It's Monday, which means it is time to take a look at the week ahead. For their educated guesses as to what is on the agenda for the week is James Surowiecki, The Balance Sheet writer for The New Yorker, and Marcus Mabry, international business editor for the New York Times.

What's on this week's agenda?

Monday: GM chief expected to step down

• The chairman and chief executive of General Motors Corp. of eight years, Rick Wagoner, is resigning.
• Wagoner's unexpected move is part of an agreement made by GM with the Obama administration.
• We'll learn more about the strings of President Obama's auto bailout plan in a speech by the president Monday morning.
• More: G.M. Chief Is Said to Be Resigning in Deal With U.S. (The New York Times)
• More: GM chairman to leave US car maker (BBC)

Monday: President Obama's auto team is expected to offer aid to GM and Chrysler

• The president's task force on the auto industry is expected to back increasing short-term aid to General Motors and Chrysler in return for concessions that would help the companies survive the economic downturn.
• More: With a Busy Agenda, Obama Turns to Auto Bailout Plan (The New York Times)
• More: Auto Task Force Set to Back More Loans -- With Strings (The Wall Street Journal)

Tuesday: Election Tuesday symbolizes judgment on president

• Tuesday's election for the successor to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., pits Republican Jim Tedisco against Democrat Scott Murphy who has the backing of President Obama
• Leaders say the selection will be a judgment on the president, stimulus plan and strength of the political parties
• More: NY House race seen as first test of Obama's power (The Associated Press)

Tuesday–Thursday: President Obama and the First Lady begin their first overseas tour

• Mr. Obama will meet with Chinese leader Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, British Queen Elizabeth II, and heads of state from Saudi Arabia, India and South Korea.
• President Obama will seek support for his new Afghanistan-Pakistan plan from European nations and deal with the issue of Iranian nuclear ambitions. • The president will also seek to maintain Chinese support for purchasing U.S. government debt and ease tensions with Russia over energy and missile defense.
• He will also be seeking help to enlist Iran in the U.S. effort to stabilize Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• President Obama will be attending the G-20 summit, as well as a 60th anniversary summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and a European Union-U.S. summit.
•More: Regulation Goals Replace Stimulus Push (Wall Street Journal)
• More: Barack Obama: 'Every decision we're making counts' (The Telegraph)

The Red River in Fargo, North Dakota broke a 112-year-old record last Friday morning when it rose past 40.33 feet — the highest level ever measured. Across the river the situation isn't much better officials in Moorhead, Minnesota have asked approximately one-third of the households in the city to evacuate for fear of the river rising.

Joining The Takeaway are residents dealing with the situation on the ground. Dick Bailly lives in Fargo and his home may soon be flooded as the water fills up her back yard. Sarah Mayo, a junior at North Dakota University, is one of the army of volunteers helping put down sandbags. Also joining the conversation is Courtney Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross.

One Fargo resident made this photo slide show documenting the North Dakota flooding.

Last week, the U.S. lost a seminal historian of the African-American experience when John Hope Franklin passed away. His books, includingFrom Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans, Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin, and Reconstruction after the Civil War (The Chicago History of American Civilization), have sold millions of copies and have been required reading at colleges and universities for decades. The Takeaway talks to contributor and Senior Editor at Essence Magazine, Patrik Henry Bass, about John Hope Franklin's life, work and legacy.

The National Visionary Leadership Project has several interviews with John Hope Franklin available on Youtube. Here he is speaking about the importance of history:

Today is the first day of the long-awaited first trial at Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal. The man best known as Comrade Duch faces charges of crimes against humanity for his role in the torture and murder of thousands of people. The BBC's Guy De Launey is follow the story in Phnom Pehn and he joins The Takeaway with an update.

For a brief overview of the history of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and the travesties leading up to the tribunal, watch the video below.

In a statement last Friday, the Obama administration said that there will a significant increase in U.S. and international support to Pakistan and Afghanistan, both for economic development and for defense against al Qaida. Adding to the 17,000 troops ordered to deploy last month to Afghanistan, 4,000 are now scheduled to train the Afghan security forces. Meanwhile, the President has authorized $1.5 billion a year in direct support to the Pakistani people over the next five years.

Joining The Takeaway to answer whether or not this is will be effective is Craig Mullaney. He is a West Point grad, a Rhodes Scholar, and was a captain in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan and national security advisor to the Obama campaign. He also wrote about his experience in the memoir Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education.

Here is Craig Mullaney speaking with Wired's Danger Room:

The Obama administration unveils its restructuring plan for the troubled auto industry today, and in a surprise move, GM's Chief Executive Rick Wagoner will be stepping down, too. For an analysis, The Takeaway talks with New York Times Senior Business Correspondent Micheline Maynard in Detroit and Sheryl Gay Stolberg who is covering the story from D.C.

For more, read Sheryl Gay Stolberg's article, U.S. Moves to Overhaul Ailing Carmakers and Micheline Maynard's profile of Wagoner, The Steady Optimist Who Oversaw G.M.’s Decline, both in the New York Times.

A rift is growing between the FBI and the leaders of prominent Muslim-American groups over allegations that the feds tried to infiltrate a mosque in Irvine, California using a paid informant. Now, several Muslim groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), one of the largest Muslim American civil rights organizations, are threatening to cut off ties with the FBI over the use of what they call "McCarthy-era tactics." It's unclear how much damage the current rift may cause to the relationship formed by the FBI and Muslim groups in the wake of the September 11th attacks. The Takeaway talks to Alexandra Marks, a senior writer with the Christian Science Monitor, who has been following this story.

For more, read Alexandra Marks article, FBI and American Muslims at odds, in the Christian Science Monitor.

This past weekend, the richest horse-race in the world was run. It was the 14th Dubai World Cup and the prize money was worth six million dollars. (A Kentucky horse named Well Armed won the race. Whoot!) But despite the opulent horse race, and the showiness of Dubai's gleaming and booming economy in recent years, the country is showing signs of vulnerability to the global economic downturn. For more we turn to the BBC Persian Gulf correspondent, Julia Wheelerin, who is in Dubai.

Watch the start of the race and meet the horses and riders:

Dozens of people are dead in Lahore, Pakistan this morning after gunmen attacked a police training center. Pakistani troops have now taken control of the academy after gunmen seized a number of hostages. For more on this disturbing situation, we talk to BBC Correspondent Jill McGivering in Lahore.

The G-20, a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from around the world, is set to meet this week in London to tackle the global financial crisis. Dan Price, the White House official responsible for the preparation of the G-20 summit in Washington last November, joins The Takeaway from London to talk about why this G-20 is so important for the U.S.

Later today President Obama is set to unveil his new plan to revive the flailing U.S. auto industry. As part of the administration's strategy, GM CEO Rick Wagoner was asked to step down. What does his departure mean for GM workers? For GM's employees and unions this question weighs heavily on their minds. We are joined now by Will Marcum, a UAW autoworker in Detroit, who has been grappling with the ousting of his CEO.