Politics

Bloomberg Tens of thousands of Hong Kong protesters marched through the city centre to the vicinity of government headquarters, ignoring a police-approved end point and defying a ruling that shortened the planned route. The march marked the sixth straight week of anti-government rallies that have put increasing pressure on the financial hub’s administration. Organizer Civil Human Rights Front said the ...

Bloomberg Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is holding a British oil tanker, after seizing it in the Strait of Hormuz amid soaring tensions in one of the world’s critical energy chokepoints. UK officials demanded the immediate release of the vessel. Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) said the UK-flagged Stena Impero crashed into a fishing vessel and had been taken ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump will push Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, to pressure the Taliban into signing a permanent ceasefire in Afghanistan, an administration official said. Trump will demand that Pakistan’s government free Shakil Afridi, a physician imprisoned after helping the US government locate and kill Osama bin Laden, the official said. The Trump administration will judge Pakistan in part ...

Bloomberg The US government said an overwhelming crush by immigrants crossing the southern border justifies a new rule restricting asylum applications from Central Americans who haven’t sought protection from persecution or torture in another country through which they passed. The Justice Department filed its response to a request by immigrant rights’ groups for an emergency court order to halt enforcement ...

Bloomberg Pressured by his closest advisers to force a snap election, Matteo Salvini is hesitating. The usually hyper-active deputy premier is keeping the country waiting as he considers whether to take his biggest political gamble yet and pull out of Italy’s fractious populist coalition. The leader of the rightist League is looking to capitalise on his victory in May’s European ...

Bloomberg The European Union is preparing to offer the next British PM a Brexit extension beyond October 31 to provide yet another attempt to reach an agreement, The Guardian reported, citing unidentified EU officials. The extra period of membership, while allowing for an agreement to be reached, could be billed to members of the Conservative Party as an opportunity to ...

Bloomberg The Democratic-led House responded to Donald Trump’s sustained attacks on four female Democratic lawmakers by taking the extraordinary step of rebuking the president for racism. The resolution — backed by all 235 Democrats, four Republicans and one independent — accused the president of having “legitimised and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of colour,” a serious ...

Bloomberg Sudan’s military council signed a power-sharing deal with the country’s firebrand opposition that seeks to stem months of uncertainty and sporadic bloodshed after the overthrow of long-time president Omar al-Bashir. Under the accord, civilian and military representatives will form an 11-seat sovereign council with executive responsibilities, and elections will take place after three years. Images aired on pan-Arab satellite ...

Bloomberg A group of assailants targeted Turkish diplomats at an eatery in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, an attack that reportedly left a deputy consul dead, according to Iraqi and Turkish television channels. Turkey’s deputy consul in Erbil was killed along with two companions, Iraq’s Sumaria TV reported, citing a security official, which couldn’t be independently verified. Turkey’s Haberturk ...

Bloomberg The Kremlin raised the possibility of changing Russia’s constitution after a top lawmaker proposed bolstering parliament’s powers, in a move that could help to extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule. The idea of constitutional amendments, including allowing parliament a say in forming the government, received “a widespread response” and are “a matter for discussion,” Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters ...