WORLD AGENDA APRIL 2006

April, New York: Construction work is scheduled to begin on the city's Freedom Tower, the 1,776ft-tall (540m), 72-storey skyscraper that will be the first new building on the World Trade Center site since the twin towers were destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

April: Tens of thousands of runners will be under starterÕs orders as three of the worldÕs major marathons take to the streets for their gruelling annual showdown in Paris (April 9), Boston (April 17) and London (April 23).

April 6, Rabat: Nato will hold its first ever summit in a Muslim country when the allianceÕs 26 ambassadors meet in the Moroccan capital for talks on closer cooperation with the ÒMediterranean dialogue" states of Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

April 6, Kathmandu: A four-day general strike, organised by an alliance of major political parties, is due to be held across Nepal in a bid to force King Gyanendra to restore democracy to the Himalayan state where he seized power in February 2005.

April 7: Events will be held around the globe to mark World Health Day 2006, which this year focuses on the chronic worldwide shortage of healthcare workers, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

April 7, EU: From today any resident or organisation in the European Union can register a website or email address ending in .eu, following the launch of the internet domain name suffix by the EU last December.

April 9, Italy: A general election will see billionaire media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi struggling to retain the premiership against a stiff challenge from centre-left opposition leader Romano Prodi, ex-president of the European Commission.

April 9, Peru: More than 20 candidates are contesting presidential elections, where outgoing president Alejandro Toledo is so unpopular that his party is not fielding a candidate. Frontrunners include a woman lawyer, Lourdes Flores, and Ollanta Humala, an ex-army officer who led a failed military rebellion in 2000.

April 13, Hangzhou: China hosts its first international conference on Buddhism since 1949, as part of President Hu Jintao's campaign to display religious tolerance. The forum is expected to attract about 1,000 monks and experts on Buddhism, the countryÕs most popular religion and one that was crushed during MaoÕs cultural revolution.

April 21, London: Queen Elizabeth II, head of state in Britain and 15 other Commonwealth realms, celebrates her 80th birthday with a family dinner hosted by the Prince of Wales. A series of public events from now until her official birthday, on June 17, is also planned.

April 28, Baghdad: Iraq reaches the first anniversary of the formation of its first elected government in 50 years amid political disarray and increasing bloodshed, with ex-prime minister Ayad Allawi declaring last month that the country was in the grip of civil war.

April 30, Geneva: Poor nations seeking access to EuropeÕs heavily protected markets will be watching nervously as the 149-member World Trade Organisation reaches its deadline for agreeing a free trade deal. The talks, which began in Doha in 2001, have been deadlocked on the key issues of agriculture and industrial tariffs.

Parliamentary elections: Thailand (April 2); Hungary (April 9 and 22); Laos (April 30); Presidential elections: Comoros (April 16)
/ENDS