WORLD AGENDA JUNE 2005

June 7-12, California: Chinese competitors will be among 252 athletes from six nations testing potential rivals for the 2008 Beijing Olympics at the International Sports Invitational

June 12, Colombo/Islamabad: A Sri Lanka-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement comes into effect in a deal expected to double trade between the two. Sri LankaÕs market in Pakistan for tea, betel leaves and rubber will expand while rice, potatoes and fruits will flow the other way

June 17, Tehran: Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani is frontrunner to replace outgoing reformist Mohammad Khatami when Iran goes to the polls. The 70-year-old cleric, who ruled from 1989 to 1997, favours closer ties with the West and economic liberalisation

June 19, Yangon: Nobel Laureate and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest in Myanmar, celebrates her 60th birthday

June 21, Washington: Prime Minister Phan Van Khai becomes the first leader of Vietnam to visit the United States, where he will meet President George Bush, since the end of the Vietnam War 30 years ago

June 20, London: Brightly coloured paintings by Congo the chimpanzee go on sale alongside works by Renoir and Andy Warhol at the prestigious Bonhams auction house. The chimpÕs work is thought to provide insight into human desire for artistic creativity

June, United Nations: Oil-for-food inquiry chairman Paul Volcker delivers his final report on mismanagement of the $67 billion programme for Iraq. UN General Secretary Kofi Annan has been cleared of wrongdoing while British MP George Galloway is among overseas politicians alleged to have profited from Saddam HusseinÕs regime

June, Tokyo: Japan is threatening to break a 20-year moratorium on commercial whaling if international regulators fail to establish a whaling management system this month. Japanese politicians say the International Whaling Commission was supposed to have agreed a system in 1990

June, New York: A new design for the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower will be put forward after security concerns over the original plans for Ground Zero. The height of what will be the tallest skyscraper in the world evokes the year of AmericaÕs independence

Late June/early July, Hanoi: A bird flu vaccine developed in Vietnam, where at least 38 people have died from the virus Ð more than any other country in the region Ð will be tested on humans. Health experts fear a pandemic if the disease becomes easily transmittable between humans

Parliamentary elections in Bulgaria (June 25), and St Helena (date to be decided). Presidential elections in Iran (June 17), Guinea Bissau (June 19) and Hungary (date to be decided)
/ENDS