- July 22
- Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca sentenced in a Rome court to life in prison. [1]
- July 26
- Two climbers rappel 550 metres down cliff near Angel Falls, Venezuela. [1]
- July 28
- In Southern Iran, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurs. Fifteen hundred people killed, 1,000 injured, 50,000 homeless and extensive damage in the Kerman region. [53]
- July 29
- Prince Charles of England weds Lady Diana Spencer. [1] [119]
- July 31
- General Omar Torrijos, president of Panama, dies in plane crash. [1] [240.152]
- August 1
- MTV music video TV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, Video Killed The Radio Star by the Buggles. [5] [119] [457]
- August 3
- The American Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) goes on strike. [1] [119]
- August 5
- Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work. [1] [119]
- August 12
- At the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, and in Boca Raton, Florida, IBM announces the IBM Personal Computer, model 5150. The PC features a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 CPU, 16 kB RAM (expandable to 256 kB), 40 kB ROM, one 5.25-inch floppy drive (160 kB capacity), for US$1565. A fully loaded version with color graphics costs US$6000. [1] [4] [5] [119]
- August 19
- Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi sends two Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets to intercept two U.S. fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets destroy the Libyan fighters. [1] [119]
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- August 24
- Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life for John Lennon's murder. [1] [119]
- August 27
- Divers begin to recover a safe found aboard the cruise ship Andrea Doria. [1]
- August 28
- South African troops invade Angola. [119]
- US National Centers for Disease Control announces high incidence of Pneumocystis and Kaposi's sarcoma in gay men. [1]
- August 30
- Mohammad Ali Rajai, president of Iran, and Mohammad Javad Bahonar, prime minister of Iran, are assassinated by a bomb. [1]
- August 31
- A bomb explodes at the U.S. Air Force base in Ramstein, West Germany, injuring 20 people. [119]
- September 4
- An explosion at a mine in Záluží, Czechoslovakia, kills 65 people. [119]
- September 5
- Ayatollah Ali Qoddusi, prosecutor-general of Iran, is assassinated. [1]
- September 10
- Picasso's painting Guernica is moved from New York to Madrid, Spain. [119]
- September 12
- In Kashmir, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurs. At least 220 people killed, 2,500 injured, and extensive damage and landslides in the Gilgit area. [53]
- September 14
- Margaret Thatcher appoints Cecil Parkinson as Chairman of the Conservative Party. [119]
- In Sweden, Prime Minister Thorbjörn Fälldin announces a currency devaluation of 10 percent, price freezes, and a planned reduction in sales tax. [7]
- September 15
- The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world, at 150 years old, when it operates under its own power outside Washington, DC. [119]
- September 16
- In Britain, the Liberal Party Assembly votes for an electoral pact with the new Social Democratic Party. [119]
- September 18
- France abolishes capital punishment. [119]
- September 19
- Simon and Garfunkel perform The Concert in Central Park, a free concert in New York in front of approximately a half million people. [1] [119]
- In New South Wales, the Wran government is re-elected for a third term with an increased majority, reducing the Liberal Party of Australia to just 14 members in the Legislative Assembly. [119]
- Satellites China 10 and 11 launched into Earth orbit by B-1 rocket. [1]
- September 20
- Brazilian river boat Sobral Santos capsizes in Amazon River, Óbidos, Brazil, killing at least 300. [119]
- September 21
- Belize gains independence from Britain (National Day). [1] [119]
- September 26
- First flight of the Boeing 767 airliner. [119]
- September 27
- TGV high speed rail service between Paris and Lyon, France begins. [119]
- Denis Healey retains the post of Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, beating Tony Benn by 50.426 percent to 49.574 percent. [119]
- October 3
- Irish Nationalist at Maze Prison near Belfast ends seven-month hunger strike. [1]
- October 5
- Deceased Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg becomes an honarary American citizen. [1]
- October 6
- Egyptian president Anwar Sadat is assassinated during a parade by army members who were part of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization; they opposed his negotiations with Israel. [1] [119]
- October 8
- US President Ronald Reagan greets predecessors Jimmy Carter, Gerald R Ford, and Richard Nixon before sending them to Egypt for Anwar Sadat's funeral. [1]
- October 10
- The Ministry for Education of Japan issues the joyo kanji. [119]
- A Provisional IRA bomb at Chelsea Barracks in London kills a woman pensioner. [119]
- Anwar Sadat's funeral service is held in Cairo, Egypt. [1]
- October 13
- James Tobin wins the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. [119]
- October 14
- Vice President Hosni Mubarak elected president of Egypt. [119] (October 13 [1])
- October 16
- Gas explosions occur in coal mine at Hokutan Yubari, Hokkaido, Japan, killing 93. [119]
- Off the coast of Central Chile, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurs. [53]
- October 18
- In Venezuela, a magnitude 5.4 earthquake occurs. Fifteen people killed, many injured, and extensive damage in the Cucuta, Colombia-San Cristobal area. [53]
- October 21
- Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece. [119]
- October 22
- The founding congress of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Organization faction led by Hareram Sharma and D.P. Singh begins. [119]
- US national debt tops US$1 trillion. [1]
- October 25
- In Michoacan, Mexico, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake occurs. [53]
- October 26
- An IRA bomb in a Wimpy Bar in Oxford Street, London, kills a bomb disposal expert. [119]
- October 27
- A Soviet submarine runs aground outside Karlskrona, Sweden, military base. [119]
- November 1
- Antigua and Barbuda gains independence from Britain. [1] [119] [700.426]
- November 9
- Edict No 81-234 abolishes slavery in Mauritania. [119]
- November 11
- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates sign an economic agreement to create the Gulf Cooperation Council. [319.28]
- November 12
- The Church of England General Synod votes to admit women to holy orders. [119]
- Second shuttle mission, first time a spacecraft is launched a second time (Columbia 2). [1] [119]
- November 14
- Second Space Shuttle Mission - Columbia 2 - returns to Earth. [1]
- November 19
- President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines bans video games in the country, because of parent and teacher complaints regarding youth morality. [9]
- November 20
- Anatoly Karpov, USSR, retains world chess championship. [1]
- November 23
- US President Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua. [119]
- November 25
- A group of mercenaries led by Mike Hoare take over Mahe airport in the Seychelles in a coup attempt. Most of the mercenaries escape by a commandeered Air India passenger jet; six are later arrested. [119]
- November 30
- In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe. (The meetings end inconclusively on December 17.) [119]
- December 1
- A Yugoslavian DC-9 crashes into a mountain while approaching Ajaccio Airport in Corsica, killing 178. [1] [119]
- December 2
- Spanish government requests membership in NATO. [1]
- December 4
- South Africa grants "homeland" Ciskei independence (not recognized outside South Africa). [1] [119]
- US President Ronald Reagan allows US Central Intelligence Agency to engage in domestic counter-intelligence (order number 12333). [1]
- December 5
- American general James Lee Dozier is kidnapped in Verona by Italian Red Brigades. [119] (December 17 [1])
- France performs nuclear test. [1]
- December 7
- Spain becomes a member of NATO. [1]
- December 8
- Arthur Scargill became President-elect of the National Union of Mineworkers. [119]
- France performs nuclear test. [1]
- December 9
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania police officer Daniel Faulkner is shot and killed during a routine traffic stop of a vehicle driven by William Cook, Mumia Abu-Jamal's younger brother. [119]
- December 11
- In El Salvador, army units kill 900 civilians. [119]
- Argentine President/General Roberto Viola flees. [1]
- United Nations Security Council chooses Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru as 5th Secretary-General. [1]
- December 12
- In Pakistan, a magnitude 4.6 earthquake occurs. [53]
- Gambia and Senegal sign agreement to be known as Senegambia in February 1982. [1]
- December 13
- Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, to prevent the dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity. [1] [119]
- December 14
- Israel annexes Golan Heights (seized from Syria in war of 1967). [1]
- December 15
- A car bomb destroys the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 61 people. [119]
- December 16
- Dutch Van Agt's second government falls. [1]
- December 18
- Mehmet Shehu, Prime Minister Albania (1954-81)/"US-Russian spy", commits suicide. [1]
- December 19
- In the Aegean Sea, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake occurs. [53]
- December 22
- Argentine General Leopoldo Galtieri sworn in as president. [1]
- Belgium's 5th government of Martens forms. [1]
- December 24
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
- December 27
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
- December 28
- Birth of Elizabeth Jordan Carr in Norfolk, Virginia, USA; first American test-tube baby birth. [1] [5] [119]
- Mexican decree authorizes world's first 1-ounce pure silver .999 fine bullion coin. [1620.111]
- December 31
- Coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the PNDC led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings. [1] [119]
- Netherlands unemployment stands at record 475,000. [1]
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