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 (9,200ft) 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 110million 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 1billion, 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.
