Politics this week: 27th August - 2nd September 2005

From The Economist print edition


The Census Bureau said that 12.7% of Americans were living below the poverty threshold in 2004. The three states with the highest poverty rates were Mississippi, New Mexico and Louisiana.


A congressional committee in the Philippines threw out three impeachment complaints against President Gloria Arroyo, who is alleged to have been recorded on an audio-tape plotting to rig an election. The country's House of Representatives is expected to vote on whether to impeach Mrs Arroyo next week.


China announced plans to stop work at one-third of its coalmines in a bid to reduce casualties in the industry; 3,000 miners have been killed so far this year. The 7,000 affected mines must now meet national safety standards before they can reopen.


At least four of Lebanon's top security men, all with strong ties to Syria, were arrested as a result of a continuing UN investigation into the assassination in February of the country's long-serving former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. One was later released.


In a bad week for Uganda's battle against AIDS, donors halted money to the country's AIDS programme amid accusations of financial mismanagement. The UN also criticised Uganda for buckling under American pressure to put more emphasis on abstinence than on condoms.


Tarso Genro, who became president of Brazil's ruling Workers' Party in July after a corruption scandal toppled his predecessor, said that he would not stand for re-election later this month after losing an internal power struggle.

Deforestation of Brazil's Amazon region has been cut by nearly a half over the past 11 months, according to satellite data released by the environment ministry. It nevertheless still proceeds apace. From August 2004 to June 2005, an estimated 9,000 square kilometres of forest were destroyed, compared with nearly 19,000 over the previous year.

The World Trade Organisation ruled that America's imposition of duties on Canadian softwood lumber did not violate international law. The interim decision, which is subject to appeal, broadly contradicts last month's decision by a NAFTA panel instructing the United States to refund $4 billion in tariffs it had collected from Canadian softwood lumber exporters.