Politics

BEIJING / Reuters Rescue crews wrestled to bring a blaze on an Iranian oil tanker off China’s east coast under control on Monday as fire raged for a second day following a collision with a grain ship, while the body of one of the 32 missing crew members was found on aboard. Concerns were growing that the tanker, which hit ...

Bloomberg Republicans and Democrats in Congress are once again far apart on a government spending bill with just days to go before a partial shutdown. The next deadline is January 19, and after Republican leaders met with President Donald Trump and cabinet officials over the weekend at Camp David there was no indication either side had budged on some of ...

Bloomberg Israel has blacklisted 20 groups from around the world that support the Palestinian-led boycott campaign against it, barring their members from entering the country. The organisations identified include the Association France Palestine Solidarite, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and US-based Jewish Voice for Peace. It follows up on a law passed last year that bars visits by non-citizens and non-residents ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump said Congress should enact a measure to provide legal status to young, undocumented immigrants, provided other proposals, including funding for a wall on the US border with Mexico, are also adopted — a compromise Democratic lawmakers have already rejected. “We want the wall,” Trump said at a press conference at Camp David in Maryland. “The wall ...

BEIJING / Reuters A tanker carrying Iranian oil and run by the country’s top oil shipping operator was ablaze and spewing cargo into the East China Sea on Sunday after colliding with a Chinese bulk ship, leaving its 32 crew members missing, the Chinese government said. Thick clouds of dark smoke could be seen billowing out of the Sanchi tanker, ...

AMRIYAT AL-FALLUJA / Reuters Iraqi security forces are forcibly returning civilians from refugee camps to unsafe areas in the predominantly Sunni Anbar province, exposing them to death from booby-traps or acts of vigilantism, refugees and aid workers say. Managing more than two million Iraqis displaced by the war against IS is one of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s most daunting tasks. ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she’s hopeful that make-or-break talks to renew her governing alliance with the Social Democratic Party will succeed, while cautioning that much work is needed for a deal that opens the door to her fourth term. With Europe’s dominant country and biggest economy stuck in more than three months of post-election stalemate, the acting chancellor’s ...

Bloomberg Malaysia’s opposition named Mahathir Mohamad, 92, as candidate for prime minister in an election that must be held by August. Once Malaysia’s longest serving premier, Mahathir will battle against his own hand-picked heir, Prime Minister Najib Razak, 64. The coalition known as Pakatan Harapan, or Pact of Hope, said at its convention on Sunday that Mahathir would remain prime ...

Bloomberg The US has delayed paying about $125 million to the United Nations agency that serves Palestinian refugees, said two people familiar with the matter, after President Donald Trump vented his frustration about getting no “respect” or help in the peace process despite American funding. The US, by far the biggest contributor to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) ...

Bloomberg The US is suspending security assistance to Pakistan as the Trump administration escalates pressure on the government in Islamabad to prevent terrorist groups from finding safe harbor in the country. The action announced is in addition to a decision disclosed earlier this week in which the National Security Council said the US will continue to withhold $255 million in ...