Politics this week - The Economist

Angela Merkel announced that she will run for a fourth term as chancellor of Germany next year. Many liberals were delighted, especially foreign ones. Within Germany there was joy among right-wing populists, who relish the chance to run against the chancellor, whom they blame for allowing large numbers of refugees into the country. A possible challenger, Martin Schulz, decided to leave his job as president of the European Parliament. He may run against Mrs Merkel as the candidate of the opposition Social Democrats. See article. 

François Fillon, a former prime minister, unexpectedly won the first round of the Republican party primaries in France, with 44% of the vote. He is favoured to win the second round, and could claim the presidency next year if he is pitted against Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front. Yet polls in France, as elsewhere, have been poor guides lately. See article.

The chances that Matteo Renzi, Italy’s prime minister, will win the controversial referendum on constitutional reforms scheduled for December 4th look ever more shaky. Silvio Berlusconi, a former prime minister, and Beppe Grillo, a populist politician, have said they will vote No. See article.

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development party withdrew a bill that would have pardoned men for having sex with underage girls if they married them. The bill had sparked protests in Turkey and abroad.

In Britain Philip Hammond, the chancellor of the exchequer, gave the government’s first detailed budget announcement since the Brexit vote in June. He confirmed forecasts of reduced GDP growth over the next two years. Net government borrowing, which in the March budget was expected to move into surplus in 2019, was projected to stay in deficit for at least the next five years. See here and here.

Thomas Mair was given a life sentence for the murder of Jo Cox, a Labour MP, the first killing of an MP not carried out by Irish nationalists for two centuries. She was shot and stabbed a week before the Brexit vote in June. Mr Mair suffered from mental illness for years and had connections with British nationalist and neo-Nazi groups.

Water pressure

Bolivia declared a state of emergency to help fight the effects of its worst drought in 25 years. Eight of the country’s nine departments have water shortages. In La Paz, the seat of the national government, many houses have been cut off from water for days at a time and people are queuing to fill buckets from tankers that come sporadically.

A court in New York convicted two nephews of Venezuela’s First Lady, Cilia Flores, of conspiring to bring cocaine into America. They were caught in Haiti in 2015 in a sting operation led by America’s Drug Enforcement Administration.

The World Health Organisation’s decision to declare an end to the global health emergency over the Zika virus was criticised by some for sending the wrong signal. The WHO said the mosquito-borne disease is still a crisis, but efforts should now go into stopping its spread over the long-term.

The danger line

Indian and Pakistani forces exchanged fire along the Line of Control in the disputed state of Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan for the killing of three soldiers. Pakistan said retaliatory shelling by India had killed three of its soldiers and ten civilians.

South Korea approved a controversial intelligence-sharing pact with Japan. Separately, prosecutors named Park Geun-hye, the president, as a suspect in an influence- peddling scandal.

Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, said he would declare a marine sanctuary within the lagoon of Scarborough Shoal, a disputed tidal atoll in the South China Sea, neatly sidestepping the question of whether China would allow access to Filipino fishermen.

Promises on paper

Zimbabwe’s central bank said it would soon start issuing “bond notes” to ease a shortage of currency. The notes will be the first printed by Zimbabwe since it abandoned its currency in 2009 for American dollars during a bout of hyperinflation. The new notes are ostensibly backed by $200m held by the central bank.

A contingent of Japanese peacekeepers arrived in South Sudan. It is Japan’sfirst deployment of troops with a mandate allowing them to use deadly force for anything other than strict self-defence. The new rules allow the troops to come to the aid of UN staff and NGO workers.

More than 100 people were arrested and one killed in Cameroon amid protests in English-speaking parts of the country against the use of French in courts and schools.

The Syrian government rejected a UN proposal that would leave eastern Aleppo under the control of the opposition, if the opposition agreed to withdraw fighters from that part of the city.

Shia militias in Iraq claimed to have taken control of a key road west of Mosul, Islamic State’s last redoubt. If true, that would mean the city is now encircled.

All Trump, all the time

Donald Trump made more appointments to his incoming administration. Mike Pompeo, a congressman on the House intelligence committee, was named director of the CIA. Mike Flynn, a retired general, becomes national security adviser. And Jeff Sessions, a senator, was picked for attorney-general. All three are on the hard right of the Republican Party. But Mr Trump surprised his critics by selecting Nikki Haley, a relatively moderate governor, as America’s ambassador to the UN. See article.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump agreed to pay $25m to settle fraud allegations surrounding Trump University. The deal stops a trial from being held.

The president-elect also gave an interview to the New York Times. Mr Trump deplored the rise of the “alt-right”, a loose collection of far-right groups that supported his campaign, acknowledged there was “some connectivity” for man’s role in climate change and said he would not prosecute Hillary Clinton over her e-mails. Some of his supporters were unhappy, displaying their resentment on placards with “Hillary’s lies matter”.