February 19 preview

MOSCOW

* The State Duma will host parliamentary hearings to discuss causes and consequences of Afghani drug trafficking for Russia and legislative measures to defend society from the drug threat (10.00 a.m., ul. Okhotny Ryad, 1, tel. (495) 692-80-00, 692-79-33)

* RIA Novosti (Zubovsky Bulvar, 4, tel. (495) 637-50-19, 645-64-72) will host:

- A TV link between Moscow and Beijing, The Year of Russian Language in China (10.00 a.m.);

- A news conference by the Somali ambassador to Russia, Mohamed Handule (12.30 p.m.);

* A roundtable with the participation of Russian Central Election Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov, "Perspectives of electronic vote in Russia" (4.30 p.m., ul. Lva Tolstogo, 18B, tel. (495) 606-70-76)

* A news conference by Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov and lawmakers from the parliamentary faction on the party's anti-crisis and military reform proposals (ul. 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya, 2, tel. 250-88-32)

* A civil aviation forum will be held (10.00 a.m., Renaissance hotel, Olimpiysky Prospekt, 18/1, tel. 7 (964) 500-25-24, 7 (495) 626-53-29)

* A briefing on signing a cooperation agreement between Russia's state-run nanotechnology corporation and the Russian consumer rights regulator, Rospotrebnadzor (7.00 p.m., ul. Nametkina, 12A)

* Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev will make a speech (10.00 a.m., Leningradsky Prospekt, 17, tel. 250-34-52)

ST. PETERSBURG

* Vladimir Kolobkov, the Russian captain of the Faina vessel seized by Somalian pirates, will be buried

BISHKEK

* The Kyrgyz parliament is set to discuss the termination of a deal that allows the United States to use the country's Manas airbase

CHISINAU - Moldova's supreme court of appeals will hear the murder case of Russian NTV journalist Ilya Zimin, killed in Moscow in 2006

VIENNA

* The winter session of the OSCE parliamentary assembly will begin (until February 20)

CANADA

* U.S. President Barack Obama will pay a visit

KRAKOW, Poland

* NATO defense ministers will meet (until February 20)

ROME

* Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlisconi will meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown

BRUSSELS

* EU energy ministers will meet

PARIS

* Angel Gurria, secretary general of the OECD, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will open the OECD Global Forum on Competition and hold a news briefing on competition policy and the economic crisis

STRASBOURG

* Czech President Vaclav Klaus will pay a visit

CAIRO

* An international conference on protecting children's rights and preventing their exploitation

BAGHDAD

* Muntazer al-Zaidi, a correspondent for the Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV channel, who threw his shoes at then-U.S. President George Bush during a news conference in Baghdad, will go on trial

BERLIN

* Opening of MotorWelt 2009 car exhibition (until February 22)

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