A Soviet cruise missile plunges into Inarinjärvi lake in Finnish Lapland. Finnish authorities announce the fact in public on January 3, 1985.
Crack, a smokeable form of cocaine, is first introduced into the Los Angeles area and soon spreads across the United States in what becomes known as the Crack Epidemic.
Famine in Ethiopia begins and kills a million people by the end of 1984. (1984 Famine in Ethiopia).
