Ban Ki-moon
Home coming
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visits South Korea -- his first return to his home country since assuming the position last year (South Korean news agency Yonhap).
Legislative council
Sichuan tour
A delegation of 20 members of Hong Kong's Legislative Council visits the Sichuan earthquake zone. Some pro-democracy members have had to apply for "home return" permits to enter the zone (Radio TV Hong Kong Radio 3).
Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad
D-8 Summit
The D8 Group (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Nigeria and Iran) meets in Malaysia for a summit. Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad and Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gillani are both expected to attend (Iranian newspaper Farhang-e Ashti, Associated Press of Pakistan news agency, official website).
Hu Jintao
G8 Summit
G8 summit takes place in Toyko, on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. The summit is attended by leaders from the G8 countries (Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, United Kingdom, United States) as well as other leaders including Chinese President Hu Jintao and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (Official website).
Dmitry Medvedev
Astana celebrations
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visits Kazakhstan to attend celebrations marking the tenth anniversary of the declaration of Astana as the country's new capital(Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency).
Russian army
"Joint Action 2008"
A joint Russo-Kazakh military exercise takes place in Kazakhstan. Airborne assault units from both countries take part in parachute landings and live firing drills (Russian government press release).
Lazar Comanescu
Moldova trip
Romanian Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu visits Moldova (Moldovan news agency Basapress).
Angela Merkel
Merkel trip
German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Georgia (Georgian Mze TV).
Condoleezza Rice
Rice trip
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Georgia (Georgian Rustavi-2 TV).
Radoslaw Sikorski
Partnership agreement?
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski visits Moldova to discuss a possible EU partnership agreement (Moldovan news agency Basapress).
Nicolas Sarkozy
French priorities
French President Nicolas Sarkozy presents his priorities for his country's EU presidency to the European Parliament in Strasbourg (French news agency AFP).
Arthur Mutambara
MDC trial
Arthur Mutambara, leader of the smaller faction of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change, goes on trial charged with publishing falsehoods and contempt of court arising from a newspaper article in which he accused President Robert Mugabe of running down the country's economy and alleged that security forces had committed rights abuses (South Africa-based Zim Online website).
