The Economist december 14th-20th 2013 [antikvár]

The world this week The Economist December 14th 2013 Politics Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first post-apartheid president, died on December 5th at the age of 95- Leaders from around the world attended a memorial service at a football stadium in Soweto. In a speech Barack Obama called Mr Mandela "a giant of history", who "reminds us that it always seems impossible until it is done". The body of Mr Mandela was taken to he in state in Pretoria, South Africa's capital, before his funeral and burial at Ounu, his home village, onDecemberisth. At the service Mr Obama shook hands with Raiil Castro, Cuba's president. Some described it as a Mandela-like symbol of reconciliation; others as mere politeness. A Florida Republican called it "a propaganda coup for the tyrant". The White House insisted it had not been planned. Rvo French soldiers were killed during a skirmish in the Central African Republic. They were part of an international peacekeeping mission sent to stop civil war. François Hollande, the French president, has defended the deployment of French troops, saying that it was necessary to "avoid carnage". America and Britain suspended "non-lethal" military aid to Syrian rebels in the north of the country after Islamist extremists seized crossings on the border with Turkey A Libyan tribal militia that has blocked 80% of the country's oil shipments for the past three months promised that exports would resume shortly. Learning to get along Negotiators in Congress, led by Patty Murray for the Democrats and Paul Ryan for the Republicans, crafted a compromise two-year budget deal of modest deficit cuts and spending rises that averts another government shutdown. The deal is funded in part by raising government fees on airlines (the tricky parlance of the budget talks avoided the word "tax") and reducing some payments to providers of Medicare treatment. The approval rating for Congress averagedi4% in 2013, according to Gallup, the lowest annual average in the polling organisation's history. Hauled away North Korea's state news agency confirmed that the once-powerful uncle of the country's young dictator, Kim Jong Un, has been dismissed. North Korean media broadcast images of Jang Sung Taek being removed from a party meeting by uniformed guards. The agency accused Mr Jang of forming "factions" against the state, corruption and "depraved" acts. India's Supreme Court unexpectedly upheld a law dating back to i860 that criminalises gay sex, reversing an order in 2009 by a lower court in Delhi that had legalised homosexual acts. The Supreme Court said it was for parliament to legislate on the matter, which is unlikely before next year's election. Human-rights campaigners were dismayed. Australia's highest court overturned a local law allowing gay marriage in Canberra, the capital, because it conflicts with federal legislation. The ruling nullifies the 27 same-sex weddings that were held in the few days that they were legal. The Supreme Court in Bangladesh upheld the death sentence for Abdul Quader Mol-lah, a leading member of Bangladesh's biggest Islamic party, for crimes against humanity committed during the war of secession from Pakistan in 1971. He had been sentenced to life in prison, but a populist backlash ensued and the court ruled that he should be executed. Many believe the trials of Mr Mollah and other Islamists are politically motivated. The head of a prominent Muslim seminary in Pakistan proclaimed that polio vaccinations are not un-Islamic and urged Pakistanis to immunise their children. Some Islamist groups oppose the vaccinations, accusing health workers of being part of a Western plot somehow to sterilise Muslims. Fraying tempers Riot police violently tried to clear pro-Western protesters fi:om Independence Square in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. The police were eventually forced to withdraw and protesters rebuilt barricades that had been demohshed by chainsaws and bulldozers. America severely criticised the police action. The interior minister said that the square will not be stormed again. Italy's centre-left Democrats elected a new leader. Matteo Renzi, the reformist mayor of Florence, won by a landslide. To lead the party he brought in seven women and five men with an average age of 35, marking a generational shift for Italian politics that will shake up Enrico Letta's fragile governing coalition. Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, dissolved ri a Novosti, the state-owned news agency, and Voice of Russia, an international radio station, in a move reminiscent of the Soviet era. Both had been (relatively) liberal beacons in Russia's uninspiring media scene. A new broadcaster is to be launched called Russia Today, fronted by an anti-Western and homophobic presenter. A slow burner Mexico's Senate approved a far-reaching energy reform, dismantling the state's monopoly over oil and gas dating back 75 years and offering licences and production-sharing to private companies. The left-wing opposition wants the reform to be put to a referendum in 2015. After a one-sided campaign Venezuela's ruling socialist party and its allies won almost 50% of the vote in municipal elections. The opposition got 44%, dashing its hopes of turning the vote into a plebiscite on the erratic and increasingly totalitarian rule of President Nicolas Maduro. Strikes by police spread to 14 of Argentina's 23 provinces, prompting looting and riots in which 12 people have died. The government has sent federal forces to some provinces. Colombia's inspector-general, a functionary charged with penalising maladministration, ordered the dismissal of Bogotá's left-wing mayor, Gustavo Petro, over a botched attempt last year to change rubbish-collection contracts. The decision was widely condemned, even by foes of Mr Petro, as politically motivated and arbitrary.