First round knock-down

Nicolas Sarkozy’s party takes a battering in France’s regional elections

HE MAY have steeled himself for a poor result in the first round of French regional elections, held on Sunday March 14th. But the outcome for France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, must nonetheless have felt crushing. Polls had suggested that his ruling UMP party would be neck-and-neck at this point with the opposition Socialists. Instead, the Socialists bagged fully 30%, with the UMP trailing at 26%. At the second round vote next Sunday, Mr Sarkozy can now hope at best simply to hold on to Alsace and Corsica, the only two regions out of 22 in mainland France which the UMP governs. At worst, he might even lose both.

In a poll marked by the lowest turnout since France’s regions were created in 1986, Mr Sarkozy’s party did manage to come out top in several places, such as Champagne-Ardennes, Ile-de-France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) and Rhone-Alpes. But the two-round voting system allows any party with at least 10% of the poll to go forward to a run-off. This is likely to help the Socialists more than it will the UMP. Their friends, Europe Ecologie, the rising stars of the French left, secured a handy 13%.

Frenzied talks are already underway to agree a deal that would allow the two parties to merge for the second round. Along with other left-wing votes from the scattered smaller parties that failed to qualify for the next round, the Socialists are well placed to sweep most of the map.
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Rwandan president rejects human rights criticism

(CNN) — Rwandan President Paul Kagame hit back Monday at human rights activists who say he’s behaving like an autocrat and fueling a bloody civil war in Rwanda’s neighbor, Congo.

“If you are talking about people in the human rights community from outside… I have an issue with this,” Kagame said, 16 years after he was hailed as a hero for ending a genocide that killed at least 800,000 people.

“You tend to make a judgment of a country, 11 million people, on what a couple of people have said and (they) don’t take into account what Rwandans say.”

Kagame added, “Nobody has asked the Rwandans … it’s as if they don’t matter in the eyes of the human rights people. It’s our own decisions in the end.”

He said everyone in Rwanda has to play by the rules and be accountable. “There has to be leadership to make things move in the right direction,” Kagame stated.

Kagame’s comments came a month after the New York-based group, Human Rights Watch, said opposition activists are facing increasing threats, attacks, and harassment ahead of Rwanda’s presidential election in August.
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The week ahead

Renewed diplomatic efforts over Iran’s nuclear activities

• AFTER Iran announced that its long-delayed Bushehr civilian nuclear plant will be operational within a few months, American diplomats will renew efforts to obtain further sanctions against the Islamic republic over its suspected efforts to build a nuclear bomb. Hillary Clinton, the American secretary of state, has been trying to persuade members of the UN Security Council, including Russia, which has been helping to build the Bushehr plant since 1995, to accept to a new round of sanctions against Iran. The country’s government refused to agree to a compromise plan for its uranium to be enriched in Russia.

• AMERICA’S vice-president, Joe Biden, tries again to untangle the knot that is Middle Eastern politics. He travels to the region on Monday March 8th and will meet the leaders of Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt and Jordan in an attempt to encourage the resumption of peace talks. George Mitchell, Barack Obama’s envoy, is adding his weight to efforts reopen negotiations. A recent row over historical holy sites has not helped to warm relations, as Israeli archaeologists in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians see as their future capital, are intent on uncovering evidence of Jewish ties that could be used to undermine the Arab presence there.
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Colombian judges deny Alvaro Uribe third term poll

The Colombian constitutional court has rejected a referendum which could have led to President Alvaro Uribe running for a third term in office.

The court voted 7-2 against a proposal backed by parliament to hold a vote on amending the constitution to allow for three terms.

Mr Uribe won an amendment in 2005 that let him run for a second term in 2006.

The president remains popular in Colombia, but the constitution bars him from being a candidate again.

He had not said publicly that he hoped to stand in the 30 May election but analysts expected that he would.

After the ruling, Mr Uribe said he accepted and respected the court’s decision, which is not subject to appeal.

‘Democratic principle’

Alvaro Uribe is a close ally of the US, which has poured many millions of dollars into Colombia to support its fight against drug cartels and the left-wing Farc insurgency.

Last year, Colombia’s Senate and House of Representatives overwhelmingly backed the proposed amendment on term limits.
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Obama vows ‘much tougher’ stance on US-China trade

President Barack Obama says he will be much tougher with China to make sure it opens its markets to trade with the US.

Mr Obama told Democratic Party senators that he would put “constant pressure” on China and other countries to stick to their side of trade agreements.

But he said he did not intend to take a protectionist stance towards China, warning that “to close ourselves off from that market would be a mistake”.

Tension between the US and China has increased over arms sales to Taiwan.

Relations have also been strained by reports of Chinese cyber attacks on US-run websites and a planned visit to the US by the Dalai Lama.
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Obama firm on Dalai Lama meeting despite China warning

US President Barack Obama intends to go ahead with plans to meet the Dalai Lama despite warnings from China not to, a White House spokesman has said.

Mr Obama told China’s leaders last year in Beijing that he would meet with the Tibetan spiritual leader, White House spokesman Bill Burton said.

China has warned that ties with the US would be undermined if the meeting takes place.

No date has been set but it is expected to take place later this month.

“The president told China’s leaders during his trip last year that he would meet with the Dalai Lama and he intends to do so,” White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters.

“The Dalai Lama is an internationally respected religious and cultural leader and the president will meet with him in that capacity,” he said.

The comments came after Communist Party official Zhu Weiqun said such a meeting would “threaten trust and co-operation” between Beijing and Washington.
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A thumping win

Mahinda Rajapaksa claims a landslide election win in Sri Lanka. Soldiers surround his main rival

SO MUCH for the idea that it would be a close-run thing. On Wednesday 27th, a day after a presidential election the incumbent, Mahinda Rajapaksa, was declared victor over his chief rival and a former army commander, General Sarath Fonseka. Sri Lankan state television reported that, after a high turn-out of 74%, official tallies showed 6m ballots cast for Mr Rajapaksa to 4.2m votes for the general. General Fonseka alleges that vote-rigging took place and has registered objections with the electoral commission.

Before voting day it had been widely said that the two Sinhalese candidates were closely matched. Both men could claim responsibility for overseeing a complete (and brutal) end to a long-running civil war against Tamil separatists in the north and east of the country. The president had advantages of incumbency, but many voters resented the dominance of his immediate family in the government and complained about corruption, soaring inflation, repression of the press and more.

The general is a newcomer to party politics who quit the army in November amid suspicions that he had been plotting a coup d’etat. But he had managed to cobble together a surprising coalition of supporters united in their opposition to Mr Rajapaksa. Remarkably, his supporters included a group of parties known as the Tamil National Alliance, which was once seen as a front for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Tamil military wing.
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Obama delivers his first State of the Union address

(CNN) — 10:20 Address ends with Obama calling on Americans to “seize this moment — to start anew, to carry the dream forward and to strengthen our union once more”

10:18 Obama acknowledges that his administration has had political setbacks; says “some of them were deserved.” Obama says the “spirit of determination and optimism” is what keeps him fighting

10:17 On discord in politics: “Democracy in a nation of 300 million people can be noisy and messy and complicated. And when you try to do big things and make big changes, it stirs passions and controversy”

10:13 Obama says he will work with Congress and the military to repeal “the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are”

Obama calls for ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal

10:08 Obama says the threat of nuclear weapons is “perhaps the greatest danger to the American people”

10:06 Obama details the challenges in Afghanistan: “There will be difficult days ahead. But I am confident we will succeed”

10:02 Obama mentions Massachusetts special election: “After last week, it is clear that campaign fever has come even earlier than usual. But we still need to govern.” He calls out Republicans, saying, “just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership”
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North and South Korea exchange fire near sea border

North Korea has fired artillery shots near the disputed sea border with South Korea and the South has returned fire, according to Yonhap news agency.

It said the North fired several shells into the sea near the South Korean-controlled Baengnyeong Island off the countries’ western coast.

On Tuesday, North Korea declared a no-sail zone in waters off its coast, media reports said.

South Korea’s ministry of defence said it was checking the reports, AFP said.

The western sea border is a constant source of military tension between the two Koreas.

There have been three deadly exchanges between the two Koreas along the sea border in the past decade.

In the most recent incident, last November, their navies fought a brief gun battle that left one North Korean sailor dead and three others wounded.

Google errs

Google’s plan to leave China may be as much about poor business prospects as ethics

“WE’RE in this for the long haul”, wrote a Google executive four years ago when the internet giant launched a self-censored version of its search engine for China. Now Google says it might have to pull out of the country because of alleged attacks by hackers in China on its e-mail service and a tightening of restrictions on free speech online.

Google’s “new approach to China”, as the firm’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, called it in an official blog posting on Tuesday January 12th, will infuriate the government in Beijing. Official sensitivity to foreign complaints about internet controls in China was evident in November during a visit by President Barack Obama. His obliquely worded criticism of online censorship was itself expunged from official media reports. If the firm were to quit China, Google would be the first big foreign company to do so while citing concerns about freedom of speech.

Mr Drummond’s posting also involved unusually direct finger-pointing by a foreign firm at China as a source of hacker attacks. He said that in mid-December Google detected a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack” on its corporate computer systems “originating from China”. Its investigations found that at least 20 other large companies from a wide range of industries had been targeted. A primary goal, he said, appeared to be to gain access to the e-mail accounts of Chinese human-rights activists who use Google’s Gmail service. The hackers managed to penetrate partially two accounts.
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