Politics

Bloomberg The US identified 210 Russian billionaires and top officials in a sweeping list required under last summer’s sanctions law, but underlined that those named aren’t being targeted for new restrictions. The highly anticipated document, mandated by Congress over White House objections to punish Russia for alleged meddling in the 2016 election, had fuelled alarm in Moscow and threatened to ...

Bloomberg Mariano Rajoy is rallying his troops for a political fightback. But his troops aren’t so sure. The Spanish prime minister is encouraging some senior officials to run in regional elections next year as he looks to shore up his People’s Party’s power base, according to people familiar with his thinking who asked not to be named discussing party strategy. ...

Bloomberg Kenya’s main opposition alliance defied warnings of a crackdown and prepared to inaugurate its leader as a so-called people’s president, threatening to deepen the East African nation’s political crisis. Thousands of National Super Alliance (Nasa) supporters thronged Uhuru Park on the edge of Nairobi’s city center by late Tuesday morning, awaiting the arrival of their leader Raila Odinga. The ...

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Theresa May is fighting on multiple fronts as critics inside her governing Conservative Party threaten to upend her plans for Brexit and even her premiership. May’s party is split over how to leave the European Union as time runs out for finalizing the UK’s policy. Opponents of retaining EU trade rules after a divorce want her ...

Bloomberg Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will travel to Tokyo for his country’s first joint summit with Japan and South Korea since 2015, the clearest sign yet of improving ties between the three neighbours. The meeting was announced by China and Japan, as Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono concluded a two-day visit aimed at repairing his country’s strained relationship with China. ...

Bloomberg Germany’s Social Democratic leader said he needs concessions from Chancellor Angela Merkel to sell party members on staying in her government, raising the stakes as negotiators seek to finish a coalition pact within a week. Party leaders aren’t just discussing SPD policy demands on labor, health care and migration as they seek to end the political deadlock in Europe’s ...

Bloomberg Sauli Niinisto was re-elected as Finland’s president without recourse to a runoff — a first since the post has been settled by popular vote. Niinisto won a second term by a landslide, receiving the backing of roughly 63 percent of eligible voters and more than half of the ballots cast in every area of the 100-year-old nation. “Finland is ...

Bloomberg Cypriots will return to the ballot box on February 4 to choose a leader who can oversee the Mediterranean island’s economic recovery nearly six years after the country came close to financial collapse. Incumbent President Nicos Anastasiades, 71, will face Stavros Malas in the runoff after taking 35.5 percent of the vote compared with 30.3 percent for Malas, an ...

Bloomberg Hundreds of Russians braved sub-zero temperatures to protest against President Vladimir Putin, who’s seeking to prolong his almost two-decade-long rule in March elections. Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who’s been barred from taking part in the March 18 vote, called on his supporters to rally in more than 100 cities in a bid to put more pressure on the ...

Bloomberg A Taliban suicide bomber detonated explosives in downtown Kabul, killing at least 95 people and wounding 158 others in the worst attack since a truck bombing near the Afghan capital’s diplomatic zone last year. President Donald Trump condemned the bombing as “despicable” and called on the world to act against the extremist group. The bomber used an explosive-laden ambulance ...