Politics this week
《经济学人》2018年12月15日 刊
Theresa May, Britain’s prime minister, survived a vote of no confidence in her leadership of the Conservative Party. The vote, which she won with the backing of 200 MPs to 117, had been called by a group of Tory rebels opposed to her proposed deal to withdraw from the EU, which does not deliver the hard Brexit that they want. To quell the uprising, Mrs May promised to step down as prime minister before the next election in 2022. She had earlier postponed a crucial vote in Parliament on the deal, which has little support among MPs from all parties.
Emmanuel Macron again bowed to the gilets jaunes protesters who have been thronging French streets for the past month. Having already agreed to cancel a planned increase in fuel duty, the president went further, promising a €10bn ($11.4bn) package to help the hard-up. More demonstrations are promised, but a poll showed that most French voters approved of his offer.
The day after Mr Macron addressed the nation, a gunman, believed to have been on a terrorist watchlist, opened fire on people at the Christmas market in Strasbourg, killing two. The suspect escaped.
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer was chosen as the new leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union. She is a protégé of Angela Merkel, who remains chancellor for now.
Nikol Pashinyan, who was catapulted into the prime ministership in Armenia by a wave of protests earlier this year, enjoyed another big victory when his political bloc won over 70% of the vote in a parliamentary election.
Donald Trump announced that John Kelly would step down as White House chief of staff by the end of the year. Mr Kelly, a former marine general, was credited with bringing a modicum of discipline to the presidential office. Nick Ayers, Mr Trump’s first choice to replace Mr Kelly, turned down the job, saying he wanted to move back to Georgia with his family.
Following the defenestration of Jeff Sessions, Mr Trump nominated William Barr as his new attorney-general. Mr Barr is returning to the job he held for 14 months under George H.W. Bush. He backs the notion of a strong executive, which could provoke a clash with the special counsel’s investigation. Mr Trump’s pick to succeed Nikki Haley as America’s ambassador to the un is Heather Nauert, a former journalist and flack for the State Department.
Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s former lawyer, was sentenced to three years in prison for lying to Congress, among other things. Mr Cohen is co-operating with prosecutors and has alleged that Mr Trump asked him to pay hush money to two women who claim to have had flings with the president. From LearnAndRecord
A court in Rwanda dismissed “baseless” charges of insurrection and forgery brought against Diane Rwigara, a dissident. The prosecution said it would appeal. In 2017 Ms Rwigara was barred from running for election against President Paul Kagame. Also, when she announced her intention to run, hacked naked photos of her promptly appeared on the internet. Mr Kagame won with 98% of the vote.
Joseph Kabila, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, refused to rule out standing for election again in 2023 as allowed by the constitution (though he cannot contest elections scheduled for December 23rd). Mr Kabila, who has ruled since 2001, was supposed to have stood down by the end of 2016.
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At least two people were killed in Togo amid demands by the opposition for constitutional changes to limit the number of terms that presidents can serve. The current leader, Faure Gnassingbé, has run the country since 2005 when he took over from his father, who had ruled since taking power in a coup in 1967 until his death.
Sweden hosted talks between the government of Yemen and the Houthi rebels. The two sides agreed to some confidence-building measures, such as the exchange of thousands of prisoners and the reopening of the airport in Sana’a, the Houthi-controlled capital. But fighting on the ground continues.
Turkey said it would launch a new offensive in Syria against Kurdish militias that are backed by America. The Kurds control swathes of north-east Syria, which borders Turkey. Turkey says the Kurdish militias are part of a terrorist group. The move risks bringing Turkey and America into direct conflict.
Congress, India’s main opposition party, won elections in three states that had previously been controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which runs the national government. The results suggest that next year’s national election will be more competitive than had previously been assumed.
Australia’s parliament approved a law that allows the government to demand that tech firms give access to encrypted online communications, even if the firms have designed their services so that they themselves do not have access to their customers’ conversations. Tech firms said the law is unworkable.
Japan’s parliament voted to allow more than 250,000 foreign workers into the country to help ease a labour shortage. The government insists the measure is not a step towards large-scale immigration, as the new arrivals will only be given five-year visas.
Goodyear, a tyremaker, said it would halt production in Venezuela, blaming economic conditions. It is the latest in a series of international companies to leave the country, which has seen its economy shrink by half since 2014. Workers will receive ten tyres as severance pay.
Cuba announced last-minute changes to unpopular new rules for entrepreneurs, which recently came into effect. Regulations that barred people from having more than one business licence, set an upper limit of 50 patrons in restaurants, and required businesses to deposit 80% of their earnings into bank accounts were dropped or loosened, to general relief.
Dec 13th 2018
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2018年12月15日
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