union, the uncrewed Shuttle Buran is launched by an Energia rocket on its maiden orbital spaceflight (the first and last space flight for the shuttle).
Singing Revolution: The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR adopts the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in which the laws of the Estonian SSR are declared supreme over those of the Soviet Union. The USSR declares it unconstitutional on November 26. It is the first declaration of sovereignty from Moscow of any Soviet or Eastern Bloc entity.[62]
In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan choose populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister. Elections are held as planned despite head of state Zia-ul-Haq's death earlier in August.[63]
November 23 – Former Korean president Chun Doo-hwan makes a formal apology for corruption during his presidency, announcing he will go into exile.[64]
Tsang, Steve (1993). In the shadow of China: political developments in Taiwan since 1949. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p.127. ISBN978-0-8248-1583-7.
"The History of McDonald's in China". Chinese Language Blog | Language and Culture of the Chinese-Speaking World. December 4, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2024.
Uco, César; Bill Vann (October 14, 2003). "Bolivian troops massacre strikers". World Socialist Web Site. International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
"Bolivia: Cocaleros Sign Truce". Weekly News Update on the Americas. No.266. Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York. October 6, 2002. Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
Library of Congress. Library of Congress Office, Jakarta (1990). Accessions List, Southeast Asia. Library of Congress Office, Jakarta. p.464. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
Asthana, N. C. (2009). Urban terrorism: myths and realities. Jaipur: Pointer Publishers Distributed by Aavishkar Publishers, Distributors. p.108. ISBN978-81-7132-598-6.
U.S. Industrial Outlook. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industrial Economics. 1989. p.1. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
Natascha Kampusch; Heike Gronemeier; Corinna Milborn (September 16, 2010). 3,096 Days. Penguin Books Limited. p.1. ISBN978-0-670-91999-4. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
"Agnes English biography". agnescarlsson.se. Agnes Carlsson and Roxy Recordings. Archived from the original on August 22, 2023. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
"Seung-Hoon Lee". Vancouver2010.com. Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Archived from the original on February 13, 2010. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
LastName, FirstName (2021). Chase's calendar of events 2022: the ultimate go-to guide for special days, weeks and months. Lanham: Bernan Press. p.306. ISBN978-1-64143-504-8.
"PEREZ, Marie Gluesenkamp". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Archived from the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
Bhagyashri Pawar (September 12, 2013). "Prachi Desai, happy birthday!". Bollywood Life. Archived from the original on November 4, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
"มาริโอ้ เมาเร่อ (โอ้)"[Mario Maurer (oh)]. nangdee.com (in Thai). MMM Digital Asset Co., Ltd. 2006. Archived from the original on October 16, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.