• diary political and General News Events from Feb 2

NIGERIA - Presidential and National Assembly elections.
SUNDAY, APRIL 22
FRANCE - First round of presidential elections.
LONDON - London Marathon. Link: www.london-marathon.co.uk
MONDAY, APRIL 23
BRUSSELS - EU Foreign Ministers Meeting.
STRASBOURG - EU parliament plenary session (to April 26).
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - Court-martial of Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins, a U.S. Marine suspected of being the ringleader in the kidnap and murder of an Iraqi grandfather.
LONDON - British singer George Michael scheduled for trial charged with being unfit to drive.
BERLIN - Lower-level bilateral talks between EU envoys on forging a new EU constitution expected to take place between April 23 and May 4.
TUESDAY, APRIL 24
BRUSSELS - Fraud Europe 2007, a conference dedicated to fraud detection, prevention & investigation/recovery across Europe from both a corporate and regulatory focus.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25
NEW YORK - 6th annual Tribeca Film Festival (to May 6). LINK: www.tribecafilmfestival.com
THURSDAY, APRIL 26
ANKARA - Deadline for candidates to register for Turkey's presidential election.
SATURDAY, APRIL 28
WEST INDIES - SPORT - CRICKET - World Cup Final.
SUNDAY, APRIL 29
MALI - Presidential elections.
MONDAY, APRIL 30
N.IRELAND - Northern Ireland smoking ban comes into effect.
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Document LBA0000020070201e32100063

DIARY - Political and General News Events from Jan 31
6,850 words

31 January 2007

11:34 AM

Reuters News

LBA

English

(c) 2007 Reuters Limited
*** Please note Reuters will issue this diary at an additional new time of 0300 GMT daily, followed by 0900 GMT, then 1430 GMT ***
** All times in GMT unless otherwise stated.
Items marked ** denote new or amended listings.
Media clients will also receive around 0700 GMT a daily REUTERS WORLD NEWS OUTLOOK which highlights key events for the coming week.
** New diary - Diary - Environment, see [ENV/DIARY]
** For Reuters World Outlook 2007, click on [nL17799804]
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WEDNESDAY, JAN 31
NEW YORK - President George W. Bush delivers a speech on the economy (1600).
UNITED NATIONS - (EXTENDED UNTIL JULY 31) Mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force monitoring the shared border between Ethiopia and Eritrea expires.
CARACAS - Vote expected on whether to grant President Hugo Chavez powers to rule by decree for 18 months so that the Cuba ally can accelerate his drive to turn the OPEC nation into a socialist state by nationalising major oil and utility assets.
MOSCOW - South Korea's nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo visits Russia (to Feb. 1). ** EDINBURGH, Scotland - Microsoft's founder Bill Gates and British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to speak at Microsoft government leaders' Europe forum. ** MOSCOW - Russian cabinet to debate a draft law limiting foreign involvement in 40 strategic industries.
BRUSSELS - EU parliament plenary session (to Feb. 1). The European Parliament holds a debate on climate change.
JAKARTA - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to meet with Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
NAIROBI - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to meet Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki.
UNITED KINGDOM - Civil Servants to hold 24-hour strike over job cuts and below inflation pay rises.
JOHANNESBURG - World Bank presentation and discussion on the the bank's Development Report 2007 by human development director Emmanuel Jimenez (0800).
BRUSSELS - Carla del Ponte, chief prosecutor for U.N. war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia, meets EU policy chief Javier Solana.
BERLIN - Conference of Germany's CDU/CSU parliamentary group on Globalisation, speakers include German Chancellor Angela Merkel. ** DHAKA - Senior officials at Bangladesh's election commission are expected to resign. Commission chief Mahfuzur Rahman is accusedof bias by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her allies and roundly accused of incompetence for failing to organise an election that was originally scheduled for Jan. 22.
BERLIN - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier meets Colombian counterpart Maria Consuelo Araujo-Castro (1500).
SPACE - Astronauts on International Space Station take first of three spacewalks to hook up a new cooling system.
LONDON - Prime Ministers Tony Blair's question time (1200).
BELGRADE - Serbian President Boris Tadic continues consultations on forming of the new Serbian government, meets representatives of the Socialist Party of Serbia (1100), Liberal Democratic Party (1300). ** ANKARA - Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mouale meets Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul. ** WARSAW - German Foreign Minister Frank Walter-Steinmeier meets Polish counterpart Anna Fotyga to discuss European Union constitution and energy security among others. ** SOFIA - Bulgarian prosecutors expected to launch a trial against 11 Libyan officers accused of torturing Bulgarian nurses, sentenced to death for deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the HIV virus. News conference (0800).
ATHENS - Students continue protests over education. ** MEXICO CITY - Thousands expected to protest against rising prices for basic food stuffs. Former presidential candidate Andres Lopez Obrador is expected to join the demonstration. [20070131 163454 GMT]
FEBRUARY 2007 (UNDATED)
TBC - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to bring together Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to talk about a future Palestinian state. The meeting is expected to take place in early February. ** MECCA, Saudi Arabia - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal expected to meet to hold talks on the formation of a unity government.
NEW DELHI - Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri visits India to seal three more confidence-building measures, including agreements to reduce risks of nuclear-related accidents, to ease restrictions on visa and the return of people held for accidentally crossing the border.
BRUSSELS - European Commission to decide in February whether to approve CO2 allocation plans of Slovenia, Poland, France and Spain.
MOSCOW - Russia may write off about $10 billion of Afghanistan's Soviet-era debt in February.
BASRA, Iraq - British operations aimed at preparing for the handover of security in Basra to Iraqi authorities expected to be completed in February.
TBC - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is due to meet his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
VIENNA - The U.N. Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space is due to sign a new voluntary agreement to mitigate the creation of space debris.
WASHINGTON - Robert Joseph, U.S. Undersecretary for arms control and international security due to leave office after completing work-related assignment in Ankara and Moscow in February.
SOUTH AFRICA- South Africa's land restitution programme deadline for white farmers to agree a selling price or have their land seized.
THE HAGUE- The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno-Ocampo plans to indict suspects for atrocities in Darfur by February.
KHARTOUM- Official talks between Egyptian and Sudanese government officials in Khartoum, which were postponed from January.
THURSDAY, FEB 1
MOSCOW - President of Russia Vladimir Putin to give his annual news conference to Russian and foreign media. ** WASHINGTON - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits Washington, is expected to hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ahead of a meeting of the quartet of Middle East peace negotiators -- the United States, United Nations, Russia and European Union.
THE HAGUE - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon travels to Netherlands to visit the International Criminal Court, the International Court of justice and war crimes court for the former Yugoslavia. Ban Ki-moon also meets Queen Beatrix, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, Foreign Minister Bernard Bot and Defence Minister Henk Kamp.
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government due to send three brigades to Baghdad. The first is due to arrive on Feb. 1 followed by two more on Feb. 15.
FRANCE - France bans smoking in most public places from Feb. 1, including restaurants, offices, shops and some bars. Casinos, nightclubs and remaining bars that sell tobacco are exempted from the ban until 2008.
VIENNA - OPEC due to reduce production by 500,000 barrel a day, effective Feb. 1. ** MOSCOW - South Korea's nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo visits Russia.
BELGRADE - Third international conference on fishing trade (to Feb. 3).
BRUSSELS - Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov visits Belgium.
BELGRADE - Serbian President Boris Tadic continues consultations on forming of the new Serbian government, meets representatives of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (1100), Coalition List for Sandzak (1200), Coalition of Albanians from Presevo Valley (1300), Roma Party (1400), Union of Serbia's Roma (1500).
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt - Trial resumes in the case of Egyptian blogger Abdel Karim Suleiman, on charges of blasphemous writings and insulting the president.
LONDON - Lehman Bros climate change report detailing impacts for investors.
PARIS - France hosts 3rd World Congress Against the Death Penalty (to Feb. 3).
ABUJA - Former Gambian President Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara leads mission to Nigeria to report on upcoming April elections to Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
BERLIN - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier meets his counterpart from Sri Lanka, Mangala Samaraweera (1430).
BUCHAREST - French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin visits Romania.
HONG KONG - Restrictions on the amount of pregnant Chinese women coming into Hong Kong from mainland China comes into effect today. ** ANKARA - Representatives of 18 NGOs meet to discuss amendments to article 301 of the penal code, which makes it a crime to insult Turkish identity and state institutions.
FRIDAY, FEB 2
PARIS - U.N. Climate Report 2007 due to be unveiled in Paris. Link: http://www.ipcc.ch/
WASHINGTON - The quartet of Middle East peace negotiators -- the United States, United Nations, Russia and European Union -- expected to meet to prepare for talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier due to attend.
TEHRAN - Iran has invited envoys from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) of developing nations attached to the IAEA, and heads of the larger Group of 77 states and of the Arab League office in Vienna, to visit it's nuclear installations from Feb. 2nd to 6th.
KHARTOUM - Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Sudan (to Feb. 3).
PARIS - President Jacques Chirac hosts conference on "global ecological governance" (to Feb 3). EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso to attend. Link: http://www.citoyensdelaterre.fr/conference/?-Programme,18 --
SERBIA/KOSOVO - U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari visits Serbia and Kosovo.
SOFIA/BERLIN - French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin visits Bulgaria. Villepin then leaves to Germany. ** HUNGARY - Workers at Hungarian state railway firm MAV will hold a one-hour national strike to protest against the planned closure of some of MAV's hospitals.
KIEV - Kazakh President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev visits Ukraine.
SAN FRANCISCO - Track coach Trevor Graham status/trial setting hearing in BALCO steroid case.
PUNXSUTAWNEY, PA.,- Groundhog Day. link: http://www.groundhog.org/
NEW YORK - New York Fashion Week.
SYDNEY - Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. Link: http://www.mardigras.org.au/
SATURDAY, FEB 3
SEOUL/TOKYO - U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill leaves this weekend to Seoul and Tokyo to prepare for the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme.
CAIRO/RIYADH/ABU DHABI/KUWAIT - German Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait as part of a drive to re-energise peace efforts in the Middle East during Germany's EU presidency (to Feb. 6).
LUSAKA - Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Zambia (to Feb. 5).
CAIRO - Anniversary of the sinking of Egyptian ship al-Salam Boccaccio '98 killing around 1000 people.
LOS ANGELES - 59th Annual Director's Guild Award. Link: http://www.dga.org/index2.php3?chg=&sfgdata=4 ** LONDON - "Citizens and Kings", a major new exhibition which traces the decline of absolute monarchy and rise of the Enlightenment that swept North America and Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, runs from Feb. 3 to April 20. [20070131 163503 GMT]
SUNDAY, FEB 4
MIAMI, Fl.,- Super Bowl XLI. Funk rock veteran Prince due to perform during the halftime show at Dolphin Stadium. Link: http://www.sbxl.org ** SPACE - Astronauts on International Space Station (ISS) take second of three spacewalks to hook up a new cooling system.
TBC - The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) eminent and experts group start two-day security discussion focusing on Northeast Asia's situation, particularly on the nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula.
MONDAY, FEB 5
WASHINGTON - U.S. President George W Bush to send fiscal year 2008 budget to Congress. ** BRUSSELS - The European Crime and Safety Survey (EU ICS) presents results of the first comprehensive survey of victim rates, fear of crime and subjective wellbeing in Europe (1400)
HOUSTON - Trial expected of former British bankers, known as the "Natwest Three," accused of conspiring with rogue Enron executives in 2000 to defraud National Westminister Bank of $19 million, dividing $7 million themselves. U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein set alternate possible trial dates for Feb. 5 and Sept. 4.
MOSCOW - EU Troika - Russia Federation meeting.
WINDHOEK - Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Namibia. ** STOCKHOLM - Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt meets EU's Afghan representative Fransesc Vendrell. ** THE HAGUE - Britain's Queen Elizabeth visits Netherlands.
LONDON - (Expected between Feb. 5 and 9) A High Court in London expected to hold a hearing on whether to allow islanders expelled from the Chagos archipelago, a British territory between Africa and Indonesia, to return. The islanders were forcibily exiled in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for the U.S. airbase on the island of Diego Garcia.
NAIROBI - 24th Session of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Governing Council (to Feb. 9).
LAGOS, Nigeria - The blue-collar NUPENG union due to meet on Feb. 5 to fix a day for the proposed strike against insecurity in the oil-producing Niger Delta.
CAIRO - European Commission holds news conference on the status of the Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan and other issues (0845).
NAIROBI - World Trade Organisation's Director-General Pascal Lamy visits Kenya for a United Nations Environment Programme council meeting.
BELGRADE - Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor's Office in cooperation with the OSCE Mission in Serbia organise a round table discussion on fighting crime.
ABUJA - Niger Delta militant Mujahid Asari Dokubo's treason trial due to start in Federal High Court.
LONDON - Bioenergy Europe 2007 (to Feb 6). ** BEIJING - Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico visits China (to Feb. 9).
TUESDAY, FEB 6
WASHINGTON - Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul holds talks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
MILAN - A Milan court resumes hearing of arguments on whether to indict 26 Americans, most believed to be CIA agents, and six Italians accused of involvement in abducting Muslim cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flying him to Egypt, where Nasr says he was tortured.
JOHANNESBURG/PRETORIA - Chinese President Hu Jintao visits South Africa (to Feb. 8).
MUMBAI, India - Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, convicted of possessing illegal arms but now on bail, to surrender before an anti-terrorism court which will begin hearing his sentencing arguments on the day.
PARIS - The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance approved by the 192-nation U.N. General Assembly by consensus due to be open to signing by governments at a ceremony in Paris.
KIEV - EU Troika - Ukraine Meeting.
WEDNESDAY, FEB 7
GENEVA - World Trade Organisation (WTO) General Council meeting (to Feb. 8).
BANGALORE, India - Sixth edition of Aero India Show (to Feb. 11).
ROME - A Rome court continues its hearing in the case U.S. soldier Mario Lozano, who is accused of shooting agent Nicola Calipari at a checkpoint in March 2005 while his car was heading for Baghdad airport.
SALE, Morocco - Trial of Briton Lee Murray sought for UK's biggest cash raid, arrested in Morocco and charged in June 2006 with criminal gang membership and illegal possession of cocaine and foreign currency.
HELSINKI - A group of health finance experts, which includes officials from the European Investment Bank, the World Bank and the London School of Economics to submit a final report on European Union (EU) countries health spending at conference in Helsinki (to Feb. 8).
LOS ANGELES - Hearing in the paternity case of former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith's daughter, Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern. Smith gave birth to the baby girl in the Bahamas on Sept. 7 and several weeks later married her personal lawyer, Howard K. Stern, saying he was the father. Anna's ex-boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, sued Smith in October, claiming he was the father and demanding a paternity test.
MADRID - Carla del Ponte, chief prosecutor for U.N. war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia visits Spain. ** LONDON - Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, who won the British reality television show at the heart of a racist bullying row, to meet Prime Minister Tony Blair and other ministers at the House of Commons.
LONDON - The Costa Book of the Year 2006. Link: http://www.costabookawards.com/
THURSDAY, FEB 8
SEVILLE, Spain - NATO defence ministers meeting.
BEIJING - A fresh round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme expected to resume.
MAPUTO - Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Mozambique.
PHILIPPINES - Thousands of U.S. soldiers begin annual three-week war games with Philippines to test the two country's military inter-operability to defending the Philippines against external aggression. Activities would be held in Subic, Clark, Fort Magsaysay and on Jolo and Palawan islands.
BERLIN - 57th Berlin Film Festival (to Feb. 18). LINK: http://www.berlinale.de
MANIPUR, India - Assembly elections in the Indian State of Manipur. Polls due to be held in three stages on Feb. 8, 15 and 23.
KIEV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko visits Germany.
ZAGREB - Carla del Ponte, chief prosecutor for U.N. war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia visits Croatia to attend a conference (to Feb. 9).
BERLIN - EU-Troika - Pakistan Meeting.
TAIPEI - The world's leading Chinese art museum, the National Palace Musuem in Taipei due to open.
FRIDAY, FEB 9
ESSEN, Germany - G7 Finance Ministers meeting (to Feb. 10).
MUNICH - 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy (to Feb. 9). Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend. LINK: http://www.securityconference.de (1000).
VICTORIA - Chinese President Hu Jintao visits the Seychelles (to Feb. 10).
CAPE TOWN - President Thabo Mbeki delivers 2007 state-of-the-nation speech (0900).
AMSTERDAM - World Press Photo announces 2007 Contest winners.
MIAMI - Deadline for prison doctors to conduct their own medical exam of American terrorism suspect Jose Padilla, who is accused of running a U.S. support cell that provided money and recruits for violent jihad overseas.
SATURDAY, FEB 10
VENICE - Carnival of Venice (to Feb. 20).
RIO DE JANEIRO - The 8th Wonder of the World, an organisation founded to increase global awareness for children affected by HIV/AIDS and raise funds for UNICEF through arts and entertainment, holds third of a series of concerts in Brazil.
ESSEN, Germany - G7 finance ministers and central bankers meet (final day).
PRISTINA - Movement calling for the independence of Kosovo "Self-determination" (Vetvendosje) organises a protest against the document on the province's future status by the U.N. special envoy for Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari (1200).
SUNDAY, FEB 11
TURKMENISTAN - Presidential elections.
RIYADH - Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to visit Saudi Arabia.
IRAN - National holiday and anniversary of 1979 Islamic revolution. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expected to make traditional speech.
LOS ANGELES - Annual Writers Guild Awards. Link; http://www.wga.org/awards/awardssub.aspx?id=1533
LOS ANGELES - 49th Annual Grammy Awards. Link: http://www.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Events/Default.aspx?even ID=1331&eventCategoryID=9
LONDON - British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards. Link; http://www.bafta.org
LISBON - Portuguese due to vote on a referendum to decide whether to legalise abortion.
KHARTOUM - The Higher Egyptian-Sudanese commission is to meet in Khartoum, headed by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Vice President Ali Othman Mohamed Taha respectively (to Feb. 15). [20070131 163637 GMT]
MONDAY, FEB 12
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush meets Lithuanian counterpart Valdas Adamkus.
BRUSSELS - EU Foreign Ministers Meeting.
DOHA/AMMAN - Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Qatar and Jordan (to Feb. 13).
BARCELONA - 3GSM Congress 2007 (to Feb. 15). LINK: http://www.3gsmworldcongress.com/flashintro.asp
STRASBOURG - EU parliament plenary session (to Feb. 15).
ABUJA - African International Media Summit organised by African Union and ECOWAS aimed at re-branding Africa.
NIAMEY - Niger appeals court due to rule on appeal by two journalists from independent weekly newspaper "Le Republicain" against 18-month jail sentences for defamation and publishing falsehoods.
CAIRO - International conference to fight infectious disease (to Feb. 15).
LONDON - London Fashion Week (to Feb. 16).
TUESDAY, FEB 13
PUNJAB, India - Assembly elections in the Indian State of Punjab.
VIENNA - IAEA Board of Governors meeting - Advisory Committee on Safeguards and Verification within the Framework of the IAEA Statute (to Feb. 14).
CANBERRA - Finnish President Tarja Halonen visits Australia to meet Prime Minister John Howard (to Feb. 17).
WASHINGTON - United Nations Conference on Trade and Development organizes "Global Forum: Building Science, Technology, and Innovation Capacity for Sustainable Growth and Poverty Reduction" (to Feb. 15).
TOKYO - Japan to host a meeting on whaling aimed at easing confrontation between pro and anti-whaling nations (to Feb. 15). Pro-whaling nations want to return the polarised group to what they say are its roots as an organisation that manages -- rather than bans -- commercial whaling. Some 26 anti-whaling nations plan to boycott the meeting.
WEDNESDAY, FEB 14
GLOBAL - St.Valentines day.
BRASILIA - Bolivian President Evo Morales expected to meet with Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to reach accord on price Brazil pays for Bolivian natural gas.
LONDON - Brit Awards 2007. Link: http://brits.co.uk
THURSDAY, FEB 15
TOKYO - Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing to visit Japan (to Feb 17).
CANNES, France - Franco-Africa summit.
MADRID - Trial starts of 29 suspects for the 2004 Islamist train bombings in Madrid which killed 191 people.
ANKARA - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expected to visit Turkey around mid-February to discuss a project to build a pipeline linking the Black and Red seas with Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogen.
BAGHDAD - The second batch of a U.S. combat brigade due to arrive in Baghdad. The additional brigades will be added every 30 days to reach a total of five in Baghdad.
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government due to send two brigades to Baghdad.
UNITED NATIONS - The second U.N. peacekeeping assessment team due to submit its recommendations to the 15-nations Security Councilby mid-February on how the peacekeeping force could be deployed in Chad and the Central African Republic region bordering on Sudan's Darfur region.
KATHMANDU - Nepal's former Maoist rebels to join an interim government, which is expected to be set by Feb. 15.
VIENNA - IAEA Programme and Budget Committee Meeting.
UNITED NATIONS - Mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti expires.
MANIPUR, India - Second stage of assembly elections in the Indian State of Manipur. The third and final stage due to be held on Feb. 23.
VIENNA - Vienna's annual Opera Ball. Celebrity heiress Paris Hilton will be the star guest at Austria's top society event.
BUCHAREST - Former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase has first hearings at the Supreme Court of Justice. Nastase is accused of blackmail and taking bribes worth 1.4 million euros ($1.9 million).
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fl., - NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS 2) 2-year mission consists of five identical probes that will track these violent colourful eruptions of auroras near the North Pole. Link: http://www.nasa.gov/
LONDON - Britain due to launch the Footwear Intelligence Tool, a database of thousands of shoes and shoe types to help track down criminals, thought to be the first of its kind in the the world.
FRIDAY, FEB 16
PYONGYANG - 65th birthday of North Korean President Kim Jong-il.
SATURDAY, FEB 17
LESOTHO - General elections.
RIO DE JENEIRO - Rio Carnival (to Feb. 20). Link: http://www.rio-carnival.net
CAIRO - Trial of the suspects in the Al-Azhar bombings continues.
LEBANON - Major-General Claudio Graziano of Italy expected to take command of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon after French Major-General Alain Pellegrini steps down.
MILAN, Italy - Milan Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2007/2008 (to Feb. 25). Link: http://www.cameramoda.it/eng/eventi/eventi.php
RICHMOND, Va. - Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), a possible 2008 presidential candidate, attends Virginia Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson fund-raising dinner.
PARIS - Auction of a 1939 Auto Union D-Type commissioned by German dictator Adolf Hitler and designed by Ferdinand Porsche, 1 of only 2 left in existence and winner of the 1939 Belgrade Grand Prix, set to become most expensive car ever to be sold at auction estimated to sell for £6.1 million.
BERLIN - Golden & Silver Bear Awards at Berlin film festival.
SUNDAY, FEB 18
AUCKLAND - Finnish President Tarja Halonen visits New Zealand to meet Prime Minister Helen Clark (to Feb. 21).
LONDON - Laurence Olivier Awards announced.
BEIJING/HONG/KONG - Chinese Lunar New Year - Year of the Pig.
ALBANIA - Municipal polls.
LOS ANGELES - 21st Annual American Society of Cinematographers. LINK: http://www.theasc.com/news/awards/index.html
MONDAY, FEB 19
ADDIS ABABA - The trial of opposition leaders and journalists accused of treason and inciting violence following a turbulent election in 2005 to resume.
NEW JERSEY, United States - The New Jersey law affirming equal rights for the same-sex couples but requiring the legislature to make a decision on using the word marriage comes into effect.
TUESDAY, FEB 20
TOKYO - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney expected to visit Japan for talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (to Feb. 22).
CAIRO - Trial in the case of Ibrahim Eissa continues, the newspaper editor charged with defaming President Hosni Mubarak.
BRUSSELS - EU Environment Council meeting.
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush administration due to launch a new travel security system designed to deal with the problems of innocent travellers mistakenly identified as being on U.S. no-fly lists.
ABUJA - Trial resumes of Muhammed Damagun, a Media Trust director accused of taking $300,000 from al Qaeda in 2002 to arrange combat training in Maurtania for 17 members of a group called the Nigerian Taliban.
Ft. Campbell, Kentucky - Hearing of Sgt. Paul Cortez, the second of five U.S. soldiers charged with raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdering her and her family.
NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans Mardi Gras. Link: www.mardigrasneworleans.com
VENICE - Venice Carnival ends.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21
UTTARANCHAL, India - Assembly elections in the Indian State of Uttaranchal.
UNITED NATIONS - A U.N. Security Council Resolution 1737 passed on Dec. 23 has given Iran a deadline of 60 days to comply with limits on its uranium enrichment activities or risk possible sanctions.
THURSDAY, FEB 22
NAIROBI - Resumption of trial of white Kenyan farmer, Thomas Cholmondeley, who is accused of killing a black Kenyan.
SAMARRA, Iraq - First anniversary of the bombing of one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites, the Askariya shrine in Samarra.
KIGALI - Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to officiate at an international women conference in Rwanda on "Gender, Nation Building and Parliaments".
FRIDAY, FEB 23
SITGES, Spain - Sitges Carnival.
MANIPUR, India - The third and final stage of assembly elections in the Indian State of Manipur.
SALE, Morocco - Trial resumes of 22 people being held under anti-terrorism laws. The group led by Mohamed Reha, a Belgian of Moroccan origin, is accused of forming criminal gang that planned to disturb public order.
BRUSSELS - (TENTATIVE)Commission annual report on equality between men and women. [20070131 163649 GMT]
SATURDAY, FEB 24
HOLLYWOOD - 27th Annual Razzie Awards, honouring the worst in cinema are held at the Ivar Theatre.
MILAN - Women's Autumn 2007/Winter 2008 fashion shows ends.
LOS ANGELES - 2007 Independent Spirit Film Awards.
LAHORE, Pakistan - Annual kite-flying festival or Basant.
SUNDAY, FEB 25
SENEGAL - Presidential elections due to be held (Legislative elections postponed).
LITHUANIA - Local government elections.
HOLLYWOOD - 79th Academy Awards (Oscars). http://www.oscar.com
IVREA, Italy - Ivrea Orange throwing Carnival (to Feb 28). LINK: http://www.geocities.com/ebmomma/carnival.htm
PARIS - Paris Ready-To-Wear Autumn/Winter 2007/2008 Fashion Week (to March 5) Link: http://www.modeaparis.com/va/dates/index.html
MONDAY, FEB 26
NEW YORK - The Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting for the 15th Session of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development (to March 2).
ALLAHABAD, India - Final day of Ardh Kumbh Mela, where millions of Hindu pilgrims converged for a dip in the holy Ganges river to wash away their sins.
BRUSSELS - The Peace Implementation Council grouping about 50 countries and institutions overseeing Bosnia's peace process meets to decide on the closure of the office of powerful international High Representative Christian Schwarz-Schilling.
TUESDAY, FEB 27
INDIA - Counting of the Assembly election votes in the Indian States of Manipur, Punjab and Uttaranchal. The results are expected to be announced the same day.
ANKARA - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands visits Turkey (to March 2).
CHICAGO - The Metropolitan Airports Commissions due to hold a public hearing on a staff proposal to increase penalties for cab drivers refusing fares. The hearing is also aimed at drivers who refuse to take short-haul passengers in favour of more lucrative long trips.
WEDNESDAY, FEB 28
TAIPEI - Taiwan to open a public monument -- The 228 Incident National Monument -- to commemorate a dark day in history that spawned a movement with implications for the island's politics.
SPACE - NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, the fastest spacecraft ever built by humans, is due to reach Jupiter, our solar system's largest planet and fifth from the sun. Launched on Jan. 19, 2006, New Horizons is set to make its closest pass by Jupiter on Feb. 28, flying within 1.4 million miles (2.3 million km).
MARCH 2007 (UNDATED)
MOSCOW - Russia and North Korea expected to meet in March to discuss Pyongyang's large debt to Moscow.
WASHINGTON/LA PAZ - Bolivia's new visa requirement for U.S. citizens visiting the Andean nation due to take effect in March.
LONDON - A preliminary hearing in March will consider who the witnesses should be and the scope of the inquiry into the deaths of Princess Diana and her lover Dodi al Fayed.
NEW DELHI - The first meeting of a joint India-Pakistan anti-terrorism panel due to be held in March.
QATAR - To hold its first parliamentary elections.
BRUSSELS - Poland expected to present proposals on a new EU constitution in March.
THURSDAY, MARCH 1
WIESBADEN, Germany - EU Defence Ministers meeting (to March 2).
ABUJA - Nigeria's Federal High Court hears case against six people, including three foreigners, accused of spying for Russia.
PRAGUE - (TENTATIVE) 9th International human rights 'One World' documentary film festival (to March 9). LINK: http://www.jedensvet.cz/ow/2006/index.php?lang=en
GLOBAL - World Book Day.
FRIDAY, MARCH 2
LOS ANGELES - 38th Annual Image Awards. Link: http://www.naacpimageawards.net/imageawards38.html
SUNDAY, MARCH 4
ESTONIA - Parliamentary elections.
MONDAY, MARCH 5
VIENNA - IAEA Board of Governors Meeting (to March 9).
CAIRO - The trial of the suspects in the sinking of the Al-Salam 98 ferry resumes.
BRUSSELS - EU - Turkey Association Council meeting.
BEIJING - China's parliament, the National People's Congress, convenes for its annual session.
BRUSSELS - EU Foreign Ministers Meeting. ** THE HAGUE - International Court of Justice opens public hearings in dispute between Nicaragua and Honduras on their maritime border in the Carribean Sea.
FORT CAMPBELL, Kentucky - Court-martial of Staff Sgt. Raymond Girouard, accused in the deaths of three Iraqi detainees.
THE HAGUE - Kosovo's former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj goes on trial to face war crimes charges when he was a leader in a 1998-99 war against Serb forces.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7
BELFAST - New elections for a Northern Ireland assembly in which pro-Irish Catholics and pro-British Protestants will share power.
NEW YORK - Sentencing of Khalid Awan, a Pakistani man living in New York, guilty of providing material support or resources to terrorists and money laundering to promote terrorism.
MIAMI - Sentencing of Clark Mitchell, a Florida doctor and former director of a prominent AIDS clinic, after Mitchell pleaded guilty to securities fraud in connection with a life insurance scam that cost 28,000 investors nearly $1 billion.
LONDON - British singer George Michael scheduled to appear in court for a hearing charged with being unfit to drive. Trial date scheduled for April 23.
GHANA - 50th Independence anniversary celebration.
THURSDAY, MARCH 8
GENEVA - International Labour Organisation (ILO): 298th Session of the Governing Body and its committees (to March 17).
GLOBAL - International Women's Day.
GENEVA - 77th International Motor Show (to March 18).
SATURDAY, MARCH 10
MOSCOW - (TENTATIVE) 12th IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships (to March 12). LINK: http://www.iaaf.org/WIC06/news/Kind=2/newsId=33706.html
SHAH ALAM, Malaysia - Hearing of Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda, a well-connected Malaysian political analyst charged with abetting the murder of 28-year-old Altantuya Shaariibuu between Oct. 19 and Oct. 20 in Malaysia.
SUNDAY, MARCH 11
BELGRADE - First anniversary of the death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
MAURITANIA - Presidential election.
MONDAY, MARCH 12
STRASBOURG - EU parliament plenary session (to March 15).
NEW YORK - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees due to be honored at a black-tie ceremony.
ST PETERSBURG, Russia - Local elections.
BELGRADE - War crimes re-trial starts for 14 former Serbian militia members for the 1991 massacre of 200 Croatian prisoners of war at the Ovcara farm near Vukovar in Croatia. ** LONDON - Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, who won the British reality television show at the heart of a racist bullying row, to meet Queen Elizabeth at a reception to mark Commonwealth Day.
TUESDAY, MARCH 13
WEST INDIES - SPORT - CRICKET - World Cup.
NEW DELHI - A fourth round of India-Pakistan composite dialogue, as the peace process is called, expected to be held (to March 14).
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14
NUREMBERG, Germany - EU - ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting.
THURSDAY, MARCH 15
HANNOVER, Germany - CeBIT - The world's largest computer fair opens (to March 21). Link; http://www.cebit.de/homepage_e?x=1
ABUJA - Nigeria's INEC electoral authority to publish names of presidential and national assembly candidates.
TBC - An African Union-United Nations peace summit on Sudan to be held no later than March 15.
UNITED KINGDOM - British Summer Time begins - clocks across the European Union go forward.
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany - G8 Environment Ministers Meeting (to March. 17).
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., - NASA scheduled to launch space shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station.
SATURDAY, MARCH 17
IRELAND - St.Patrick's Day.
WASHINGTON - Anti-war group, International ANSWER, plans an anti-war march to the Pentagon.
SUNDAY, MARCH 18
FINLAND - Parliamentary elections.
QUITO - Ecuador due to call a popular vote on March 18 on setting up a constituent assembly to change the constitution meant to lessen the influence of politicians in the judiciary and force legislators to live in the small constituencies that they represent.
MONDAY, MARCH 19
LOS ANGELES - Jury selection due to begin in the trial of music producer Phil Spector, who is accused of killing B-movie actress Lana Clarkson, found shot to death in the foyer of his mock castle on Feb. 3, 2003.
TUESDAY, MARCH 20
IRAQ - Fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
VICTORIA, Australia - Australian International Airshow 2006. Link: http://www.airshow.net.au/index1.html [20070131 163703 GMT]
THURSDAY, MARCH 22
GLOBAL - U.N. World Water Day.
LONDON - Worldwide publication of British novelist Jeffrey Archer's "The Gospel According to Judas". Archer has written the book in collaboration with biblical scholar Francis Moloney.
FRIDAY, MARCH 23
GLOBAL - U.N. World Meteorological Day.
OUARZAZATE, Morocco - Desert Marathon Des sables.
PARIS - Paris book fair (to Mar. 27).
SALE, Morocco - (POSTPONED FROM JAN 26) Trial of fifty members of an Islamist group, Ansar el Mehdi (Mehdi Partisans), accused of plotting to overthrow the monarchy and replace it with a purist Islamic state.
SATURDAY, MARCH 24
BERLIN - EU Heads of State Meeting (to March 25).
MADRID - First anniversary of the enforcement of a permanent ceasefire declared by Basque separatist group ETA.
MOMBASA, Kenya - IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
GLOBAL - U.N. World No TB Day.
SUNDAY, MARCH 25
BERLIN - EU Heads of State Meeting (final day).
ROME - ANNIVERSARY - 50 year ago today (March 25, 1957) six European countries signed the Treaty of Rome, pledging to set up a Common Market from January 1, 1958. The organisation developed into the European Union.
LONDON - 200th anniversary of the abolishing of the slave trade in the U.K. The government is considering issuing a 'statement of regret'.
HONG KONG - Hong Kong's Chief Executive election.
MONDAY, MARCH 26
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany - G8 Development Ministers Meeting (to March 27).
BELFAST - Self-rule at the Belfast-based Stormont assembly expected to be restored to the province.
TUESDAY, MARCH 27
NASSAU - Inquest into the sudden death of Daniel Smith, the 20-year-old son of former Playboy Playmate and oil heiress Anna Nicole Smith.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28
BRUSSELS - EU parliament plenary session (to March 29).
RIYADH - Annual summit of League of Arab States.
LONDON - British Book Awards. LINK: http://www.britishbookawards.co.uk/bba/pnbb_index.asp ?
FRIDAY, MARCH 30
UNITED NATIONS - United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - a treaty that aims to promote and protect the rights of the disabled people, will formally be opened to signing.
SATURDAY, MARCH 31
BRUSSELS - EU to report on progress of Romania and Bulgaria, 3-months after joining the union.
DUBAI - SPORT - HORSE RACING - 12th Dubai Cup - The world's richest day of horse racing. LINK: http://www.dubaiworldcup.com
APRIL 2007 (UNDATED)
TOKYO - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao expected to visit Japan.
WASHINGTON - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expected to visit United States in late April or early May, due to hold talks with President George W. Bush.
BEIJING - China expected to take the first step in its lunar exploration programme by launching a satellite that will orbit the moon.
NEW YORK - Sentencing of Robert Riggio, guilty of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from at least 60 priests across the United States by using fake names and bogus sympathy-inducing stories about needing money.
LONDON - The Equality act, expected to come into force in April, is designed to stop discrimination against gay and lesbian couples wishing to adopt a child.
KINSHASA - Belgian King Albert expected to visit Democratic Republic of Congo.
SUNDAY, APRIL 1
WALES - Smoking ban in enclosed areas comes into effect.
MONDAY, APRIL 2
WASHINGTON - Comments on the sale of food made from cloned cattle, pigs and goats, but not sheep, in the United States will be accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration until today.
TUESDAY, APRIL 3
NEW DELHI - South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit (to April 4).
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4
DUBLIN - Shortlist announced for International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2007.
FRIDAY, APRIL 6
GLOBAL - Good Friday - Christian religious holiday.
SATURDAY, APRIL 7
UNITED NATIONS - World Health Organisation observes World Health Day.
LONDON - Annual Oxford-Cambridge University boat-race (1530).
TUESDAY, APRIL 10
BRAZZAVILLE - International forum on indigenous peoples of the forests of central Africa, with representatives from UNESCO, UNICEF, UNEP, World Bank and other international organisations (to April 15).
SATURDAY, APRIL 14
LOS ANGELES - The U.S. Olympic Committee to due to decide between Los Angeles and Chicago as the U.S. candidate city for the 2016 Olympic games.
WASHINGTON - Spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (to April 15).
AINTREE, Liverpool - SPORT- HORSE RACING - Grand National.
NIGERIA - Elections for State and local governments.
SUNDAY, APRIL 15
WASHINGTON - Spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (final day).
ANKARA - Applicants for the presidency have until April 15 to decide whether to run. Turkey's parliament elects the president for a seven-year term.
MONDAY, APRIL 16
VATICAN CITY - 80th birthday of Pope Benedict.
BELFAST - Trial expected to start in the Omagh bombing civil court case.
MIAMI - Trial begins of American terrorism suspect Jose Padilla, who is accused of running a U.S. support cell that provided money and recruits for violent jihad overseas.
TUESDAY, APRIL 17
NEW YORK - Pulitzer Prize awards announced.
LONDON - The Veuve Clicquot Award Business Woman of the Year. Link: http://www.veuveclicquotaward.com/
THURSDAY, APRIL 19
WASHINGTON - International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Economic Outlook.
FRIDAY, APRIL 20 ** BOAO, HAINAN - Third China International Cartoon Festival (to May 4).
SATURDAY, APRIL 21