Welcome to Politics this week A summary of the world's main events from The Economist.

Welcome to Politics this week
A summary of the world's main events from The Economist.
Also available at http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCUiD0cLBql0Mo0NTTX0EK 



- IN THE ECONOMIST THIS WEEK -


Hopes for a more liberal PAKISTAN were dealt a blow with the
assassination of Salman Taseer by his police bodyguard. The governor of
Punjab province, the most populous in Pakistan, Mr Taseer was an
outspoken critic of religious intolerance and of the country's harsh
and arbitrary blasphemy law. His murder compounds the woes of the
ruling Pakistan People's Party, which saw its main coalition partner
walk out. - See article
http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCUiD0cLBql0Mo0NTTY0EL

In CHINA brownouts, caused by a shortage of coal, afflicted the
country. In some provinces power stations were down to just a few days
of coal stocks. Government regulations keep coal well under the market
price, reducing incentives to get it out of the ground. Harsh weather
has compounded the problem.

The worst flooding for decades in QUEENSLAND cut off many cities and
towns. Coalmining operations in the Australian state were severely
hampered. - See article
http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCUiD0cLBql0Mo0NTTZ0EM

NOT A GREAT START

HUNGARY took over the rotating presidency of the European Union on
January 1st, amid growing concern over media legislation recently
passed by the country's government that critics say threatens press
freedom. Meanwhile, the EU said it would investigate a number of
"crisis" taxes imposed by Hungary on banks and other firms that are
mainly foreign-owned. - See article
http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCUiD0cLBql0Mo0NTTa0ET

Boris Nemtsov, a prominent figure in the RUSSIAN opposition, was
arrested in Moscow after a demonstration and given a 15-day jail
sentence. A day earlier he had criticised the 14-year prison term
handed to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oil tycoon who had been
convicted of stealing oil. - See article
http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCUiD0cLBql0Mo0NTTb0EU

A food-contamination scandal erupted in GERMANY when traces of dioxin
were found in poultry and eggs. Officials said that the food presented
"no acute health danger".

The rate of value-added tax in BRITAIN went up from 17.5% to 20%. The
opposition Labour Party said it would hit the poorest hardest. Some
economists feared the tax rise would threaten Britain's recovery. The
government said it was necessary to boost Treasury coffers. - See
article
http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCUiD0cLBql0Mo0NTTc0EV

CARNAGE AMONG THE PRAYERS

At least 21 EGYPTIANS, mostly Coptic Christians, were killed by a bomb
in a church in the city of Alexandria, heightening anxiety among
co-religionists across the Middle East who have recently felt
beleaguered, especially in Iraq. It was unclear who perpetrated the
atrocity. Muslim authorities in Egypt and elsewhere in the region
expressed solidarity with their Christian- Arab brethren.

A leading anti-Western Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, who is a crucial
backer of IRAQ'S new coalition government, returned home after three
years in exile in IRAN.

Laurent Gbagbo, who is almost universally deemed to have lost his bid
for re-election as president of COTE D'IVOIRE in late November, refused
to heed the African Union and a string of visiting African leaders
trying to persuade him to go. The Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS), the most influential regional body, aired the prospect
of using military force to evict him. - See article
http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCUiD0cLBql0Mo0NTTd0EW

In the run-up to a referendum on secession in SOUTH SUDAN to be held on
January 9th, the president of Sudan as a whole, Omar al-Bashir, said he
would accept the result if, as expected, the southerners vote to
secede. - See article
http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCUiD0cLBql0Mo0NTTe0EX

Trouble persisted on the streets of towns in TUNISIA, where the
immolation in public of an unemployed youth in December, followed by
his death on January 4th, sparked a wave of protests against
joblessness, inequality and corruption at the top. - See article
http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCUiD0cLBql0Mo0NTTf0EY

DILMA'S WISH LIST

Dilma Rousseff took office as BRAZIL'S president. She promised to
eradicate extreme poverty, control inflation, increase public
investment, improve health, education and public security, open doors
for women in public life and support political and tax reform.

On his last day in office Ms Rousseff's predecessor, LUIZ INACIO LULA
DA SILVA, rejected a request to extradite to Italy Cesare Battisti, a
former member of an extreme leftist faction convicted of murder. Italy
withdrew its ambassador to Brasilia in protest; Mr Battisti's lawyers
said they would apply to Brazil's supreme court for his release from
prison.

The UNITED STATES revoked the visa of VENEZUELA'S ambassador to
Washington in retaliation for the rejection by Hugo Chavez of Larry
Palmer, the nominated American ambassador to Caracas, who had
criticised his government.

VENEZUELA devalued the bolivar for the second time in a year,
abolishing a preferential rate of 2.6 bolivares to the dollar and
unifying the official exchange rate at 4.3.

Faced with massive protests by many of his own supporters, Evo Morales,
BOLIVIA'S socialist president, cancelled an increase in fuel prices of
more than 70%. The government had earlier said that the price rise was
needed to end an unsustainable subsidy and to encourage oil production,
which has been falling. - See article
http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCUiD0cLBql0Mo0NTTg0EZ

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

The 112TH CONGRESS convened in Washington with a cohort of fresh,
mostly Republican, faces. One priority of the leadership in the
Republican-controlled House of Representatives was to start a debate on
repealing Barack Obama's health-care-reform act; a vote on the matter
was set for January 12th. In the Senate the Democrats, who now command
a smaller majority in the chamber, tried to force changes to
parliamentary rules that would narrow the ability of a senator to mount
a vote-delaying filibuster. - See article
http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCUiD0cLBql0Mo0NTTh0Ea

America's gross NATIONAL DEBT passed $14 trillion for the first time,
up by $2 trillion in little over a year. The figure is very close to
the current debt ceiling, which Congress must raise if the government
is to continue borrowing and avoid a possible default. Some Republicans
have insisted they will resist any attempt to increase the debt limit.

As Mr Obama prepared to appoint new advisers to the White House, ROBERT
GIBBS announced that he would step down as the president's press
secretary next month. Mr Gibbs has worked with Mr Obama since 2004,
when he worked on his campaign to become a senator for Illinois.

New state GOVERNORS were sworn into office, including Andrew Cuomo in
New York and (the not-so-new) Jerry Brown in California. - See article
http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCUiD0cLBql0Mo0NTTi0Eb


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- ABOUT THIS E-MAIL -

Politics this week is a summary of the world's main events from The
Economist. You can read these articles, and many more, at
http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCUiD0cLBql0Mo0NTTk0Ed