LEADERS from south-east and east Asia converge on Hanoi on Monday 25th for a combined meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the East Asia Summit. Things that ought to be under discussion, but probably will not be, include how to avoid competitive currency devaluations and how to deal with having a superpower with a tendency to overreact next door.

MOSCOW’S new mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, holds his administration’s first official meeting on Tuesday 26th. His appointment looks like an extention of Vladimir Putin’s power. Most pundits expect that he will be rather drab compared with his predecessor, Yuri Luzhkov.

THE European Union holds a meeting of heads of state and government in Brussels on Thursday 28th October. Much of the talk will be about mechanisms for reprimanding spendthrift governments. Some heads of government, already nostalgic for the fun of getting the Lisbon treaty ratified, are keen to kick off a discussion on yet another treaty.