The Economist - 03.14.2020

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The EconomistMarch 14th 2020 5
The world this week Politics

VladimirPutin,Russia’s

president,saidthathewould

bepreparedtocontinuein

officepast2024,whenhis

fourthandsupposedlyfinal

presidentialtermexpires.The

Russianparliamentvotedthis

weektoamendtheconstitu-

tiontoresettozerothenumber

ofconsecutivetermsthathe

hasalreadyserved.

Thetrialbeganinthe

Netherlandsoffourmen—

threeRussiansanda Ukrai-

nian—whoarechargedwith

involvementintheshooting

downofMalaysianAirlines

flightmh17overeastern

Ukrainein2014.Thefourwere

notincourt,havingrefusedto

turnthemselvesin,butthe

courtdecidedthatthetrialcan

goaheadwithoutthem.

RishiSunak,Britain’snew

chancelloroftheexchequer,

hadbeenexpectedtoincrease

borrowing.Butthescaleof

fiscallooseninginthegovern-

ment’sbudgetwasstillsurpris-

ing.A packageofmeasures

tallieduptoa £30bn($38bn)

splurge,almosthalfofit forthe

emergencyresponsetoco-

vid-19.TheNationalHealth

Servicewillbenefitthemost,

buta reservefundforbusi-

nessesandworkerswillalso

helpwiththeeconomichitthe

viruswillcause.

Bernie burned by Biden

Joe Biden won the Michigan

primary and several other

states in the latest Democratic

contests. Bernie Sanders could

not repeat the surprise win he

chalked up in Michigan four

years ago. Kamala Harris and

Cory Booker, two former candi-

dates, endorsed Mr Biden, who

looks like he has the nomina-

tion all but sewn up.

Harvey Weinsteinwas sen-

tenced to 23 years in prison for

his recent convictions for rape

and sexual assault. The movie

mogul has been cleared of

charges that carry even length-

ier prison terms.

Donald Trumpditched Mick

Mulvaney as his chief of staff,

and named Mark Meadows, a

loyal congressman, as his

replacement. Mr Mulvaney was

the president’s third chief of

staff, but fell foul of his boss

some time ago, especially

when he went off script about

Mr Trump withholding aid

from Ukraine in return for

political favours.

Fighting for her life

Millions of Mexican women

stayed home from work and

school to protest against mur-

ders of women. The strike was

spurred by recent brutal kill-

ings. The country classified

980 murders last year as

“femicides”, that is, committed

because of the victim’s sex, up

from 411 in 2015.

Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’spresi-

dent, dined with Donald

Trump at his Florida estate,

Mar-a-Lago. Brazil and Ameri-

ca signed an agreement on

defence technology that could

lead to more American pur-

chases of Brazilian weaponry.

Guyana’schief justice blocked

the Elections Commission

from declaring the result of a

general election in the coun-

try’s biggest electoral district

after foreign observers said

vote counting had “lacked

credibility and transparency”.

Initial results gave victory to

the government.

Circles of power

Both the incumbent, Ashraf

Ghani, and his main electoral

opponent, Abdullah Abdullah,

were sworn in as president of

Afghanistanin rival inaugura-

tion ceremonies. In the

meantime, talks between

Afghan politicians and the

insurgents of the Taliban,

which had been due to start on

March 10th, are on hold, as the

Thecoronaviruscrisis

TheWorldHealthOrganisa-

tionofficially declared

covid-19 to be a pandemic:

“We have rung the alarm bell

loud and clear.”

America announced atravel

banon visitors from Europe

(except Britain and Ireland).

The lockdown in northern

Italywas extended to the

whole country. Most shops

were ordered to close.

In Germany, Angela Merkel

said that 60-70% of the coun-

try’s population may contract

the disease at some point.

Xi Jinping said there had

been a positive turn to con-

tain covid-19 in the province

of Hubei. Outside Hubei,

Chinareported three days

with no newly confirmed

cases of local infection.

The central bank of Nigeria

will, in effect, ban imports of

hand sanitiser. The governor

said this would boost local

production.

two sides argue about a

planned prisoner exchange.

Myanmar’sarmy vetoed

constitutional amendments

that would have reduced its

political power. The ruling

National League for Democra-

cy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi,

had proposed shrinking the

proportion of mps appointed

by the army and making it

easier to amend the constitu-

tion, among other things.

North Korealaunched several

missiles into the Sea of Japan

in an apparent military drill. It

was its second missile test in

the space of a week.

Lebanese bind

Mired in economic crisis,

Lebanondid not repay a $1.2bn

Eurobond, defaulting on its

debts for the first time. Foreign

reserves have plummeted and

unemployment is rising. The

government will try to negoti-

ate a restructuring with its

creditors, as it struggles with

debt that is about 170% of gdp.

Two Americans and a Briton

were killed by a rocket attack

on a military base near Bagh-

dad. Tensions have been high

in Iraq, as Iranian-backed

militia have sworn revenge for

America’s assassination of a

senior Iranian commander at

Baghdad airport in January.

Prince Ahmed bin Abdel-Aziz,

a brother of Saudi Arabia’s

King Salman, and Prince

Muhammad bin Nayef, a neph-

ew of his who was previously

the crown prince, were arrest-

ed with several other senior

figures. The arrests were pre-

sumably ordered by the cur-

rent crown prince, Muhammad

bin Salman, who runs the

show. This suggests that oppo-

sition to the crown prince’s

authoritarian ways may be

stirring in rival royal circles.

Abdalla Hamdok, the prime

minister of Sudan, survived a

gun-and-bomb attack on his

motorcade. The assassination

attempt highlights the precari-

ousness of the country’s transi-

tion towards democracy.

Activecases*byweek,‘

To March11th 2020

China

Rest ofworld

Confirmedcases,logscale

Source:JohnsHopkinsCSSE

*Confirmedcasesminusrecoveredanddead

100

1,

10,

0 510 1815

Days since 100th case

0

20

40

60

US Italy

Germany

Jan 22 Feb 19 Mar 11

Britain