WORLD AGENDA SEPTEMBER 2002

September 1: ChinaÕs Òone-childÓ policy, imposed in the 1970s, is to be relaxed in the rural province of Anhui, where coal-miners and farmers will be among 13 categories of couples allowed to have a second baby.

September 7, U.S.: Slovenian Martin Strel aims to become the first person to swim the entire 2,340 miles of the Mississippi River. He began his marathon at the riverÕs source in northern Minnesota on July 4 and aims to reach the Gulf of Mexico 66 days later.

September 11: Concerts and solemn ceremonies will be among the memorial events for the first anniversary of the terror attacks on the U.S. President Bush is scheduled to mark the occasion with visits to the crash sites in Manhattan, Washington and Pennsylvania.

September 12: Formal talks between the Sri Lankan government and the separatist Tamil Tigers Ð aimed at bringing a permanent truce to the 19-year-old conflict that has killed 65,000 people Ð are scheduled to take place in Thailand.

September 16: Separatists are threatening to boycott legislative elections in the Indian-administered part of the fiercely disputed Kashmir region. Polling, which they claim has been rigged, is scheduled in four phases, with results likely in mid October.

September 22: As GermanyÕs economy limps along, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder faces a seemingly insurmountable challenge from conservative candidate Edmund Stoiber in the countryÕs general elections.

September 29: Thirteen thousand athletes descend on Busan in South Korea for the 14th Asian Games. North KoreaÕs decision to send a team means all 43 member countries of the Olympic Council of Asia will be represented for the first time.

September 30: Sesame Street will introduce an HIV-positive Muppet character on the South African version of the popular childrenÕs TV show. One in nine of the countryÕs population is thought to carry the virus.

September undated: Four Indonesian men accused of trying to smuggle hundreds of Afghan asylum-seekers into Australia aboard the ill-fated Norwegian freighter, Tampa, are due to stand trial in Perth.

Parliamentary elections in Sweden (Sep 15), Macedonia (Sep 15) and Slovakia (Sep 20). Presidential elections in Serbia (Sep 29).