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 16 JULY
WATCH OUT FOR:

Pre-election features from our Turkey correspondent looking at the secular-religious divide, prospects for the Kurds and women's rights.
EU 'faces Turkish backlash'
Opposition trial: An Ethiopian judge is due to pass sentence on 38 opposition figures convicted of links to violent election protests in 2005. A prosecutor has called for the death penalty. The 38 refuse to recognise the court or enter any defence in protest at what many see as a political trial. Ethiopia's democracy on trial
Justice in Freetown: Three militant leaders convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity during Sierra Leone's decade-long war face sentencing at the UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Freetown.
Q&A: Sierra Leone's war crimes tribunal
Bulgarian hopes: A senior Libyan judicial body is to review the case of six Bulgarian medical staff sentenced to death for infecting children with HIV/Aids at a hospital in the late 1990s. The six insist they are innocent and that they have suffered torture in Libyan custody.
Profiles: The Bulgarian medics
Camel challenge: A Florida judge hears a bid by Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum, to have a child slavery case thrown out. Parents of former child camel jockeys from South Asia and Africa have taken out a class action in pursuit of unspecified compensation. The sheikh has property in Miami.
Dubai rulers reject slavery case
Defying Chavez: An opposition-aligned TV station in Venezuela which lost its terrestrial licence in May is due to start broadcasting on cable. President Hugo Chavez refused to renew the licence of RCTV, which backed a failed coup against him in 2002.
TV row widens Venezuela's rift
WEDNESDAY 18 JULY
Birthday ball: Brazilian football legend Pele and other past and present international stars play a match in Cape Town against an all-African team to celebrate anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela's 89th birthday, and raise funds for the battle against Aids.
Stars named for Mandela match
THURSDAY 19 JULY
Enclave vote: Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic Armenian region of Azerbaijan which broke away in the last years of the USSR, elects a new president.
Profile of Nagorno-Karabakh
Uncoveted list: The UN publishes its annual list of the 50 least developed countries in Geneva. African states dominated the 2006 list.
Poor nations 'being pushed back'
Evita touch? Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, wife of Argentina's current head of state, launches her campaign for the October presidential election when she hopes to succeed him. If successful, she will become the first elected woman president.
Profile: Argentina's powerful First Lady
SATURDAY 21 JULY
Beckham's debut: The England football star is due to play his long-awaited first match for LA Galaxy. He will be up against some familiar faces: the Los Angeles fixture is a friendly against Chelsea.
Beckham's phoney war is over
SUNDAY 22 JULY
Turkish contest: Voters elect a new parliament after tension between the ruling AK Party, which has Islamic religious roots, and the secular military. The AK is expected to return to power.
This guide to the week ahead is not intended as an exhaustive list, and the events noted may be cancelled or postponed.
BBC NEWS REPORT.