The world this week

Politics

Oct 27th 2022

More than 230 people have been killed and over 12,000 have been arrested, according to tallies by human-rights groups, as protests rage on in Iran. The movement against the ayatollahs’ regime has largely been led by women. In response to the violence, America has lengthened the list of individuals and groups subject to sanctions. The ruling clerics seem uncertain whether to give ground or crack down more fiercely.

Israeli defence forces killed five Palestinians in a raid into the West Bank city of Nablus, where an Israeli soldier had been killed earlier this month. A sixth Palestinian was killed in a later incident.

Opinion polls preceding the Israeli election scheduled for November 1st show no clear favourite. The two leading contenders are blocs led by Yair Lapid, the incumbent prime minister, and Binyamin Netanyahu, a long-serving former prime minister. Pundits reckon that Mr Netanyahu’s alliance has a slight edge.

Shifting the goalposts

In the lead-up to the football World Cup, which kicks off on November 20th in Qatar, the country faces mounting compaints about labour abuses and the persecution of gay people. Watchdogs allege the arbitary arrests of gay activists. Some football stars have said they will be wearing armbands to show support for victims.

Peace talks between the Ethiopian government and the rulers of Tigray, a rebellious northern province, have started after nearly two years of civil war. Millions of civilians in Tigray are under blockade by the government and have not received aid since fighting resumed in August.

At least 50 people were killed and 300 injured when police in Chad intervened in protests demanding civilian rule. The protests erupted after the junta that seized power in April 2021 broke its promise to hand power to a civilian administration this month.

Rishi Sunak became Britain’s third prime minister in two months, taking over from Liz Truss. Ms Truss, who resigned after a disastrous mini-budget spooked financial markets, was the shortest-serving prime minister in history. Mr Sunak was the only candidate for leadership of the ruling Conservative Party to garner enough nominations from Tory MPS enter the race, after efforts by Boris Johnson to mount a comeback stalled.

In an attempt to bring the Tories together, Mr Sunak appointed a cabinet from different wings of the party. Jeremy Hunt was reappointed chancellor; James Cleverly, a backer of Mr Johnson, remained foreign secretary. The reappointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary stoked controversy; she had been forced to resign from the same position days earlier after sending an official document from her personal email.

Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the nationalist Brothers of Italy party, was sworn in as prime minister of Italy. She has promised strong support for Ukraine. Some observers fear a more confrontational relationship with Brussels, though she will want to maintain access to Italy’s €200bn ($201bn) share of the EU’s covid recovery fund, which comes with strings attached.

Without producing evidence, Russia alleged that Ukraine was preparing to set off a nuclear dirty bomb on its own territory. Observers in Ukraine and elsewhere were fearful that this might mean that Russia was itself planning to set one off, hoping to blame Ukraine. Foreign ministers of America, Britain and France were sufficiently alarmed to issue a joint statement warning Russia that it would be held accountable.