The coming days

The week ahead

Barack Obama's first state-of-the-union-address

• A BRUISED Barack Obama is set to deliver his first state-of-the-union address on Wednesday January 27th. A recent defeat of the Democratic candidate for the Massachusetts Senate seat once held by Edward Kennedy has given the Republicans enough votes to break the Democrats’ filibuster-proof majority in the upper house. This puts Mr Obama's precious health-care reform bill in doubt. So Mr Obama will need to deploy plenty of his customary eloquence to convince Americans that he can still deliver “change you can believe in” after the knocks of his first year in office.

• SRI LANKA’S president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, will seek to capitalise on his military victory against the Tamil Tigers at a presidential poll called nearly two years earlier than it need have been. On Tuesday January 26th Sri Lankans face a choice between Mr Rajapaksa, who launched the final bloody phase of the war in 2009, and Sarath Fonseka, a general who led the army that waged it. Both candidates are Sinhalese nationalists; neither seems keen on national reconciliation. But with the Sinhalese vote apparently closely split between Mr Rajapaksa and Mr Fonseka, Tamils, who constitute only 12% of the population, may have the deciding say.

• AFTER months of rumours and mounting excitement (from techies, at least) Apple is likely to unveil its latest gizmo on Wednesday January 27th. The name of the company’s latest device, a tablet computer with a touch screen probably resembling an enlarged iPhone, is still unclear, although iTablet and iSlate are favourites. Its functions are also a mystery though it is sure to allow users to see digital versions of books and newspapers and may include an internet connection enabling video and audio content to accompany the words. Music, films and the possibility that the gadget will allow the viewing of streamed TV and possible use as a games console should ensure Apple’s continued success as a technological innovator.

• FOREIGN ministers and representatives of international organisations will congregate in London on Thursday January 28th to dicuss the future of Afghanistan. The gathering, hosted by David Miliband, Britain’s foreign secretary, and his Afghan opposite number, will concentrate on security in Afghanistan and plans to tackle endemic corruption. More foreign troops may be on offer and rich countries could agree to pay for a new Afghan reconciliation scheme to persuade more Taliban fighters to give up arms. The conference may also attempt to thrash out a timetable for handing over security to local forces. Much depends on whether Hamid Karzai, the president, has a credible plan for governing the country better. A follow-up conference may take place in Kabul, the Afghan capital, in the spring.

• TICKETS to see Britain’s former prime minister, Tony Blair, give testimony to an independent inquiry into the invasion of Iraq in 2003, were snapped up instantly after it was announced that he would appear. Mr Blair will give his testimony on Friday January 29th. Questions are sure to centre on claims that he had already decided to join the invasion of Iraq even before the compilation by his advisers of a “dodgy dossier”. This suggested that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction at the ready, although none were subsequently found. Mr Blair’s critics say that he was intent on regime change in Iraq no matter what. He has also recently argued that the threat posed by Saddam Hussein ran far wider than just his apparent ability to deploy weapons of mass destruction.