International Events in October 2000
Oct. 1:
Pope John Paul II declares 87 Chinese and 33 foreign missionaries saints. Most of the 120 martyrs died in the anti- Western, anti-Christian Boxer rebellion 100 years ago.
Oct. 2:
The Pakistan military Government decides to make public the report of the Hamoodur Rahman Commission.
Oct. 3:
In a surprise admission of guilt, Mr. Tommy Suharto, youngest son of Gen. Suyarto seeks presidential pardon to annul the 18 month jail sentence on corruption charges.
The Taiwanese Prime Minister, Mr. Tang Fei quits post in protest against plans to complete a new nuclear plant.
Oct. 6:
The Yogoslav President, Mr. Slobodan Milosevic concedes defeat, quits.
Oct. 7:
Mr. Vojislav Kostounica takes office as Yugoslavia's first popularly elected President.
Oct. 10:
Russia and four former Soviet States (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Tajikistan) forge the Eurasian Economic Community to counter the growing threat of Islamic fundamentalism in Central Asia.
Oct. 11:
The U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, signs into law a Bill that grants permanent normal trade relations to the People's Republic of China.
A provincial Governor, Mr. Luis Singson accuses the Philippines President, Mr. Joseph Estrada of pocketing $ 8.6 million in kickbacks from underground gambling dons.
Oct. 12:
The Philippines Vice-President, Ms. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, quits as the social welfare secretary in the Joseph Estrada Cabinet.
A bomb attack on a U.S. guided missile destroyer, USS Cole at the port of Aden, Yemen leaves 17 sailors dead.
Oct. 13:
The People's Alliance forms a new Government in Sri Lanka with Mr. Ratnasiri Wickramanayake taking office as the Prime Minister.
Oct. 14:
The Bosnian Muslim leader, Mr. Alija Izetbegovic (75), steps down from the country's tripartite presidency two years before his mandate was to expire.
Oct. 15:
The emergency summit meeting to deal with the West Asia crisis gets under way in the Egypt resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Oct. 18:
Opposition legislators bring before the House of Representatives an impeachment motion against the Philippines President, Mr. Joseph Estrada.
Oct.19:
The third Asia Europe Meeting adopts a five-point declaration in support of inter-Korean dialogue.
In a major diplomatic blow to Israel, the U.N. General Assembly terms as ``illegal and obstacle to peace'' Israeli settlement in the Palestinian territory.
Oct. 22:
The Inter-Parliamentary Union suspends Fiji's membership.
Oct. 23:
The U.S. Secretary of State, Ms. Madeleine Albright meets the North Korean President, Mr. Kim Jong Il, thus becoming the first U.S. Cabinet official ever to do so.
The Canadian Prime Minister, Mr. John Chretien, just three and a half years into his second term, calls for parliamentary polls.
Mr. Rafik Hariri becomes Lebanon Prime Minister again after a landslide victory in parliamentary voting in August.
Oct. 24:
The Peruvian Vice-President, Mr. Francisco Tudela resigns to protest the amnesty push by the former spy chief, Mr. Vladimiro Montesinos.
Sir Edward Heath, the man who led Britain into Europe in 1974 and had been a member of the House of Commons for 50 years calls it a day.
Oct. 25:
Seventyfive persons die after a Russian military jet crashes into a mountain in Georgia.
Serbian Parliament dissolved.
Oct. 30:
A special appellate bench of the Sindh High Court rejects a petition filed by the military government seeking death sentence to the former Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif.
The Kyrgyz President, Mr. Askar Akgyev gets re-elected in a landslide victory.
Oct. 31:
The first permanent mission for the International Space Station blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz rocket.
Seventy of the 159 passengers on board a Los Angeles bound Singapore airlines flight die after the plane crashes on the runway during the takeoff run at Taipei's international airport.