Politics

Bloomberg Egypt’s government said extremists were behind a blast that killed at least 20 people in central Cairo, one of the deadliest acts of violence by extremists in the North African nation’s capital in years. Extremists were transporting an explosives-laden vehicle for an attack when it detonated outside the National Cancer Institute, the Interior Ministry said. Forty-seven other people were ...

Bloomberg Somalian authorities executed two al-Shabaab militants who were convicted for a December attack that killed at least 13 people in the capital, Mogadishu. The men “were executed by firing squad on Monday morning,” Chairman of the Somali military court Hassan Ali Nur told reporters. The al-Qaeda-linked militants have waged an insurgency in Somalia since 2006 in a bid to ...

Bloomberg Iran is responsible for security in the Persian Gulf and is acting more vigorously to protect it, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said, suggesting that a showdown between his country and Western powers over crucial shipping lanes could escalate. “We used to overlook some violations but no longer,” Zarif said at a press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Tehran. ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam warned of a “very dangerous situation” as protesters moved to shut down the Asian financial hub with a general strike on Monday after a ninth straight weekend of unrest in opposition to China’s tightening grip. Demonstrators hampered the financial hub’s busy morning commute with actions that left traffic snarled, subway lines inoperable and airport ...

Bloomberg The deadly mass shootings in Texas and Ohio have reignited criticism of President Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric about immigrants and minorities. Several Democratic presidential hopefuls called for reinstating the ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004, while many accused Trump of stoking racial animus — he’s described Mexican and Central American immigrants as criminals and gang members — ...

Texas / WAM A man armed with a rifle opened fire at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, killing 20 people and wounding 26 others as panicked shoppers and employees scurried for cover before the gunman surrendered to police at the scene, Reuters has reported. Many shoppers in the busy store were buying back-to-school supplies when they found themselves ...

Bloomberg Sudan’s ruling military council signed a deal with its political opposition outlining how they’ll share power in a three-year transitional government, the latest step towards democracy after President Omar al-Bashir’s overthrow. The two sides inked the so-called constitutional declaration on Sunday in the capital, Khartoum. The African Union’s envoy to Sudan, Mohamed el-Hassan Lebatt, said at the ceremony that ...

Bloomberg China’s central government won’t sit by and let the disruption in Hong Kong go on, according a commentary by the Xinhua News Agency, which condemned the violence that’s wracked the financial hub for weeks and took aim at protesters whom it said tossed a Chinese national flag into the harbour. “We must warn all the ugly forces that try ...

Bloomberg Russian police detained almost 700 people, including opposition leaders, at Moscow protests against the authorities’ decision to ban anti-Kremlin candidates from running for the city council next month, according to independent legal-aid group OVD-Info. The number of protesters being held reached 685 as of 6:40 pm local time, the group estimated on its website. The Moscow police unit on ...

Bloomberg Calls by some top Democratic presidential contenders to decriminalise border crossings have divided the party and risk turning the issue of immigration into one that President Donald Trump eagerly exploits during his 2020 re-election bid. Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris are among the leading candidates who’d make illegally crossing the border a civil rather than a ...