Welcome to The world this week: Politics
A summary of the world's main events from The Economist.
Also available at http://www.economist.com

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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  IN THE ECONOMIST THIS WEEK -

The al-Qaeda network: eight down, many to go * Enough talk on foreign
aid * European defence * The tobacco settlement * Tony Blair's war *
Messages of hope in America's markets * The trouble with India's
coalition * The unpalatable truth about airlines * The magic of DVDs
* Folk wisdom and the weather *

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ENDGAME IN AFGHANISTAN?

American planes kept up their attacks on the remaining TALIBAN
STRONGHOLD of Kandahar, while Kunduz seemed on the brink of surrender.
The Northern Alliance, King Mohammed Zahir Shah and Pakistan-based
Pushtuns agreed to send representatives to a UN-brokered meeting near
Bonn to discuss the structure of a transitional post-Taliban government.

- - - - - See article: Distantly, the shape of peace
http://TheEconomist.s.maildart.net/link_34858_6659418_1_79944192_60299072_1_6f

Twenty-one countries met in Washington to start to plan the ECONOMIC
RECONSTRUCTION of Afghanistan. The UN said that rebuilding the country
would cost more than $25 billion over 10 years.

President George Bush, addressing troops in Kentucky, gave warnings
that the "most difficult steps" lay ahead: the breaking of al-Qaeda and
the capture of Osama bin Laden. The bounty for his capture was raised
to $25m.

- - - - - See article: Cherchez l'homme
http://TheEconomist.s.maildart.net/link_34857_6659418_1_79944192_60299072_1_6e

THE SAFEST WAY TO TRAVEL

President George Bush signed a long-awaited AVIATION-SECURITY bill. As
many as 28,000 of the people who screen air passengers and their
baggage will become federal employees. The bill also calls for stronger
cockpit doors on aircraft and more armed federal marshals on flights.

An elderly woman in Connecticut died from the inhalation form of
ANTHRAX. A letter to Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont tested positive
for the disease: so did the offices of two more senators.

- - - - - See article: Curiouser and curiouser
http://TheEconomist.s.maildart.net/link_34856_6659418_1_79944192_60299072_1_6d

The United States denounced Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Libya, Syria and
Sudan for having, or seeking to acquire, BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS. The move
accompanied proposals by the Bush administration to strengthen the 1972
Biological Weapons Convention.

- - - - - See article: Where should Mr Bush put his chips now?
http://TheEconomist.s.maildart.net/link_34863_6659418_1_79944192_60299072_1_6b

RASMUSSEN BEATS RASMUSSEN

DENMARK'S centre-right Liberals, led by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, won a
general election, beating the centre-left Social Democrats, led by Poul
Nyrup Rasmussen, the European Union's longest-serving prime minister.

- - - - - See article: Anders Fogh Rasmussen
http://TheEconomist.s.maildart.net/link_34862_6659418_1_79944192_60299072_1_6a

The government of GERMANY'S chancellor, Gerhard Schroder, narrowly won
a parliamentary vote of confidence tied to his promise to send troops
abroad to help in the war against terrorism, but many of his
coalition's Greens, who have a party congress this weekend, continue to
wobble.

- - - - - See article: Still edgy
http://TheEconomist.s.maildart.net/link_34861_6659418_1_79944192_60299072_1_69

Mr Schroder's chief foreign-policy adviser, MICHAEL STEINER, resigned
after losing his temper with a German sergeant who is said to have
failed to get him some caviare during a refuelling stopover.

An ex-Communist, Georgi Purvanov, was elected president of BULGARIA,
against the wishes of the country's prime minister, Simeon Saxe-Coburg,
its ex-king.

- - - - - See article: Up to a point, King Simeon
http://TheEconomist.s.maildart.net/link_34860_6659418_1_79944192_60299072_1_68

In KOSOVO the more moderate ethnic-Albanian nationalists led by Ibrahim
Rugova, who is expected to become the province's president, won a
general election.

After weeks of hesitation, MACEDONIA'S parliament endorsed
constitutional amendments to give the country's ethnic-Albanian
minority more rights.

MIDDLE EAST PEACE EFFORT

Colin Powell, America's secretary of state, heralded a fresh American
effort to end ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN VIOLENCE. Anthony Zinni, a former
commander of American forces in the Middle East, was instructed to help
negotiate a ceasefire, and to remain in the region until his mission
was accomplished.

- - - - - See article: When an irresistable Zinni meets an immovable
Sharon
http://TheEconomist.s.maildart.net/link_34859_6659418_1_79944192_60299072_1_70

Ninety-four suspected ISLAMIC MILITANTS went on trial before an
Egyptian military court. All were charged with belonging to a secret
organisation working against the state; the relatives of some say they
were tortured to obtain confessions.

Five GAZAN CHILDREN were killed by an unexploded Israeli tank shell on
their way to school.

Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, was cleared of treason
charges, and so will run against ROBERT MUGABE in next year's
presidential election. Mr Mugabe, in his campaign against white
farmers, threatened to break up farms larger than 2,000 hectares (4,940
acres).

Daniel arap Moi, Kenya's president, strengthened his standing in the
country by appointing Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Kenya's first president
and independence hero, Joseph Kenyatta, to be a local government
minister.

SYRIA released a handful of political prisoners, some detained since
the mid-1980s, as part of a presidential amnesty. But human-rights
groups estimate that some 1,300 political dissidents are still
detained.

An official report into a $5 billion arms deal in SOUTH AFRICA found no
evidence of widespread corruption, but identified conflicts of interest
and murky goings-on.

- - - - - See article: Gunning for profit
http://TheEconomist.s.maildart.net/link_34866_6659418_1_79944192_60299072_1_6e

MISS NIGERIA became the first black African to win the Miss World
beauty contest.

ARGENTINA MUDDLES ON

More trouble for ARGENTINA'S government, as it struggles to persuade
investors to accept a restructuring of its debt. Domingo Cavallo, the
economy minister, admitted that falling tax revenues meant fiscal
targets agreed with the IMF would be missed. Meanwhile, the Supreme
Court quashed charges of arms smuggling against Carlos Menem, a former
president.

A group representing VENEZUELA'S private sector called a one-day
"strike" in protest at 49 decree-laws issued by President Hugo Chavez,
which include measures to increase royalties on oil production and
limit land ownership.

- - - - - See article: To the barricades
http://TheEconomist.s.maildart.net/link_34865_6659418_1_79944192_60299072_1_6d

In a historic chink in a trade embargo imposed in 1960, three American
firms signed contracts to sell foodstuffs worth about $20m to CUBA.

- - - - - See article: After the storm
http://TheEconomist.s.maildart.net/link_34864_6659418_1_79944192_60299072_1_6c

SPIRITUAL SUPPORT

A group of 35 westerners unfurled a banner in Beijing in support of the
FALUN GONG, a spiritual movement banned in China. The demonstrators,
who came from the United States and Europe, had entered China on
tourist visas. All were deported.

China closed 17,500 INTERNET CAFES, claiming that too many people were
becoming hooked on computer games and pornographic sites. Another
28,000 Internet cafes are to be closely monitored.

The KING OF MALAYSIA, Sultan Salahuddin, died aged 75, leaving 14
children from four marriages. His successor will be chosen from one of
nine traditional rulers who take it in turns to be king.

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The world this week: Politics is a summary of the world's main events
from The Economist. You can read these articles, and many more, at
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