;Article Updates:up199705.001 - Wed, Feb 4, 1998 at 17:14:03 - make_updates v8.0
Africa|006740|up059701
Antimatter|024750|up059704
Artificial intelligence|032470|up059710
Blair, Tony|063685|up059705
Cancer|090990|up049705
Chess|109300|up059710
Cigarette|115220|up049705
Computer|127860|up059710
Cult|143370|up049703
Czech Republic|146090|up059711
De Kooning, Willem|152680|up049702
Film Industry|196620|up049704
Ginsberg, Allen|224830|up049708
Golf|228820|up049709
Guyana|240930|up049711
Hungary|267300|up059711
Major, John|339566|up059705
Milky Way|361720|up059704
Mobutu Sese Seko|365640|up059701
North Atlantic Treaty Organization|394080|up059711
Peru|424560|up059702
Poland|436700|up059711
Russia|479480|up059711
Smoking|515960|up049705
United Kingdom, History of the|575750|up059705
Zaire|615770|up059701
up049702|Willem de Kooning dies|<STRONG>Willem de Kooning dies</STRONG><P>Willem de Kooning died on March 19, 1997, in East Hampton, New York.He was 92.</P>
up049703|California Cult Commits Mass Suicide|<STRONG>California cult commits mass suicide</STRONG><P>Thirty-nine members of a cult, calling itself Heaven's Gate, committed suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, California, U.S.A. over several days in late March 1997. The last deaths occurred on March 26. The cult leader was 66-year-old Marshall Applewhite, who, since the 1970's, had attracted followers to the cult. Cult members included 21 women and 18 men, ranging in age from 20 to 72. At the time of their deaths, all of them had similar short haircuts, and wore black jumpsuits </P><P>Heaven's Gate cult members believed that they needed to die in order to join space aliens on a higher level of existence. The cultists believed that the aliens had arrived for them in a spaceship trailing the passing comet Hale-Bopp.</P>
up049704|Oscar winners announced|<STRONG>Oscar winners announced</STRONG><P>The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded the 69th annual Academy Awards on March 25, 1997, in Los Angeles. The winners were <I>The English Patient</I>, for Best Picture; Geoffrey Rush, for Best Performance by an Actor; Frances McDormand, for Best Performance by an Actress; Cuba Gooding, Jr., for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role; Juliette Binoche, for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role; and Anthony Minghella, for Best Achievement in Directing for <I>The English Patient</I>.</P>
up049705|Tobacco Maker Admits Smoking Causes Cancer|<STRONG>Tobacco maker admits smoking causes cancer</STRONG><P>On March 20, 1997, Liggett Group became the first cigarette maker to admit that cigarette smoking causes cancer. Liggett also admitted that nicotine is addictive and that tobacco company advertisements target teenagers. The company's admission was part of its agreement to settle lawsuits by 22 states attempting to recover the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses from tobacco companies.
up049708|Allen Ginsberg dies|<STRONG>Allen Ginsberg dies</STRONG><P>Allen Ginsberg died on April 5, 1997, in New York City of liver cancer. </P>
up049709|Tiger Woods Wins Masters in Record Fashion|<STRONG>Tiger Woods wins Masters in record fashion</STRONG><P>Tiger Woods won the U.S. Masters on April 13, 1997. At 21 years of age, Woods was the youngest Masters champion, and his 12-stroke victory margin was a tournament record. His 72-hole score of 270 also broke the tournament record of 271 shared by Jack Nicklaus and Raymond Floyd.</P>
up049711|Guyanese President Cheddi Jagan dies|<STRONG>Guyanese President Cheddi Jagan dies</STRONG><P>Guyanese President Cheddi Jagan died on March 6, 1997, in Washington, D.C., U.S.A., after suffering a heart attack. He was 78.</P>
up059701|Mobutu Ousted as Rebels Seize Zaire|<STRONG>Mobutu ousted as rebels seize Zaire</STRONG><P>Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko surrendered power on March 16, 1997, in the face of an advancing rebel army, ending nearly 32 years as the leader of Africa's third largest country. Two days later, the rebel army of Laurent Kabila took control of Kinshasa, the capital of Zaire, completing the takeover it had begun seven months earlier.</P><P>Upon taking control of the country, Kabila announced that Zaire's new name would be the Democratic Republic of Congo. Congo's smaller neighbour, Republic of Congo, was to retain its name.</P>
up059702|Hostages rescued in Peru|<STRONG>Hostages rescued in Peru</STRONG><P>Peruvian commandos freed 72 hostages held by armed rebels in the nation's capital on April 22, 1997, ending a 126-day crisis, the longest guerrilla siege in Latin American history. The hostage ordeal began on Dec. 17, 1996, when rebels belonging to the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement seized about 600 people at a party at the home of the Japanese ambassador to Peru in Lima.</P><P>The rebels demanded the release of jailed comrades and threatened to kill hostages. The rebels eventually released all but 72 of the hostages. All 14 of the rebels died during the rescue. One hostage died as a result of the raid.</P>
up059704|Antimatter Found Streaming from Centre of Milky Way|<STRONG>Antimatter found streaming from centre of Milky Way</STRONG><P>A team of astrophysicists in the United States announced the discovery on April 28, 1997, of a stream of antimatter flowing from the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy. Antimatter is identical to ordinary matter but opposite in electrical charge. Antimatter was produced by the <I>big bang</I>--the explosion of matter and energy that astrophysicists believe produced the universe. Antimatter continues to be produced today by high-energy processes in the universe.</P><P>Astrophysicist William Purcell at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and his collaborators at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., both in the U.S.A., discovered the stream of antimatter. Purcell's team used NASA's orbiting Compton Gamma Ray Observatory to measure and record gamma rays. Gamma rays are a form of high-energy radiation. When a particle of matter collides with a particle of antimatter, the two annihilate each other, producing energy that can be detected as gamma rays. </P>
up059705|Tony Blair Succeeds John Major as United Kingdom Prime Minister|<STRONG>Tony Blair succeeds John Major as United Kingdom prime minister</STRONG><P>Tony Blair, leader of the Labour Party, became prime minister of the United Kingdom on May 2, 1997, after the Conservative Party lost the general election on May 1. Blair succeeded Conservative Party leader John Major as prime minister, ending 18 years of rule by the Conservative Party. Labour Party candidates won 418 seats in Parliament, giving an overall majority of 179.</P>
up059710|Computer Defeats World Chess Champion Kasparov|<STRONG>Computer defeats world chess champion Kasparov</STRONG><P>A supercomputer developed by IBM defeated Garry Kasparov, the world chess champion, on May 11, 1997. The computer, named Deep Blue, defeated Kasparov 3 1/2 to 2 1/2 in a six-game match. Kasparov defeated a less powerful IBM computer 4 to 2 in 1996. The latest match was the first time a machine had beaten any chess champion in a traditional match, and it was the first time Kasparov had lost a multigame match to any opponent.</P>
up059711|Russia agrees to NATO expansion|<STRONG>Russia agrees to NATO expansion</STRONG><P>Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) signed an agreement on May 27, 1997, in Paris. The agreement permits NATO to offer membership to several former Soviet controlled countries in Eastern Europe. NATO planned to admit Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and other countries that had been under the control of Moscow from 1945 until the fall of the former Soviet Union in 1991.</P><P>Under the agreement NATO was prevented from storing nuclear weapons in new member states' territory. But Russia failed in its bid to limit the number of NATO troops that could be stationed in new member countries.</P>
