01| Socialist leader Lionel Jospin wins the French general election. A coalition of left parties get 319 seats to the ruling centre-right coalition's 256. The result is an upset for President Jacques Chirac, who called the election early, hoping that his centre-right government would be reelected before its policy of cutting public services made it unpopular. France now has a conservative president and a socialist prime minister.|
01| The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) decides to admit Burma as a member in July, together with Cambodia and Laos. Meeting in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, ASEAN's seven foreign ministers, from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, took this action despite objections from the United States. The U.S.A. claims that Burma's military government, in power since 1988, has a poor human rights record.|
02| American Timothy McVeigh is found guilty of the Oklahoma bombing, the United States' biggest terrorist attack. McVeigh, aged 29, caused the 1,816-kilogram bomb explosion on April 19, 1995. The blast destroyed an Oklahoma City government building, killing 168 people. The jury in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A., took 23 hours to reach its verdict. Prosecutors claim that McVeigh, a Gulf War veteran, was motivated by hatred of the government following its handling of the 1993 siege at Waco, Texas, which resulted in the death of about 80 members of the Branch Davidian religious cult.|
02| A South Korean court sentences the founder of the Hanbo Group to 15 years in jail. Chung Tae-Soo, aged 70, was found guilty of bribing senior government officials and bankers to acquire loans of almost 3.6 billion pounds sterling to keep the company's steelmaking unit in business. When the company was declared bankrupt in January 1997, widespread bribery was discovered. Among those arrested are one cabinet minister and several members of Parliament.|
02| Police seize a freight train carrying 240,000 bottles of 'fake' vodka at a Moscow railway station, in Russia. The train arrived from the republic of North Ossetia in the southern part of the country and police suspect that the mafia intended to sell the drink in the Russian capital. 'Fake' vodka is made from poisonous industrial alcohol and has caused 22 deaths in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.|
03| Greenpeace discovers more than 50 drums of highly toxic waste near a site being developed for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. It claims that tests on the contents of the drums, found at Homebush Bay in western Sydney, show levels of dioxin contamination sixty times higher than those recorded in the world's first major dioxin accident at Seveso, Italy, in 1976. Dioxin is an extremely dangerous by-product of pesticide manufacture.|
03| The Taliban, Afghanistan's militant Islamic fundamentalist army, claims to have captured two strategic towns, Golbahar and Jabal os-Siraj, which lie north of the capital, Kabul. The towns were held by local warlords and such battles are part of a volatile political and military situation in which a weak central government, independent warlords, and the Taliban all compete for support from the people.|
04| About 55,000 people attend a candle-lit vigil in Victoria Park, Hong Kong, in memory of the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre. It is a record attendance at the annual commemoration. This and other demonstrations may be banned by Tung Chee-Hwa, Hong Kong's future leader, when the colony reverts to Chinese rule on July 1. In 1989, pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, were opposed by the Chinese army, and hundreds of people were killed.|
04| A woman aged 54 gives birth to twins at University College Hospital, in London. Eleanor Armstrong-Perlman becomes the United Kingdom's oldest mother of a test-tube baby after having fertility treatment. The world's oldest test-tube mother is Arceli Keh, a 63-year-old Filipino-American who lied about her age in order to undergo fertility treatment.|
04| Canadian writer Anne Michaels wins the United Kingdom's richest literary prize, the 30,000 pounds sterling Orange Prize for Fiction. Michaels' novel, called 'Fugitive Pieces', is about two men whose lives have been transformed by war. It is her first novel. Sixty per cent of the entries for the Orange Prize, which is only open to women, came from North America.|
05| Scientists claim that drinking Chinese tea may help in the fight against cancer. In an article in the science journal 'Nature', researchers from the Medical College of Ohio and the University of Toledo, U.S.A., show that a chemical, called epigallocathechin-3 gallate (EGCG), found in green tea, inhibits the enzyme that cancer cells need for growth. Black tea does not have the same effect.|
05| The highest-ranking Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent to be caught spying is jailed for 23 years and 7 months. Harold Nicholson, aged 46, was found guilty of selling American security secrets to Russia. Prosecutors at the court in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.A., offered him a reduced sentence if he would admit his guilt. Nicholson says he sold secrets for two and a half years because he needed money to maintain his three children after his marriage failed.|
06| The Algerian government claims victory in yesterday's general elections, but three parties, the National Liberation Front (FLN), the Secular Socialist Forces Front (FFS), and the moderate Islamic Movement for a Peaceful Society (MSP), question the validity of the results. The largest number of seats in the new parliament is won by the recently formed National Democratic Rally (RND) party, which supports President Liamine Zeroual. The results of the last general election in 1991 were cancelled by the military after victory by a Muslim fundamentalist party, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), which is now banned. The FIS urged a boycott of this year's elections, which were marred by terrorist violence.|
06| Elephant conservationist Iain Douglas-Hamilton warns against a new scheme to legalise the trade in ivory. Douglas-Hamilton is chairman of the 'Save the Elephants' campaign, which is based in Nairobi, Kenya. He says that reopening the ivory trade, banned in 1989, would encourage elephant poaching. However, the governments of Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana are keen to profit from a limited trade in ivory.|
07| The Irish general election results in heavy losses for the ruling coalition of Fine Gael and Labour. The opposition Fianna Fail party wins 39.3 per cent of the vote and its leader, Bertie Ahern, is expected to be the new Irish prime minister in place of Fine Gael's John Bruton. Ahern will need the support of Progressive Democrat and independent members of Parliament to form a coalition government. This may have a positive effect on the Northern Ireland peace process because Fianna Fail has a good relationship with Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army.|
07| An evening gown worn by the American actress Marilyn Monroe is sold for a record sum at a Los Angeles auction house. The dress, worn by the sex-symbol in the 1953 film 'How To Marry a Millionaire', fetched 57,500 U.S. dollars at a Christie's sale of movie memorabilia. Paul Jenkins, a Christie's consultant, said the record price reflected the star's enduring appeal to collectors. Marilyn Monroe died in 1962.|
08| Army engineers recover the last of four 50-year-old prototype 'bouncing' bombs found at Reculver Beach, near Herne Bay, on the south-east coast of England. During World War II, the area was used as a testing ground for the bombs, which are cylinder-shaped and bounce over water toward their targets. They were invented by Sir Barnes Wallis and used in raids on Germany's Ruhr dams in April and May 1943. The raids inspired the 1955 film 'The Dam Busters'.|
08| In the French Open tennis championship in Paris, the men's singles final is won by Gustavo Kuerten, an unseeded player barely known outside his native Brazil. The 20-year-old Kuerten is the first Brazilian to win a Grand Slam singles title. Yesterday, Iva Majoli, a 19-year old Croatian, won her first Grand Slam title in the women's singles final by beating Martina Hingis, the world number one woman player. |
09| The French air force evacuates 700 foreign nationals from Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, as fighting rages in the streets for the fifth day. The conflict started when government troops attempted to disarm the militia of General Denis Sassou-Nguesso, a Marxist who ruled the country from 1979 to 1992. Although the current president, Pascal Lissouba, claims Sassou-Nguesso was planning a coup, Sassou-Nguesso claims the government started the conflict as a pretext for postponing next month's elections.|
09| The hijacking of a Maltese aeroplane with 81 people on board ends as 2 Turks surrender to the police at Cologne airport, Germany. The hijackers, aged 24 and 25, forced the captain of the plane, which was flying from Malta to Turkey, to land in Germany. During two hours of negotiations with the authorities, the hijackers demanded the release of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman jailed in Italy for trying to assassinate the Pope in 1981.|
10| An Australian newspaper alleges that hundreds of babies were used as guinea pigs in experiments between 1945 and 1970. Melbourne's 'The Age' claims that new vaccines for whooping cough, influenza and herpes were tested. The children came from orphanages and care homes in the state of Victoria. The tests, some on infants as young as three months, were carried out by the government's Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, and the private Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.|
11| Artist Rachel Whiteread becomes the first woman to represent the United Kingdom (UK) with a solo show at the Venice Biennale, Italy's prestigious festival of contemporary art. Whiteread, aged 34, is a sculptor whose work involves casts of everyday objects. In 1993, she won the UK's Turner Prize for 'House', a full-scale concrete cast of a house in the East End of London. She is currently working on a Holocaust memorial for the Austrian capital, Vienna.|
12| Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom attends a performance of Shakespeare's 'Henry V' at the newly opened Globe theatre, a modern replica of the 1599 Elizabethan original. It stands on Bankside, on the south side of the River Thames in London. The play is directed by Richard Olivier and the Globe's artistic director, Mark Rylance, takes the title role. This production follows a practice current in Shakespeare's day of not allowing women on stage, so men play all the roles. The theatre was the idea of American film producer Sam Wanamaker, who died in 1993 before it was completed.|
12| The Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust celebrate their purchase of the island of Eigg from absentee landlord Marlin Eckhard, a German artist. The Trust is a partnership between the island community, The Highland Council, and Scottish Wildlife Trust. The trustees raised more than 1.5 million pounds through international appeal to make the purchase. The Trust promises to provide security of tenure for Eigg's 68 inhabitants and to sustain the island's environmental and cultural heritage.|
12| Mary Robinson, the president of Ireland, is appointed United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights by the UN's secretary general, Kofi Annan. The main contributor to a Council of Europe conference on human rights in 1993, Robinson was the leading candidate for the post, but faced objections from Third World countries because she is European.|
13| A fire in an Indian cinema kills 57 people and injures 100 others. Situated in an affluent part of the capital, New Delhi, the Uphaar Grand cinema seats 1,050. It was full when fire broke out during a matinee screening of 'Border', a highly popular Hindi film about the 1971 Bangladesh civil war. The fire is thought to have started when a ground-floor electrical transformer overheated.|
13| The Irish pop singer Sinead O'Connor cancels her June 21 open-air concert in Jerusalem, Israel, after receiving a death threat. Police believe that the threat was made by right-wing Israeli extremists who are opposed to the concert, which aims to promote the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.|
14| Thousands of young people converge on Amsterdam, Netherlands, in a protest march against unemployment, which is estimated to number about 18 million in the European Union (EU). The protest, timed to coincide with the opening of the EU's intergovernmental summit on June 16, attracted demonstrators from several European countries. About 150 demonstrators rioted, smashing windows and fighting with police.|
14| In a speech at the University of California at San Diego, President of the United States Bill Clinton warns that his country risks a return to racial segregation in higher education after voters in the state of California approved Proposition 209 in a 1996 referendum. The vote has resulted in the repeal of the state's affirmative action programmes, which help counter racial prejudice. The speech is attended by 20,000 people.|
15| Turkey's first Islamist prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan, hosts the inaugural meeting of a new group of nations in the capital Istanbul. Called D-8 (Developing Eight), it comprises eight countries, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey. D-8 is widely seen as an Islamist counterweight to the G-7 group of industrial countries, comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States. Erbakan's other ideas include projects for an 'Islamic' currency and an 'Islamic' aeroplane.|
15| The Croatian leader Franjo Tudjman claims victory in the country's presidential election. His campaign concentrated on his success in securing Croatian independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and winning a four-year war against Serbian insurgents. His rivals for the presidency, Vlado Gotovac and Zdravko Tomac, claim that news coverage was biased in Tudjman's favour and impeded their campaigns.|
16| The European Union's intergovernmental summit opens in Amsterdam. The heads of EU countries, led by Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, will discuss unemployment, the single European currency, border controls, and the possible enlargement of the EU. The United Kingdom prime minister, Tony Blair, is expected to take a leading role in the summit.|
16| An inquiry into alleged atrocities by Italian peacekeeping forces in Somalia begins in Rome. It is headed by the former president of Italy's constitutional court, Ettore Gallo. The commission is investigating the behaviour of 12,000 Italian troops, part of the United Nations' 'Restore Hope' operation, in Somalia between December 1992 and March 1994.|
17| Israeli troops shoot and wound 28 Palestinians in the fourth day of clashes in the West Bank town of Hebron. Arab youths have been throwing stones and petrol bombs at Israeli soldiers in protest against the lack of progress in the Middle East peace talks. The town of Hebron is divided, with one half ruled by Israel and the other by the Palestinian Authority, and relations between the two communities are tense.|
17| The South African white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche is sentenced to six years in prison for the attempted murder in March 1996 of Paul Motshabi, a 27-year-old black labourer who was employed on Terreblanche's farm in western Transvaal. Terreblanche is the founder of the paramilitary group, Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging.|
18| Eight people, including a four-year-old boy, are killed in separate incidents in the city of Karachi in Pakistan. The violence is due to competition between the ethnic Mohajir National Movement (MQM) and a breakaway faction, the MQM-Haqiqi. Nawaz Sharif, who became prime minister in February 1997, has been unable to prevent terrorist attacks in Karachi. More than 150 people died in these attacks.|
19| After the longest civil case in United Kingdom history, two environmental campaigners, David Morris and Helen Steel, are found guilty of libelling McDonald's fast-food chain. In 1986, Morris and Steel distributed a leaflet, 'What's Wrong with McDonald's', which accused the company of destroying South American rainforests, cruelty to animals, serving unhealthy food, and mistreating its workers. Although McDonald's is awarded 60,000 pounds sterling in damages, the court found that some of the allegations (low wages, cruelty to animals, aiming advertising at children) were true. The case lasted 314 days.|
19| Thailand's finance minister, Amnuay Viravan, and commerce minister, Narongchai Akrasanee, resign. Both had been directly appointed by Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to solve the country's economic crisis. However, because neither had been elected, members of the governing coalition refused to cooperate with them and they were forced to resign.|
19| The United Kingdom's Conservative Party chooses William Hague as its new leader. Aged 36, Hague is the youngest leader of the party since William Pitt the Younger, who held the post at the age of 24 in 1783.|
20| The G-7 summit of the leaders of industrial countries begins in Denver, Colorado, in the U.S.A. Russia, which has attended other summits as an observer, now wants to be included in the top eight nations. The G-7 group of most industrial countries comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States.|
20| Heavy lobbying from the American and Brazilian timber trade representatives and the Brazilian government blocks international regulation of the unsustainable and largely illegal mahogany trade. At the 10th meeting of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) in Harare, Zimbabwe, the proposal to list bigleaf mahogany on Appendix II of CITES fails by only 5 votes to get the two-thirds majority of votes required. Sixty-seven countries vote for the proposal, including the majority of Latin American countries, the U.S.A., and the United Kingdom. A compromise solution is agreed, whereby producing countries committed to listing mahogany on Appendix III, will issue a country of origin certificate with each export.|
21| Cambodia's two prime ministers confirm that Pol Pot has been arrested in Anlong Veng, near the Thai border. As head of the Khmer Rouge Communist government in the late 1970's, Pol Pot led a revolution in the country which resulted in an estimated 2 million deaths, many of which were executions in secret 'killing fields'. In 1993, United Nations-sponsored elections resulted in a democratic, multi-party government with two prime ministers. The Khmer Rouge boycotted the elections and did not become part of the new government. Since then, Pol Pot had continued fighting government troops in some areas.|
22| Pope John Paul II, head of the Roman Catholic Church, makes a fresh plea for reconciliation to Alexei II, the patriarch of the Orthodox Church after the proposed meeting in Austria later this month is cancelled. A conflict between the pope in Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople about who had ultimate authority over Christian believers resulted in a schism between the western Roman Catholic Church and the eastern Orthodox Church in 1054.|
22| The Spanish Socialist Party congress in Madrid chooses a new leader to replace Felipe Gonzalez, who unexpectedly resigned on June 20. The new secretary general, Joaquin Almunia, aged 49, is an economist and former trade-union official from Bilbao, the capital of the Basque region of Spain. He is a supporter of Gonzalez, who led the party for 23 years.|
23| India and Pakistan announce an agenda for peace talks which may end 50 years of hostility between the two countries. The joint statement was issued after a meeting between representatives of India and Pakistan in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. Both sides have agreed to stop propaganda against each other and to plan measures for economic cooperation. The disputed territory of Kashmir, in India, will also be discussed.|
23| A French court in Nice, on the Riviera coast, finds fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld guilty of tax evasion. He has been ordered to pay a large fine for avoiding payment of taxes in 1982-1984. Lagerfeld claims he lives in Monaco, where residents do not pay income tax. Lagerfeld, who designs his own line of clothes and accessories, is also chief designer for the Chanel and Fendi fashion companies.|
24| Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu survives a vote of no confidence in parliament even though 11 members of his coalition government, including Foreign Minister David Levy, abstain. The vote shows that Netanyahu's authority has declined. In order to continue as prime minister, he has had to make concessions to right-wing politicians who are against the Middle East peace talks.|
24| A replica of John Cabot's ship 'Matthew' reaches Bonavista in Newfoundland, Canada, after an eight-week voyage from Bristol, England. Cabot made the first English voyage to North America in 1497 while trying to find a route to India by sailing across the north Atlantic. To celebrate the 500th anniversary of his landing in Newfoundland, the replica 'Matthew', with a crew of 18, recreated his voyage.|
25| The first crash of two vehicles in space results in the Russian space station 'Mir' being damaged. The crash happened when the station's astronauts, Vasili Tsibliev and Alexander Lazutkin from Russia and Michael Foale from the United States, were using manual controls to practise docking an unmanned cargo ship which accompanies 'Mir'. The collision has damaged panels holding solar batteries and resulted in a loss of power.|
25| The French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau dies aged 87. Born in France in 1910, Cousteau began his marine exploration in the ship 'Calypso' in 1951. After founding several research bodies for the study of sea life, he made a series of award-winning films, including 'The Silent World' in 1956, and many television series, most notably 'The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau'. A pioneer of underwater photography, Cousteau also helped invent the aqualung in 1943.|
26| During a trial in Tokyo, Yasuo Hayashi pleads guilty to releasing nerve gas in the Japanese capital's subways. The nerve gas attack, which killed 12 people and injured more than 5,500 others, took place in 1995 and was organised by a religious cult called the Aum Shinrikyo. Five cult members are standing trial.|
26| In New York, Christie's auctions 79 dresses and ballgowns belonging Diana, Princess of Wales. The sale raises about 5.7 million U.S. dollars, which will be given to breast cancer and AIDS charities. The highest bid was for the blue silk velvet gown in which Diana danced with actor John Travolta at the White House, during a banquet given by President Ronald Reagan in 1985.|
27| The United Nations New York conference set up to review the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (popularly known as the "Earth Summit") ends with little agreement on how to combat pollution. Third World delegates have criticized industrial countries for breaking promises, given at the Rio de Janeiro summit, to give them more aid for development. This has prevented agreement on reducing carbon dioxide emissions and other pollution.|
27| Frank Savage, the governor of the Caribbean island of Montserrat, orders the evacuation of an area northwest of the Soufriere Hills volcano, which erupted on June 25. The eruption covered most of the island in grey ash and destroyed about 100 homes. Since it began erupting on July 18, 1995, the volcano has threatened the future of Montserrat, a British dependent territory. More than half of the island, including the capital Plymouth, has now been evacuated.|
28| The Sri Lankan navy claims to have sunk four boats belonging to the Tamil Tiger guerrilla rebels. In the incident, near Trincomalee, about 250 kilometres east of the capital Colombo, seven rebel boats were intercepted and attacked by the navy. They are believed to have been carrying arms and food supplies to Wanni, a Tamil Tiger stronghold in northern Sri Lanka currently under attack from government forces.|
28| A world heavyweight boxing match in Las Vegas, U.S.A., between the champion Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson is stopped in the third round when Tyson is disqualified by the referee for biting off part of his opponent's ear. Tyson, aged 31, is a former world champion and is currently on parole after serving part of a six-year sentence for raping an 18-year-old beauty queen.|
29| In the Albanian general election, President Sali Berisha's ruling right-wing Democratic Party is defeated by the Socialist Party, led by Fatos Nano. Nano is expected to be the next president. The election is marred by violent incidents, including the murder of the president of the local electoral commission in Fier, a town 120 kilometres south of the capital, Tirana.|
29| Palestinian politicians called for mass protests and attacks on Jewish settlers after posters showing the prophet Muhammad as a pig appeared in the West Bank, Israel. Tatyana Suskin, a 25-year-old resident of Jerusalem, has been arrested and is suspected of pasting the posters on 20 shopfronts. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, condemned the posters and telephoned the Palestinian mayor of Hebron to apologise.|
30| Hong Kong, a United Kingdom (UK) colony, is given back to China at midnight. The territory was leased for 99 years by the UK from China in 1898. Ceremonies are attended by Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Charles, Prince of Wales, and China's President Jiang Zemin. The new government of Hong Kong, led by Tung Chee-Hwa, is officially sworn in.|
30| A court martial in Belgium acquits two paratroop soldiers accused of burning a child during the United Nations's peacekeeping operation in Somalia in 1993. Despite photographs showing the two soldiers, Kurt Coelus and Claude Baert, holding the child over a fire, the court accepted their story that they were playing a harmless game.|
