Politics

Bloomberg Palestinians rejected Israel’s plan to defuse deadly tensions over a Jerusalem shrine revered by both Jews and Muslims, and threatened to escalate their protests with a “day of rage” on Friday. Israel took down metal detectors from the Old City holy site on Tuesday but said it would replace them with other, unspecified technologies. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas …

Bloomberg Iran promised to respond if the “blatantly hostile” vote in the House of Representatives to impose new sanctions becomes law, saying they would go against US commitments under the 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers. Sanctions pursued in the US Congress “can impact the successful implementation” of the deal, the state-run Iranian Students’ News Agency cited Deputy Foreign Minister …

Bloomberg Venezuelans are stockpiling scarce food and water as tensions mount ahead of a widely criticized Sunday vote that President Nicolas Maduro has called to elect an assembly of supporters to rewrite the constitution and strengthen his grip on power. Maduro—who’s presided over an increasingly autocratic regime that has imperiled the country’s six-decade democracy and left the economy and society …

Bloomberg Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy batted away questions from lawyers prosecuting his former party colleagues as they tried to tie him in to an alleged bribery ring run from the group’s headquarters. Rajoy said that he’d never had anything to do with party finances, despite running four election campaigns and serving as president since 2004. He insisted that he never …

Bloomberg The US House is poised to vote on a bill to strengthen sanctions against Russia and prevent President Donald Trump from unilaterally lifting penalties, after the measure was delayed by procedural concerns and objections from energy companies. The measure, which was altered to ensure that oil companies can work on certain joint projects overseas, would also impose new sanctions …

Bloomberg Israel began removing metal detectors from a contested Jerusalem shrine in a bid to quell violent Palestinian opposition, in a deal that also helped to end a diplomatic standoff with Jordan. The decision was part of a broader deal that allowed Israeli diplomats and embassy personnel in Jordan to return home late Monday following a deadly shooting at the …

Bloomberg Qatar is falling short in its efforts to counter terrorism, the Saudi-led alliance said, an apparent setback to US mediation efforts after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged the bloc to ease its seven-week boycott of the Gulf nation. The group also added nine organizations based in Yemen and Libya as well as nine people from Qatar, Kuwait, Yemen …

Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron was expected to meet on Tuesday with the head of Libya’s United Nations-backed government and the North African oil producer’s powerful eastern-based military commander in the latest attempt to seek a solution to their standoff. Macron’s office said the initiative is aimed at facilitating the work of UN special negotiator Ghassan Salame, who will also …

Bloomberg Poland’s prime minister vowed to redouble efforts to clamp down on “unaccountable” judges after the president vetoed parts of a judicial overhaul that touched off debate in the European Union over how to confront members who flout democratic values. In a blow to the Law & Justice party that backed his presidency, Andrzej Duda rejected bills to replace Supreme …

Bloomberg Australia’s Resources Minister Matt Canavan has resigned after discovering that he may be in breach of the constitution because he is a dual Italian citizen. “According to the Italian government, I am a citizen of Italy,” Canavan, who was also minister for northern Australia, told reporters on Tuesday. Canavan’s mother, who was born in Australia but is of Italian …