Health hazard / CHRONICLE

.WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS ON THE MAJORITY WORLD

JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC
Click a month above to read an alternative view of the key events of that month.

ZIMBABWE Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party wins the elections but not without conceding many seats to the new opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Zanu supporters have murdered more than 30 activists and farmers in the run-up to the election and tortured, abducted and assaulted many other voters. Mugabe plots to seize mines and sack white judges in his efforts to ‘Africanize’ the economy by force.

BRAZIL Thousands watch as, live on TV, police end a four-hour siege, fatally wounding a bus hijacker and his female hostage. The Government is to ban the sale of firearms as part of a plan to reduce crime and urban violence.

CHINA Hong Kong’s last official Vietnamese refugee camp closes its doors. Protests erupt as nearly 140 refuse to leave, claiming they lack jobs. Many have been at the camps since they fled Vietnam after the Communist victory 25 years ago.

SYRIA After President Hafez al-Assad dies of a heart attack, his son takes over. Constitutional changes are made to ensure young Bashar al-Assad’s candidacy is not contested. Many fear the President’s departure will destabilize peace bargaining in the Middle East.

SOLOMON ISLANDS A coup heightens tensions in the capital Honiara between Guadalcanal islanders and settlers from the neighbouring Malaita island. Demanding his resignation, the Malaita Eagle Force holds Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa’alu hostage for nine days.

SRI LANKA A Remembrance Day parade in the capital, Colombo, in commemoration of those who died in a war against Tamil Tiger separatists, ends fatally. A suicide bomber claims 20 lives, including a Sri Lankan cabinet minister.

NIGERIA Protesters and strikers vent their anger at President Olusegun Obasanjo’s approval of a 50-per-cent rise in petrol prices. The price hikes are part of a policy to end subsidies on petroleum products – a consequence of foreign debt. Riots erupt in Abeoukuta, the President’s home town.

NICARAGUA A headless conquistador is touring the provinces – or at least his remains are. Someone decapitated the body of Captain Francisco Hernádez de Cordoba half a century ago. Unlike other conquistadors, he was known for treating the local tribes with humanity and not having a single atrocity on his record. Locals gather to pay tribute.

RUSSIA Vladimir Gusinsky, the chief of Russia’s biggest independent media group, is arrested for alleged embezzlement, following critical remarks he has made about corruption in Boris Yeltsin’s family, the war in Chechnya and the Putin Government’s authoritarian methods. Following protests, Gusinsky is released after three days.

BURMA A UN conference denounces Burma for its widespread use of forced labour. Burma is given four months to prove its willingness to change.

AUSTRALIA 250,000 pairs of feet take the first steps to reconciliation in a four-kilometre march along the Sydney Harbour Bridge. People from all walks of life express their support for Aboriginal Australians in the People’s Walk for Reconciliation. A plane emblazons the sky with an apt message: ‘sorry’.

KOREA A simple handshake between leaders Kim Jong-Il and Kim Dae-Jung ignites hopes of reconciliation between North and South Korea, during a historic three-day summit.

BRITAIN Fifty-eight Chinese migrants are found dead among crates of tomatoes in a container truck as they try to enter Britain illegally. The victims had paid thousands of dollars to an international smuggling ring, highlighting the plight and vulnerability of economic migrants trying to enter ‘Fortress Europe’.

UKRAINE Fourteen years after the world’s worst nuclear accident the complete closure of Chernobyl power station is finally announced for the end of the year.

WORLD It emerges that a damning report about the destruction of tropical forests has been deliberately suppressed for three years by the EU and the World Wide Fund for Nature who commissioned the $300,000 document. They feared repercussions for naming the corporations that have bribed and bullied their way to lucrative logging contacts.