TODAY: Emergency meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. OSCE troika ministerial meeting in Oslo. European Parliament in Strasbourg debates refugees. US Congress and leaders meet Preisdent Clinton. Queen Beatrix of Netherlands visits China. Indian defence minister visits Russia. Defence forces of Southern African Development Community launch joint military operation. German SPD extraordinary party conference in Bonn.
TOMORROW: European Parliament hears from Commission President-elect, Mr Romano Prodi. EU Consumer Affairs Council meets in Luxembourg. EU troika visits Kiev. New Zealand hosts meetings of leaders from Papua New Guinea island of Bougainville. President Assad of Syria visits Russia. Kevorkian sentenced in Pontiac, Michigan. WEDNESDAY: Special summit of EU heads of government in Brussels. European Parliament hears from Schroder. US Congressional Democrats sign petition to force Republicans to pass bill on finance reform. Verdict expected in trial of Anwar Ibrahim. Dissident Iranian cleric Mohsen Kadivar in open court. Chinese PM visits Canada. Starr testifies before Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Trial of former Turkish PM Erbakan resumes. French foreign minister in Romania. President of World Bank expected in Moscow.
THURSDAY: Presidential election in Algeria. Lockerbie bomb suspects in court in the Netherlands. Ministerial meeting between EU and Mediterranean countries in Stuttgart. MEPs debate report by European Ombudsman. Brazilian president in Germany. King Abdullah of Jordan in Syria. Duma expected to begin debating impeachment charges against President Yeltsin.
FRIDAY: EU Ecofin Council meets informally in Dresden. ASEAN ministerial meeting on environmental haze in Bandar Seri Begawan. Brazilian president in Portugal. Caribbean summit in Dominican Republic.
SATURDAY: Indian PM opens new power plant in Bombay. Moroccan Union for Feminine Action holds women's "parliament" in Rabat.
SUNDAY: Municipal elections in Mali. Referendum in Switzerland to sever Swiss franc's link to gold. Parliamentary and local elections in Turkey. Referendum in Italy on changes to voting system.
IRELAND
Thursday: President McAleese receives mayor of Budapest.
Friday: Irish Association for Contemporary European Studies first biennial conference at Institute of European Affairs, Europe House, Dublin.
Irish events of a world news interest for this column should be received by David Shanks, Foreign Desk, on the Friday before publication.