8 The EconomistAugust 31st 2019
1The world this week Politics
Boris Johnson, Britain’sprime
minister, asked the queen to
suspend Parliament soon after
it returns on September 3rd.
The move caught opposition
parties, and many of Mr John-
son’s own Conservative mps,
off guard. The timing of the
move, though perfectly legal,
was designed to squeeze the
already-tight timetable for mps
who want to block a no-deal
Brexit. Parliament will not
reassemble until October 14th,
with votes on the Queen’s
Speech in the following week.
With Britain due to leave the
euon October 31st, Mr John-
son’s claim that any new deal
can be passed in the remaining
time is unrealistic.Reaction to the suspension of
Parliamentwas split along
Brexit lines. John Bercow, the
Speaker of the Commons and a
Remainer, called it a “constitu-
tional outrage”. Jacob Rees-
Mogg, the Leader of the House
and an ardent Leaver, said it
was a “completely proper
constitutional procedure”.Italy’scentre-left Democratic
Party and the populist Five Star
Movement reached an agree-
ment to form a new coalition
government that would see
Giuseppe Conte remain prime
minister. Mr Conte recently
quit his job after Matteo Salvi-
ni, the hard-right leader of the
Northern League, withdrew his
support from the government.
The deal keeps Mr Salvini out
of power. He had served as
interior minister, overseeing a
crackdown on migrants.A Russianman was arrested in
Berlinon suspicion of assassi-
nating aChechenexile in one
of the city’s parks. The victim,
Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, had
fought Russian troops duringthe Chechen insurgency and
was considered a terrorist by
the Kremlin, which denied any
involvement in the killing.Table talk
Iran’sforeign minister,
Muhammad Javad Zarif, met
President Emmanuel Macron
of France on the sidelines of
theg7 summit in Biarritz. Mr
Macron tried to arrange talks
between Donald Trump and
Iran’s president, Hassan
Rouhani. Mr Trump appeared
tempted, but Mr Rouhani said
there would be no negotiations
until American sanctions on
Iran are lifted.Hizbullah threatened to launch
a “surprise” attack onIsrael.
TheLebanesemilitia-cum-
political party blamed Israel
for two drones that crashed in
the southern suburbs of Beirut,
one of which damaged a Hiz-
bullah office. Separately, Israel
said it thwarted anIranian
drone attack with air strikes in
Syria.Sudan’snew prime minister,
Abdalla Hamdok, said his
country needs $8bn in foreign
aid over the next two years to
fix the crippled economy.
Meanwhile, Sudan’s newly
created sovereign council
declared a state of emergency
in Port Sudan. Clashes between
tribes in the city have killed at
least 16 people.Moving home
The Indonesiangovernment
announced that it would relo-
cate the country’s capital from
Jakarta to the Indonesian part
of Borneo. It has selected a site
in the province of East Kali-
mantan and hopes to begin
construction next year.South Korea’ssupreme court
overturned part of an appeals-
court verdict in the bribery
case of Lee Jae-yong, the de
facto boss of Samsung, who
had been given a suspended
sentence for seeking favours
from Park Geun-hye, a former
president. It said that the lower
court’s definition of what
constituted bribery was toonarrow, and that three expen-
sive horses which Samsung
gave to the daughter of the
president’s confidante were
bribes. The ruling is a blow for
Mr Lee. The court also ordered
a retrial of Ms Park’s case. She
had been given a 25-year sen-
tence for abusing her power.A row betweenJapanand
South Koreaover compensa-
tion for South Koreans forced
to work in Japanese factories
during the second world war
intensified. South Korea pulled
out of an intelligence-sharing
pact with Japan over its refusal
to honour South Korean court
rulings. It also conducted
military exercises near islands
that it controls but Japan
claims.InIndia, a crackdown on cor-
ruption was criticised by some
for unfairly targeting political
enemies of the rulingbjpparty.
Police recently arrested a for-
mer finance minister under
the previous government for
influence peddling.Australia’sopposition Labor
Party came under pressure to
answer allegations that it tried
to hide a donation in 2015 from
a Chinese property developer,
who has since been stripped of
permanent residency on suspi-
cion of working for the Chi-
nese Communist Party.The first Catholic bishop was
ordained inChinaunder a new
arrangement between the state
and the Vatican which gives
both a say in appointing prel-
ates. Around half of China’s
12m Catholics belong to a body
supervised by the government,
while the other half swear
allegiance only to Rome. Bish-
ops must register with the
official church, but Antonio
Yao Shun’s ordination in Inner
Mongolia also received the
pope’s blessing.The courts have their say
A federal judge blocked Mis-
souri’s recently enacted ban on
abortionsafter eight weeks of
pregnancy from coming into
effect. Similar attempts to
restrict abortion were recentlyobstructed by the courts in
Arkansas and Ohio.Kirsten Gillibranddropped
out of the race to become the
Democratic candidate for
president, the biggest name to
do so, so far. Ms Gillibrand, a
senator from New York, had
struggled to gain much
traction in a crowded field.Fanning the flamesAs fires raged in the Brazilian
Amazon, the presidents of
Brazil and France directed
insults at each other. Emman-
uel Macron, the French leader,
accused Jair Bolsonaro, his
Brazilian counterpart, of lying
when he promised to help
protect the climate and biodi-
versity. Mr Bolsonaro decried
Mr Macron’s “colonialist
stance”. g7 countries offered
Brazil $22m to fight the fires.
Mr Bolsonaro said he would
reject it unless Mr Macron
apologised, though he accept-
ed $12m in aid from Britain and
sent the armed forces to help
fight the blazes.Ecuadorimposed a visa re-
quirement on Venezuelans
fleeing the chaos in their coun-
try. Migrants now need to carry
a passport and show they do
not have a criminal record.
Chile and Peru have imposed
similar restrictions. Thou-
sands of Venezuelans rushed
to cross the Ecuadorean border
before the rule took effect.At least 26 people died in a fire
at a bar in Coatzacoalcos, a port
city on Mexico’seast coast.
Armed men shut the exits and
set fire to the entrance hall. The
country’s president, Andrés
Manuel López Obrador, sug-
gested that the authorities may
have colluded.