Politics this week
George Bush toured the Middle East, visiting seven countries in his effort to advance peace between Israelis and Palestinians and to rally Gulf Arabs against Iran. The president promised the Saudis and other Gulf countries more arms, while praising their modest progress towards giving their people more of a democratic say.
In one of the bloodiest weeks for many months in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces killed at least 23 Palestinians, two-thirds of them armed fighters, in an effort to stop them firing rockets at nearby Israeli towns.
A right-wing party, Yisrael Beitenu, quit the Israeli government coalition led by Ehud Olmert, condemning his peace talks with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and cutting the government's majority in the 120-seat parliament from 18 to 7.
After a year of deadlock, the Iraqi parliament passed a law that would restore various rights, including pensions and jobs, to former members of the long-ruling Baath party (bar its more senior levels), prompting the main Sunni alliance in parliament to return to the Shia-led coalition government. Meanwhile, the IMF predicted a good year for Iraq, with growth up 7% and buoyant oil exports.
Political deadlock continued in Kenya after disputed elections. The new parliament, dominated by the opposition, met for the first time, but President Mwai Kibaki continued to resist calls to share power or hold fresh elections. Several more opposition demonstrators were killed by the police.
Prosecutors in South Africa said they would charge Jackie Selebi, the chief of police, with corruption. He has been suspended from duty and resigned as head of Interpol, the international police agency.
The Zambezi and other rivers threatened to flood swathes of Mozambique, where at least 50,000 people have already left their homes. The UN undertook a massive relief effort.
Dr Lula pays a house call
After talks in Havana with Fidel Castro, Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said that the 81-year-old Cuban leader was in “impeccable” health and ready to resume his political role. Shortly afterwards, Mr Castro released a statement explaining why he was still too ill to campaign in parliamentary elections. He has not been seen in public since undergoing stomach surgery 17 months ago.
Two female hostages were released by Colombia's left-wing FARC rebels after being held captive for six years in the jungle. Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, helped broker the deal.
Romney's romp
Mitt Romney received a much-needed boost to his presidential ambitions by winning the Republican primary in Michigan. John McCain came nine percentage points behind in second place, proving again that the opinion polls are not to be trusted in the fluid early stages of the election process. After the vote the party's leading candidates decamped to South Carolina, which holds its Republican primary on January 19th.
The Democrats became embroiled in a row over race following Hillary Clinton's suggestion that Lyndon Johnson and Martin Luther King played equal roles in the civil-rights era. After senior black politicians waded into the debate, Mrs Clinton and Barack Obama accused each other of stirring up trouble ahead of the party's primary in South Carolina on January 26th.
A third-party presidential campaign led by Michael Bloomberg came a step closer when two supporters began circulating a petition to draft him as a candidate. The mayor of New York said he was flattered, but reiterated that he would not join the fray.
A study from the Guttmacher Institute reported that the number of abortions performed in the United States dropped to 1.2m in 2005, the lowest level since 1976. The authors cited several explanations for the fall, including better access to contraception.
Fortress France
President Nicolas Sarkozy said France would open a permanent military base in the United Arab Emirates, its first in a Gulf state and in a country where it has no colonial history. France is conducting a defence review: the decision may signal a shift in policy.
In another blow to Italy's shaky coalition government, the justice minister, Clemente Mastella, resigned after his wife was placed under house arrest as part of a corruption investigation.
Relations between Russia and Britain deteriorated further after Russia said it would stop giving visas to employees of the British Council, a cultural organisation, and forced the council's offices in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg to close. Britain is at odds with Russia over its refusal to deport a former KGB officer to face charges over the poisoning in London of Alexander Litvinenko in late 2006.
Taiwanese straits
In Taiwan's legislative elections, the opposition Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang, trounced the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. Taiwan's president, Chen Shui-bian, resigned as chairman of the DPP, which faces an uphill struggle in March's presidential election.
A four-man suicide-bombing squad attacked Kabul's only five-star hotel, killing at least eight people. Afghanistan's government blamed the Taliban, which threatened further attacks against Western restaurants in Kabul.
On the day a ceasefire agreement between Sri Lanka's government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was formally annulled, more than 30 people were killed in a bomb attack on a bus in the south of the island.
The coalition government in Japan, led by the Liberal Democratic Party, used its majority in the lower house of parliament to push through the renewal of a bill allowing the navy's ships to take part in refuelling operations for the war in Afghanistan. The opposition Democratic Justice Party did not carry out its threat to bring down the government.
Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, visited China for the first time since taking office in 2004. Both countries promised to increase trade and military co-operation.
Sir Edmund Hillary, conqueror of Mount Everest in 1953, died at the age of 88.
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