Politics

Bloomberg A Russian journalist critical of President Vladimir Putin was shot dead at his home in Kiev, the third assassination in two years of a Kremlin foe in Ukraine’s capital. Arkady Babchenko, who moved to the city last year following threats in his homeland, was fired on after returning from buying bread and died of his injuries in an ambulance, ...

Bloomberg The Socialists, Spain’s biggest opposition party, are negotiating on two fronts for the support they need to oust PM Mariano Rajoy in a no-confidence vote on Friday, according to people briefed on the talks. The party has made inroads in the past 24 hours but the result is likely to remain in the balance until the last moment as ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s main opposition party has been its own worst enemy as it attempts to unseat the African National Congress. The Democratic Alliance has botched attempts to fire Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille, igniting infighting and irking supporters ahead of next year’s elections, while an agreement that sees it run other major cities risks unraveling. With the ANC ...

Bloomberg North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has dispatched one of his top aides to New York for talks ahead of his planned summit with Donald Trump next month, the president said on Twitter. “Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more,” Trump said in a Twitter posting that misspelled the envoy’s name. “Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of ...

Bloomberg Libya’s competing powers reached a “consensus” on holding presidential and parliamentary elections in December, signalling a possible way out of the chaos that has gripped the nation for more than seven years. The leaders agreed to a statement that called for the “phasing out of parallel governments and institutions” and said that anyone who interferes in the election process ...

Bloomberg Italy’s Democratic Party signalled a return to campaign mode as it charged its rivals, the League and the Five Star Movement, with having prepared a plan to pull the country out of the euro if they had succeeded in forming a government together. The two parties gambled with the country’s well-being “with a project to take Italy out of ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump may have ordered the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran, but one of Asia’s biggest oil importers — and a strategic partner of the US — plans on ignoring them. India, a long-time buyer of oil from both Iran and Venezuela, only complies with UN-mandated sanctions and not those imposed by one country on another, said foreign ...

Bloomberg The European Union must reconstruct itself to protect its economies from euro-area contagion and attract the UK back after Brexit, investor George Soros said. “The economic case for remaining a member of the EU is strong, but it will take time for it to sink in,” Soros said in a speech in Paris on Tuesday. “During that time the ...

Bloomberg Italian President Sergio Mattarella asked economist Carlo Cottarelli to form a government with new elections due as early as the fall, as populist leaders railed against the president and the European Union for blocking their bid for power. Cottarelli, 63, a former executive director of the International Monetary Fund, pledged Italy would stay in the euro and called for ...

Bloomberg Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon reiterated her goal for the UK to remain in the customs union and single market in a meeting with Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, in Brussels. Sturgeon’s aim was to ensure that the EU understands Scotland’s concerns, according to a statement from her office. She said in an interview with Politico ...