1992

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• On 1 March in Sarajevo, following a referendum boycotted by Bosnian Serbs, Alija Izetbegovic declares the independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina. A civil war begins, and ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims by Christian Serbs (aided by Yugoslav federal forces) increases. Sarajevo soon comes under siege by Bosnian Serbs.

• From 3 to 14 June, the Conference on Environment and Development – a UN-sponsored ecology conference, commonly known as the Earth Summit – in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, results in 120 countries signing a convention (known as Agenda 21) on preserving biological diversity and preventing climate change in the 21st century.

• On 31 October, the Roman Catholic Church officially rehabilitates Galileo Galilei. In 1633, he had been forced by the Inquisition to recant his assertion that the earth orbits the sun.

• In China, Deng Xiaoping supports free-market economics.

• The first free general elections are held in Taiwan.

• On 3 November, William Jefferson 'Bill' Clinton, the Democratic governor of Arkansas, wins the US presidential election against the incumbent George Bush.

• On 11 November, the Church of England General Synod votes to allow women to be ordained into the priesthood.

• On 9 December, US troops arrive in Somalia on a humanitarian mission (Operation Restore Hope) but are caught in the middle of a civil war. They finally withdraw on 25 March 1994.

• Jung Chang publishes Wild Swans, an account of growing up in Mao Zedong's China.

• American playwright Tony Kushner's Angels in America, an epic play about the McCarthy era and Aids in the United States, opens in London.

• Steven Spielberg makes Jurassic Park, a film that expresses anxieties about genetic cloning.

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