June 1: Brazil. The worldÕs fifth largest country faces electricity rationing in a bid to tackle a looming energy shortage. The crisis is blamed on a severe drought that has all but emptied reservoirs at the hydroelectric plants that supply more than 90 percent of the nationÕs power.

June 1-15: Indonesia. Domestic fuel prices are set to rise by 30 percent as Jakarta tries to cap a troublin budget deficit.

June 3: Peru. Peruvians must choose a new president at the end of a gloves-off second-round campaign that has left many voters in despair. The choice between eloquent ex-president Alan Garcia Ð who left the country in an economic mire at the end of his 1985-90 term Ð or mercurial economist Alejandro Toledo, accused by Garcia of using cocaine, is no choice say the 30 percent of voters who, according to pollsters, plan to cast spoiled ballots.

June 5: Cuba / Italy. The cities of Havana and Torino are to co-host World Environment Day 2001. Celebrations and debates are planned in both locations, with Torino launching the first Biennial International Eco-Efficiency Fair.

June 7: Britain. Prime minister Tony Blair and his New Labour government seek a second term Ð the only apparent threat to certain victory being a low turnout among voters.

June 7: Ireland. The Irish are set to determine the future of the European Union with a referendum on the Treaty of Nice. Rejection of the deal, designed to prepare EU institutions for the unionÕs enlargement from 15 to 27 nations, could halt the expansion process. Ireland is the only country holding a popular vote on the December 2000 treaty.

June 8: Iran. A presidential election sees nine challengers from conservative or hard-line factions bidding Ð almost certainly in vain Ð to unseat popular incumbent President Mohammad Khatami, the reformist cleric swept to power in a landslide victory in 1997.

June 11: Latvia. A week of commemorations, including an international conference, will honour victims of the ÒCommunist terrorÓ 60 years ago. In June 1941, more than 15,000 Latvians were deported to Siberia by the occupying Soviet authorities.

June 11: Indiana. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh is due to be executed at Terre Haute prison. His death by lethal injection, postponed from last month, will be shown on closed-circuit TV to survivors and relatives of the 1995 attack in which 149 adults and 19 children were killed. The Gulf War veteran is the first person in 40 years to be executed under federal, rather than state, jurisdiction.

June 16: Washington D.C. George W. Bush makes his first trip to Europe as U.S. president in a five-nation tour including attendance at the EU summit in Sweden Ð where heÕs likely to draw fire over his rejection of the Kyoto treaty on global warming. The visit culminates in a first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Slovenia Ð BushÕs most significant engagement with a foreign leader since taking office. Relations between the two powers have been strained recently over spying allegations and U.S. missile defence plans.

June 17: Bulgaria. An alliance rallying under ex-king Simeon II, could produce an upset in parliamentary elections. Polls show the National Movement of Simeon II Ð pledging an anti-poverty, pro-economic reform agenda Ð garnering widespread support. For legal reasons, Simeon, 63, who was exiled by the Soviets as a child and has lived most of his life in Spain, cannot formally lead the party.

June 21: Africa. Lusaka gets its moment in the sun Ð by being cast into darkness. The impoverished Zambian capital, the only major city on the path of the first total solar eclipse of the new millennium, is expecting an influx of international visitors to view the marvel that will make its way across the skies of the South Atlantic, and into southern Africa, before ending at sunset in the Indian Ocean.

June 27: Utah. Tom Green, found guilty on four counts of bigamy, faces up to 25 years in prison when he returns to court for sentencing. The 52-year-old Mormon, who lives with five wives and 25 of his children in a desert trailer park, is AmericaÕs first convicted polygamist in nearly half a century.

June: Russia. A long and delicate $70m operation to raise the wreck of the nuclear submarine that sank last August killing all 118 sailors on board is due to get underway. The Kursk, which exploded in the Barents Sea and still holds the bodies of most of the men, is expected to be towed into the port of Murmansk around late September