Editing 1981 (section)

==Events==
*January 17 - [[Proclamation No. 1081|Martial law]] in the Philippines is lifted.
*January 20 - End of the [[Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line|Iran hostage crisis]].
*March 21 - Michael Donald, a 19-year old African-American man, is kidnapped, beaten, and [[murder]]ed by members of the [[Ku Klux Klan]], in one of the last recorded [[lynching]]s in the United States.
*March 29 - [[Jorge Rafael Videla]] steps down as President of Argentina, handing power to General [[Roberto Viola]].
*March 30 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan survives an assassination attempt in Washington D.C. by [[John Hinckley, Jr.]], who also wounds Press Secretary James Brady, police officer Thomas Delahanty, and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy.
*April 6 - Beginning of the Somaliland War of Independence.
*April 11 to 12 - The [[Keddie Cabin murders]]: Sue Sharp, John Sharp and Dana Wingate are brutally murdered by 1 - 2 unknown assailants. Tina Sharp is abducted from the scene; she is later found dead in 1984.
*April 27 - [[Operation Red Dog]] takes place.
*May 13 - Pope John Paul II survives an assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City by [[Mehmet Ali Ağca]] of the [[Grey Wolves]].
*June 7 - [[Operation Opera]]: Israeli Prime Minister [[Menachem Begin]] orders an airstrike to be carried out on Iraq's ''Osirak'' nuclear reactor 11 miles southeast of Baghdad. The airstrike destroys the facility and also kills 10 Iraqi soldiers and 1 French civilian.
*June 28 - [[Hua Guofeng]] is dismissed as Chairman of the [[Communist Party of China]] by paramount leader [[Deng Xiaoping]].
*July 1 - [[Wonderland murders]]: Three members of the [[Wonderland Gang]] and an accomplice are beaten to death at their hideout in Los Angeles. 
*July 6 - The [[Cuban American National Foundation]] is founded.
*July 16 - [[Mahathir Mohamad]] is elected Prime Minister of Malaysia.
*July 27 - Serial killer [[Ottis Toole]] abducts 6-year old Adam Walsh from the parking lot of the Hollywood Mall in Hollywood, Florida, later raping him and decapitating him with a machete.
*October 6 - Egyptian President [[Anwar Sadat]] is assassinated in Cairo by [[Egyptian Islamic Jihad]] members [[Khalid Islambouli]] and [[Muhammad abd-al-Salam Faraj]].
*October 14 - [[Hosni Mubarak]] is named President of Egypt.
*October 18 - [[Wojciech Jaruzelski]] is named First Secretary of the [[Polish United Workers' Party]].
*October 20 - [[Black September]] bombs a Portuguese Jewish synagogue in the center of Antwerp, Belgium, killing 3 people and injuring 106.
*December 6 - The [[Communist Party of Kampuchea]] is dissolved.
*December 11 - The [[Atlacatl Battalion]] perpetrates the [[El Mozote massacre]].
*December 13 - [[Wojciech Jaruzelski]], the head of state of Poland, declares martial law in response to protests by the Solidarity trade union. The [[Military Council of National Salvation]] is established to maintain order.
*December 15 - A car bomb destroys the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 61 people; Syrian intelligence is blamed.
*December 17 - American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is kidnapped in Verona by the Italian [[Red Brigades]].
*December 22 - [[Roberto Viola]] is deposed as President of Argentina in a coup lead by [[Leopoldo Galtieri]], who subsequently becomes president.
*Unknown - Beginning of the [[Contras|Contra insurgency]] in Nicaragua.
*Unknown - The [[Black Liberation Army]] is disbanded.