Politics this week

China deployed thousands of troops to regain control of Urumqi, the capital of the western region of Xinjiang, after three days of rioting between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese. At least 156 people were killed and more than 900 injured in the violence, the worst outbreak of civil disorder in China since the suppression of the Tiananmen demonstration in 1989. The government said most of the dead were Han Chinese; the Uighurs claimed most of the victims as their own. See article

Reuters

A gaunt Kim Jong Il made a rare public appearance on the 15th anniversary of the death of Kim Il Sung, his father. The North Korean dictator is said to be preparing his youngest son to succeed him. Meanwhile, North Korea was accused of being behind a cyber-attack that shut the websites of government departments in the United States and South Korea.

American troops continued their efforts to retake Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, assisted by British troops in a parallel operation. Coalition casualties increased sharply. A truck bomb in Logar province killed at least 24 people. See article

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia’s incumbent president, convincingly won re-election, according to unofficial “quick-count” projections. He seemed likely to win about 60% of the total popular vote and to clear the other threshold needed for victory: acquiring at least 20% of the vote in 17 or more of Indonesia’s 33 provinces. See article

India’s budget lavished money on farmers, middle-class taxpayers and infrastructure, but disappointed the markets by not liberalising foreign investment or labour laws. The Congress-party-led government forecast that the economy would grow by 9% next year. See article

A political revival

In a setback for President Felipe Calderón, Mexico’s formerly ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) did well in mid-term elections, coming close to winning a majority (with allies) in the lower house of Congress. The PRI also won five of six state governorships at stake. See article

Manuel Zelaya, president of Honduras, who was ousted by a military coup last month, made an abortive attempt to fly back to his country. The army blocked the airport runway; one demonstrator was killed. Honduras was suspended from the Organisation of American States (OAS) over the coup. Both Mr Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti, the de facto president, agreed to meet Óscar Arias, Costa Rica’s president, who is trying to mediate. See article

In Venezuela Antonio Ledezma, an opposition politician who was elected as mayor of Caracas, staged a hunger strike in the local office of the OAS in protest at the decision by President Hugo Chávez to transfer his budget and powers to an appointed official from the ruling party.

Striving to achieve

AFP

Barack Obama visited Moscow for the first formal America-Russia summit of his presidency. The two countries agreed to resume nuclear-disarmament talks. But though the Americans had talked of pressing a “reset” button, the atmosphere on both sides was pragmatic and reserved rather than friendly. See article

Leaders of the G8 club of rich countries met for the annual G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy, presided over by Silvio Berlusconi. Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa and Egypt joined the G8 for talks on climate change, though China’s president cancelled his planned visit so he could tackle the crisis in Xinjiang. See article

Bulgaria’s election was decisively won by the centre-right opposition. Boyko Borisov, now mayor of Sofia, will replace the Socialist leader, Sergei Stanishev, as prime minister. See article

The new prime minister of Croatia, in succession to Ivo Sanader, is to be Jadranka Kosor, his deputy. The causes of Mr Sanader’s unexpected resignation remain a mystery. See article

A tabloid newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch in Britain came under fire when it emerged it had allegedly employed private investigators to hack into thousands of mobile phones, including those of leading politicians.

Fault lines

California’s debt rating was downgraded to BBB, two notches above junk status, by Fitch, a credit-rating agency. As the state began issuing IOUs, a contentious special session was held in the state legislature to thrash out spending cuts. See article

In an announcement that took pundits by surprise, Sarah Palin said she would step down as Alaska’s governor, 18 months before the end of her first term. Mrs Palin was John McCain’s running mate in last year’s election. A popular figure with the Republican grassroots and mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2012, she has become ensnared in a series of ethics scandals that have dimmed her star appeal. See article

Now with 60 votes in the Senate, Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, urged his party to unite against any Republican attempt to launch a filibuster. The Republicans think they may be able to persuade one or two moderate Democrats to join them in opposing some legislation.

Robert McNamara died at the age of 93. A former president of the Ford Motor Company and head of the World Bank, he became mired in the Vietnam debacle during his time as America’s defence secretary from 1961 to 1968. See article

Prisoner count

Iran’s police chief said that more than 1,000 people had been arrested in the capital, Tehran, during unrest after last month’s disputed presidential election, but that two-thirds had already been freed. Human-rights campaigners said that 2,000 people were still behind bars across Iran. The aggrieved presidential challenger, Mir Hosein Mousavi, continued to refuse to accept the official result, which gave victory to the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. See article

AFP

A week after American forces formally handed security in Iraq’s towns to the Iraqi authorities, insurgents killed dozens of people in a rash of bombs in Baghdad, Mosul and other northern towns.

Some 70,000 South African building workers went on strike, demanding a pay rise of 13% and halting work at a number of stadiums where the football World Cup is due to be played next year. It is the biggest challenge to Jacob Zuma since he took office as president in May.