WE HAD TWO covers this week. In Europe we examined the wreckage of French politics amid a government collapse. In America and Asia we reported on a boom in gambling.

As the week drew on, it became increasingly clear that Michel Barnier would become the shortest-serving prime minister in the history of the Fifth Republic. Sure enough, on Wednesday evening, his government was sacked by the parliament. With no party or alliance close to a majority in the National Assembly, France now faces a series of short-lived minority governments that will struggle to accomplish anything.