International Events in October 1997
1st Oct
Spiritual leader of Islamic movement Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin,
is released from Israeli prison and flown to Amman. The army said
he was freed in response to request from Jordan's King Hussein
and in view of the paraplegic's deteriorating condition.
Nepalese Prime Minister, Mr. Lokendra Bahadur Chand loses vote of confidence in Parliament.
6th Oct
Mr. Stanley Prusiner, U.S. biochemist, whose discovery provided
key insights into dementia-related diseases, wins 1997 Nobel
Medicine Prize.
9th Oct
Italian playwright Dalio Fo (71), who wrote `` Accidental death
of an anarchist'' wins 1997 Nobel Literature Prize.
Nepal's King Birendra names Mr. Surya Bahadur Thapa, president, Rashtriya Prajatantra Party, new Prime Minister.
10th Oct
International campaign to ban landmines and campaign coordinator,
Ms. Jody Williams of U.S., wins the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.
13th Oct
Haze back in Indonesia, South-East Asia, on a larger scale.
Caused by forest fires, haze causes traffic disruptions and
health concerns there.
Norwegian Prime Minister, Mr. Thorbjorn Jagland resigns after his Social Democratic Party loses majority in general elections.
14th Oct
Mr. Tony Blair shakes hands with Sinn Fein President, Mr. Gerry
Adams, at first meeting for more than 70 years between a British
P.M. and an Irish Republican leader.
1997 Volvo Environment Prize awarded jointly to Dr. Syukuro Manabe of Japan and Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan (currently U.S. citizen) for pioneering opinion on greenhouse effect.
Mr. Robert C. Merton of Harvard University and Mr. Myron S. Scholes of Stanford University win Nobel Prize for Economics for developing formula used to evaluate derivatives and other stock options.
15th Oct
Seventeen die as vehicle-bomb rips through centre of Colombo, 110
injured. The rear portion of World Trade Centre damaged.
1997 Nobel Prize for Physics awarded jointly to Prof. Steven Chu (Stanford University, California, U.S.), Prof. Claude Cohen- Tannoudji (College de France and Ecole Normale Superiere, France) and Dr. William D. Phillips (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersberg, Maryland, U.S.) for developing methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.
Nobel Prize for Chemistry is being divided, one half awarded jointly to Prof. Paul D. Boyer (University of California, Los Angeles) and Dr. John E. Walker (Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, U.K.) for elucidation of the enzymatic mechanism underlying the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and the other half to Prof. Jens C. Skou (Aarhus University, Denmark) for discovery of an ion-transporting enzyme across all membranes.
Titan 4-B rocket carrying Cassini saturn probe blasts off from Cape Canaveral air station in Florida.
British nurse accused in Saudi Arabian court for murdering colleague saved from execution as Mr. Frank Gilford, brother of slain Australian, waives his right to the life of her killer, Deborah Parry.
Judges revolt against Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice, Mr. Sajjad Ali Shah.
18th Oct
Mr. Jerry Buzek, 57, academic of Solidarity Electoral Action
takes over as Prime Minister of Poland.
After 30 years of mystery and intrigue, remains of Ernesto ``Che'' Guevara, doctor turned-guerilla, are laid to rest in Santa Clara (Cuba). It was in this provincial capital that he achieved military victory that first established his reputation.
China promises Clinton administration that it will no longer send anti-ship cruise missiles to Iran, say senior U.S. officials.
22nd Oct
A potentially destabilising political crisis in Russia is defused
as Opposition withdraws no-confidence motion in exchange for
major concessions from Kremlin.
27th Oct
Commonwealth Heads of Government end 4-day summit in Edinburgh
with political communique condemning terrorism, drug trafficking
and money laundering: issues that countries such as India and Sri
Lanka were keen on.