11/15/18

The world of this week Politics

Following a poor result for her party at a state election in Hesse, Angela Merkel announced that she will stand down as leader of her Christian Democratic Union in December, when the post is up for biennial election.

She said she was willing to remain as Germany's chancellor until 2021, when elections are scheduled to be called. But she may well not last until then.

Her coalition partners, the Social Democrats, also suffered embarrassing losses in Hesse. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg upheld a decision by an Austrian court to fine a woman who had described Muhammad the Prophet as a paedophile,

citing his marriage to a girl said in some accounts to be only six. Blasphemy is still a crime in Austria. Fans of free speech denounced the ruling.

Michael Higgins was re-elected as president of Ireland, a mostly ceremonial role he has held since 2011, with 56% of the vote. On the same day voters also opted to repeal Ireland's long-standing constitutional ban on blasphemy.

Philip Hammond, Britain's chancellor of the exchequer, delivered a spend-and-please budget. A surprise windfall from increased tax revenues offered a chance for him to claim an end was in sight to eight years of austerity.

Mr Hammond could have paid down more of the country's debt pile, but instead chose to boost spending in selected government departments (mostly the National Health Service). The generous pledges are contingent on a smooth Brexit in March next year.

Turkey's government announced a series of tax cuts, prompting more concern that it is not serious about fiscal discipline. The lira swooned. America's secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and secretary of defence, Jim Mattis, urged the warring parties in Yemen to stop fighting.

America is losing patience with Saudi Arabia, an important ally, over its reckless and brutal handling of the war in Yemen, which has left millions at risk of starvation. A Turkish prosecutor said that Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist, was strangled to death moments after he entered Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul in a planned killing.