Politics

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 ...

Reuters A United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss recent protests in Iran turned into criticism of the United States for requesting to meet on what some member states said was an internal issue for Tehran. France’s ambassador to the UN said the protests do not threaten international peace and security, in what may be an implicit criticism of the ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump said he’s a “very stable genius” in an early Saturday tweet, a day after a new book about his first year in the White House claimed that many of his top aides and confidantes consider him unfit to hold office. “Throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. ...

Bloomberg Lithuania’s top politicians clashed over whether to rejuvenate ties with Russia that were frozen following President Vladimir Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis has recently urged resuming dialog with the Russian government, advocating talks on topics such as trade, energy, agriculture and transport, while maintaining the current stance on Ukraine. President Dalia Grybauskaite, ...

RAMALLAH / Reuters Palestinians condemned as blackmail on Wednesday US President Donald Trump’s threat to withhold future aid payments over what he called the Palestinians’ unwillingness to talk peace with Israel. Trump drew praise from a cabinet minister in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government but a warning from a former Israeli peace negotiator of the dangers in cutting ...

Bloomberg North Korea contacted authorities in Seoul over a hotline for the first time in about two years, paving the way for a thaw during the Winter Olympics despite US President Donald Trump’s fresh taunts at Kim Jong Un. Officials from both countries spoke several times on Wednesday to conduct technical checks before agreeing to stop for the day, according ...