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.

INDIA The Government announces its intention to increase the output of the alternative energy sector by ten per cent by the year 2012. A policy statement shifts the focus from incentives through subsidies to commercialization of alternative-energy technologies and further research and development.

PERU President Alberto Fujimori bows to pressure: he declares his resignation, calls for elections in a national address and so ends his ten-year rule. The surprise decision follows an incident in which his right-hand man, intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos, was caught on video attempting to bribe a member of the opposition. Montesinos is also accused of amassing huge wealth from laundering drug money.

INDONESIA Hundreds of relief workers are evacuated from West Timor following the murder of 11 UN workers by pro-Indonesian militia. Thousands of militias converge on UN offices, beating and dragging workers from buildings and burning their bodies. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan declares it the worst-ever attack on UN civilian personnel.

CONGO, DEM REP Hutu militiamen kill at least ten people, including Congolese environmentalists and local chiefs, at a gorilla sanctuary in the east. The group had gathered to discuss ways to protect the remaining 70 eastern lowland gorillas, under threat from poachers and the burgeoning two-year civil war.

BURUNDI Peace edges closer as Tutsi political parties say they would consider signing a power-sharing accord. Nelson Mandela mediates, proposing a ceasefire.

MEXICO Women protest in Mexico City after conservative local Members of Parliament consider criminalizing abortion after rape. President-elect Vicente Fox Quesada’s party, the National Action Party, is the first to give pro-choice campaigners a public platform.

LEBANON Ex-prime minister and billionaire tycoon, Rafic Hariri, makes a surprise comeback in the general election. It is the first time a sitting Prime Minister has been defeated at the polls.

ARGENTINA The Roman Catholic Church asks forgiveness for collaborating with the dictatorship that ruled 24 years ago and caused the death of about 30,000 people.

WORLD Protesters gather in Prague for the annual meeting of the World Bank and the IMF. The talks end early as 15,000 anti-globalization activists bring Prague to a standstill in their bid to highlight the harmful effects of economic liberalization (see box).