An aide to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned home from a trip to North Korea on Saturday but declined to shed any light on the reason for his mysterious visit.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's tough exterior cracked Wednesday as she choked back tears while introducing a bill into parliament on disability reforms.
Silvio Berlusconi affirmed over the weekend his centre-right movement's loyalty to the grand coalition government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta at a rally in a northern city which attracted noisy support and dissent.
Italy's new Prime Minister Enrico Letta was set to unveil his coalition government's programme on Monday, under the watchful gaze of international markets and European partners.
Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the "Iron Lady" who shaped a generation of British politics, died following a stroke on Monday at the age of 87.
Tamam Salam of the Western-backed opposition is to be named Lebanon's prime minister Saturday, two weeks after Najib Mikati resigned and effectively brought down his Hezbollah-dominated government.
Syria's opposition coalition meets in Istanbul on Monday to select their first rebel prime minister, tasked with running daily life in large swathes of territory freed from regime control but mired in chaos and poverty.
China's parliament installed bureaucrat Li Keqiang as premier Friday, putting him in charge of running the world's second-largest economy in a final step of a landmark power transition.
A highly-educated woman who becomes a stay-at-home mum is a "complete waste" of a university degree, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, herself a mother-of-two, lashed out in a British newspaper interview last year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has banned settler housing tenders being issued for the West Bank and east Jerusalem when US President Barack Obama visits this month.
Japan's prime minister on Thursday quoted comments by former British premier Margaret Thatcher about the Falklands War as he spoke about Tokyo's acrimonious islands dispute with China.
US President Barack Obama on Friday pledged with Japan's new leader to take a firm line on a defiant North Korea but the two sides also tried to calm rising tensions between Tokyo and China.
Japan's new premier Shinzo Abe will meet US President Barack Obama this week for the first time since taking power, seeking to breathe new life into a key alliance at a time of heightened tensions across Asia.