Politics

  Dallas / AFP The Dallas gunman was plotting a major bomb attack, authorities said, urging calm as hundreds of people were arrested in weekend protests in US cities over police violence against African-Americans. Demonstrators marched demanding justice for two black men shot dead by cops in Minnesota and Louisiana, their dying moments captured in video that went viral online. ...

London / AFP Theresa May became the sole contender to be Britain’s next prime minister on Monday after her only rival pulled out in a dramatic twist as turmoil sweeps the political scene in the wake of the Brexit vote. Andrea Leadsom, who had come in for heavy criticism after appearing to imply that she was more qualified than May because ...

  Bloomberg Germany will take on greater military leadership in global conflicts, requiring a sustained increase in defense spending and troop strength, according to plans for the nation’s first overhaul of security policy in a decade. A “renaissance of classic power politics” is increasing “the risk of violent conflict between states, including in Europe and its neighborhood, as the example ...

  Kiev, Ukraine / AFP Ukraine and Canada signed a “milestone” free trade agreement on Monday designed to bolster support for the war-scarred former Soviet republic in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia. Canada has a vast Ukrainian diaspora and been a strong supporter of Kiev since its February 2014 pro-EU revolution was followed by Russia’s annexations of Crimea ...

  Sydney / AFP Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday declared victory for the ruling conservatives after the Labor opposition conceded defeat, but faced a tough time ahead after the narrow mandate in the closely fought election. The declaration ended eight days of uncertainty about the new government’s identity. A tight race between the two major parties left neither ...

  Bloomberg Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s conservative ruling coalition and its allies appear set to win a majority in Sunday’s upper house election, an NHK exit poll showed, though it’s unclear if they’ll gain the two-thirds majority allowing him to press ahead with plans to revise the pacifist constitution and assemble a package of fiscal stimulus. Abe’s Liberal Democratic ...

  Beirut / AFP The IS extremist group lost 12 percent of the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria in the first half of 2016, according to an analysis by British think-tank IHS. The analysis published on Sunday says the extremist group, which proclaimed its self-styled “caliphate” in the two countries in 2014, is continuing to lose ground after ...

  Cambodia / AFP A prominent Cambodian political analyst known for his trenchant criticism of the government was shot dead Sunday morning at a convenience store, police said. The daylight slaying of Kem Ley comes at a time of heightened tensions between strongman premier Hun Sen and the country’s political opposition, who accuse the prime minister of launching a fresh ...

  New Delhi / AFP Flash floods from torrential downpours in the in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh have killed 15 people, with seven deaths over the weekend, and left thousands of people displaced, authorities said on Sunday. Indian news channels on Sunday showed footage of inundated cities in the state, with residents forced to wade through through ...

  Srinagar / AFP Protesters and government forces in Indian Kashmir clashed for a second day on Sunday as anger over the death of an influential rebel leader boiled over, with 18 people killed in some of the worst civilian unrest to hit the region since 2010. Another 200 people have been wounded in the violence, many of them protesters ...