WORLD AGENDA AUGUST 2014

August 2, Kabul: The possible date for the inauguration of the Afghan president following a recount of half the eight million votes cast. Preliminary results put Ashraf Ghani a million votes in the lead but rival candidate Abdullah Abdullah alleged industrial-scale cheating. 

August 5-6, Washington DC: An unprecedented meeting between the United States president and 50 African heads of state takes place amid a diplomacy debate. Barack Obama will not hold any one-on-one meetings and leaders from Zimbabwe, Sudan and Eritrea have not been invited.

August 6, Space: After a decade-long journey, ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft is to enter the orbit of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and begin manoeuvres in preparation for the first ever landing by a spacecraft on a comet. Sensational new images show that 67P is not one but two objects joined together in what scientists call a “contact binary”.

August 7, Bogota: Juan Manuel Santos begins his second term as Colombian president with a mandate to pursue a peace deal with FARC rebels. Preliminary agreements have already been reached in what is considered Colombia's best chance ever to end its 50-year conflict.

August 7, Shanghai: The trial of British investigator Peter Humphrey and his American wife Yu Yingzeng begins, with their teenage son and consular officials barred from attending. The couple are accused of buying and selling private information following work for drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline.

August 10, Ankara: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade, is expected to win the country's first direct presidential elections. Erdogan says he wants to see the powers of the presidency boosted, but critics fear he may use the role to tighten his grip on political power.

August 14-18, Seoul: Pope Francis visits South Korea on his first trip to Asia as pontiff, where he will bring a message of peace to the war-divided peninsula. It is the first visit by a Pope to Korea in 25 years.

August 15, Panama: Centenary celebrations for the Panama Canal bring regional leaders and thousands of official guests to what has been called the greatest engineering feat ever attempted. The canal is undergoing major expansion works but faces competition from a planned new canal through Nicaragua.

August 27-29, Geneva: A World Health Organisation conference on meteorology calls for better preparation for weather-driven emergencies and outbreaks of climate-linked diseases such as cholera and dengue fever. Extreme heat, cold, storms, floods and drought affect millions of people every year. 

August (undated), Ukraine: Investigations continue into the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over rebel-held territory on July 17, killing all 298 people onboard. The U.S. alleges Russian complicity in the crash while the Dutch have launched a war crimes investigation. 

August (undated), Gaza: International pressure for a ceasefire mounts as Israel ramps up its military offensive in the Palestinian territory. Humanitarian workers warn of a looming crisis as the conflict hits electricity and water supplies and large numbers are driven from their homes.

August (undated), Beijing: Democracy in Hong Kong comes under the spotlight when China rules on the need to reform the territory's voting system to elect a leader in 2017. Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying says the community wants universal suffrage. 

August (undated), Indian Ocean: A new phase begins in the undersea search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared on March 8 carrying 239 passengers and crew. The next stage in the most expensive search in aviation history takes place 2,000 kilometres west of Perth.
/ENDS