Politics

Bloomberg Rejecting dialogue with the opposition would be “irrational,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told Nicolas Maduro, less than two weeks after the collapse of negotiations between the Venezuelan leader and his main opponent Juan Guaido. Putin, one of Maduro’s few international allies, didn’t offer any major new financial support to the embattled regime in his public comments at the opening ...

Bloomberg A US airstrike killed 11 suspected IS militants in southern Libya, US Africa Command said, its second reported raid in a week against the extremist group that once controlled a key coastal city. The strike was carried out around the town of Murzuq, the same location where a September 19 attack was assessed to have left eight extremists dead, ...

Bloomberg A private army linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun fighting on the front lines of the Libyan war, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest projection of Russian power following a decisive military intervention in Syria. More than 100 mercenaries from the Wagner group headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as “Putin’s chef” for his ...

Bloomberg Britain’s top judges moved out of the Houses of Parliament a decade ago. The 11 Supreme Court justices declared their independence from the building across the road by delivering a stinging rebuke to Boris Johnson. The panel, sitting in its own building in Westminster, positioned itself as the ultimate arbiter in a constitutional clash and reasserted that parliament is ...

Bloomberg Former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s brother and two powerful former intelligence chiefs were sentenced on Wednesday to 15 years on charges of conspiring against the military, in an expedited trial authorities hoped would reflect a commitment to purging the old guard. The sentences against Said Bouteflika, retired Ltt Gen Mohamed Mediene and Maj Gen Athmane Tartag came just two ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump ordered his acting chief of staff to delay sending $400 million in military aid to Ukraine at least a week before he spoke to that country’s president, a person familiar with the matter said. Donald Trump’s July 25 telephone call with the new Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is the subject of a congressional investigation and is ...

Bloomberg Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his embattled Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro in Moscow on Wednesday, but the two aren’t planning to sign any documents, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “Various aspects of bilateral cooperation will be discussed,” Peskov said. The leaders will hold one-on-one talks, as well as a working lunch including other officials. “Of course, opinions will ...

Bloomberg Ghana’s security forces arrested three people and seized arms in connection with activities surveyed over the last 15 months, which were targeted at the presidency. “The joint operation was to neutralise an elaborate plot targeted at the presidency, and with the ultimate aim of destabilising the country,” the Ministry of Information said in an emailed statement. Between June and ...

Bloomberg If Prime Minister Narendra Modi was worried about a frosty reception in the US after his crackdown on India’s Muslim-majority region of Kashmir, President Donald Trump was quick to put those fears to rest. “Border security is vital to India,” Trump said alongside Modi, as the two spoke at a huge gathering of around 50,000 Indian-Americans. “We understand that.” ...

Bloomberg The UK’s top judges inflicted an unprecedented legal defeat on Prime Minister Boris Johnson, branding his controversial decision to suspend parliament unlawful and calling on lawmakers to return to parliament as soon as possible. The unanimous landmark decision by the 11 judges on Tuesday is a boost for MPs seeking to prevent Johnson pulling the country out of the ...