International Events in August 1997
2nd Aug
Around 100 persons massacred in Blida and Ain Defla near Algerian
capital of Algiers.
Over 100 LTTE militants killed as their attack on Sri Lankan army near Omanthai in Vanni theatre is repulsed.
4th Aug
French woman Jeanne Calment, officially world's oldest person at
122 dies at retirement home in provincial town of Arles.
5th Aug
South Africa expels Portugal's Ambassador over leak of
misdirected note from President, Mr. Nelson Mandela, to
Indonesian counterpart.
6th Aug
Cambodia's National Assembly strips ousted First Prime Minister,
Mr. Norodom Ranariddh, of immunity from prosecution.
Over 200 people aboard Korean airliner killed in crash at Guam.
8th Aug
Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk authorises acting Head of State,
Mr. Chea Sim, to approve appointment of Mr. Ung Huot as First
Prime Minister.
10th Aug
Yemen's coast guard recovers bodies of 15 Ethiopian and Somali
refugees who were forced to jump overboard in Red Sea. They set
sail on a fishing boat from an Eritrean port, having paid for
being smuggled into oil-rich Saudi Arabia. 3
14th Aug
Beleaguered crew of Mir space station returns to earth.
15th Aug
U.S. asks Afghan Embassy in Washington to suspend operations.
16th Aug
Briton Jennifer Murray becomes first woman to pilot helicopter
around world.
18th Aug
Embattled Russian space station Mir runs into new trouble, as its
main computer shuts down, causing station to lose orientation
towards sun, which cuts off power supply from solar batteries.
19th Aug
Russian cosmonauts aboard limping Mir space station stabilise
spacecraft and reposition energy generating solar panels toward
sun.
22nd Aug
Transport plane carrying top leaders of Afghanistan's anti-
Taliban coalition, including the group's new Prime Minister, Mr.
Abdul Rahim Ghafurzai, crashes killing all on board.
23rd Aug
Over 100 Tutsi refugees killed at camp in Western Rwanda.
At least 64 persons killed by fundamentalists near Algiers in Algeria.
24th Aug
Masoumeh Ebtekar appointed Vice-President of Iran.
25th Aug
Mr. Egon Krenz, erstwhile East German hardline communist leader,
convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 6-1/2 years in jail by
Berlin court for killings at Berlin Wall during Cold War.
26th Aug
Crew aboard Mir repairs two oxygen generators after all oxygen
systems failed for several hours.
27th Aug
U.S. grants asylum to Mr. Jang Sung-ho, highest-ever ranking
North Korean diplomat to defect.
31st Aug
Princess Diana, estranged wife of Prince Charles, dies in car
crash in Paris. Also killed are her companion - Egyptian
millionaire, Mr. Dodi Al Fayed - and her chauffeur.
Britain bids farewell to Diana, Princess of Wales with an outpouring of public grief. Well over million people gather along procession route, as coffin passes through Central London streets.