2019-08-24 The Economist Latin America

The EconomistAugust 24th 2019 5

1

The world this week Politics

Giuseppe Conte, Italy’sprime

minister, resigned after Matteo

Salvini, the leader of the North-

ern League party, withdrew his

support for the coalition gov-

ernment. The coalition’s other

party, the Five Star Movement,

must now try to form a new

government. If that fails, Italy

may face a general election.

An Italian prosecutor ordered a

ship carrying around 80 illegal

migrantsto dock after some of

the passengers jumped into the

sea. The ship, operated by a

Spanish charity, had been held

off the Italian coast for three

weeks because Mr Salvini, who

is also Italy’s interior minister,

refused it entry to a port.

International radiation mon-

itors confirmed they had de-

tected a recent accident near

the Russianport of Arkhan-

gelsk, believed to involve a

nuclear-powered cruise mis-

sile. Separately, and despite

worries about safety, Russia

launched the world’s first

floating nuclear-power plant,

which will power its eastern

Arctic region.

Poland’sdeputy justice min-

ister resigned amid claims that

he had aided a smear campaign

against judges deemed insuffi-

ciently loyal to the ruling Law

and Justice party. The euhas

launched legal proceedings

against Poland for interfering

with the independence of the

judiciary.

Boris Johnson, Britain’snew

prime minister, wrote to

Donald Tusk, the president of

the European Council, to urge

that the Irish “backstop”, a

means of avoiding a hard

border with Ireland post-

Brexit, be removed from Brit-

ain’s withdrawal agreement

withtheeu. MrTusk’sre-

sponsewasnegative.Angela

Merkel,theGermanchancel-

lor,suggestedthatMrJohnson

had 30 daystocomeupwithan

alternative.EmmanuelMac-

ron,theFrenchpresident,

insistedthatthebackstopis

notopentorenegotiation.

Exit,stageleft?

Ina televisedspeech,Nicolás

Maduro,thepresidentofVene-

zuela, confirmedthatwithhis

permissionsenioraideshave

beenholdingdiscussionswith

Americanofficialsformonths.

Thatstokedspeculationthat

Americamightbediscussinga

dealtoremoveMrMaduro,

whosesocialistpolicieshave

ruinedVenezuela.Theunhas

reportedthat20%ofthe

populationismalnourished.

Argentina’sfinanceminister

resignedinthewakeofthe

marketturmoilthatfolloweda

triumphalshowingbythe

populist-Peronistpresidential

ticketina pre-electionvote.

Theimfheldtalkswiththe

governmentabouta $57bn

bail-outpackage,whichcould

beinjeopardyif thepopulists

winOctober’sactualelection.

SãoPaulowasshroudedin

smogcausedbyfiresragingin

theAmazonrainforest

2,700kmaway.Datafrom

Brazil’snationalspacecentre

haveshownan84%riseinthe

numberoffiresintheAmazon

thisyearcomparedwithlast.

Withoutevidence,JairBolso-

naro,Brazil’spresident,ac-

cusedgreengroupsoflighting

thefirestomakehimlookbad.

Fingers crossed

The junta in Sudansigned a

power-sharing deal with oppo-

sition leaders that could pave

the way for civilian rule. A

transitional government is to

run things until elections are

held in 2022. Some worry that

the generals, who unlike the

civilians have lots of guns and

money, will spoil the deal.

Sudan’s former dictator, Omar

al-Bashir, appeared in a court-

room in Khartoum, where he is

on trial for corruption.

Nigeriamarkedthethirdyear

withouta documentedcaseof

polio,whichcrippleschildren.

Whenit iscertifiedasfreeof

thevirus,thewholeofAfrica

willbeconsideredpolio-free.

OnlyPakistanandAfghanistan

stillharbourthedisease.

GibraltarreleasedanIranian

tankerthathadbeendetained

onsuspicionofshippingoilto

SyriainviolationofEuropean

sanctions.Americathreatened

sanctionsonanycountrythat

helpstheship.Greece,its

stateddestination,saidit

wouldnotassistthevessel.

Dozensofcivilianswerekilled

ina Russian-backedoffensive

bytheSyriangovernment

againstthelastbigrebel

stronghold.Government

soldiersmovedintothetown

ofKhanSheikhoun,whichlies

onanimportantsupplyroute

andhasbeenunderattack

sinceApril.Turkey,which

backssomeoftherebels,said

oneofitsconvoyswashit.

DonaldTrumpsaidhewould

probablyreleasehisplanfor

peacebetweenIsraelandthe

PalestiniansaftertheIsraeli

electiononSeptember17th.

The killing machine

Islamic State claimed respon-

sibility for a bomb at a wedding

in Kabul. At least 80 people

died; it was the worst attack in

the Afghancapital since Janu-

ary 2018. iswas not represent-

ed at America’s peace talks

with the Taliban; a deal under

which most American troops

will leave Afghanistan is said

to be close.

A policeman and a suspected

militant were killed in a gun-

fight in Indian-administered

Kashmir, the first reported

deaths since the government

recently ended the region’s

decades-old special status.

India’sChandrayaan-

spacecraft began its orbit of the

Moon. The country’s space

agency said it will touch down

on September 7th, becoming

the first-ever mission to land at

the Moon’s south pole.

More protests were held in

Hong Kong. The largest was a

rally that passed off peacefully

and which organisers claimed

was attended by 1.7m people.

Twitter removed 936 accounts

from its platform which it said

were based on the Chinese

mainland and had tried to

sabotage the territory’s

democracy movement.

Chinareacted furiously to the

American government’s formal

approval of the sale of 66 f-

fighter jets, worth $8bn, to

Taiwan. China said the deal

undermined its security in-

terests and threatened Ameri-

can companies involved in the

sale with sanctions.

Flexing its military muscle

America’s test of a medium-

range cruise missileelicited

angry responses from China

and Russia. The test was con-

ducted just weeks after Ameri-

ca officially left the Intermedi-

ate-Range Nuclear Forces

Treaty, claiming that Russia

was not sticking to the rules.

Some Democrats renewed their

call to boycott Israel after two

American congresswomen

were barred from entering the

country because they support

sanctions against Israel.

How serious was Donald

Trump when he said he wanted

America to buy Greenland?

The president appeared to be

joking when he posted a

picture on Twitter of a golden

Trump skyscraper imposed on

the Danish territory’s

landscape. But then he can-

celled a state visit to Denmark

because, he said, the prime

minister had no interest in

discussing the purchase and

had been “nasty” to him.