1904
Oct 7, Isabella Bird Bishop (b.1831), English explorer, writer, and natural historian, died in Edinburgh. Her books included the 2-volume work “Korea and Her Neighbors" (1898).

2006
Oct 7, Michelle Gardner-Quinn (21), a Univ. of Vermont senior from Arlington, Va., was reported missing. After chasing leads for nearly a week, police investigating her disappearance got a break when a group of hikers spotted a body in a rocky ravine. A suspect, Brian Rooney (36), was arrested Oct 13 on unrelated charges of sex abuse in two other Vermont counties. In 2008 Rooney was convicted of murder.

2006
Oct 7, Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist, was shot to death, her body discovered in an elevator in her apartment building in Moscow. She was known for her critical coverage of the war in Chechnya. Politkovskaya, shot to death in an apparent contract killing, was about to publish a story about torture and abductions in Chechnya. In 2007 Random House published her diaries under the title: “A Russian Diary." In 2008 Russian investigators named Rustam Makhmudov (34 of Chechnya as the executor of the murder. Makhmudov was still at large. In 2008 Prosecutors charged Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, a former police officer, and 2 brothers from Chechnya, Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov, with involvement in the murder.

2010
Oct 7, Australian PM Julia Gillard dropped her unpopular "citizens' assembly" to guide climate change policy after the plan drew fierce criticism during the recent election campaign.