A big part of Mr Obama’s “pivot to Asia” was a promise to join the East Asia Summit every year. Chaired and hosted by a rotating cast of South-East Asian leaders, the summit gives the region’s politicians an opportunity to set the agenda and tell the American president what they think of his policies.

Skygazers on the tip of South America were treated Wednesday to a spectacular "ring of fire" solar eclipse that was visible from Chile's Easter Island before heading to mainland Patagonia.