Politics

WASHINGTON / NEW YORK / Reuters The Trump administration will temporarily delay processing of most refugees from 11 countries identified as high-risk, while resuming refugee admissions for other countries, government officials said. Most of the affected countries are in the Middle East and Africa, according to documents seen by Reuters. The administration also will place on hold a program that ...

Bloomberg India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party faces another challenge to retain power in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat in polls later this year in what would be a referendum on its policies including demonetization and the national sales tax. The BJP is throwing all its resources into Gujarat to ensure the party performs well after ruling the ...

UNITED NATIONS / Reuters Russia cast a veto at the United Nations Security Council preventing the renewal of the mandate for a mission that investigates the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The investigation by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) – known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) – was unanimously created ...

BAGHDAD / CAIRO / Reuters Kurdish authorities in Iraq offered on Wednesday to put an independence drive on hold, stepping up efforts to resolve a crisis in relations with Baghdad via dialogue rather than military means. But a Iraqi military spokesman suggested an offensive — launched to wrest back territory after Kurds voted overwhelmingly for independence in a disputed referendum ...

Bloomberg Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta is certain to win re-election in Thursday’s vote rerun after his main rival, Raila Odinga, withdrew from the race, but his victory could prove to be a hollow one. “It would be a Pyrrhic victory for Kenyatta, especially if opposition strongholds boycott as they have promised,” said Nanjala Nyabola, a Nairobi-based independent political analyst. “It ...

Bloomberg Spain’s plan to crush Catalonia’s separatists is ringing alarm bells among some of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s allies before what’s set to be a decisive few days in the conflict with the insurgent region. The Socialists are balking at the government’s focus on taking control of the administration in Barcelona while shutting off options that would allow the Catalan ...

Bloomberg The US is considering new sanctions on Myanmar after nearly a million Rohingya Muslims fled the Southeast Asian nation’s Rakhine state to neighbouring Bangladesh. In a statement, US State Department spokeswoman Heat-her Nauert said that since August 25, the US had ceased cons-ideration of JADE Act travel waivers for current and former Myanmar military leaders, and was assessing further ...

Bloomberg The US and China were both open to joining separate maritime drills with Southeast Asian nations as early as next year, Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said. Speaking on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations defense ministers meeting, Ng said China Defense Minister Chang Wanquan and US Defense Secretary James Mattis both welcomed the chance to ...

LONDON / Reuters There is absolutely no doubt that a deal between Western powers and Iran to curb its nuclear programme will survive despite the US decision not to recertify the deal, Britain’s foreign minister Boris Johnson said. Johnson was giving a speech on foreign affairs in London. US President Donald Trump broke ranks with other major powers earlier this ...

Bloomberg Whether or not Chinese President Xi Jinping signals a successor on Wednesday, he’s amassed enough power to effectively rule for decades. The Communist Party approved a sweeping charter revision at the end of its twice-a-decade congress on Tuesday that elevates Xi to a status alongside the nation’s most vaunted political figures. The document put Xi’s contributions on par with ...