By Nicole Hunt
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero is scheduled to request the dissolution of Parliament on Monday to make way for early elections on 20 November. Spain was not due to hold elections until March next year, but Zapatero has come under heavy criticism amid debt and budget problems, with persistent rumours that Spain will be the next country to ask for an EU bailout.
In St John’s, Antigua, Kaniel Martin and Avie Howell are set to be sentenced after being found guiltyon 27 July of the murders of Welsh honeymooners Ben and Catherine Mullany exactly two years earlier.
Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko’s abuse of power trial resumes on Tuesday after a 15-day hiatus. Tymoshenko is accused of misspending some $280m while she was Prime Minister in 2009, charges which her supporters say are politically motivated.
Embattled Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel as his country faces increasing pressure from the IMF, the European Central Bank, domestic trade unions and other European leaders. Papandreou’s government has to come to an agreement with its lending troika to secure the next €8bn tranche of its loan before 10 October, when it’s estimated the country will run out of money to pay its bills.
In Conakry on Wednesday, Guineans mark the two-year anniversary of the 28 September, 2009 stadium massacre in which at least 157 people were killed when security forces opened fire on tens of thousands of people demonstrating against the junta government. The anniversary is the first since President Alpha Condé was elected in November last year, taking power from the leaders of the 2008 coup d’état.
In Manama, 21 Bahraini activists and members of the opposition who were convicted in June of plotting to overthrow the government and collaborating with a terrorist organisation are scheduled to find out whether their appeal against life sentences has been successful.
The verdict is the first of two high-profile decisions the court is expected to make this week; on Thursday, 47 medical staff accused of attempting to topple the monarchy and inciting hatred against the regime learn whether they have been found guilty.
Saudi Arabia holds its second-ever municipal elections on Thursday, which were delayed from 22 September. The polls were finally scheduled earlier this year as an olive branch from the government as fears mounted that the Arab Spring could spread to the country.
Following a Constitutional Court decision earlier this month ruling that Germany’s commitment to the EU bailout fund is legal, the German Parliament votes on a bill approving new powers for the European Financial Stability Facility which will increase its lending capacity and authorise it to buy government bonds.
On Friday, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania delivers the long-awaited judgement in its ‘Government II’ trial, in which four former cabinet ministers are accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The trial began in September 2003, and the defendants were acquitted of several charges in October 2005.
It’s a relatively quiet weekend: China celebrates Chinese National Day on Saturday, and the seven Italian scientists charged with manslaughter for failing to warn L’Aquila residents about the April 2009 earthquake return to court.
The next session of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change talks open in Panama City on Sunday.
Closer to home, the Conservative Party autumn conference opens in Manchester, with unions and anti-cuts activists planning a march to protest government policies.
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By Nicole Hunt
Anders Behring Breivik, the man who admitted to setting off the 22 July bomb in Oslo, killing eight people, before killing 69 people on the island of Utoya, makes his first public appearance at Oslo City Court on Monday. On 12 September, the court rejected a police request for another closed door hearing, meaning media and victims’ families will be able to attend.
In Geneva, the UN Global Fund releases the findings of a four-month independent review into its financial safeguards, following accusations of mismanagement of funds in recipient countries.
Monday is also the six month anniversary of the beginning of military action in Libya. Forces from the US, the UK, France, Canada, UAE and Qatar began enforcing the no-fly zone authorised by UN Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973 on 19 March.
The trial of seven Italian scientists charged with manslaughter for failing to predict the April 2009 earthquake that killed over 300 people kicks off in L’Aquila on Tuesday. The scientists, who made up the city’s Great Risks Commission, are accused of failing to warn people of the potential risk of an earthquake and convincing people not to leave town a week before the earthquake struck.
In a Paris court, former News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and representatives for News Group Newspapers appear charged with breaching France’s privacy and defamation laws in relation to a 2008 story about former FIA president Max Mosley. Mosley was awarded £60,000 in damages by the UK High Court in 2008, but the European Court of Human Rights rejected an application by Mosley in May that would have required media to inform a person before publishing a story containing their private information.
Amid concerns of potential post-election violence, Zambians go to the polls to elect their president and members of the National Assembly. Levy Mwanawasa won the 2006 election, but died in August 2008 and was replaced by Rupiah Banda, who is seeking his first full term.
The UN General Assembly general debate opens in New York on Wednesday, with all eyes on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who, barring last-minute diplomatic developments, is expected to seek a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood.
On Thursday, a verdict is expected in the first case brought in under France’s ‘burka ban’ laws. Two women in the town of Meaux were arrested for wearing the niqab veil in May, with one of them banned from attending the last hearing because her face was still covered.
At the UN General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe are both scheduled to speak. Ahmadinejad’s past speeches have prompted walkouts from some delegations, while Mugabe’s have typically been anti-western. British Prime Minister David Cameron, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ivorian President Alassane Ouatarra are also on the bill.
The week draws to a close with some high-profile court hearings and elections. Closing arguments are set to begin in Amanda Knox’s murder appeal in Perugia on Friday, while Egyptian courts are busy with the testimony of ruling military council member Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi at former President Hosni Mubarak’s trial on Saturday in Cairo, as well as the verdict in the Khaled Said murder trial in Alexandria. Two policemen are on trial for Said’s June 2010 death, which prompted widespread protests in Egypt at a time when police were rarely prosecuted.
In Bahrain, by-elections are held to replace 11 opposition lawmakers who resigned in March over government crackdowns on anti-regime protesters.
French Senate elections take place on Sunday, with half of the 346 seats up for grabs. Party performances will be closely watched ahead of next year’s presidential elections.
In Freiburg, Pope Benedict XVI wraps up a four-day visit to Germany to celebrate the 60th anniversary of his ordination as a priest
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