Editing 1986 (section)

===December===
* [[December 4]] – The MV ''Amazon Venture'' oil tanker begins leaking oil while at the [[port of Savannah]] in the United States, resulting in [[Amazon Venture oil spill|an oil spill]] of approximately {{convert|500,000|gal|L}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stringfield |first=Whitney J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tUNtGe2mPR4C |title=National Water Summary 1987—Hydrologic Events and Water Supply and Use |publisher=[[United States Government Printing Office]] |others=[[United States Geological Survey]] |year=1990 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=51–54 |language=en |chapter=Major Oil Spill on the Savannah River, Georgia and South Carolina, December 1986 |issn=0892-3469}}</ref>
* [[December 6]] – [[Johnny Hallyday]] released his 35th album [[Gang (album)|Gang]].
* [[December 7]] – A magnitude 5.7 earthquake destroys most of the [[Bulgaria]]n town of [[Strajica]], killing 2 people.
* [[December 14]] – [[Rutan Voyager]], an experimental [[aircraft]] designed by [[Burt Rutan]] and piloted by [[Dick Rutan]] and [[Jeana Yeager]], begins its flight around the world from [[Edwards Air Force Base]] in the United States.
* [[December 16]] – [[Jeltoqsan]], mass anti-government protests, break out across the [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh SSR]], resulting in the massacre of over 165 protesters.
* [[December 19]] – Soviet dissident [[Andrei Sakharov]] is permitted to return to Moscow after six years of [[Exile|internal exile]].
* [[December 20]] – Three [[African American]]s are assaulted by a group of white teens in the [[Howard Beach, Queens|Howard Beach]] neighborhood of [[Queens]], New York. One of the victims, [[Michael Griffith (manslaughter victim)|Michael Griffith]], is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.
* [[December 23]] – [[Rutan Voyager]] completes the first nonstop circumnavigation of the earth by air without refueling in 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds.
* [[December 31]]
** [[Dupont Plaza Hotel arson]]: A hotel fire in [[San Juan, Puerto Rico]], kills 97 and injures 140.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Archives |first=L. A. Times |date=1988-02-03 |title=3 Teamsters Charged With 97 Deaths in '86 Hotel Fire |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-02-03-mn-27261-story.html |access-date=2025-02-20 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>
** [[Russian submarine Krasnoyarsk (K-173)|Soviet submarine ''Krasnoyarsk'' (K-173)]] is commissioned.