WORLD AGENDA SEPTEMBER 2006

September (undated): A $1.2m replica of NoahÕs Ark will set sail with a cargo of farm animals along the inland waterways of the Netherlands on a voyage that its builder, Johan Huibers, hopes will rekindle interest in Christianity.

Sep 5: South AfricaÕs popular former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, who was acquitted earlier this year on a rape charge, faces a high court trial for corruption.

Sep 6: Magistrates in Mexico have until today to declare who will be the countryÕs president-elect. Left-wing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who lost to the governing partyÕs Felipe Calderon by less than 0.6% in JulyÕs poll, has staged a mass protest claiming the vote was rigged.

Sep 10: Montenegro, which voted in May to break away from Serbia, so dismantling the last vestige of former Yugoslavia, holds its first general election as a fully independent state.

Sep 11: Friends and relatives of those killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks will lead a service of commemoration at the site of the World Trade Centre in New York to mark the fifth anniversary of the atrocity that killed 2,749 people.

September 11, Iraq: The genocide trial of Saddam Hussein is due to resume. During the so-called Anfal campaign -- a massive military assault in northern Iraq in the 1980s -- tens of thousands of Kurds were killed, many by chemical weapons. Saddam is expecting a verdict on October 16 in the first case against him -- the nine-month-long trial over the killings of 148 Shias in the town of Dujail in the 1980s.

Sep 18: The Vatican will open its secret archives from the 1920s and 30s to allow historians new insights into the Catholic ChurchÕs response to the rise of Nazism in Europe.

Sep 20: JapanÕs ruling Liberal Democrats must choose a successor to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whose five-year term as party leader expires this month. Cabinet secretary Shinzo Abe is among the front-runners.

Sep 22: The 36th Ryder Cup, the biannual golfing contest between the U.S. and Europe, and one of the biggest sporting events in the world, tees off at the K Club in County Kildare, marking IrelandÕs first hosting of the tournament.
 
Sep 25, New Orleans: The Louisiana Superdome, the storm-battered stadium that was home to 30,000 evacuees in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, reopens after a $140m repair programme, in what is hoped will be a symbol of the devastated city's rebirth.

Sep 28: BangkokÕs $4bn Suvarnabhumi International Airport, featuring the largest terminal building and at 132 metres the worldÕs tallest control tower, is due to open after more than 30 years of planning and numerous delays.
 
Parliamentary elections: Sweden (17th).
Presidential elections: Yemen (20th), Gambia (22nd).
Parliamentary / Presidential elections: Zambia (28th). 
/ENDS