WORLD AGENDA JULY 2015

July 4, Utrecht: The cycle-loving Netherlands hosts the Grand Départ of the Tour de France for a record sixth time. The 102nd Tour, made up of 21 stages and covering 3,360 kilometres, will spend two days in Belgium before reaching France. 

July 5, Vancouver: The final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup takes place. The biggest ever women’s football tournament featured 24 teams, twice the number in the inaugural 1991 competition.

July 8, London: A pair of pistols, Napoleon Bonaparte's last gift to his son, is expected to fetch up to £1.2m at auction. The gold-encrusted artefacts were given to the French emperor's then three-year-old heir in January 1814.

Jul 9-10, Ufa: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin hosts the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS summits over the same dates, bringing some 12 leaders together for deals that can help him shrug off Western sanctions.

July 11-13, Bosnia and Herzegovina: The 20th anniversary of the massacre by Bosnian Serb police and military forces of more than 8,000 men and boys in Srebrenica, a UN-designated "safe haven". Serbia continues to refute the term "genocide", the classification attributed by international courts. 

July 12, London: Wimbledon victory for the seemingly unstoppable Serena Williams would put the 33-year-old American one step closer to becoming the most successful player of all time. A 21st grand slam title would place her hard on the heels of Steffi Graf's record of 22. 

July 13-15, Brussels: EU-U.S. free trade negotiators meet for the 10th time amid tensions over a deal originally forecast for the end of 2014. With Europe accusing the U.S. of inflexibility and itself split on the issue, agreement may be five years away. 

July 14, New York: To Kill A Mockingbird author Harper Lee publishes the sequel after a 55-year gap. Go Set a Watchman, the most pre-ordered book in HarperCollins's history, was written first but set aside and, until recently, assumed lost.

July 14, Space: After nine years and a journey of 4.8 billion kilometres, NASA’s New Horizons robotic probe becomes the first spacecraft to visit the icy dwarf planet Pluto.

Early July, Washington: The United States and Cuba are expected to announce an agreement to reopen embassies and restore diplomatic relations 54 years after ties were severed. A deal is expected by the end of the first week of July. 

Late July, Addis Ababa: Barack Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country, in a trip intended to build closer economic ties. Obama will also visit Kenya, his father’s home country.

Late July, London: Dmitry Kovtun, accused of murdering Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian spy who died of radiation poisoning in London in 2006, gives evidence from Moscow to the public inquiry. He is accused of importing polonium-210 allegedly slipped into Litvinenko’s tea.

July (undated), Alaska: Royal Dutch Shell's Arctic drilling fleet is due to resume its search for fossil fuels in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Environmentalists fear destruction of one of the world's most ecologically sensitive regions.
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World Agenda iGraphic extras – July 2015

July 4, London: Ex-Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur defender Sol Campbell bids to become the Conservative candidate for London Mayor. The hustings follows incumbent Boris Johnson's decision to step down in 2016.

July 7-20, Harare: India plays three one-day internationals and two Twenty20 matches in Zimbabwe, as the African country enjoys a dramatic upturn in their international cricket exposure. New Zealand, Pakistan and the West Indies are also planning tours there.

July 7-26, United States: Twelve teams from North and Central America and the Caribbean battle it out in football's 13th Concacaf Gold Cup, held every two years. The matches will be played in 14 host cities, including two in Canada for the first time.

July 15, Bujumbura: President Pierre Nkurunziza seeks a third term in office amid protests that his standing is unconstitutional. The vote was delayed by three weeks after clashes and calls for a boycott remain. 

July 16, Scotland: Golfer Tom Watson makes his swansong appearance at St Andrew's, the home of golf, where he won four of his five British Open titles. The 65-year old American won eight majors in total.

July 18, Texas: World super-bantamweight boxing champion Carl Frampton fights outside the UK for the first time, taking on Mexican Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. in El Paso. The Northern Irishman says he wants to become a star in the United States.

July 20, Zurich: Fifa's executive committee sets the date for the election of its next president to replace the outgoing Sepp Blatter. The vote is expected to be between December and March 2016. 

July (undated), Moscow: EU-U.S. sanctions against Russia are expected to be renewed in an effort to maintain pressure aimed at defusing the conflict in Ukraine. The sanctions target banks, the defence and energy industries, and aides close to President Vladimir Putin.
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