The coming days
The week ahead
Six big powers meet Iran to discuss its contentious nuclear programme
• EFFORTS to curtail Iran’s nuclear programme will gather pace in Geneva on Thursday October 1st. The six countries negotiating with Iran—America, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany—want Iran to come clean about its nuclear ambitions and to cease enriching uranium, which could be used to construct an atomic bomb. The last such talks, in 2008, broke down after Iran refused to admit that enrichment was going on. This time America has threatened “crippling sanctions” if talks collapse. Russia, usually indulgent of Iran, may be willing to support sanctions, especially after revelations that Iran has been secretly building a new enrichment plant.
• ADMIRERS of martial power will enjoy a celebration to mark the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China. The centrepiece of the festivities will be a huge military parade through Beijing on Thursday October 1st. Phalanxes of tanks, massed formations of missile carriers and other more specialised items of deadly hardware will rumble past a podium packed with China’s leaders, reminding everyone that the demise of communism elsewhere in the world has made this sort of spectacle much less common.
• AFTER rejecting it in a referendum in June last year, Irish will get another chance to vote on the Lisbon treaty on Friday October 2nd. The treaty is supposed to allow the working of the European Union to be streamlined; it would also create new roles of European president and foreign minister. Poland and the Czech Republic, yet to ratify the treaty, have said they will do so if Ireland votes in favour.
• THE International Olympic Committee votes in Copenhagen on Friday October 2nd to determine which city will play host foor the 2016 games. Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo are all in the running for the summer games. Rio is reckoned by many to be the leading contender in a tight field. It may have the support of many developing countries (as well as France) and the games have never before been held in South America.
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