Page 6 - The Economist Asia January 2018

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The world this week The Economist January 27th 2018
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Sinn Fein’s new president will Children, a charity, in the city
Politics Court found that the bound- be Mary Lou McDonald, who ofJalalabad, killing27 people
aries ofthe state’s congressio- will replace Gerry Adams in total. Save the Children
nal districts had been config- when he steps down at a party suspended its operations in
ured to favourRepublicans meetingin February. Ms Mc- Afghanistan in response.
and ordered that they be re- Donald is an MP in Ireland’s
drawn soon forthis year’s parliament (the nationalist America imposed sanctions
mid-term elections. It is the party’s leaderin Northern on various Chinese and North
second time this yearthat a Ireland is Michelle O’Neill). Korean companies and indi-
state has been found explicitly viduals it said were helping
to have gerrymandered its Down, but not out? North Korea’s nuclearpro-
congressional map along Afederal appeals court in gramme. America and Japan
partisan lines (the otherstate Brazil upheld the conviction also named several ships that
beingNorth Carolina). by a lowercourt ofthe former they said were helpingthe
president, Luiz Inácio Lula da North evade restrictions on its
PatrickMeehan, a Republican Silva, on charges ofcorruption oil imports.
Backed by airstrikes, Turkish congressman from Pennsylva- and money-laundering. Lula is
troops attacked the Syrian nia, was removed from the the early front-runnerin Bra- ASwedish citizen, Gui Minhai,
region ofAfrin, which is con- House Ethics Committee, zil’s presidential election, to be was seized in China by plain-
trolled by a Kurdish militia which has been investigating held in October, but the ap- clothes police in the presence
allied with America. Recep claims ofsexual harassment, peals court’s decision may bar ofSwedish diplomats who
Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish followingan allegation that he him from running. He says he were escortinghim on a train.
president, said Turkey will had used public money to is innocent and that the char- MrGui was amongfive Hong
extend its offensive to the settle claims ofmisconduct ges are politically motivated. Kong-based booksellers who
town ofManbij, which could brought by a formeraide. were snatched by Chinese
bringit into direct conflict with Bolivia’s president, Evo agents in 2015. He was released
American troops in the area. She’s not quite there yet Morales, said he will askthe last October, with restrictions
Delegates from Germany’s legislative assembly to repeal on his movement, and was
Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt’s Social Democratic Party nar- the new criminal code after reportedly on his way to
president, said he would run rowly endorsed an outline weeks ofprotests by doctors Beijingfora medical examina-
forre-election. He won’t face coalition agreement with and othergroups against it. tion at the Swedish embassy.
much competition. Under Angela Merkel’s Christian The law punishes medical
pressure from the government, Democrats. Amonth ofde- workers guilty ofmalpractice China said 17.2m Chinese
the last two majorchallengers tailed negotiations will now with jail sentences ofup to babies were born in 2017,
called offtheircampaigns. start, but a formal agreement nine years. about 630,000 fewerthan the
will still have to be endorsed yearbefore. The drop occurred
Olusegun Obasanjo, a former by a postal ballot ofall party Venezuela’s constituent as- despite the endingin 2016 of
president ofNigeria, called on members. That remains a big sembly, a body created to the country’s long-standing
the current president, Muham- obstacle. bypass the opposition-con- and highly coercive one-child-
madu Buhari, not to run for a trolled legislature, announced per-couple policy and its re-
second term next year. It is the The SpeakerofCatalonia’s that presidential elections will placement by a limit oftwo
strongest signal yet that Mr parliament proposed that be held by the end ofApril. children formost families.
Buhari may fail to garner Carles Puigdemont be reap- Although the government is
enough support to win his pointed as leaderofthe re- responsible forhyperinflation
party’s nomination. gion’s government, threat- and shortages ofbasic goods,
eninga fresh crisis with Spain, the president, Nicolás Maduro,
Aformerwarlord in the as he is in exile and faces arrest is expected to win re-election.
Central African Republic was forsedition ifhe returns. The government has banned
jailed aftera conviction for his the most popularopposition
involvement in multiple mur- leaders from runningforoffice.
ders. It is the first such convic-
tion since a coup in 2012. No place like home
Bangladesh delayed the start
Shut and open ofthe planned repatriation of
America’s government was Rohingya refugees to Myan-
briefly shut down afterDemo- mar, on the ground that it had
crats and Republicans failed to not compiled a list ofthose Researchers in China created
agree on a spendingbill. They ready to return. It is not clear two cloned monkeys using
eventually reached a compro- how many ofthe 650,000 the nuclear-transfertechnique
mise that promises a vote on Rohingyas who fled an army- employed to make Dolly the
the fate ofthe “DREAMers”, backed pogrom want to go sheep. Previous monkey
migrants who came to Ameri- In Paris the RiverSeine burst home, orwhetherthey would clones have been created by
ca illegally as children. Many its banks followingexception- be safe ifthey did so. embryo splitting, an easier
Democrats opposed the com- ally heavy rains. There are trick. Until now, nucleartrans-
promise, which funds the fears that waterlevels in the In two separate incidents, ferhas not worked in primates.
government only until Febru- French capital could exceed Islamic militants stormed an Its success this time is leading
ary 8th, fearingthey had given those of2016, when the city expensive hotel in Kabul and to speculation that humans
up a bargainingchip. endured serious flooding. the offices ofSave the will be next. 1