Ahead of the curve: The next 7 days

More than a week remains before the day the U.S. Treasury Department says lawmakers must raise the nation's debt ceiling, but legislators have said they'd need to start voting this week, and no deal has yet emerged. Here is a look at this and other stories that CNN plans to follow this week:

Debt talks go to the wire

Republicans have insisted that any vote to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling be tied to a plan for reducing the debt through spending cuts. Democrats and Republicans have yet to agree on a debt-reduction plan, with Republicans saying Democrats are insisting on tax increases that Republicans oppose.

As of Sunday afternoon, Republicans were pushing a two-step process in which the debt ceiling would be raised enough to last the country through 2011, and then raise it again to last through 2012 after a commission found ways to reduce the debt through spending cuts and tax reforms, congressional sources said. The first step also would include spending cuts of about $1 trillion, the sources said.

President Barack Obama, though, prefers that the ceiling be raised now through 2012.

The Treasury Department has warned that failure to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by August 2 could lead to a possible default on its loans, skyrocketing interest rates, a plummeting dollar and jittery financial markets.

Suspect in Norway attacks heading to court

A man arrested on suspicion of carrying out a bombing and shooting that killed at least 93 people in Norway last week is expected to have his first court appearance Monday.

Authorities allege the man  – identified by local media reports as Anders Behring Breivik, 32 – set off a car bomb outside government buildings in Oslo on Friday, killing seven, then ambushed an island political youth retreat in a shooting spree that killed at least 86.

Norwegian investigators are studying a 1,500-page manifesto that authorities believe was published online Friday. The document, which identifies Breivik as the author, rants against multiculturalism, Muslims' growing presence in Europe and "cultural Marxists." Norwegian authorities have not confirmed that the man in their custody wrote the manifesto.

U.N. emergency meeting on drought-stricken Horn of Africa, East Africa

The United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization will hold an emergency meeting in Rome on Monday to mobilize international aid for Somalia and neighboring countries hit hard by drought.

The U.N. has declared a famine in parts of Somalia, which is battling its worst drought in 60 years. Tens of thousands have walked from Somalia to Kenya and Ethiopia in search of food and water. Aid agencies estimate that 10 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda and Somalia are at risk for famine.

A long-running conflict in Somalia has complicated the crisis, with an Islamist insurgent group linked to al Qaeda banning foreign aid workers from parts of the country it controls.

Officials from the FCO's 191 member countries as well as nongovernmental organizations and development banks have been invited to Monday's meeting.

For more stories CNN plans to cover this week, click here.