Politics

Bloomberg Libyan security forces have arrested two men accused of working for a Russian troll farm seeking to influence elections in the oil exporter and other African countries. A letter from the state prosecutor of the internationally-backed Tripoli government to a Libyan security chief said the men were involved in “securing a meeting” with Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi, the fugitive son ...

Bloomberg China’s military said its recent “live-fire drill” in the South China Sea didn’t target any country and wasn’t held to achieve specific objectives, after the US denounced the missile tests as “coercive acts.” China fired at least one missile into the sea and was expected to continue testing until July 3, NBC News reported, citing anonymous US officials. The ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson looks set for a landslide victory over rival Jeremy Hunt in the race to become Britain’s next PM. According to a YouGov poll published in the Times newspaper, Johnson is backed by 74 percent of Conservative Party members with Hunt languishing on 26 percent. The survey also suggests that the vast majority of the 160,000 grassroots party ...

Bloomberg Of all the dramatic visuals to emerge from the protests that rocked Hong Kong in recent weeks, one stands out: the defaced city emblem left by demonstrators who stormed the legislature on July 1. The image of Hong Kong’s iconic bauhinia flower covered in black paint has become a symbol of the frustrations that sent hundreds of thousands of ...

Bloomberg Venezuelan courts released judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni nine years after her arrest and journalist Braulio Jatar, the country’s top court said in separate posts on Twitter, without offering further details. Afiuni, writing on Twitter, confirmed her release, saying she would post a message when she had the official high court resolution. National Assembly leader Juan Guaido said on Twitter ...

Bloomberg An attack on a Libyan detention centre that killed at least 44 people may constitute a war crime, a United Nations envoy said, adding to international pressure to end a battle for the capital that’s threatening to tear the North African Opec member apart. Libya’s UN-backed government accused eastern commander Khalifa Haftar of ordering an overnight airstrike that hit ...

Bloomberg Iran warned it will restore a mothballed reactor and step up enrichment if European nations fail to offer it economic guarantees by a July 7 deadline, escalating a crisis that threatens to collapse the 2015 nuclear accord and plunge the Gulf into renewed uncertainty. “If you don’t meet all your commitments according to the timetable and plans, the Islamic ...

Bloomberg Rahul Gandhi announced his resignation as leader of India’s opposition Congress party, taking responsibility for its dismal result in the recent national election, which saw PM Narendra Modi returned for a second term with an increased majority. “Rebuilding the party requires hard decisions and numerous people have to be made accountable for the failure of 2019,” Gandhi wrote in ...

Bloomberg The US denounced as “coercive acts” Chinese anti-ship missile tests in the disputed South China Sea, underscoring continued strategic tensions between the two Pacific powers even as they restart trade talks. China fired at least one missile into the sea over the weekend and was expected to continue testing through a launch window that continued until on Wednesday, NBC ...

Bloomberg Russia said some crew members survived a fire that killed 14 sailors on a submersible research vessel, as the Kremlin refused to say whether a nuclear-powered submarine was involved. The sailors who died in the country’s worst naval incident in more than a decade “behaved like heroes” to save other crew members and the vessel, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ...