Politics this week
Here was a military coup in
Honduras after Manuel Zelaya, the leftist president, tried to organise an unconstitutional referendum to allow him to stand for a second term. He was arrested and deported by the army, which acted with the support of Congress and the Supreme Court. The head of Congress was sworn in as president, pending an election in November. The Organisation of American States, the United States and the European Union all condemned the coup and called for Mr Zelaya’s reinstatement.
Argentina’s first couple, President Cristina Fernández and her husband and predecessor, Néstor Kirchner, fared badly in a mid-term legislative election, losing their majority in Congress. Several centrist leaders did well in a repudiation of the Kirchners’ populist economic policies. Mr Kirchner resigned as leader of the ruling Peronist movement. Once the election was over, authorities in several provinces declared health emergencies as deaths from swine flu rose to 35.
In
Nicaragua, Alexis Arguello, a former world-champion boxer, was found dead at his home. He was the victorious candidate of the ruling Sandinista Party in an election for mayor of Managua last year that the opposition claimed was fraudulent.
Not a surprise
Iran’s Guardian Council declared that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been re-elected as president, dismissing claims of ballot-rigging. Mr Ahmadinejad said his victory was a defeat for Western foes seeking to overthrow the Islamic system, but opponents insisted his win was illegitimate. Opposition protests were attended by fewer people. Security forces rounded up hundreds of opposition figures. Nine locally hired members of the British embassy were detained, though later most were freed.
A Yemenia airliner with 153 people on board crashed into the sea as it came in to land at Moroni, the capital of the
Comoros. There was one survivor, a 14-year-old girl.
American troops completed their withdrawal from cities in
Iraq, despite a recent rise in suicide-bombings. The Iraqi government announced a holiday to mark “National Sovereignty Day”, and said its forces would be able to maintain security. Barack Obama said the pull-back was a milestone but warned of “difficult days” ahead.
A strike of the sword
Around 4,000 American marines, backed by NATO aircraft, launched a big offensive against the Taliban in
Afghanistan’s southern Helmand river valley.
The high court in Delhi ruled that consensual
gay sex in India was not a crime, overturning a 19th-century law that bans what it terms sex “against the order of nature”. Gay sex was previously punishable by up to ten years in prison. A few days before the decision the second-ever gay-pride march was held in the capital.
North Korea test-fired more short-range missiles, ratcheting up tensions in the region and defying recently tightened UN sanctions. Meanwhile,
South Korea’s defence minister said that the North is “definitely” trying to enrich uranium, giving it another method to make nuclear bombs. The South claims the North has 40 kilograms of plutonium, enough for at least six bombs.
China delayed a plan requiring all new computers in the country to be equipped with internet-filtering software. Web users claimed this as a victory, though an official said it would only be “a matter of time” before the filtering system was introduced.
Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, relaxed some of his country’s racial-preference laws in an effort to encourage foreign investment. He said listed companies would no longer have to sell at least 30% of their shares to ethnic Malays. However, listed firms will have to sell 25% to the Malaysian public, of which half will be reserved for ethnic Malays. Mr Najib’s main rival, Anwar Ibrahim, has promised more sweeping reforms to the laws.
Squaring a circle
Germany’s constitutional court ruled that the European Union’s Lisbon treaty is compatible with German law, but only if the German parliament passes a new law to make clear that it participates fully in EU legislation. The court seems to think the EU has a “democratic deficit” that is best filled at the national level, not through the European Parliament.
Albania’s election was too close to call. The centre-right coalition of the prime minister, Sali Berisha, got 70 seats, as did the centre-left opposition led by Edi Rama. There may be another election this autumn.
The prime minister of
Croatia, Ivo Sanader, unexpectedly stepped down, saying he wanted to give up politics. Croatia’s hopes of joining the EU have been stymied by a border dispute with neighbouring Slovenia.
Russia put into force a ban on casinos and gambling joints across most of the nation. They are now allowed only in parts of the country that are a long way from Moscow.
Reverse discrimination
America’s
Supreme Court ruled that New Haven, Connecticut, was wrong to deny promotion to white firemen because no blacks had scored high enough marks in a qualifying exam to warrant advancement. The case attracted a lot of interest, not least because one of the judges on the appeals-court panel that saw its previous decision in the lawsuit overturned was Sonia Sotomayor, Barack Obama’s nominee to the top court.
The House voted narrowly, by 219 to 212, in favour of a climate-change bill that establishes a
cap-and-trade system to reduce emissions. The legislation is not without its critics (44 Democrats voted against it) and it is expected to receive a rough ride in the Senate.
After almost eight months of argument and litigation,
Minnesota’s Supreme Court decided that Al Franken had won the state’s Senate race for the Democrats, by 312 votes. The result gives the Democrats 60 votes in the Senate, enough to break a filibuster.
Gallup reported that the
drinking habits of Americans haven’t changed during the recession, with 64% enjoying the occasional tipple. There has been anecdotal evidence that drinking has increased during the downturn. Beer remains the favoured libation, though the percentage of wine-drinkers has increased since Mr Obama took office.
