Japan will pledge $20 billion in aid to Southeast Asian countries at a 11-nation summit this weekend as it looks to shore-up ties in a region increasingly dominated by China, reports said Friday.
Though the European Union appears to have lost to Russia in the first round of an East-West tussle over winning friends and influence in eastern Europe, some analysts would disagree.
Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang arrives in Romania on Monday ahead of a summit with 16 Central and Eastern European leaders keen to woo investment from the world's number two economy.
Arab and African leaders are to start a two-day summit in Kuwait on Tuesday to review steps to promote economic ties between wealthy Gulf states and investment-thirsty Africa.
A Commonwealth summit meant to showcase post-war Sri Lanka was to begin in Colombo Friday but faced being upstaged by an historic visit to its northern killing fields by Britain's David Cameron.
France and Germany pushed Friday for Washington to agree rules for the spy game after damaging revelations the United States tapped German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone.
European immigration and a row over US eavesdropping are set to dominate an EU leaders' summit beginning in Brussels, after a deadly shipwreck off Italy shocked the continent.
Many Latin American leaders were no-shows at the opening of the 23rd Ibero-American summit in Panama, revealing the foundering direction of the annual forum.
Australia, New Zealand, the United States, France and the EU on Wednesday stepped up pressure on Russia for a swift agreement to create vast Antarctic marine sanctuaries.
Asia-Pacific leaders opened an annual economic summit on Monday in the shadow of global growth clouds that are darkening by the day as the United States struggles to shake off policy paralysis.
The United States' key strategic partnerships lie to its south, but President Barack Obama failed to mention them in his address to the United Nations.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Wednesday he had scrapped his plan to take part in the UN General Assembly in New York to "protect my life" after purported threats on it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu early Wednesday blasted Iranian President Hassan Rowhani for making what he described as a "cynical speech that was full of hypocrisy" at the UN General Assembly.
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday demanded the UN Security Council take tough action against Syria, as Russia wrangled with the West over how to strip Bashar al-Assad of chemical arms.