Politics

Bloomberg US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was ousted on Tuesday after a turbulent tenure with President Donald Trump, blindsiding the former Exxon Mobil Corp CEO just hours after he returned from a nearly week-long trip to Africa. “I am proud to nominate the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Mike Pompeo, to be our new Secretary of State,” Trump ...

UNITED NATIONS / Reuters US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley warned that Washington “remains prepared to act if we must,” if the UN Security Council fails to act on Syria, as the Syrian army’s onslaught in eastern Ghouta continued unabated. The United States asked the Security Council to demand an immediate 30-day ceasefire in Damascus and rebel-held eastern ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Theresa May’s Cabinet met to discuss how to strike back at Russia over the poisoning of a former spy on British soil, ahead of a midnight deadline for the Kremlin to explain the attack. In a dramatic statement to Parliament, May announced that Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia had been poisoned more than ...

Bloomberg Opposition parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo formed a coalition that will back Moise Katumbi’s candidacy for president in elections scheduled for December. The announcement marks the start of what’s expected to be a series of declarations by candidates seeking to replace President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the central African nation for 17 years and is barred ...

Bloomberg About 8,500 members of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group fled to neighboring Kenya after the military said it “mistakenly” killed nine civilians and injured 12 others in a market town that straddles their border. The ethnic Oromo refugees, mostly women and children, began arriving in northern Kenya on March 10, Halkano Halake, spokesman for the governor of Marsabit county, said ...

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Theresa May faces calls to crack down on Russian influence in Britain amid reports that investigators have linked Vladimir Putin’s regime to last week’s poisoning of a former spy in a city southwest of London. The Times and Telegraph newspapers reported that May could blame Russia publicly for the attempted nerve-gas murder of Sergei Skripal and ...

Bloomberg US arms exports surged 25 percent over the five years to 2017, according to data released on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Extending its lead as the world’s biggest arms exporter, the US accounted for 34 percent of total arms exports. Russia, the next biggest exporter, saw its arms sales fall 7.1 percent to 22 percent ...

Bloomberg US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson cut short his trip to Africa by about a day to deal with pressing matters in the US. Tillerson is ending his trip early to deal with work that needs to be attended to in Washington, D.C., Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Steve Goldstein told reporters Monday in the ...

Bloomberg The US will make no concessions to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in discussions leading to potential talks between the reclusive leader and President Donald Trump, and during any subsequent negotiations, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said. Kim, on the other hand, must stand by the concessions he’s offered, including ceasing nuclear and missile testing, continuing to allow US-South ...

Bloomberg Slovakia’s interior minister will resign to prevent the collapse of Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government, which is trying to fend off calls for early elections following the murder of an investigative journalist. Interior Minister Robert Kalinak told reporters on Monday he hopes his resignation, sought by the opposition and the junior coalition Most party, will help to stabilise the ...