Politics this week
Mar 1st 2007
From The Economist print edition


In a shift of policy the Bush administration said it would take part in a regional meeting this month organised by Iraq's government, even though Iran and Syria would take part too. See article

The Iraqi government said its main factions had at last agreed to a draft law on how to regulate the oil industry and share out its revenue, though some final touches had still to be made.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany discussed ways of tightening UN sanctions against Iran, in the wake of its refusal to comply with previous UN resolutions ordering it to suspend its enrichment of uranium.

The African Union asked for extra cash to pay for its proposed peacekeeping mission to Somalia, where Ethiopian troops recently overthrew an Islamist government. Only Uganda has said it is ready to send troops, offering 1,500; Nigeria, Ghana, Burundi and Malawi may also chip in, bringing the number up to around 4,000, but the AU says 8,000 are needed.

The International Criminal Court at The Hague named its first two suspects to be summoned for alleged atrocities in the Sudanese region of Darfur: a former junior interior minister in Sudan's government and now its minister for humanitarian affairs; and a leader of the janjaweed militias that have killed thousands of civilians. See article

Sierra Leone's former defence minister, Sam Hinga Norman, who was being tried for war crimes at a UN-backed tribunal in Senegal, died before a verdict was due, apparently of a heart attack.

Senegal's president, Abdoulaye Wade, was re-elected in a landslide, with opponents crying foul.

A reprieve for Prodi

Italy's centre-left government is back, after narrowly winning a vote of confidence in the Senate, where it lost a big foreign-policy vote last week. But few Italians expect the government to last for anything like its full term. See article
AP
AP

The International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that Serbia was not directly responsible for genocide in Bosnia during the 1992-95 war. But it said that the massacre of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serb troops at Srebrenica in 1995 did constitute genocide, and it denounced Serbia for failing to prevent it. See article

A surge of support for the centrist candidate for the French presidency, François Bayrou, unsettled the two front-runners. One opinion poll gave Mr Bayrou 19%, compared with 25.5% for the Socialist candidate, Ségolène Royal, and 29% for the centre-right's Nicolas Sarkozy. See article

Two Picasso oil paintings with a combined value put at euro50m ($66m) were stolen from his grand-daughter's home in Paris.

Tipping the balance

Canada's Supreme Court revoked a law allowing foreign terrorist suspects to be detained indefinitely without trial while waiting for deportation. Later, Parliament voted against renewing two other anti-terrorist measures allowing suspects to be held for three days without charge and compelling witnesses to testify in terrorist trials. See article

Fidel Castro, Cuba's ailing president, spoke live on a radio programme for the first time since falling ill last July. The 80-year-old leader, who is said to be suffering from diverticulitis, a bowel disease, said he was “gaining ground”, but did not say when, or if, he would return to work.

The war effort

America's vice-president, Dick Cheney, visited Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, and asked him to do more to tackle the Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters taking refuge in Pakistan's tribal borderlands, before an expected spring offensive by Taliban fighters against NATO forces in Afghanistan. See article

Mr Cheney went on to Afghanistan, where a Taliban suicide-bomber attacked the military base at Bagram where he was staying. Mr Cheney survived. The bomber and 11 others did not. Meanwhile, Britain followed America in announcing an increase—of 1,400 soldiers—in its commitment of troops to Afghanistan.

Pridiyathorn Devakula, Thailand's finance minister resigned, opening further cracks in the troubled military government that seized power in a coup last September. See article
Reuters
Reuters

India's ruling Congress party suffered electoral setbacks in two northern states, Punjab and Uttarakhand. Its loss of power in both states was blamed in part on popular anger at rising prices. Curbing inflation was a central theme of the annual budget, unveiled in Parliament by the finance minister. See article

Sixteen Indian soldiers were killed in a grenade attack on a convoy of army trucks in the north-eastern state of Manipur. The attack was blamed on one of many insurgent groups fighting Indian rule there. See article

Timor-Leste's prime minister, José Ramos Horta, said he would run for president in April's election. As instability in the country persists, he asked Indonesia to close its border with Timor-Leste, to prevent the flight of a group of army mutineers. See article

Straight talking on Letterman
Reuters
Reuters

John McCain confirmed on a talk show that he would run for president, but said he was saving a formal announcement until April. Earlier, Mr McCain received a fillip to his nascent campaign when he was endorsed by Senator John Warner, who is a strong critic of George Bush's policy of extra troops for Iraq, a policy which Mr McCain supports.

Virginia's legislature voted to express “profound regret” at the state's historical role in slavery. Separately, it emerged that the ancestors of the Rev Al Sharpton, a prominent black activist, were slaves owned by ancestors of the late Senator Strom Thurmond, a prominent segregationist.

Arthur Schlesinger died at the age of 89. The prolific historian wrote about the New Deal, the cold war and the Kennedy administration, to which he was an adviser, but he is best known for his 1973 book, “The Imperial Presidency”, which has experienced a revival of late.

Richard Daley shrugged off his opponents' accusations of corruption at City Hall and cruised to a sixth term as mayor of Chicago, winning more than 70% of the vote.