The EconomistNovember 16th 2019 The world this week 92 Israel, which responded with
air strikes. The fighting may
increase the likelihood that the
two main political parties in
Israel will form a unity govern-
ment, breaking two months of
political deadlock.
Hassan Rouhani, Iran’spresi-
dent, claimed that a new oil-
field containing 53bn barrels of
crude had been discovered. If
true, this would increase Iran’s
proven reserves, already one of
the world’s largest, by about a
third. Iran has struggled to
export oil since sanctions were
reimposed by America last
year.The central bank of Zimbabwe
began reissuing Zimbabwean
dollars after a decade-long
hiatus. The new notes are in
effect the country’s third cur-
rency in the past three years.
The government has tried to
stay a step ahead of a shortage
of cash caused by high
inflation and economic
mismanagement.Minority rapportSpain’sgeneral election, the
fourth in four years, gave no
party a majority. The Socialists,
who had been hoping to move
closer to one, actually lost
three seats. They swiftly struck
a deal with the far-left
Podemos party to attempt to
form a coalition. Even
together, the two parties will
need to find support among
several regional parties to get
over the line.Venicewas hit by its worst
floods for half a century. Water
entered St Mark’s Basilica,causing “grave damage”, ac-
cording to the city’s mayor.TheDutchgovernment back-
tracked on previous pledges
and reduced road speed limits
to 100kph (62mph) during the
day to help meet a court-or-
dered reduction in emissions.
Farmers have also been asked
to cut back on livestock in
order to reduce nitrogen.In theBritishelection cam-
paign, Boris Johnson’s Conser-
vative Party got a boost when
Nigel Farage, leader of the
Brexit Party, said he would not
field candidates in the 317 seats
the Tories won in 2017. The
pressure was on Mr Farage to
go further and withdraw from
all constituencies where his
party threatens to split the
Leave vote.Pass the popcorn
The first public hearingswere
held in the inquiry that will
determine whether DonaldTrump should be impeached
for asking the Ukrainian gov-
ernment to dig up political dirt
on Joe Biden. The first witness-
es in the Democratic-led pro-
cess were diplomats with
responsibility for Ukraine.America’s Supreme Court
rejected an appeal by Reming-
ton, a gunmaker, to block a
lawsuit from relatives of the
victims in the Sandy Hook
school massacreof 2012, in
which 20 children and six
adults were killed. The lawsuit
accuses Remington of illegally
marketing combat weapons.An appeal by a murderer
against his life sentence on the
ground that he had already
“died” in hospital was rejected
by a court in Iowa. Benjamin
Schreiber argued that his heart
had stopped during an emer-
gency procedure in 2015. But
the judges concluded that the
convict “is either still alive...or
he is actually dead, in which
case this appeal is moot”.