Politics this week

America’s House of Representatives backed Barack Obama’s plan to arm and train rebels in Syria in their fight against Islamic State extremists. Mr Obama says America will not get involved in ground combat; its main contribution will be air strikes. But General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hinted that American troops could embed with Iraqi soldiers in their battle against IS. Earlier, 27 countries, including Arab states, met in Paris to pledge military assistance to defeat IS “by all means necessary”. See article

David Haines, a British aid worker captured in Syria, was beheaded by IS, the third Westerner to be murdered by the group. It is threatening to do the same to another Briton, Alan Henning, a volunteer who drove aid to refugees.

Police in Australia carried out their biggest ever anti-terror raids arresting 15 people after IS called for a campaign of random public beheadings in the country. The Australian government has been one of the most vocal supporters of military action in Iraq, promising to participate.

In a busy week for the Pentagon, America also announced that it would send 3,000 military personnel to west Africa to help co-ordinate the response to an epidemic of the Ebola disease. The Pentagon will bring its expertise in logistics to the region, setting up dispatch centres for equipment and building makeshift medical facilities. The virus has so far affected 5,000. The WHO reckons a big international effort is needed just to limit the spread of Ebola to tens of thousands of people. See article

In Nigeria at least 15 people were reportedly killed after gunmen attacked a teacher-training college. Elsewhere in the country a military tribunal sentenced 12 soldiers to death by firing squad for a mutiny that took place in May in which shots were fired at the commanding officer.

South Sudan did itself no favours by telling foreigners (save diplomats and government aid agencies) to leave the country within a month. It promptly retracted the policy amid criticism that it would disrupt aid programmes.

Trying to de-escalate

Ukraine’s parliament agreed to give more autonomy to eastern parts of the country and offer an amnesty for rebel fighters as part of a peace deal; it also ratified a long-awaited association agreement with the EU, though it will not be fully implemented until next year. The former president, Viktor Yanukovych, had refused to sign an earlier version. Meanwhile, the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine was marred by sporadic fighting. See article

Sweden’s prime minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, resigned after his Moderate Party lost a general election to the Social Democrat party, which was returned to power after eight years in opposition. Stefan Lovfen, its leader, held coalition talks with the Greens. Like his predecessor, he is ruling out negotiations with the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats, who came third in the election, doubling their support to 13%. See article

The International Organisation for Migration, an intergovernmental body, said that it feared 500 migrants may have drowned after the boat they were travelling in from Egypt to Malta was rammed by traffickers. In a separate incident 200 migrants were thought to have perished off the coast of Libya. The IOM estimates that 3,000 migrants have died trying to cross the sea to Europe so far this year.

Building on its recent success in Saxony, the Alternative for Germany party, which is against the euro but not the EU, did well in state elections in Thuringia and Brandenburg, winning just over 10% and 12% of the vote, respectively. See article

Coral disharmony

In a bid to pre-empt the UN from reclassifying it as being “in danger”, Australia announced a 35-year plan to manage the Great Barrier Reef. The Finland-sized reef is under threat from the impact of coastal development and climate change and has lost about half its coral.

The generals who launched a coup in Thailand in May ordered that Thaksin Shinawatra’s name be erased from school textbooks. The billionaire former prime minister, now in self-imposed exile, led political parties that have won every election that has been allowed to take place since 2001.

After winning May’s general election in a landslide under Narendra Modi, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party faced unexpected setbacks in state by-elections in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state, where voters seem to have resented the Hindu-nationalist BJP stirring up communal divisions.

In China the trial began of Ilham Tohti, a prominent critic of the government’s policies towards ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang. The government has been tightening controls in the far-western region in response to a wave of terrorist attacks by Uighurs, most of whom are Muslims.

Hillary dips her toes

Hillary Clinton took her husband, Bill, to a Democratic Party event in Iowa, where the vegan ex-president had to fry steaks for other people. Iowa holds the first-in-the-nation contest to select presidential nominees in 2016. Mrs Clinton did not reveal whether she would run, but admitted she was thinking about it. See article

America’s Census Bureau recorded a drop in the poverty rate for the first time since 2006, to 14.5% of all Americans in 2013 from 15% the year before. For blacks the poverty rate stood at 27% and for Hispanics 24%.

The half-chance saloon

Standard & Poor’s downgraded Venezuela and put the chances of a sovereign default in the coming two years at 50%. Despite its oil wealth, the country’s economy is almost certainly shrinking and its inflation rate is above 60%. Nicolás Maduro, the president, insists that bondholders will keep being paid. See article

Peru’s long-standing finance minister, Luis Miguel Castilla, resigned, ostensibly for personal reasons. His successor, Alonso Segura, has the task of pepping up an economy hit by lower commodity prices. See article

Rob Ford’s rollercoaster ride as Toronto’s mayor took another lurch after he was diagnosed with cancer. Mr Ford, whose battles with addiction are well known, withdrew from next month’s mayoral election and was replaced on the ballot by his brother, Doug.