Politics this week Apr 2nd 2016 | From the print edition In Pakistan an Islamist suicide-bomber killed 74 people, including many children, in a park in Lahore, capital of the province of Punjab. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility, saying that it intended to target Christians. Separately, in Islamabad thousands of protesters who overran the central government’s security zone left after extracting assurances that the government had no plans to amend the country’s draconian blasphemy law. See here and here. China’s government launched a high-level investigation into a huge black-market trade in out-of-date and improperly stored vaccines. The ringleaders were arrested a year ago, but the Chinese press only recently began to pay attention to the story, which has caused a furore on Chinese social media. It is the country’s biggest public-health scandal since 2008, when 300,000 children became sick and at least six died after drinking tainted milk. See here and here. A senior Chinese journalist, Yu Shaolei, resigned in protest against President Xi Jinping’s orders that the media remain loyal to the party. It was the latest sign of opposition to Mr Xi’s campaign. Some state-owned newspapers have published calls for more freedom to criticise the government. The high court in Delhi, India’scapital, ruled that calling your husband mota hathi, or fat elephant, was grounds for divorce. Looking rocky for Rousseff The Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement, the main governing partner of the Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff, quit the coalition. Although some of its ministers may stay, its departure increases the chances that Ms Rousseff will be impeached on charges that she used accounting trickery to disguise the size of the budget deficit. Venezuela’s National Assembly, which is controlled by parties opposed to the left-wing government of Nicolás Maduro, passed a law that would free 70 political prisoners. They include Leopoldo López, an opposition leader who was sentenced to 14 years in jail for inciting violence during protests. Mr Maduro has said he will veto the bill. Colombia’s government and the ELN, the country’s second-largest guerrilla group, are to begin formal talks to end half a century of conflict. The two sides agreed on an agenda, including terms for disarming the rebels and their participation in politics. Colombia has been holding peace talks with the largest rebel group, the FARC, since 2012. See article. Among the ruins Syrian government troops retook the ancient city of Palmyra, captured by Islamic State last May. Although two famous temples at the site were blown up by IS vandals, it looks as though the bulk of the antiquities have survived unscathed. Meanwhile, the Pentagon said that a senior commander in IS had been tracked down and killed in Syria by American special forces. See article. Human-rights groups criticised Angola for jailing 17 youngsters for organising a reading of a book about transitions from dictatorship to democracy. The government accused them of plotting rebellion and a court has sentenced them to jail terms of between two and eight years. Foreign-owned firms in Zimbabwe were given a deadline of April 1st to comply with a law that requires them to hand 51% of their ownership to “indigenous” citizens. Banks and mining firms are among those affected by the law. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared that missiles, and not just diplomacy, are the key to Iran’s future. Trump thumped Donald Trump had a bad week. His campaign manager was charged with battery following an encounter with a female reporter last month. Scott Walker and Jeb Bush endorsed Mr Trump’s main rival, Ted Cruz, for the Republican nomination. And Mr Trump implied that women should be punished for abortion if it becomes illegal (which he hastily retracted). The Republican front-runner also backtracked on his pledge to support the party’s nominee if he fails to win, complaining that he isn’t being treated fairly. The Republican governor of Georgia, Nathan Deal, announced that he will veto a bill that would allow religious organisations to withhold the provision of services from gay people. Conservatives were furious, blaming a lobbying campaign from big businesses, which worry that the bill tarnishes Georgia’s reputation. America’s Supreme Court ruled 4-4 in a case that sought to stop unions taking fees from workers who do not want to pay their dues despite benefiting from collective-bargaining actions. The court’s split decision means that the law stands as it is, a deep disappointment to conservatives who were sure they would triumph when arguments were heard in January, before the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Republicans are still refusing to hold hearings to confirm Scalia’s nominated successor, Merrick Garland. See article. A clean sweep Ukraine’s parliament dismissed the country’s prosecutor-general, Viktor Shokin, after months of pressure from international donors who faulted him for refusing to act against corruption. Shortly before his dismissal Mr Shokin in turn had fired his popular, pro-reform deputy. A new nominee for prime minister, Volodymyr Groysman, is seeking allies to form a majority in parliament that would allow the unpopular Arseniy Yatsenyuk to step down. See here and here. See article. Radovan Karadzic, the leader of the Bosnian Serb side in the Bosnian war of 1992-95, was found guilty of genocide and war crimes by an international criminal tribunal in The Hague. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison. The conviction instantly sparked a bitter row between the leader of Serbia and the Bosniak (Muslim) leader of Bosnia. Vojislav Seselj, a Serbian nationalist and ally of Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia’s president at the time, was cleared in The Hague of committing war crimes. In Turkey the German ambassador was summoned twice in one week after a satirical song about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, entitled “Erdowi, Erdowo, Erdogan”, was shown on German television. The incident hints at tensions between the two countries, which are both key to solving the refugee crisis in Europe.