WORLD AGENDA JUNE 2011

June 1, Qatar: Bahrain's state of emergency ends. It was imposed by Sunni king Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa a few weeks after Shia-led unrest was sparked in February by Arab uprisings in neighbouring states.

June 1, Zurich: Sepp Blatter looks set to win a fourth term as Fifa president, one of the most powerful positions in world sport, despite renewed allegations of corruption within soccer's governing body. Qatar's Mohamed Bin Hammam hopes to unseat the 75-year-old Swiss.

June 5, Lima: Left-winger Ollanta Humala, a former military officer, is pitched against right-winger Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former leader Alberto Fujimori, in a run-off presidential vote. The winner faces uniting Peru's fractured Congress and managing one of the world's fastest growing economies.

June 12, Ankara: Turkey goes to the polls amid rising violence after the Kurdish PKK rebel group ended a six-month ceasefire in February. The separatists have waged a 26-year insurgency against the state which has claimed 40,000 lives.

June 20, China: The high-speed rail link between Beijing and Shanghai is launched. The 1,318km link – which cuts travel time between the two cities from 10 hours to around four -- is the centrepiece of China's rapid expansion of high-speed rail networks.

June 20-24, Vienna: The International Atomic Energy Agency reports on its Fukushima fact-finding mission to a ministerial conference. Delegates will try to find ways of boosting safety at nuclear plants after the disaster in Japan, the world's worst in 25 years.

June 22, London: The Egon Schiele painting "Houses with Colourful Washing" is sold by Vienna's Leopold Museum to settle restitution cases. The work is expected to fetch up to $50m to compensate heirs whose relatives had art stolen by the Nazis.

June 22, Paris: Top British fashion designer John Galliano stands trial for racist insults. The star couturier, who lost his job at Dior after being accused of hurling antisemitic abuse at a couple in a bar, faces up to six months in prison.

June 23, Toronto: A blue silk velvet gown worn by the late Princess Diana to a 1985 White House dinner where she danced with John Travolta, is expected to fetch up to $1.25m at auction. It's one of 14 Diana dresses being sold.

June 24, Brussels: Borderless Europe is under scrutiny as leaders discuss the Schengen Agreement, permitting free movement between 25 states. The pact is being debated because of the arrival of 25,000 North Africans in the Arab uprising.

June 26, Germany: Two-time defending champions Germany host the sixth Women's World Cup soccer championship at nine venues. Sixteen national sides will be competing for the trophy which has also been won by the United States, twice, and by Norway.

June 30, Washington: French finance minister Christine Lagarde is the favourite to become the new head of the IMF. The post -- one of the most important in global finance -- became vacant after the arrest and resignation of Dominique Strauss-Khan over an alleged sexual assault.
/ENDS