- October 7
- Israel begins handing out gas masks to its citizens. [1]
- October 8
- In Jerusalem, Israeli police kill 17 Palestinians and wound over 100 near the Dome of the Rock mosque on the Temple Mount. [1] [42]
- US doctors Joseph E Murray and E Donnall Thomas win Nobel Prize. [1]
- October 9
- Radio stations around the world play "Imagine" honoring John Lennon. [1]
- Leonard Bernstein announces his retirement from conducting. Unbeknownst to anyone other than himself and his doctors, he is fatally ill. [42]
- Saddam Hussein threatens to hit Israel with a new missile. [1]
- October 11
- Octavio Paz wins Nobel Prize for literature. [1]
- Oil hits a record US$40.42 per barrel. [1]
- October 13
- Syrian military forces invade and occupy Mount Lebanon, ousting General Michel Aoun's government. This effectively consolidates Syria's 14-year occupation of Lebanese soil. [42]
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- October 15
- Apple Computer unveils and ships the Macintosh Classic. It features an 8 MHz 68000 processor, integrated 9-inch monochrome monitor, and 3.5-inch floppy drive, for $1000. It replaces the Macintosh Plus and the Macintosh SE. Apple also releases the Macintosh LC (68020 processor), and the Macintosh IIsi (68030 processor). [4]
- Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and reform his nation. [42]
- October 16
- US forces reach 200,000 in the Persian Gulf. [1]
- October 20
- Antiwar protest marches begin in 20 US cities (US-Iraq). [1]
- October 23
- Iraq announces release of 330 French hostages. [1]
- October 25
- In the Hindu Kush region, Afghanistan, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurs. Eleven people killed, more than 250 injured. [53]
- October 27
- In Canada, 18 people share a Canadian record CDN$19.8 million Lotto 6/49 jackpot. [40.82]
- The Supreme Soviet of Kyrgyzstan chooses Askar Akayev as the republic's first president. [42]
- The New Zealand general election returns the New Zealand National Party with record number of 67 seats. [42]
- October 29
- 30 die in a 5.7 earthquake in Algeria. [1]
- November 1
- Last of Margaret Thatcher's original cabinet resigns, Sir Geoffrey Howe becomes Deputy Prime Minister. [1]
- Mary Robinson defeats favourite Brian Lenihan to become the first female President of Ireland. [42]
- November 4
- Iraq says it is preparing for a "dangerous war". [1]
- Secretary of State James Baker visits US troops in Saudi Arabia. [1]
- November 5
- American rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the far-right Kach movement, is shot dead after a speech at a New York City hotel. [42]
- November 6
- In southern Iran, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake occurs. At least 22 people killed, 100 injured, 21,000 homeless and 18 villages severely damaged. [53]
- November 8
- 100,000 additional US troops are sent to the Persian Gulf. [1]
- Saddam Hussein fires his army chief and threatens to destroy Arabian peninsula. [1]
- November 9
- US President George Bush announces doubling of US forces in Persian Gulf. [1]
- November 10
- Lebanon releases two French hostages (Camille Sontag and Marcel Coudari). [1]
- November 12
- Akihito is enthroned as the 125th emperor of Japan. [42]
- Tim Berners-Lee publishes a more formal proposal for the World Wide Web. [42]
- November 13
- The World Wide Web begins, as the first known Web page is written. [5] [42]
- November 14
- In England, Michael Heseltine contests Margaret Thatcher's leadership of the party. [1]
- Germany and Poland sign an agreement establishing the German-Polish border at the existing points. (There had never been West German agreement to the border along the line of the Oder and Neisse Rivers). [37] [42]
- November 16
- Manuel Noriega claims US denied him a fair trial. [1]
- November 18
- Saddam Hussein offers to free an estimated 2,000 men held in Kuwait. [1]
- November 19
- Iraq announces it will free all German hostages. [1]
- November 20
- UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher fails to defeat Michael Heseltine's bid for party leadership. [1]
- November 21
- Signing of Declaration of "End of Cold war" in Paris, France. [1]
- In Japan, Nintendo releases the Super Family Computer (Super Famicom) game system. The system uses a 16-bit processor, has 512 kB RAM, displays graphics in over 32,000 colors, and includes the Super Mario World game. (300,000 units ships on the first day of release; four million ship within the first year.) [9]
- November 22
- US President George Bush visits US troops in Saudi Arabia during Thanksgiving. [1]
- Margaret Thatcher announces her resignation as British Prime Minister. [1]
- November 23
- The first all-female expedition (three Americans, one Japanese and twelve Russians) to the south pole set off from Antarctica on the first leg of a 70-day, 1287-kilometre ski trek. [5]
- November 25
- Lech Walesa wins in Poland's first popular election. [1] [42]
- November 26
- Matsushita Electric purchases MCA for US$6.6 billion, the largest ever Japanese purchase of a US company. [1] [457]
- Russia's Mikhail Gorbachev tells Iraq to get out of Kuwait. [1]
- November 27
- Britain's Conservative Party chooses John Major to succeed Margaret Thatcher. [1] [42]
- November 28
- Margaret Thatcher resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; John Major succeeds her as Party Leader and is appointed Prime Minister by Queen Elizabeth II. [42]
- November 29
- The United Nations Security Council passes UN Security Council Resolution 678, authorizing military intervention in Iraq if that nation does not withdraw its forces from Kuwait and free all foreign hostages by Tuesday, January 15, 1991. [1] [42]
- November 30
- US President George Bush proposes US-Iraq meeting to avoid war. [1]
- December 1
- 132 feet below the English Channel, workers drill an opening through a wall of rock, connecting the two ends of an underwater tunnel linking Great Britain with the European mainland for the first time in more than 8,000 years. [1] [42] [129]
- Hissene Habré of Chad flees to Cameroon. [1]
- Iraq accepts US President Bush's offer for talks. [1]
- Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia hold their first joint session. [1]
- December 2
- First parliamentary election in newly reunified Germany: a coalition led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl. [1] [42]
- December 3
- Mary Robinson is elected President of Ireland. [42]
- December 4
- Due to Persian Gulf crisis, gasoline hits $1.60 per gallon price in New York City, New York. [1]
- Iraq announces it will release all 3,300 Soviet hostages. [1]
- December 5
- Salman Rushdie, author (ordered to death by Iran for blasphemy), appears in public for first time in two years. [1]
- December 6
- French President and Geman Chancellor commit themselves to the goal of a federal Europe. [721.65]
- Iraqi president Saddam Hussein anounces the release of all foreign hostages. [1] [42]
- President Hossain Mohammad Ershad of Bangladesh is forced to resign following massive protests. [42]
- December 7
- Iraqi parliament endorses Saddam's decision to free hostages. [1]
- December 9
- Slobodan MiloÜevic becomes President of Serbia. [42]
- Lech Walesa wins presidential election in Poland. [1] [42]
- December 10
- Hindu-Muslim rebellion in Hyderabad-Aligargh, India, 140 die. [1]
- December 11
- Thirteen die in 83-vehicle accident in Chattanooga, Tennessee (I-75), due to fog. [1]
- December 12
- US accuses Iraq of dragging its feet on dates for talks. [1]
- US ambassador to Kuwait, Nathaniel Howell, leaves Kuwait. [1]
- December 13
- In Sicily, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake occurs. At least 19 people killed, about 200 injured, 2,500 homeless. [1] [53]
- President De Klerk of South Africa meets with Nelson Mandela to talk of end of apartheid. [1]
- December 16
- Reverend Jean-Betrand Aristide is elected President of Haiti, ending three decades of military rule. [1] [42]
- December 20
- Pentagon warns Saddam Hussein that US air power is ready to attack on January 15. [1]
- Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze resigns. [1]
- December 22
- Iraq announces it will never give up Kuwait. [1]
- Israeli ferry capsizes killing 21 US servicemen. [1]
- Lech Walesa sworn in as Poland's first popularly elected president. [1]
- December 23
- Slovenians vote to secede from Yugoslavia. [1]
- December 24
- Saddam Hussein says Israel will be Iraq's first target. [1]
- December 25
- Tim Berners-Lee creates the WorldWideWeb software browser for the NeXT computer, the first Web browser. [4]
- The first successful communication between a client and server via the Internet is established. [5]
- Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev resigns. [1113.50]
- December 31
- Iraq begins a military draft of 17-year-olds. [1]
- United Somali Congress seizes Presidential Palace. [1]
- Russian Garry Kasparov holds his title by winning the World Chess Championship match against his countryman Anatoly Karpov. [42]
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