Politics

Bloomberg In their first two weeks in power, Italy’s populist leaders sparked a dispute with France over immigration and threatened to scupper a landmark EU trade pact with Canada. It’s hardly the way to make friends with European partners in key deciding positions when Italy seeks approval for the big-spending budget plan it will submit to Brussels in four months. ...

Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel accepted a two-week deadline to win agreement on tougher migration policy, a concession to her Bavarian coalition partner that eases an immediate standoff without removing the threat of further government tension down the road. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who heads Bavaria’s Christian Social Union party, insists the chancellor reach a deal by the end of June ...

Bloomberg Theresa May is surrounded. On one side, the UK prime minister has the European Union, sharpening its knives to defend the club of 27 remaining members against British “cherry picking” during Brexit talks. On the other side is her own Conservative party, split into two feuding tribes, either one of which could topple her from power. It’s the domestic ...

Bloomberg Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Moise Katumbi said the authorities revoked his passport and won’t allow him to replace it. Katumbi was advised by Belgian airport services, after returning from a trip to Israel, that his semi-biometric passport had been withdrawn from the system. A request to the Congolese Embassy in Belgium for a full biometric passport was ...

Bloomberg Germany’s Christian Social Union party will give Chancellor Angela Merkel a two-week deadline to meet its demands for overhauling asylum policy, the Bild Zeitung reported, in what would mark an unprecedented challenge to her authority that risks plunging the nation into chaos. The executive of the Bavarian party — an ally in Merkel’s government — will pass a resolution ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump pushed back against criticism that he gave too much ground to North Korea at last week’s summit, saying the US “got so much” out of the meeting, including the return of American citizens. The president also defended his decision to halt military exercises with South Korea in the region, writing that the so-called war games can ...

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Theresa May has been warned that rebels inside her own party could bring down her government if they don’t like the final Brexit deal she negotiates with the EU. Pro-EU former attorney general Dominic Grieve said he had sleepless nights worrying about the choice facing Parliament when May reaches an agreement with the bloc on terms ...

Bloomberg Colombians are voting in the runoff of the first presidential election since the demobilisation of the nation’s largest guerrilla group, with a market-friendly lawyer facing a leftist who wants to tax the rich. Polls predict a clear win for Ivan Duque, 41, who wants to cut taxes on company profits, over Gustavo Petro, 58, who wants to redistribute land ...

Bloomberg Former FBI Director James Comey was “insubordinate” in handling the probe into Hillary Clinton, damaging the bureau and the Justice Department’s image of impartiality even though he wasn’t motivated by politics, the department’s watchdog found. Although the report by Inspector General Michael Horowitz doesn’t deal directly with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into Russia meddling in the 2016 US ...

Bloomberg Greek PM Alexis Tsipras survived a no-confidence vote in parliament, securing support to move forward to sign an agreement with the Republic of Macedonia and to continue governing until his term expires in 2019. A total of 153 lawmakers in the 300-seat chamber voted against the opposition-backed motion, the parliament speaker said after the session in Athens, against 127 ...