The world this week: Politics 12th

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[IMAGE][IMAGE]=09[IMAGE]=09[IMAGE]=09[IMAGE]=09Politics this week
=09=09=09=09May 17th 2001
=09=09=09=09From The Economist print edition =20
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Con brio
=09=09=09=09
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=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09EPA
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=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Silvio Berlusconi and his centre-right coalition won majorities=
in both the=20
lower house and the Senate in Italy. He promised radical solutions to the=
=20
country=01,s problems=01*of which (though no promises here) his own conflic=
ts of=20
interest are one.=20
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: Berlusconi=01,s triumph, and after E+
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09America=01,s president, George Bush, unveiled a national energy=
strategy. It=20
called for more coal mines, oil refineries and nuclear reactors. Critics sa=
id=20
he had neglected conservation.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: Mr Bush=01,s new energy planE+
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09The United States and Britain drafted a new resolution on sanct=
ions against=20
Iraq, to limit imports with a military use even more strictly but allowing=
=20
all others to enter freely while retaining financial control. China, France=
=20
and Russia, all critical of the current sanctions, seemed likely to support=
=20
the new plan in the UN Security Council.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Battling on
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Palestinians marked the anniversary of Israel=01,s creation wit=
h protests. Four=20
Palestinians and an Israeli woman were killed. The Israeli army came close =
to=20
admitting that it had earlier killed five Palestinian policemen in error.=
=20
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: Giving Israel=01,s army its head=20
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09An Iranian airliner crashed in the country=01,s mountainous nor=
th. Iran=01,s=20
minister of transport, his two deputies and several members of parliament=
=20
were among the dead.
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=09=09=09=09Amr Musa, who has been a forceful foreign minister of Egypt, be=
came=20
secretary-general of the torpid Arab League.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09A new government of national unity in Macedonia gave ethnic-Alb=
anian rebels a=20
=01&final warning=018 to end their uprising, but was met by renewed gun bat=
tles in=20
the north of the country.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Representatives of the government and rebels in Sierra Leone si=
gned a=20
tentative agreement in Freetown. The rebels said they would disarm if the=
=20
pro-government militia did so too. They also released 198 child-soldiers an=
d=20
said more would follow.=20
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: A pause in Sierra Leone=01,s warE+
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Court reports
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09The execution of Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, was=
postponed=20
until June 11th when it emerged that the FBI had failed to disclose thousan=
ds=20
of pages of evidence. Louis Freeh, the bureau=01,s boss, admitted to Congre=
ss=20
that a =01&serious error=018 had been made.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: An apology to the FBIE+
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09General Wojciech Jaruzelski, Poland=01,s last communist leader,=
went on trial in=20
Warsaw, accused of ordering soldiers to fire on shipyard workers in 1970,=
=20
when he was defence minister.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09An Iranian appeals court cut a ten-year sentence imposed on Akb=
ar Ganji in=20
January to six months. Mr Ganji, convicted for undermining national securit=
y,=20
is a campaigning journalist who named a former intelligence minister as bei=
ng=20
behind the murder of dissident intellectuals.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09No to violence
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Electing a regional parliament, Basque voters clobbered the sep=
aratist gunmen=20
of ETA, but snubbed Spain=01,s prime minister too by strongly supporting th=
e=20
non-violent nationalists.=20
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: After Spain=01,s Basque election E+
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Talks between the EU and the most advanced applicant countries =
have been=20
postponed. Germany wants to limit movement of workers from Eastern Europe,=
=20
and Spain fears losing regional funds to the new members.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Canada=01,s opposition Alliance split. Eight of its 66 members =
of Parliament=20
called for Stockwell Day, the Alliance=01,s embattled leader, to resign, an=
d=20
said they would meet as a separate parliamentary group.
=09=09=09=09
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=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09AP
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=09=09=09=09Supporters of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Philippines=01, new =
president, have=20
won control of the Senate, according to exit polls.=20
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: The Philippines=01, electionsE+
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09As a =01&reward=018 to the military government in Myanmar for h=
aving talks with=20
Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader, Japan offered a grant of $29m=20
towards the cost of a hydro-electric plant in the east of the country.
=09=09=09=09
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