The coming news

The week ahead

The primary race continues in Texas and Ohio, along with other news

• TECHIES and petrolheads in Europe get a glimpse of the future. On Monday March 3rd CeBit, the world’s largest computer fair, opens in Hanover. As a measure of its importance, Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, will be joined by the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the European Union, José Manuel Barroso, at the opening ceremony. Three days later the world’s car companies display their newest models at the Geneva Motor Show. This year, as last, car companies will proudly proclaim the green credentials of their cars.

• VOTERS in Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont head to the polls on Tuesday March 4th in what might be the last big event of the primary-election season. Barack Obama will probably seal the Democratic nomination if he wins Ohio and Texas by the wide margin of victories he's been chalking up recently; things will become a little more complicated if Hillary Clinton scores a narrow victory, or is a close second behind Mr Obama, in one or both of those delegate-rich states.

• ON WEDNESDAY March 5th a full session of the National People's Congress—in effect China's parliament—gets underway in Beijing, the capital. Although the congress serves mostly as a rubber-stamp for decisions made by the government, the annual gathering, attended by nearly 3,000 deputies, is a chance to assess what problems concern lawmakers. A new law to crack down on water polluters may prove particularly controversial.

• SPANISH voters go to the polls on Sunday March 9th in what promises to be a closely fought general election. The Socialist party of Spain’s prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has a narrow lead in the polls over its People’s Party (PP) opponents, lead by Mariano Rajoy. Both candidates are promising big tax cuts to counter Spain’s slowing economy. But voters are also concerned by immigration and the terrorist threat from ETA.