Politics this week
Dec 6th 2007
From The Economist print edition
A report by America's National Intelligence Council concluded that Iran did have a nuclear-weapons programme up until 2003, but that it had since been halted. Democrats pounced on the document to attack George Bush's claim that Iran poses a substantial threat (with some calling for a “surge in diplomacy” with Tehran). Condoleezza Rice, America's secretary of state, said the findings proved that international pressure on Iran worked. Mr Bush called on Iran to “come clean” about its nuclear programme or face more isolation. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claimed “a great victory”. See article
Mr Bush was set to unveil a relief plan for home-owners struggling with mortgage payments, the centrepiece of which is a freeze on interest rates on certain subprime loans. See article
Mitt Romney prepared to make a big speech on religion and politics intended to counter objections to his Mormon faith from many on the religious right. The lecture is being compared to a similar address made by John Kennedy in 1960 that tackled gripes about his Catholicism.
A 19-year-old man who lost his job shot dead eight shoppers at a mall in Omaha, Nebraska, before killing himself.
Victory for Vladimir
Vladimir Putin's United Russia party won two-thirds of the vote in a parliamentary election. The Russian president said the result showed the electorate supported policies that had brought stability to Russia. Poll monitors and some Western governments criticised the conduct of the election. Opponents of the Kremlin, including Garry Kasparov, a former chess champion, said it was a “farce”. See article
The EU initialled a pre-membership agreement with Bosnia at a ceremony in Sarajevo. A full agreement on starting the process by which Bosnia could eventually become a member of the EU depends on the country's merging its ethnically separate police forces. See article
At least one person was killed and several others injured when a booby-trapped package exploded in a building in central Paris housing the former law firm of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president.
Thousands of people marched in Madrid to protest against ETA, the Basque terrorist group, after two Spanish police officers were killed in a surveillance operation of suspected members in France. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain's prime minister, who is accused by some of appeasing ETA, was booed by a handful of mourners at the funeral of one of the policemen.
No place like home
The Iraqi Red Crescent, a sister organisation to the International Red Cross, said that around 25,000 Iraqi refugees have returned to Iraq since mid-September. Although that is still a small fraction of the 4m who have been displaced since the American invasion of Iraq, it is a reflection of improving security there. Some 110,000 internally displaced people have now returned to their homes as well. See article
Meanwhile, a car bomb in central Baghdad killed at least 15 people. The American defence secretary, Robert Gates, was visiting the city at the time to declare that “a secure, stable Iraq is in reach”.
Gillian Gibbons, a British teacher, was released from prison in Sudan. She had been jailed for allowing a class of seven-year-olds to name a teddy-bear Muhammad. President Omar al-Bashir ordered the release after protests against her incarceration from (some) Muslims in Sudan and more around the world. See article
European and African leaders were due to gather for a summit in Lisbon on December 8th, the first such meeting for seven years. The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, refused to go because of the presence of Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe. See article
Hurricane Hugo weakens
Hugo Chávez's plan to change the constitution to make Venezuela a socialist republic and to allow him to run for re-election indefinitely was narrowly defeated in a referendum. It was the first time Mr Chávez had lost a popular vote since he came to power in 1999, and was widely viewed as a big political reverse for him. See article
After facing months of corruption allegations, Renan Calheiros resigned as president of Brazil's Senate. Mr Calheiros is an ally of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; by resigning, he keeps his seat. See article
The United States Senate approved by 77 votes to 18 a free-trade agreement with Peru, which had already cleared the House of Representatives.
A change in the environment
Immediately after being sworn in as Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd signed documents ratifying the Kyoto protocol on climate change. Mr Rudd is due to attend the United Nations' climate-change conference in Bali.
The government in Kazakhstan celebrated the decision by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to award the country the group's rotating chairmanship in 2010. Human-rights groups condemned the decision. See article
A parcel-bombing in a shopping mall in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital, that killed 20 people and an assassination attempt on a government minister were blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In response, the government detained more than 2,500 Tamils in the Colombo area. Most were freed within days. See article
China complained about the entry of an American aircraft- carrier, USS Kitty Hawk, into the Taiwan Strait last month. China had unexpectedly stopped the vessel and others from making a Thanksgiving port-call in Hong Kong. See article
A hotly contested by-election in Hong Kong was won by Anson Chan, a former senior civil servant who campaigned on a platform of introducing full democracy at the earliest opportunity.
In Pakistan, two former prime ministers, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, agreed to discuss a list of joint demands that must be met if their two parties are to contest the elections on January 8th. President Pervez Musharraf said the elections would be held “come hell or high water”.
Thousands of people crowded the streets around the Grand Palace in Bangkok to mark the 80th birthday of Thailand's King Bhumibol. After 61 years on the throne, the king has been in poor health recently.
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