HUNK-A-BURNIN’ LOVE

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi—big-time Elvis fan and foreign-affairs sex symbol—is scheduled to visit Graceland, the Elvis Presley estate in Memphis, TN, on June 30, as a part of his farewell tour. The rock star politician steps down in September, a development that has Japan, well, all shook up.

THE RISE OF DUNG

Vietnam’s Communist Party is expected to replace the nation’s aging prime minister with a 56-year-old whippersnapper named, Nguyen Tan Dung. That’s Dung, as in “Dzung” or “Yung.” And please don’t make fun of the man’s currency (the dong) either.

AVE GLORIA

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines has just signed a law abolishing the death penalty, a move sure to please Pope Benedict XVI, whose, er, ring she will kiss during this week’s visit to the Vatican. As Asia’s most Catholic nation, the Philippines may produce the first pope from the developing world.

WHEN CHINA MET AFRICA

It’s no secret that the love affair between China and Africa is well lubricated. Beijing is now getting 15 percent of its oil from Angola and Sudan. Steamy relations continued recently with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s “fruitful” rendezvous with Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni. The couple will reportedly have their baby in Nambia.