WORLD At the Climate Change Convention in Buenos Aires, President Clinton signs the Kyoto Protocol which will legally bind the developed world to reducing greenhouse gases. Time is running out. Findings from the Hadley Centre for Climate Change indicate that parts of the Amazon will turn into desert by the year 2050.

BERMUDA The Progressive Labour Party sweeps to victory in the island’s general elections, ending the Conservatives’ 30-year rule.

ALISON WRIGHT / PANOS

Peaceful times in the Amazon : Peru and Ecuador ended a 60-year-old conflict when they signed a border treaty.

BRAZIL A tough austerity package from the IMF is signed in exchange for a rescue deal worth $60 billion from the International Monetary Fund.

CHINA Grassroots protest is said to be on the increase in China in the light of national money troubles. Nearly 200 victims of a financial swindle march through Beijing in protest – part of a national trend towards direct political action.

CHILE Mireya Perez, a member of Chile’s carabineros whose main experience is overseeing the care of abused children and adults, is made the country’s first female general.

CAMBODIA A four-month deadlock is resolved when rival political parties agree to form a coalition government. Hun Sen will be the sole Prime Minister and Prince Norodom Ranariddh will be President of the National Assembly.

WORLD The AIDS epidemic is out of control in many parts of the world, infecting 11 people every minute and killing 2.5 million people last year, a UN report says. According to South Africa’s health ministry, 20 per cent of the country’s working population could be contaminated by 2000 and overall life expectancy could fall from 68 to 48 within the next 10 years. In Botswana and Zimbabwe, as many as one in four adults is reported to be infected with hiv. The 21 countries with the highest infection rates are all in Africa.

KURDS Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), is arrested in Italy, which sparks off a political row with Turkey by refusing to extradite him to face terrorism charges.

WESTERN SAHARA UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan visits the region to add impetus to the peace process, which has been stalled for much of the year by delaying tactics of the Moroccan Government. The referendum on Saharawi self-determination, originally planned for the end of 1998, is postponed to December 1999.

ONLINE CHRONICLE DESIGNED & MAINTAINED BY SIMON, Simon Loffler.