Politics

Bloomberg The premier of South Africa’s richest province warned the ruling African National Congress will lose its majority and extend an economic slump if it elects the wrong leaders this weekend. “If it doesn’t give South Africa the leadership that will win public confidence, not only is the ANC going to lose 2019 elections, but the country will be in ...

Bloomberg Australian Senator Sam Dastyari resigned from parliament amid mounting criticism of his links with a Chinese businessman who had ties to the Communist Party. Dastyari, a member of the main opposition Labor Party, last month came under pressure amid media reports that he warned the businessman that his phones were being tapped by Australian intelligence agencies. He had previously ...

Bloomberg Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should be allowed to run for re-election, Russia’s top envoy for Syria said, dismissing Western efforts to condition reconstruction aid on the departure of the leader. “I don’t see why he shouldn’t or wouldn’t run for another presidential term,” Alexander Lav- rentiev, appointed by the Krem- lin to steer the Syria peace process, told Bloomberg ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump said that Monday’s New York City bombing shows the urgency of tightening immigration laws as his spokeswoman argued the administration’s policies would have kept the suspect out of the country. “America must fix its lax immigration system, which allows far too many dangerous, inadequately vetted people to access our country,” Trump said in a written statement. ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union must push ahead with deepening integration next year if the bloc is to have meaningful influence on the global stage, her clearest backing yet for a reform drive championed by French President Emmanuel Macron. Merkel said she wanted talks to form another coalition government with the Social Democrats to be concluded ...

Bloomberg Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was among the targets of a bribery and money laundering probe in that country related to illicit flows of Iranian oil proceeds, a former Istanbul police officer testified in New York. The officer, Huseyin Korkmaz, said the investigation initially focused on the organization run by gold trader Reza Zarrab, but later grew to include ...

Bloomberg Honduran opposition leader Salvador Nasralla says he’s a moderate, pro-US candidate who Washington is wrong to fear, as he demands a full recount of ballots in a disputed election that has plunged the central American nation into its worst crisis in nearly a decade. Nasralla says he is a moderate who the US government has mistakenly branded a radical. ...

Bloomberg President Vladimir Putin flew to Russia’s airbase in Syria and declared “victory” in its two-year military campaign in support of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, as he issued an order to begin withdrawing forces from the war-torn country. Putin’s unannounced stop, where he was greeted by Assad, began a whirlwind day of Middle East diplomacy on Monday that includes talks ...

Bloomberg A Brooklyn man wearing a pipe bomb attached with Velcro and zip ties set off an explosive in the Times Square subway station on Monday morning, injuring himself and three others, sending ambulances racing and commuters fleeing as Christmas shoppers poured into New York City. The 27-year-old suspect, Akayed Ullah, wore the device that went off shortly after 7 ...

Bloomberg President Emmanuel Macron said he doesn’t intend to immediately revive past French Middle East peace initiatives, as Donald Trump’s administration stood behind his decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there. “It is preferable not to multiply initiatives because they end up cannibalizing each other,” Macron said at a press conference in Paris with ...