Politics this week
Oct 2nd 2008From The Economist print edition
AP
Frantic negotiations took place after congressmen unexpectedly voted against the federal government’s $700 billion bail-out of America’s banking system. As markets around the world spun into a free fall after the vote (the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted by 777 points, its largest-ever such drop over a day), proponents of the bill in America and Europe urged Congress to pass the legislation in order to avoid financial catastrophe. Passage looked more likely after the Senate voted for the bill on October 1st. See article
The crisis boosted Barack Obama, who opened up a large lead over John McCain in national polls. He also vaulted over his rival in vital swing states, such as Florida. See article
Meanwhile, more states, including Ohio, began the process of early voting in the presidential election. Around a third of the electorate is expected to cast its vote before election day on November 4th.
Michael Bloomberg was poised to launch a bid for a third term as mayor of New York. To do so he will need to get a city law changed that limits mayors to two terms.
California became the first American state to require restaurants to display the calorie count of each item on the menu, starting in 2011.
Manto takes a hike
South Africa’s new president, Kgalema Motlanthe, who is likely to serve only until the middle of next year, reappointed Trevor Manuel as finance minister. But he replaced the controversial health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who questioned the link between HIV and AIDS, with Barbara Hogan, who strenuously opposed such views when they were also espoused by the recently ousted president, Thabo Mbeki. See article
More than two weeks after they signed an agreement to form a government of national unity in Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change were in deadlock over the allocation of ministries. The MDC called for Mr Mbeki, who is still the official mediator for Zimbabwe, to help resolve the issue.
Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden captured a Ukrainian ship with 33 Soviet-era tanks on board, then demanded a ransom of $20m. More than 60 ships have been hijacked by pirates in the area this year. See article
AFP
A car-bomb attack on the edge of Syria’s capital, Damascus, which killed 17 civilians, was followed two days later by a bomb in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, which killed five soldiers. Though details were murky, both were widely surmised to be the work of Sunni Arab jihadists opposed to the governments in both countries. See article
The Iraqi government took responsibility from the Americans for paying and controlling some 54,000 mainly Sunni guards stationed in Baghdad.
King Rafael
Nearly two-thirds of voters in Ecuador approved a new constitution, the Andean nation’s 20th. It gives the president, Rafael Correa, wide-ranging new powers, including the right to stand for two more terms and tighter control over the economy and the other branches of government. See article
Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón, sent a security package to Congress aimed at fighting a wave of drug-related violence in the country that has claimed more than 3,000 lives this year. His move followed the discovery of six more bodies in the border town of Tijuana, a day after 16 other corpses had been found.
In the midst of Canada’s election campaign, Stephen Harper, the Conservative prime minister, was accused of plagiarism, leading to the resignation of one of his speechwriters. Large chunks of a speech Mr Harper made as opposition leader in 2003 in support of the invasion of Iraq were found to be almost identical to a similar speech given by John Howard, Australia’s prime minister at the time.
A watchful eye
The European Union sent 300 observers to Georgia to monitor Russia’s promised pull-out of troops. The observers were allowed into most of the buffer zones around the two enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but the Russians are stopping them from entering the enclaves themselves.
Western election-monitors criticised both the conduct and the vote-counting in Belarus’s parliamentary election. All the seats were won by parties backing the president, Alyaksandr Lukashenka (who has been edging towards the West in recent months). See article
Two far-right parties did well in Austria’s general election, taking 29% of the vote between them. But neither is likely to be invited to join the government, which will probably be a revamped grand coalition of the centre-left and centre-right parties. See article
The ruling Christian Social Union did badly in Bavaria’s state election, losing its absolute majority for the first time in 46 years. Both the CSU premier and the party chairman stepped down. See article
The crush of the crowd
At least 147 people were killed in India in a stampede at a Hindu temple in Jodhpur in the north-western state of Rajasthan. It was the fourth deadly stampede at a religious festival in India this year.
America’s Congress approved the country’s deal on civil nuclear co-operation with India, the last hurdle for a controversial agreement that gives India the privileges of a nuclear power without having signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India and France signed a deal on co-operation in energy, paving the way for the sale of French nuclear reactors to India.
Christopher Hill, a senior American diplomat, visited North Korea to try to rescue a deal on denuclearisation. Meanwhile, North and South Korea held their first official meeting since Lee Myung-bak became the South’s president in February.
Malaysia’s main ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation, postponed until March its internal leadership election, the winner of which becomes prime minister. This was seen as enabling a smoother handover of power from the prime minister, Abdullah Badawi, to his deputy, Najib Razak.
AFP
Chinese astronauts successfully completed their country’s first space walk. In a live broadcast on television, Zhai Zhigang, the mission leader, waved a Chinese flag 340km (210 miles) above the earth.