Former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, is assassinated. The attacker was a woman believed to be linked the Sri Lankan separatist militant organization, the Tamil Tigers. At least 14 people lost their lives in the suicide bombing.

Violent clashes follow the lenient sentencing for Harvey Milk's murderer. Milk, the first openly gay U.S. politician, had been shot and killed together with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. The assassin, Dan White, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter only, triggering the White Night Riots.

The 9th Street Show opens in New York. The ground-breaking art exhibition showing works by artists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning is considered the birth hour of the artistic avant-garde referred to as the New York School.

Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic. The U.S. aviatress' disappearance on an attempted round-the-world flight five years later is one of the most discussed unsolved mysteries in the history of flight.

FIFA, the world governing body of association football, is founded. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association is responsible for the organization of the World Cup, which is one of the world's most viewed sporting events.