Politics

Bloomberg More than 80 cars were set ablaze in cities across southwestern Sweden overnight as groups of masked youths threw stones and started fires in what may have been a coordinated action. In the Frolunda neighbourhood of Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-largest city, 31 cars burned and 35 were damaged as a group of 6-8 masked youths threw stones and started fires, ...

Bloomberg A bridge on the main highway running down the Italian Mediterranean coast in the port city of Genoa has collapsed, and reports said at least 20 people died with others trapped in the rubble. Shares of Atlantia SpA, which runs the stretch of highway, fell almost 11 percent in Milan, the company’s biggest intraday drop since 2008. Atlantia Chief ...

Bloomberg President Nicolas Maduro took to the airwaves to tell Venezuelan drivers that the days of being able to fill up their tanks with some of the cheapest gasoline in the world were over. From August 15-17, drivers must register to receive subsidies for gasoline purchases, and those who do not will have to pay international prices for fuel. Maduro, ...

Bloomberg Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation hasn’t yet become a top issue for most voters. But when it comes to fundraising, Democrats and Republicans battling for control of Congress in November are using the probe to cash in. Some Democrats are pitching to donors that they’ll prevent Mueller’s ouster or other interference by President Donald Trump. Republicans are telling ...

Bloomberg North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s Moon Jae-in agreed to hold their third meeting this year, as they seek to preserve a detente tested by disputes between Pyongyang and Washington. The two Koreas announced plans on Monday for Moon to visit the North Korean capital next month, the first such trip since 2007. A joint statement issued ...

Bloomberg Election officials in Mali are due to start counting ballot papers after a presidential runoff that observers say was mostly peaceful, even as sporadic incidents of violence broke out in regions where the nation is battling militancy. Voters decided whether President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita should win a second five-year mandate after securing 41 percent of the votes in the ...

Bloomberg As public pressure mounts on Israeli leaders to crush rocket barrages from the Gaza Strip, they’re opting to try the diplomatic route while a greater threat looms: Iran’s presence in postwar Syria. To keep his military focussed on the northern front, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pursuing a long-term truce with Hamas, the militant group that rules the Gaza ...

Bloomberg Italian Deputy PM Luigi Di Maio says the country won’t be subject to an attack by speculators, after a leading figure from his coalition partner said the Italian and European establishment want to “abort” Italy’s populist government. “I don’t see a real risk that this government will be attacked, it’s more a wish of the opposition,” Di Maio said ...

Bloomberg Tunisia’s president backed a call for women to be granted equal inheritance rights, breaking with a legal code followed in many Muslim nations that strongly favours male heirs. The proposal, laid out by Beji Caid Essebsi in a televised address marking national women’s day, was first suggested by a committee which had deliberated on the issue for about a ...

Bloomberg With the European Union gearing up for legislative elections in 2019, the battle between EU supporters and opponents is shaping up to be a lot like many of the contests in this summer’s soccer World Cup: back and forth, passionate and down to the wire. Last year’s election of French President Emmanuel Macron and fourth-term victory of German Chancellor ...