Politics this week

Hurricane Harvey battered the coasts of Texas and Louisiana. Downgraded to a tropical storm, the incessant deluge broke records, with some places measuring over 1.3 metres of rainfall. Houston suffered severe flooding; the mayor imposed a curfew to deter looters. At least 38 people died in Texas; that figure is expected to rise when the waters recede. By one estimate the damage from the storm could cost as much as $100bn.

The death toll from monsoon floods that have swept Bangladesh, India and Nepal rose above 1,200. Millions have been left homeless. Most of the destruction is in rural areas, though the rains caused Mumbai’s transport network to come to a standstill. See article

Acting with abandon

North Korea launched an audacious missile test, firing an intermediate-range one over Japan and far into the Pacific. The Japanese government said the test was an “unprecedented, serious and grave threat” to the country’s security. North Korea’s state media described it as the “first step” of operations in the Pacific and a “prelude to containing Guam”, which houses American naval and air-force bases. See article

China and India ended a stand-off on their shared border with Bhutan in the Himalayas. The dispute began in June when China built a road in the Doklam area, which is claimed by China and Bhutan, India’s close ally. Both sides have now disengaged their forces, avoiding what could have been their most serious clash in decades.

A court in India convicted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the country’s most influential guru, of rape. As news of the verdict got out his devotees went on the rampage; at least 38 people died. See article

Yingluck Shinawatra, a former prime minister of Thailand,fled the country before a verdict could be announced in her trial for negligence in administering a rice-subsidy scheme. Ms Yingluck, who was toppled by a coup in 2014, says the charges are politically motivated. See article

After attacks on police stations that killed 12 officers, the security forces in Myanmar launched a crackdown on alleged Rohingya militants that left at least 110 people dead. More than 18,000 Rohingyas, a Muslim ethnic group persecuted by the Buddhist majority, fled across the border to Bangladesh. See article

Morales hazard

Guatemala’s president, Jimmy Morales, attempted to expel the head of a UN-backed anti-corruption body, after it announced plans to investigate whether he accepted illegal campaign donations. International organisations denounced Mr Morales and the constitutional court ruled against him. See article

Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting Americans from dealing in new debt and some existing bonds issued by Venezuela’s authoritarian government and by the state oil company. The sanctions stopped short of banning oil imports from Venezuela. President Nicolás Maduro directed the constituent assembly, which has taken over the powers of the legislature, to prosecute “traitors” who support the sanctions.

Assessing the migrant crisis

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, hosted a European-African summit in Paris. The leaders of Chad, Libya and Niger met their counterparts from France, Germany, Italy and Spain and agreed to fight smuggling networks across borders and in the Mediterranean. The plan is an effort to co-ordinate policy following separate initiatives on Libya. 

Mr Macron also presented a set of contentious reforms to France’s labour markets that the unions have vowed to fight. And he outlined his proposals for euro-zone reforms, including the creation of a budget and a finance minister for the currency bloc.

The Polish government dismissed the European Commission’s ultimatum to address its concerns over reforms to the country’s judiciary. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, said she had serious worries about the rule of law in Poland.

Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, told Britain to get serious and offer concrete proposals for a divorce bill. The third round of talks began without any noticeable progress. Theresa May visited Japan, to discuss post-Brexit relations. The British prime minister confounded expectations— given her party’s dismal result in this year’s election—by saying she intends to stay in office to fight the next one.

Ever decreasing circles

The jihadists of Islamic State were squeezed on all sides. In Iraq, they lost their former stronghold of Tal Afar. In a deal with Hizbullah, IS fighters on the Syria-Lebanon border agreed to retreat east, though they were blocked along the way by American forces. The jihadists’ last redoubt is likely to be the city of Deir ez-Zor, in eastern Syria. See article

In order to reduce tension between the country’s Anglophone population and its Francophone majority, Cameroon’s president ordered that charges be dropped against three English-speaking activists over protests last year. But at the same time the government banned a popular English-language TV channel, based in South Africa, which has highlighted human-rights abuses in Cameroon, claiming it airs seditious programmes.

Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, chaired his first cabinet meeting since returning from Britain, where he was treated for an undisclosed illness. He recently cancelled a similar meeting, magnifying concerns that the 74-year-old is not well enough to lead Africa’s most populous country.

Not any time soon

James Mattis, America’s defence secretary, established a process to work towards enforcing Donald Trump’s order to ban transgender people from serving in the armed forces. Mr Trump announced the idea in July and recently made it an official directive.

Mr Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio, “America’s toughest sheriff”, who, from his former perch in Arizona, led a crusade against illegal immigrants, among other controversies. Mr Arpaio had been convicted of contempt for failing to comply with a court order to halt racial profiling. A president has the power to pardon whomever he wants, but Mr Trump’s critics said this pardon would spur others to ignore the law. See article