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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 theThecoronaviruscrisisTheWorldHealthOrganisa-
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 2020China
Rest ofworldConfirmedcases,logscaleSource:JohnsHopkinsCSSE
*Confirmedcasesminusrecoveredanddead1001,10,0 510 1815
Days since 100th case0204060US ItalyGermanyJan 22 Feb 19 Mar 11Britain