WORLD AGENDA APRIL 2014

April 5, Kabul: The third presidential poll since Taliban rule ended is expected to lead to Afghanistan's first-ever peaceful democratic transfer of power. Abdullah Abdullah is the frontrunner to take over from Hamid Karzai, who is constitutionally barred from standing again.

April 7, Kigali: Rwanda's unprecedented experiment in reconciliation comes under the spotlight on the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, when Hutus slaughtered 800,000 mainly ethnic Tutsis in 100 days. The process sees survivors accepting those who murdered their families back as neighbours.

April 7, New Delhi: The largest election the world has seen takes place when India goes to the polls with 814 million eligible voters. It pits Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party against the unpopular Nehru-Gandhi family’s ruling Congress party, and other smaller parties. Counting starts on May 16.

April 17, Algiers: President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 77, seeks a fourth term in elections despite suffering a stroke last year. He has rarely been seen in public since but with National Liberation Front and army backing, is almost assured another five years.

April 17 and 23, United States: R&B singer Chris Brown appears in court twice, in Washington for assault, and in Los Angeles on a probation violation hearing. In 2009, he was sentenced to five years probation for assaulting his then girlfriend, the singer Rihanna.

April 21, Boston: More than 3,500 police will line the route of the Boston Marathon, double the number deployed last year when two bomb blasts near the finish line killed three people and injured over 260.

April 27, Rome: Pope Francis canonises two of his predecessors. John Paul II (pictured right), seen as conservative, and John XXIII, who convened the reforming Second Vatican Council in 1962, are both to be made saints in a public ceremony expected to draw millions of pilgrims.

April 29, Jerusalem: The deadline for the current round of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians expires with little hope that either will agree to a framework document proposed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry which seeks to achieve consensus on core issues. Negotiations over sharing the Holy Land and creating an independent Palestine have been held on and off for 20 years.

April 30, Baghdad: Religious and secular leaders battle to define post-occupation Iraq in a general election, the first national poll since the departure of U.S. forces. Majority Shias want marriage for girls aged nine and to restrict women's rights in parenting, divorce and inheritance.

April (undated), Kiev: East-West tensions remain under the spotlight following Russia's annexation of Crimea and the EU's support for Ukraine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says annual German-Russian consultations due in Leipzig may be cancelled, while Nato says cooperation is "under review".

April (undated), Bangui: Aid groups warn the humanitarian crisis in the Central African Republic may worsen with the onset of the rainy season and farmers unable to plant crops. Atrocities, including cannibalism and the decapitation of children, are rife between Christians and Muslims.

April (undated), San Francisco: Construction begins on a new railway amid calls for a rare albino redwood to be saved. The 15.8-metre high tree, one of 10 known to exist, is slated to be chopped down to make way for the line.
/ENDS