Editing 1981 (section)

===December===
{{Main|December 1981}}
* [[December 1]] – An [[Adria Airways|Inex-Adria Aviopromet]] [[McDonnell Douglas MD-80]] [[Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308|strikes a mountain peak and crashes]] while approaching [[Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport|Ajaccio Airport]] in [[Corsica]], killing all 180 people on board.
* [[December 4]] – South Africa grants [[Ciskei]] independence, not recognized outside South Africa.
* [[December 7]] – [[Rotary International]] charters the Rotary Club of Grand Baie, [[Mauritius]].
* [[December 8]]
** The [[No. 21 Mine explosion]] in [[Whitwell, Tennessee]], kills 13.
** [[Arthur Scargill]] becomes President-elect of the [[National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain)]].
* [[December 10]] – During the Ministerial Session of the [[North Atlantic Council]] in [[Brussels]], Spain signs the [[Enlargement of NATO|Protocol of Accession]] to [[NATO]].
* [[December 11]]
** [[Boxing]]: [[Muhammad Ali]] loses to [[Trevor Berbick]]; this proves to be Ali's last-ever fight.
** [[El Mozote massacre]]: In [[El Salvador]], army units kill 900 civilians.
* [[December 13]] – [[Wojciech Jaruzelski]] declares [[martial law in Poland]], to prevent the dismantling of the communist system by [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]].
* [[December 15]] – [[1981 Iraqi embassy bombing in Beirut]]: An [[Islamic Dawa Party]] [[car bomb]] destroys the Iraqi Embassy in [[Lebanon]], killing 61 people in one of the earliest significant postwar [[suicide attack]]s.
* [[December 17]] – American Brigadier General [[James L. Dozier]] is kidnapped in [[Verona]] by the Italian [[Red Brigades]].
* [[December 20]] – The [[Penlee lifeboat disaster]]: While attempting to rescue those on board the ''Union Star'' off the coast of South-West [[Cornwall]] (England), the lifeboat ''Solomon Browne'' is lost with all crew. Sixteen people in all are killed.<ref>{{cite book|title=Disasters: A Bibliographic Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WirgAAAAMAAJ|year=1990|publisher=University of Bradford Disaster Planning and Limitation Unit|isbn=978-1-85143-049-9|page=122}}</ref>
* [[December 28]] – The first American [[test-tube baby]], [[Elizabeth Jordan Carr]], is born in [[Norfolk, Virginia]].
* [[December 31]] – A [[coup d'état]] in [[Ghana]] removes [[President of Ghana|President]] [[Hilla Limann]]'s [[People's National Party (Ghana)|PNP]] [[Limann government|government]] and replaces it with the [[Provisional National Defence Council|PNDC]] led by [[Flight Lieutenant]] [[Jerry Rawlings]].