free parliamentary elections in Poland since 1928 are held. October 28 – November 4 – The 1991 Perfect Storm strikes the northeastern U.S. coast and Atlantic Canada, causing over US$200 million of damage and resulting in 12 direct fatalities. October 29 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid. October 31 – November 3 – The Halloween blizzard hits the U.S. Upper Midwest, killing 22 people and causing US$100 million in damage. November November 4 – 5 – End of Apartheid: The African National Congress leads a general strike, demanding representation in the government and an end to the value-added tax. November 5 – China and Vietnam restore diplomatic relations after a 13-year rift which followed the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War. November 6 – The CPSU and its republic-level division, the Communist Party of the Russian SFSR, are banned in the Russian SFSR by presidential decree. November 7 – The first report on carbon nanotubes is published by Sumio Iijima in Nature. November 9 – The British JET fusion reactor generates 1.5 MW output power. November 14 American and British authorities announce indictments against two Libyan intelligence officials in connection with the downing of the Pan Am Flight 103. Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk returns to Phnom Penh after 13 years of exile. Lebanon Hostage Crisis: Kidnappers in Lebanon set Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland free. November 18 Dissolution of Yugoslavia: The forces of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and Serb paramilitaries take the Croatian town of Vukovar after the 87-day Battle of Vukovar. They kill more than 260 Croatian prisoners of war. An Azerbaijani Mil Mi-8 helicopter carrying a 19-member peacekeeping mission team is shot down by Armenian military forces in Khojavend district, Azerbaijan. November 21 – The UN Security Council recommends Egypt's deputy prime minister Boutros Boutros-Ghali to be the next Secretary-General of the UN. November 23 – Members of the Communist Party of Great Britain vote to dissolve the party and found the think-tank Democratic Left in its place. November 24 – Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury dies in London from AIDS induced pneumonia. In an unrelated incident, Kiss drummer Eric Carr dies from heart cancer. November 26 – The National Assembly of Azerbaijan abolishes the autonomous status of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and renames several cities to their Azeri names. November 27 – Dissolution