A communications problem occurred in New Zealand after a rat chewed through an important fiber optics cable shutting down the country's internet and mobile phone services for about five hours. The problems were exacerbated when a workman in another part of the country damaged another main cable by accident at the same time as the rat incident.

John W. Hinckley, Jr., who on March 30th, 1981, shot President Ronald Reagan and three others outside a Washington, D.C., hotel, was found not guilty of attempted murder by reason of insanity.