Former Taiwanese vice-president Vincent Siew Wan-chang meets President Xi Jinping today on the sidelines of the 2013 Boao Forum for Asia. The meeting will offer clues as to how Taipei and Beijing can strengthen mutual trust and increase mutual economic benefits. Siew leads a high-powered delegation to Boao for the three-day regional forum, which has become an important platform for cross-strait policy dialogue over the years.

US Secretary of State John Kerry heads to Israel and the Palestinian Territories in a fresh effort to unlock long-stalled peace talks. Though expectations are low for any breakthrough on Kerry's trip, his diplomacy represents some of the Barack Obama administration's most sustained efforts for ending more than six decades of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Kerry is likely to seek confidence-building measures between the two sides, with negotiators and observers seeing little chance for immediate progress on the big obstacles towards a two-state peace agreement.

Jacob Lew is heading to Europe, a region fraught with risks to the world economy, after making China his first overseas destination as US treasury secretary last month in a nod to the strongest engine of global growth. Lew arrives today for a two-day visit to meet European Central Bank president Mario Draghi in Frankfurt, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in Berlin, French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici in Paris and European Union officials in Brussels.

The two Manchester soccer giants meet in a game still vital to both sides, even though United are 15 points clear of second-placed City, whose manager, Roberto Mancini, has conceded his side's reign as champions is all but over. United will be looking to move closer to confirming their title triumph and City are desperate to inflict a bloody nose on their bitter rivals.