Wen Jiabao
Summit in Vientiane
Leaders from Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Burma will meet for the Third Greater Mekong Subregion Summit in Vientiane. Also expected to attend are representatives from the Asian Development Bank. (Chinese News Agency Xinhua)
Condoleezza Rice
Charm offensive
Condoleezza Rice will this week begin a fresh visit to the Middle East, keeping up the US diplomatic offensive in the region. She is expected to conduct seperate talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. (Israeli media sources)
Kevin Rudd
Rudd tours Europe
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd visits the European Commission in Brussels before heading to the NATO summit in Romania on April 3. Before returning home, he is also expected to attend the Progressive Leaders Forum in the UK where he will meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
Kirchner meets Brown
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will attend the Progressive Leaders Forum at the invitation of UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. She is also expected to conduct private talks with Brown over the issue of the Falkland Islands.
George W. Bush
Bush in Ukraine visit
US President George W. Bush will visit Ukraine for a meeting with counterpart Viktor Yuschenko. Talks are expected to focus on the creation of a 2008-2010 US-Ukraine free trade agreement. Bush will then head to Romania for the NATO summit before calling in on Croatian President Stjepan Mesic.
Vladimir Putin
Putin talks to NATO
Nato has invited outgoing Russian president Vladimir Putin to attend a NATO-Russia summit on the margins of the main NATO meeting in Romania
African heads of state
India-Africa Forum Summit
Heads of state from 14 African countries are expected to attend the India-Africa Forum Summit in Delhi. The summit is designed to help forge closer political and economic links between India and African states.
Thomas Lubanga
War crimes
Democratic Republic of Congo militia leader Thomas Lubanga will be staying in his prison cell this week as the the start date for his war crimes trial has been postponed. Lubanga is accused of recruiting child soldiers in the northeastern region of DR Congo. The trial has been postponed over logistical and proceedural issues. (BBC Monitoring)
Arab League
Summit flop?
As Syria prepares to host the Arab League Summit in Damascus, Egyptian President Husni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdallah have both confirmed that they will not be attending. While both Egypt and Saudi Arabia will send lower ranking officials to the summit, Lebanon has decided to boycott the event altogether. (Regional sources)
Robert Mugabe
Mugabe goes to the polls
Zimbabweans will head to the polls this weekend for joint parliamentary and presidential elections. While it is possible that in a free and fair election Mugabe could just scrape home, it is widely expected that he will rig the election in his favour. (Regional sources)
Muqtada al-Sadr
Sadr goes on air
This Saturday, satellite news station Al-Jazeera will broadcast an interview with the Iraqi Shi'i cleric Muqtada al-Sadr at 19.05 GMT. It is the first public appearance by Sadr in over a year. (Al-Jazeera)
