Message-ID: <6429655.1075840331745.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 12:56:43 -0800 (PST) From: the_economist-politics-admin@news.economist.com To: dbaughm@ect.enron.com Subject: The world this week: Politics 12th - 18th January 2002 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: The Economist @ENRON X-To: dbaughm@ect.enron.com X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \ExMerge - Baughman Jr., Don\Deleted Items X-Origin: BAUGHMAN-D X-FileName: don baughman 6-25-02.PST Welcome to The world this week: Politics A summary of the world's main events from The Economist. Also available at http://www.economist.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ADVERTISEMENT - "The world has changed." The New School International Affairs Graduate Program offers a practice-based understanding of the global economy, institutions, environment, and culture. Classes in New York/Internships worldwide. Information: http://www.nsu.newschool.edu/spring51 or toll-free worldwide 877-528-3321 (ext. 213). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - IN THE ECONOMIST THIS WEEK - India, Pakistan and Kashmir: the stand-off on the roof of the world * Silvio Berlusconi still gives Italy a bad name * Germany's election * Libya and America * Argentina's banks * China's middle class * Company health plans * Fingerprint evidence * Internet shares * You can read these articles, and many more, in the free area of Economist.com, at http://www.economist.com. Subscribers can also read 40 more new articles. Click here to subscribe: http://www.economist.com/subscriptions - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - PRISONERS' DILEMMA The United States came under fire from human-rights organisations for classifying the AL-QAEDA prisoners it is detaining in Cuba as "unlawful combatants" rather than prisoners-of-war, thereby denying them rights under the Geneva Conventions. - - - - - See article: The rights of terrorists http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/flo?y=eVQ0UBQN0Mo0qjK0AQ The Justice Department said that John Walker, a young American who joined the TALIBAN, will be brought back to the United States to face charges in federal criminal court of aiding terrorism, including conspiracy to kill American citizens. - - - - - See article: America's views on the Afghan prisoners http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/flo?y=eVQ0UBQN0Mo0qjL0AR A PRETZEL got the better of President George Bush when he choked on it while watching a football game. Mr Bush fainted and collapsed but later resumed a tour of the country with no apparent ill effects apart from a large bruise on his cheek. ZONE OF UNCERTAINTY COLOMBIA'S peace process limped on. Hours before President Andres Pastrana planned to order the army to retake a guerrilla-controlled "peace zone", the FARC rebels agreed to restart talks, despite government surveillance of the zone. But to renew the life of the zone, Mr Pastrana wants the FARC to agree to immediate negotiations for a ceasefire. - - - - - See article: Colombia's wobbling peace process http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/flo?y=eVQ0UBQN0Mo0qjM0AS In ARGENTINA, several branches of foreign banks were wrecked during further protests against controls on bank withdrawals. After a devaluation which ended a decade in which the peso was fixed at par with the dollar, it sank quickly to around 1.85. - - - - - See article: More protests in Argentina http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/flo?y=eVQ0UBQN0Mo0qjN0AT In a sweeping government shuffle, Jean Chretien, CANADA'S long-serving prime minister, named John Manley, formerly the country's foreign minister, as his deputy and seeming heir apparent. Mr Chretien said he would stay in his job?at least until next Christmas. - - - - - See article: Canada's government shake-up http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/flo?y=eVQ0UBQN0Mo0qjO0AU VIOLENCE AS USUAL Tit-for-tat violence intensified in the ISRAELI-OCCUPIED TERRITORIES. A Palestinian militia group, linked to Fatah, killed two Israeli settlers after one of its own leaders was assassinated, presumably by Israel. Widespread protest erupted after the Palestinian Authority arrested Ahmad Saadat, wanted by Israel in connection with the murder of its tourism minister. - - - - - See article: State-building, in reverse http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/flo?y=eVQ0UBQN0Mo0qjP0AV An IRANIAN DEPUTY, imprisoned for speaking his mind in parliament, was pardoned by the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after the speaker threatened to paralyse parliament's business. - - - - - See article: Rattling the supreme one http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/flo?y=eVQ0UBQN0Mo0qjQ0AW KUWAIT celebrated with national holidays, the distribution of free trees to every home and the slaughtering of sheep as its ruler returned from four months of medical treatment in London after suffering a brain haemorrhage. A general strike froze NIGERIAN CITIES, as unions protested against a recent 18% rise in the heavily subsidised price of petrol. The government declared the strike illegal and arrested union officials. Under international pressure, ZIMBABWE postponed passing a law aimed at making life hard for independent journalists. But opposition activists continued to be murdered, allegedly by Robert Mugabe's militia. Britain promised to stop deporting Zimbabwean asylum-seekers. - - - - - See article: Trouble in Zimbabwe http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/flo?y=eVQ0UBQN0Mo0qjR0AX In MADAGASCAR, the constitutional court ordered a recount of last month's presidential election, which had yielded no clear winner. The opposition in ZAMBIA filed a petition to have the result of their country's presidential election nullified, alleging vote-rigging by the ruling party, whose candidate won. Opposition offices were promptly raided by police. CONSERVATIVE CHOICE Germany's two main conservative parties picked Edmund Stoiber, premier of Bavaria and leader of the Christian Social Union, as their candidate to become GERMANY'S CHANCELLOR after a general election later this year. The leader of the much larger Christian Democratic Union, Angela Merkel, had withdrawn her bid for the candidacy. - - - - - See article: Edmund Stoiber http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/flo?y=eVQ0UBQN0Mo0qjS0AY FRANCE'S main business organisation, Medef, demanded cuts in taxes and social charges, and the easing of labour laws. The Constitutional Council had already ruled against parts of a recent law that would bar lay-offs through redundancy except in extreme circumstances. - - - - - See article: France's bosses are feeling hogtied http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/flo?y=eVQ0UBQN0Mo0qjT0AZ In CYPRUS the leaders of the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities opened face-to-face negotiations. Outsiders hope that the talks will lead to a deal bringing the breakaway "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" back into the fold as part of an island united, however loosely, under a single central government. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, visited POLAND, the first leader of his country to do so since 1993. Norway's finance minister, Per-Kristian Foss, revealed that he had formalised his long-term GAY PARTNERSHIP under Norwegian law. Will Britain and Spain agree to joint sovereignty over GIBRALTAR? Some British MPs erupted over press reports that the deal was done already. Not so, said the British government, po-faced. - - - - - See article: Joint sovereignty for Gibraltar? http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/flo?y=eVQ0UBQN0Mo0qjU0Aa PAT COX, an Irish liberal, was elected as president of the European Parliament. WAR AVERTED? Tension between INDIA and PAKISTAN eased after the Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, ordered a crackdown on militants blamed for a recent attack on the Indian Parliament. - - - - - See article: The problem of Kashmir http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/flo?y=eVQ0UBQN0Mo0qjV0Ab The World Bank said that rebuilding AFGHANISTAN will cost $15 billion. As the central bank reopened in Kabul, the governor said he had more money in his wallet than was in the bank's safe. - - - - - See article: Reluctant donors http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/flo?y=eVQ0UBQN0Mo0qjW0Ac Afghanistan's interim government banned cultivation of the opium poppy and trafficking in its derivatives, including HEROIN. Afghan farmers have started to sow the poppy since the defeat of the Taliban, who imposed a similar ban. EAST TIMOR is to set up a truth and reconciliation commission as a "healing process" like the one in South Africa that probed apartheid-era crimes. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CITIES GUIDE: ECONOMIST.COM GOES FURTHER - Choose from these invaluable guides to major destinations before making your next trip. The Economist's writers give you the inside information on Berlin, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Mexico City, Moscow, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Tokyo, Washington, DC, and Zurich. 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