Politics

Bloomberg European officials have identified summits early next year where they could seek a breakthrough in Brexit talks, as the European side is bracing for a crunch meeting in December to end in failure, three people familiar with the negotiations said. The view in Brussels is that it’s up to the UK to make concessions before the EU will agree ...

Bloomberg Chinese President Xi Jinping is dispatching a special envoy to visit North Korea this week, shortly after he hosted US counterpart Donald Trump in Beijing. Song Tao, head of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department, will visit Pyongyang on Friday to brief North Korean officials about last month’s once-in-five-year leadership reshuffle, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. ...

Bloomberg Thailand said it remains on course for elections next year and that curbs on political parties will soon be eased, as pressure mounts on the military government to roll back restrictions on campaigning. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha said last month a vote will be held in November 2018, though analysts are concerned the military will seek to retain power. ...

Bloomberg Kenya is facing an economic storm in 2018 in the aftermath of two disputed elections. Saddled with the triple threat of austerity measures to pay for those votes, slowing credit growth and new accounting rules for banks, Kenya now risks missing the government’s forecast for 6 percent economic growth next year, according to lenders including Nairobi-based Stanbic Bank Kenya ...

Bloomberg The armed forces seized power in Zimbabwe after a week of confrontation with President Robert Mugabe’s government and said the action was needed to stave off violent conflict in the southern African nation that he’s ruled since 1980. The Zimbabwe Defense Forces will guarantee the safety of Mugabe, 93, and his family and is only “targeting criminals around him ...

WASHINGTON / Reuters A US appeals court in California let President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban go partially into effect, ruling the government can bar entry of people from six Mus- lim-majority countries with no connections to the United States. A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals partially granted a Trump administration request to ...

ANKARA / Reuters Iranian officials called off rescue operations, saying there was little chance of finding more survivors from the earthquake that shook parts of western Iran on Sunday, killing at least 530 people, media said on Tuesday. Survivors, many left homeless by the 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck villages and towns in a mountainous area bordering Iraq, battled overnight ...

Bloomberg Brazilian President Michel Temer is planning a cabinet shakeup to rebuild support for his proposed pension overhaul after the largest ally moved closer to abandoning his government. Cities Minister Bruno Araujo, from the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, or PSDB, handed in his resignation, citing the lack of party support as the reason for his departure. Temer himself considers the ...

Bloomberg UK lawmakers will get a take-it-or-leave-it vote on the final Brexit deal, with their choices limited to accepting the agreement or voting for a chaotic crashing out of the block. And if the government fails to reach a deal, the UK will leave without consulting Parliament, Brexit Secretary David Davis said. The twin announcements provoked jeers in Parliament as ...

Bloomberg A dual-citizenship crisis roiling Australian politics has claimed its eighth lawmaker, with independent Senator Jacqui Lambie resigning after revealing she contravened the constitution. “I probably should have been a bit smarter and checked that citizenship stuff,” Lambie, 46, told reporters in Canberra after it was confirmed she inherited British citizenship from her Scottish-born father. “I don’t know who feels ...