What happened in 1985

World6

• Jan 28The charity single record "We Are the World" is recorded by USA for Africa.
• Feb 19China Airlines Flight 006 is involved in a mid-air incident; while there are 22 minor injuries and 2 serious injuries, no one is killed.
• Jun 14The Schengen Agreement is signed between certain member states of the European Economic Community, creating the Schengen Area, a bloc of (at the time) 5 states with no internal border controls.
• Jul 13Live Aid benefit concerts in London and Philadelphia raise over £50 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.
• SepPlaza AccordFive major economies met at the Plaza Hotel in New York and agreed to bring down the overvalued dollar. Within about a year the yen rose from around 240 to the dollar to the 150s, and Japanese exports suffered.
• Nov 12A total solar eclipse occurs over Antarctica at 14:11:22 UTC.

Japan7

• Jan 7Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union.
• Mar 17Expo '85, an international exhibition, opens in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan, running until September 16.
• Apr 1Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation, and Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation, are privatized and change their names to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, and Japan Tobacco, respectively.
• Jun 15Studio Ghibli, an animation studio, is founded in Tokyo.
• Aug 12Japan Air Lines Flight 123 crashes in Japan, killing 520 people, including Japanese singer Kyu Sakamoto; it is the worst single-aircraft disaster in aviation history. There were only 4 survivors.
• SepSuper Mario Bros.Released on September 13. A side-scrolling action game in which you run to the right, it sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and became a reason to buy the console.
• Oct 18The Nintendo Entertainment System is released in North America, helping revitalize the home video game industry after the video game crash of 1983.

North America19

• Mar 25The 57th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, with Amadeus winning Best Picture.
• MarThe GNU Manifesto, written by Richard Stallman, is first published.
• Apr 23Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months.
• Jun 23Air India Flight 182, a Boeing 747, is blown up by a terrorist bomb 31,000 feet (9,500 m) above the Atlantic Ocean, south of Ireland, on a Montreal–London–Delhi flight, killing all 329 aboard.
• Jun 24STS-51-G: Space Shuttle Discovery completes its mission, best remembered for having Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a payload specialist.
• Jul 19New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe is selected as the first person to go into space under the Teacher in Space Project, and designated to ride aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
• Aug 2Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashes near Dallas, Texas, United States, killing 137 people.
• Aug 25Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 crashes in the United States, killing all 8 on board, including thirteen-year-old American celebrity schoolgirl Samantha Smith.
• Sep 6Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, crashes just after takeoff from Milwaukee, killing all 31 on board.
• Oct 3The Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its maiden flight.
• Oct 19The first Blockbuster store opened in Dallas, Texas.
• Nov 20Microsoft Corporation releases the first U.S. release of Windows 1.0, as version 1.01. International support comes with the release of Windows 1.02 in Europe in May 1986.
• Dec 1The Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable are released for sale to the public in the US.
• Dec 12Arrow Air Flight 1285R, a Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland, killing 256 people – 248 of whom were U.S. servicemen returning to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, after overseeing a peacekeeping force in the Sinai Peninsula.
• Dec 27American naturalist Dian Fossey is found brutally murdered in Rwanda.

4 more in the app

Europe12

• Feb 19Iberia Airlines Flight 610 crashes, killing all 148 on board.
• Feb 25Tears for Fears release their second studio album, Songs from the Big Chair, which includes the hit singles "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."
• Feb 28The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry in Northern Ireland. With nine officers dead, it is the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.
• Apr 12El Descanso bombing: A terrorist bombing attributed to the Islamic Jihad Organization in the El Descanso restaurant near Madrid, Spain, mostly attended by U.S. personnel from the Torrejón Air Base, causes 18 deaths (all Spaniards) and 82 injuries.
• May 4The 30th Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Gothenburg, Sweden and is won by the Bobbysocks! song La det swinge for Norway.
• May 11Bradford City stadium fire: A fire engulfs a wooden stand at the Valley Parade stadium in Bradford, England, during an Association football match, killing 56 people.
• May 29Heysel Stadium disaster: Thirty-nine spectators are killed in rioting on the terraces during the European Cup final between Liverpool F.C. and Juventus (0–1) at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium.
• Jun 14TWA Flight 847, carrying 153 passengers from Athens to Rome, is hijacked by a Hezbollah fringe group. One passenger, U.S. Navy Petty Officer Robert Stethem, is killed. Greek police arrest a 65-year-old Lebanese suspect on September 21, 2019.
• Jul 10The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland Harbour by French DGSE agents.
• Jul 19The Val di Stava dam collapses in Italy, killing 268 people, destroying 63 buildings, and demolishing eight bridges.
• Aug 22British Airtours Flight 28M: The 737's left engine catches fire while on its takeoff roll at Manchester Airport in the UK and 55 people are killed while trying to evacuate the aircraft.
• Dec 27Rome and Vienna airport attacks: Abu Nidal terrorists open fire in the airports of Rome and Vienna, leaving 18 dead and 120 injured.

USSR / Russia1

• May 9The 3rd total Victory Day Parade (the first being in 1945 and the next in 1965) is held on Red Square in Moscow in the Soviet Union. It features T-34-85 tanks, veterans of World War II from Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, and is the first parade to be held during the reign of Mikhail Gorbachev.

Asia2

• Jul 10Aeroflot Flight 5143 crashes near Uchquduq, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union, killing all 200 people on board.
• Dec 8The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is established.

Middle East5

• Jan 27The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is formed, in Tehran.
• Mar 8A Beirut car bomb, planted in an attempt to assassinate Islamic cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, kills more than 80 people and injures 200 more.
• Oct 7The cruise ship Achille Lauro is hijacked in the Mediterranean Sea by four heavily armed Palestinian terrorists. One passenger, American Leon Klinghoffer, is killed.
• Oct 25The airline Emirates is established in Dubai and makes its first flight, to Karachi, Pakistan.
• Nov 23EgyptAir Flight 648 is hijacked by the Abu Nidal group and flown to Malta, where Egyptian commandos storm the plane; 60 are killed by gunfire and explosions.

Latin America7

• Jan 15Tancredo Neves is elected president of Brazil by the Congress, ending the 21-year military rule.
• Mar 3The 8.0 Algarrobo earthquake hits Santiago and Valparaíso, Chile, leaving 177 dead, 2,575 injured, 142,489 houses destroyed, and approximately a million people homeless.
• Mar 15Vice-president José Sarney, upon becoming vice president, assumes the duties of president of Brazil, as the new president Tancredo Neves had become severely ill the day before. Sarney would later become Brazil's first civilian president in 21 years, upon Neves' death on April 21.
• Aug 14The Accomarca massacre takes place in Ayacucho, Peru.
• Sep 19An 8.0 earthquake strikes Mexico City, killing between 5,000 and 45,000 people and injuring 30,000 more.
• Nov 6Palace of Justice siege: Members of the 19th of April Movement (M-19) Marxist guerrilla group take over the Palace of Justice of Colombia in Bogotá and hold the Supreme Court hostage. Hours later, after a military raid, the incident leaves almost half of the 25 Supreme Court Justices dead.
• Nov 13Armero tragedy: The Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts, killing an estimated 23,000 people, including 21,000 killed by lahars, in the town of Armero, Colombia.

Africa2

• Oct 1Operation Wooden Leg: The Israeli air force bombs Palestine Liberation Organization headquarters near Tunis.
• The 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia continues; USA for Africa (We Are the World) and Live Aid raise funds for famine relief.

Oceania2

• Feb 5Australia cancels its involvement in U.S.-led MX missile tests.
• Mar 18Australia's longest-running soap opera, Neighbours, debuts on Seven Network.