Released:

Raunchy pop singer Madonna releases her fiirst album, entitled Madonna, which includes the disco-like "Everybody", "Borderline", "Lucky Star" and "Holiday".

Re-Elected:

9 June, UK: Conservative Party, under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

On 1 September, a Soviet Sukhoi fighter plane shot down a Korean Airlines Boeing 747, bound for Seoul, killing all 269 crew and passengers. The airliner, flight 007 from New York City, was in Soviet airspace and had flown over the high security area military base at Sakhalin Island off the Siberian coast.

The Sukhoi launched a missile which hit the airliner at 10500 metres, sending it plunging into the sea for 12-minutes. Among the victims were 81 South Koreans, 61 American citizens and 28 Japanese.

The Soviets claimed that the airplane was on a spying mission, and had ignored several warnings. However, their claims were treated with suspicion and their action widely condemned all over the world as horrifyingly violent.