Political masterstroke award

• Third place goes to the UK Treasury, which last week revealed that it plans to press ahead with the creation of a Sharia-compliant government bond.   Previous attempts to establish such a bond -- or 'sukuk' -- stalled following fears about costs and pricing.  Yet the United Kingdom has a large Muslim population and the political will is there, despite criticism from the right-wing press.  And, with the corporate market for such bonds blossoming, London is hoping to steal a march on rival financial centres by becoming the leading locale for Islamic finance in the West.
• Second place is awarded to US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, for his role in rescuing the six-party nuclear talks on North Korea.   Last week, North Korea provided US negotiators with 19,000 pages of sensitive records of nuclear activity.  In response, the US promised 500,000 tonnes of food aid and reports now suggest that Pyongyang is close to providing a -- long-overdue -- declaration of its nuclear activity.  The breakthrough is both a triumph and a relief for Hill, who has found himself caught between an uncooperative Pyongyang and a suspicious US Congress.
• Our winner this week is China, which has seen a dramatic turnaround in its international press coverage following last week's earthquake. Politicians and journalists lauded China's reaction to the disaster, which contrasted markedly with the response of the Burmese authorities to Cyclone Nargis.   However, while Beijing will certainly welcome the plaudits, it is unclear whether they are entirely deserved.  Following a period of unprecedented access, Beijing has moved to control media presentation of the disaster.  As the authorities seek to restore order, talk of the Chinese glasnost appears to be premature.