Politics

Bloomberg Iran has arrested three Australian citizens, including two with dual British nationality, in what appears to be a stepped-up targeting of foreigners for arrest amid a tense standoff with Western powers over the nuclear deal. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed the detentions, but declined to provide further details due to “privacy obligations.” The Times newspaper reported ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam pushed back against protester calls for the passage of US legislation that would require annual assessments of the city’s special trading status and allow sanctions on Chinese officials. “The Hong Kong government doesn’t agree on foreign parliaments passing bills to intervene in Hong Kong affairs, and we feel deep regret,” Lam told a regular ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s economic approval rating has dipped to 46 percent from 51 percent in July, as the majority of Americans fear a recession in the next year, a new Washington Post-ABC News polll finds. The survey shows some vulnerability in one of the Trump camp’s main arguments for re-election — that the US economy is strong — as ...

Bloomberg North Korea delivered a pointed message to the Trump administration — firing two “short-range projectiles” into its eastern seas hours after saying it was willing to restart nuclear talks with the US. The launches began shortly before 7 am local time on Tuesday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The incident came shortly after a top North Korean ...

Bloomberg After parliament blocked his Brexit strategy, and then refused to give him the election he wanted, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is promising to work for a deal with the European Union (EU). The British premier suffered his sixth consecutive defeat in a vote in the House of Commons, after his attempt to get approval for a snap poll ...

Bloomberg Bulgaria charged the head of a pro-Russian civil-society group with espionage, alleging he supplied information to help shift the Balkan nation’s geopolitical trajectory. The move could complicate ties between the two countries, which have remained cordial — particularly in the energy sector — despite Bulgaria’s membership of the European Union and NATO. In a possible sign of tougher rhetoric ...

Bloomberg Simmering popular anger led to setbacks for Russia’s ruling party in closely watched races in Moscow, even as the Kremlin used its tight control of the electoral system to ensure wins for its handpicked candidates in gubernatorial votes elsewhere. After weeks of the biggest anti-Kremlin demonstrations in seven years in the capital this summer, the United Russia party lost ...

Bloomberg Taiwan and the Solomon Islands put on a display of friendship on Monday, pledging to deepen ties, even as rumors persist the Pacific nation is close to severing relations in favour of China. President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan and the Solomon Islands would work together to strengthen bilateral ties as she met its foreign minister Jeremiah Manele. “Taiwan and ...

Bloomberg A British human-rights group is bringing a legal challenge to ensure that Prime Minister Boris Johnson abides by a government bill after one of his ministers criticised the legislation that requires an extension to the Brexit deadline. Liberty has applied for a judicial review, though it said it would withdraw the application if the prime minister confirmed that he ...

Bloomberg Donald Trump took the presidency vowing to bring his deal-making savvy to American foreign policy, yet his love for grand gestures and personal diplomacy has fallen short with North Korea, China and the Mideast. Now Afghanistan can be added to the list. In a series of tweets, the president dispatched with a secret plan to host Taliban and Afghan ...