The week ahead

What may make the headlines

• REPRESENTATIVES from 190 countries will converge at Bali in Indonesia on Monday December 3rd for a UN-backed climate-change summit. The aim of the get-together is to launch talks about a new mechanism to cut greenhouse-gas emissions that will succeed the Kyoto protocol. The UN hope that a series of reports it has produced listing the potentially devastating effects of climate change will put pressure on countries to strike a deal by 2009 and convince China and America, Kyoto nay-sayers, to join the fight against global warming.

• OPEC leaders meet in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday December 5th to ponder their reaction to the high price of oil and the weakness of the dollar. The cartel has already allowed production quotas to rise after a meeting in September, adding 500,000 barrels a day to world supply on November 1st. So, despite oil prices at around $95 a barrel and widespread speculation that OPEC will pump more oil onto world markets another increase in output is far from certain.

• THE end of the working week brings big economic news. On Thursday December 6th it is time for the Bank of England and the European Central Bank to decide whether or not to cut interest rates. The betting, in both cases, is that rates will be left on hold. The next day, America's monthly employment report will reveal how much the credit crunch and renewed weakness in America’s housing market are hurting jobs there. Analysts expect the report to show a further increase in unemployment in November and possible job losses in industries tied to consumer spending. A rate cut is more likely in America, the following week.

• A SUMMIT meeting between African and European Union leaders begins on Saturday December 8th. It runs the risk of being overshadowed by the diplomatic wrangling between Britain and Zimbabwe that dominated the run-up to the event. Britain’s prime minister, Gordon Brown, refuses to attend because President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has said that he is coming. African leaders threatened to boycott the event if Mr Mugabe was barred. Other EU countries, troubled by the prospect of sitting down with the man responsible for Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown, may also downgrade their representation.