Politics this week

The Iraqi army waged a fierce battle in Basra, the country's biggest southern city, in an effort to squash militias loyal to a radical cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr. The operation prompted Sadrists across the south and centre and in Baghdad to rise up in solidarity. At least 70 people, most of them Sadrists, were reported to have been killed. See article

The American vice-president, Dick Cheney, toured the Middle East as part of an effort to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and to tell America's allies of its worries about the high price of oil. He visited Oman, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as Israel and the West Bank.

As pollsters predicted that President Robert Mugabe would be defeated if the election in Zimbabwe on March 29th were fair, the country's electoral commission changed the rules to allow police into polling stations and said that the votes would be counted centrally rather than at the stations. Both tactics would make rigging easier.

Humanitarian agencies said that 20,000 people a month were fleeing violence in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. The warning preceded a United Nations Security Council meeting to consider sending 27,000 peacekeepers to Somalia to replace a struggling African Union force of around 2,000, most of them Ugandans.

n a rare military intervention, an AU force of more than 1,300 troops invaded Anjouan, one of three islands that make up the Comoros, 300km (186 miles) off the coast of Mozambique, and toppled its rebel leader, Mohamed Bacar. He was said to be on the run.

Another special relationship

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, declared that France and Britain had never been so close. Addressing both houses of Parliament during a state visit, he called for a new Franco-British brotherhood and insisted that “we need you, the British, within Europe”. Mr Sarkozy, who was accompanied by his new wife, Carla, later held summit talks with Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown, at the Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal football club.

The United Nations began clearing mines on Ledra Street in Nicosia prior to reopening the crossing-point between the Turkish north of Cyprus and the Greek-Cypriot republic. This followed a meeting between the new Cypriot president, Demetris Christofias, and his Turkish-Cypriot counterpart, Mehmet Ali Talat, when the two leaders decided to restart formal peace talks.

Police in Belarus arrested dozens of protesters and broke up a big rally that was marking 90 years since the country first declared (brief) independence in 1918. The authorities also accused the Americans of operating a spy ring within their embassy.

A vocal constituency

AP

In Argentina farmers blocked roads in an intensifying protest against a rise in export taxes decreed by the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. After she accused the farmers of “extortion”, thousands of pot-banging anti-government demonstrators took to the streets of Buenos Aires. See article

Brazil's government sent extra doctors and nurses to Rio de Janeiro in response to an outbreak of dengue fever in which some 30,000 people have been taken ill and at least 49 have died. See article

Ecuador said it would protest to the Organisation of American States after it was revealed that one of a score of people killed in a Colombian bombing raid on a FARC guerrilla camp inside its territory was an Ecuadorean citizen. Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, said this would complicate the restoration of diplomatic relations with Colombia, which he severed after the raid.

Taking some real flak

Campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination rumbled on. Hillary Clinton's claims about her foreign-policy experience were scrutinised. To her embarrassment, the former first lady had to retract a story that she had run for cover from sniper fire upon landing when she visited Bosnia in 1996. Contemporary television footage depicted a peaceful reception and a smiling Mrs Clinton. See article

Meanwhile, pundits continued to ruminate over whether the racially charged rantings of Barack Obama's former pastor would ultimately damage the Illinois senator's presidential ambitions. Mr Obama did receive a boost, however, by securing the endorsement of Bill Richardson, the Latino governor of New Mexico and a party bigwig.

John McCain returned from a visit to the Middle East and Europe and made a speech on foreign policy in which he said America should work more closely with its allies and needed to do more to shore up its position as world leader. This was seen as an attempt by the presumptive Republican presidential candidate to distance himself from the Bush administration.

It's all right Ma

AFP

Ma Ying-jeou of the Nationalist party, the Kuomintang, won the presidential election in Taiwan by an unexpectedly wide margin of 17 percentage points over his rival, Frank Hsieh of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. Mr Ma has promised to improve relations with China, starting by opening direct transport links with the mainland. See article

Protests against Chinese rule continued in ethnic-Tibetan areas of China. Chinese police opened fire in at least one clash. Meanwhile, the lighting in Olympia, Greece, of the flame for the Olympic games to be held in Beijing in August was briefly disrupted by protesting press-freedom activists. Nicolas Sarkozy, France's president, said he could not rule out boycotting the opening ceremony for the games. See article

In Pakistan, Yousaf Raza Gillani of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) was sworn in as prime minister at the head of a coalition government. He immediately freed judges detained under President Pervez Musharraf and promised to restore them to their jobs. Once a by-election has been held, Mr Gillani is expected to make way as prime minister for Asif Zardari, who has been acting head of the PPP since the assassination of his wife, Benazir Bhutto, in December. See article

In a transition to democracy ordained by its king, Bhutan held its first-ever elections. The two parties had similar platforms. Both preferred the monarchy to democracy. See article