The anti-reunification National Unity Party (UDP) swept to victory in Northern Cyprus in Apr 2009, giving the party's candidate a big edge in the Apr 2010 presidential election -- if it is held. The present reunification talks could result in an election for a federal president to lead both halves of the divided island. Northern Cyprus leader Mehmet Ali Talat can't run again, and the chance that a hardliner could win his job in April is spurring negotiators to conclude a deal in good time.

The 15th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species brings together experts from participating countries to consider proposals for tighter trade controls on Atlantic bluefin tuna, polar bears, sharks, corals and elephant ivory. CITES meets every three years to change trade rules through amendments to the CITES Appendices. Controversially, Monaco wants the large tunas on Appendix 1, the category that prevents all commercial international trade in the species.

A three-month exercise in national opinion-gathering will culminate in a debate called by President Nicolas Sarkozy to establish what makes French people French. Proclaiming the need to redefine France's values, Immigration and National Identity Minister ric Besson unveiled the project in November, arguing that it would allow French people to decide what their collective future should be. A central issue in the debate will be the future in France of the face veil worn by some Muslim women.

The recent approval of the use of non-Latin-character domain names eased one long-standing source of tension in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, but it introduces technical issues that will need to be aired at the Nairobi ICANN meeting. The introduction of the new characters introduces the biggest technical change to ICANN since it was launched 40 years ago. The change comes a month after the United States released sole oversight of ICANN.

Geneva's 80th International Motor Show looks set to go ahead, with a possible boost from a big anniversary year and spillover from the cancellation of the British International Motor Show in 2010. The global economic crisis has slowed car sales, and makers are unwilling to commit to the cost of exhibiting. As in 2009, the news from the 2010 show in Geneva and the many other auto shows around the world is likely to be about the automakers who decided not to exhibit rather than those that did.

SpaceX plans to launch its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Mar 3. A resoundingly successful launch of Falcon 9 threatens the future of NASA's Ares 1 rocket project, but might not silence critics of the private program. An independent advisory panel claims potential commercial crew transportation providers do not meet NASA safety standards for piloted vehicles.

Polish-French composer and pianist Fr d ric Chopin was born on 1 Mar 1810, and plans are under way in Poland for a year of concerts, recitals and conferences marking the bicentennial of his birth. The country's parliament has declared 2010 the Year of Fryderyk Chopin. A Chopin Centre and renovated Chopin Museum will be inaugurated to honor the great Romantic composer, whose work is regarded as a Polish cultural treasure.

The third Indian Ocean Naval Symposium comes at a time when regional super-powers India and China are vying for more presence in an area stretching from Gulf of Aden to the Malacca Straits. The meeting is a cornerstone of the Indian Navy's aim to increase its influence in the region. Twenty-six littoral countries of the Indian Ocean comprise this pan-Asian maritime security forum. The meeting could upset the Arab world: Pakistan argues that IONS is grouped against the Islamic world.

The trial of Radovan Karadzic at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia resumes in March. The former Bosnian Serb leader boycotted the trial when it started in September, and the tribunal has appointed an attorney to represent him should he boycott the resumption of the case. Karadzic faces 11 counts of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity from the 1992-95 war in Bosnia-Herzigovina when he was president of a breakaway Serb republic. He faces life in prison if convicted.

A settlement of one of the largest class-action lawsuit ever filed against the United States government would compensate some 300,000 Native Americans for billions of dollars in royalties owed to them over the last century for oil, mineral and grazing rights on tribal lands. But time is running out. The settlement of the 13-year suit will have to be renegotiated if Congress does not approve it by the end of February, according to Legal Times.