The world this week 21st - 27th April 2001

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[IMAGE][IMAGE]=09[IMAGE]=09[IMAGE]=09[IMAGE]=09The world this week
=09=09=09=09Apr 26th 2001
=09=09=09=09From The Economist print edition=20
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09New face for Japan
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09AP
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Junichiro Koizumi became Japan=01,s prime minister after winnin=
g the clear=20
support of the Liberal Democratic Party, the main partner in the ruling=20
coalition.=20
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: Japan=01,s new prime ministerE+
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Having annoyed the Chinese by agreeing to sell destroyers, subm=
arines and=20
much else to Taiwan, George Bush further upset them by stating that America=
=20
had an obligation to do =01&whatever it took=018 to help the island defend =
itself.=20
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: Arms for TaiwanE+
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Joseph Estrada, the deposed president of the Philippines, was t=
aken to jail=20
pending his trial on corruption charges.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: Estrada arrested in the PhilippinesE+
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09India and Bangladesh were reported to be sending extra troops t=
o their=20
ill-defined border after the deaths of 19 Indian soldiers in a skirmish.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Australia is considering cutting the quota of 12,000 asylum-see=
kers it takes=20
each year because thousands are entering the country illegally.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Scott Waddle, the captain of an American submarine that sunk a =
Japanese=20
fishing boat with the loss of nine lives, was reprimanded for not following=
=20
=01&proper procedures=018. He left the navy with his rank and pension intac=
t.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Independence delay
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Parties wanting independence for Montenegro, the junior partner=
with Serbia=20
in the Yugoslav federation, won a general election but failed to win the=20
two-thirds of the seats in parliament needed to change the constitution. It=
=20
is unclear if and when a referendum on independence will take place.=20
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: More uncertainty in the Balkans
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09The French government announced plans to oblige any employer la=
ying off 1,000=20
or more workers at a time to pay double the present amount of severance pay=
=20
and offer six months of retraining.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: Rewriting French labour lawE+
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09AP
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09In a bid to draw attention to Chechen rebels fighting for indep=
endence from=20
Russia, a dozen gunmen, most of them Turks, took around 120 people, most of=
=20
them foreign, hostage in a hotel in Istanbul, but later released them=20
unharmed. The gunmen were put in prison.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Ukraine=01,s parliament voted out the country=01,s pro-western =
reforming prime=20
minister, Viktor Yushchenko.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: Ukraine=01,s reformer goesE+
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Reform of the EU=01,s common agricultural policy was set back w=
hen a majority of=20
EU farm ministers rejected a plan gradually to remove subsidies from=20
sugarbeet growers.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Plot thickens
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Internal quarrels within South Africa=01,s ruling party broke i=
nto the open.=20
Steve Tshwete, the security minister, said that three of the most prominent=
=20
ANC members outside the government, Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale and=20
Mathews Phosa, were under police investigation regarding an alleged plot=20
against President Thabo Mbeki.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: South African scandalsE+
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09At a conference on AIDS, attended by some 50 African heads of s=
tate, the UN=01,s=20
secretary-general, Kofi Annan, called for a war chest of $7 billion-10=20
billion a year over an extended period. More than 25m Africans live with HI=
V=20
but current spending on the epidemic in poor countries is only $1 billion a=
=20
year.=20
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09The heads of Nigeria=01,s army, navy and air force all retired =
amid speculation=20
that President Olusegun Obasanjo might be trying to rid the armed forces of=
=20
men loyal to the previous regime.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Israel imposed a total blockade on the West Bank and Gaza befor=
e its=20
independence celebrations on April 26th. Earlier violence brought the death=
=20
of an Israeli doctor in a suicide bombing inside Israel and that of a=20
12-year-old Palestinian at a funeral in Gaza.=20
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: Israeli settlements and the intifada
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09A feminist writer, Nawal el-Saadawi, risks being charged with a=
postasy in=20
Egypt for calling for the abolition of the Islamic inheritance law, and for=
=20
criticising the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. But a French court has thrown o=
ut=20
a case brought by the presidents of Congo-Brazzaville, Chad and Gabon again=
st=20
Fran?ois-Xavier Verschave for writing a book criticising their regimes.=20
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09At the summit
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09EPA
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09The leaders of 34 countries met at the third Summit of the Amer=
icas in Quebec=20
city. All of them except Venezuela=01,s Hugo Chavez backed plans for a=20
free-trade area of the Americas by 2005, and to exclude from future summits=
=20
any country in which democracy had been overthrown. Some 25,000 opponents=
=20
demonstrated against free trade. A few hundred battled police.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: Free traders meet in QuebecE+
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Bob Kerrey, a former Senator and presidential candidate, admitt=
ed that he led=20
a mission in the Vietnam war that killed at least 13 unarmed civilians.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09The United States suspended its drugs-surveillance flights in L=
atin America=20
after a civilian aircraft was shot down by the Peruvian air force, killing =
an=20
American missionary and her baby. An American spy plane had identified the=
=20
aircraft as possibly carrying drugs, but American officials blamed Peru for=
=20
the incident.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09The United States Supreme Court ruled that individuals could no=
t sue states=20
to prevent infringements of federal civil-rights regulations. The suit was=
=20
prompted by Alabama=01,s English-only driving exam which contradicted feder=
al=20
discrimination laws.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09A former Ku Klux Klan member went on trial in Alabama charged w=
ith a 1963=20
church bombing that killed four black girls. The bombing came only months=
=20
after Governor George Wallace had proclaimed =01&segregation forever=018 at=
his=20
inauguration.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Mexico=01,s Senate unanimously approved a constitutional bill g=
ranting autonomy=20
to 10m Indians, in an important step towards peace talks with the Zapatist=
=20
rebels.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09Argentina=01,s president sacked the central-bank governor, oste=
nsibly over a=20
money-laundering scandal. The new governor, Roque Maccarone, is close to=20
Domingo Cavallo, the economy minister.
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09See article: Cavallo=01,s crunchE+
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09SURVEY: SOFTWARE
=09=09=09=09
=09=09=09=09 Find thought-provoking articles about the future of software i=
n the=20
Economist's survey. This essential reading provides a history of open sourc=
e=20
software, details the growing trend towards software leased via the Interne=
t,=20
and explains the battle of operating system platforms. Click here to read=
=20
about the future of software. =20
=09=09=09=09
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