Politics

Bloomberg There’s no military solution to the long-running conflict in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said, warning little progress would be made until all sides entered into peace talks. Abbasi voiced skepticism over US President Donald Trump’s increase in troops to assist the Afghan security forces and said Islamabad was ready to help mediate talks with the Taliban, ...

Bloomberg Nicos Anastasiades was re-elected as Cyprus president, winning his bid to continue overseeing the Mediterranean island’s economic recovery nearly six years after the country came close to financial collapse. Anastasiades, 71, the candidate of the center-right Disy party, won 56 percent of the vote, compared with 44 percent for Stavros Malas, an independent candidate backed by the leftist Akel ...

Bloomberg Polls may be downplaying the chances that a center-right coalition backed by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi will win a majority in upcoming Italian elections on March 4. The so-called “shy-factor” in the polling process, which underestimates voting intentions for right-wing parties, and a new electoral law that favors coalitions, may give Berlusconi’s bloc enough seats to form a government, ...

Bloomberg The political tides could finally be turning against Theresa May. The embattled British prime minister has defied odds to survive a disastrous election result and difficult Brexit negotiations by papering over differences among her Conservatives. But there is a growing sense May’s situation has become untenable as her party’s divisions over the European Union spill out. While it remains ...

Bloomberg Democratic lawmakers circulated talking points in which they say House Republicans are “now part and parcel to an organised effort to obstruct” Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. “Until now, we could only really accuse House Republicans of ignoring the President’s open attempts to block the Russia investigation,” Democratic members of the House ...

AMMAN / Reuters Syrian rebels shot down a Russian warplane and killed its pilot on the ground after he ejected from the plane, Russia’s defence ministry and Syrian rebels said. The SU-25 came down in an area of northern Idlib province that has seen heavy air strikes and fighting on the ground between Syria’s government forces backed by Russia and ...

Bloomberg Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni condemned a drive-by shooting in the city of Macerata that targeted migrants, and asked all political parties to act responsibly ahead of national elections on March 4. “I trust in the sense of responsibility of all political forces,” Gentiloni said during a news conference in Rome after the incident. “Criminals are criminals and the ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s point man for a massive Pacific trade pact is defending his job after giving incense sticks to voters, the latest example of how even the whiff of scandal can threaten policy-making in Japan. Toshimitsu Motegi, the economy minister who last month shepherded the revised Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal to an 11-way agreement, is facing calls ...

Bloomberg Peru’s Pedro Pablo Kuczynski may face a new opposition attempt to force him from office after one party shifted its position and said it would now support an impeachment motion of its own. New Peru, which chose not to vote in December’s impeachment ballot, told reporters that new information has emerged about Kuczynski’s ties to Brazilian builder Odebrecht SA. ...

Bloomberg Top officials of the ruling African National Congress were expected to meet on Sunday with President Jacob Zuma to discuss his departure from office, the Johannesburg-based Sunday Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The meeting, to be held at the president’s official residence in Pretoria, will be led by the party’s Deputy President David Mabuza and could ...