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What Was Happening

E
C
O
N
O
M
Y
  • Average US yearly income was $22,400
  • Gas cost $.89.
  • Average US house was $89,430.
  • Average UK house was £44,040.
N
E
W
S
  • US bombs Libya in protest of Libyan sponsorship of terrorist attack in a disco in Germany.
  • US and USSR reach arms talk agreement.
  • Spain and Portugal join the EEC.
  • Nuclear reactor at Chernobyl causes massive radioactive leak.
  • Gorbachev introduces reforms in USSR including Perestroika (restructuring) and Glasnost (openness).
  • Iran-Contra Affair revealed where Reagan's administration sold arms to Iran to get money to pay for support of rebels in Nicaragua.
  • Mad Cow disease discovered in the UK.
  • South Africa troops conduct raids in Zambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.
  • Swedish Prime Minister assassinated.
  • British newspaper reports Israel has 100 nuclear war heads.
  • Space Shuttle Challenger explodes during liftoff.
  • Independence: Micronesia from the UK.
T
R
I
V
I
A
  • Fox Televisions becomes 4th major commercial broadcast network.
  • First laptop computer produced.
  • Nintendo video games introducted in US.
  • Oprah Winfrey starts her show.
F
I
L
M
  • Tom Cruise is the Top Gun.
  • Cruise also challenges Paul Newman for The Color of Money.
  • Men fight and kill in the Platoon.
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