Britain and the World 1991

BRITAIN AND THE WORLD SINCE 1953

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	1991
Jan8	Pan American Airways (PanAm), one of the oldest U.S. airlines and a pioneer of transatlantic and Pacific routes, files for bankruptcy The "deregulation" of the industry, which removed taxpayer supported subsidies, was a major factor in its demise.
Jan14	Three Palestinian guerrilla chiefs, including Abu Iyad, were assassinated in Tunis.
Jan16	Operation Desert Storm begins. US & 27 allies attack Iraq for occupying Kuwait. One day later 1st US pilot shot down in Persian Gulf (Jeffrey Zahn)
Feb7	I.R.A. launch a motar bomb attack on 10 Downing Street during a cabinet meeting
Feb24	Operation Desert Storm begins this date and ends in 100 hours with Iraqi forces defeated. More than 100,000 Iraqi troops surrender, at least 100,000 Iraqis are killed, with almost no Allied casualties but Saddam Hussein remains in power
Mar3	Iraqi generals & Gen Schwarzkopf meet to discuss the cease fire in the Gulf War
	Los Angeles police severely beat Rodney King but fortunately the event is captured on amateur video
	Latvia & Estonia vote to become independent of the USSR
Mar14	The "Birmingham Six," imprisoned for 16 years for their alleged part in an IRA pub bombing, are set free after a court agrees that the police fabricated evidence
Mar20	Conor Clapton the 4 year old son of musician Eric Clapton falls from the 53rd floor window of a New York appartment block and dies
Mar21	The UK poll tax was ditched as Michael Heseltine aas he unveiled a new property tax to replace it. The tax was just as regressive as the poll tax
Mar30	William Kennedy Smith allegedly rapes a woman
Mar31	Albania offers the first multi-party election in fifty years
Apr1	Warsaw Pact officially disolves
Apr14	20 Paintings were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam but were recovered 35 minutes later in an abandoned car
May15	Edith Cresson became the first woman prime minister of France.
May21	Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a bomb hidden in a bouquet of flowers while campaigning for elections in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Jun25	Slovenia and Croatia declare independence from Yugoslavia
Aug21	Communist coup is crushed in USSR in two days. Three days later Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as the general secretary of the Communist Party - Ukraine declares independence from the USSR. On the 29th the Russian Parliament ends the Communist Party's monopoly of power
Sep29	US beats Europeans 14 - 13 to capture Golf's Ryder's Cup
Sep30	Haitian President Jean-Bertand Aristide is ousted from power
Oct1	Leningrad changes its name back to St Petersberg and ten days later the KGB is aboloished and replaced by the SVR
Oct6	Elizabeth Taylor weds for the eighth time. This time her husband is the former builder Larry Fortensky
Oct14	Tens of thousands of Bulgarians crammed the center of Sofia to celebrate the end of the Communist Party's four-decade rule.
Oct19	An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale leaves 2000 people dead in Northern Italy
Oct27	The first free Parliamentary elections in Poland take place
Nov5	Czech-born Ludvik Hoch falls from his luxury yacht "Lady Ghislane" and drowns. Investigations after his death revealed that there was substantial embezzlement and misappropiation of company pension funds
Nov10	In Calcutta, a record 95,000 people watch South Africa's return to international cricket. They win by three wickets.
Nov24	Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the group Queen, dies of an AIDS related illness
Dec25	The Soviet Union ceases to exsist and the following day Gorbachev resigns
Dec27	All 129 passengers and crew survived when a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) airliner crash-landed and broke into three pieces minutes after taking off from Stockholm.

Last Updated 13/09/02 12:08

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