The EconomistJune 27th 2020 5
The world this week Politics
Some states in the south and
west of the United States
recorded their biggest daily
rise in cases of covid-19, bring-
ing America’s total to over
2.3m. The governor of Texas,
Greg Abbott, urged people to
stay indoors. He also declared
that the state remained “wide
open for business”.California
recorded new highs in hospital
admissions. Connecticut, New
Jersey and New York are to
quarantinevisitors from
states that are covid hotspots.Donald Trump sacked Geoffrey
Berman as the federal prose-
cutorfor Manhattan. Mr Ber-
man’s office had successfully
prosecuted Mr Trump’s former
lawyer (Mr Berman was re-
cused from the case) and is
investigating his current one,
Rudy Giuliani.Less than a month after the
killing of George Floyd in
Minneapolis, an attempt to
reform police procedures in
Minnesotacame to naught
when Democrats and Repub-
licans failed to reach a compro-
mise in the state legislature.Suriname’spresident, Dési
Bouterse, who has dominated
the country’s politics for more
than 40 years, conceded defeat
in an election held on May
25th. His likely successor is
Chan Santokhi, of the mainly
Indo-Surinamese Progressive
Reform Party. In November a
military court found Mr Bou-
terse guilty of murdering 15
political opponents in 1982.Brazilianpolice arrested a
former aide to Flávio Bolso-
naro, the eldest son of the
president, Jair Bolsonaro, in an
investigation into corruption.
Flávio, a senator, is himself
being investigated for possibleinvolvement in the scheme
when he was a state deputy in
Rio de Janeiro.Brazil’seducation minister,
Abraham Weintraub, resigned
after the Supreme Court
included him in an inquiry of a
criminal scheme to spread
slurs and threats directed at its
judges. Mr Weintraub had
described the judges as “bums”
who should be jailed. He has
flown to America.Singaporecalled an early
election on July 10th. Lee Hsien
Loong, the prime minister, has
said he will step down during
the next parliamentary term.
Negative campaigning is effec-
tively banned, which makes it
hard for the opposition.Almazbek Atambayev, a former
president of Kyrgyzstan, was
sentenced to prison for 11 years
for illegally releasing a crime
boss, who subsequently fled to
Russia. Mr Atambayev was
arrested in August after
throngs of soldiers and police
stormed his compound.Indiaexpelled half the staff at
Pakistan’sembassy in Delhi,
accusing them of spying and
working for terrorists. Paki-
stan’s foreign ministry said it
had responded in kind, telling
half the diplomats at India’s
embassy in Islamabad to leave.After blowing up their joint
liaison office, North Korea
tried to de-escalate tensions
with South Korea by saying it
would not take any further
action. The North had threat-
ened to deploy troops in the
demilitarised zone between
the two countries to punish the
South for letting activists send
pamphlets critical of Kim Jong
Un, the North’s despot, over
the border by balloon.America named four more
Chinese mediaorganisations
operating in the United States
as government foreign mis-
sions. The State Department
said the four—cctv, China
News Service, the People’s Daily
and Global Times—produced
propaganda for the Chinese
Communist Party.The installation of China’s
Beidou navigation systemwas
completed with the placing in
orbit of its final satellite. Bei-
dou, a rival to America’s gps,
has taken two decades to build.China charged twoCanadians
with spying, more than 18
months after they were arrest-
ed. China is widely thought to
be keeping the men in custody
in response to Canada’s deten-
tion of a senior executive of
Huawei following an extradi-
tion request from America.Police in Tanzania arrested
Zitto Kabwe, an opposition
leader. He was charged with
“endangering the peace” after
meeting supporters. To pre-
pare for an election in October
the government has arrested
journalists, closed newspapers
and harassed dissidents.Malawians voted in a re-run of
a presidential election after
courts overturned the results
of a rigged one supposedly won
last year by the incumbent,
Peter Mutharika. Electoral
officials have eight days to
release the count.A suicide-bomber killed two
people in an attack on a
Turkishmilitary base in
Somaliathat was claimed by
al-Shabab, a jihadist group.
Turkey is helping to train
Somali soldiers.Egypt’s president, Abdel-
Fattah al-Sisi, threatened to
intervene in neighbouring
Libya if Turkish-backed mili-
tias captured Sirte, a strategic
port, from Khalifa Haftar, a
rebellious general who is also
backed by Russia. The militias
have been moving towards
General Haftar’s heartland in
the east.Prosecutors from a court in
The Hague said they were
charging Hashim Thaci, the
president of Kosovo, with war
crimes, murder and torture
relating to the period during
and immediately after the war
there in 1999. Mr Thaci had
been about to attend a summit
at the White House, but can-
celled his visit.CoronavirusbriefsTheWorldHealthOrganisation
reported a record increase in
the number of new infections,
bringing the total to more than
9.1m. It expects the 10m mark
to be reached within days.Brazilrecorded another big
surge in cases, bringing its
accumulated total to 1.1m.Officials reimposed a lock-
down in Chennai, the capital
of Tamil Nadu in southern
India, after a surge in deaths.
The number of infections in
Delhi, meanwhile, overtook
that in Mumbai.Saudi Arabia’sstate media
said strict limits would be
placed on the number of pil-
grims allowed to make this
year’s haj. Citizens from other
countries already in Saudi
Arabia may attend, but inter-
national visitors are barred.Novak Djokovicapologised
after he and three other tennis
players contracted covid-19 at a
tournament he was hosting.For our latest coverage of the
virus and its consequences
please visit economist.com/
coronavirus or download the
Economist app.Weekly confirmed deaths by area, ’To 6am GMT June 25th 2020Confirmeddeaths*
Per 100k Total This week
Belgium 84 9,722 47
Britain 63 43,081 928
Spain 61 28,327 1,
Italy 57 34,644 196
Sweden 52 5,209 168
France 45 29,661 149
United States 37 121,819 4,
Netherlands 36 6,097 23
Ireland 35 1,726 16
Peru 26 8,586 1,
Sources: Johns Hopkins University CSSE; UN;
The Economist *Definitions differ by country3020100
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