One Week Later...

All eyes on Musharraf

In Musharraf's final act? we said that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf may take advantage of tensions to declare a state of emergency and cling on to power.

• Last week, he applied to run in next month's election, seeking a second term in the face of the most widespread opposition to his rule since he took power in 1999.
• His prospects of getting re-elected on Saturday October 6 now hinge on the imminent decision of a nine-member Supreme Court bench (see leader).

Deadlock over Gabala

In Russia: a 'soft touch'?, we thought Moscow would be surprisingly ready to strike a compromise over the Gabala radar station with the United States.

• US technical experts visited Gabala last week and said afterwards that the radar's technology was outdated and could not replace the Eastern European elements.
• It prompted Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to say that Gabala may not be an alternative to radar in the Czech Republic because it "cannot see Russian territory from its western borders to the Urals".
• Moscow and Washington will remain deadlocked on the issue.

Pressure on UK farmers

In UK: Foot in mouth, we predicted that a new outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK was likely to prompt more soul-searching among Westminster mandarins and regulators.

• Just as transport bans imposed for foot-and-mouth are easing, another disease has established itself in the UK: bluetongue.
• The Government now needs to make clear on what criteria they will declare an "official" outbreak of the disease.

The Fed's remedy

We discussed whether a Fed rate cut would be 25 or 50 basis points (All eyes on Fed) and if a cut would have any effect on the recent credit crunch, other than giving markets a morale boost.

• The commodities markets saw advances in crude oil, gold and metals.
• This is the proper medicine for an ailing economy, although market expectations of further aggressive rate cuts may be overly optimistic.

News to us:

Mugabe feels victimised

The president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has accused the United States and the UK of a relentless campaign to destabilise and vilify his country.

Rice changes tone

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledges that climate change is a real problem, and urges world leaders to tackle it.

And finally…

Kazakhstan's parliament passes a law allowing the government to walk away from contracts with foreign companies.