BARONESS Thatcher is to take time off from the British election campaign this week.
She and longer US president George Bush head a list of luminaries scheduled to address air force veterans in Las Vegas. The occasion is Air Force Fifty, a series of events marking the 50th anniversary of the US Air Force.
Bush and Thatcher will focus on the role of air power in the Gulf War. She is also expected to speak on the role of US aviation in helping save Britain during the second World War.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (49), who underwent surgery last week to replace a heart valve, is recovering and expects to Schwarzenegger, who is married to newscaster Maria Shriver, a niece of the late president John Kennedy, chose to have surgery to replace the valve, even though the congenital condition had caused him no health problems.
In a statement last week, the Austrian-born actor and former Mr Universe bodybuilder said: "I've never felt sick or had any symptoms at all, but I knew I'd have to take care of this condition sooner or later. "I said to the doctors: `Let's do it now, while I'm young and healthy'."
Schwarzenegger is expected to rest until the end of May, when he will begin promoting the new movie Batman and Robin in which he plays the villain, Mr Freeze.