Politics

Bloomberg Britain’s exit from the European Union looks set to be delayed by as long as a year in a blow for Theresa May that risks a destabilising backlash at home. European Council President Donald Tusk rejected May’s request for a brief postponement to the UK’s membership, saying it would create a “rolling series of short extensions and emergency summits, ...

Bloomberg As Nicolas Maduro steps up his search for cash overseas, another door is slamming shut. The International Monetary Fund suspended the Venezuelan leader’s access to almost $400 million of special drawing rights (SDR), citing political chaos since National Assembly President Juan Guaido claimed in January that he was the nation’s rightful leader, said two people familiar with the matter. ...

Bloomberg Russia’s Investigative Committee has requested that Baring Vostok Capital Partners founder Michael Calvey be moved to house arrest after two months in a Moscow jail in a closely watched case that’s shocked investors. Calvey’s next hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Moscow, when the Investigative Committee’s petition will be presented, court spokeswoman Yunona Tsareva said. Three other defendants linked ...

Bloomberg Eastern-based warlord Khalifa Haftar struck Tripoli’s only functioning international airport, drawing a rebuke from the United Nations and escalating an advance on the capital that threatens to spark civil war and convulse oil markets. Mitiga International Airport, Libya’s largest, temporarily suspended flights after the airstrike, which the UN’s secretary-general, Antonio Gutteres, condemned. In a statement, Gutteres urged an immediate ...

Bloomberg Sudan’s military said it rejected any use of violence to quell the protests against embattled President Omar al-Bashir, as security forces tried to storm an anti-government demonstration in the capital. As four months of anti-government unrest intensified, the military said that protesters could only be dispersed through peaceful means, al-Hadath, a pan-Arab satellite channel, reported. The military also reaffirmed ...

Bloomberg Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defended his country’s military buildup in the Arctic amid US warnings of rising tensions in the remote and energy-rich region. “We don’t threaten anyone. We ensure sufficient defense capabilities given the political and military situation around our borders,” Lavrov said during a panel at the International Arctic Forum in St. Petersburg. “We will always ...

Bloomberg Kazakhstan’s new president called snap presidential elections less than a month after he replaced leader-for-life Nursultan Nazarbayev in a carefully-choreographed transfer of power. “I’ve taken the decision to call early presidential elections” on June 9 after consultations with Nazarbayev, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a televised address to the nation. While the handover of power took place in a calm ...

Bloomberg Algeria’s parliament on Tuesday named the head of its upper house as interim president, potentially placing the country’s tumultuous transition in the hands of a man widely seen as cut from the same cloth as the outgoing Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Abdelkader Bensalah’s nomination paves the way for the start of a transitional period after Bouteflika was forced to step down ...

Bloomberg Theresa May headed to Berlin as part of her efforts to win a short delay to Britain’s departure from the European Union, while at home some in her Conservative Party try to throw her overboard. EU diplomats are said to be settling on the idea of offering an extension to Britain despite the lack of progress at home. It ...

Bloomberg A Hong Kong court found democracy activist Benny Tai guilty for his role in organising the Occupy protests, the latest step in the China-backed government’s effort to punish leaders of demonstrations that rocked the former British colony almost five years ago. Tai, an associate law professor at the University of Hong Kong, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit ...