The week ahead

tauringhuang.

Sep 7th 2008
From Economist.com

Another attempt by Nicolas Sarkozy, the EU president, to resolve the stand-off with Russia

Reuters
• THE French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is scheduled to travel to Russia on Monday September 8th, in his latest attempt to push for a resolution to the stand-off in Georgia, where Russian forces remain. Mr Sarkozy, who holds the presidency of the European Union, is trying to get Russia to comply with a peace plan that he promoted in August. Russia's newly aggressive foreign policy is causing concern in Ukraine, too, where political infighting also threatens government instability. On Tuesday a summit between the EU and Ukraine is scheduled to take place.

For background, see article

• THE 13 members of OPEC, the oil-producers' cartel, gather on Tuesday September 9th to discuss whether to lower targets for their collective output. The price of a barrel of oil has slumped since a record of $147 in July and some analysts think that it could drop below $100 a barrel in the coming week, as demand slows in America and Europe and as Saudi Arabia pumps oil at a rate not seen since the early 1980s.

For background, see article

• WILL the world come to an end on Wednesday September 10th? On that day scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) are expected to begin an experiment to simulate conditions that were thought to exist moments after the “Big Bang”, which scientists believe created the universe 15 billion years ago. They will eventually send beams in different directions around a huge, circular, “collider” pipe. The collision may not happen until later this year.

For background, see article

• IF THE world still exists on Thursday September 11th, the two men vying to be the next president of America will speak at a summit in New York, marking the seventh anniversary of the al-Qaeda attacks on the city (and on Washington, DC). It is billed as a non-partisan event, but with a tight electoral race under way both Barack Obama and John McCain need to sound tough on the subject of how to tackle terrorism.

For background, see article

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