Politics

Bloomberg The UK opposition Labour Party plans to vote down Theresa May’s divorce agreement with the European Union, and sees a second referendum as a way of avoiding a chaotic no-deal Brexit. Labour’s Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer set out what he called a “sequenced, structured,” strategy for the next few months in Parliament, when May is expected to put the ...

Bloomberg Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven was voted out in a confidence vote in parliament as the center-right opposition and the nationalists joined forces to end four years of Social Democratic rule. The vote sets up lengthy government talks. An election two weeks ago left Lofven’s coalition with a lead of just one seat over the Alliance opposition and saw ...

Bloomberg The US sanctioned Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s wife and several close associates in an escalation of Trump administration efforts to punish the socialist regime for corruption and anti-democratic practices. Cilia Flores de Maduro, 61, is the first lady, a former attorney general and head of the National Assembly. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez, as well as ...

Bloomberg Russia will provide advanced S-300 missile systems to Syria and directly link up with the air-defense network of its Middle Eastern ally, stepping up support for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad after the downing of a reconnaissance plane last week. Moscow blamed the shoot-down of the aircraft, which killed 15 Russian servicemen, on Israel, whose planes were attacking ...

Bloomberg President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party lost governorships in three regions as the fallout from popular anger over a plan to boost the retirement age makes usually tightly controlled elections more competitive. Candidates from the populist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia beat United Russia incumbents in the Khabarovsk and Vladimir regions, according to the Central Election Commission. Another United ...

Bloomberg South Korean President Moon Jae-in faces a formidable task during meetings in New York this week with Donald Trump and other world leaders: convincing skeptics that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is actually serious about giving up his nuclear weapons. Moon was expected to meet Trump on Monday in New York, and will address the United Nations later in ...

Bloomberg Pro-Brexit politicians in Theresa May’s Conservative Party are launching a rival plan for leaving the European Union in an effort to force her to ditch her own blueprint in favour of a cleaner break with the bloc. Former Brexit Secretary David Davis, who quit in July because he disagreed with May, is backing the proposal published by the Institute ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s government issued an unprecedented ban against a pro-independence political party that it has called a risk to national security, raising concerns over tolerance of dissent in the Asian financial hub. “The Hong Kong National Party has a very clear agenda to achieve its goal of Hong Kong being made an independent republic,” John Lee, the city’s security ...

Bloomberg Aides for UK Prime Minister Theresa May have begun contingency planning for a possible snap election in November, the Sunday Times reported. Two senior members of her political operation began “war gaming” an autumn vote in a bid to win public backing for a new Brexit plan. One person in her inner circle told cabinet members she’ll probably stand ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump is willing to meet with Iran’s Hassan Rouhani when world leaders gather at the United Nations this week, said the top US diplomat, who also said that Russia hasn’t been helpful to US foreign policy objectives. “He’s happy to talk with folks at any time,” US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in a pre-recorded interview ...