Politics this week

Though Zimbabwe's official electoral commission delayed the publication of results of a presidential election for five days after the poll on March 29th, it looked likely that Robert Mugabe had lost. A run-off within three weeks between Mr Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, who would be the strong favourite, remained a possibility. An independent challenger, Simba Makoni, was predicted to have won less than 8% of votes cast. The commission announced that Mr Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party had been defeated in the parliamentary election. See article

Ian Khama, son of Botswana's first president, Sir Seretse Khama, was inaugurated as the country's new president. Festus Mogae voluntarily stepped down after ten years in office.

Reuters

Côte d'Ivoire faced violent protests against the high cost of food, leaving one person dead. Similar demonstrations have erupted in other parts of west Africa.

Syria hosted the 22-country Arab League's annual summit, but only half of the leaders turned up. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt sent insultingly low-ranking delegations in protest against alleged Syrian meddling in crisis-ridden Lebanon, which boycotted the meeting outright.

The authority of Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, was badly undermined by the failure of the Iraqi army to defeat the militias loyal to a radical cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, in Basra. Hundreds of people were reported to have been killed in fighting there, in other southern towns and in Baghdad. See article

The dirt sticks

Bertie Ahern, Ireland's “Teflon taoiseach”, announced his resignation. Mr Ahern has been fighting to clear his name of bribery allegations before a special tribunal. His successor as prime minister is likely to be Brian Cowen. See article

The Polish parliament approved the European Union's Lisbon treaty. Some observers had suggested that it might resort to a referendum. Ireland will now be the only one of the EU's 27 members to put the treaty to a popular vote.

As expected, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, announced at the NATO summit in Bucharest that France would send an extra 800 troops to Afghanistan. However, the summit was divided over the question of offering a membership action plan to Ukraine and Georgia, a split that pleased the Russians. See article

Turkey's constitutional court said it would take up a case to ban the ruling Justice and Development Party, and to bar both the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the president, Abdullah Gul, from politics for five years. See article

In it to win it

Supporters of Barack Obama stepped up the pressure on Hillary Clinton to withdraw from the Democratic presidential race (though Mr Obama himself backed away from saying she should end her campaign). Howard Dean, the chairman of the national party, said he hoped the nomination would be resolved by July 1st. Bill Clinton said everyone should just “chill out”, his fury at Bill Richardson's endorsement of Mr Obama notwithstanding.

John McCain began a “service to America tour”, visiting the town where he attended high school and the military bases where he trained as a navy pilot. See article

Meanwhile, Al Gore launched a campaign. The former vice-president is heading a three-year, $300m advertising blitz to increase the American public's awareness about climate change. Mr Gore wants America to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by 90% by the middle of the century.

Republican senators agreed to work with their Democratic colleagues on crafting a bill to alleviate the pain in the housing market. The Republicans had resisted further measures to those proposed by the White House.

Uncertain harvest

Argentine farmers suspended their roadblocks and protest “strike” in the hope of talks with the government. The farmers want a recent increase in export taxes reversed. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina's president, offered subsidies to small-scale farmers.

In Colombia there were rumours that Ingrid Betancourt, a Franco-Colombian politician held hostage by the FARC guerrillas since 2002, might soon be freed. France sent doctors to the Colombian jungle to try to treat Ms Betancourt, who is feared to be in very poor health. See article

Cuba's government lifted a rule that barred Cubans from staying at tourist hotels or hiring cars on the island. But they will have to pay in hard currency, and monthly wages average just $17. In recent weeks bans on owning mobile phones and other consumer-electronics have also been removed.

The North-South divide

Relations between North and South Korea worsened as the North expelled South Korean officials from their joint industrial park at Kaesong. It also gave warning that the policies of South Korea's president, Lee Myung-bak, whom it called a “traitor”, would lead to catastrophe. America expressed concern that North Korea has still not kept its promise to declare all its nuclear programmes, which it was supposed to divulge last year. See article

American officials expressed scepticism about plans by the new government in Pakistan to open talks with pro-Taliban militants in the tribal areas on its border with Afghanistan.

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China's president, Hu Jintao, hosted a tightly guarded ceremony for the Olympic torch in Tiananmen Square. The torch is to be carried around the world and through Tibet before the Beijing Olympics in August. It is expected to draw protests in many countries after the quelling of the recent anti-Chinese riots in Lhasa.

Hu Jia, a well-known Chinese human-rights campaigner, was given a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for subversion. Last month another activist, Yang Chunlin, was jailed on similar charges.

Petrol prices fell in Japan, as the government failed to prevent the lifting of a levy for road-building. The government is likely to reimpose the petrol tax after forcing legislation through parliament at the end of April. But Yasuo Fukuda, the prime minister, has said he will try to ensure that from next year the revenues are directed into the general budget, not road-building. See article