Rediff.com takes a look at some personalities who are likely to win the prize this year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has high hopes from the VibrantGujarat Summit.
Israeli troops backed by tanks and drones on Thursday continued to pound Gaza in its operation against Hamas, defying mounting calls for restraint and a United Nations vote to investigate the deadly offensive that has killed 720 Palestinians and 34 Israelis.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday warned America and its allies against one-sided intervention in Syria, even as US said it not only risks losing friends but also credibility at the world stage if no military action is taken against the Bashar al-Assad regime.
India, China and other countries that have been cutting their oil imports from Iran have reached a point where it is "very very difficult" to reduce any further without seriously impacting their economies, US Secretary of State John Kerry has told lawmakers.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 10 images.
The United States has said it is focused on moving forward its relationship with India and asserted that the legal procedure against diplomat Devyani Khobragade is separate from the diplomatic process.
President Barack Obama has authorised deployment of less than 50 special operations forces in northern Syria to counter the IS, a senior official in Washington said on Friday, expanding the US' involvement in the fight against the dreaded group from the air to the ground.
Narendra Modi and Barack Obama will ponder over ties twice over, says Nayanima Basu
All the action from around the world last week, in case you missed it.
The United States has said it has no problem with India's engagement with Russia, but cautioned that it was not the right time to have trade deals with Moscow because of a series of international sanctions against it.
The White House said that Obama, who has been often accused by critics of making an "apology tour" to the Middle East and Europe during the first year of his presidency.
The two sides are also expected to explore ways to deepen defence collaboration, including exercises, defence transfers and technologies ahead of the next edition of the 2+2 defence and foreign ministerial dialogue to be held in the US later this year, they said.
Richard Rahul Verma, the first Indian American to serve as US Ambassador to New delhi, quips that surviving the first month in India is his first goal.
For the last 40 years, Modi fasts during Navratras devoted to Ma Amba. He drinks lukewarm water and sometime he eats a fruit a day.
Propelled to the position of the Secretary of State to "undo" years of American foreign policy "blunders and disasters", ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson now faces the biggest challenge of his life to translate his business acumen to international diplomacy.
Here's a collection of some of the best photos from around the world shot in the last 24 hours.
'Trump's new discovery is that Pakistan and its army are virtually god's gift to mankind.' 'They are required to facilitate a relatively orderly American exit from Afghanistan,' points out Ambassador G Parthasarathy, who served as India's high commissioner to Pakistan.
Aziz Haniffa reports from Washignton, DC, on Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh's three-day visit to the US capital.
The National Association of Manufacturers is launching digital and print advertisements in New York and Washington, in major publications like POLITICO, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Financial Times, Roll Call and The Hill.
Almost every country in the world just signed on to the #ParisAgreement on climate change
Fresh from his maiden trip to Afghanistan, Democratic Congressman Ami Bera, the only Indian-American lawmaker in the Congress, has said that India has a very critical role to play in peace and development in the war-torn country.
The United States and Cuba have announced that they have formally re-established diplomatic relations after 54-year freeze and would reopen embassies in their respective capitals from July 20, a major step towards normalisation of ties between the Cold War foes.
'The threat that India faces and the threat the United States faces is not just to the homeland, but to our people and to our institutions wherever they may be.' In an exclusive conversation with Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com, US Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Desai Biswal outlines the importance of Prime Minister Modi's visit for America.
India wants good relations with Pakistan but the neighbouring country must stop terror activities directed against it as talks will get subdued under the din of bomb blasts, Sushma Swaraj said after taking charge as External Affairs Minister on Wednesday.
'What's sad today is that there are so many people who cannot find work, not because the country is devoid of that opportunity, but because we are not doing enough in the country.'
European governments have stepped up diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine, encouraged by Russian President Vladimir Putin's assurance that his country has no intention to annexe the Crimean peninsula or to wage a war against its neighbour.
Blinken and Indian leaders on Wednesday will discuss a plethora of pressing issues such as the fluid situation in Afghanistan, regional security concerns, COVID-19 response and ways to boost Indo-Pacific engagement, people familiar with the agenda of talks said.
In a major breakthrough, the United Nations Security Council on Saturday voted unanimously on a resolution to destroy Syria's chemicals weapons stockpile and warned of strong action in case of non-compliance by Damascus.
Rebuffed by the Obama administration on its effort to seek US intervention on Kashmir, Pakistan has said that it has never made such a "demand" and just presented its wish list to Americans on the issue.
President Barack Obama has said that the United States will reduce its troops to 9,800 in Afghanistan by the end of this year before a complete withdrawal takes place by the end of 2016.
In a rare move that might end the chronic impasse between arch-enemies the United States and Iran, President Barack Obama could meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Massive Israeli shelling killed at least 50 people in the Hamas-ruled Gaza following the collapse of a 72-hour ceasefire shortly after it began on Friday, while two of its soldiers were killed and another was abducted by Palestinian militant groups.
Still, the failure of the agreement should signal a move away from monolithic single undertaking agreements that have defined the body for decades.
Main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief Khaleda Zia on Monday rejected her arch-rival Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's proposal for an all-party government to oversee Bangladesh's upcoming election and floated a formula for creating a neutral poll-time regime.
US Ambassador Richard Verma said there was a need to strengthen democracy in Pakistan while putting pressure on the country to tackle terrorism and bring to book perpetrators of terror attacks.
Did Prime Minister Modi receive a different kind of reception at the Biden White House on Friday than he has has been used to at the American president's home?
With Hamid Karzai stonewalling every US effort to conclude a bilateral security agreement, the Obama Administration is pinning its hopes on India to persuade the Afghan President to sign the deal and end the current political imbroglio on the issue.
With India, the last round of talks took place in February 2011.
A round-up of our favourite photographs from the week gone by.