What's Happening Today - Thursday 4 November

New Zealand: 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton goes on to New Zealand (-6) to sign broad policy agreement "Wellington Declaration" covering non-proliferation, politics, climate change cooperation in the Pacific 

Koreas: 

Second round of reunions of North, South Korean families separated since Korean War continues at North's Mt Kumgang resort (-5), bringing together 96 South Koreans with 207 family members from 

Mongolia: 

Ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party begins 26th congress; previous congress was in October 2007 (-6) 

India: 

Top police officials from 40 countries, including US, Britain, South Africa, Australia, Sweden, attend meeting in Kochi on community policing; second and final day

Nepal:

After failing 15 times, Nepali Congress parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Poudel head to the next round of PM elections at 3 pm with no chance of winning.

Pakistan:

Pakistan’s National Assembly standing committee on interior to meet to devise future strategy on Dr Aafia Siddiqui case 

Russia: 

Day of People's Unity; public holiday. Banned nationalist Slavic Union holds Russian March in Moscow, other cities; Movement Against Illegal Immigration holds sanctioned rally in St Petersburg: Young Russia pro-Kremlin youth movement holds anti-drugs rally in Lubyanskaya Square in central Moscow. Only one rally licence has been granted for an event will take place from 1300 to 1430 Moscow time from the Taras Shevchenko Embankment towards Europe Square for just 22,000 people. 

Russia: 

Amir of Qatar Shaykh Hamad Bin-Khalifah Al Thani concludes three-day trip after meeting President Dmitriy Medvedev yesterday

Russia:

The Republic of Mari El – one of the few in the world to be officially pagan – celebrates national day, Eccentric president, Leonid Markelov, continues to insist on medieval Italian architecture for its buildings, so could be weird feature. (NB International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) have both found widespread evidence of political and cultural persecution of Mari people, and of "a broader trend of repression of dissidents in the republic as ethnic Russians move in.)

Georgia: 

Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki visits, expected to sign agreement on visa-free travel; second and final day

Iran:

Students rally in various cities; coincides with anniversary of seizure of US embassy by students demanding extradition of deposed shah from US (1979)

UAE:

Sharjah Court to hold a hearing of case of 17 Indians sentenced to death for killing a Pakistani man in a bootlegging dispute.

Jordan:

Jordanian energy officials inaugurate a project in Aqaba designed to boost the Kingdom's nuclear security with the completion of the Mega-Ports Project, an initiative supported by the US Department of Energy, which has increased the number and quality of radiation monitoring stations across the country. The project is now to be run and operated by the Jordan Nuclear Regulatory Commission (JNRC)

Lebanon: 

Rival leaders meet for next session of National Dialogue Committee aimed at agreeing on national defence strategy, Hezbollah's role

Israel: 

First international Homeland Security Conference concludes in Tel Aviv; interior ministers, mayors, police chiefs attend 

Israel: 

Umar Sulaiman, director of Egypt's General Intelligence Department with ministerial rank, visits to meet President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Ehud Baraq; construction of Israeli settlements in West Bank to be discussed 

Egypt: 

British Foreign Secretary William Hague meets Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Ehud Baraq; leaves for two-day visit to Egypt to meet Foreign Minister Ahmad Ali Abu-al-Ghayt, Arab League Chief Amr Musa

Sudan:

Following up after Sudanese police clashed with Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebels in south Darfur. JEM attacked a convoy of fuel and supplies. But the head of JEM's military operations said police and army troops attacked JEM positions, adding the rebels killed 50 to 70 soldiers.

Sudan: 

UN secretary-general's representative for humanitarian affairs, Valerie Amos, visits (-10

Algeria:

Algeria says it will allow civilians in “insecure areas” of the country to buy weapons to fight against terrorism

Namibia: 

South African President Jacob Zuma attends annual economic bilateral meeting with counterpart Hifikepunye Pohamba in Windhoek 

Southern Cyprus: 

Syrian President Bashar al-Asad begins two-day visit for talks with President Dhimitrios Khristofias, other senior officials

Poland: 

Chairman of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin visits with delegation of over 100 conference members, meets President Bronislaw Komorowski, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Senate Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz and Sejm Speaker Grzegorz Schetyna (-6)

Austria:

Three-day North Africa Oil and Gas Summit concludes

Serbia:

Belgrade court to announce sentences for Ratko Mladic's associates

Croatia: 

Serbian President Boris Tadic lays wreaths in Vukovar and Osijek with counterpart Ivo Josipovic; also meets Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor; Tadic is first Serbian president to visit Vukovar, site of massacre of over 200 Croat civilians by Yugoslav army in 1991

Kosovo: 

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits to meet acting President Jakup Krasniqi, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, Turkish minority representatives; first such visit since Kosovo declared independence in 2008; second and final day

Sweden:

Stockholm’s parliament discuss possible timetable for troop return from Afghanistan. 

France:

Chinese President Hu Jintao begins three-day visit; meets counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy at Elysee Palace today and then in Nice tomorrow; comes as France prepares to take on G20 presidency, one of its priorities being reform of international monetary system at a time when China is accused of deliberately undervaluing yuan

UK:

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen meets British Prime Minister David Cameron.

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