The world this week

MONDAY 9 JULY

WATCH OUT FOR:

• Features from either side of the border one year on from the Israelis' war with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon

Bridge party: Prague celebrates the 650th birthday of its much-loved Charles Bridge with a mediaeval-themed party. The foundation stone is believed to have been laid by Emperor Charles IV at exactly 0531, on the advice of court astrologers.

War crimes trial: Rasim Delic, former chief of the Bosnian Muslim army, goes on trial at the Hague. He denies responsibility for the alleged murder or rape of Serbs and Croats by foreign Muslim fighters under his command during the 1992-95 civil war.

Nuclear mission: UN inspectors meet in Vienna to plan the dispatch of monitors to North Korea to verify that it is shutting down its Yongbyon reactor under an international aid deal.

African writing: The winner of one of Africa's leading literary awards, the Caine Prize, is due to be announced in Oxford, UK. Those shortlisted hail from Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda.

TUESDAY 10 JULY

Thai ruling: Judges in Bangkok are due to decide whether former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra should stand trial for corruption. Mr Thaksin, who has been living abroad since being overthrown in a bloodless military coup last September, denies any wrongdoing.

Maghreb test: Nicolas Sarkozy, the bugbear of France's disaffected Muslims when he was interior minister, makes his first official visit to North Africa as president. His schedule takes in Algeria and Tunisia.

New euro states? Cyprus and Malta await the green light for joining the euro zone as EU finance ministers meet in Brussels.

WEDNESDAY 11 JULY

Bulgarian nurses: Libya's supreme court rules on the appeal against the death sentences of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted of infecting 426 children with HIV at a hospital in Benghazi in the 1990s. They say their confessions were given under duress.

Tete-a-tete? French actor Gerard Depardieu has been summoned to appear before a Florence court on charges of head-butting an Italian photographer in 2005 after he took a picture of him shopping in a busy city market in the company of a young woman.

THURSDAY 12 JULY

Election fever: Campaigning officially begins for Japan's upper house election at the end of July. It is Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's first major electoral test after a rocky 11 months in the post.

Summer War: One year ago, Lebanese militants Hezbollah attacked Israeli border guards and launched missiles, sparking a massive retaliation from the Israelis.

Hmong trial: Nine leading members of California's Hmong community, an ethnic group originally from Laos, go on trial in Sacramento accused of plotting an anti-government coup in their homeland. The nine include a general who led a CIA-backed army in the 1960s against communist fighters.

FRIDAY 13 JULY

Rio games: The Brazilian city hosts the Pan American games, attracting 5,000 athletes and tens of thousands of tourists. They are due to open in the Maracana stadium, shrine of Brazilian soccer.

SATURDAY 14 JULY

Poetic birth: Rene Char, regarded by many of his peers as one of the greatest French poets of his time, was born 100 years ago on the French national holiday, Bastille Day. Apart from writing poetry and plays, he fought in the French Resistance during World War II.

SUNDAY 15 JULY

Darfur road map: Envoys from the UN and the African Union have invited key regional and world players to Tripoli, Libya, to discuss a new plan for talks on bringing peace and security to the war-torn Sudanese region.

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