What may make the headlines this week

• AIRBUS'S giant A380 super-jumbo should make its first commercial flight on Thursday October 25th. Singapore Airlines will inaugurate a regular service between Changi Airport and Sydney for a huge aircraft that was beset with delays, spiralling development costs and financial controversy. The European firm is still a long way off securing enough orders just to break even. But despite the difficult start the A380 should dominate popular long haul routes for years to come.

• IS THE $100 barrel of oil on the way? In the coming week analysts will, as ever, monitor the oil price, which has been nudging up to around $90, back up to levels last seen in the early 1980s. Tight supply, expectation of a chilly winter in the northern hemisphere, anxiety about more conflict in the Middle East, a weak dollar and hopes that America's economy will avoid recession have all helped push the price up. In addition speculators may be inflating the price. So far the world's economy has endured higher costs well, but there must come a moment when they begin to hurt.

RUSSIA'S president, Vladimir Putin, travels to Mafra in Portugal for an EU-Russia summit on Friday October 26th. Relations between Russia and the West are particularly frosty, with Mr Putin especially irked by Georgia’s ambitions to join NATO and by America’s planned missile-defence system for eastern Europe. Discussion of a energy and trade deal are on the cards. But disputes over Polish meat exports and Mr Putin’s annoyance at new EU rules that might deter Gazprom, the state-controlled gas giant from expanding in Europe may result in deadlock.

• ARGENTINA gets the chance to elect a new president on Sunday October 28th. The incumbent, Néstor Kirchner, promised that he would not run for a second four-year term but voters will find a familiar name on ballot papers. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, his wife and a popular senator, is the candidate of the ruling Peronist party and may well win in the first round of voting. Mrs Kirchner leads the opinion polls, although opponents accuse Mr Kirchner of using his influence to ensure his other half’s victory.