Holywood star, Winona Ryder, was found guilty of shoplifting after stealing items worth several thousand dollars from the Saks Fifth Avenue department store in Beverly Hills, California.

Belgian national airliner, Sabena, went bankrupt. The company has now been replaced by SN Brussels Airlines. Several reasons lead to Sabena's bankruptcy, but prevailing reasons were a failed deal with Swissair through which Sabena purchased a number of airplanes but never received the money that was to be injected into the company. The seccond reason attributed was that as a government run company the airliner lacked the necessary service oriented philosophy that was required to succeed.

Hugo Chavez was elected president of Venezuela.

Alex Ferguson was appointed manager of Manchester United F.C., a post he holds to this day (2006).

American newspapers revealed for the first time that US President Ronald Reagan had authorized the shipment of arms to the country of Iran. It developed into one of the biggest worldwide scandals of the 1980's into what has been known as the Iran-Contra Matter and Irangate.

American actor, Ethan Hawke, was born in Texas.

French composer, Edgard Varese, died at the age of 82.

The United Nations passed a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies and urged all member countries to sever relations with that nation.

Plutonium was produced for the first time at the Hanford Atomic Facility. It was later used in the atomic bomb that was dropped Nagasaki, Japan.

Russian composer, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, died at the age of 53. He is one of the most popular composers of the Romantic era.

Austrian novelist, Robert Musil, was born in Klagenfurt, Austria. He is considered as one of the greatest novelists of modern times.