Hamid Karzai was declared re-elected as president of Afghanistan when a second-round run-off ballot was cancelled. The other candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew in protest at the failure to remove officials accused of involvement in the widespread fraud that marked the first round in August. Meanwhile, the UN decided to relocate 600 of its foreign workers in Afghanistan and halted development work in north-west Pakistan because of deteriorating security. [05/11]
Radovan Karadzic entered the dock for the first time at his war-crimes trial in The Hague. Previously the former Bosnian Serb leader, who is defending himself, had refused to appear as he does not accept the court’s legitimacy. [05/11]
Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, addressed a joint session of the United States Congress. Speaking just before the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German leader urged America to join the fight against climate change. [05/11]
The Israeli navy intercepted a ship carrying what it said were hundreds of tonnes of Iranian weapons bound for Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. [05/11]
North Korea’s news agency reported that reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods had finished and weapons-grade plutonium had been successfully extracted. Earlier, the government reiterated its readiness to hold talks with America on the subject. [05/11]
The European Union’s Lisbon treaty was finally ratified when the Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, signed it in Prague. It will come into force next month. [05/11]
The prosecution opened its case against Radovan Karadzic at the start of his trial for war crimes before a tribunal in The Hague. The former Bosnian Serb leader stands accused on 11 charges, including genocide for the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men at Srebrenica in 1995. He outraged his alleged victims by refusing to leave custody and attend the proceedings. [29/10]
A majority of countries on the UN’s Human Rights Council voted for a resolution to send its Goldstone report on the Gaza war to the UN Security Council for possible referral to the International Criminal Court. The United States and five other countries voted against the resolution, which was critical of Israel. Unusually, Britain and France withheld from voting. [23/10]
The Pope created a new way for groups of Anglicans to convert to Roman Catholicism, precipitating one of the sharpest disputes between the churches for decades. [23/10]
Economic: ‘Pre-Budget Report (PBR)’…
PRE-BUDGET REPORT (PBR)
RESPONDING to the Editorial of the Guardian Newspaper, dated Tuesday 25 November 2008, entitled “Crisis economics“, the Editor writes:
… “Will Mr. Darling’s medicines work? Some may. The package of measures to help small businesses is excellent: targeted and thorough. The boost to consumers – the lion’s share being that cut in VAT – [...]
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