Politics this week

Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed as Thailand's prime minister in a military coup in 2006, returned to Bangkok after 17 months in exile. He faces corruption charges and is banned from politics (from which he says he has retired anyway). The ruling People's Power Party, which supports him, faced a new legal threat after the Election Commission disqualified the PPP's Yongyuth Tiyapairat, the parliament's speaker, for buying votes in last December's election. If Mr Yongyuth is found to have acted for the party, it might be disbanded. See article

The New York Philharmonic played a concert in Pyongyang, accompanied by an entourage that was the biggest American delegation ever to visit North Korea. Besides Dvorak, Gershwin and Wagner, the orchestra played the “Star-Spangled Banner”, which was heard respectfully. On a visit to Beijing, Condoleezza Rice, America's secretary of state, urged China to exert pressure on North Korea to end its nuclear programme. See article

In South Korea, Lee Myung-bak was inaugurated as the country's 17th president following a landslide victory in December's election. His celebrations were marred by the resignation of three of his nominees for cabinet posts over controversial property dealings. See article

Robert Gates, America's defence secretary, visited India to bolster military ties between the two countries and promote American arms sales. As he arrived, India announced that it had successfully tested a new type of ballistic missile.

Showdown

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama sparred over NAFTA and Iraq at a debate. It was the last time the pair will meet before Ohio and Texas hold presidential primary elections on March 4th, which will probably seal the nomination for Mr Obama if he wins.

Conservatives rallied to the defence of John McCain after the New York Times ran a story detailing the Arizona senator's ties to a female lobbyist nine years ago. The newspaper was criticised for hinting, but not quite alleging, that the pair were romantically involved. See article

Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, apparently ruled himself out as an independent presidential candidate after months of nudges and winks. There was no such coyness from Ralph Nader, who announced that he would run for president again. Asked why, the one-time scourge of corporate America replied that “The forces of injustice never take a holiday”. Mr Nader won 0.38% of the popular vote in the 2004 presidential election.

AP

The Supreme Court heard an appeal from Exxon Mobil against the precedent of compensation awarded to the 33,000 people whose livelihoods were impaired by the Exxon Valdez disaster. The tanker spilled its oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989. In 1994 a jury allotted $2.5 billion in punitive damages to those who were affected, around a fifth of whom are now dead.

Keeping it in the family

Raúl Castro was designated as Cuba's new president, succeeding his ailing brother, Fidel. The new vice-president is José Ramón Machado Ventura, another veteran Communist. In a speech, Raúl said he would streamline the government and raise living standards, but “within socialism”. See article

Colombia's FARC guerrillas released four former politicians whom they had held as hostages, turning them over to a delegation sent by Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez. The FARC released two other hostages in January, but they still hold several hundred, including Ingrid Betancourt, a politician of dual Colombian and French nationality. See article

In Canada the Conservative minority government unveiled a modest budget, eschewing both big tax cuts and spending promises. The opposition Liberals said they would not trigger an election by voting against it.

Brazil rejected a request from Argentina to cede some of its contracted shipments of natural gas from Bolivia. Argentina, which froze many energy tariffs for several years, now faces shortages.

The language barrier

The warring linguistic parties in Belgium reached a deal on further devolution, paving the way for a new (Flemish) prime minister, Yves Leterme, who won last summer's election, to form a government at last.

German voters confirmed their swing left when they returned the Left Party to the state parliament in Hamburg. It also emerged that the Social Democrats might form a government in Hesse that relies on Left Party support, something they had previously promised not to do. See article

Cyprus's presidential election was won by Demetris Christofias, who will become the only Communist head of state in the EU. More significantly, Mr Christofias is keener than his predecessor was to reach a settlement with the Turkish-Cypriot north of the island. Talks will begin shortly. See article

A Turkish skirmish

Reuters

Thousands of Turkish troops attacked havens of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the mountains of northern Iraq, apparently with intelligence help from America. The Turks said they had killed at least 160 fighters, while the PKK, which is made up of Turkish Kurds, said it had killed almost as many Turks. Iraq's government in Baghdad and the Iraqi Kurds in their autonomous region told the Turks to leave. See article

Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shia cleric who commands the loyalty of the most powerful militia in Iraq, agreed to extend a ceasefire for another six months, raising hopes that the rate of sectarian killings between Shia and Sunni Muslims, especially in Baghdad, would stay far below that of a year ago.

Kofi Annan, a former United Nations secretary-general, announced that an understanding had been reached between Kenya's government and opposition in talks he is mediating on a power-sharing deal. See article

Fighting flared across Israel's border with Gaza. It was triggered after Israel killed five Hamas gunmen in a minivan and the Palestinians fired more than 40 rockets into Israel, far more than their usual daily dose.

Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, called Simba Makoni, who is challenging him for the top job in an election at the end of this month, a prostitute and a frog. See article