WORLD AGENDA JULY 2006


July (general): Afghanistan, which has been rocked by an upsurge of violence from the hardline Islamic Taliban insurgents in recent months, will see a doubling of peacekeeping forces when Nato takes over security there from U.S.-led troops.

Mid-July: A Palestinian unity government is set to be installed after the Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abbas and the ruling Hamas movement of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh reached agreement in late June over a manifesto that implicitly recognises IsraelÕs right to exist.

July 1: Finland assumes the presidency of the European Union, vowing to use its six-month term to make the workings of the Council -- the unionÕs decision-making body -- more open to the public.

July 1: After extensive safety modifications, the space shuttle Discovery is due to blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on only the second mission since the Columbia disaster in 2003.

July 1: The first stage of the Tour de France begins in Strasbourg, the start of the gruelling three-week, 3,600km race that is certain to see a new champion riding off with the 450,000-euro prize money following the retirement last year of seven-time champion Lance Armstrong.

July 2: Conservative Felipe Calderon is neck-and-neck in the polls with leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in the race to replace Vicente Fox as President of Mexico. Fox is standing down at the end of his single six-year term.

July 5:  John ÒJuniorÓ Gotti, alleged head of the notorious Gambino crime family, goes on trial for the third time in New York accused of extortion, loan-sharking and kidnapping. Two previous trials ended with deadlocked juries.

July 6: U.S. President George W. Bush celebrates his 60th birthday.

July 9: One billion viewers worldwide are expected to tune in for the final match of the Soccer World Cup 2006 at BerlinÕs Olympic stadium, as the two teams remaining from a field of 32 hopefuls compete for the coveted trophy.

July 9-19: Global warming and shrinking polar ice sheets look set to dominate a joint scientific conference on Antarctica in Hobart, Tasmania.

July 10: Former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic -- a close political ally of the late Slobodan Milosevic -- goes on trial at the UN tribunal in The Hague accused of atrocities committed during the Serb crackdown on Kosovo in 1999.

July 13: A rare copy of a Òfirst folioÓ of William ShakespeareÕs plays, described as the most important book in English literature, goes under the hammer at Sotheby's in London. The volume of 36 plays, published in 1623, is expected to fetch up to £3.5m ($6.5m).

July 15: Leaders of the worldÕs most powerful industrial nations head for St Petersburg as Russia hosts its first G8 summit. Among the top items on the agenda will be devising a strategy to deal with IranÕs nuclear ambitions.

July 31: Time is up for the World Trade Organisation as it reaches its self-imposed deadline for reaching a new deal on global trade. The so-called Doha round of talks, which began in 2001, have been deadlocked by disagreements over how to reduce tariffs to help the poorest countries.

Also: Presidential elections in Seychelles (July 28); Democratic Republic of Congo (July 30). Parliamentary elections in Macedonia (July 5).
/ENDS