8 The EconomistOctober 5th 2019
The world this week Politics
Chinastaged a huge parade to
celebrate 70 years of Commu-
nist rule. It involved more than
100,000 civilians, 15,
troops and hundreds of weap-
ons. Some of the equipment
had not been shown in public
before, including the df-
intercontinental ballistic
missile, which can hit any part
of America. But a “white paper”
issued by China said the
country had “no intention” of
challenging the United States,
or supplanting it.In Hong Kong, meanwhile,
thousands of people marked
the occasion as a “day of
mourning” by staging an unau-
thorised march. Some people
later clashed with police in
several locations. A policeman
shot a teenage student in the
chest—the first injury in-
volving live ammunition since
pro-democracy unrest broke
out in the city four months ago.Afghansvoted in a presi-
dential election. The Taliban
had vowed to disrupt the
polling, which nonetheless
was relatively peaceful.
Turnout was extremely low.
The results will not be
announced until November.North Koreaagreed to resume
disarmament talks with Amer-
ica after a hiatus of eight
months. It later tested a mis-
sile, which it said it launched
from a submarine near its
coast into Japanese waters.A court in Pakistansentenced
the brother of Qandeel Baloch,
a social-media star, to life in
prison for her murder. He said
he had killed her to preserve
the family’s honour, after she
posted pictures of herself
online. Activists for women’s
rights had feared he would beacquitted,sincehisparents
hadabsolvedhimofblame,a
factorPakistanicourtsoften
takeintoaccount.Vizcarra’svictory
Peru’spresident,MartínViz-
carra,dissolvedthecountry’s
congress,whichhasobstruct-
edhislegislativeprogramme,
andproposedtoholda con-
gressionalelectioninJanuary.
Congressrefusedtoacceptits
dissolutionandvotedtosus-
pendMrVizcarraaspresident.
It installedthevice-president
inhisplace,butshequitafter
justhoursinthejob.Guyanaisto holdelectionson
March2nd.Thegovernment
losta voteofconfidencelast
December.NextyearGuyanais
expectedtobeginreceiving
revenuefromvastreservesof
oildiscoveredoffshore.The
imfthinksthatitseconomy
maygrowby85%.ProsecutorsinNewYork
allegedthattheyoungerbroth-
eroftheHonduranpresident,
JuanOrlandoHernández,had
accepted$1mfromJoaquín
Guzmán,a Mexicandrugbaron
knownas“ElChapo”,thatwas
intendedforthepresident.Mr
Hernándezsaidtheclaimwas
absurd,andnotedthatprose-
cutorsneverallegedthathe
hadreceivedthemoney.On a mission
Democrats in the House of
Representatives pushed ahead
with an impeachment in-
vestigationof Donald Trump’s
request to the Ukrainian presi-
dent to dig up dirt on the son of
his rival, Joe Biden. Subpoenas
were sent to Mike Pompeo, the
secretary of state, and to Ru-
dolph Giuliani, the president’s
lawyer. In a Twitter meltdown,
Mr Trump claimed the Demo-
crats were staging a “coup”.Bernie Sanderscancelled
events in his campaign for the
Democratic presidential nomi-
nation until further notice,
after he had heart stents insert-
ed to relieve some chest pains.
The 78-year-old has kept up a
gruelling campaign schedule.Ina closelywatchedcase,a
judgeruledthatHarvarddoes
notdiscriminateagainst
Asian-Americansinitsappli-
cationsprocess,findingthatit
passes“constitutionalmuster”.
Theplaintiffsarguedthat
Harvard’saffirmative-action
policyfavoursblackandHis-
panicapplicants.Thematter
willprobablyendupinthe
SupremeCourt.Two borders for four years
Boris Johnson, Britain’sprime
minister, made a new Brexit
offer to the European Union.
His proposal includes customs
checks, but not at the border in
Northern Ireland, plus a regu-
latory border in the Irish Sea.
Mr Johnson is determined to
leave the euon October 31st,
but is hampered by Parlia-
ment’s legal stipulation that he
must ask for an extension if
there is no deal.Brexitisnottheonlytrouble
for Mr Johnson. Hard on the
heels of the controversy sur-
rounding his relationship with
an American businesswoman
when he was mayor of London,
a female journalist accused Mr
Johnson of groping her thigh in
1999, when he was her boss. He
denied it happened. Despite its
leader’s problems theConser-
vative Partyholds a resilient
lead in the polls.Sebastian Kurz and his People’s
Party were the clear winners in
Austria’ssnap election, caused
after his government collapsed
following a scandal connecting
his coalition partners, the
Freedom Party, and Russian
money. However, he is still
short of a majority, and is
casting around for an alterna-
tive to join a new government.Some 20,000 people took to
the streets in Moscowto
demand the release of those
arrested in earlier demonstra-
tions over the exclusion of
opposition figures from a city
council election.A tinderbox
As many as 25 soldiers were
killed and another 60 are
missing after jihadists attacked
two army bases in Mali. Sepa-
rately al-Shabab, a jihadist
group affiliated with al-Qaeda,
attacked a convoy of Italian
troops and an air base used by
American forces in Somalia.
The attacks highlight the
deteriorating security across
the Sahel and into the Horn of
Africa.At a pre-trial hearing lawyers
for Binyamin Netanyahu,
Israel’s prime minister, argued
that he should not be charged
with corruption. The attorney-
general will decide whether to
proceed with the indictments.
Meanwhile, talks between Mr
Netanyahu’s Likud party and
Blue and White, a centrist
party, over forming a govern-
ment have stalled.Hundreds of people protested
in Lebanonas the government
grappled with a worsening
economic crisis. Enormous
debt and shrinking foreign
investment have led to fears
that the Lebanese pound will
be devalued and prices raised.
Iraqisalso took to the streets to
protest against unemployment
and corruption. Security forces
responded with live fire; at
least 18 people were killed and
hundreds wounded.Software developers in Lagos,
Nigeria’smain commercial
city, started a campaign against
harassment by the police, who
single out people carrying
laptops or smartphones for
extortion. The arrests threaten
a boom in startups.Ugandabanned people from
wearing red berets, which are
associated with an opposition
movement led by Bobi Wine.
Mr Wine was recently charged
with “annoying” the president.BritainSource: Politico *Poll of pollsVotingintention*,2019,%Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct010203040
Boris Johnson
elected leaderConservativeLabourLibDem
BrexitParty
Green
SNP