[Magazine] The Economist. Vol. 400. No 8753

Politics this week

The Greek government said it would miss its budget-deficit targets for this year and next, blaming the countrys deepening recession. Euro-zone finance ministers turned the thumbscrews by saying they would not hand over the latest tranche of bail-out funding to Greece , worth 8 billion ($10.7 billion), until mid-November, a month later than planned. Greek unions held another general strike to protest against austerity measures. See article

Moodys downgraded Italys credit rating by three notches, citing concerns about its sluggish growth prospects and a loss of confidence across the euro zone. Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister, shrugged it off; so, more surprisingly, did the markets.

In this section

• Politics this week

In an article for a Russian newspaper Vladimir Putin, Russias prime minister and president-in-waiting, called for former Soviet states to join a Eurasian Union of economic integration. Denying that he wanted to rebuild the Soviet Union, he said that the move would have an undoubtedly positive global effect.

Anti-Roma protests spread across Bulgaria after the killing of a young man by a car driven by an associate of a notorious Roma bigwig. Far-right parties hope to capitalise on the ugly mood at presidential and local elections later this month. See article

A large hole in the ozone layer was reported to have opened over the Arctic this spring, the first time ozone loss in the northern hemisphere has matched that in the southern. Unusual weather was thought immediately to blame, though the underlying cause is probably chlorine-rich chemicals in the stratosphere.

Power and the people

The president of Myanmar decided to suspend all work on a $3.6 billion dam that Chinese firms have been building. His announcement came as a shock, not least to the China Power Investment Company, which suggested it might sue. The dam had been denounced by environmental groups and by the Kachin people who live near the site, on the Irrawaddy river. The greatest surprise was the presidents rationale for halting the project: Thein Sein acted, he said, according to the desire of the people. See article

Afghanistans president, Hamid Karzai, signed a strategic pact with India . The agreement is the first of its kind for the Afghansand caused immediate alarm in Pakistan , which is increasingly at odds with both America and the government in Kabul.

Thailand suffered some of its worst flooding in recent memory. The deluge killed at least 220 people, inundating most of the country and pouring into some of the ancient temples at Ayutthaya. More than 150 people in Cambodia were also killed by the floods.

A shortage of fresh water in the South Pacific saw the islands of Tuvalu and Tokelau in a state of emergency. Crops are withering, and on Tokelau people are subsisting on bottled water after six months of scant rainfall. Samoa has begun to ration water, too. See article

Death comes from the sky

Anwar al-Awlaki , an American of Yemeni descent, regarded by many as the most influential figure in al-Qaeda since the death of Osama bin Laden in May, was killed by an American drone in an ungoverned part of Yemen to the east of its capital, Sanaa. See article

Russia and China vetoed a European-sponsored resolution in the UN Security Council condemning a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters by the Syrian government that has killed some 3,000 people.

A suicide-bomb set off by a member of the Shabab, an Islamist group linked to al-Qaeda, killed at least 70 people near a government compound in Mogadishu, Somalias capital, from which the movement has recently been ejected. See article

At least 19 people were killed in a reprisal attack on a village in Nigerias north-western state of Zamfara. The feud between villagers seemed to be over cattle and herding rights.

Third time lucky

Haiti got a new prime minister, at last. Having rejected the first two nominees proposed by Michel Martelly, who took office as president in May, the countrys Senate approved Garry Conille for the job. Aid donors had become increasingly alarmed by the lack of a government. Mr Conille has worked for Bill Clinton in his role as a UN envoy to Haiti.

A centre in Vancouver where addicts can inject drugs safely but which the federal government wanted to close down was saved by Canadas Supreme Court. The court ruled that the clinic, the only one of its kind in North America, posed no threat to public safety or health and that its closure would violate its users constitutional rights.

A group calling itself Zeta Killers claimed responsibility for the recent murder of at least 35 people alleged to be members of the Zetas drug gang in Mexico , sparking fears of Colombian-style paramilitary vigilantes. But it was not immediately clear who the killers were linked to, or if they were from a rival drug mob.

For Christies sake

Chris Christie put an end to fever-pitch speculation that he would launch a bid for president, by ruling himself out of the running. The Republican governor of New Jersey had been pressed by party pooh-bahs over recent weeks to jump into the race, after a series of clangers by Rick Perry dented his front-runner status. After months of toying with the idea Sarah Palin also said she wouldnt run; last years star of the conservative tea- party has had a lacklustre 2011. See article

Meanwhile, Barack Obama said that he would be the underdog in next years presidential election, given the economy. A poll seemed to confirm that view, with 55% of Americans saying they expected the Republicans to win; only 37% thought Mr Obama would be re-elected.

Mr Obama sent three long-stalled free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea to Congress for ratification. The pacts were negotiated under George Bushs presidency, but had been held up amid a row about extending aid to American workers who lose their jobs to foreign competition. See article

A new law came into effect in Alabama that cracks down on illegal immigration , after a judge ruled that it passed constitutional muster. Alabamas measure, said to be the strictest in America, includes a requirement that schools ask about the legal status of children born to parents who come from abroad.

Business this week

Tributes poured in for Steve Jobs , who died at the age of 56. He had battled cancer and received a liver transplant in 2009. Mr Jobs was the driving force behind Apple and is widely credited with revolutionising the personal-technology industry. He once said that, Being the richest man in the cemetery doesnt matter to meGoing to bed at night saying weve done something wonderfulthats what matters to me. See article

Gulp

In this section

• Business this week

It was another tumultuous week for euro-zone banks , which are being battered by the regions sovereign-debt crisis. Indices gauging the risk of bank defaults leapt amid concern that banks with the greatest exposure to government debt in the euro zone are struggling to obtain funding. Investors found little solace from Jean-Claude Trichet, the outgoing president of the European Central Bank, who insisted that it was the responsibility of politicians, and not the ECB, to restore credible confidence. The IMF once again urged euro-area governments to recapitalise banks. See article