Politics

Bloomberg Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition retained its two-thirds parliamentary majority in Sunday’s general election, unofficial results showed, bolstering his chances at becoming Japan’s longest-serving leader. Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and coalition partner Komeito won at least 310 of the 465 up for grabs, according to results shown on public broadcaster NHK. Opposition parties split the rest, with the ...

WASHINGTON / Reuters US President Donald Trump hailed the defeat of IS figh-ters in their self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa as “a crit- ical breakthrough” in a worldwide campaign against the militants. The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had formally announced Raqqa’s liberation from IS after four months of battles and said the city would be part of a decentralized federal ...

MOSCOW / Reuters Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari will meet in Moscow on October 23 to discuss the situation in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement. Moscow is for constructive dialogue between Baghdad and Kurdistan, the ministry added. During al-Jaafari’s visit to Moscow on Oct. 23-25, the minister will ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy invoked the most far-reaching powers in the Spanish Constitution as he aimed to strike a decisive blow against the Catalan separatist campaign that’s divided the nation and put its economic expansion at risk. Spain will dismiss Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and his government, and take control of the regional police force and public television and ...

Bloomberg Voters in two regions of Italy’s wealthy north vote in referendums on Sunday to demand more autonomy from the state, in a ballot which could strengthen the anti-migrant Northern League ahead of national elections early next year. Backers of the non-binding referendums in Lombardy and Veneto, whose regional capitals are Milan and Venice, insist they have little in common ...

Bloomberg The UK opposition Labour Party could unite with rebels in Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party as a way to force her to give lawmakers a vote on the final deal to leave the European Union, the party’s Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer wrote in the Sunday Times. Starmer demanded May accept six changes to the so-called repeal bill, including ...

Bloomberg Theresa May left the European summit with warm words on Brexit from her fellow leaders, and the cold fact of a 60 billion euro ($70 billion) divorce bill they still want her to pay. The prime minister gave her clearest signal yet that she’ll cover the cost of the UK’s liabilities when it leaves the bloc, after leaders promised ...

Bloomberg At least 16 Egyptian policemen were killed in clashes with militants as the government struggles to main- tain security while it undertakes economic measures aimed at creating jobs and boosting growth. Another 13 police personnel were injured when a force raiding a militant hideout in the desert southwest of Giza was attacked with heavy weaponry, the Ministry of Interior ...

Bloomberg More than 100 million voters head to the polls on Sunday in an election that may clear the way for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to become Japan’s longest-serving leader. Polls project that Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and coalition partner Komeito will maintain control of parliament while two opposition groups vie for second place. It’s unclear if Abe’s coalition ...

SULAIMANIA / BAGHDAD / Reuters A senior Iranian military commander repeatedly warned Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq to withdraw from the oil city of Kirkuk or face an onslaught by Iraqi forces and allied Iranian-backed fighters, Kurdish officials briefed on the meetings said. Major-General Qassem Soleimani, commander of foreign operations for Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, travelled to Iraq’s Kurdistan region ...