• Chinese president meets Chinese, Nigerian businessmen

grant illegal aliens the right to gain citizenship.
BRATISLAVA - The Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU) party of Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda to hold a congress on its election programme ahead of the general elections in June. ** ADDIS ABABA/ACCRA - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi meets African Union chair and delivers a policy speech, then departs for Ghana.
TBILISI - Deadline given by President Mikhail Saakashvili to foreign agents in Georgia to turn themselves in to the Prosecutor General's office following the arrest of a spy in his office.
ABU DHABI - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to visit the United Arab Emirates (to May 2).
AMSTERDAM - Dutch Agriculture Ministry plans to lift an order on keeping poultry and other birds indoors, introduced to protect flocks from the threat of avian flu from migrating birds.
EUROPEAN UNION - (TENTATIVE) Rules that limit the amount of time bus and truck drivers across Europe can spend on the road expected to take effect. The rules require that digital tachographs be installed on trucks and buses from May to monitor the number of hours a given vehicle spends on the road.
NEW YORK - The 26th annual Sports Emmy Awards. Sports cable giant ESPN leads the contenders with 45 nominations. Olympics producer Bud Greenspan will receive a lifetime achievement award. Nominations announced March 29. [20060426 145355 GMT]
TUESDAY, MAY 2
PARIS - Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy expected to present a tough new immigration bill to parliament. ** PARIS - Meeting scheduled between political directors from EU3, the United States, Russia and China to discuss Iran's nuclear programme.
JOHANNESBURG - 5th African Aid Relief and Disaster Management Expo and Conference 2006 (to May 4). ** KAMPALA - Treason trial of Ugandan oppositon leader Kizza Besigye resumes. ** WASHINGTON - Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry to introduce a legislation to repeal tax breaks for U.S. oil companies.
BANGKOK - Constitutional deadline for Thai parliament to meet.
AUSTRIA - IAEA Programme and Budget Committee meeting.
LOS ANGELES - 32nd annual Saturn Awards presented by Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror films at Universal City. "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" leads with 10 nominations.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 3
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House.
CHAD - Presidential elections.
STOCKHOLM - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visits Sweden (to May 4).
HONG KONG - APEC conference on 'Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Preparedness for Avian Influenza'.
WEST BENGAL, India - Fourth phase of Assembly elections in West Bengal.
PONDICHERRY, India - First phase of Assembly elections in the Indian Union Territory of Pondicherry.
CAIRO - Russian and Egyptian officials discuss bilateral parliamentary relations (to May 4).
VILNIUS - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko visits Lithuania, takes part in Forum of Democratic Choice meeting of liberal states.
NEW YORK - One of Pablo Picasso's major portraits of Dora Maar, his mistress and regular source of inspiration, to be sold at an auction. 'Dora Maar au chat' is estimated to raise around $50m.
KERALA, India - Third phase of Assembly elections in Kerala.
GLOBAL - U.N. World Press Freedom Day.
THURSDAY, MAY 4
BRITAIN - Local elections.
VILNIUS - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney travels to Vilnius, Lithuania, to address a summit of leaders of the Baltic and Black Sea regions. President Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania will host the summit, which will include discussions on a range of regional issues. Cheney will also meet bilaterally with leaders from the region. (Cheney will then visit Kazakhstan to meet with President Nazarbayev; followed by travel to Croatia for discussions with the leaders of the Adriatic Charter Countries: Croatia, Albania, and Macedonia.
VIENNA - Serbs and Kosovo Albanians meet for a new round of U.N.-mediated talks on the future of the disputed province.
BRUSSELS - European Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCReevy to testify before the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.
HELSINKI - EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas to hold a lecture on climate change (1030).
DANANG, Vietnam - APEC ministerial meeting on bird flu.
VIENNA - Pan-European Dialogue on Migration Management (to May 5). High level Ministerial Conference organised by IOM and the Austrian EU Presidency. This conference is a follow up to the January 24-25 Brussels conference.
FRIDAY, MAY 5
ROME - Heads of the various parliamentary parties expected to be elected by May 5.
ABUJA - Trial of Ijaw militant leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari charged with treason resumes.
SATURDAY, MAY 6
FIJI - General election (to May 13).
SINGAPORE - Parliamentary elections.
UNITED KINGDOM - First anniversary of Prime Minister Tony Blair winning a third straight term in office and becoming only the second prime minister in British history after Margaret Thatcher to win three elections in a row.
KENTUCKY - SPORT - HORSE RACING - Kentucky Derby.
SUNDAY, MAY 7
LONDON - The British Academy Television Awards, at Grosvenor House Hotel. The BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens's "Bleak House" leads the pack with nominations in four categories.
MONDAY, MAY 8
MONTREAL - The International Drug Enforcement Conference (IDEC) is held, bringing together over 300 high-level drug law enforcement officials from 81 countries to discuss the global drug threat (to May 11).
TAMIL NADU, India - Assembly elections in the Tamil Nadu.
WEST BENGAL, India - Fifth phase of Assembly elections in West Bengal.
PONDICHERRY, India - Second phase of Assembly elections in the Indian Union Territory of Pondicherry. ** JOHANNESBURG - Judgement expected in the former South African deputy president Jacob Zuma rape trial.
TUESDAY, MAY 9
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to host a meeting of the quartet of Middle East advisers and 'other' regional advisors. The quartet includes the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, and had devised a road map towards a negotiated two-state solution for the Israeli/Palestinian problem.
UNITED NATIONS - Elections of the first members of the new U.N. Human Rights council which will replace the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Commission.
LONDON - Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Conference on International Homeland Security & Resilience (to May 10).
NEW YORK - The American Society of Magazine Editors holds the annual National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellies, at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
TORONTO - Rock band Pearl Jam begins North American tour to promote its new, self-titled album, at Air Canada Center.
CANBERRA - Next sitting of Australian Senate (to May 11).
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10
FRANCE - Memorial day to mark the abolition of slavery. The day would be marked by events in mainland France, its overseas territories and also in Africa.
MIAMI - Sentencing of Linda Marks, a self-proclaimed psychic and fortune teller who pleaded guilty to bilking elderly clients in South Florida out of more than $2 million, and Jack Makler, a Police detective, who pleaded guilty to corruption charges for using his position to help Marks out of Jail.
WARSAW - Parliamentary debate on plans to overhaul the cash-strapped public health care system.
THURSDAY, MAY 11
MEMPHIS - The Blues Music Awards (formerly known as the W.C. Handy Awards), at Cook Convention Center. Singer-pianist Marcia Ball, guitarist Magic Slim and late vocalist-guitarist Little Milton Campbell lead nominees with four mentions each.
VIENNA - EU - Latin American Summit (to April 12).
TRIPOLI - Libyan court will open a new trial against six foreign medical staff accused of deliberately infecting over 400 Libyan children with the HIV virus. Supreme Court scrapped the death sentences against the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor in December last year.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - First lady Laura Bush deliver remarks at Vanderbilt University's Senior Class Day in Nashville.
FRIDAY, MAY 12
UGANDA - New government due to be sworn in.
ROME - The Senate, lower house and regional representatives convene to vote on May 12-13 to elect a successor to President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, whose term expires on May 18.
WARSAW - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko visits Poland (to May 13).
SARAJEVO - Bosnia continues technical negotiations with the European Union's executive commission on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), the first step towards eventual membership of the wealthy block.
MALAYSIA - Buddhists celebrate holiest day - Wesak.
TIRANA - Crans Montana High Level Experts Forum (to May 13).
BERLIN - The German Film Academy holds the Lola Awards, Germany's top film awards. "The Lives of Others," a communist-era spy drama, leads contenders with 11 nominations. [20060426 145440 GMT]
SATURDAY, MAY 13
NAKOHN NAYOK, Thailand - "Cobra Gold 2006," more than 20,000 troops from the United States, Thailand, Japan, Singapore and Indonesia to take part in exercises focused on anti-terrorism and disaster relief (to May 26).
VATICAN CITY - 25th anniversary of the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul. The Pope was shot in St Peter's Square on May 13, 1981 by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca.
WASHINGTON - A 24-hour Mother's Day vigil is due to take place outside the White House to protest the ongoing war in Iraq, with actress Susan Sarandon and activist Cindy Sheehan.
UZBEKISTAN - First anniversary of the Andizhan massacre.
CARDIFF, Wales - SPORT - SOCCER - FA Cup Final.
BRATISLAVA - The ethnic Hungarian party SMK to hold a congress on the election programme.
SUNDAY, MAY 14
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haiti's President-elect Rene Preval to be sworn in.
N'DJAMENA - Provisional results of presidential elections.
BERLIN - Social Democrats (SPD) to elect Kurt Beck as chairman of the party at a special meeting.
COMOROS - Final round of presidential elections.
MONDAY, MAY 15
BRUSSELS - Gulf Cooperation Council -- an alliance of six oil-rich Gulf Arab States -- expected to sign a long-delayed free trade agreement with the European Union by May 15 during joint ministerial meeting.
BRUSSELS - European Union foreign ministers meeting.
BAGHDAD - (ADJOURNED FROM APRIL 24) Trial of Saddam Hussein over the Dujail killings will resume.
BELFAST - Northern Ireland Assembly expected to reconvene after a nearly 4 year suspension.
OSLO - A delegation from the militant group Hamas to meet members of the lobby group Palestine Committee of Norway as part of a wider European tour.
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. peacekeeping mission's mandate to monitor a 15-mile (25-km) buffer zone between Ethiopia and Eritrea expires. U.N. Security Council expected to decide by Mid-May on a plan for scaling back the U.N. peacekeeping mission if the two former foes fail to resolve their differences.
PACIFIC REGION - The 2006 Pacific hurricane season (for the eastern Pacific) officially begins.
GLOBAL - U.N. International Day of Families.
TUESDAY, MAY 16
BERLIN - International aerospace exhibition & conferences ILA 2006 begins (to May 21).
BRUSSELS - European Commission to issue a report outlining Romania's and Bulgaria's progress on their path to join the European Union.
HANOI - National Assembly begins session to approve the 2006-2010 development plan endorsed by Communist Party Congress (to June 27).
LOS ANGELES - Performing rights group BMI holds annual awards dinner for writers and publishers of the most performed songs in its catalogue, at Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
BRUSSELS - EU Commission assessment of Lithuania's readiness to joining the euro zone to be completed.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17
LOS ANGELES - Performing rights group BMI holds annual Film & Television Awards dinner at the Regent Beverly Wilshire.
CANNES, France - 59th Cannes Film Festival (to May 28).
THURSDAY, MAY 18
ROME - Mandate of President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi expires.
PARIS - First World Congress on Therapies against Obesity: Perspectives for Pharmaceutical and Natural Products (to May 19).
WINDHOEK - (TENTATIVE) Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who are at a coastal resort in Namibia, expecting the delivery of their baby.
FRIDAY, MAY 19
UNITED STATES - The Da Vinci Code movie is released to movie theatres in the United States.
NEW YORK - Musician Sting hosts the annual Rainforest Benefit at Carnegie Hall. Performers include his recent duet partner Sheryl Crow and James Taylor.
SATURDAY, MAY 20
BRISTOL, R.I.- First lady Laura Bush will deliver the Commencement Address at Roger Williams College in Bristol.
NEW ORLEANS - Ray Nagin will defend his job as New Orleans' mayor against Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu in a runoff vote.
TALLINN - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso visits Estonia (to May 21).
ATHENS - Eurovision Song Contest to take place in Athens.
SUNDAY, MAY 21
BEIJING - German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits China (to May 23).
CYPRUS - Parliamentary elections.
PODGORICA, Serbia and Montenegro - Montenegro will hold a referendum to determine if it remains in a union with Serbia or strikes out on its own as an independent state.
DUBAI - Asset Allocation Summit Middle East 2006 (to May 23). ** CAIRO - Russian Foreign Minister Foreign Sergei Lavrov visits Egypt (to May 23).
SLOVAKIA - Start of the official election campaign for June 17 general elections.
LOS ANGELES - Madonna begins "Confessions" world tour at the Los Angeles Forum.
MONDAY, MAY 22
RIGA - Dutch Queen Beatrix visits Latvia (to May 24).
PRAGUE - The second stage of the 14th OSCE Economic Forum (to May 24). The first stage of the Forum will be held in Vienna on January 23-24.
GENEVA - Fifty-Ninth World Health Assembly, of the World Health Organisation (WHO) (to May 27).
SARAJEVO - A conference gathering police chiefs from more than 30 European cities, focusing on the European standards and principles in the organisation and functioning of police forces (to May 24).
KIEV - Presidents of Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan meet for the GUAM summit (to May 23).
LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair addresses Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS.
BELFAST - Belfast City Airport to be renamed the George Best Airport after the legendary soccer player who died last November.
BARCELONA, Spain - Winners of the 2006 Laureus World Sports Awards will be unveiled. This award is given to an individual or organisation that's made an outstanding contribution to society.
PARIS - Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Forum 2006 - 'Rebalancing Globalisation', (to May 23).
TUESDAY, MAY 23
LONDON - Amnesty International's Secretary General, Irene Khan, will launch the Amnesty International Report 2006.
PARIS - Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) annual Ministerial Council Meeting (to May 24).
NEW DELHI - Pakistani and Indian officials meet to discuss the dispute over the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir (to May 24).
LAS VEGAS - Annual Academy of Country Music Awards to be presented.
ADDIS ABABA - Verdict due in the genocide trial of Ethiopia's exiled former dictator Mengitsu Haile Mariam after 14 years of proceedings.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24
LONDON - Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Air Power Conference 2006 (to May 25).
PARIS - Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) annual Ministerial Council Meeting (final day).
NAIROBI - Trial of Kamlesh Pattni charged with conspiracy to defraud the government and theft of 5.8 billion shillings ($80.2 million) in Kenya's biggest corruption scam. Pattni is accused of masterminding the 1990s Goldenberg scandal in which public funds were stolen in a bogus gold and diamond export scheme.
THURSDAY, MAY 25
SOCHI, Russia - EU-Russia summit.
KRAKOW, Poland - Pope Benedict to visit Poland (to May 28). The Pope will visit the site of the World War Two Auschwitz death camp during the visit.
GLOBAL - U.N. Week of Solidarity with the Peoples of All Colonial Territories Fighting for Freedom, Independence and Human Rights. [20060426 145518 GMT]
FRIDAY, MAY 26
UNITED STATES - "An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary profiling former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's campaign to raise awareness about the links between carbon emissions and climate change and making his case for what should be done about it, will in open in U.S. theatres.
BANGKOK - United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan visits Thailand, expected to present development award to King Bhumibol Adulyadej (to May 27).
BARCELONA - The Rolling Stones begin European tour, at Olympic Stadium.
LISBON - The second Rock In Rio -- Lisbon festival (also May 27, and June 2-4), at Bela Vista Park.
SATURDAY, MAY 27 ** KLOSTERNEUBURG, Austria - Informal meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss future of the EU constition.
YANGON - Detention extended on Nov. 27 of National League of Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu kyi expected to end. Suu Kyi has spent around 10 of the last 15 years either in prison or under house arrest.
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia - NAM Foreign Ministers Meeting at Putrajaya International Convention Centre (to May 30).
TOKYO - The fifth annual MTV Video Awards Japan at the National Yoyogi Stadium.
SUNDAY, MAY 28
ITALY - Mayoral elections due to be held in some cities including Rome and Milan; regional elections in Sicily.
COLOMBIA - Presidential elections (first round).
UNITED NATIONS - The boundary commission that set a boundary between Ethiopia and Eritrea as part of a peace agreement in 2000 plans to hold a meeting involving both the nations to get peace process back on track (to April 29). The boundary set by the commission was rejected by Ethiopia.
MONDAY, MAY 29
FRANCE - Anniversary of French 'No' Vote on EU constitution.
UNITED NATIONS - International Day of U.N. Peacekeepers.
ANKARA - Sweden's King Carl Gustaf visits Turkey (to June 2).
MOSCOW - President of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), Rene van der Linden to visit Russia.
TUESDAY, MAY 30
GENEVA - 95th Session of the International Labour Conference (to June 15). Member States of the International Labour Organisation meet at the International Labour Conference every year.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31
SEOUL - Local elections for governors, mayors and county administrators.
MOSCOW - Anniversary of Sentencing of Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky to nine years in prison.
LONDON - Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Conference on U.N. Peacekeeping.
GLOUCESTER - Annual 'Double-Gloucester' cheese-rolling competition.
GLOBAL - U.N. World No-Tobacco Day.
JUNE (UNDATED)
GENEVA - First public hearing in a row over subsidies for plane makers Boeing and Airbus at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) due to be held in June.
MOSCOW - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expected to visit Russia.
SEOUL/PYONGYANG - Next inter-Korea Red Cross meeting expected to be held around June at the Mount Kumgang resort.
PYONGYANG - Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung expected to visit North Korea.
JAKARTA - Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir expected to finish serving a prison sentence over his involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings.
QATAR - First parliamentary elections expected to be held.
THURSDAY, JUNE 1
CARACAS - Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting.
NEW DELHI - Expiry of a one-year ceasefire truce between the Indian government and tribal insurgent group National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB). NDFB has been fighting for a separate homeland for Bodo tribes in the northeastern state of Asom (earlier known as Assam).
MOSCOW - G8 Education Ministers Meeting (to June 2).
PACIFIC REGION - The 2006 Atlantic hurricane season and the 2006 Pacific hurricane season (for the central Pacific) officially begin.
NHA TRANG, Vietnam - Mid-term Consultative Group meeting chaired by the World Bank. Foreign donors assess the government's commitments to reform (to June 2).
FRIDAY, JUNE 2
CZECH REPUBLIC - General election (to June 3).
SATURDAY, JUNE 3
ST PETERSBURG - G8 Science Ministers Meeting (to June 4),
SUNDAY, JUNE 4
SANTO DOMINGO - Annual Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly (to June 6).
GLOBAL - U.N. International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression.
MONDAY, JUNE 5
MILAN - Preliminary hearing to decide whether Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and British lawyer David Mills should stand trial on corruption charges. Milan prosecutors have accused Berlusconi of paying Mills a kickback of $600,000 for not revealing details of the prime minister's media empire when he testified in two court cases.
GLOBAL - United Nations World Environment Day.
NEW YORK - Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" hosts the 65th Annual George Foster Peabody Awards presentation for excellence in electronic media in 2005 at the Waldorf Astoria.
TUESDAY, JUNE 6 ** LONDON - Winner of Orange Prize for Fiction will be revealed at a London ceremony.
GLOBAL - 666 - A devilish date!
FRIDAY, JUNE 9
THURMONT, Md. - President George W. Bush hosts a meeting with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, at the Camp David presidential retreat.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7
MUNICH - FIFA Congress on eve of World Cup.
THURSDAY, JUNE 8
WORLDWIDE - 14th Annual World Ocean Day (WOD) 2006.
SINGPORE/KUALA LUMPUR/BANGKOK - Japan's Emperor Akihito and his wife Empress Michiko to visit Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand from June 8.
NAIROBI - Central Bank Governor Andrew Mullei to appear before court charged with four counts of abuse of office.
FRIDAY, JUNE 9
ST PETERSBURG - G8