The Economist UK - 07.09.2019

8 The EconomistSeptember 7th 2019

1

The world this week Politics

The squabble over Britain’s

withdrawal from the European

Union intensified in Parlia-

ment. mps in the House of

Commons defied the govern-

ment by passing a bill that

seeks a delay to Brexit until

January 31st if a deal has not

been passed in the chamber by

October 19th. Boris Johnson

purged the 21mps who rebelled

against him from the Conser-

vative Party, leaving the prime

minister in charge of a govern-

ment 43 short of a working

majority. Mr Johnson now

wants to hold an election. He

has a lead in the polls—but so

did Theresa May before a set-

back at an election in 2017.

In what many considered to be

a pre-election giveaway, the

government outlined plans to

increase spending, which for

the first time in 11 years would

enlarge the size of the British

state relative to gdp. Sajid

Javid, the chancellor of the

exchequer, said that Britain

could “afford to turn the page

on austerity”.

hs 2 , Britain’s controversial

high-speed rail project, faced

more delays and an estimate

for the final bill soared to

£90bn ($110bn), or £260m per

mile. The project was planned

in two phases and originally

costed at £30bn in 2010. The

escalating price means hs2 is

in danger of being derailed.

Members of the Five Star Move-

ment in Italyvoted to accept a

new government in coalition

with their former enemies, the

Democrats, to be headed by the

incumbent prime minister,

Giuseppe Conte. This means

that the plan by the hard-right

leader of the Northern League,

Matteo Salvini, to force an

election has failed, for now.

InGermany, the Christian

Democrats in Saxony and the

Social Democrats in Branden-

burg saw off challenges from

the hard-right Alternative for

Germany in state elections,

which means that at the

national level, the grand

coalition between thecduand

thespdis likely to continue.

The ringleaders

A military judge set January

11th 2021 as the start date for the

trial of the five men accused of

plotting the9/11 attacks. The

trial, to be held at Guantánamo

Bay, may not happen if it is

found that the defendants’

statements were extracted

under torture. If it does occur

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and

four others will face a court, 20

years after the atrocities.

Thirty-four people died when a

fire broke out on aboatchar-

tered for a scuba-diving ex-

cursion off the coast of Los

Angeles. It was the worst loss

of life on a vessel in American

waters in four decades.

A bit of a climbdown

Hong Kong’schief executive,

Carrie Lam, said she would

formally withdraw the legisla-

tion that triggered the past

three months of protests in the

territory. The bill would have

allowed the extradition of

criminal suspects to courts on

the Chinese mainland. In a

leaked off-the-record speech,

Mrs Lam said China had no

plans to send in the army to

control the unrest.

The Chinese Communist

Partysaid its Central Commit-

tee would meet on an un-

specified date in October. The

committee, comprising more

than 300 of the country’s most

powerful officials, has not met

since early last year—the lon-

gest gap in decades. It is due to

discuss ways of “perfecting”

the country’s socialist system.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the dip-

lomat conducting talks with

the insurgents of the Taliban

regarding an American with-

drawal from Afghanistan,

declared that the two sides had

reached a preliminary deal.

The plan is for a quick with-

drawal of 5,400 of the 14,

American troops in the coun-

try, followed by the staggered

departure of the remainder,

provided the Taliban meet

certain conditions.

The government of

Bangladeshordered mobile-

phone operators to end service

in the camps housing

Rohingya Muslim refugees

from Myanmar, and to stop

selling mobile access to resi-

dents of the camps. Theun

said the move would further

isolate the 750,000 Rohingyas,

who fled a pogrom backed by

the Burmese army in 2017.

Kazakhstan’spresident,

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev,

promised to ease laws re-

stricting public protests. Police

have suppressed sporadic

demonstrations against his

stage-managed succession to

the presidency earlier this year,

after the abrupt resignation of

Nursultan Nazarbayev, the

strongman of 30 years. Mr

Tokayev also affirmed Mr

Nazarbayev’s daughter Dariga

as head of the senate and thus

next in line to the presidency.

Seeking shelter

Hurricane Dorian, thought to

be equal in strength to the

most powerful ever recorded in

the Atlantic to make landfall,

devastated the Bahamas. With

sustained winds of up to

185mph (300kph) the storm hit

the Abaco islands, which have

17,000 inhabitants, before

moving on to Grand Bahama,

which has 52,000. It caused the

sea to rise nearly eight metres

(26 feet) above normal. At least

20 people died.

Iván Márquez, a former sec-

ond-in-command of the farc,

a guerrilla group that ended its

52-year war against the Colom-

bianstate in 2016, announced

that he would lead fighters

back into battle, accusing

Colombia’s government of

“shredding” the peace agree-

ment. Most leaders of the farc,

now a political party with seats

in congress, condemned Mr

Márquez’s return to war.

Police in Guatemalaarrested

Sandra Torres, the runner-up

in the presidential election in

August, on charges of violating

campaign-finance laws. She

claimed that she was being

politically persecuted.

No end in sight

The international Red Cross

said that as many as 100 people

were killed when an air strike

by the Saudi-led coalition that

is fighting Houthi rebels in

Yemenhit a detention centre

under rebel control. The Saudis

said the centre had been used

to store drones. A unreport

listed possible war crimes that

have been committed in the

five-year conflict, which

include the use of indiscrimi-

nate air strikes.

Israelexchanged fire with

Hizbullah, the Lebanese mili-

tia-cum-party backed by Iran,

in their most serious border

clash in years. Israel was re-

sponding to a missile attack

from Hizbullah, which the

militia said was in retaliation

for an Israeli drone attack in

the suburbs of Beirut.

Police in South Africaarrested

300 people after riots directed

at migrants from other parts of

Africa broke out in Johan-

nesburg and Pretoria, killing at

least five people. Violence

against workers from other

areas of the continent is rela-

tively common in South Africa,

which has an official unem-

ployment rate of 29%.

Pope Francisstarted a

week-long visit to

Mozambique, Madagascar and

Mauritius, his second trip to

sub-Saharan Africa.