The World This Week

Today: Japanese PM meets Clinton. Russian foreign minister addresses UN General Assembly

Today: Japanese PM meets Clinton. Russian foreign minister addresses UN General Assembly. France bars cars from many cities for the day. Nigerian leader, Abdulsalami Abubakar, in London. WTO disputes settlements body meets in Geneva. President of the European Central Bank appears before EP monetary committee.

Tomorrow: Iran to begin large-scale military exercises on border with Afghanistan. Indian and Pakistani PMs meet at UN. Final results from elections in Bosnia expected from OSCE. World Bank releases annual report. Saudi Crown Prince in Washington. Hungarian PM opens Global Forum. US defence secretary begins tour of Europe.

Thursday: EU Justice and Home Affairs Council meets. EU Internal Market Council meets. UN Security Council holds ministerial conference on Africa. CIS prime ministers expected to meet. US Democratic Party holds annual conference in Washington. Jospin in China. Mandela in Canada. NATO defence ministers meet in Portugal. WTO general council meets in Geneva.

Friday: EU Ecofin Council meeting in Vienna. Montenegrin parliament holds special session on Kosovo. First day of parliamentary elections in Slovakia.

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Saturday: Euro-Council of 11 EU single currency members meets in Vienna. EU Competition Commissioner visits Czech Republic. Defence ministers of Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Slovenia, Turkey, Greece and Italy meet in Skopje. Second day of parliamentary elections in Slovakia. American veterans in France to honour the dead of first World War.

Sunday: Parliamentary election in Germany. Elections for one third of French senate. Chernomyrdin stands in byelection for state Duma seat. EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner visits Hungary.

Irish events of a world news interest for this column should be received by David Shanks, Foreign Desk, on the Friday before publication.