Econ_Sep_22

The Economist

September 22nd 2018

Russia

and

Turkey

agreed to

patrol a buffer zone around the

province of Idlib, the

Syrian

rebels’ last bastion, where

2m-3mcivilians fear theymay

be caught up in a final on-

slaught by the regime’s forces.

The zone is supposed to be

demilitarised byOctober10th.

No one knows if the deal will

be upheld.

Rwanda’s

president, Paul

Kagame, approved the release

ofmore than 2,000 prisoners,

includingVictoire Ingabire

Umuhoza, a prominent oppo-

sition leaderwho had been

sentenced to eight years in jail

in 2012, a term later increased

to15 years.

Liberia’s

government has

banned15 people, including a

son of the previous president,

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, from

leaving the countrywhile it

investigates the alleged disap-

pearance ofmillions of dollars

meant for the central bank.

First comes love

Cuba’s

president, Miguel

Díaz-Canel, announced his

support for a proposal to in-

clude the legalisation of same-

sexmarriage in the country’s

newconstitution, onwhich a

referendumwill be held in

2019. If the proposal succeeds,

Cubawill become the sixth

country in the Americas to

allowsame-sex unions.

The

Office onDrugs and

Crimewarned that growing

cocaine production in

Colom-

bia

could harm the country’s

peace-building efforts. It said

that the area under coca culti-

vation rose to171,000 hectares

last year, a record high and an

increase of17% from2016.

Argentina’s

former president,

Cristina Fernández de Kirch-

ner, faces newcharges of cor-

ruption in connectionwith

bribes her administration is

accused of accepting from

construction firms in return for

public contracts. The charges

come on top of ones laid in

2016. AlthoughMs Fernández

is immune fromarrest because

she is a serving senator, the

proceedingsmay harmher

chance of success if she runs

for president in 2019.

Poverty-stricken

Venezuelans

are furious after a film

emerged on the internet of

President NicolásMaduro

eating a sumptuousmeat feast

at a famous restaurant in Istan-

bul. Almost two-thirds of the

country’s citizens have report-

ed losingweight as a result of

food shortages.

Awoman has said that Brett

Kavanaugh, President Donald

Trump’s nomination for the

Supreme Court, sexually

assaulted herwhen theywere

both at high school in the

1980s. Mr Kavanaugh denies

the allegations.

American

lawmakers have givenMr

Kavanaugh’s accuser until

September 21st to decide

whether to testify against him.

Paul Manafort

, Donald

Trump’s former campaign

chairman, pleaded guilty to

two federal crimes, including

conspiracy against the United

States. He also agreed to co-

operatewith the investigation

conducted by the special

counsel, Robert Mueller, who

is looking into Russian interfer-

ence in the presidential elec-

tion in 2016.

Some 37 people died after

Hurricane Florence

made

landfall inNorth Carolina on

September14th. An estimate

byMoody’s Analytics, a re-

search firm, suggests the cost of

the stormcould reach $22bn—

far less than the damage from

Hurricanes Katrina andMaria.

A hard rain fell

After killing at least 81people

in the Philippines,

Typhoon

Mangkhut

roared over Hong

Kong and the neighbouring

Chinese province ofGuang-

dong, where it killed at least

two others. More than 2.4m

people inGuangdongmoved

into emergency shelters to

escape the storm.

The United States government

ordered the American oper-

ations of two

Chinese

state-

controlled news organisations,

Xinhua and China Global

TelevisionNetwork, to register

as “foreign agents”, the

Wall

Street Journal

and Bloomberg

reported. This could limit the

Chinese journalists’ access to

American officials. China’s

foreignministry urged Ameri-

ca not to put up barriers to

gathering news.

Jaw-jaw

The leaders of

North

and

South Korea

held their third

summit in sixmonths and

pledged to reduce tensions

along their border. North

Korea also offered to allow

foreign inspections of amis-

sile-testing facility—a step far

short ofwhat American nego-

tiators have been demanding

in talks on its nuclearweapons

programme.

Shinzo Abe overcame crony-

ism scandals towin a third

termas leader of

Japan’s

ruling Liberal Democratic

Party, and is thus on course to

become the country’s longest-

serving primeminister. He

hopes to use the time to

amend the constitution’s

clause on pacifism.

Acourt in

Pakistan

ordered

the release ofNawaz Sharif, a

former primeminister, while it

hears his appeal against a

conviction for corruption. Mr

Nawaz had been expected to

serve 11years in prison. Law-

yers say that an acquittal is

nowmore likely than previ-

ously thought.

An imperfect spy

The head of

Germany’s

do-

mestic intelligence bureau,

Hans-GeorgMaassen, was

forced to resign following

comments inwhich he ap-

peared to play down the signif-

icance of violence against

migrants in the eastern city of

Chemnitz. MrMaassen had

previously been accused of

close linkswith a right-wing

populist party. Apolitical row

developed after it became

clear that he had in fact re-

ceived a promotion to a better-

paid job.

In a fresh blow to President

Emmanuel Macron of

France

a close ally, Gerard Collomb,

the interiorminister, said he

would stand down next May

to run formayor of Toulouse.

Themove follows the abrupt

resignation last month of

Nicolas Hulot, his popular

environment minister.

A leadingmember of France’s

right-wingNational Rally

indicated that the party, until

recently called the National

Front, is planning to join

Steve

Bannon’s

alliance of Euro-

pean nationalist parties, the

Movement. Mr Bannon, a

former adviser to Donald

Trump, hopes for success in

next year’s European Parlia-

ment elections.

Members of the

European

Union

met in Austria to dis-

cussmigration, relationswith

Arab countries and internal

security. TheresaMay, the

British primeminister, was

given tenminutes at the end of

dinner to talkabout Brexit.

Michel Barnier, the

’s nego-

tiator, had said hewas “ready

to improve” his offer over

Northern Ireland. But during

themeetingMrsMay com-

plained that his planswere

“not credible”.

Politics

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