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 ...
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Xi’s new milestone positions him to rule China for decades
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 ...
Read More »Argentines give Macri nod to press ahead with reforms
Bloomberg With Sunday’s victory in legislative elections, President Mauricio Macri received the green light from Argentines to press ahead with his reform agenda – and the prospect of another six years to carry it out. The ruling alliance won in 13 of Argentina’s 24 provinces, including the five largest, in mid-term elections that were seen as a barometer of voter ...
Read More »Kenyan top court to hear case seeking delay of Oct 26 vote
Bloomberg Kenya’s top court will hear a petition on Wednesday filed by three Kenyans that seeks the cancellation of a presidential-election rerun scheduled for the following day, according to the Judiciary. The petitioners want the Supreme Court to compel the Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission to cancel the vote, Judiciary spokeswoman Lilian Mueni said by phone on Tuesday from the ...
Read More »May’s Brussels gains eclipsed by domestic Brexit challenge
Bloomberg Theresa May’s battle to get her Brexit legislation through Parliament hit a new roadblock as the opposition Labour Party threatened to unite with rebels among her Conservatives, eclipsing the small victory she brought home from a summit of European Union leaders. The UK prime minister returned from Brussels bolstered by encouraging words from her European counterparts, who signaled that ...
Read More »Tillerson makes secret Afghan visit to meet leaders
Bloomberg US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Monday, meeting with the nation’s leaders leaders as the Trump administration pursues a new strategy pledging an open-ended troop commitment after more than 15 years of war. Tillerson met at Bagram Air Base with President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah before returning to Doha ...
Read More »Abe vows to seek consensus on constitution
Bloomberg A day after a landslide election victory, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to seek a broad consensus on revising Japan’s 70-year-old pacifist constitution and reiterated there was no fixed schedule for change. Abe, 63, saw his ruling coalition retain its two-thirds majority in the 465-member lower house on Sunday, bolstering his chances of staying in office through 2021. While ...
Read More »Ankara mayor an unlikely rebel in face-off with Erdogan
Bloomberg Longtime Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek is resisting pressure to resign, fashioning himself into an unlikely rebel as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan turns a sweeping purge of Turkish society against his own party. Gokcek, who’s been elected to the post in five consecutive elections since 1994, has been under pressure to step down since early this month, when Turkish media ...
Read More »Catalans plan human shield to block Madrid takeover
Bloomberg Catalan separatists are mobilizing a human shield to block efforts by the Spanish authorities to take control of the breakaway region as both sides prepare to escalate the political conflict. Groups will concentrate their activists around the regional government’s headquarters in Barcelona’s Gothic quarter and the nearby parliament building, according to two people familiar with the plans, asking not ...
Read More »â€˜Poland is cutting last fuse on democracy’
Bloomberg Twenty-eight years after Poland led eastern Europe’s break with communism and its embrace of western-style democracy, the country’s human rights commissioner is sounding the alarm with a warning that the European Union’s largest eastern nation is on a road that leads back to authoritarian rule. The latest plan by President Andrzej Duda and the ruling party to revamp the ...
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