Following a Reagan administration secret arms trade to Iran, Shiite Muslim terrorists release American priest Lawrence Jenco from captivity in Lebanon.

18 Aug.

The Soviet Union announces it will continue its yearlong moratorium on nuclear testing, which expired on 6 August.

21-26 Aug.

In Cameroon, volcanic explosions release toxic gas, killing fifteen hundred to seventeen hundred people.

11 Sept.

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres meet in the first summit between the nations in five years.

16 Sept.

The EEC agrees to a series of economic sanctions directed against apartheid in South Africa.

5 Oct.

Nicaraguan military forces shoot down a U.S. cargo plane carrying arms and capture the pilot, Eugene Hasenfus of Wisconsin.

7 Oct.

In London a politically neutral daily, The Independent, begins publication.

9 Oct.

Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical The Phantom of the Opera, starring Michael Crawford, debuts at London's Majesty Theatre.

12 Oct.

During a summit in Reykjavik...