Yugoslav troops invade Slovenia. The attack, which marked the beginning of the Ten-Day War, followed Slovenia's declaration of independence. It was the first of the Yugoslav Wars, a number of ethnic conflicts leading to the break-up of Yugoslavia and resulting in at least 140,000 deaths.

The 1980s U.S. intervention in Nicaragua is declared illegal. The International Court of Justice condemned the U.S. paramilitary campaign to overthrow the left-wing Nicaraguan government. The social democratic Sandinistas had begun to redistribute the country's wealth and improve education.

Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney found Atari, Inc.. The pioneering video game and home computer company produced arcade classics like the two-dimensional tennis simulator Pong. Especially in the 1970s and 1980s, its products had a large impact on the electronic entertainment industry.

The film Moby Dick is premiered. John Huston's adaptation of Herman Melville's homonymous novel, while not having been a great box office success, is today considered an outstanding work, especially for its use of light and color.

The world's first nuclear power plant is activated. The reactor at Obninsk in present-day Russia remained in operation for 48 years. Today, there are some 400 atomic power plants worldwide. The technology remains controversial, especially due to the unsolved long-term storage of the highly dangerous nuclear waste.