WORLD AGENDA SEPTEMBER 2018

1 Sep 4, U.S.: Google, once only a name, has metamorphosed into a verb of many forms since it was founded by Larry Page (above left) and Sergei Brin (right) 20 years ago this month. Internet users almost everywhere now “google” information

2 Sep 30, U.S.: President Donald Trump has threatened to shut down the government if Congress does not fund his border wall and change the nation’s immigration laws by the Sep 30 appropriations deadline. Government funding runs out 37 days before election day, November 6

Sep 28, Germany: The red carpet will be rolled out in Berlin for a state visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, despite Turkish-German tensions. Turkey is suffering an economic crisis, and Germany has a vested interest in preventing the economic destabilization of an important trading partner

4 Sep 30, Macedonia: Citizens get to vote on the historic deal with Greece aimed at ending a long-running dispute over the name of the Balkan nation, which was ratified by parliament in July. If it passes, the country will be known as the Republic of North Macedonia, and it will begin talks to become NATO’s 30th member  

6 Sep 9, North Korea: Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to make his first official visit to Pyongyang for North Korea’s 70th anniversary. South Korean President Moon Jae-in may attend the celebrations, as he and Kim Jong-un (left) plan to hold further talks on denuclearization in September

7 Sep 15, U.S.: Banking giant Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy 10 years ago, ushering in a global recession. Lehman’s collapse contributed to the erosion of almost $10 trillion in market capitalization from global equity markets in October 2008, the biggest monthly decline on record at the time

5 Sep 2-5, Israel: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte (right), who has been accused of murdering civilians in his crackdown on drug dealers, holds talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on security ties and arms sales. Duterte is reported to be considering moving the Philippines embassy to contested Jerusalem

8 Sep 4, U.S.: Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh (left) open on a rushed timetable, with President Donald Trump and the Republican-
dominated Congress eager to have the conservative nominee confirmed ahead of the mid-term elections in November. Republicans have a narrow 50-49 Senate majority

9 Sep 10-14, Brazil: The International Whaling Commission may lift the ban on commercial whaling at its meeting in Florianopolis. Concern over whale numbers led to a moratorium on commercial whaling from 1986 but Japan, Norway and Iceland continued hunting

Pictures: Associated Press, Getty Images
Sources: NewsAhead, Julie Mullins