The world this week

A look at what could be dominating the headlines around the world this week - and some key background on those events.

MONDAY 3 DECEMBER

LOOK OUT FOR The results of a BBC poll conducted in Afghanistan, testing the mood on the ground A series of features and picture galleries examining the impact of HIV/Aids Have Your Say: HIV/Aids

North Korea talks: US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill visits the North Korean capital, Pyongyang for ongoing talks on nuclear disarmament.

In pictures: North Korea nuclear site

Planet at risk: A two-week UN conference on climate change begins in Bali, Indonesia. Representatives of the world's states as well as non-governmental organisations are meeting to draft a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

UN challenges states on warming

Tricky territory: Governments and campaigners celebrate the "success in progress" of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, signed by 155 countries. The agreement is widely recognised as having made the use of anti-personnel landmines unacceptable as a weapon of war.

Dangerous ground

TUESDAY 4 DECEMBER

Some 3,000 gold miners were trapped underground in October

Deep anger: South African miners are to launch a strike against safety standards in their places of work.

In pictures: S Africa mine rescue

Credit crunch: European finance ministers gather in Brussels as shares across the Eurozone continue to tumble on the back of the US sub-prime debt crisis.

ECB attacks France over finances

WEDNESDAY 5 DECEMBER

Driving Osama: A hearing is scheduled for a Guantanamo Bay detainee who is alleged to have been a driver for al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. His case will force the US Supreme Court to examine the constitutional status of Guantanamo detainees who seek to be tried in US courts rather than by military commissions.

Quick guide: Guantanamo

Oilmen: Members of the group of oil-producing nations Opec hold a ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi as oil prices surge to nearly $100 a barrel.

Profile: The oil cartel

THURSDAY 6 DECEMBER

Poisoned pen: The widow of Argentine writer Jose Luis Borges is to sue the French novelist and journalist Pierre Assouline for defamation in Paris.

Listen: Radio 4's In Our Time programme

Casablanca killing: A group of 51 people go on trial accused of involvement in the suicide blasts which shook the Moroccan town in April 2007.

New suicide attacks hit Casablanca

FRIDAY 7 DECEMBER

Doris Lessing spent much of her childhood in southern Africa

Golden notes: Doris Lessing, winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for literature, gives her lecture to the Swedish academy. The lecture has been pre-recorded because the writer is too ill to travel from her UK home.

Profile: Doris Lessing

Polling plans: A coalition of Russian opposition parties is expected to name Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov as its presidential candidate.

Putin rival gets rough ride

SATURDAY 8 DECEMBER

Lisbon Agenda: A two-day summit between representatives from the European Union and African states begins in the Portuguese capital. Statesmen from both continents will discuss the challenges of globalisation.

EU summit 'Mugabe's right'

SUNDAY 9 DECEMBER

Clock watching: Venezuelans may turn back their clocks by 30 minutes. The country's President, Hugo Chavez, says the change will allow children to wake up for school in daylight instead of before sunrise.

Profile: Hugo Chavez

An attempt to change the clocks in September was postponed

Thai trip: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrives in Thailand at the start of a three-day visit to the country.

Baptism of fire

This guide to the week ahead is not intended as an exhaustive list, and the events noted may be cancelled or postponed.