WORLD AGENDA SEPTEMBER 2010

1. September 2, Washington: Israelis and Palestinians begin direct talks for the first time in 20 months, three weeks ahead of the end of a moratorium on Jewish settlement building in the West Bank. Negotiators aim to complete an accord in a year.

2. September 15, Iceland: Aviation and aerospace experts gather in Keflavik to coordinate the global response to future volcanic eruptions. Airlines lost more than $1.7 billion after flights were grounded in April and May when Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano spewed ash clouds around Europe.

3. Mid-September, Italy: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is expected to call a confidence vote and resign if he loses. A split in the centre-right coalition sapped power from the PM after lower house speaker Gianfranco Fini formed a breakaway faction in August.

4. September 10, Brussels: EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton urges states to back trade concessions for Pakistan, hit by its worst ever floods in August. The call comes amid concerns for the unpopular government, a U.S. ally in the war against Islamist militancy.

5. September 2, London: The memoirs of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair are published. A website promoting the book says "The Journey" includes "frank, unflinching" detail of his time in office.

6. September 13-18, Abuja: West African states hold emergency discussions on whether to send troops into Guinea Bissau. The tiny nation, prone to coups and revolts, has become a hub for millions of dollars of Latin American cocaine bound for Europe.

7. September 18, Afghanistan: Parliamentary elections take place amid the worst violence the country has seen since U.S.-backed forces ousted the Taliban in 2001. At least three candidates have been killed while dozens have been barred from standing because of their links to militias.

8. Early September, Yellow Sea: The U.S. military and South Korea conduct joint anti-submarine warfare exercises in a show of strength to North Korea amid rising tensions in the region. The North is accused of sinking the South Korean warship Cheonan, killing 46, in March.

September 25/29, New York/London: Proceeds from the sale of art owned by collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers will go towards repaying creditors. Works by Lucian Freud, Damien Hirst and Gerhard Richter are expected to fetch more than £8m at two auctions.

September 30, China: The deadline for the closure of more than 2,000 energy wasting factories, ordered by Beijing as part of a broader plan to cut consumption. Provinces hardest hit will be Henan in central China and Shaanxi in the north.
/ENDS